The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-06-28
THE DisooSTENTEn nor.

It is jus. possible that some OF you
may have known boys who live in the
Q ty, and yet who were discontinued
with everything about them. There
have been some such, whether you have
met them or not, and it Is a singular
fact that, as a general rule, they were
always very well contcntcd with them
selves, but seemed to think that they had
good cause TO find fault with everything
around them. g 4fGa
Iknew one once---for l have known
lots Of boys in my day--and all Of us
fellows used to think that Fred Small
was situated just about as comfortably
as boy ought TO be. He had a pleasant
home with two sisters in it; he could GO
| To school all the time and there are 4
good many boys who can't do. that
and his clothes were always neat and
clean. 5ef
Now any one would suppose that
such n boy could have regularly jolly
time in this world. You see he had SO
many things that thousands Of boys
cant have, that just the simple thought
OF how fortunate he was ought to have
kept him as happy as lark all the day
long.
But with all these advantages Fred
was far from beng contented. don't
mean TO say that he was what might he
called thoroughly d,scontentcda boy,
for he was not exactly that. II any one
had minated such thing To him he
would have denied il emphatically. and
thought that he was telling the truth;
but yet he was far from being as happy
as he ought to have BEEN
At school he had an idea that he was
forced to study more than was good for
him; that he was obliged to learn many
things that would be of no use to him
when he was man, and that some OF his
fellow students were receiving favors
from the teachers that were denied
him. 3At sf81afN lsaH 4l
At home he thought he was not. al
lowed freedom enough; that his sisters
had more of everything then he had,
and that he was. in several particular
cases actually imposed upon. As, for
instance when the baby got his box Of
paints and destroyed fully one-half Of
them, nothing in particular was said
about it. which he thought wrong,
although It would have been hard for
him to have decided, If called upon to do
30, just what punishment ought to have
been inflicted upon the little thing
Among his playmates he thought he
was not treated exactly rs he ought To
have been. Some were chosen leaders
in the sports, when he was positive that
| he should have occupied such position.
Some appeared TO think thatsthcy ex-
ccllcd him Ia leaping, running or jump
| ing and at the same time, refused To
give him an opportunity Of testing his
strength with them. an ats
Now of course it was foolish for Fred
| to have allowed himself to be vcxcd OF
discontinued over what were really
| triies, as compared TO the benefits he
| enjoyed, OF which SO many other boy.
were deprived; but yet he did fee
vexed and was discontinued, with
never thought that he was making 4
good deal more than half Of his trouble,
| himself. alB4zd 9ffna as q
/ Then, again, Fred thought that. he
was particularly ill-used because hi.
| parents would not let him go out even
ings withthc other boys. Charlie Stet
son could 90 out whenever no wanted
/
knew how 10 play Billiards and pool; he
could smoke a whole bunch Of cigar
etes in an evening, and had already be
gun to color pipe; he went to alinos
every place OF amusement that h
| wanted 10, and had more money K
spend than dozen Of the other fellow
| pnt together. In short, Charlie dit
! Just as he wanted to, and Fred was dis
contented because he could not emf
the same liberty. ~
Fred's father, however, thought tina
he knew more about such things thai
his son did, and it was not many year
before he proved that be was correct.
Charlie continued, to keep late hours
to spend his evenings in billiard rooms
where the air was unfit TO breathe be
cause it was 50 laden with impurities
until, when he should have been younl
man, he already looked and felt old
He had no energy, was sickly. knew
little or nothing q what he should hav'
known, and when Fred graduated Char
lie was nothing more nor less than
loafcr, looked down upon even by thos
who called themselves his companions
Then when Fred went out into tn
world, and understood matters. and par
ticularly himself, better, he saw. tn
mistake he had made.
He realized that he had neither beel
obliged to study too much. nor too long
and no only regretted that he had NO
been able to learn more. He came I
understand that at home he had en-
joyed as many advantages as his sister
had, that he had been allowed to hav
his own way quite ~ much as was goo
for him, and, when it was no longe
J possible, he wished that he could hav