Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1884-10-05
what bow Of IS would have dared ask

what boy of IS would have dared ask
for collar and necktie2 To have wan
ted better clothes would have been to
exhibit base ingraitude. To have
refused TO wear cowhide boots and
black them with lard and lamp black
would have been to accept the alter.
nate and go barefooted. Clothes we're
made at home. and after almost any
fashion. If shirts had a collar of the
same material it was something to be
proud over. The boys feelings were
not to be consulted in such cases, and
it was rarely that one lad would criti-
else what another wore. Pride in
boy would have been denounced al
most as crime, and tanning would
lcertainly have followed.
But the years have made great
change. We seek to govern our chill
dren in different way, and fashion is
consulted in every corner of the land.
We expect more of our boys than was
expected of US, and We cultivate pride
instead OF crushing it. If We had a
son from Is to so years of age we re.
alize that he must be kept on an equal
footing with his boy friends in the mat
ter of personal appearance or he will
degraded.
Show me boy of 10, in village or
city. whose family have any social
standing, who can be coaxed or bribed
to wear a pair of pants patched at the
knee. He will argue that the whole
town will stop business TO gaze at that
patch. If one of his boots is out at
the toe. that settles the case with him.
Ifthere's a nip in his coat, or button
off, he can't take minutes comfort on
the street.
The boy of to-day has got all these
whims, and you must consult them and
bear with him. No matter what tailor
measures him, you can expect COM
plant that his pants are too long or
too short-too tight or too baggy. He
didn't want mo such coat" and the
vest doesn't fit.him within mile. His
neckties doesn't suit, his collars are
horrid, ard the complaint will include
even his bootlegs. Pound him if you
viii, but you will only make him hate
you. Argument and reason will
smooth over most of the troubles, Has
the Indiana father tried that method
If man doesn't vote oh ticket or at
tend our church-if he believes the
world to be fiat instead ofround-lf he
drinks too much--if he scouts at stan
dard facts In science or natural phllos.
, ophy, do we knock him down or argue
with him? Don't we give HIM three
, times the show that we do boy
, whose false notions will disappear with
age Egotism should be scorched
until a blister effects a cure, but the
parent who seeks to crush the natura
pride that makes him find SO much
fault with his clothes must be depend
ed on to keep him out of degrading
company and unfit associations. Pount
it into him that anything is gooe
enough for him and he will find it easy
TO wear old clothes and train with loaf
!, ers.
Have you as a man walked the
streets dead broke for single day
You felt cheap and ashamed of your
self. A boy might not feel it so keenly
but he feels it sufficiently to mortify his
. pride. / don't say that you should
hand out dollar after dollar to your sor
and take no heed how he spends it
but mingle common sense with the
transaction. Let him knew that yor
disapprove of smoking, chewing, beer
drinking, betting, gambling and bill
lizards. He wants money tor score
of things which seem foolish to you bu
he is boy. If he has dollar in hi:
purse he feels a certain pride in the
!, knowledge, and will waste less than
: you doled him out dime at time
When one boy applies the term stingy
, to another it means a great deal more
, than you realize. 1t means boy toe
, mean to associate with. If he is sting
he is supposed to be cheat and LA
as. well. Give your boy twenty-five
cents for the Fourth of July or to go OF
=, an excursion In the company OF lad:
who have been furnished dolla
|, apiece and you can snap your fingers al
all the comfort he takes. He feels a
sense of inferiority, and not onl,
financially but in all other respects
and this degrades Qim. Has the Indl
ana farmer reasoned IN this way z
For the last two or three years
have been watching father spoil hi
son. The great object seems to be to
keep the lad hard at work when out o
school. He is put to digging and hoe
ing and saving and wheeling, and ane
an hour of this work, instead of 'givin!
him an appetite exhausts him anc
gets his temper on edge, lie is made
to don his old clothes after schoo
hours, and the knowledge that he looks
like scare crow annoys and degrade!
him. He has no allowance of money
and is therefore deprived of the societ,
of other boys. He isn't allowed tt
visit circus or the theater, has nc
> boyish books or amusemcnts, and hi
fathers way of addressing his
Now young man you git for tina
wood pile or I'll wallop you within al