News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-02-19
TALKS WITH THE BOYS.
A LITTLE ADVICE ABOUT WHAT TO
DO TO BECOME MAN.
MI. Quad Talks to "A Father ms IL He
were the Boy Himself.
from the Detroit Free Press 7

"eEc LhS BOY himself
From the Detroit Free Press.1
VI am the son of poor people," writes
James W., from town in Indiana, "and
L must learn a trade. Taken on the
average, which will pay me the best, the
carpenters or the tinsmith's trade ?"
Under the general term of carpenter"
we include both the rough and finished
workman. There are carpenters who
do only the rough work of house, leav-
ing the finish to another class. If you
can make finish ed workman of your
self you are pretty certain of work the
year round at from $l4 to SIT per week,
and all the time under shelter. If you
do not go beyond ordinary carpenter
work you will be employed from April
to November at from $12 to $15 per
week. A fgir tinsmith will put i'll fifty
two weeks in year at from $12 to $18
per week, aud his outfit will not cost
him as much as a carpenters, nor will
he wear out as many clothes.
In selecting trade, in case you have
no decided preference, select one which
gives you shelter and keeps you en-
ployed in the winter. While bricklayers,
stone-masons and plasterers receive rs
high as 81 per day, their working season
is only about seven months of the year.
"John," of Xenia, Ohio, writes:
'There are three boys of us, and
mother, who is widow, wants to get
into the country so as to take us away
from bad influences and bring us up
right. Do you think we will be any bet
ter off living on farm? My aunt says
no, and mother says yes"
The experiment of sending bad boy
to the country to cure him of his vicious
habits used to be very popular, but if
you will find one single case where a real
knavish Lad was ever transformed into
good boy by~~+sis Change of habitation,
I'll find you hundred cases where they
were made worse than before. When a
boy becomes a rascal it takes something
more than change of scenery to effect
a cure.
1t does not follow that, because a boy
lives in a village where there are a dozen
saloons, he must ever enter even one of
them. There may be bad boys there,
but he is not forced into their company.
He has better chances to secure an edu-
cation, better opportunities for self-cul-
ture and his parents really have more
control over him.
There are bad boys in the large cities,
but they are soon singled out by the law.
A wild lad is quite as much under the
control of his parents in city like De-
troit as he would be on a farm. Hun.
dreds of country boys come here to the
colleges, and instead of being ruined by
the temptations of city life, they return
home wonderfully improved in mind and
manners.
A man who signs himself ga Massa-
chusetts father writes thusly:
'1f you have studied the boy question
perhaps you can help me. I have son
eighteen years of age who might be of
the greatest assistance to me in the shop,
but who is worse than useless. Outside
of his lazy habits, he is inclined to drink
and consort with rough characters. Talk
and argument have no effect, and 1 am
prepared any day to hear of his arrest
for State prison offense. Come, now,
tell me what you would do with such
boy? How would you go to work to
manage him?"
Lets see who is in fault. How did
you bring the boy up? Did you let him
run the streets during his youth, send
him to school or keep him to work? As
boy, did you enforce obedience on his
part, or did you let him have his own
way? If you are an intelligent, indus
trious, respectable father, and your son
is loafer, the blame, quite likely, rests
with you. There has been loose wheel
somewhere in your way of training.
Once in a while you will find a boy
who seems possessed of the evil one and
good effect. Their end is State Prison
or the gallows. You may find one such
boy out of 200, but not more. You can
spoil boy by pounding him, making
a slave of him, bossing him too much,
or by killing his ambition. Say to
boy of Is that his time and wages be-
long to you for six years and you will
break down his ambition in no time.
Hara-- ssos='- &tsseSAd Yonr son wages to
work with you, or is it the ''board and
him accept? What sort of home have
you made i0i- him ? When evening
came did you see that he had books and
games and entertainments, or was he
left to sit and look at his toes while you
monopolized the only newspaper in the
house?
It may hurt your feelings to hear it,
but I warrant if the case were left to
Jury of six men they would find the
blame resting with you. You haven't
studied your boy. You have simply
settled things in your own mind and
taken it as a matter of course that he
would accept them. Time was when
great gulf separated father and son.
The son dared not confide in his father,
and the father dared not exhibit any ten
derness for fear of lowering his dignity.
Time was when anything was good
enough for boy, and it was impudent
in him to express an opinion.
That time has gone by and we are
doing as much for our sons as for our
horses. Thirty years ago a boy who
started out for himself at the age of 81
was getting an early start, as few young
men married before they were %. IL
this age boys of IS and 10 go into bust
ness and marry at q. A boy of 16 is
to-day as well posted in general matters
as one was at % in days gone by.
If you and other fathers won't realize
this it will be the worse for you. A boy
of IS ought to be fast friends with his
father, while your boy has been alien
ated. At that age he ought to have fin
ished his common schooling and be
ready for trade or profession. Your
boy is vagabond. A young man of 10
has more pride of person and character
than at any other time of life. Your boy
is csntent with low company. Think it
all over and see if you don't feel self
condemned.
Hnxv Made ~, E,,n,,,x