The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-07-15
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About Boys.

About Boys.
At school celebration at Fountain
Inn, Greenyille County, on July End,
Mr.. W. T.. Wait made the following
address, which ne. copy from the Green.
vile Enterprise and Mountaineer, and will
doubtless prove interesting to the boys:
The boy: is a necessary factor in the
economy of life. He fills place in the
world that could not be filled by any
other created being were he to be sud
denly swept out of existence. He is
regarded with admiration and love, or
fear and apprehension, according as he
is your boy or someone else's. All ortho.
,dox boys begin life as babies, and as it is
both interesting and profitable to study
the development, or as they say now the
evolution, of boy, I shall beg you to
begin with me at the cradle. In this
narrow and uncircumscribed world he at
first demeans himself very much like
babies of the other sort. He takes
soothing syrup, and cat-nip tea, and
paregoric, and sucks his fist, and has the
collie, and cries just like they have all
done from the days of Cain and Abel
down to the present time. In a short
time, however, he begins to develop the
distinguishing characteristics of the boy.
He rebels against dolls and other femi-
nine playthings and insists on having toy
horses and guns and tin horns. He, also,
displays a.most deprayed and abnormal
appetite for pins, needles, marbles and
other similar objects which he discovers
in his peregrinntions over the floor, and
then he scares the mother and father and
all the sneighbors nearly to death when
he swallows one of these and gets choked.
Having escaped the perils of babyhood
and learned to use his legs and tongue, he
is ready to begin the journey of life Fon
his own account. His witty remarks and
wise sayings are treasured up by his fond
parents and duly rehearsed to admirlng
friends on all occasions to demonstrate
his greatness, for what father and mother
are there whos do not expect their boy to;
be e president or something else 2 His.
boundless curiosity is constantly getting.
MIN into difficulties and being utterly re-
gardless oil results his troubles are innu-
merable. He falls into tubs of water and
would be drowned if some benevolent
individual did not pull him out, he is
thrown by horses, kicked by mules, hook.
ed by COWS, ground up in cane. mills and
cotton: :gins, chopped to pieces by axes or
knives and stares death in a thousand
forms every, day of his life. He escapes
by some miraculous accident, however !;
and nothing daunted by tho experiences
sof the past, he is ready for the next
adventure. He was once the pride, but
he now becomes the terror Of the house
hold. He is forbidden to sing, or to
whistle in the house and is advised to
curb his musical instincts until he is in
the midst of some vast solitude. He
teases the cook and is driven out of the
kitchen; he makes the baby cry, and is
sent from che nursery in disgrace; he
brings upin the parlor, only to be expell.
ed by his grown up sister lestihe should
soil the carpet or scratch the furniture
with his unfortunate feet. He is elected
from the fields and the korse-lot because
( of his propensity to do things wrong.
He has now become an Ishmaelite with
every mans hand against him, and his
hand againate every man. He iepies
tribute on all the surrounding orchards
and watermelon patches. To his taste
the stolen water. melon is sweeter than
honey and the honey comb.
BY and BY change comes over him.
Az one moment his voice is fine and
,shrill aud The nextiit is coarse. About
this time he also discovers that his neigh
bors' girls are beautiful and desirable.
Hitherto he has yielded to no force short
of an ipnperious necessity, but now he
becomes gentle and 5tractable, and his girl
can .bndleshim with a thread and lead
him wherever her sweet will may dictate.
He is alternately petted rjilted, and is
accordingly On the mountain heights of
Joy or down TN the cold valley of despair.
AT frst his attentions to the fair sex are
quite general and very tickle. He falls
in love with every pretty girl he meets,
and as he thinks nearly all. of them are
pretty il follows thatihe changes almost
3 as often as The moon. After awhile,
however, he really falls in love, madly in
love, with some fair one, and then the
fun begins. He Is afraid to make known
shis love to tile 2 object of his affections,
lest shc discard him. He watches anK-
siously her every word and look to see if
ehe may not gain some encouragement
from her while she, naughty girl,
reads the whole story from his actions as
+ plainly as one could read it in a book,
and therefore leads him long and dreary
chase. Finally, he becomes desperate,
makes one tremendous effort, is accepted,
marries and passes off the stage of exist.
sence as a boy.
With all their faults, and foibles, and
follies, boys are desirable institutions. A
great poet has Baid that the boy is father
to the man. There is as much truth as
poetry in this statement They are the
stuff that: :.men are made Of If we look
on the boys Of today with prophetic
vision we will see the presidents, and
governors, the senators and congressman,
J the orators and statesmen; of the next
generation. The men of to-day will
have passed off the stage of action and
the boys will take their places. When
( the diamond is first taken from the mine
/ it is a dull stone that would not attract
the attention of a casual observer any
more than stones that we see every day
scattered all around us /; but the trained
eye cf the miner readily detects its true
character, and he knows that beneath the
rough exterior lies hidden beautiful
brilliant which needs but to be cut to
attract the admiring gaze Of the world.
He transfers tito the skillful lapidary,
who with patient industry pursues the
tedious process Of cutting it through days
and weeks and months and years, but
after awhile the work is done, and 10 the
perfect stone lies before you. 1t glows
and sparkles and flashes like great star,
and as it reflects its marvellous brilliancy
upon you from innumerable facts you
realize the merit and worth Of the rough,
stone which you would have been so ready
to cast away. Our boys are the rough
uncut diamonds that are entrusted to us
to be fashioned by fathers and mothers
and sisters and teachers and sweethearts
until they shall reflect all the true and
manly qualities that are hidden with
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