The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-09-03
raY FAMILY.

from the first. 40
i considered that my father lived ir
a house much too small for a man o
his means, and that I was deprived o.
many advantages to which / vas justly
entitled | often told my father off his,
bat it seemed to make no impression.
He was always willing that | should
associate with more pretentious people,
and when | declared, at sixteen, that ]
was going away from home and to q
fashionable school, he made no resis-
lance. Indeed, as / now interpret it,
he heapcd fiery Goals afonmy head;
for. besides paying my regular tuition
at the school, he often sent me, unsoli-
cited, packages of currency which per-
m.tted me Gas | was a boy)to travel far
during my summer vacations, and see
the country. This. il would seem.
should have reconciled me. but it did
not. 1t made me worse. The family
grew more u~npretentious in my eyes
each succeeding year, and the climax
was reached when my father decided to
leave the city, and take up his residence
on a farm. There was a pretty stream
running through the farm, and woods
and hills, and numerous sleek cattle,
which new neighbors praised as be-
ing of the best blood of any in the
county, but l looked contemptuously On
all this, and only thought of the differ
ence between the way We went about,
all in one carriage with father driving
instead of a coachman in livery. as my
friend Harry did in the city. / conde-
scended to visit my people occasionally,
and sometimes, in the excitement of
shooting and fishing, forgot our dis
graceful position.
But at night, upon my return from
shooting, as we gathered in the sitting
room, only to read the magazines and
play whist, it would come back to me
how we should be extending brilliant
receptions and making witty speeches
in full dress in the city. and / would
fall to upbraiding my father for deny
ing me and my sisters the advantages
of city life.
The most curious part of all this, as l
look back upon it now, is the compla-
cency with which all my criticisms
were received by my family; and the
abscene acrimony, of any chickering's
or strife. on the part of any of the 9th
er members. My sisters and my moth
er always agreed that the way / was
deprived Of what other boys had was
outrageous, but it seemed to be tacitly
understood that having given me their
sympathy, they could do nothing more
and the most friendly and loving rela.
tons existed between US all; they
spending much of their time manufact-
uring presents with which to surprise
me. and / constantly sending to them
fruit and novelties from tho city.
That my father bore with me 50 pa
GENTLY illustrates a peculiarly of many
American homes. Whether the Eng
lish strait-jacket system might not have
been better, | leave you to debate with
yourselves. Sometimes he would
gently reprove me for being 50 fiery
and impertinent. but as q rule he al
lowed me to do all the talking, and
seemed satisfied that / should think
what ] pleased, so long as / did well at
the school. and kept in good health.
If he proceeded on the theory that
only time and experience were needed
to convince me of my folly aud his wis
dom, he would be eminently satified If
he could talk with me now: A decade
has passed, and the impetuous and sIa-
bilious youth has lived among the
fashionable and ~pretentious people
whom he used so much to envy.
Moreover, his profession has brought
him in ~contactwith their family secrets.
family Jars. and family griefs. How
often has he found. beneath the honeyed
words and liveried servants, which
strangers admire. an existence Of
selishness and greed and hypocrisy of
which he never dreamed
II any youth from farm or shop, with
unpretentious home. shall read this
sketch. / beg to remind him that. as the
human body changes every seven years
so does the mind.
Let none of us imagine that what to-
day is to us all important, will be so
next year or the year after. The most
intelligent and the most successful men
Of all ages have recorded their convic-
tons that no ambition. no success.
gives the lasting satisfaction Of q peace
full home and a loving family.
And as I review with familiarity the
palatial homes in the great city where