Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-02-25
OUR BOYS.

The question of "What to do with Our
Boys" has of late been greatly agitated,
but the conundrum seems to be as far from
a satisfactory solution as ever. Every child
is but the advance of the man to come, and
every man is essentially different from all
other men. To say what we shall do with
our boys, to lay down any sweeping rules
for their management, would be as ridicu-
lous as to lay out a certain line of conduct
and compel every man to follow it. Boys
should have some volition of their own. 1t
would be a wrong to them to parcel them
out and say to these, "You must learn a
trade;" to these, "You must study for
profession" The remedy for the hood
lum element is not in compelling them,
after they had grown up in an outdoor
school of vice, to learn trade. 1t is rather
in making his home too pleasant for outside
influence to prevail. Ifparents would teach
their children to remain at home from the
beginning, and devote very little time to-
ward their pleasure and comfort, and spend
little money in providing their sons with
material for amusement at home they would
not care to 60 abroad.
There is no boy born into the world who
does not before he is five years old, exhibit
the natural bent of his mind. Let the par
ents then understand that, and provide him
with books or tools as the case may be. If
boys were rightly understood while very
small, and their natural inclinations foster
ed, we should not have to make the great
mistake Of placing them to learn trade for
which they were utterly unsuited, and at
which they would not work. Their choice
would be made, and they would unconscious
ly acquire a certain degree of knowledge
of what they would like before they were
placed as apprentice to something which,
when understood, would be distasteful.
Every boy ought to have a chance to learn
the trade he prefers and for which he has
a natural taste, no matter what the condi-
tion of his parents. This remedy is not
for the boys of to-day who are almost men,
but those of tomorrow, who are still under
their mothers jurisdiction. A few dollars
more or less, little more noise about the
house, is all the price she has to pay for the
privilege of future years of happiness with
her groWn-up boys. With the mother rests
the largest share the responsibility of the
character of her children. Home inf1uenc.
es, when good, are more powerful than all
others. Every woman has it in her power
to make home an abode of pure delight to
her boys, and to keep them there away
from the evils of the street. In that alone
rests the solution of the query of "What
shall we do with our boys ?"-Budget.
lHE
er inventions have conferred a greater bless
ing on the human race than that which as
sists impaired visions. 1t was impossible
to say how many there are at the present
day whose lives would be almost valueless
were it not for the use of spectacles. In
deed, DR.. johnson rightly expressed his
surprise that such benefactOr as the dis
coverer of spectacles should have been re-
garded with Indifference, and found no
worthy biographer to celebrate his ingenui-
ty. unfortunately, however, his name is
matter of much uncertainty and hence,
grateful posterity have been prevented
from bestoWing upon his memory that hon
or which it so richly merited. And it may
be noted that popular opinion has long ago
pronounced in favor of Spina, Florentine
monk, as the rightful claimant, although
some are in favor of Roger Bacon. Mon
sieur Spoon, in his "Researches Curieuses
d'Antique," fixes the date of the invention
of spectacles between the years 1880 and
1911, ard says that Alexander de Spina,
having seen pair made by some other per-
son who was unwilling to communicate the
secret of their construction ordered pair
for himself, and found them so useful that
he cheerfully and promptly made the in
vention public. According to an Italian
antiquarian, the person to whom Spina was
indebted for his information was Salvino,
who died in 1918, and he quotes from a
manuscript in his possession an epitaph
which records the circumstance: Here
lies Salvino Armoto d. Armati, of Florence,
the inventor of spectacles. May God par
don his sins. The year 13lS."
LEARN A TRADE.-An item now floating
about among the papers, says the Philadel-
phia Ledger, is sufficiently explained in its
headline: "Spoke six languages and near
cation. If the unfortunate linguist had un.
derstood six trades, or even one, he would
have been in much less danger of starva.
tion, and he could probably have learned
six trades with less trouble and expense
that six languages. Higher education is
very good thing for those who can afford
the luxury, and is not Incompatible with
the kind of knowledge that enables one to
earn living, but for nine tenths of human
ity the important thing is to learn, in early
life, some trade or calling that will ensure
support, so that, whether they afterwards
learn six languages or not, they will not
be in danger of starvation.
A GREAT CHINESE CITY. There is an air
of decay about Pekin which extends even
to its temples. The number of its popula-
tion is not accurately known, but, according
to Chinese estimate, which is probably in
excess, it is 100000 of whom 900, 900 reside
in the Tartar, and 100000 in the Chinese
city. There is no direct foreign trade with
Pekin, and the small foreign population is
made up of the members of the various le-
cations, the maritime customers, the profess