Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-29
Miss, may ! see you home?::


| and other devices.
Hehad tendency at ore time to run to
( the papers good deal aud got TOO fond of
/ our coarse American yoUmor, thought, and
/ so punished him so severely that didn't
/ know bul le would get mad and leave the
/ home nest, but he controlled himself and is
still with US. He IS large, strong man
now and ort 10 rustic for MS daily bread,
but he shudders when mention his going
away from the old roof-tree, as he calls it.
He quit reading the course American YOU
NOR IN the papers when I punished him, but
broke out III a new spot, find, for two weeks
ago l dropped on his game. He has been
doing good deal Of job work of and on all
winter and sending off a lot of mail and
getting good deal, too, l thought, but till
last week l did not know what he was al. I
now find that he has compiled little book
OF Two hundred pages and printed it him
self, and he is sending it allover the'country
broadcast for fifty cents and postage. 1t is
a book which is made up of the broadest
youmor and anecdotes from the Old Tesla
ment and he has had the gall 10 dedicate it
to A. Comstock, Of your town.
. 1t honestly would make your hair stand
up on end TO read it, for it has been put te,
gether with dyabouykle skill and yet the
"a
harvest and taking his meals in the home
nest. What shall 1 do. He threatens to
buy two more jop presses and get his
mother and NE to jerk 'em on this book.
What would be your advlce?n
You must refuse to accede to his demands.
Both of you must be firm and tell him that
you viii not kick jobber under these cir
Cumstances. You have made several mis-
takes, perhaps, but it is not yet too late.
You have some at last 10 the place where
you should have come at first Tell him
that rather than submit to his demands you
would run away and leave him. Do not say
II in saucy or impudent way, but tell him
firmly that you can not do so and then await
the result Probably your first error was
IN believing that God is irrltdted when He
finds that parents are too fond of their chill
dren, and that lie thereupon takes a case of
Group to that house and chokes those chill
dren to death, so that He can have con-
trolling interest in the whole affection busi-
ness.
Aumor is a luxury and vet it is a necessi-
ty. Every body is permitted 70 use his own
taste and discretion in selecting his style OF
humOr, but you can rest assured he is going
to have it in some form or other. Hunor,
like religion. needs publication. and all is
it be in music. in art, in literature, on the
stage or IN the pulpit. it is doing more in a
good-natured way toward distiguring the
features of error and fraud than many
more rpretentious agencies. In the first
place, il has bigger audience IN the sec
ond place 1t has gocd-natured audience.
in the third place, you can laugh stpb-
born man out of folly when you can not
knock HIM out Of il.
You can ridicule him out of it when you
can not preach him out OF it or pray him out
of il. Therefore let purified and exalted
hUmor keep the sinner good-natured while
1t makes folly appear foolish and paves the
way for what is more profound. In the |
meantime. 2 G.. be firm with your son. |
Tel him firmly that rather than to give rp |
to him. you and your wife viii run away /
from the old roof-tree and never, never |
come back again. Try at the same time to |
avoid fixing your affections so firmly on |
your sou that il may be thrown up to you |
through ali eternity.
The book YOU alluded to is a singular pub |
lication, indeed. and shows that your son /
has certain kind Of genius. II is a sort |
Of genius. however. which, finding itself |
hemmed in by your harsh and inflexible |
rules has taken such materials as it found |
and has sought to utilize them. What you |
call the broad humor and anecdote of the /
Old Testament are matters whlah l would |
rather not criticise. Having published sew |
eral books myself. have made il a rule /
never TO critIcise ether authors.
Your son has not gone into this work in
the right spirit, evidently. but the con-
summate genius with which he has evaded /
the law and the payment Of royalty to the |
author is worthy Of General Jay Gould or
Colonel Satan.-Biu Nys, ia v. y World.