DeSoto times., 1890-01-23

oo'erVeu Inat when Trad
uies cnanced to meet the Old Man on
sne street he was likely to salute him
WIN now are you, partner?n or some
hihurea familiar phrase. At a tablf
curing the family meals the same con-
tie or whimsical familiarity was observ.
aole' Iraddles consulted the Old Mans
reasonable preferences as copsideratoly
ana with as much external politenoss
as ne did those of his formal puests and
IN all respects treated him as an equal
W "hom courtesy and well-bred observ-
ahce were an acknowledged prerogatiye,
not merely superior's patronizing fa-
vor.
~ was the same with his reading. II
lraddles met with something that he
Chought might interest the Old Man, he
would ask his attention to it, and draw
out his crude but pure gold ideas about
IL IN a controversial way, in which I
sometimes found myself not less inter-
ested than the Old Man. Others of the
family caught the spirit and in time
oelofe they reached maturity-thcy
were all intelligently conversant with
the contents of Traddles' unique collec-
tion of books.
| VI course one can not exactly measure
tne good that may be accomplished by
this kind of father-and-son intercourse.
lts elasticity is its best recommendation
its adaptability to all natures. 1t is
enough for you, enthusiastic young fa-
ther, to know that in general way it
IS wholesome and nutritious moral food
Tor that unequaled Boy, whose advent
into your life do most ioyfully cele-
brate.
In point of fact any thing that tends
to establish the entente c0rdidIe between
boyhood and manhood-especially if
those conditions bear that other and
gentler relation of sonhood and father.
hood-must yield generous harvest of
good. 1t is an understanding 50 easy to
reach that wonder we do not see moro
examples of it. Right-minded fathers
will always embrace any plan for the
true advancement of their boys. This
plan of familiar companionshipse to
me the best plan. And l would pursue
it with zeal to its last analysis-even to
the verge of spinning tops and playing
horse in the intervals of life's exacting
round.
Traddles (whose word is never doubt
ed) reports that he has demonstrated |
the easy practicability of it. The best
immediate results, he thinks, were those |
that owed their start to little talks about |
books and the men and women who wrote |
Gnem. ITe also asserts With u d,zree or |
not common to him that the |
Old Mans intellectual development un-
der this plan is amazing. He accounts
for it on the plausible postulate that |
whatsoever engages the child's interest
the while it touches him with sense OF
his own Importance and possible useful
ness, enlarges his mental horizon and
lays broad and deep the foundation of d
wcll-ordered and helpful life.
l can imagine no more lovely phase of
life than that which is presented by the |
father and son who have established the |
Traddles relation with each other. Boys |
so treated are quick to apprehend the
respectful recognition of the bud of man
hood in themselves, and they will not
abuse the confidence you repose in them.
They will meet you more than half way
in obedience and in efforts to grow in the
direction of your desire.
After all, the difference between the
Bow and the Man-like all differences in
this worlds relative. | am not quite
sure that | have not been better taught
by the Boy than by the Man.-Signor
Max, in Detroit Free Press.