Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-04-18

Now, Idon't think you intended tohe
to your mother. AS rule, you are a
truthful boy, and your mother can
baieye you. But wonder ifyouknow
how far down street you were last
night? You were right when you said
you were down street; whenever
boy comes home late at night, and is
afraid or ashamed to tell gust where
he has been and what he has been
doing, know as well as he does, and
his mother knows, and everybody who
knows anything about boys knows,
tive us has been clown street
And more than that, my boy;
know that he has been a long way
down street. A long. long way. Have
yo,, a mapof your route last evening?
Nc Well; never mind; we know you
were down street, and we can make a
map in a minute or two. Sit down
here. and we'll see how far boy trav-
els when he leaves home after supper,
and goes down street little way"
and doesn't get back until 10 O'Clock
or later
Here is your home, this bright little
spot like q star on the map. The
sweetest, purest, safest place this side
OF heaven, the home where. from
father to baby, they love you better
than all the rest OF the people in all
the big wide world Now YOU start
from here and 90 down street"
somehow the street always has
down grade from home when you
sneak out after dark See how far
yOu net from responsibility and SELF
respect. when you reach this corner,
''jusF a lIttle'ways down where YOU
loaied-ehz Well, III say ..loitered
If YOU prefer it-where you ''loitered'
last night. Here are the fellows with
whom YOU loitered You had tOmeet
them here, because you can never
meet them in your home, for two rea-
sons; in the first place, your father
wouldn't permit one OF them to come
into his house, and in the second
place, You would be ashamed to in
yite them there, whether your father
forbade it or not. Sweet gang" for
your fathers son to ''iOiter" with,
isn't it? It's a long way from your
respectable home, from your mothers
friends and your fathers guests, to
this corner down street, isn't it.
Then-look on the map, my boy
see how far it is from manliness and
decency. Two ladies hurried past this
corner. friends OF your mother; posi-
bly, they had been spending the even
ing at your home. Thank heaven they
could not see you as you skunk back
into the dark doorway, feeling like the
sneak that you We're; and as they
passed by, one of the loafers with
whom you were lettering, shouted an
insulting remark after them Your
checks bnrned in the dark at that.
Didn't your home and your sisters
seem to be a thousand miles away
Just then?
See, too, how far you were from pu-
rity. Some of the boys told some
stories; do you think YOU can repeat
them to your sisters? Don't you wish
this morning that you could forget
them forever? Don't you wish you
had never heard them? Don't you
know your mind will never again be as
pure and innocent as it was before you
went ''just a little way down street
last night. While you were listening
to these stories, punctuated with pro
family the dear ones at home gather
ed in the sitting-room, your father
opened the book and read they knelt
at the family altar and commended
themselves to the keeping of the
Heavenly Father, and tenderly re-
membered the boy who was '.just a
little way down street." Then the
lights went out one by one, the house
was still, and only the loving mother
waited anxiously and sleeplessly fol
the boy who was ''down street" II
was more than ten million miles away
from the sweet old chapter that you
father read, down to the stories that
you heard, my boy. And what q
steep grade all the way down.
And it was long, long way from
the truth. When you evaded YOU
mothers question, and said you werl
only "a little way down the street
the lie in your false heart looked
guiltily out of your ewes as it rose tt
your cowardly lips. just see wher,
you were; you, ordinarily a brave
manly, truthful boy, turned into 1
liar and coward! You would fight
j know, if any boy called you sucl
names, but Just ellyourself the truth
hOll liG W gOhLbEiAs " yO'
ashamed to tell your mother wher
you were? Yes. Well doesn't tina
make you a sneak? And weren't vol
afraid to tell your father? Yes. Well
what does that make you? And dit
you tell the honest truth when you
mother asked where you were? No
Well, what are you then? And LET III
teIlgou that the "half truth" an
''half lie' you told your mother is Xix
all half breeds; it has all the wors
traits of the vilest race and none c
the virtues OF the best.
"But" you says, ga boy don't hav
to go with toughs and riff-raff when h
goes down street; there are som
mighty nice boys go down street a
night" My boy,I know it; there al
some ''mighty nice boy" go out nights
Inf thew are not 80 nice when the