The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-06-25
HOW TO RUN AWAY.
Rules to Govern the Actions Of an Abusai
BOY When Leaving Home.


Come, my lad. but did yon ever run
away from home? No! Then try tie
experiment. The boy who imagines
| that home is no place for him, that the
''old folks are behind the age, that lie
is being kept down, that the outside
world is aching to give him better
show than his father will, should make
up his mind to run away. I've been
right there and I'll tell you just how to
do it.
Some day. after your father has oh
served that you are getting altogether
too high-headed, and that he will
shortly have a seance with you in the
woodshed. go out behind the house and
sit down on the frame Of the grindstone
and have talk with yourself as FOL.
lows:
IAN too old to be licked?"
"You bet l am
us father unreasonably tyrannical?''
''Of course he is"
"Can boy of my ambition amount
TO any thing in this town.
Not by joyful"
evil father make a slave of me as
long as ] stay here?'
''Ife will"
Isn't every other boy in this town
given a better show than havc?"
Every one"
Wouldn't any boy of spirit, situat ed
as am, run away and set up for him.
self?"
"He certainly would"
"Then you'll go. won't you?"
This very night.
Having come to this conclusion yOu
should set about figuring on what 10
take with you, the hour Of leaving and
the direction in which you will go. An
outfit for a runaway boy of fourteen, ut
which age the swell head begins, is:
One loaf of bread.
Two apples.
One package of salt.
One piece of cold meat
Two boiled eggs.
One jacknife.
About eleven cents in cash.
One bundle OF clothes.
The best hour for leaving home, es-
pecially If you have to climb out Of \
window and drop on shed roof, is mid
night. You should leave a note in pen.
Gil in your room, saying that ambition,
self-respect and personal dignity have
forced you to go away. but in going you
have no ill-will. You will go away and
never be heard Of more, but you will al
ways think kindly of these left behind.
Before you go up to be bed kiss the
baby, fondle the cat, pat the dog and
try to look pale and weary. This latter
trick will worry your mother. and next
day, when she finds you gone, she can
truthfully exclalm:
THAT boy acted and looked SO queer
ly last night that just knew some
thing awful was going to happen"
1t may be bit spoolkish for you to
start off at midnight. Everything is
very quiet Even the cows in the dusty
road are asleep. You look back and
bid the wood-shed, and the smoke
house, and the old cherry tree, and the
well-pump. a fond adieu, and you
wonder how many years it viii! be be-
fore you see the cider-mill and the
school-house and Tyler's spotted COW
again.
Looks "polerish" down the road, and
Goodhue's dog begins to bark and the
sheep in Smiths tcn-acre lot take a run
as you come along, but don't back out.
just think of your. father calling you
young man. and saying that he ached
to take some of the conceit out Of you,
and brace up and push along.
A smart, ambitious, runaway boy can
get at least ten miles from home before
he begins to see that he has made n
Ounce of himself, and before he turns
TO retrace his steps. lie can meet a
dozen people who 'spot" him for run
away, and advise him to go back-a
dozen farmers dogs who look at him in
disgust, and at least one tin-peddler
who says that if he was his father he'd
make him jump Jim Crow and no mis-
take.
The ocean which he is going to pillow
! seems long ways off-the philanthro-
pists who would give him bank clerk
ship don't come along, and the farther
he walks the faster he is convinced
that his father isn't such bad man af-
ter all. At three o'clock in the after
noon he is home again, and the way he
walks into the chores about the house is
grateful surprise to father and mother.
1t was short trip, but he is the bet
| ter for it. He has been made TO see
| things as he never would without. AS
/, he is tucked into bed that night he
snugs down and is thankful from the
| bottom of his heart that he turned back.
II had a hundred boys I'd let each
and every one Of them ''cut sticks" at
! his own sweet will, and if one of the m
+. held out for week or a month he'd
be all the better for it when he did re-
turn. A little rubbing against the
sharp corners and biting edges Of the
outside world makes a great change
in IA boys ideas. Quad, in N. Y.
World.
cENEN llTTlE TRllAATC