The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-16
HARD TO UNDERSTAND.
THE lRREPRESSlBLE BOY WHO IS
FOUND EVERYWHERE.

Himself Felt in Whatever Position He
May BE Placed.
The irrepressible boy is character, and
there are a good many of him. He is as
omnipotent as he is voluminous. He bobs
up under the most inconceivable circum-
stances, and generally with serenity that
Is provoking You can't bottle him, and
# would be reprehensble to kill him. You
can sit down on him, but he won't stay
sat down on He is terror to his sister
and his sisters lover; family secrets are
not sacred in his eyes; he shirks his own
work, but is always ready to do another
boys, or, more particularly, full grown
mans work.
Today he is horribly matter Of fact, to-
morrow he may be mawkishly sentimental.
At one moment he startles you with the
vigor of his logic, at the next he surprises
you with the Stiffness of his deductions.
Now he charms you with his innate polite
ness, anon he shocks you by violation of
the proprieties. He can look profoundly
innocent wheA most surely guilty, and de-
wise an alibi with rare ingenuity.
do not believe that the boy invariably
"foreshadows the man." or that linen are
but children Of larger growth" as Dry
den expresses it. The goody-goody boy
may 90 to ruin on the fast express, the bad
boy may ennoble his manhood, the smart
boy ymay not rise above mediocrity, the dull
boy may forge straight to the front. When
n. p. Willis was a boy his mother told him
to write letter to his aunt. Upon visiting
him an hour later she found that the
words Deer Ant" was all that he had ac-
complished. Surely he did not foreshadow
the pleasing poet and the brilliant jour
nalistl
TRREPREssrBLE BOYS
l think it was Lyman Beecher who said:
81 admire boys in the rough. like them
as ! do oysters-on the half she'll" And
so do ]. l am ready to make allowance
for natural depravity; it simply may be
msdirected gUsh, Just as rudeness may be
merely surplusage of vitality. l have
no patience with NOPE The repressibe
boy hardly ever rises. There isn't any
elasticity in him; he lacks pluck, energy,
ambition. Stubbornness is sometimes but
another name for endurance.
The irrepressible boy may become the
irrepressibe man, and if the irrepressibil-
ity is properly expended, he will accom-
plish a vast amount of good, If such men
as Seward, Phillips, Garrison and Free
mont were irrepressible boys, we are
thanhful that the fault, or the faculty,
grew with their growth
In my boybood l believed in Santa Claus
and Jack and the Beanstalk. 1t was after
had reached manhood that l became Gym.
ical incredulous and suspicious
Our inventory Of a boy may not amount
to much There are too many unknown
quantities, too many undeveloped phases,
too many unestimated possibilities. have
friend who prides himself upon his
knowledge Of human nature. His intui-
tions never deceive him. Boys are his es-
pecial study; he can read boy like an
open book. He can sum up his worth,
forecast his failures, predict his successes.
mean to say that he thinks he can. l
had al amusing illustration of his power
last summer.
HE COULD READ BOYS.
"Those are very good boys of Dar-
ringers" my friend remarked to me one
day.
lie referred to a family who recently
had moved into tine neighborhood
"Do you think sop | quietly asked,
quaver in my voice which escaped his
notice.
eyes" he answered. 1.-TWO of them
were here early this morning to ask per.
mission to pick berries in the clearing. l
was pleased with their frank ways and
honest faces. They took off their hats, in
dulged in no slang and looked squarely at
me. | can tell a polite honest truthful
boy the minute | sot my eyes on him.
Catch any boy raised around here asking
for permission to pick berriesl I'd think
the millennium was about to dawn. They
had only one small basket between them.
why didn't you bring larger basketp l
asked. oh, we only want enough for
mamma to make a pie Of they said. tell
you, they are honest, truthful, well raised
boys"
eyes," / replied, scarcely able to repress
my emotion. What time were they here
this morning."
Gas early as o'clock"
"And it is about in the afternoon now,
isn't it2' asked.
eyes"
"Well," said, 81 came past your clear
ing fifteen minutes ago. The two Darrin-
ger boys came out of it with four large
baskets filled with berries. Boys, you've
had good luck l said. You can bet your
bottom dollar on that one of them replied,
we carried just as many home at dinner
time Did you ask Mr.. Bradford's per-
mission to pick berriesY inquired. Yes
was the reply. we pulled his leg for him.
We hid all our baskets in the bushes but
the two quart one We shut up his eye
most everlastingly.'
"Well, those frank, truthful boys who
do not indulge in slang, and who look
squarely at you, were twelve hours in your
clearing, and got away with at least two
bushels of your berries. OF course-you
can tell an honest, truthful boy the minute
you set your eyes on himW
My friend did not get vexed. Heignored
the sarcasm underlying my speech A sad
look crept into his eyes, and he muttered
something about total depravity and the
need of wider Christianizing Influences
Frank H. Stauffer in Kate Fields Wash
iugton.