The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-02-29
PARENTAL CARE.

ceases, and that henceforth he can paddle
his own canoe" and no longer occupy their
minds. But once parent is to be always
en- ever cease to be deeply interested in
and DESTROYS for the best welfare of the dear
child nursed in infancy and watched and
guarded tenderly through childhood's way
ward years; and so as che years pass by
their eyes are still directed to the object OF
their affection, with the hope and prayer
that he may be spared trouble and disgrace,
and that prosperity and happiness may be
his portion in life. This is the living wish;
bat the flesh is weak; the world has snares
and allurements, and too often in his am
gets the wisdom the years should have
rooted in him, and withholds much needed
advice from the beloved one, and even helps
him into acknowledgements and debt that will
sooner or later be his ruin If we could
only get away from unholy ambition, ''by
that sin fell the angels" and not only
advise better things but act as though we
believed them, many son would he kept
in the Straight and narrow way and be
| found travelling that slow and sure road
that leads to honor and preferment among
good people Were it not for this ambit-
lou for our children, and indiscreet trust
in their abilities, many ii parent would be
spared from pinching poverty and broken
heart in aye because some son has swept
away his property and become dishonored
and Enthusiastically man.
If "a word of caution from a woman may
be permitted, l would say that no parent is
iuStiliable in risking any considerable por
ton of his estate to help son into posi-.
ton he has not yet earned for himself by
diligence and economy, and by that honest
worth and ability that is sure to rise in
time without risking other peoples money
in the effort. Strewn all about us are the
wrecks of young men business failures
which would not have been had the father
counscled safer ways, and declined to allow
his name to be used as stepping-stone
into premature responsibility. The father
takes risks nobody else would. Can the
son respect him for it when in ripening
years he sees the mistake?
Who are the best business men of the
country? Are they not mostly those who
have risen by their own work? 1t seems
as though the sons of rich men have not
much chance to prosper-they are helped
too much; their own energies are not
brought out, the fathers fat pocketbook is
stumbling block in their way, and often
az otherwise, that which under poorer cir
cumstances would have stood for brilliant
capability, is hidden under the gold and
like the buried talent, yields no returns
| Rich mems sons are not fools; it is the
over indulgence Of the parent that makes
them seem so-the forgetfulness to require
to climb the hill as they did, beginning at
the foot, and only advancing as under
standing is developed, just as an infant
first begins to walk by laundering and in
cautious movements, but grows steady and
sure footed by his continued endeavors 1t
seems past comprehension how fathers who
have their fortunes by plodding processes
in the beginning, should fail to set the
boys to work at the bottom of their occu-
patton, that they may come up thoroughly
mastering the business and be able to di-
rect in all its departments.
A boy without some cash in his pocket is
about as forlorn an object as man in the
same fix, but he should have very little
except what he earns. Any boy almost on
the farm will earn money if he cannot get
it without. There are many resources for
farmers sons that others have not for turn
ing penny and learning the hard process
by which money comes; and the harder he
works for it, the less likely he will he to
fool it away on useless things. 1t is not
money that is the root OF all evil, for money
is a necessity of civilization; but it is the
love OF it, the desire to have it at all haz-
ards, even at the risk of beggarng parents
OF wrongng others, that is productive of
woe. high spirited, worthy son would
scorn to ask father to endorse for him
and risk the estate which perhaps other
children have an equal right in with
himself that he may cut figure in the
world, and stand for more than he is worth.
The system OF endorsing is ruinous one,
and cannot he engaged in to any extent
without loss. If the man directly inter
ested cannot be trusted, what justice is
there in third party having TO shoulder
the debt? A man who signs away his
property, and runs the risk OF making his
own family destitute, deserves to be pun
ished, and he will be. He cannot expect
to prosper; he has led some one else into
error, and the evil we do will rebound to
our disadvantage.
A parents duty as an adviser to his
children never ends. He is older and must
be dull indeed il the years have not matured
his judgment and made his opinion ripper
and sounder than his sons. A young man
at twenty-one years feels as if he was as
competent to Judge of things as ever he
would be, no doubt, but he is not. He is
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