The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-06-03

holds very fierce little heart within
it that takes pleasure in struggles and
revels in stories of great generals. YOU
forgot the harmless little fairies. SO
has it been with men. Not MANY
ages ago great and good men spent ali
OF their time thinking about battles
and training themselves to kill lust as
many as possible of their fellow crea-
lures.
But gentler times have come among
men. When large numbers came to
think it over they saw that war, like
your new jacket, has two sides: one
very nice to look at and the other full
of seams. The seamy side of war was
for mothers who could ueversee their
killed boys again, and whose hearts
felt robbed OF the precious dear one
who lost his life because perhaps Of a
silly quarrel among big people like
kings and generals. These thought
fui men gradually saw that a human
life was a wonderful thing and that
to cut it short was very serious. They
saw too how seamy a side life always
must bear to those who were wounded
and lived for years in pain or manned.
So, though great armies still exist.
you will find people growing more
and anxious to avoid war. because OF
/ the terrible side OF it.
s:s.s:
So if you want to have the history
Of the race completely >ketched out
in your little life, you Will have to
press back your fierce temper and
your desire to be in a big army in
fight. Yet am going to tell you there
were fights in fairy times and there
are fights now. People fight now
with their heads instead Of their arms
and you, if you expect to win the full
power Of manliness, must prepare to
fight too. Wise men say that all the
struggles OF the past have helped to
make men determined, and that if
some form of fighting were NOT con
tinued on the earth, we should drop
back and become lazy good-for-noth-
ing people.
What is the fighting ! am talking
about? 1t can be easily told to you.
Look around your school. There are
twenty-five, fifty, perhaps q hundred
boys there. They all will need to earn
a living in some way or another.
Your fight is to train your brain so
that not one of them can get ahead of
you, or cheat you, or laugh at you for
being foolish. Surely you donot want
| to be without good head and a good
! store in it. There are such: they are
! the sort that always have time to
watch the train come in but never
find time to work; the sort that rather
than pillow or chop wait around post
offices to look for letters when they
knew no one ever thinks of writing TO
them.
Brains tell, dear boys, and the more
boys there are in the world, the sharp
er becomes the fighting for any posi-
lions that open. IN the country the
fight is on Just as it is in the city.
There the farmer with good brains
beats the slouchy one, whether The
weather be fine ornot there the store
keeper with brains makes an honest
profit and lives, while the foolish one
is sold out by the Sheriff.
Times are now so peaceful That you
do not need to think OF how to save
your own life by taking some one
else's away. You have. therefore.
much more time than the boys oflong
ago to prepare for the battles without
blood. The schools too for training
you to the struggle Of brains are so
much better than they used to be-
that you have no excuse for being any
thing but a good soldier.
4:#as
| hope | have not used any words
too hard for you. Difficult words may
sound WELL but they sometimes fail to
reach the brain. For two weeks more
| shall write to you about "battles';
and in such a way, | hope, that the
men in your family will not lose any
thing by reading the articles too.
You can get one-horse road wagons
at MAYORS. 11-3%