Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-10-09

TALKS WITH THE BOYS BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.
 Copyright, 1893


| just as fickle and unsettled. have let ters from boys who think of going to India"-who "have made up their minds to sail for Brazil, and so on, and so on, not one of them having S2o laid by. and none of them having yet arrived at majority. This is boyllke and what may be expected. Between the ages of 16 and 20 boy is full of schemes and plans. He thinks him. self smart enough to accomplish al- most anything, and parental advice IS | looked upon as tyranny. If had a hundred boys l should expect to go through the same routine with each and every one. It is what is called the "sweIl-head period" and you can't cure it under couple of years, no matter what remedy you bring for ward.
 believe that the better way is to treat the ailment as an ailment. In other words, no boy ever has it so bad that he can't be made to realize the strength of sensible argument, instead of characterizing him as an idiot, or knocking his ideas all over the yard with club. The father who sits down in a sensible way and argues the case will come out ahead.
 l A boy came to me awhile ago with a great scheme-one he had turned over in his mind every hour in the day, and dreamed of every night for weeks. He had read of Stanley and he proposed to explore Africa. His father had called him fool, but he made no attempt to prove it, and the boy was ready to run away as the | first step on the road to Africa. He had it all planned-how many natives should compose his caravan, the goods he would take, the big game he would slay, the book he would write when he returned, and the tusk of ivory he would bring me.
 In ten minutes I convinced him of the fooIisbness of his scheme, but it wasn't done by harsh words or rfdi- cule The course taken by his father would have resulted in a skip by night and the next thing the boy would have been heard of in the house of correc- ton at Cleveland, Buffalo or else where I would rather boy had this ailment than not. Itproyes that there is something stirring him up-that there is grit in him. Let him scheme and plan, bring out all the romance of his nature. and even help him a lit- tie. He will look back to it at 20 and feel as fiat as a pancake to think he ! taI efl r., 1Y,s head. Figures are great things. When your boy gets a scheme, sit down and figure it out with him in dollars and cents. I well remember when I fig 'ured on the increase of cattle on my ranch in the west. That increase was 800 head a year, and they would sell at S1o per head. There was $5,000 in cold cash, and I almost had it in my pocket when father suddenly pro- pounded the inquiry;
 'Yes, but where is your ranch and the droveof 1000 to come from?"
 Give the boys chance. None ever lived who didn't develop queer ideas and strange notions, and who didn't cause more or less mental anxiety.
 J farm and learn some kind of trade or business?" is the query put by almost every farmers son who writes. With out knowing all the circumstances surrounding the case no one would be competent to advise. The average farm life is all work and very little naturally inclined to agricultural life h Q will drift into +oxrrr, ;, eri+a o4 o1I the father may say or do. There is no question but that the farmer works harder for dollar than any other man who makes his muscle earn money. As a rule, he lives plainer than mechanic. He has little or no time for reading or amusement and his work is never done. The farmers boy who sits down to figure can readily see that man with a trade can earn dol lars to his shillings, and that in half the hours he puts in.
 The question of whether to go or stay should be family one. The farmer who finds his son diseontented should not press him to continue it and become disgusted with agricultur- . CT against his inelinations any more than you can make lawyer out of boy who is determined to be mer- chant. There should be no gulf be- tween father and son. The father has no right to spoil his sons future. Aft CT he reaches his majority he must shift for himself. In time he will like y marry. He mast make living for his family. Therefore it is but rieht that his ideas as a boy of F or IS should be consulted It is too often the case that they are not No father should think it beneath his dignity to sit down and have frank, free talk with his boy on the important subject of the latter's future. If the bows ideas are foolish and erroneous he can be made to see that they are so by ar gument and reason, but never by ridi- cule or bnlldozing. Talk matters over with him and if b;e ;re1,...4.