The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1900-11-23
FAMILY HONESTY.
False Conceptions which Frequently
Lead the Young Into
Error.

There is no greater mistake than
that which parents are constantly max
ing when they allow their children's
notions of what they should do to be
formed on the basis of what some other
family can afford, says the Home
Magazine.
We want our young folks to be graft
fed. We are half ashamed to have
been so unsuccessful in life, as to be
unable to crafty them. Our pride
comes in, and we often fancy we are
keeping our children from cares with
which they ought not to be burdened,
when we are simply unwilling they
should know our own great struggles
and our small success.
Many girl goes through her expen-
sive and often useless education, and,
afterward, through years in society,
spending more money, wearing better
clothes than she ought, simply because
she never knew the truth concerning
her fathers affairs. Mother manages
20 supply her wants; mother goes over
The accounts with a harassed and over
burdened man, and the bills are paid,
and more bills contracted, and the
young girl enjoys her luXuries in happy
Inconsistencies of cost. Under the
same severe strain upon his father
many a dashing youth pursues his easy
way through college, hardly guessing
that the burdens which his young,
strong shoulders are spared, are press
ing heavily upon his fathers life.
Under this false conception of the
family resources, college boys and So
eiety girls alike come to feel in
diligence to be a right. When the
truth finally makes its way to their
knowledge, it meets with as much in
dignation as surprise. They feel de-
frauded of a birthright. when in fact
there was never any birthright or any
other right to luxurious living. There
was only the overweening pride and
weak indulgence of parents who could
not deny them, and could not bear to
have them know they ought to be de-
MED
At the very outset this faiseness of
family life should be resisted or over
thrown-if already it has taken hold
of the home it should be overthrown.
Every child of suitable age should be
made to understand just what amount
of money can rightfully be spent. The
young folks, eager to begin their work
in the world, and to fill their own place,
will begin all the better for a closer re-
Iation to the life of the home, and a
closer knowledge of its small worries
and its trihing joys.
Before they become engrossed, either
as men or women in the world outside,
is the time to make them thoroughly
familiar with the world within. Let
the college youth find his way into the
hiding place of his fathers anxieties
and hopes and cares. He has been the
petted child; make him the trusted
friend. Let him feel that some of the
planning for the welfare of those
younger than himself, some of the
thought as to the comfort and protec-
ton of mother and sisters, is trans
ferred to his heart, and that hence
forth the father shares his business life
with him. Let his mother get ac-
quainted with him and make him her
| assistant and friend.
And what the son becomes to both
parents, should the daughter be as
well. Both should know the family
life in detail; its resources and it's
needs, and together in nine cases out
of ten, if really trusted, they would
unite to uphold the parents hearts
and hands. There is nothing more de-
structive to youthful character and to
home happiness than this separation
of interests that begins with the school
life. There are difficulties in overcom-
ing the evil results of this drifting
apart, but if the matter is rightly man
aged by parents the young folks will
take the larger share of the effort, and
count it only part of the fun. Young
folks are born reformers. If you doubt
it give them a fair chance at the recon-
! struction of their own home.