The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-12-10
OUR BOYS.
Z Few Words Of Counsel to- Fathers
and Mothers.

Z Few Words of Counsel to- Fathers
and Mothers.
An exchange says: IF the boys
place in the home were given more
consideration. there would be less Oc-
caSion for the many articles in our
current literature on The Nan in the
Home. which articles are nearly al
ways TO his Giscredit. and make him
out to be not only thoroughly thought
less. but sinful!y selfish"
In commenting on the above in
The Commoner Mr.. Bryan gives some
good advice. which We commend to
the attention OF all fathers and moth
ers. He says:
I am not one who thinks tnat every
thing depends on home training:
much does, but there are other agents
at work upon the boys character
namely, heredity and environment
which has much to do with the ultl-
mate result. and against which, in
many instances. no amount OF wise
training will entirely prevail. \ child
inheritS a certain bent" whether for
good or for evil, and the most train
ing" can do is to modify the evil and
develop the good. Qualities and traits
sometimes crop out. for which there
is no accounting, if we consider only
his immediate progenitors. To the
third and fourth generation" we are
told. and in our efforts to bring them
up most wisely. we should not forget
that there is such a thing as ancestry.
Among animals, however finely bred,
there are now and then signs OF de-
generacy, and we must not forget
that man is Of the animal kingdom,
and only by constant care and over
Sight can we educate these effects out
Of existence.
We must study our boys. and seek
in all things to suppress the undesir-
able while we develop. the desirable
qualities. No two children are alike,
or require the same treatment. Ger
tain general rules will apply toall, but
individual study and Suiting the
means to the end in view is the only
sure way. In children of the. same
family we sometimes find extremes.
One boy may be a reigning terror,
while his brother may be next thing to
an angel. They may receive exactly
the same treatment, with widely vary
ing results.
But as often as not, If the boy is a
terror, somebody close at hand is to
blame for a great deal Of it. This is
the son which the mother must keep
close to her heart, by tender patience
and loving touches. These "Ishmaels;
need, and should have, double por-
Uion of loving watch care aDd wise
training. The mothers heart-StringS
must be woven very closely about these
wild, turbulent souls to keep them
from drifting away from safe harbors
when storms Of passion and beguiling
temptations arise.
But the mothers are not the only
ones VINO must seek to so balluSt the
young soul as to keep it from being
tossed to pieces upon hidden rocks in
the ocean before him. A fathers
watch care can follow his boy into
seas of temptation of which the moth
er can no nothing, and I hold that the
father must be held responsible for
his boy, as well as the mother.
There will come time when the
mothers watch care will not-cannot
reach the heights and depths Of the
allurementS OF environment. The
boys will be leL in paths where the
mother will be powerlesS. for the voice
of seduction will drown, for the mo-
ment, the loving tones of the home.
Here. the father must speak-not in
anger. not in stern command. but in
loving, wise admonition. He can
point out to these blind young eyes
the terrible pit-falls-the Wretched
snares, and he. alone, can walk these
paths besides his bedazzled son.
II only fathers would be comrades
with their boys! Would seek to keep
their young commences. dlu ny pre-
cept and example, point out to them
the better pathways, how much better
it would be for all. But it is a too
common occurrence that fathers re-
pulse, rather than attract the wi]dllng
of the flock, and TOO often the boy
his little respect and no love for the
old man." The lessons he husband
does-learn from chance associates, to
which too often he is driven by bis
fathers sternneSs, are not calculated
to make him respect even his own
mother and sisters, much less those OF
other sons. and almost before he has
touched the first threshold to coming
manhood he is but a moral wreck-a
being whom nobody but bis mother
loves, and she, only through madden
ing heartac!le for the ruin his habits
reveal Fathers, is it not the time
that you should realize that you, too,
must shoulder responsibilities in re-
gard to this boy, for whose birth you
are certainly accountable?