Daily Kennebec journal., 1903-07-18
The Rioht Kind Of a Boy.

it for the text Oh an euitofidi rrIhP orI hPu
IN the value of common honesty, and
both the story and the sermon are SO
good that we wish every boy in the
country could read them. And net
only small boys but the boys If a larger
growth. The incident occurred in New
York. a small newsboy suddenly had
his bundle of papers torn from MIN by
the wind and carried hither ana yon
in the mud. He was tipped over him
self; and as he recovered his feet ne
remarked, tersely and comprehensiveiy'
.That busts met" A man on the side
walk who had seen the entire per-
formance, laughed; and the boy heard
him. and naturally he wished to KNOW
,,bat there could be in ones misfor-
tunes to make another laugh. Inc
elder man said that he was NOT laush-
ing at him. and added: Heres half
dollar to start you in business aSalh.
This softened the situation all arouh"'
and +o such an extent that the boy
said as he started on run toward
Park Row, you amt such a PAD guy
after all" Then the man went his way
toward his ferry, but soon heard the
pitpat Of hurrying feet behind him. III
was the boy. "Say, mister" said ne
"does you go this way every hisht.
"Non WAS the answer; "why DO you
ask" "Coz," said the little chap' i
wants to give you paper every nlshl
till I squares the debt"
The story tells it's own moral pretty
we'll Big and little readers Will un-
derstand 1t without the aid OF dla-
gram Rut after all it is the business
sense Of the boy-the old-idsflo'ieu
business sense-that is the remarKaple
and encouraging thing about it. Ihe
8-year-old knew what debt Is anu
his pride and self-respect ana sense oil
decency-big phrases that Inecely sus-
,est the thing that worked in this BOY
mind without any phrases ut aii-"oulu
not Let him take debt or his llt'le
shoulders without making arrange
ments to pay it. 1t was his voluntar!
and volunteered judgment as 10 the
proper basis of business TRANSACTIONS
and it did him credit.
1t is such stuff as this nameiess 1T
tle chap is made of that keeps this ma
ton going. Some Of our groWh-upS
t.ke - different attitude in regard to
debt. They bring themselves, by d
certain course of training, to depend
upon the courts for assistance IN re-
gard to asccrtaining the nature OF debt.
They construe the personal obligation
In the light of the statute Of ll'nlta-
+;ona IF the law and the court say
that they are under the obligation ol d
debt, they agree to it, generally 1or
they are law-abiding men, but they
are not inr the habit of exhibiting much
nersonal initiative in the matter. POS
sibly they do not trust their own con-
ception of what a debt is possibly all
that remains to them is the misty no.
tion that debt is only that which a man
cannot avoid paying. They are SO hard-
cned. financially, that some of them
probably do not think about debts at
all. unless an outside pressure forces
them to do so.
1nnpn1
such men, 1t carries them-sometin"S
I'm places of great outward respectable
itv. hut it does not live and grow great
by means of them. 1t is the oId
and decent sense of obligation that
keeps this country going-coming to 1t
now from the honest instinct of llttt
unwashcd newsboy, now from the
uuieter and less sophisticated farm
ward lad, but always and in every in
stance from that sort of a mind that
will not permit one to do mean thlhs
Just because at the moment it Is an
easy and comfortable thing to do. This
artists newsboy had started on run
toward Park Row, in order to obtain
fresh bundle of newspapers to carry Oh
his business, before he remembered
that gifts do not agree very well with
the proper independence of business
man; and this recollection, tugging at
him nightly, pulled him back in time
to overtake him would-be benefactor.
Without any big words about it, 1t was
the squarest sort Of thing to do; and
. it was not less square and admirable
for being the spontaneous act of a lit
tie ignorant street merchant who car
ries on business on a fifty-cent basis,
and in regard to whom the actual diff
ference between prosperity and ruin
is very likely measured by that small
standard. The boy did what he could,
according to the circumstances of his
narrow life; and the social order will
not work quite justly for him if he
does not find or make the chance, as