Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-12-30
~! Sesf,
wv. G. T. VI. ~
y;iaS;;;SS;sJ;i XIsaiiAs;tl;s
Ihe uses Of soatIoIdIaa.

H /.
The other day two men were 60.
ing by place where series oi
brick arches were being built, The
arches were only halfway up, and
each was being laid over and round
a sort of large, half-oircular wooden
box. At the end a further row OF
wooden boxes showed where the
next set of arches were to no con-
structed. The men stopped and
looked at the whole unfinished, awk-
ward group of wood and brick, and
one of them said, smiling, 81 never
can look at this sort of thing without
remembering when was boy, and
there was more scaffolding to me
than brick. / didn't know i. was
scsffoldiig; took it seriously. ]
expected every friendship to be
eternal, and every decision TO be
final, and every mistake to be ire
vocable. How 1 did worry---and
over what? All scaffolding, every
bit of it Most of it gone long ago,
and what's left Pm getting out as /
build further"
EYES," said the other man, "but
Pm rather glad l worried over the
scaffolding, because the brick
wouldn't have come out right if /
hadn't. When you're through with
the scaffolding, of course it seems
mere rubbish. But every inch of it
is important till the building gets
above it,"
He was right. No first-rate
builder ever uses careless soaffolding.
What is going to be built depends
largely on the framework arranged
for it. When the building is done
not one inch of the original soaffold-
ing may be left; but every inch was
necessity, none the less. When
arches arc true, and stairs firm, we
can be sure that the preparatory
work was good. A weak arch, a
sagging wall, testify to the contrary.
The excellence of the scaffolding is q
prophesy of the excellence of the
building.
Still, scaffolding is not thing of
beauty. 1t is awkward; it gives
little hint, except to the expert, of
the architecture that will follow.
Young people have to go through
this awkward age" and they often
suffer acutely from the conscious
ness that they are awkward. But
the awkwardness has to be-. The
young man who never is awkward is
like the fruit that ripens too soon,
and rots at the same time. He usu-
ally has nothing but his easy man.
ners. The girl who is in society at
fifteen does not make the noblest
kind of woman. Every teacher
knows the long time it takes solid
minds to mature, and the possibili-
ties that lie in the quiet, awkward,
hard working scholar. There is
likely to be, perhaps, in such young
souls an exaggerated CONSCIENTIOUS
ness, crude seriousness of thought,
a painful self-distrust and shyness.
But the traits are not in the build
ing, the permanent character-they
are only the inevitable, necessary
ccaffolding of coming qualities. "The
thoughts of youth are long, long
thoughts" never for the present, but
toward the future, and the future
alone must prove them.
Youths present choices and deci-
sions are seldom final, it is true.
Yet they are often just as important
as if they were final, for the final
choice must be built according to
their lines. The youth who plans
no conquering of circumstance, no
rising tower of will, can never build
forceful manhood. The early
friendships of young people may not
last, but they help toward the build
ing Of the best relations il life. The
girl who makes vain and frivilous
friends seldom builds the power of
high friendship into her character.
The boy who is not loyal to his play
mates, and to the boyish code OF