Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-12-20
THE BOY AND THE FATHER.

THE BOY AND THE FATHER.
How Can Father and Son Best Reach.
. an Understanding That Will Add to
Their Happiness7
The boy finds it hard to know, to
understand the father. The father
knows the boy better; 1t Ii not 20
long since he himself was a boy; he
should therefore have Infinite pa
thence. tempered with love. It Is a.
misfortune that the struggle Of the
world so often developes In the man
a sternness, a sornberness chat makes
him difficult OF approach to the boy.
It is a good world that this boy
is born into, q, good world with vet
SO much Of evil In 1t! For every
body cell there is disease germ lurk-
ing somewhere. for every good and
pure and honest thought tainted
idea, tainted with greed or selfishness
or hatred or lust. TO keep the boy
honest and pure and happy! That Is
to insure his being good and useful
man. How are we to do this? How.
ward OF from him all the flock Of
evil that surrounds him?
The writer sat In church In q
strange city one day and~watched the
bFightfaced boys in the choir, and
thought Of the many careers that lay
open before them, Of the many paths
that they would surely tread. what a
pity that they could not each one be
true to himself. to his mother that
bore him, to his native land! That
might not insure his being happy, but
it would prevent his ever feeling the
pangs of remorse, and It would insure
that others around him would be
happy. Why need there be evil and
disease and hatred and oppression in
the world? FL live honestly and kind
5ly win not that help? : :s5s I. !,
Then my own boys came up before
me and wave OF tender feeling came
over me as I thought Of them and Of
their future. Where should they be
sent to school? Which one to select
to stay on the farm? What to fit the
other one to do? And that next one,
what OF him? All the hard times that
lie before the boy and the young man
came to my remembrance and pitied
the boys. II wish I could go with
them and give them the help OF my
own experience, but / know that their
ways are not my ways, and they must
fight out the battles Of life alone, ex-
cept for what counsel may be able
to give. As I think Of 1t now it is
meredith ethat they should succeed
in a battle with life and modern con
ditions, more cruel it seems to me
than ever in the world.
Andrew loves TO build things; shall
he study to be an architect Il? Anhi-
tects toll and hail starye, they say,
at first. Poor boy! And then re
membered my own father and my own
boyhood. Father was a stern man,
usually, and not diplomatic with his
sons Rather quick to anger, he did
not always succeed in restraining
himself. ann that way. And I re-
membered how he had times of great
tenderness and compression toward
me, when / now know his heart
reached out toward me with a great
yearning that he could not make me
feel. I wish had known how my
father must have loved me, hut / could
not know until had sons of my own.
How much happier i could have made
that stern and often melancholy father
Of mine! But did not know.
y write this hoping that other sons
yet with their fathers may awaken to
a realization Of the great depth Of az
lection that that father really has Tor
them. They may make him happier
IL they will. And fathers may try to
be comrades with their boys. There
is where my own father was inherent
" at fault. s55E
Ah me OF little faith! Already /
remember tina. Andrew Is as far IN
his books at 13 as was at Is. that
he can make better waterwheel than
I ever could; that he Is stronger ID
body than / was at hds age; II he
works Jess that is my nanlt! oi
course our lads will fight their way
as their fathers did before them, but
let us see 4 we can not make 1t easier
for them by loving counsel by "chum.
ming with them.