Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-05-28
PUBLIC OPINION.
Editor EVENING NEws:

Editor EVENING NEWS:
If not unduly ~trespassing, I would
again ask the favor of the insertion
of a few additional lines on the sub
ject of the shooting accident which
occurred a week ago last Friday.
An article appeared in your last
Saturdays issue, signed "A Mother"
The point of this article was very far
afeld from the subject under discus
sion, which was the USE, not OWN
ERSHIP, of rifles by small boys. /
was either purposely or unintention-
ally misquoted, and this is my only
reason for again referring to the
matter.
Your correspondent quotes me as
CHASING "all boys who own rifles as
vicious and their parents criminally
negligent" II my recollection serves
me correctly (my letter appeared in
your issue of May 21st.), l made 10
such sweeping statements. What 1
did say was ito draw attention to the
pernicious and dangerous practice of
small boys who play with guns of
various description" Now, to my
mind, this is something entirely diff
%ferent, and because a boy has a bad
habit, il does not mean that the boy
Is NtCIOuS. II WOuIu SGGm d IGdSOu-
able proposition to lay down, that all
children have more or less bad hab-
its Tiny own children of course aver
aging up with the rest), but that they
are therefore necessarily vicious,
seems a ridiculous deduction and /
am surprised that this question was
raised.
AS to the responsibility of the
,1aronfc = fafaroo A, ,uo +hso. stT.
my opinion, the boys are not so
much to be blamed as are their par
ents, who permit and encourage the
use of such things promiscously in
our streets and yards" If a fair
substitute for this statement is that
1.-The parents are criminally negli-
think differently.
One might infer from the tone of
your correspondents letter that ]
had claimed that the shooting was
intentional, but | distinctly stated
that it was IAN accident" and am
quite as we'll aware as your CORE
spondent that the boy who did the
shooting has suffered acutely for his
act, and this in itself has been a
severe punishment.
lOul lCopOiiuCnl . COiolQCl 4
in informing me that Perth Amboy
has survived several generations of
small boys y " Il and still
thrives" is certainly most "kind."
Most of your readers are probably
under a similar impression, and If a
dozen accidents had occurred in the
past and even one or more fatalities
had resulted, this would still be true.
Nv What Inui0 ond pnacnninu thic ic
advanced as an argument in favor Of
the use of rifles on the streets, l fail
to perceive.
Nor does the evident curiosity of
"a Mother" as to whether Il ever
owned or even desired to possess
such q pernicious article as a rifle or
sling shot" appear to be pertinent as
to whether 1t is a dangerous or harm
less practice to use rifles on our
streets. The fact of whether she ever
owned a skipping rope or did knit
ting when a girl seems to have as
much bearing on the subject.
/ do not believe that your columns
devoted to Public Opinion are in
tended to be used for this class of
discussion, neither do | believe that
your readers would be interested in
such facts, and | shall therefore re-
frain from supplying these vital
points. / should, however, be only
too glad to personally furnish your
correspondent with all this informa-
ton and, if desired, other details of
my boyhood, If it would assist in
throwing any light on the subject
under discussion, but as your CORE
spondent's communication is anony-
nous, / am unable to do so.
Although your correspondent does
not definitely declare herself in favor
of the practice which / have con-
demned, still ] think that a fair in
ference to be drawn from her letter
is that such is her opinion, and if she,
as 1.-The mother of several small
boys" decides to arm them with
rifles and allow them to be USED on
the streets to the common danger of
the community, the responsibility
will be solely hers. If, unfortunate
ly, an accident should follow, | beg
to assure her that / should be as
charitabiy disposed towards the per-
petrator of the accident as / would
towards my own son we're he the I'M
fortunate culprit, and as charitable,
! trust as would be "A Mother or
any of our citizens.
Yours truly,
A. CLAYTON CLARK.
Vanderbilt Horse Wins Mt Paris.