Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-03
YOUR OWN WAY
My Dear Boys and Girls:

in the letters you write to me, and in
the drawings you send. Those boys
and girls who persist in writing upon
both sides of the paper, who put titles
and names and addresses on the pie
lures they make or infringe upon the
rules of the contests in some way all
do so because they think their way is
good enough.
Of course I am willing to admit that
boys and girls who get their own way
frequently benefit by it, even if the
immediate result of their act is disas-
trous. One learns to acquire judgment
by having a few failures to overcome,
and the hard knocks of life, which we
must take sooner or later, are more
easily borne when one is young.
1 believe that many of you will have
experiences to relate of the days when
you insisted upon your own way, and
will conclude that the advice of father
or mother was better and should have.
been followed. 1t is always difficult for
parents to decide as to the amount of
responsibility they should put upon
lilClA SOilS anu uduSLlLSIS. LOu arc llON
old enough yet to know that this is so,
nor to what extent they often worry
about the matter 1t is just as danger
GUS to keep boys and girls too tightly
bound to the parental will as it is to
give them too little independence, and
I hope that your stories of having
your own way will show that some
times this is a very good arrangement,
and one which parents may try more
or less frequently.
Many of you undoubtedly have had
very amusing experiences, while Others
will have sad tales to relate of the re-
suits of your adventures, but each boy
and girl in the public schools will have
some personal narration which bears
upon this topic, and hope that letters
will come in great numbers.
With the opening of school I re-
ceived many letters from some of my
brightest and dearest Juniors, saying
that for the present at least they can
do no more work for The Herald Jun
Tor as school work will occupy all their
time. This condition is doubly regret
able-in the first place because the
many readers of the paper have grown
to expect and enjoy the contributions
from these clever writer's and in the
second place because shall miss their
cheerful, bright letters with the pleas
ant little postscript conveying some
message of appreciation and affection
for me.
1t seems to me, however, that a great
many of you could persuade your
teacher to use some of The Herald
Junior topics for your composition and
English work if you would take the
paper to school and show it to her
rhaps she occasionally gives you an
opportunity to write without assign
ing the topic or any general plan for
your work, and when she does this
you could certainly utilize either an
unfinished story or the writer's contest
topic.
l am sure, too, that there are a great
many boys and girls in each school in
town who would be glad to win the
prizes which are offered. I know there
are some children who find it hard
work to keep up with the little Incl
dental expenses of school life and the
small cash prizes which The Herald
gives each week, as we'll as the very
valuable books which also figure in
the prize list, will be very welcome to
many of these pupils.
/ hope that each one of The Herald
Juniors will write letter upon one of
the two topics announced in the paper
today, and will try very hard to get
e friend or schoolmate to write
their own experience also.
Each newcomer into The Junior
ranks makes your own work so much
more valuable to you, for you are OBJ
liged to strive harder for excellence
as you have more competition.
With best wishes for you all, those
who write often and those whose let
ters are less frequent, l am
Affectionately yours,