The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1909-04-06

THOUGHTS
ON BOYS !
By J. s. KRTIEY. D. D. !
AuGhw e - sYog !
NJ - Hnss1E~ 80 I
HIS UNSUSPECED ;
II n MIC a N
HIS UNSUSPECED
Copyright, by Joseph b. BoWtaR)
HANDICAP

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Copyright BY Joseph B. BowtAl
He bears tine marks and rejects the
spirit OF the family into which he il
born, Of the age in which he lives, Of
the nation to which he belongs and OF
the community In which he Is reared
So he usually assumes = considerable
responsibility in undertaking to be =
boy At all II he survives the initial
onset he may go down In the battle
for teeth II he Is a victor In that
fray, he finds long line of watchers
on his path-mumps and measles and
chickenpox and whooping cough and
sore eyes and sore toes and sweet
hearts. and he takes them all with IN
selfish impar1iality. II he survives. he
may be killed by a gentleman with a
military title from the Blue Grasg
state some fine day
His cheerful acceptance Of these
unchosen limitations would be re-
garded as an irrefragible proof OF
genius il he we're not a boy He keeps
hopeful He gives himself a good time
II there is any juvenile business going
on he gets on the ground floor, takes
= promoters share in the concern and
Is present when dividends are de-
cfared several times a day II there is
cloud on his horizon he slips around
and finds the silver lining, in sixteen
times to one where he misses 1t, like q
boy Who said to his teacher We've
got smallpox at our house Small
pox. Why. boy. you'll take it, she
shrieked- No, l WON'T he replied.
with great and gleeful satisfaction:
it's my stepmother that's got it, and
she never gives me anything He
had found the silver lining to that do
nestle cloud.
II sudden emergencies stArtle kim,
he gets unstartled instanter, Ike 4
boy whose mother told him not to 70
in swimming, but that evening he
came home With the marks Of trans
erosion "a his person You've been
in swimming was her greeting NO.
I've not. no indeed" But what
makes your hair so vet, my boy.~
Oh it's a hot day. and I've been
sweain'" But my son, your shirt
is turned wrong side out 20. / got
that done gfttin' over the fence" This
story is told, not With approval OF
that kind OF habit. but solely With ap-
probation of his dazzling, but dan
zerous. talent
Burdette says never strike q mus
tache when it is down and it may be
said beware of the boy when he is
down He is dangerous even when he
seems down and out These lines
are life.
Little Willie. in the best OF sash<s-
Fell in the fire and burned to ashes.
BY and by the room grew chilly
But nobody cared TO poke up Billie
He may seem dust and ashes. but
he is Ike the soil away out on the Pa
cific coast volcanic ash
He has mercurial inheritance. which
gives an agitating uncertainty tic all
OF his enterprises His talk is some
what like trap shooting. and. like
pigeons, his words are as apt to Nv
in one direction as In another. He Is
himself rs uncertain as his words. No
one knows just how he is going to
turn out He is much like Robert
Burns letter to his young friend
which he began by saying
1T may turn out a song
1t may turn out a sermon
He is like = closely folded bud that
gives no exact promise of the doors
and tones of it's fullblown maturity
He is like some of our little words that
may easily contradict themselves
Pat said Mike. is your father living
YETI" No" replied Pat. not yet"
You can tell how young animals will
turn out A young fox will 60 on dig
ging dens and stealing chickens and
sucking eggs. just As every fox has
done since there first began to be
foxes A young bee viii go oa build
ing cells and making honey and sting
ing you just as every bee has been
doing since the first bee was Matched
out 1t is no trick at all to give a
scientific prognosis on the young
mule With that peculiar blending
of the humorous and the melancholy
which We have always noticed in the
mule. he is foredoomed to lead q pic
turesQue and striking career-striking
as long as his hind legs hold out But
the boy-vhy. he is related to the dust
beneath his feet. to the stars all aflame
In the sky. to human life in all OF it's
phases of good and evil. in all OF its
history. past. present and to come:
to the God above who made him Inst
how he turns out will depend on how
he gets himself adjusted to that multi
form environment OF his. He win have
to do 1t himself But marvellous and
multitudinous agencies are At work
In his aid