The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1909-08-20
THE TRAINING OF A BOY.
Written for the Globe by c. S. Carr,
MD,

The boy should be held to the same
state of virtue as the girl is held. To
admit for a moment that the boy must
have a season of sowing wild oats is
to unfit any parent to bring up boys.
There is no reason in the world why
the life of the boy should not be just
as free from faint or irregularity as
that of the girl. Rude language or
vulgar behavior of any sort is just as
inexcusable in the boy as in the girl.
He should not be allowed for one mo-
ment to think that things are decent
for the boy to do that the indecent for
the girl
OF course, it is very easy to fall
into the habit of establishing dou-
BILE standard of morals for the boys
and girls. We have become so ac-
customed in this generation to see
boys do things every day, and hear
boys say things which no self-respect-
ing girl would do or say, that we have
unconsciously become reconciled to
the ided that purity in the case of a
girl should be higher than in boys.
But there is no real foundation for
such an idea. There is every reason
why the boy should be as neat, as po-
lite, as modest as the girl Boys
should never be allowed to think that
they are excusable in doing things
or saying things that would be unfit
for their sisters to participate in.
Boys reared with this idea in their
minds are much more apt to make
good men, successful business men,
healthy men, than the boys that are
allowed to indulge in coarse converse
tfon or questionable recreations
The boy should be on good terms
with his mother. He should be q
chum with his mother, if possible.
Her sensitivenes and feelings con-
corning questions of morality should
be impaired to him as much as pos
sible Then when the boy comes In
contact with rude boys, who have not
been so reared, he will be able to see
for himself the folly and degradation
of immortality.
We are aware that this is ideal, but
this is the standard that should con-
stantly be kept before the parent.
Make the boys as clean, and modest,
and respectable, and obedient as the
girls are. There is no reason in the
world why they should not be. There
is every reason in the world why they
should be-
But 1t Is upon the father mainly
that the rearing of the boy depends.
If the father be good man, a gen.
tleman, man who likes life and
makes the best use of life, man who
has not forgotten how to be boy,
and how to play with boys, a man
that likes fun but takes a serious
view If life in general, the boy will
scarcely need any other instruction
than association with his father. The
boy naturally emulates the father.
The masculine qualities of the boy
begin to develop early, and even dur
ing infancy he sees in the masculine
portion Of the family traits that at
tract him more than feminine traits.
There are some things the boy
can tell his mother easier than he can
tell his father. There are other
things that the boy can tell his father
better than he can tell his mother.
Blessed is the boy who has both ia
Their and mother who are approacha-
BILE, who are sympathetic with his
phases of growth, who are ready TO
forgive, and patient to begin over
again. If the boy has not found
these things in his father and mother
1t will be very doubtful indeed If the
Sunday-school or church, the day
school or teacher, will be able to sup
| NV his loss