The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-30
When Mothers Don't Understand
Their Bows.

! teenth years. said director of Y Nj.
G. A. work in Pittsburg, with whom I
had a talk the other day.
And il the boy isn't properly guided
! through that period, he continued,
he is very apt to run wild, get into
| bad company, imbibe false ideals of
bravery, and evolve into a criminal
| Here is where the Y. M. G. A. and
the Boy Scouts are doing good work
forced to do it, you might say, by
the neglect of parents Fathers are too
busy or too careless to understand and
guide their boys through this period
Mothers, as rule, seem incapable of
understanding this phase of boys
character-they either try to keep the
boy in mollycoddle stage of exist
ence Or simply throw up their hands
and say they can't do thing with
him
"One camp of boys where l had
charge, was actually broken up by the
/ attitude of the mothers.
This camp was on the farm of
bfg-hearted citizen who hadn't grown
out of being boy himself in his heart.
/ His idea was that it would be fine
/ thing for city boys who never got a
chance at the country, to give them
| two weeks of camping out, in relays
So he had tents put up. hired first
class cook. acquired me from the Y.
NJ. c. A. headquarters and told me
to give EN- good time
We'll, the boys liked the idea all
right. But the mothers objected from
the start. Some Of them thought there
was too much of mixture their boys
i might learn bad habits from other
boys Others thought it was perfectly
/ disgraceful that their poor little lad
dies had to sleep in those horrid
tents. And when word got around
that we went on long hikes, cooked
our own meals over campfires and &C
tually slept outdoors. with nothing but
blanket under us. and the stars over
us-well, it was too much for the
mothers. We were teaching their
boys to be common and low-down,' as
one of them said to me.
There was so much disturbance and
criticism raised that at the end of the
summer, the big-hearted city man an
nounced that the camp would be clos
ed for good.
! I wanted to give the kids a good
t old-fashioned time next to nature, he
said to me, but the women don't
seem to understand it. | guess they
think I'm trying to harm the young.
sters. Well, I'm not going to beg
them to come out and be my guests,
SO this is the end OF my trying to dc
good along that line
Il used to have a fine place under
4 a tree for my outdoors sleeping quar-
tiers in that camp went on the Y NJ
c. A. man, reminiscently. Some OF
} the boys thought it was SO fine to
sleep out that they begged permission
to roll up in their blankets near me
On course let them. Outdoors never
yet hurt anybody. But whenever
showed our ideal sleeping place to
!. the mothers, they would exclaim-
with few exceptions how hor
rid. You don't mean to say you lei
the boys sleep out here RIGHT ON
THE GROUND! Why, it will kill
my jim.
I've just got back from a long hike
with fine bunch of boys went on the
Y. NJ. c. man. I'VE had. crackin
good time. We tramped over hill anG
dale, through forests, over fields, along
country roads We built our own over
OF stones where we carnped for the
night and cooked our own evening
meal
Say, said one of the lads, home
cookin's nothin' to this. kids
Then we slept on the open GROUND
and slept so sound that not DO.
turned over. Next morning early W.
: were all up, with fresh bodies anc
/ brains, ready for another days hike.
) THE fathers think this IS me, whel
: they're told about it. But we don't tel
the mothers what we're going to d.
until after it's done. for they are ap
I to raise objections. They simply can
r understand this period in boys lif
> though, of course, there are exceI
> lions among mothers just as there ar
all through life.
"A boy doesn't need to be held dow
as some seem to think, during thes
> evolutionary periods. He should b
guided. You can't knock the instinct
of barbarism out of him, but you ca
:. help him over the period when the
become manifest, by understandin
him and wise handling.
After the barbaric period is anotf
u er phase in the boys life that need
i;dicious handling call it the pei
: iod of chivalry. He begins to motto
!. the girls, have queer notions of homo
and all that Here again it is nece:
sary to put yourself In the boys plac
and with your superior wisdom guild
him while you sympthize with hin
Boys are the most interesting stud
in the world; and the most enjoyabl
= company I know Off you can onl
be boy with them. They easily yiel
to guidance and appreciate sdiaT
dealing-but you've certainly got I
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