El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-28

HE boy problem is one of those
everlasting questions that never
get settled, but that every one
Is interested TO talk about, and about
which he thinks he can say something
new and fresh, and a little more to
the point than any one has ever said
before
It Is not matter upon which any
one should write or speak who is not a
thorough believer in boys and in com
plete symDathy with them. not only in
their welldoing. but even in their
moral vagaries and eccentricities-
Our opinions are bound to be un-
sound unless We have a warm side for
the thing or the person respecting
whom these opinions are entertained
Even if it has been said a hundred
times before it is well TO say 1t again
that the future of American institu-
tions depends upon those who are now
children.
1t is also in point 10 say that an
adult rarely RECEIVERS from his boyhood
rarely becomes something essentially
different from what he began to be
in his first years.
What those first years are will de-
pend more upon other people than
upon the boy. In this way our destiny
is only very imperfectly a thing Of
our own making
1t seems strange and almost unjust
that things should be SO largely ar
ranged for us instead of our having
the opportunity Of arranging them for
ourselves. But things are as they are
and 1t is better to try TO climb over
a stone wall than TO lie on the ground
and butt our heads against it
Destiny is rough word, but no
amount of philosophizing will rub 1t
smooth. Even nature teaches US that
the tree keeps 70 the line Of the twig.
Our lives run in grooves: We continue
10 do what we once get in the habit
OF doing.
Boys Future Depends Having Safe
Grooves Cut for Him.
A boys future depends. therefore,
upon our having safe grooves cut for
him early. His character. when he be-
comes grown will be the sum of his
habits-habits Of being, thinking and
doing. His adult character will be
the momentum acquired by the contin-
ued habit of doing what is good or
what is evil as the case may be-
man becomes honest by learning
to be honest, by the continued practice
of honesty Such n one will not steal,
will have no disposition TO steal, for
the whole current Of his past years
sets steadily against 1t.
To steal would be to tramp1e upon
himself, and to break with his history.
We criticise grown-up people that
are selfish with their money. Such
criticism is probably unjust They are
stingy because they never learned to
be anything else.
Generosity is a habit, and. like all
habits has to be acquired. has to be
gained by the early continuous habits
Of generosity.
It is as impossible TO be generous
without having learned to be generous
as 1t would be to read Greek without
having learned to read Greek 1t all
dates back to the time when one is a
boy to the time of the groove-cutting-
There is great complaint now against
the youth and young men that are in
our offices and that hold positions Of
small responsibility that they shirk.
that they do nothing well, are incor-
rect IN all their performances. do not
know how to spell. cannot add up
column of figures correctly.
Such slovenliness IS simply another
name for lack of groove If river
has no channel for its waters to run in
it will spread all over the meadow.
Exactnexs is Attained by Being Early
Held TO Habits
Exactness is not attained except by
being early nelo 10 naDlls OF eXactness-
The first duty of parents or teachers
is to require the child to do thing
exactly as it ought to be done, and to
recite a lesson exactly as it ought TO
be recited-
SO of the matter of industry. The
bulk of a young child's life ought to
be a season Of play, but it should also |
learn the lesson Of work. solid, pains
taking industry
In that way industry becomes a fixed
habit and when he becomes grown he
will apply himself to labor at the push
Of an ingrained impulse. The pe-t5d
of childhood is made plastic, not that
It may continue so. but that it may
more readily stiffen into fixed and per-
manent lines