Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-07

hilation of the Sioux warriors Of the
Dakota plains who have laid down the
tomakawk to take up the agency clay
pipe and store clothes.
That is to say, theories and princi-
Piles merely will not suffice to restrain
the impulsive, imaginative, action
craving youths unless the parent COM
bines with them enough knowledge of
the world to convince the half formed,
half trained youthful mind that the
mentor has the best interests of the
lad in mind, that he has been through
it all himself and knows full well the
joys and disappointments. the fears
and hopes of early days.
And it is the habitually stern, opti-
mistic, unyielding and academic par
ent who convinces the young lad that
he knows nothing Of the fascinating
temptations of boyhood. The spirit
of compromise is allowed to perish by
such a parent; the spirit Of rebellion
grows in the sons heart; spirit nour-
ished on the decay of the respect and
love thrust aside by the father who
would not understand.
A certain lad of sixteen years found
life in his New England home far
more circumscribed than was that Of
his companions Of the same age and
same comfortable position. He was
not allowed to go swimming in the
lake because his young friend Tommy
Clark had narrowly escaped drowning.
The fact that Tommy Clark could not
swim and was taking dare" on that
memorable occasion when he verged
on death near the county line road
bridge and the fact that the lad we
are considering could swim very we'll
made no difference to the father as
we'll as to the mother. The son must
keep away from the water. That was
final
Tho further fact that this boy as
pired to be a mining engineer made
no difference to this father or to this
mother. 1t had already been decided
for him that he must study for the
ministry.
Three years passed. The lad was In
college. The study of theology did
not suit his temperament or his de-
sires. He wanted, above all things, to
go out into the world Of action, to bat
tie with the might of the strong man
he was becoming against big, tangible
odds; out in the open air under the
open heavens, down in the bowels Of
the earth or wherever there were mines
to be dug and equipped and operated.
He wanted to study the problems that
faced the men who decoyed the glis-
tening ores from secretive Mother
Earth, and he thrilled with the idea
that he could succeed in this profess
sion.
He sat in his room in the college
dormitory one sunny spring morning,
and wrote his father that he could
not continue his study for the minis
try; that he wanted above all other
things in life to enter the school Of
mines at the university.
He waited five days. The answer
came. The same night there were a
vacant room and a vacant bed in the
dormitory. Next morning came
search. Under a table was found a
crumpled note that the tears of the
lad had blurred as he read. The letter
was taken to the president of the col
lege. When this gray haired gentle
man adjusted his spectacles he pressed
the paper fiat on his desk and read:
IF you do not continue your course
in theology 1 will cease to pay your
bills at college, Should you discon-
tinue them you must return home,
where I will secure you a position as
bookkeeper at your uncle's store"
Signed to this eloquent, brief epistle
was the name of the young mans fa-
ther.
Several years have passed since that
crumpled letter was picked up from
the floor of the college students room.
Several years have passed since an
aged couple, soon to exc out their
need of existence in a small country
town, have heard news from the son
who would not become a minister.
Several years have passed since a
young college student appeared penni-
less and discouraged in a middle west
ar oil nj L. tla &c
for days, subsisting as best he might,
in search of any kind of work that
strong hands and arms could perform.
So there should be tempered judg-
ment shown, say I, in dwelling on the
present fate Of Jimmy Valentine when
it is considered that he was the am
bilious lad who left the crumpled note
lying on the floor in his bedroom and
set out to fight the world single handed.
That Jimmy should have lost in his
first grapple with life should afford no
reasonable person ground for reproach.
Those of us who have not lost as yet
quite humanity perhaps incline toward
comparisons which favor our own
acknowledged virtues, but at the same
time the environment of our fellow be-
ings at critical periods in their lives
should always be remembered when
the final estimate is made. 1t is hu-
man to have human emotions. 1t is
human to have inhuman ideas con-
cerning some of our fellow men at va
rious times; but, after all, why not
adopt the optimistic philosophy of
Jimmy Valentine himself? For was 1t
not he who at the time Frisco Eddie"
bungled the inside job" of a safe
looting expedition in Omaha sought to
soothe the latter's feelings by saying
sympathetically
Nobody is a failure until he admits
it himself. You will never admit you're
a failure, Eddie, so cheer up. You,
therefore, can never be one"
Consequently Jimmy Valentine must
be given a chance. His doctrine is the
doctrine of hope. Give him a chance to
apply it to himself and await uncon-
demningly and dispassionately the re-
suit.
ha dc in, 90