The Pleasantville press., 1912-07-31
From the May, 1912, Woman's Home
Companion.


Companion.
Long before | was married |
thought out carefully what | would
do with boy of my own if ever
had one. / theorized good deal, as
most women do. Then by and by /
faced the practical side of the mat
ter, for by and by there was a
boy to call me Mother"
If the environment of this boy of
my theories had been as ideal as my
theories for the boy himself, there
never would have been bit of diff
ficulty; but the inevitable happened.
As he grew older, he went with other
boys, of course, and took on their
ways.
He was getting to be twelve years
old. He gave me respect and the
obedience which required of him;
but for pure satisfaction and delight
he turned-where but to his own
world
I, for all my theories and wisdom,
for / had thought and lived much,
and l am generally called clever
woman, found myself finally pitted
against a handful of boys who, with
no experience, no wisdom, had yet
become my boys demagogues and
models.
He would go from me whistling,
his hands in his pockets, his cap on
the back Of his head, d,-happy enough.
But as he got farther away his steps
quickened. BY the time he reached
the gate, he was lifting along with
an air of positive gafety. Then the
gate banged; and, as though the last
fetter had snapped, he would pull his
cap down securely, pick up his legs,
give a catcall or a boys whoop of
some sort, and tear down the street
to join his crowd" in a world of
their own. 1t was a rough world,
too, Heaven knows; full Of the aver
age boys vices and crudities-rough
speaking, unclean thinking, bragga-
docios, horse-play, cruelties, and mis-
takes. There was good in it too, of
course, of its own kind. But there
were in it, too, the usual "Bully," the
usual Braggart, the usual Rowdy;
and there was in plenty that general
lawlessness which among boys pass
es for manliness. Above all, there
was the inevitable clan spirit, that
native loyalty that binds every boy
of any particular "crowd" to his
crowd, be the crowd good or bad.
The "Bully" was held up to me as
hero; the Rowdy as inexpressibly
funny; the Braggart as wise. and to
be respected above the rest,-God
save the mark! They slapped my
boy on the back, and he carried his
shoulders straighter. They called
him "Micky- Mike" This name was
Michael Farraday), and he thought
it excruciatingly funny, and delight
ed in it more than in any praise or
approval of mine. They sometimes
called him by his last name, and he
was secretly glorifed; man in all
but years. He carried their hoarse
shouting approval like a distinction
and reward As the days went on,
and these boys influenced him more
and more, there was in the whole sit
uation sufficient danger and promise
of disaster.
Oh, | thought over it enough, pray
ed over it enough, and studied the
whole question thoroughly, you may
be sure. | thought of secretly get
ting some sort of club organized; of
appealing to the boys public school
teacher to help me with it. l thought,
too, of getting the aid of our family
physician, man who had always had
the boys interests at heart. thought
these men might be got to warn and
instruct these boys as | could not.
thought of club to meet at our
house and to have my open sympa-
thy; but / was not SO dull as to cling
long to that inadequate plan.
It was just at this time that there
fell into my handsome people
would say providentially-a little
pamphlet called, "The Boy Scout
Scheme. 1t told all about the or
ganization, well known and much ex-
plotted since that time-"The Boy
Scouts of America"
/ took the pamphlet to my room,
after the boy was in bed, and studi-
ed it from cover to cover, as Column
bus might have studied a map of the
new world, could he have gotten his
hands on such thing.
The pamphlet had very little abb
out mothers in it; significantly little.
1t dealt direct with the boys world
and interests. The boys home was
not once, / think, mentioned in it, but
there was a deal about "scoutcraft, !"
"woodcraft,n "campcraft," and the
| like.-words ! had never put togeth-