The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1912-06-07
A COMMON FOLLY.

And fell cursing like very drab."
The Man About Town sees things
and hears things, and many of the
things he sees and hears are not pleas
ing to the eye nor ear, and 1t would
be the better if many of the things
seen and the things heard had never
been done OF said. The old world is
all right, any way you take it, it is the
people in it that are odd, and they
are constantly doing that which should
not be done, and saying that which
should not be said. But there is no
health in us, and mighty little respect
or consideration for the interests or
feelings of others.
But that Is neither here or there.
The Man About Town is about to reg
lister a protest against a common evil
that impinges upon the ears of all
who walk the streets, an evil that is
becoming fixed habit, and is bad
simply because it does no one any
good, and is a reflection upon the in
telligence of those who so indulge.
What the kick is against is a habit
of expression. Not every one can eX-
press themselves in smoothly round
ed sentences, in wealth of we'll cho-
sen words strung in paragraphs like
bright clear pearls, but they can es-
chew the coarse, beastly, vulgar
speech that so many are edicted to.
thus in their poverty of diction re-
sorting TO the idiom of the streets.
To get down to bed rock, raw and
brutal profanity. This is objection
able and deplOrable at any stage of
life, and especially so when INDUCED
in by boys of tender years. 1t is with
out palliation or excuse. Many men
are careless in this respect, but the
older man is INDECENT in profane vo-
cabulary in comparison with some of
the youthful denizens Of this bailiwick.
In drifting around the other day the
Man About Town became by accident
in juXtaposition to a rabble of lads,
none of the actors yet in their teens
The Man had grown so far out of
touch with the upcoming generation
as to be looked upon as relic OF pre-
historic days, as good as out of the
way, and his presence was unheeded.
The lads gave full vent to their artic-
ulating powers, and the vileness of the
language would have brought a blush
to a door knob. Strange and original
Oaths flowed from the almost infantile
lips like nOxiOus discharge from an
overloaded sewer, and the ribaldry of
a drunken sailor would sound like a
sermon on morality in comparison
Companions were addressed as You
blankety, blank, blank, blank" and
the companion quick at repartee,
would respond with few more blanks
than his interlocutor could command
Betwe cen mouths full of foulness they
would bite off hunks of plug tobacco,
or borrow from each other the MAX
ings, and puff cigarettes. l say, Bill;
don't that indicate progressive age,
and is it any wonder that Roosevelt is
popular, and the country is working
up to an autocracy or anarchy.
The Man asked some one of mature
years what he thought of that. All,
exclaimed the party, they grow worse
ones down in Slaughterhouse alley,
back of the car barns. But the man
did not stroll out on the rhubarbs and
investigate. He cared not to hear any
thing worse.
There is no excuse for such evil, yet
the kids are not wholly to blame.
Parents are largely responsible for the
waywardness of children. The faith
er who sets the example before his
offspring is more culpable than the
youthful imitator. The parent who
fails to correct son is neglecting a
duty and is guilty of crime. Boys
will be boys. and companiopship
spreads the worst in lads, If one is in
clined to go wrong, because the bad
seems the easiest to learn. Evil COM
munication cOrrupts good manners,
and the boy who swears is as danger
Gus germ circulating among
others of his kind as the ty-
phoid microbe. The average boy is
pliable, if kindly approached. and not
naturally bad. Give him chance
and he will make good. Let those in
authority kindly reason with him, and
point out the right in counterdistinc-
ton to the wrong, and he will gener-
ally 60 right. The Man is believer
In and lover of boys. To him clean,
honest, manly, self-assertive lad is
a joy beyond expression. He mentions
this incident in order to point out the
uselessness of vulgar profanity, and
show that it is neither manly nor de-
cent Swearing don't pay. 1t lowers
the boy in the estimation of older
people, unless the older people are rot
ten in corruption, and the opinion OF
such people is not worth considering
and fastens a habit on the indulger
that is hard to break. The best advice
that can be given to boys is to cut it
out.