The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-25

For year or so. whenever the chanc'
has been offered, 1 have watched tive
little boys at play. They are brothers
apparently twins and il is really de
lightful to see them. They are sturdy
busy little chaps, half boisterous, Who'll.
Iy natural-boys clear through. Ant
they play in the rough-and-tumble way
that seems to be boy-nature.
But-and it was that that challenged
attention-not once have i seen then
''scrapping," if that is what boys call il
when they are at constant variance with
tongues and fists because things are
never harmonious, each perpetually pull.
ing and tugging TO get his own way
whatever the cost.
Perhaps they have their little differ.
ences, and perhaps they would not be
real boys If they did not; but if they
do, their troubles do not reach down
very deep, for never yet have 1 seer
them at cross purposes with each other
never yet seen one streak off by his
lone to pout ii out by himself And
never yet have l seen them fight-as
brothers sometimes will. you know.
They have other playmates; some
times whole groups of boys are with
them. But somehow the tive seem To
drift together without any intention at
all and to have been born ''cnums" as
well brothers.
And i have wondered
often Drift Apart.
In the years to come will there be
the same link that unites them today :?
VIII they stand by and stand up for each
other, and will they like to be together
the same as in the play-days of old?
Will they let questions of money come
between them, as many brothers do?
Will one go up, while the other stays
down, or will they travel in easy harness?
And if apart, will they still enjoy getting
together?
There is no way of answering these
questions now, for il too often happens,
when the years and the crowding cares
pile up, that brothers and sisters steadily
drift apart and that huge barriers, of
some kind or another, are thrown up be-
tween them-needlessly thrown up too.
The most that can be said. looking at
those small chaps at play, is that they
give beautiful promise Of growing still
closer together, by very reason of their
closeness now. Because there is some
thing about the memories of childhood,
when they are as dear they ought to
be, that cannot be lightly brushed aside
in the sterner after-years. And it is
hard to believe that these boys, drawn
close together by all that makes boys
NciAii ohtS' ever VIII let dHylDlnS grow
big enough and bad enough to make them
forget the long, happy days in the chum-
my, glorious past
They may learn what IL is to disagree
in matters of grave Importance and may
know all about each others very worst
weaknesses, but they will remember the
things they enjoyed together in the
beautiful setting of home. and it will
make mighty difference.
Makes one Wonder.
One sometimes wonders if the har-
monious homes We see are harmonious
because that is the way they We're made
from the beginning, or if there was not
some one always on guard to strike
out the first signs of discord and to
telp little folk learn that brothers and
Sisters may be comrades and friends as
Well And that the most enduring com
rades and friends, the truest, the stanch-
est of all. are those with A strong family
background, for they are the comrades
and friends that Will stand by when all
others fail.
One wonders too, why many folk go
so far afield when they are looking for
"chums," they seem to forget all about
the home folk and 10 think that when
ii comes to comrades they must search
away from home. But to my mind
there is something suggestively beauti-
lui IN the Slgnt OF brothers and sisters
playing together with scarcely a break
in the golden days Of childhood then
when the bigger tests come later on,
still finding enough in common to keep
them comrades and friends to the end.
When real trouble is waiting lust
around the corner and when il comes
creeping into the story of life, if there
has been any kind Of family tie at ALL
il is the kinfolk who share and help
bear it-that is, if they have always been
close, in the play-days and the mixed
days of later life
Deeper Than Friendship.
Friends the outside rarely enough
feel minded to make great sacrifices Just /
in the name Of friendship: but brothers |
and sisters true and close from the start |
have something warmer and deeper than |
friendship to draw upon. And when they |
are true and close from the start, the |
something rarely fails them. |
And these are some of the reasons |
why ii has been a pleasure to watch |
those small boys i'm their play, to watch !
and To hope that they may remember |
through ali the years 20 come how the
days went by in the long. long ago |
when they loved to he together
The years will bring many n rude