The Ocala evening star., 1915-09-11
BELLEVIEW

Belleview, Sept. 8.-Every now and
then we read in the papers about
some so-called bad boys cutting up
pranks of different degrees Of bad
ness and then we all throw a spasm
about what 70 do with these so-called
bad boys It has been my purpose the
past year to take up this subject, but
one thing and another has prevented.
We see around US every day strong,
sturdy boys growing up TO manhood
without any real aim or object in life.
First they go to school; in some in
stances study indifferently, always
looking forward to vacation as a re-
lease from bondage, and when they
attain around their sixteenth or sew
enteenth year, they begin to cast
about for employment, either tempor-
airy or permanent, and l here make
this assertion, that there is not one
boy in fifty, from 10 to Is years Of
age, who has definitely set his mind
on what his future career or life work
will be. About all that the average
boy thinks about is to grab the first
job that comes along, no matter what
ii may be and no matter if he is fitted
for it or not, it is the job and the pay
envelope nine cases out of ten. Fol-
lowing this course the boy or young
man, the sport of fate and chance,
drifts here and there so that by the
time he is twenty-one years of age
his aim in life is no more settled or
definite than it was at the age of Is.
This is a serious proposition and it
grows more serious every year.
There is plenty of room at the top,
but there are so few of them that are
fitting themselves for a long, steady
climb. This statement that there is
always room at the top is worn
threadbare and has no actual value,
for the simple reason that we all can
not be at the top. And it is law of
nature that the mass of US have to be
at the bottom. There is heap more
room in between than there is at the
top, and thousands can lift themselves
al ACSACCo
would be no earthly show for them to
reach the top. Therefore it is to these
boys that have started out in life
with no definite aim or object, except
to get a job that / am talking to.
When my sister Minnie and myself
made our trip north we visited the
Portsmouth, Va, navy yard. There
we saw hundreds and hundreds of
young men II, 18, 19 and 20 years Of
age, all busily engaged and all with
one object in view, and that was to
perfect themselves in certain lines
and trades, with the object of in
creasing their rating and pay and
make a place for themselves where
they would be something or somebody
with a definite aim in life. At New
port, R. l., we went all through the
naval station, on the big ships and
little ships and there we saw the same
thing, thousands of young men all
with an object in life, and striving to
attain it, and l want to tell you that
they were good to lok at. They were
well clothed, we'll fed and well cared
for; strong, rugged specimens of hu-
manity every one of them and there
was not a one of the thousands we
saw that worried about next week S
work or next weeks pay, but one and
all knew for certainty that at the
end of the month Uncle Sam would
hand them their salary in gold. Nc
matter if business was good, bad OF
| Indifferent, and no matter if collec-
tons were slow or good, the pay roll
ed along with charming regularity
and the man that showed US around
is not yet As years of age, in the
prime of his life, and is retired from
the navy on a salary larger than 81
per cent of the clerks in Ocala are
drawing today. He will draw this
salary the rest of his natural life anC
while other men in the SOS and co..
are working their lives away he viii
smoke his pipe, enjoy his bottle Of
beer and take. life easy. And this i!
the point at which any of these hun
dreds of boys and young men that ar,
growing up around US without an!
aim or object in life can aim at, ant
attain, without half trying. / will q
further and make it without half tn,
hard labor that they will expend b!
drifting here and there, and grabbing
at any joy that comes along. From
time to time, l will have more to sa!