The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-07-28
LISTEN TO FATHERS ADVICE.


It's just because they remember
their own youth that prudent fathers
urge their sons to take no unneces-
sary moral risks, remarks the Catho-
lie Columbian. They may not have
fallen, but they recall how fierce their
temptations were, and they can also
remember young men of their &C
quaintance who yielded themselves up
to evil. So they warn their own boys
to walk the road that is straight.
MY father either never was young,
or<else he has forgotten how it feels
to be young." said young fellow in a
confidential talk with his employer.
| why, he expects me to act and feel
like man of forty, when I'm only
half that. 1t isn't fair for people to
| forget their youth
Then the successful business man
kindly and tactfully explained to the
| boy that the father had not forgotten
at all, but had remembered perfectly
| the thoughts and emotions of youth.
If he had not remembered, he would
have been Indifferent to his own boy S
career.
1T is because he does remember
that he wants to keep you from the
pitfalls and snares, my boy" said the
business man kindly. '',Take the mat
ter of your associates, for example.
| Your father is quite right in warning
you to keep away from the young
men with whom you now mingle. AS
you say, they are not vicious or pro-
fame, but they are idle, content to al
| low their fathers to support them, and
so they are dangerous friends. The
next step may lead them into dissipa-
! ton, for idleness brings a train of
evils with it. At any rate it is be-
cause your father knows of these dam
gers that he is so concerned for your
| welfare
Then because the man saw in the
| face of his young helper something
which made him know that the young
fellow thought he was merely moraliz-
ing, he added.
I'll tell you something else, Nor
gan. l notified your father that l
would have to let you go, if you kept
on with these associates. He and |
have been working together to bring
you to your senses"
With That he dismissed the young
man, and sent him home to think
over what he had just heard. For
tunately, the young fellow had sense
enough to know what to do, and he
did it. 1t was not long before he had
begged his fathers pardon for caus-
ing him anxiety, and had thanked the
business man for his warning.
1t always is hard for young men to
believe that fathers can enter into
| the feelings and thoughts of youth,
but they may be certain that youth is
not so far in the past that the peo-
pie reaching middle age have forgot
ten it. 1t is the keen remembrance
of youth that makes parents so Vigi-
liant and SO anxious that their sons
shall keep their feet in right paths.
Il am glad l spent so much time
| reading good books in my teens, for
now l never have a moment to read
anything but the daily paper" said
a busy business man recently. 81
used to think it hardship when my
mother wanted me to read her favor
myself l said that she had never been
young. But now | can see that she
was crafty enough to train my mind
in that way. Many of the chapters
of the Bible l read so often that |
committed them to memory, and you
may be sure that l do not regret it
now. | am trying the same plan with
my son, but it is uphill work. He feels
sure that I never was a boy, or at
least have forgotten how boys feel
Until the end of time, it is quite
probable that the Impotence of youth
will seek to ignore the counsel of mid
die age; but youth never should &C
cuse middle age of forgetting. There
are men who after a lapse of twenty
or thirty years, look back upon little
follies with deep sense of shame. If
some one had kept them from these
follies, how much sweeter now would
be the remembrance of their youth!
But alas! Then as now youth was
impatient of advice, sure that it alone
was right; SO the bitter experience
had to teach the lesson. 1t is not for
getfulness of youth but keen remem-
brance which is at the bottom of all
the anxiety of fathers that their sons
shall sow no wild OATS enter into
no shady" financial transactions or
otherwise depart from what is strict
ly right.
The Echo