The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1917-07-18
WHEN A BOY KNOWS
MORE THAN HIS FATHER

been a very different history if Abe
Lincoln, age sixteen or so, had been
guided by the wisdom of Thomas
Lincoln, age thirty-six or so.
'"Now Abe," we can imagine him
saying, don't waste time readin'
them books. Readin' never done me
any good, and what was good enough
Tor mes good enough for YOU"
Lincoln knew more than his ia
Their. 1t was a divine disobedience
that led him to close his ears to the
man VINO had brought him into the
world, and open his heart to the vi
sion that was to help him conquer
the world.
Robert Louis Stevenson knew more
than his father.
That father would have shackled
MIN to the dry problems of engineer
ing. He could not understand the
obstinacy Of the boy who had refus-
ed to apply himself. That obstinacy
saved a great author from misery
as a mediocre engineer. That OBJ
stinacy enriched the ages.
Jesus Christ knew more than Jo-
seph his father.
''Thy father and l have thought
| Thee sorrowing," said His mother to
Him.
And neither His mother nor His
father could hear the voice that was
calling Him away from them, the
| voice that was to find fathers and
| mothers and brothers and sisters for
! Him among all those who should do
His WILL
LET no man despise thy YOUTH -
wrote Paul to Timothy.
| The boy who has not some firm
convictions and a willingness to de-
lend them, even against the argu-
ments OF those older than himself, is
not likely to amount to much, either
as a boy or as a man.
But they must be convictions, not
mere prejudices, not selfish impulses
or passions.
| know two men who knew more
than their fathers.
One boy is office manager of a
large manufacturing concern, and his
salary is $40 week.
'Better go to school," said his ia
| Their to him when he was seventeen
years old. Better go to college;
better get all the education you can
while you have the chance. You'll
need it afterwards"
But the boy quit school and went
to work.
He was promoted from office-bov
to book-keeper, from book-keeper to
head bookkeeper, from head book
keeper to office manager.
His path looked golden and long.
And then suddenly he stopped.
"You see that man." said the pre-
sident of his concern to me the
| other day. ''There is a man who
might have become general manager
of this concern if he had had COL
lege education.
His salary might have been $4,000
year; instead it's $4,000. He's reach
ed his limit. What a shame that he
hasn't education enough to go on"
He knew more than his father. And
his boyish obstinacy is costing him
$4,000 year.
know another man who "knew
more than his father.
keep yourself clean my son.
said the father to him. you'll me-
yer regret it. And some day you'll
thank heaven that you did,
But the boy knew more than his
father. He knew that every young
man who is worth his salt must SOW
his wild oats.
! So he sowed right merrily.
| saw him the other day. He came
to me the other day about getting a
job.
He was pale, and anaemic, and his
hands twitched and he was forever
rolling cigarettes. He could not
concentrate his mind on one subject
for couple minutes.
I couldn't give him a Job; no man
could. God knows what will become
OF him. He would starve if it were
not for the few dollars he gets from
his father.
The father who, he. thought, didn't
know as much as he.
Youth is the handspring of the
world.
Its insurgency, it's inquistiveness
its eagerness to try the untried and
to do the impossible, drives the
world forward in spire of the con.
servatism of age.
Fortunate are those of US who re.
cognize the divine Importance of