Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-07-16
HELPING THE YOUNG TO FIND
THEMSELVES
By DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman
-. Z. 3. Writer

TACK is as fine, Intelligent and up
standing a young fellow as you
could wish TO see. He finished
school In June, and when / met MIN
the other day I-said TO him:
"WelI. and what are you going to
make of yourself-rieh man, poor man
beggar man, thief-laywer, doctor
merchant, priestf"s
The lads fresh young face took on
q worn, harassed look as he replied
IN troubled voice:
II don't know. ! don't even know
what want to be. i have thougnt
and thought over 1t until am hall
mad and ! can't decide whether
want to 20 into a profession or bust
ness. am not lazy. am keen 70
be hard at work, but / want to start
right and get into the thing ] am
fitted for, and / seem to be one OF
the poor dubs who have no talent, SO
/ don't know which way TO turn"
And then his mother lifted up her
voice in lamentation:
Jacks father and are worried
20 death over him." she said. we
don't know what to do with him. he
must get work at something, but
what? We don't know how to advise
him. And It 10 so important that ne
should make the right choice"
felt like saying to her, Il Ger.
tainiy Is important. It Is the most
Important thing that viii ever hap
pen 10 Jack. This Is the crucial mo-
ment OF his life, the time when he
needs the help and wisdom Of his par
ents. and you have none TO offer him.
You are failing him in HIS direst hour
Of need. Shame on you'll
sYou have lived In close daily as
ISOLATION with this boy for twenty
wears. You have seen him develop
from babyhood into manhood, and II
a q disgraceful confession OF GRIM
innI carelessness that you have Cd
served him so casually and with SO
little intelligence that you do not even
now his tastes or hts aptitudes.
The most you know about him IL
Nhether he likes roast beef or boiled
mutton. and whether be sleeps in a
nirhteown or pajamas. You have
never taken the trouble to find out
whether HIS brain Is Of the quality
that would fit him for some intel,
Iacfnsi profession or whether It has IN
n the ouirk that produces merchant
princes. or whether his hands tumble
o. have the deftness that makes great
craftsmen
astupidl Stupid Stupid Unfaith.
fnl parentsi No wonder your children
~ failures. who 60 blunderlng
fhroneh life-round pegs In square
Holer-always trying to do the thing
nature never infended them 70 90
nd never succeeding at anytnine.
fnd It's al your fault You should
I've heen able TO have given them
fhe right steer when they needed az
older and more experienced mariner
Is head their little barks IN the proper
.,prfs protests the parents, "our
,hfSrcn never displayed any espe-
<7%I fsIent II there had been any
r-S<.,,lav epouting Greek when he was
..rse wears old, or Milton, hsping IN
<nS,here' for the numbers came, or
Snv MOZART climbing out OF his cradle
Io fmprovise sonatas on the piano, OF
nv fncinient Edisons or Rockefellers.
<.kv We should have known as well
. : anyone how to direct them.
..But IN our brood there were no
infant phenomenons They were Just
ordinary. sensible, healthy, happy
children. who did Just what all the
sfher children In the neighbo rhood
we're doing exhibited no more per-
tonal peculiarities than 80 many peas
il 4 pod. How then, could we tell
what each was best fitted to do for
= life work
The answer is-by incessarlt watch
fulness. by studying the ehild's every
mood and tense, by noting how It
plays, what II reads, In what II finds
lis chief enjoyment. keeping by It for
ever under the microscope Of dispas-
rionate investigation And the more
commonplace the child seems. the
more important for the parent to do
this. Not even all peas In pod are
alike or fitted FOR. the same careers.
Il is not that the ordinary child
does not give plenty Of indications
OF IT'S bent, but that parents are too
blind. and too careless and too pre-.
occupied with other things to notice
them, and the child itself is too young
and too ignorant to be aware Of their
Significance.
When Tommy is ten years old he
is tinkering with tools and mending
ali the loorbells and fixing1 all the
doorbells and fixing all the clocks
and sewing machines in the neigh
borhood. and knows by intuition what
Is the matter with the most tempera.
mental Of automobiles But that
doesn't suggest q thing to Tommy's
father. He never thinks OF having
All OF Tommyss studies directed to