The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-19
Dorothy DlT Says
Honoring the Small Boy.
BY DOROTHY DIX
Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer

Honoring the Small Boy.
In Japan the fifth of May is sacred
to the small boy. 1t is the boys fes-
tival, apd a national holiday On that
day above every household, in which
there are boys. flags wave, and from
tall standards float huge gaily painted
carp-the boys symbol-"for even as
the carp swims upstream against the
current, so must a boy breast the diff
culties in the river of life
In the house, in the inner room. a
scroll depicting some scene inspiring
a boys imagination is brought forth
and hung up in the kokemone and
underneath it is erected a boy altar,
respondent with effigies of the sho-
guns in helmet and armor, gorgeously
robed daimyos, and stern two-sworded
samurai of the past, and the natty
sailors and soldiers of the present
Before this are placed more stand
ards with bright hued banners and tiny
carp, and piles of glittering toys, for
this is the Japanese boys Christmas
tree and birthday rolled into one, and
the occasion on which all of his friends
and relatives are expected to make
| him presents.
! And the streets are filled with
myriads of chubby checked little lads,
wearing the smile that won't come off,
J and sucking on adamantine Japanese
]
gifts to each other.
1t is d picturesque and beautiful
sight to thus see whole nation taking
a day off to pay tribute to the small
| boy, and it is a custom that might
well be initiated in our own country
where boys as a class, are without
honor. and none are SO poor as to do
| them reverence.
OF course individually we adore our
| own particular snail boy, but all 9TH
ers of the male species, between the
/ time they cut off their Fauntleroy
curls and grow a moustache, we look
upon with horror coupled with fear
and dread. To our minds they typify
noise and dirt and vandalism, and de-
struction, and i demoniac inventive
ness that skaters quiet and does away
with all comfort and composure.
Landlords refuse to rent apartments
to those known to possess small boys,
real estate deprecateS when they move
into a community, and we would soon
err hear that a visitor was bringing
with her d raging lion and wild
hyena than that she was to be accom-
panied by her precious Tommy and
/ Johnny.
i Perhaps the reason that the Amer
lean small boy is such a pest in our
| midst is because he senses that we re-
gard him as an 1shmael. and he there
fore unconsciously takes the outcast' 5
revenge upon society Certainly we dc
! force him to live in cities, in tiny
handbook flats where there is no space
for his activities and energies, and
where he is forced out on the streets
in order that older people may not be
4 driven by him into insane asylumS.
Every boy is entitled to be raised or
/ a farm where there is enough room
for him to move about his hobb1e-de
hoy feet and hands without knocking
Il things over, and where he can yell al
II
When we deprive him of his birth
right of this freedom it is no wonder
that we do so often make him Grim
: inal, and nearly always convert hin
into a sore tribulation to endure.
! No, boys do not get square dea
with us. Not even in homes where
they are reall! wanted and loved
Whoever heard of the boys getting the
best room in the house? That is al
ways given to the girls. Any sort o.
an attic chamber, or dark cubby hole
is thought good enough for the boys
!. and they invariably fall heir to tn,
! hardest ma ttr esses and the most di-
lapidated furniture in the family.
Maybe one of the reasons that boy
bang and hack chairs and tables
around SO is because they have neve
: had any of their own that was wortI
taking care of. There's nothing in
r lot of old junk that inspires in you
. soul that love of beautiful surround
ings that is the beginning of civiliza
ton.
And as for clothes-well, if there
any money to be spent on glad raj
ment it goes on sisters back. Mothe
worries and fuses over the girls
frocks, and tells father that the!
REALLY MUST have things that ar
the very latest word in fashion or els
they will be mortified to death to g
among their friends.
But if there is any economizing to b.
done, Johnny does it. Nobody con
! siderS it important how he looks 81
that he is moderately clean and ha
only a reasonable number of darn
and patches Nobody realizes tina
a Johnny sets just as much store upol
having just the right bag to his knick
r ers, or as razor-edged crease in hi
trousers as sister does to the set o
her skirt, and that he is just as sensi
7 tive to the boys comment on his tie
o as she is to the girls on her sleeves
Worse still, the small boy is utterl
neglected in regard to the importan
n matters that are going to count bi
: in his after life Mother prepares sis
:: | pearance in this world. She is laugh
: how to approach people, how to ente
1 and leave a room, and what to say.
5. But no one bothers to teach Johnn
that 1t is taken for granted that h
is a hopeless savage because he is
s boy, and SC no one drills Kim in tn
niceties of life. The result is that lit
r tie girls nearly always have good mar
ners, while little boys are hoodlum:
Little Mary drops you a courtesy whe
: you speak to her, and hopes you ar
well, and so on, but little Johnn
} keeps his hat on and says 10 TO
I woman OLD enough to be his grand
y mother.
That's why boys leave aome whe
they are grown to get a start in thei
S professions or business. Everybod
remembers Johnny Jones as such
if surly, ill-mannered little cub the
can't realize that he has developed b
t. the grace of God, and not thru HI
V parents fault. into a fine courteoU
gentleman.
Worse still, so far as the treatmer
y accorded hnys goes is the fact thai u