The Washington herald., 1917-06-18

| Maybe one OF the reasons that boys
oanB and hack chairs and tables
aronnd SO 10 because they have never
haa any or their own that was worth
| taklng care OF. There's nothing IN q
lot OF old junk that inspires IN your
soul that love of beautiful surround
;nss ,sas that Is the beginning Of civiIiza-
And, as for clothes-weII, II there's
any money to be spent on glad rai-
ment II goes on sisters back. Mother
worries and fuses over the girls
irocks and tells father that they re-
ally must have things that are the
very latest word in fashion or else
Iney viii pe morthed TO death to go
| But II there Is any economizing to be
done, Johnny does It, Nobody consid-
ers IL Important how he looks 50 that
ne Is moderately clean apd has only
a reasonable number OF darnS and
patches. Nobody realizes that Johnny
sets Just as much store upon having
just the right bag 10 his knickers, or
| as raZor-edged a crease in his trousers
| as sister does to the set Of her skirt,
and that he is just as sensitive to the
boys comment on his ties as she is to
the girls on her sleeves.
Worse still. the small boy is utterly
| neglected in regard 10 the important
| matters that are going 10 count big
| In his after life. Mother prepares sis
ter for society, for making a good ap-
pearance I'm this world She Is taught
how to approach people, how 70 enter
| and leave a room, and what 70 say.
But no one bothers TO teach Johnny
that. II Is taken for granted that he
Is hopeless savage because he Is a
boy, and so no one drills him in the
niceties Of life. The result is that lit
tie girls nearly always have good man.
| ners, while little boys are hoodlums.
I Little Mary drops you a courtesy when
! you speak TO her, and hopes you are
| well, and so on, but little Johnny
keeps his hat on an says 10" 70
woman old enough to be his grand
mother.
That's why boys have to leave home
when they are grown TO get a start
1 in their professions or business.
| Everybody remembers Johnny Jones
| as such a surly. i'll hammered little
cub they can't realize that he has
developed, but the grace OF God. and
through his parents fault, into a fine
courteous gentleman
Worse still, so far as the treatment
| accorded boys goes. is the fact that
no one seems TO realize that a small
boy is the most sensitive creature on
earth. and the most hungry heatrted.
He writhes under ridiCule as under
| torture. yet his callous family have
no hesitation in calling public at
tention TO his faults and blunders,
-4A1 ALC AAoAA vi
| which they hang the funny stories
they tell to guests. That's why boys
/ spring up in themselves and hide
what they really think and feeE 50
completely that their parents know
less of them than they do Of any
stranger that crosses their path.
And the small boy just aches to be
petted. TO be caressed. to be talked TO,
and sympathized with, and under
stood, and praised. And he so seldom
gets even a kind word. It's his faults
he hears about so often that IL is no
wonder that one small boy, when ask
ed what was his name, said that he
didn't know that its was either
Johnny Don't or Johnny RUn-he was
called one about as often as the
other
The japanese set apart a day TO
honor the small boy, exclusively and
individually. The japanese small boy
is courteous, kindly, gentle and con-
| siderate of others. He doesn't even
yell like a Comanche when he plays
| football. and you never see him in 4
street fight. Perhaps he is polite be-
cause he is treated politely.
Let's follow the japanese custom OF
honorinC the small boy and see IL
We can't civilize the American small
tC6pyfiESt, 1911. by the Wheeler syDdiatc. IBel