The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1921-05-12

are we drifting I
But, to tell the truth, I'm not losing
any sleep over that proposition. l have
the idea that the kids of this genera
ton will stack up as high as any you
ever knew. Among them there are sew
eral presidents of the United States,
and innumerable congressman and
postmasters, and perhaps one or two
Shakespeares.
I've noticed that the old boys al
ways view with alarm where the kids
are concerned. 1t was that way when
l IA young. The boys of our neigh
to assemble every evening for diver
sion. There were no automobiles or
movies then. Our pleasures were Of
the cheap but filling kind. In the
winter, when there. was snow, we took
u handsleds and had great sport.
Our parents found it impossible to get
us to do any useful work when the
sleighing was good, and said parents
used to get pretty respondent over
1t.
Il have heard my father say a hun
bred times that the boys of that peril
cd were not worth the powder that
would blow them off the landscape.
All they think Of is fun he used t.
say, so discouraged he could hardly
stand it. When / was young he'd
go ON, children understood that
amusement was merely incidental, not
an end and aim in itself. When |
was ten years old { used to saw all
the wood used by the family, and
carry buckets of water from a spring
two miles away, and milk fourteen
cows, and curry eight horses, and
polish the stove, and hang out the
weeks washing, and when | had a
few minutes to spare | sat down and
read a good book, so that when was
twelve years old | knew the I'M
abridged dictionary by heart. But the
boys of the present day won't do any
thing useful or profitable unless you
stand over them with a club
Father used to talk that way all
the time. until / got sick of hearing
him. My grandfather was alive then,
and he felt worse about it than dad
did. He used to say he'd be jiggered
if he could see anything ahead of such
boys as he knew, but the Jail or the
poorhouse. All we cared for was a
good time.
"It was the same way at school.
If a boy was half an hour late in the
morning, because he got interested in
a game of marbles on his way to
school, the teacher would say he ney-
err did see such a frivolous bunch as
the boys Of that generation were, and
then he'd take down a small sapling
from the wall and larrup the student
until his troubled soul was soothed.
"All the old graybeards were agreed
that the boys of the neighborhood
were headed for the everlasting bow
vows, and we were always being lee
tured and roasted and held up as hor-
rible examples. Yet, the most Of us
did pretty well. 1 am the only one
[, can recall who didn't make a shin
ing success of life. l am grand worthy
custodian of my aunt's cows. l might
have risen to a greater height, but !
was crossed in love when l was young.
A man doesn't recover from an experi-
ence like that. He loses his ambition
to be president, and is satisfied to
peddle milk.
"But Freddie Bilker became a sue
cessful book agent, and has his own
motorcycle; Jim Dangling studied law
and finally was appointed notary pub
lie by the governor; Charlie Ormiston
also studied law, and got a job on the
police force; Oliver Messway is the
best southpaw pitcher In the cross
country league, yet the old fossils used
to say he would come to a bad end;
then there was"
"Spare me the CHASTITY details"
urged the professor.