Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1921-03-31


But, to tell the truth, I'm not losing
any sleep over that proposition. have
the idea that the kids OF this genera
lion 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 was young. The boys of our neigh
Dorhood formed a gang, and we used
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
our 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
It.
} Il have heard my father say hun
dred times that the boys of that peri
cd were not worth the powder that |
would blow them off the landscape.
All they think of is fun he used to
say, so discouraged he could hardly
stand it. When 1 was young he'd
go on, children understood that
amusement was merely incidental, not
an end and aim in itself. When l
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 I had a
few minutes to spare l sat down and
read a good book, so that when l was
twelve years old 1 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 l 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
# he could see anything ahead Of such
boys as he knew, but the Jail or the
Doorhouse. All we cared for was a
good time.
at was the same way at school.
II boy was half an hour late in the
morning, because he got interested in
game Of marbles on his way to
school, the teacher would say he new
n did see such a frivolous bunch as
he boys Of that generation were, and
hen 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
hat the boys Of the neighbOrhood
we're headed for the everlasting bow
vows and we were always being lee
.ured and roasted and held up as hor- :
'ible examples. Yet the most of us /
lid pretty WELL l am the only one p
can recall who didn't make shin
ng success IL life. am grand worthy
custodian of my aunt's cows. l might II
nave risen to greater height, but Il
vas crossed in love when l was young. "
\ man doesn't recover from an expert n
,nce like that. He loses his ambition II
o be president, and is satisfied to n
)eddle milk. u
But Freddie Bilhlr became a sue. 81
'essful book agent, snd has his own N
Jim Dangling studied law ft
md finally was appointed notary pub te
lie by the governor; Charlie Ormiston
llso studied law, and got job on the NJ
police force; Oliver Msssway is the W
,est southpaw pitcher In the cross M
country league, yet the old fossils used al
o say he would come to bad end;
hen there was" ht
Spare me the CHASTITY Details" lie
Urged the professor. to