Great Falls tribune., 1921-11-10

! The relation of father and son IS
! the, oldest relationships of humankind
and will endure farthest into the future
/ OF any problem Of the earth's people,
the Rev. Y. Z. Loper of the First Con-
gregational church declared Thursday
in father and son week address to the
Great Falls Rotary club at Hotel
Rainbow. Some Of the Rotarians were
guests at the luncheon.
! Giving point to his Introductory re-
marks, Mr.. Loper asked the Rotarians
whether any Of them could enter into
the lives of their sons after fashion
that would genuinely inform them of
what the boy is thinking and doing.
| Gould he fool you as the boy in The
| Real Diary of Real Boy fooled his
father?' he asked. 'This boy. after
| the way Of his kind, had learned to
swim without his fathers knowledge,
and when the father took him to the
creek for a lesson he so frightened
the father by disappearing in a long
dive that the lesson was forthwith
| terminated.
Does Father Know Son?
'What, after all, is the relationship
of father and son? 1t is the oldest re-
ilationship the world knows and it will
be one of the last problems with which
the human race will deal. What do
you know about your boy? There could
speakers who could competently discuss
any problem except the boy problem.
but how many of You could, if called
upon, adequately present the father
and son relationship? Do you.. know
the psychology of the boy, and do you
sufficiently sympathize with him to be
able to understand him?
"a boy is not a miniature man: he
has life and personality all his own,
but it is possible for the father to
understand him if he will give the same
thought and study to his relationship
with his son as he does to the other
problems of life. My heart is filled
with pity for those whom hear say
and the preceding generation. Not long
since a mummy, some 1900 or 1000
years old, was. uncovered. and beneath
the head was scroll in which this
man. who had laid in peace for perhaps
40 centuries, lamented because the
world WAS not then what it used to be.
Even then the phrase was a platitude.
The boy of today is no different from
the boy of any other day. He was the
same yesterday, is the same today and
viii be the same forever. He will be
IN future lie as he IL ulolueu uuTlus
his play life
Meaning Of Manhood
Turning to the boys. the Rev. Mr..
Loper asked if they knew the meaning
of manhood. when we see a boy
smoking q clgaret it is because he
thinks that somehow it associates him
with manhood said the speaker. ''He
has no liking for the cigaret, but he
;rJn hot tha ant of cpnLfno n
manhood Does the boy think that the
attainment of his majority means
manhood? Or the graduation in any
profession? Or when he begins to
make money?
"There is not a man here who is a
man because he is 21 years of age, or
because he has an office, or is making
money. Manhood is not portrayed in
what you see in man. Time was
when to achieve manhood a boy must
bring down his buffalo, or bring in a
scalp He had to show by his deeds
that he was d man. Different things
are expected of him today, but the
scheme of things has not changed. The
boy Of today comes into manhood as did
the antideluvian youth, or the young
Indian. His forthcoming manhood will
show on the football field, or in any
thing he does. 1t is in the way he de-
veIopes the invisible qualities that he
will achieve manhood.
Nation Depends on the Boy
Study. think, learn what manhood
means What makes dad man? And
here we come again to the question of
whether we realize how vital is the
relationship of father and son. Through
the fathers the sons must be built up
until the triumphant progress of this
great nation down through the ages is
assured. 1t was the German concep-
ton that their sons would acquire man
hood by absorbing the spirit of mill |
tarism, but ours is a different ideal.
I'VE sometimes have occasion to
wonder because the successful mans |
son is not always successful The ex-
planation is found in that every Won |
derful man is not a wonderful father. |
The father may be tremendously sue
cessful in business, or an outstanding |
community figure, but in the depart
ment Of his life which has to do with |
his son he may be an absolute and alb
ject failure. Through the boy, man is |
able to mold the past, present and fu-