The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-12-14
"MY JOB AS
A FATHER"

The following are few sent
ences from an aticle, under the
above title, by Edgar A. Guest, in
the August American Magazine.
"To be the father of great
man is what | should call success.
Naturally, | should like to have
much to leave him; but if | could
have my choice, | would prefer to
leave him SO we'll equipped for
life that he would need no mans
help, Better than money would
be to leave him self-reliant and
manly and able to earn his own
way in the world.
His education is part of my Job.
While | am a believer in the pub
lie school system of our country,
my duty to him does not end at
the school house door. Fine
though his teachers are, there are
many things they cannot teach
him. His education cannot entire
ly be turned over to public Off
cials. It is more my particular
task than theirs They may teach
him the art of reading. l must
teach him what to read and how.
Ny job includes also an interest
in his arithmetic and geography.
His report cards are as important
to me as the royalty statement OF
my publishers. | look upon them
as the .itemized account of my
largest investment"
Side by side with these stirring
sentiments, the following account
suggests one means toward accom-
plishniG the lob which Mr.. Guest
sets forth. Bobby" was a lively
healthy, keen boy. fond Of outdoor
sports, who looked upon school
as one of the necessary evils to
be gotten along with as easily a.
possible. He was not interested in
his studies, and his marks were
much lower than they ought to
have been.
A friend called the attention of
the father to some new books Just
published, and the father bought
a set for the boy. Soon he noticed
decided improvement in the boys
report cards. After a few weeks,
the marks were running into the
COS. This is how it happened.
When the new books came, Bob
by Immediately turned to the az
ticle, Baseball "Of course" he
thought, eth just tell me lot Of
things any fellow knows-a lot Of
words that won't be worth a thing
on the diamond" But somehow
it didn't turn out that way at all
He read the article through. Next
day he knew more about the game
than any fellow in the crowd, and
he picked up Dozens of pointers
that soon made him the best play
e. Of them all.
And so it was with Swimming,
Football, Basket Ball, Fishing, and
with everything he looked up.
The books seemed filed with the
things he wanted to know, told in
such a way that he actually did
not want to stop reading. Grad
ually the spirit of the books car
I1ed him along, and before he
knew it, he was reading about His
tory, Geography, the Biographies
Of great men, all about Animals
and Plants-delving into subjects
he never had bothered about be-
forer except when he was obliged
to as part of his school work.
Almost unconsciously he began
to use his new books nearly every
day; because they gave him Just
the help he wanted in his schoo,
work, Just the kind of outside
reading he liked. Looking up"
and finding out" became one of
the most interesting parts of his
school work. .
That is why Bobby's marks are
now usually high and his father
always smiles when he reads the
report card The set of books
which his father purchased for his
boy was "o.
0MpTON'C DICTTTDED