Evening star., 1955-11-05
Rough Road Ahead


Recently / read the press
account Of q sharp admonition
given by q District Juvenile
Court Judge to a parent who
continued to allow his teen
age son to use the family car
despite several traffic viola
tions. It is not my purpose TO
comment upon the judgment
cf courts Of law. These de-
cisions are difficult. Indeed,
q decision by the Supreme
Court itself can alter q main
current Of American life
through a vote Of five justices
who have varied youthful
backgrounds. parental atten-
tion, education. arteries.
glands, and metabolisnl, even
though the controlling deci-
sion may be diametrically OPP
posed by four justices who
have varied backgrounds. ar
teries. etc. All ] ask for is an
understanding Of such people
as juveniles and parents. After
all, no one can properly un-
understand q yotingster who
has not at some time been q
child.
To cite q personal example.
when / was a youth in a Mid
western prairie town. our
family was able TO have q
Stutz Bearcat-a real auto
mobile However, a family
down the street had two
Stutz Bearcats for their boys.
My sense Of Illustration and
the bunting Of my competi-
tive spirit can easily Re
understood nowadays. but that
actually arose more from the
fact that, while my family
also had an old Locomobile
the same family down the
street with two Bearcats
had q shiny new Pierce-Arr
with lamps Of brass that look
ed like gold. What really cre-
ated my sense Of mot belong
ing" was the iilsistence Of my
father. an oId-fashioned ty-
rannical type who was always
thinking as much Of the rest
or the family as he was Of me.
that the family have the LO-
cornobile for at least an hour
and q half on Sunday after
moons, with excuses like ''see-
ing the autumn leaves turn
ing" and poetic stun like that.
The two boys down the street
dispensed with this nonsense,
so that the rest Of their fam
lily were never sure when they
could use the pierce-Arrow.
Lately. In passing through
q large Middle Western city
near my old home. ] made
bold to call upon q man
chairman Of the boards Of
many corporations and q
leader in civic organizations--
who had also lived in our
town. but much farther down
the street and in q sort OF
shack. His family had only
d second -hand Star or Saxon
or one Of those cheaper cars
and. In fact. had to sell the
car one bad winter to get
money to buy q few sacks Of
flour. some blackstrap mo-
lasses. and shotgun shells to
kill rabbits. as this was the
only meat they had that win
ter except salt pork. After
explaining to my friend my
feeling Of snonfulnllmentp in
life due 70 early experiences
with those cars, he agreed
thoughtfully that my failure
to progress had been caused
BY q mental trauna engender-
ed by d "causative lack" Upon
my query about what happen
ed to the two boys with the
Stutz Bearcats, he said that
one Of them had recently ac-
uliired q solid Job In an ALL
night tilling station, while the
other was employed by q food
chain. sacking potatoes.
AS we walked to the door,
my friend stopped. -You know"
he said, latter so many years
Of working ! have only recent
" had time for reading. and
some Of the books on young
sters and their problems which
have been passed On to me
have been revealing. So. be-
cause ] don't want my sons to.
have o feeling Of inadequacy
or not being wanted, ! bought
one Of them an expensive Mer-
cedeg. Benz and the other an
Isotty something anyway, it's
a fine italian make. We've had
them souped up to do IT'S miles
per hour. I'm going to meet
the boys at lunch today at q
downtown hotel -- / haven't
seen them In two Weelxs--be-
cause they've heard Of some
other expensive models and
want q change His face be-
II Us Al A. a. A q