Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 246, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1917 — A Bad Practice That Is Due to Be Broken Up. [ARTICLE]

A Bad Practice That Is Due to Be Broken Up.

The practice of some of our youths of attending social functions to which they are not invited and destroying property in an attempt to make way with the refreshments should be broken up at once. The practice is almost as old as the seven hills on which Rome is built. It is so unoriginal that it is disgusting. Youths just reaching their “teens,” just ready to poke their feet through a pair of long jeans, are the worst offenders. They do it with the idea that they are bold, bad boys and that they will be looked up to by their companions and will be a hero in the eyes of the sweet little school girls, and not with the idea of getting something to eat. The latter is the farthest away from their thoughts and if tendered some of the refreshmens withou making a fight for them they would feel greatly disappointed. Their enjoyment appears to come through destroying property and harassing the invited guests to such an extent as to spoil the entire evening for them. Of course, one must allow for the spirit of youth. He must pass through the period where he is allowed to run wild, but it appears that too much leniency has been granted them and that in future their spirit must be curbed. There was an instance on Hallowe’en evening where the boys broke windows and caused so much disturbance that the entire evening was spoiled for the guests. The subject of these outbreaks don’t wish to take any legal action and the boys know it. But there is a law, which has been in effect since the beginning of time, which would suffice in such cases as th esc, namely, that one which permits the father to invite his offspring into the woodshed to a meeting at which only the two of them would be present. It would be hard on the dignity of the youth, who feels that the world is beginning to look up to him as the greatest light that has shot across the horizon in ages, but it might have its effect.