Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1907 — THE PLAIN TRUTH. [ARTICLE]

THE PLAIN TRUTH.

An exchange says: Those who have had occasion recently to seek a boy or young man for a position or for an apprentice to learn a trade must have been impressed that there are a vast number of boys who have no desire to become useful to themselves or to the world. There are many to be found who sit around pool rooms and that sort of places, smoke cigarettes and are well on the road to loaferism. Why is this so? Occasionally there is found a parent who is so silly and indifferent to their boys’ good as to encourage them to believe that there is some disgrace attached to learning a trade, while the reverse is the truth. The great majority of men who are at the head of the successful enterprises to-day, both large and small, commenced at the bottom and learned the business in its detail. The best advice that can be given a parent, whether rich or poor, is, by all means, have your sons learn some trade and master it. To return to the query, one of the main causes of the waywardness of boys is their unfortunate association with other boys who are vile. Let your boys of tender years associate with a boy several years his senior whoso parents allow him to receive his only education on the streets and this latter degenerate becomes your boy’s hero. He must do all his hero does. He must smoke, chew, tell nasty stories, swear and sneer at all things that are good and true. He looks on his mother’s sweet, womanly affection and anxious counsel with supreme contempt. She is “the old woman,’’ and his honest, Christian father is "the old man.” Parents, keep a sharp watch on your children, especially boys, as long as they are boys. See that they stay at home just as much as possible. Always know their companions; make them mind from the cradle to manhood. If children are kept away from crime and criminal sentiments until they attain their majority, they are reasonably safe.