Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1875 — That Boy! [ARTICLE]

That Boy!

There he is again—rip, tear, slam bang! What a jumbled, tumbled, mussed-up mess of humanity is that boy. Hear the cat! That boy is pulling its whiskers. What a cackling! That boy is teaching the chickens to swim. Here he is! No, there he is! No, that’s him scudding along under full sail after the What a boy! Everybody says he w ! j) amount to nothing in this or any jjf’ aer world. • Who placed a pin on the tee Cher's chalt? That boy. Who drew a nlap o f the pond, ducks and all, on blackboard? That boy. Who filler bowl with salt, hung his sist best bat on the tallest tree, and thc, Q demurely in ttee corner with boo,£ upside down, foot oh the cat’s tail. and. grandmother’s spectacles above his nose? You might know that it was that boy. “ I can’t do anything with him,” says mother. “ A useless concomitant of humanity,” says teacher. “A lad whose baneful influence is being felt in a pernicious manner by all hie associates,” says pastor. But wait. Who brings the first of everything good to his mother? Who is always on hand when the schoolmaster asks a favor? Who tumbles heels overhead that he may obtain a geological specimen for the minister? Oh, it is that boy, is it? Well, then, just look down into his heart and you will find it different from wli'at you imagined. His soul is full, and ft bubbles up and over every time he moves. Mischievous actions'; lively pranks,, and sharp sayings are only the gateways through which escape the superfluous floods of his nature. The trouble is, that his body is- too small for his big souh Let him laugh and frolic ,and play. Yes, help him to do all this, and more too. Remember that our moral and intellectual giants were once just such boys, helped along by love; Also, bear in mind that pressure upon and abuse to such natures will make them fiends in human form.

Take them by the hand, and you can lead them up to the' loftiest pinnacles of thought and action. Drive them, and they become the devil’s strongest allies. If you have one of those frolicsome lads in your home, school or neighborhood take care of and watch over him, and the time will come when you will be proud of that boy.— N. 0. Advocate.