THE BOY IN THE HOME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 11

THE BOY IN THE HOME.

' "Boys," said a little girl in her essay upon that genus,_ "are men that havo not got as big as thoir papas." And many a distracted 1 . aunt, and .. elder ,' sister ' might do worse than accept her dogma, and purgo herself of her, private .belief. that that boy in her own domain is an infant: perdu, a "limb of : Satan," and a . vandal. • The -period known.as,''babyhood" extends to the sixth or seventk yeaV, "just according to. His temperament, environment, aiid the disposition of the woman;who ; is mothering him. it t is'curtailed, at four by?the. displacement his nasal organ—when he is cold-heartedly, alluded to as Baby- No. 2. • But at .'seven, or thereabouts, he becomcs a "human boy." • i 1 ■ . He goas . to school (not a kindergarten), whistles, gets : muddy boots, talks'. loudly, terrorises over his little sisters," stamps,' torments the ;cat; '.smashes 'the...drawing-room' windows ..with his cricket ball, shoots his arrow through' your : pot screen, and: robs tho '■ pantry.:of its. strawberry jam, raisins, and candicd pe01.. : . ; ; mothor,'vdr. she .who. is. wearing the !' mother's, shoes, need not weep' over him, nor sigh at him, : nor preach to him, nor otherwise try^ to-hammer him,into, or out ofshape.' •; Cnder too many roof trees' the , boy m the hobbledehoy , stage: is '.regarded as. a wild. ani- / mal,'whom only the creeping years.can tame; And for, the. unquiet - interim • a boarding-, .school' seems' the - next': best .thing to it-he bax;rel■ alluded to by ono of: our ,writers.,' .

Herbert Spencer '.siys"During v early years every civilised man passes through that phase of 'character; "exhibited, by. tlie bar-. " barbus.race from,which ho'has sprung," and, diirmg, those' tumultuous ; times' .known, 'as ''vacations; 1 ' -thfrre'are scores 'of' parents • who' cry "Hear,' hear.": to that'doetnne.. ;i3y'them the. boy in' the house is-held blam"abie for all disasters, v from the-laming, of the horse 'and; the ; death'of ;the'dog; to. the : acid-ity of. th'e copk's .temper.:'-.ln ; brief, he becomes the' family' scapegoat (maiiy/families : ciinuot get oil; without drio)', 'and intuitively ho realises his own position', interpreting himself quite ''-.cheerfully as '. "the' blick: sheep." '-' ' His normal development .thus' establishes alienation between 1 himself and his next-of-kin. ■

The."soaring human boy" serves as a target'for many a vorbal shot,, a text for many, a sermon. ': ' ■

.Arid;'amother) needs to re'aliso that ho;is neither imp nor angel, but merely tho raw material out of which 1 the man makes, or mars himself; that tho casting of the'bread upon the"waters hits many applicationsthat the mission of motherhood requires a tireless lovo, ah unwearying ' patience . and- ' a sense of humour. . • . ' _ 'She must'romember-that the boy's place is in. the home, among the drawing-room Bric-a-biac, aniunt the beauties of the greenhouse, among the treasufes.of the library. Ho may spoil some of .them, but so-may' a 'housemaid, and the; rust,' and. moth, and worm. - H© must merely bo catalogued among tho other chances of life. ■ Givo him tho freedom which is not lawlessness but liberty. ' Unostentatiously allow his sins -to produce, their own punishments., If he will play with hot coals do not put out the fire or try to handicap.him, but let-him play,, until tho pain of tho burn has taught wisdom.. Then , commi-sorate, and laugh if you.ntay; but do not say "That'is as I said it . would be."

; "VVfelfcomb iiis friends, oven in the days of overall and patches., Make his own particular room attractive. Give him his treasuredrawers, his book-shelves, his garden-plot. Laugh, with" him, .-play with him, work with him.'. Search carefully, not for tho faults of his boyhood, but for its virtues. 1 A frank trust in his' innate chivalry and truth, and honour, will do more to make a wholesome happy boy in the home than all tho -sermons that wore over penned or preached. ; PEPITA.