PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 5-What is Becoming of Our Youth?
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:05:14 -0400

WHAT IS BECOMING OF OUR YOUTH?

"What is becoming of our youth?" an old friend asked me just the
other day. "They are misbehaving more every year, and if this keeps
on, everything will go to the devil."

“Now hold on a minute," I said. " Do you think the world is worse
off, and our children more ill-behaved than they were in our time?
Don't you remember how things were years ago? When a crop had
to be brought in, a barn had to be built, or a farm had to be sold, no
one looked to men with school-learning or pretty handwriting for
help, but to the biggest bully and to the man who could hold the
most beer. Nowadays when a fellow tends to get into fights or to
get drunk, people will shy away from him, and any well-mannered
lady will show him her glove.

Do you recall how it was when Fridder Honsmike brought in his
harvest with the old hand sickles and how drunk you got
afterwards? You were too drunk to remember anything when we
tried to lead you home, and we finally called for your wife to help
so that the rest of us could go home.

This caught my old friend like a blow to the ribs. Let me tell you,
this bragging from our older generation of their virtuous youth is all
wind. I suppose whatever “good boys” there were in our youthful
days just died. Anyhow, I don't know of any remaining survivors
although I've read about them in Sunday school books. I suppose
they've all passed on. I've often wondered how I alone managed to
carry on so long.

The big question is, what are our intentions for our children? We
must understand our children first. If one is skilled at cutting splints
and preparing licorice-water then he should learn the doctoring
handicraft. If from its manure one can tell that a horse is eating too
much oats then he should become a veterinary surgeon. If one can
charge outrageous fees with a straight face and lie like the devil
then he should become a lawyer. If one can live like an angel on
nothing then he should learn the preaching profession. If one is too
weak to become a farmer then he should take up printing.

The signs nearly always hold out, one way or the other. I once
knew a man who wanted to help his son find his way on the right
road. He locked the boy in an empty room except for three
things--a bible, an apple, and a dollar. After a few minutes the
father opened the door thinking that if the boy was found eating the
apple he would become a farmer, if found reading the bible he
would become a preacher, and if found with the dollar he wou1d
become a banker. When the father entered the room he found his
son sitting on the bible, eating the apple, with the dollar in his
pocket. There could have been no doubt that the boy was meant to
become a first-class politician.

* * *
Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

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• 5-What is Becoming of Our Youth? by "Vee L. Housman" <>