d Wallace.

"I suppose because they think that I am not old enough," replied
Phonny, "but I am."

"I don't think that that is the reason," said Wallace. "Stuyvesant is
not quite so old as you are, and yet I shall let _him_ go and ride
alone whenever he pleases."

"What _is_ the reason then?" asked Phonny.

"Because you are not _man_ enough I suppose," said Wallace. "You might
be more manly, without being any older, and then people would put more
trust in you, and you would have a great many more pleasures."

Phonny was rather surprised to hear his cousin Wallace speak thus. He
had thought that he _was_ manly--very manly; but it was evident that
his cousin considered him boyish.

"I do not know," continued Wallace, "but that you are as manly as
other boys of your years."

"Except Stuyvesant," said Phonny.

"Yes, except Stuyvesant," said Wallace, "I think that he is rather
remarkable. I do not think that you are _very_ boyish,--but you are
growing up quite fast and you are getting to be pretty large. It is
time for you to begin to evince some degree of the carefulness, and
considerateness, and sense of responsibility, that belong to men.

"There are two kinds of boyishness," continued Wallace. "One kind is
very harmless."

"What kind is that?" asked Phonny.

"Why if a boy continues," said Wallace, "when he is quite old, to take
pleasure in amusements which generally please only young children,
that is boyishness of a harmless kind. For example, suppose we should
see a boy, eighteen years old, playing marbles a great deal, we should
say that he was boyish. So if _you_ were to have a rattle or any other
such little toy for a plaything, and should spend a great deal of
time in playing with it, we should say that it was very boyish or
childish. Still that kind of boyishness does little harm, and we
should not probably do any thing about it, but should leave you to
outgrow it in your own time."

"What kind of boyishness do you mean then, that is not harmless?"
asked Phonny.

"I mean that kind of want of consideration, by which boys when young,
are always getting themselves and others into difficulty and trouble,
for the sake of some present and momentary pleasure. They see the
pleasure and they grasp at it. They do not see the consequences, and
so they neglect them. The result is, they get into difficulty and do
mischief. Other people lose confidence in them, and so they have to be
restricted and watched, and