ear-old boy came to you with his stories of what he
would do when he was "a great big man," you drew him close to you and
encouraged him to "talk it all out." Now, when he is a head taller
than you, and tells you of his hopes and aspirations, you sigh that
"boys are so fresh and visionary!"

It is not necessary to condone or to condemn all. What would you say
to the gardener who let your choice young vines run in straggling
lines all over the ground and in all directions,--or who ruthlessly
cut off all the stalks within an inch of the roots? Young people need
training, encouragement and urging in some directions, repression and
pruning in others. Above all, they need tender forbearance.

Another trying feature of the Young Person is his wholesale
intolerance of everything and everybody. Only himself and perhaps one
or two of his own friends escape his censure. These being covered
with the mantle of his approbation, are beyond criticism. This habit
of uncharitableness is such an odious one that our boy or girl should
avoid it carefully.

If you would acquire the custom of saying no evil, it is advisable to
guard against thinking it. Difficult as it may seem, it is quite
possible to put such a guard upon the mind as to accustom it to look
on the best side of persons and things. Nobody is wholly bad, or, at
least, few people are so entirely given over to disagreeable traits as
the Young Person would lead us to think. Only a few days ago a young
man was speaking in my presence of another fellow, who was, as far as
I know, a respectable, well-bred boy.

"Oh!" said the Young Person, when his name was mentioned, "he is no
good."

"Why not?" queried I. "Is he bad?"

"He is too much of a fool to be bad."

"Is he such a fool? I thought he was considered rather bright?"

"Well, he thinks himself awfully bright. He is a regular donkey."

"Are his manners disagreeable?"

"No-o-o, I don't know that they are. In fact, I believe he prides
himself on the reputation he has acquired for gentlemanliness."

"Then, what is so disagreeable about him?"

"Perhaps," dryly suggested the father of the Young Person, "he is not
particularly fond of you, and that it why you disapprove of him."

"No, sir!" was the indignant rejoinder, "that is not it. To be sure,
he never troubles himself to pay me any marked attention. Nor do I
care to have him do so. He is a low fellow."

Deny it as he might, the reason my young friend disliked the