Anecdotes for boys

by Harvey Newcomb

Think how you will feel when your parents are gone.

A young man was lamenting the death of a most affectionate parent. His companions, to console him, said that he had always behaved to the deceased with tenderness, duty, and respect. “So I thought,” he replied, “while my parent was living; but now I recollect with pain and sorrow, many instances of disobedience and neglect, for which, alas, it is too late to make any atonement.” If you would avoid this bitter reflection, ask yourself, when disposed to do any thing that will grieve your parents, “With what feelings shall I think of this, when they are dead and gone?”

Benefit of Obedience.

A boy wishing, one afternoon, to go with some other boys, on a sailing excursion, asked permission of his mother, which was not granted. After a severe struggle in his mind between inclination and duty, he gave up his anticipated pleasure, and remained at home. The other boys went. A sudden flaw of wind capsized their boat, and two of them were drowned. The boy, when he heard of it, was much affected, and said to his mother, “After this I shall always do as you say.”

Reward of Disobedience.

Another boy was charged by his father, as he was going away, to be gone a few days, not to go on the pond. Saturday, being his holiday, he asked permission of his mother to go a skating. She told him he might skate about in the fields and by the sides of the road, on such patches of ice as he could find; “but,” said she, “be sure you do not go on the pond.” He went out; and contrary to the strict charges he had received from his parents, he went on the pond. He thought there was no danger; for the ice was a foot thick. But there was a place that had been cut open to get ice, where he and his companions fell in, and he was drowned!

Some years ago, a boy in Woburn, named William Wheat, came to a terrible end in consequence of disobedience to his parents. Three Sabbaths before his death, he left the Sabbath School, and went to a public house—a place where no boy should go, on any day, unless sent on business. The next Sabbath, his teacher reproved him, and he was very angry, and declared it was the last time he should ever enter the Sabbath School; which proved true. The next Sabbath, he did not go; and the following Wednesday, he got an old gun barrel, which his parents had repeatedly forbidden him to meddle with, and charging it with powder, applied a lucifer match, to “fire off his cannon,” as he called it. The gun burst and killed him instantly. Here was a boy of a turbulent ungovernable disposition, despising the authority of his parents and the law of God. He only came to the end to which the road, in which he walked, naturally leads.

Boys should never attempt to set up their own judgment against that of their parents. When a parent denies the requests of his children, he does it, not to deprive them of pleasure, but because he sees a good reason for it. If the child submits, he will one day see that his parents had a good reason, although he could not then perceive it. Let this reflection silence all murmuring: “My father and mother know better than I.” The truth of this is clearly proved in the foregoing cases.

Conscientious Obedience.

Some children obey their parents because it is right, and because they love them. This is true, conscientious obedience—the obedience of the heart. And those who render to their parents this kind of obedience, will be just as careful to obey them, when out of their sight, as in their presence; and they will be careful not to evade their commands. They only want to know the wishes of their parents, promptly to obey them.