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he Sundwy Shee [0 Magasine WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 3, 19352. Features et 26} PAGES: The WAY of Modern AMERICAN YOUTH A Young Writer, Somewhat Bored by Repetitions of Boyish Feats in “the Good Old Days,’ b4 Tells What Some of the Teen Age Are Doing Today—Boys 1 'ho, in Spite of Their Few Years, Are Climbing the Ladder of Fame and Dispelling the Idea of “Flaming Youth.” II OW when I was a boy——" What father, with a peni- tent son before him, has not uttered these time- honored words? In a tone dripping with benevolent condescension to the temptations of this terrible mod- ern age, what father is not inclined to bring back pleasant memories of the days when boys were boys—and far bet- ter boys than there are today? Most fathers refer to a peculiar era which is called “the good old days.” In “the good old days,” according to the reminiscent father, the 'teen-age boy occupied him- self - with some useful vocation, or in- dulged, very rarely, in some proper, man- ly pastime. The youth of “the good old days"— which term, by the way, is used to desig- nate all the years from the beginning of mankind up to the present day—was much superior to modern youth. The ‘teen-age boy of today is but a pathetic weakling, incapable of doing anything of real value! An incorrigible hedonist with no other thought but to derive as much pleasure from this vale of tears as is humanly possible. Is the youth of the Nation declining? Were boys “different” in “the good old days”? Is the modern boy an object of concern rather than assurance for the future? Or is he worthy of trust and capable of taking over, when he has reached maturity, the reins of citizen- ship and government? Is he able to make career for himseif? SUPPOSE we glance into the early lives of five great men plucked at random from the pages of history. These five men have become symbolic of what every man wishes he could have been and what every man’s wife tells him he should have been. They lived in “the good old days.” What were the great men doing when they were boys? Were they idling away their early years in frivolity? Or were they shaping themselves for the careers which lay before them? Over a century ago, in the little village of Kinderhook, N. Y., a 14-year-old boy was becoming famous as a lawyer. When the tavern, conducted none too lucrative- ly by his father, failed, Martin Van Buren was apprenticed to an attorney. His industry and alertness soon attracted the attention of his employer, who en- couraged the boy to study law. It wasn’t long until the talkative, yellow-haired little lad was standing on chairs in court rooms defending clients. His political career is no less remark- able. He began by campaigning for Thomas Jefferson and his success in the venture won him a place as delegate to a political convention. His fellow dele- gates lionized their youngest member and he was the most popular feature of the entire meeting. Thus, at 18, Martin Van Buren had laid the foundations for his public life. He is an example to whom father can point with a shaking finger and say: “They did things in those days.” Andrew Jackson’s early life, while less inspiring, is certainly as colorful. Cap- tured by the British during the latter part of the Revolution, he had seen his mother and two brothers sacrifice their lives to the cause of liberty; he had lived in a primitive prison camp, where small- pox raged and men died like flies from neglected wounds; he had taken part in at least one skirmish and had witnessed others; he had had a severe attack of smallpox after leaving the prison, which kept him invalid for many months and the scars of which he bore throughout his life. Altogether, fate had swept him into the strangest, most ruthless and heart- By Burton Holcombe Fourteen-year-old Yehudi Menuhin, violinist, and outstanding example of what modern youth is doing. attend first-rate schools of this country, lounge about couniry clubs, inhabit good FA NNIE HURST says: “The shallow, pretentious, pd:'roni:ing boys and girls who homes and bode none too well for tomorrow. American youth stacks up badly in comparison with his European cousin.” Edna Ferber says: “The younger generation in America is 12 years old permanently, and its reaction to the serious problems confromting it is summed up in the phrase, ‘Oh yeah!” 5 Burton Holcombe says: “I am filled with optimism for the modern adolescent boy. 1 am one of them.” Robert Mack, 16 years old, a nationally known, avigiee. breaking adventures that ever befell a boy not yet 17 years old. Through it all he had borne himself with dauntless, in- domitable spirit. But when he was safe~ ly recovered from his hardships, he flung himself into a period of wild dissipa= tion which shames that of our modern younger generation into insignificance, and which ended only when his small heritage was spent. Benjamin Franklin was by no means the seraphic little lad that some his- torians would have us believe that he was. One of a large family, he soon be- came its black sheep, distinguishing himsel{ on more than one occasion by biringirg down the wrath of the entire towrship upon him. He became a typi« cal mischievous bey, while his father looked on in stern apprehension. He failed in arithmetic and so disgusted his father that he was removed from school and apprenticed. His escapades are too well known to bear repeating. They in- clude his building a wharf with “bor- rowed” stones, his writing of satirical compositions under an assumed name for his brother’s newspaper, and his final running away from home. However, he managed to extricate himself from this veritable morass of “wickedness” enough to become the edi=- tor of a newspaper at 17 and the founder of the Saturday Evening Post a few years later. THE “Father of tnhe American Navy,” idol of every schoolboy and perhaps the most brilliant seaman ever to sail the briny deep, was born in Scotland. The day following his birth, so it has been rumored, he was caught sailing paper boats in a wash basin. At any, rate, when he was 12 years old his com- petent handling of a little yawl during a terrific gale won him a small position on one of the trading vessels of an Enrg- lish merchant, who had observed his skill in bringing his little craft to port. His love for the sea carried him into strange lands, the slave trade and the British Navy. Except for a brief inter= val when he was a member of a troupe of actors in America, he spent most of his early life at sea. Typically Jonestike is the incident which made him captain of a vessel at 20. Becoming homesick for Scotland after a protracted visit in America, he engaged passage on the John. When they were only a little way out, both the captain and the mate died and the ship was left with no official to guide it safely across. John Paul Jones coolly stepped in and took charge, bringing the ship into port without a single mishap. Nat- urally such heroic action could not go unrewarded, so the young sailor became a captain. ] Teamsters in Kingston, N. H., used to stop at a farm house and ask an 8-year- old boy to read the Bible to them. The little lad—his dark eyes shining in his flushed, delicate face—raised his childisi treble and poured forth the flood of golden lore, holding his listeners spell- bound with his unfailing eloquence. The boy was Daniel Webster and he wasn’'t quite as much of an angel as the above would indicate. His unquenchable thirst for reading led him into an argu- ment—and trouble. Almanacs were the most familiar source of reading in those days, both for pleasure and for >rofit. Each page of an almanac was headed by a couplet. Daniel and his bioth>:, Zeke, had an argument about the rhyme which headed the April page of a recent- ly issued almanac. The dissension took place after both boys had retired for the night, but Daniel was always noted for his aggressiveness and retentive memory, He decided to put poor, misguided Zeke in his rightful place. So he crept down the stairs, lit a candle und conducied # .