We always tried to act the part of sensible parents toward our little boy.  He never stepped inside of a school-house until he was seven years old, and, when he did so, it was to stay only a brief while.  It was six months before he became acquainted with every letter of the alphabet, and no youngster of his years ever ruined more clothing than he.  The destruction of shoes, hats, and trousers was enough to bankrupt many a father, and it often provoked a protest from his mother.  I have seen him, within a half hour after having his face scrubbed until it shone like an apple, present himself in such ragged attire and with so soiled a countenance, that it took a second glance to identify him.

And yet, as I sit here writing by the evening lamp, I am glad to recall that I never scolded Bob.  I would have been sadly neglectful of my duty had I failed to reprove and advise him, and I am sure he honestly strove to obey my wishes; but the sum and substance of it all was, he couldn’t do it.  He was a vigorous little fellow, overrunning with animal spirits, high health, and mischief; and it was a pleasure to me to see him laying the firm foundation of a lusty constitution, which, in later years, could laugh at disease.

And then when he did take a start in his studies, he advanced with a speed that astonished his teacher.  At the age of twelve there was not a girl or boy in school (and some of them were several years older than he) who could hold his own with him.  I took some credit to myself for all this, for I believed it was largely due to the common-sense I used in his early youth.  The foundation was strong and secure, and the building erected upon it was upon solid rock.

During the last two or three years I suffered from a great fear.  Between the school-house and our home was a mill-pond, which in many places was fully a dozen feet deep.  I knew what a temptation this was to the boys during the long, sultry summer weather, and there was not a day when a dozen youngsters, more or less, were not frolicking and splashing in it.

One afternoon, when I sauntered thither, I found fully a score of them in the height of enjoyment, and the wildest and most reckless fellow was my Bob.  When he observed me standing on the shore he was so anxious to astonish me that he ventured into the water up to his chin, I shouted to him to come to shore, for he was in fearful peril, and it needed only a few inches further advance for him to drown before help could reach him.

“Bob,” said I, in a voice and manner that could not be mistaken, “if you ever do that again I’ll whip you within an inch of your life.”

“I won’t, pop,” he replied, in such meek tones that, parent-like, my heart reproached me at once.

“Now,” I added more gently, “every boy ought to learn to swim, and until he is able to do so, he should keep out of deep water.  If you will promise me that you will never venture into a depth above your waist until a good swimmer, you may bathe here; otherwise you shall never come near it.”