p. 9 | Property Rights

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 22, 1910

Property Rights

SMALL boys are very apt to fail to recognize the value of others’ property. My small son, in company with a playmate, in a game used the window-panes in a neighbor’s hen-house for a target.

Here was a valuable opportunity for a lasting lesson. I called my boy to me, and we talked the matter over, he having full chance to explain his side of the case. Then the mischief he had wrought and the reputation it might give him were gravely discussed.

He voluntarily offered to refund the amount of his part of the damage out of his small savings until full restitution was made. This was finally agreed upon, and here came the hard part for the boy. His pocket-money allowance was twenty-five cents a week, which was frequently reduced by fines for ill-temper or other sundry breaches of etiquette or duty. It took him seven weeks to get out of debt.

When the last cent was paid, he gave a sigh of relief, and said, “There, I’ll never destroy anything again as long as I live!”—E. G. W., in Harper’s Bazar.