Being a Boy

by Charles Dudley Warner, 1st World Library (Editor)

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, though it needs some practice to be a good one. The disadvantage of the position is that it does not last long enough; it is soon over; just as you get used to being a boy, you have to be something else, with a good deal more work to do and not half so much fun. And yet every boy is anxious to be a man, and is very uneasy with the restrictions that are put upon him as a boy. Good fun as it is to yoke up the calves and play work, there is not a boy on a farm but would rather drive a yoke of oxen at real work. What a glorious feeling it is, indeed, when a boy is for the first time given the long whip and permitted to drive the oxen, walking by their side, swinging the long lash, and shouting "Gee, Buck!" "Haw, Golden!" "Whoa, Bright!" and all the rest of that remarkable language, until he is red in the face, and all the neighbors for half a mile are aware that something unusual is going on. If I were a boy, I am not sure but I would rather drive the oxen than have a birthday. The proudest day of my life was one day when I rode on the neap of the cart, and drove the oxen, all alone, with a load of apples to the cider-mill.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1877

About the author

Charles Dudley Warner was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.

Warner travelled widely, lectured frequently, and was actively interested in prison reform, city park supervision, and other movements for the public good. He was the first president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and, at the time of his death, was president of the American Social Science Association.

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Periodically, I challenge myself to read a book written decades ago. I do this for several reasons. One, to teach myself to appreciate a different era. Two, to see if I will like a 'new' old author. Three, to compare methods of writing with modern-day authors.

And then there are those funny words. Words that I have never heard before that force me use a dictionary. Such as 'declension' i.e. deterioration. Or 'Thanatopsis', a view or contemplation of death. And 'switchel' which is a drink made of water, vinegar and flavored with ginger.

Charles Dudley Warner was a friend of Mark Twain. His manner of writing was conversational. Like you were both in the same room and he wanted to tell you something. He wants to share with the reader what life was like in New England during the 1800's while BEING A BOY.

It starts out with a goofy subject: the importance of oxen and trying to teach cows Latin. Oh, and the importance of cow society. Yes, cow society.

He talks about the difficulty of doing chores. Is it ever easy? He reflects that it comes down to wishing yourself to be a dog. Because dogs like to run and, not do chores. You soon realize that everything this guy is telling you is nonsensical, outlandish and bizarre.

Girls, fishing, eating pumpkin pie, planning a barn and the oh-so-importance of making maple syrup. Soil, religion and frogs. Indians, candle wax and monks.

My reading comes from the hardcover edition but it is currently free on Kindle. *Sigh.* I am glad to be a girl.

[Shawn Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really show how boys think and give a sense of understanding that it is in his true nature to do so .

[Glen Blesi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One wonders what a boy in our present era would include in a book about his boyhood. And if he did manage to have such a book published, would it be of interest to anyone? Relatively few grow up on farms today. Most grow up in cities or suburbs. Even schools in the small towns emphasize skill in technology use more than they should. Not much of lasting value, in terms of social skills, preparation for life, enjoyment of life, seems to be taught. A book about an Amish boy’s childhood would no doubt be of more interest.

School day studies in Warner’s time consisted of spelling, arithmetic, geography, history and composition. It struck me that the 10-minute recess not only survives in today’s schools, but has been carried over to the workday. In response to the history learned in school, the boys built snow forts at recess, one representing the early settlers and the other the Pequots. The majority wanted to join the latter group. They would then have a snowball fight representing a battle, and if someone was hit, he had to play dead until recess time was over. How is play time spent in schools today, one wonders.

Where else but in a 19th century book on boyhood, other than in instructive material on fish and game, can you learn what a sucker looks like, and why its mouth does not lend itself to taking in bait, that it has to be snagged or grabbed?

Where else can you find details about the making of maple sugar? Warner gives as one reason a boy likes his work “is that somebody else does the most of it. History is the sort of work in which he can appear to be very active and yet not do much.” Of maple sugar, he said, “It is a peculiarity about eating warm maple sugar that, though you may eat so much of it one day as to be sick and loathe the thought of it, you will want it the next day more than ever.”

Warner said, “The New England boy used to look forward to Thanksgiving as the great event of the year.” The day after was also always a holiday. The boy was given much work to do for many days leading up to the holiday. He might husk corn, prepare spices, pare fruit. It was a day for up to 24 kinds of pie at one dinner. For weeks afterward the family always had plenty of leftovers to finish eating. Thanksgiving Day itself was also a day of going to church for a special service. The author didn’t learn about the celebration of Christmas until he was grown.

Books Warner, or the boy he is writing about, mentions reading as a boy are Arabian Nights, Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson and the Almanac. Today’s students have graduated from these and would possibly, used to video games and modern, over-rated, endless series, find them dull.

Throughout the book are references to historical or regional events and references or allusions to authors and their works. An author of an era writing about his boyhood might do this. Today’s young reader reading this book would no doubt read of events, works and authors he is not familiar with. He has the choice to ignore them or to make a note to find out more.

If read today by the youth, a book such as this might help them to see that more can be done with one’s time than to sit inside with electronic devices. It may give the desire to explore our world. Or it may give the desire to explore our country’s past.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

About being a boy in old New England

This is an interesting glimpse into what the life of a boy in New England in the 1800s was like. He has his good points and definitely his bad points.

[J. Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Semi-autobiographical story of Charles Dudley Warner's boyhood in 1830s rural Massachusetts.

An interesting look at childhood back then, lots of bits that inspired me to search the internet for further details, "yes! that's how it is!" moments, funny passages... and then, towards the end, it soured. I started to get a feeling of Warner's highly-bred sense of superiority toward the lowly yokels of his neighborhood, and saw a few remarks that seemed as if they were there for the score-settling of childhood grudges from forty years back. Put me off entirely.

Sample vignette:

"I used to try to teach the cows a little poetry, and it is a very good plan. It does not do the cows much good, but it is very good exercise for a boy farmer. I used to commit to memory as good short poems as I could find (the cows liked to listen to "Thanatopsis" about as well as anything), and repeat them when I went to the pasture, and as I drove the cows home through the sweet ferns and down the rocky slopes. It improves a boy's elocution a great deal more than driving oxen.

It is a fact, also, that if a boy repeats "Thanatopsis" while he is milking, that operation acquires a certain dignity."

Head-nodding agreement:

"[I]t is a curious fact about boys, that two will be a great deal slower in doing anything than one, and that the more you have to help on a piece of work the less is accomplished. Boys have a great power of helping each other to do nothing; and they are so innocent about it, and unconscious. "I went as quick as ever I could," says the boy: his father asks him why he did n't stay all night, when he has been absent three hours on a ten-minute errand. The sarcasm has no effect on the boy."

Was a 4, revulsion -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- dropped it to 2. I'll average to 3.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This follows "John", a young farm boy growing up in 19th century New England. The author gives an account of him to portray the adventuresome, curious, imaginative, and sometimes cruel nature in almost every boy. I especially liked reading about the events which display the powers of a young boy's imagination and ingenuity while at play in nature with the wildlife - especially in a concerted effort among playmates in catching an elusive woodchuck. Touching moments come about in telling of his innocent romantic interests which he doesn't quite understand, nor gives himself over to completely, him being a young boy after all. One part of the book I found to be particularly moving was the account of John being unable to get caught up along with everyone else in repentance and supplication during church revival. His search within for this insidious sinfulness, which every honest person should feel, only results in this existential distance between himself and others, including his romantic interest, to whom he feels spiritually inferior. His innocence is his burden.
The author's voice is a pleasant guide as are the illustrations.

[Synthia Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me of a few boys... One in particular: long winded-matter-factly-innocent-helpful, selectively lazy, and yet very likely to be an honest man.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful.