Yorkville Enquirer

Parental Public Duty.

A news story tells of a Chicago father who caused the arrest of his burglar son because he placed "duty to public above parental love." The culprit is described as a slender boy of 17 years, member of a gang of youthful crooks connected with two definitely known burglaries. The other boys had already been caught. This one fled from the city for a while, but finally came back home.

After hours of discussion between father and son, it was decided to summon the police.

"I had to do it," the father said. "I might have shielded him, but it wouldn't be right."

"Dad's right," the son said. "I just gotta face the music."

The reader naturally wonders where the father's public duty and parental love were when the boy first went wrong and where it was inevitable that the lad should fall into an evil gang.

Less Spartan sternness, and more understanding intelligence earlier perhaps might have saved the boy from wrong-doing and disgrace.

But there is a hopeful element in the story. Perhaps in these "hours of discussion" father and son may have reached a better understanding of each other along with their decision about the particular situation. If this is so, it is probably the last time that boy will ever have to "face the music" for committing crime. Father and son may both be better citizens hereafter.