To teach a boy not to be slovenly and destructive in his own domain, give him a domain in which he can feel the pride of proprietorship.

He would like to invite his comrades into his "den," as his sisters entertain intimate friends in their boudoir.

He may not put into words the reasons why, instead of saying openly--"Come in and up!" to his evening visitor, he whispers at the outer door, "Let us go out!" which too often means, also, "down." Perhaps he is so imbued with the popular ideas respecting the furnishment of his lodging-place as hardly to interpret to himself his unwillingness to let outsiders see how well his "den" deserves the name.
Nevertheless, fond mother, give him the trial of something better.
Send the "incurables" to the auction room, and fit him out anew with what should be the visible expression of your love and your desire for his welfare.

Why expect him to take these on trust any more than you expect the daughters to do this?
Yet their apartments are poems of good-will and maternal devotion.
In all sincerity, let me notify you that the son will not keep his premises in such seemly array as the girls keep theirs.

It is not in the genuine boy.