JANUARY 3

Don Bosco used to entertain his boys in many ways, as Joseph Brosio narrates in the following article.  

Whenever Don Bosco had some presents which he wanted to distribute among the boys, and he could not or did not wait to draw lots for them or give them as prizes to the winners of some game, then he would think out some trick which would make the boys laugh or excite their curiosity. Many times he came into the playground carrying with him fruit, cakes or sweets. And not knowing which game to play he would promise to give them to the one who had a bigger span than himself. Accordingly the length of every one's span was taken, namely from the end of the small finger to the end of the thumb. But as Don Bosco had a very small hand most of the boys won and obtained the prize, to the great enjoyment of all. In fact the measurement of hundreds of hands used to excite attention and provoke fun together with the continual jokes of Don Bosco. Even those boys who had smaller spans than Don Bosco used to receive an equal portion. At another time the gifts would be offered to those who had smaller spans than himself. 

But his charitable artifices would not end here. At other times he would take the hand of a boy and place it on his own left hand with the palm facing upward then he would strike it with his open right hand. If the blow! produced a loud noise he would say, "good, we agree." But if the noise was such that it showed that the air had not been compressed in the manner he had expected, he would exclaim: "oh, between you and me, things do not go smoothly." If no sound at all resulted from the blow, he would bend down and ask smilingly, "What do you think of that? We, do not agree." 

Often these last words would not be said for fun, but generally they were given as a counsel with some further explanation to the one who had need of it, it might be to a proud boy, or one who was negligent in study and work or in the frequenting of the sacraments or one who was suspected of immoral conduct It is obvious that only those noises which Don Bosco wished would follow, for they all depended on the way he shaped his hand. Nevertheless that word "we do not agree" accompanied by a look of fatherly tenderness would always produce the desired effect How often one would see certain pupils blush with shame or lower their eyes. Instead when Don Bosco would say, "good, we agree" the joy of the boys seemed almost inexpressible.