PART SEVENTHCHAPTER XXXV.After more than fifteen years’ experience among the newsboys we can say with considerable force, that the only way to give substantial assistance to the poor boy is to give him a start in life, helping him to work his own way through a hundred little temptations that would easily lead him wrong. Today Boyville Association boasts that it has driven from the streets of a great city all kinds of begging, gambling, swearing, smoking cigarettes, and instead of insulting, impudent newsboys, we have the finest lot of gentlemanly young business men in the world.How to carry on successfully work of this kind, with results as previously stated, is the desire and wish of thousands of people in our country today. A person must bring himself in touch with the boy, he must learn his ways, his habits, by so doing he learns the best way to approach him and gain his confidence. This done, the rest is easy, because the boy works with you and you simply guide.Education cannot be given, it must be achieved, and the value of an education lies notonly in the possession, but also in the struggle to secure it.Everybody knows that the infallible receipt for happiness, is to do good, and under the right conditions it is as natural for character to become beautiful as for a flower. In scores of instances it has been seen that the principles early established in the minds of the street-boys, especially where they are watched by their companions, and warned when they do something wrong, leave a lasting impression that time cannot efface.Life is full of opportunities for the young man to do good, and if in his early career he begins to do right it soon becomes part of his life. The street-boys who first join the association are so gradually led into the good fellowship of their own making that the toughest natures thaw out, they are subjugated, submit cheerfully to the controlling powers of truth and honesty. Their manners soften, their words become more gentle and their actions show a willingness to be little gentlemen. The good that is in them is brought out by their own unselfish acts, and the hidden sleeping humanity bursts into a fuller life.Today it takes a high order of men to succeed.With the world as a competitor, where profits are figured by fractions, it requires young men of brains, combined with hard common sense, men of good moral characters, and a willingness to work.For a young man to reach a rich inheritance he must work; he must remember that the root qualities of character are sobriety, industry, unselfish economy, and he must be honest in all that the word implies. Swearing, stealing, grafting inclinations, expecting something for nothing, smoking cigarettes or drinking intoxicating liquors will prevent securing good positions.Already some of our great railroad systems will not employ a young man who drinks intoxicating liquors, or smokes cigarettes; and some go so far as to forbid swearing while on duty.To gain this rich inheritance, to build up the boy who has no chance in life, who, in many cities, is regarded as a sort of a pest, something to be kicked and cuffed out of the way, is the great aim of the Boyville Newsboys’ Association. It is a kindergarten in the great school of business and citizenship, and many years experience proves conclusively not only that the boy of the street iscapable of conquering himself, and of mastering his own will-power, but also that he can assist his companions, to be honest, patriotic, and self-reliant.Many a boy goes astray simply because home lacks sunshine. If home is the place where faces are sour and words harsh, and the boy is continually hampered with don’ts and censures, he will spend as many hours as possible elsewhere. A personal investigation of twenty homes of boys who were upon the streets a greater portion of their time, especially at meal hours or after nine o’clock at night, revealed the fact that nine boys were away from their homes on account of there being no restriction on the part of the parents. These nine families did not know, did not care, at what hour their sons returned at night, or whether they were at home at meal hours or not.Home should keep in sympathy with a boy. His little troubles, his sorrows are made much easier and lighter through attention and sympathy, and if the boy can’t get this at home he will go elsewhere; and he will often find it in society he would otherwise shun. No boy ever grows too old for love. And should the boy seek companionship in our crowded streets and discover someone in whom he can place confidence, his whole life is wrapped up in that love.
PART SEVENTHCHAPTER XXXV.After more than fifteen years’ experience among the newsboys we can say with considerable force, that the only way to give substantial assistance to the poor boy is to give him a start in life, helping him to work his own way through a hundred little temptations that would easily lead him wrong. Today Boyville Association boasts that it has driven from the streets of a great city all kinds of begging, gambling, swearing, smoking cigarettes, and instead of insulting, impudent newsboys, we have the finest lot of gentlemanly young business men in the world.How to carry on successfully work of this kind, with results as previously stated, is the desire and wish of thousands of people in our country today. A person must bring himself in touch with the boy, he must learn his ways, his habits, by so doing he learns the best way to approach him and gain his confidence. This done, the rest is easy, because the boy works with you and you simply guide.Education cannot be given, it must be achieved, and the value of an education lies notonly in the possession, but also in the struggle to secure it.Everybody knows that the infallible receipt for happiness, is to do good, and under the right conditions it is as natural for character to become beautiful as for a flower. In scores of instances it has been seen that the principles early established in the minds of the street-boys, especially where they are watched by their companions, and warned when they do something wrong, leave a lasting impression that time cannot efface.Life is full of opportunities for the young man to do good, and if in his early career he begins to do right it soon becomes part of his life. The street-boys who first join the association are so gradually led into the good fellowship of their own making that the toughest natures thaw out, they are subjugated, submit cheerfully to the controlling powers of truth and honesty. Their manners soften, their words become more gentle and their actions show a willingness to be little gentlemen. The good that is in them is brought out by their own unselfish acts, and the hidden sleeping humanity bursts into a fuller life.Today it takes a high order of men to succeed.With the world as a competitor, where profits are figured by fractions, it requires young men of brains, combined with hard common sense, men of good moral characters, and a willingness to work.For a young man to reach a rich inheritance he must work; he must remember that the root qualities of character are sobriety, industry, unselfish economy, and he must be honest in all that the word implies. Swearing, stealing, grafting inclinations, expecting something for nothing, smoking cigarettes or drinking intoxicating liquors will prevent securing good positions.Already some of our great railroad systems will not employ a young man who drinks intoxicating liquors, or smokes cigarettes; and some go so far as to forbid swearing while on duty.To gain this rich inheritance, to build up the boy who has no chance in life, who, in many cities, is regarded as a sort of a pest, something to be kicked and cuffed out of the way, is the great aim of the Boyville Newsboys’ Association. It is a kindergarten in the great school of business and citizenship, and many years experience proves conclusively not only that the boy of the street iscapable of conquering himself, and of mastering his own will-power, but also that he can assist his companions, to be honest, patriotic, and self-reliant.Many a boy goes astray simply because home lacks sunshine. If home is the place where faces are sour and words harsh, and the boy is continually hampered with don’ts and censures, he will spend as many hours as possible elsewhere. A personal investigation of twenty homes of boys who were upon the streets a greater portion of their time, especially at meal hours or after nine o’clock at night, revealed the fact that nine boys were away from their homes on account of there being no restriction on the part of the parents. These nine families did not know, did not care, at what hour their sons returned at night, or whether they were at home at meal hours or not.Home should keep in sympathy with a boy. His little troubles, his sorrows are made much easier and lighter through attention and sympathy, and if the boy can’t get this at home he will go elsewhere; and he will often find it in society he would otherwise shun. No boy ever grows too old for love. And should the boy seek companionship in our crowded streets and discover someone in whom he can place confidence, his whole life is wrapped up in that love.
PART SEVENTH
After more than fifteen years’ experience among the newsboys we can say with considerable force, that the only way to give substantial assistance to the poor boy is to give him a start in life, helping him to work his own way through a hundred little temptations that would easily lead him wrong. Today Boyville Association boasts that it has driven from the streets of a great city all kinds of begging, gambling, swearing, smoking cigarettes, and instead of insulting, impudent newsboys, we have the finest lot of gentlemanly young business men in the world.
How to carry on successfully work of this kind, with results as previously stated, is the desire and wish of thousands of people in our country today. A person must bring himself in touch with the boy, he must learn his ways, his habits, by so doing he learns the best way to approach him and gain his confidence. This done, the rest is easy, because the boy works with you and you simply guide.
Education cannot be given, it must be achieved, and the value of an education lies notonly in the possession, but also in the struggle to secure it.
Everybody knows that the infallible receipt for happiness, is to do good, and under the right conditions it is as natural for character to become beautiful as for a flower. In scores of instances it has been seen that the principles early established in the minds of the street-boys, especially where they are watched by their companions, and warned when they do something wrong, leave a lasting impression that time cannot efface.
Life is full of opportunities for the young man to do good, and if in his early career he begins to do right it soon becomes part of his life. The street-boys who first join the association are so gradually led into the good fellowship of their own making that the toughest natures thaw out, they are subjugated, submit cheerfully to the controlling powers of truth and honesty. Their manners soften, their words become more gentle and their actions show a willingness to be little gentlemen. The good that is in them is brought out by their own unselfish acts, and the hidden sleeping humanity bursts into a fuller life.
Today it takes a high order of men to succeed.
With the world as a competitor, where profits are figured by fractions, it requires young men of brains, combined with hard common sense, men of good moral characters, and a willingness to work.
For a young man to reach a rich inheritance he must work; he must remember that the root qualities of character are sobriety, industry, unselfish economy, and he must be honest in all that the word implies. Swearing, stealing, grafting inclinations, expecting something for nothing, smoking cigarettes or drinking intoxicating liquors will prevent securing good positions.
Already some of our great railroad systems will not employ a young man who drinks intoxicating liquors, or smokes cigarettes; and some go so far as to forbid swearing while on duty.
To gain this rich inheritance, to build up the boy who has no chance in life, who, in many cities, is regarded as a sort of a pest, something to be kicked and cuffed out of the way, is the great aim of the Boyville Newsboys’ Association. It is a kindergarten in the great school of business and citizenship, and many years experience proves conclusively not only that the boy of the street iscapable of conquering himself, and of mastering his own will-power, but also that he can assist his companions, to be honest, patriotic, and self-reliant.
Many a boy goes astray simply because home lacks sunshine. If home is the place where faces are sour and words harsh, and the boy is continually hampered with don’ts and censures, he will spend as many hours as possible elsewhere. A personal investigation of twenty homes of boys who were upon the streets a greater portion of their time, especially at meal hours or after nine o’clock at night, revealed the fact that nine boys were away from their homes on account of there being no restriction on the part of the parents. These nine families did not know, did not care, at what hour their sons returned at night, or whether they were at home at meal hours or not.
Home should keep in sympathy with a boy. His little troubles, his sorrows are made much easier and lighter through attention and sympathy, and if the boy can’t get this at home he will go elsewhere; and he will often find it in society he would otherwise shun. No boy ever grows too old for love. And should the boy seek companionship in our crowded streets and discover someone in whom he can place confidence, his whole life is wrapped up in that love.