City Boys

Soine months ago the Rov. Washington Gladden, of Springficld, Mass., believing that if he eould find out how the active am prominent uien of bii own city ipent thei boyhood, t would help to solve the prob 1 m ofwhst is the best training for boys pri'i;uvil the folluwing circular, which wa sent to tlie 100 uien who could fairly be laid to stuud ut the hcad of' the finaucial commercial, professional and edueationa inti rests of the city : MyDkarSih- I deslre to flnd out, for tl) benefit of the boy, how the leariliiK men o ihis city spent tlieir boyhood. WlU you b kind enougli to teil me? 1. Whethor your home, during the firs fifteeu yrars oi your 110', wiu on a farm, in a vlllage, oriaa city ; and 2. Whether you wem acrustomed, durlni aiiy part of that perlod, to engage In any kim of work when you were not lu school? I should be glad. of course, to have you go Into particulursaN fully as you aredlsposed lo hut I d not wi.sh to lux your patlence, wul Hhall be greatly ohllged for a simple auswer to these two questtons. No less than 88 of the busy gentlemei who received the circular were kind enoujjl to answer the questions - some of them briefly, most of them quite fully, and i turned out that few had beeu brought ui like most of the boys who crowd the bal grounds and fill the streets of our cities in these later days, Here isa brief summary of the returns : Of these 88 men, 12 spent the first 15 years of their life in the city, twelve in vil lages, and 64 were farmers' boys. But of the twenty-four who lived in VÜlagea and cities, six were practically farmers' boy,, for they lived in small vil lage?, or on the outskirts of cities, and ha the same kind of work to do that farmers boys have. One of' these villagc boys eaid " I learned to hoe, dig and mow ; ii fact, I was obliged to work, whether 1 liked it or no. In winter I went to school and work nights and mornings fo my board." Anolher ,-aid : "I Ufed to work away fioiu home tome on a farm in the summe and fall. In the winter, when going to to Hchool, we three boys used to work u the wood for winter use." Four others told substantially the same story. As these were about the same a farmers' boys, we niay add them to tha list, so that 70 out of 88 - aliuost four fit'ths of these meo - had the training o farm life. Now how was it with the Í8 city an village boys on tbe list? Did they have an easy time of it ? Five of them did, as they testify ; five of them had no work in par tioular to do, but one of the five says tha he studied law when out of school, anc that was not exactly play. The rest of the 18 wer. poor boys - noc paupers, by any means, I ut children of the humbler classes uiany 1 thini in narrow and needy cir cumstancet - and though they lived in cities or villages, they were accustome fnuii their earliest years to hard work. " Vas generally etuployed, said one " during the surumer nionth4, and in vaea catión, in doing any kind of work tha offi'red. " Four of tl.e city boys were newsboys One of them fays; "That last year I wa connected with the press, I earnud $1UÜ before Ireikfast." Another: "I have paid niy own way since eint yoarsor age, without any S8lst anee exi ept my board fruuj my eighih to mv e'eventh year." üi' uil t hese 88 boy?, fivc only had noth ing ni p irticular to do. while the-e Ip ns are growing und workiiifr, a rcat inany orhers - sons of' nier cbaots ,nil l.iwyer.i- were srowing up in Springfield, toiag to bchool or auiuMnp tliuuiMMves, a. böya oí'tha' d 18a are apt to do. Where tra the;? Only i?e of thü cla-s are hcard flcoin auiotüf the 88 Jic men ot tlüit city. Soinfl of them poihaj)9 are prosperóos men in othercities; Lut the Dwnber oanuol !¦ Isrge, for in Spriugfield on y five men uut ot' 8H cauit: fron this clas. Nincty-f'uur UD I a lialf pei een', wi re either Pannen' boys or poor and hard working town boy. Mr Gladden madu his report to the public of Spiiogfield in the foini of' a lea ture. Tiie mero annomiceinent of the snij et liona crowded the eliureh, which ih a largf oue, and the interest in the lecturtWís -o great that thu mayor and several oi the rcpnenta'ive citizns requested a repetition in the J usic hall. Wheo this camt off the hall ww i aoked and huodreda wint auay fmtn tho door UDabte to pain ení ranee. Mr. (ï adden bas rewritton the lectnre, and his interestini; facts and logioal dtduc liona wil] appear in one ol the leading magazines f'( r March.