Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-02-21

linen. Yours truly,
a&5Ga@H w. H. NICHOLS.
.sl. ".-... For the GAZETTE.
The Street School Student.--"J Just rs the
twig i, bent the tree is inclined" is an old
Proverb, and after long and close observation
has been found to be rem arkably true.-
Whatever traits of character an individual
exhibits between the ages of fourteen and
twenty one years, will, in most instances,
serve as a true index to his future character.
If during this period, the mind and the pas
sions arc. directed in the paths of vice and
criminal arnusements, in nine cases out of
ten, the future life will be one of shame and
self adherence. qra-rr es,seF
Now, let US observe the Student of the
Street School, in the. different stages through
which he passes, from the Juvenile depart
ment down to the drunkard's grave, or a fell
on's doom. We find him before he is cut Of
his teens, on the street, saucy to his superb
ors, disrespectful to old age, profane and boi-
sterous, and read, to engage in every quarrel,
and be present at every drunken roy which
takes place in the streets. And when hun
ger or fatigue admonish him of home, and he
turns his steps toward the parental roof, it is
with sad countenance and guilty con-
science, relying upon falsehood and deception
to keep from his parents the part which he
has been acting in the turmoils and tumults
of the day. Being successful in quoting the
suspicious Of his parents, he leaves home the
following morning, feeling that he can swear
little louder, fight little harder, and lie a
little .more:successfully; and thus, on he goes
until he is far enough advanced in crime to
leave the Juvenile department, and enter the
gambling and dram drinking department Of
this institution. At this period of his life his
deeds are not so manifest to the public. At
FIRST his drinking and gambling are conduct
ed in what he terms the more respectable
places of resort, under ground saloons,
where the light of day is excluded from tn G
crimes and evils of the institutions. There
he drinks, She CANDLES, cautiously
at first, seldom ever drinking so as to seri-
ously interfere with the powers oflocomotion,
and never gambling for anything more than
the drinks. But time rolls on, anxious friends
and fond parents sec change in his conduct.
lie is not so attentive to business, not so
punctual to his promises, he is becoming
more irregular in his habits, keeping late
hours with his drunken comrades; and when
he arrives at homo it is with sad heart an
aching head, and feelings of melancholy,
which make him wretched, unamiabe and
unhappy. Thus, perhaps, the first year or
two of life is spent, after entering these would
be called respectable saloons. But the twig
has been bent, and the more it grows the
deformity appears. BY this time he is ad-
vanccd far enough to appear, without blush,
upon the street, in state of intoxication,
then stagger home drunkard, to blast the
fond hopes and bright expectations Of his
aged parents, thereby bringing down their
gray hairs with sorrow to the grave He is
now fairly on the downward road to ruin
His bets at the gaming table have been great
er than at first; the drawer of his employer
has been rcsortcd to to replenish his empty
pockets; he has been mistrusted and loses
his position, and with it, the means which
was his only passport to these dens of iniq-
uity. He is thenceforth kicked out Of these
respectable saloons, by the respectable saloon
keeper, and as retaliation, he goes home
and kicks out of doors his broken hearted
wife and helpless children, takes what little
Of value he can find whether Of clothing or
provisions which his poor wife has proyi-
ded for the support of his starving and Free
zing children, and barters it, in the second
class, seven by nine shanty for whisky, with
which to craze his brain and infuriate his
passions, until desperation takes the place Of
reason, and he commits an act which con-
signs him to felon's cell, and finally to an
ignominious death upon the scaffold. Thus
ends the life of the street school student,
whose career commenced upon the street, de-
veloped and matured in the saloon and dog
gerry, and terminated in the Jail and on the
scaffo,d. So you see that it is but single
step from the drinking establishment to the
Jail, and from the Jail to the scaffold; so that
to have things in their proper order, every
drinking saloon should have in the rear of
the building, Jail, and in the rear Of that,
gailows; then we could see at single glance
the beginning and end Of a street school ed
ucation. But you say that all who enter the
street school do not end their lives in the
4 -
alftheir days. while some resort to picking
pockets, breaking open houses, and stealing
horses with which to replenish their empty