New-York tribune., 1878-07-25
LOCAL MISCELLANY.
WHAT MAKES BOYS BAD.

saprRINTENDrNT JONES, OF THE HOUSE OF REF
uGr. SAYS IT is CHEAP wEEKLY STORY PAPERS
II is related that when the four little boys
who recently placed stones ON the Newiork i1e'aco
railroad were in the Tombs awaiting examination '"ey
showed much anxiety about their record as nice
boys When questioned one day by visitor as 10
the books they read, the three largest a h's'
declared that they did not have much time TO READ
they had 10 study so hard; but when iur'her
pressed they finally admitted that they occasionally oiu
read Sunday school books IL allowed to SIT up 'ew
moments after $50 o'clock the evening No further
concessions could be obtained. They souty maintained
that books formed their sole literary re-
taxation These three boys, it Will be remembered were
about thirteen years OF age; they caheo aso 'o nave
been melted TO the deed by little fellow only nlne
wears old. This last a bright, frank Doy' "hen
questioned he said he could read all except big words
that liked best The Police Gazette The Boys ana ""S
Weekly and such family papers.
These facts and story published in Mondays IRB-
rNH Of the small boy who has run away from buh"o ~
many times who also declares that he reads nothg
except sundaychoo books, indicate perhaps that the
boys themselves beginning to understand that much
OF the Juvenile literature of to-day unfit for them In
speakng of these matters. yesterday. superintendent
Jones Of the House Refuge Randalps Island SAID:
The bows that have here do not, however, o1teh
deny their for that sort OF reading II thev are
allowed their choice they almost always express desire
10 get hold OF The Boys' and GS Weekly The Boys OF
Many comics OF these papers to them hy friends
because they can be purchased cheapy. We stop all
SUCH however There is a library in each school-room
here and interest of $1,000 is appropriated every
wear 10 making additions to these shelves. The books
are books of history and travel, with some
fiction. When they can't get ANYTHING else else
rho bovs will read them; finally they grow fond
OF them Wild. thrilling tales upsetue their minds
and hinder efforts to teach them the lesson hat tey
must work faithfully and carefully II they eApeci 10
succeed the world such boys are constantly expecting
something startling To happen to them ,....oo,
Could tell asked the inquirer, " What Ooys redu
this bad klnd of juvenile literature =
Without any trouble" was the reply "such readers
have vivid and unhealthy nnagnatlOns The most or
diuaTy Incident Is cOlOred by them tbat the uuth
can hardly he recognized IheY are lncapanle
apparently of stating facts they occur with thenl
couyCt heroes fathers mothers ana Keepers OF auA
kind are yrants The stories they relate to each other
are something wonderful and bear strong resemblance
10 the narratives in tae weekly papers. -......,..
''The effects of such reading upon the cOmmunlt!
may easily traced the statistics OF puONc lnstltu-
tons. Twenty ago. when such papers We're FEWER
in number OS of the boys sent here bad been arrested
pifeng But of late the number OF yagTans Is nuch
effects OF bad books and papers. All these
stories directly indirectly teach that 1Oethce 10
parents unIanly The boy who Is boy scorlls al
CONTROL from bOartlug-SchOO Whcre the tdoe
does not aids convict to escape from PRISON
and wins undyng gratitude thereby. The reader fOl
lows The example entcrtanlngly set Tor hlni lie
dees his father and mother teachers and masters be
comes a vagrdut, and eventually turns NJ
here in some more unpleasant INSTITUTION.
YOu would be surprised at the great nulnoer
often from distant cIties-BuftalO or Cleveland Cen
orally they are more than sixteen or seventeen
years old but they always have one OF those abomaDc
papers In their pockets WHAT the result OF such an -
fuence in the community will he eventually. unless IL is
arrested in some way, hard TO tell The eyil Is GER
taInly crying one aud calls for some remedy"