Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-02-12
aThe Disadvantages of City Boys"


ton Gladden., Of Springfield, Mass,
believing that if he could find out how
the active and prominent men of his
own city spent their boyhood, it would
help to solve, the problem of what is
the best training for boys, prepared the
following circular, which was sent to
the one hundred men who could fairly
be said TO stand at the head of the
financial, commercial. professional
and educational interests of the city.
"MY DEAR SIR:-I desire to find
out for the benefit of the boys, how
the leading men Of this city spent
their boyhood. viii you be kind
enough to tell me t
-, Whether your home during the
Rrst fifteen years Of your life was on
q farm, in village, or In city, and,
q. Whether you were accustomed,
during any period, TO engage in any
kind Of work when you were not in
in SCHOOL, - 80. 800,
81 should be glad, of course, to have
you go into particulars as fully as you
are disposed to do; but 1 do not wish
to tax your patience, and I shall be
greatly obliged for simple answer
to these two questions
No less than Lightweight Of the
busy gentlemen who received this cir
cular were kind enough to answer the
Questions, some Of them briefly,
most OF them quite fully, and it turn
cd out that few had been brought up
like most of the boys who crowd the
backgrounds and fill the streets of our
cities in these later days. Here is a
brief summary ofthe returns:
or these eighty eight men, twelve
spent the first fifteen years of their
life in the city, twelve in villages, and
sixty-four were farmers boys.
But of the twenty who lived in
villages and cities, six we're practical.
ly farmers boys, for they lived in
small villages, or on the outskirts of
cities, and had the same kind of work
to do that farmers boys have. One
of these village boys said:
II learned to hoe, dig and now; in
fact, I was obliged to work, whether
1 liked it or no. In winter I went to
school, and worked nights and morn
ings for my board
Another said: 81 used to work
away from home some on farm in the
and fall. In the winter, when
going to school, we three boys used
to work up the wood for winter use"
Four others told substantially the
same story. AS these were about the
same as farmers boys, we may add
them to that list, so that seventy out
OF eighty eight, almost four-ffths! of
all these meD,-had the training of
farm life.
Now how was it with the eighteen
city and village boys on the list3
Did they have an easy time of it3
Five of them did, as they testify;
FIVE of them had no work in particular
to do, but one Of the five says that he
studied Law when out Of school, and
that was not exactly play. The
rest of the eighteen were poor boys,
NOT paupers, by any means, but
children of the humble classes.
many of them in narrow and needy
circumstances, and though they liv-
ed in cities oryillages, they were &C.
customed from their earliest years to
hard work. -
"Was generally employed says
one, "during the summer months, and
in vacations, in doing any kind Of
work that offered" 5Vfr AK
Four of the city boys were news
boys. One Of them says: "The last
year I was connected with the press.
[ earned one hundred dollars before
breakfast
Another: II have paid my own
way since eight years of age, without
any assistance except my board from
my eighth to my eleventh year"
v or all these eighty eight boys, five
only had nothing particular to do.
While these boys were growing and
q great many others, sons
of merchants and lawyers,-were
growing up in Springfield, going to
school and amusing themselves, as