The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1880-04-21
'"The Disadvantages Of City
1sOyR.-


of his own city spent their boyhood,
it would help to solve the problem Of
what is the best trimming for boys,
prepared following circular, which
was sent to- the one hundred men
who could fairly be said to stand at
the head Of the financial, CONNER
cial, professional and educational in.
terests of the city.
"MY DEAR S1R:-I desire to find
out, for the benefit Of the boys, how
the leading men Of this city spent
their boyhood. Will you be kind
enough to tell me
II Whether your home during the
first fifteen years Of your life was on
farm, in a village, or in city, and
SO Whether you were accustomed,
during any part Of that period, toen-
gage in any kind of work when you
were not in school?
II should be glad, of course, to
have You go into particulars as fully
as you are disposed to do; but do
not wish to tax your patience and /
shall be greatly obliged for simple
answer to these two questions"
No less than Lightweight of the the
busy gentlemen who received this
circular were kind enough to answer
the questions, some of them briefly,
most of them quite fully, and it
turned out thatf few had been brought
up like most of the boys who crowd
the backgrounds and fill the streets
Of our cities in these latter days.
Here is brief summary of the re-
turns:
Of 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-four who lived
in villages and large cities, six were
practically farmers boys, for they
lived in small villages, or on the out
skirts of cities, and had the same
kind Of work to do that farmers
boys have. One of these village
boys said:
81 learned to hoe, dig and NOV, in
fact | was obliged to work whether I
liked it or not. In winter / 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 summer 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
fifths of all these men,-had the
training Of farm-life.
Now how was it with the eighteen
city and village boys on the list?
Five of them did, as they testify;
five Of them had no work in particu.
lar to do, but one of the five says 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 humber classes,
many of them in narrow and needy
circumstances, and though they liv.
ed in cities or villages, they were ac-
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"
Four of the city boys were news.
boys. One of them says: "The last
year l was connected with the press,
| earned one hundred dollars before
breakfast"
Another: 81 have paid my own
way since eight years of age, without
any assistance except my board from
my eighth to my eleventh year."
OF all these Lightweight boys, five
only had nothing particular to do.
While these boys were growing
and working, a great many others
sons of merchants and lawyers
were growing up in Springfield, 60
ing to school and amusing them.
selves, as boys of their class are apt
to do. Where are they? Only five
of this class are heard from among
the lightweight solid men of that