St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-02-20
Training for Boys.

Training for Boys.
EARLY LIFE OF THE SOLID MEN OF
SPRINGFIELD.
Some months ago, Rev. Washington
GLADDEN. of Springfield, Mass, believ-
ing 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 follow
ing circular, which was sent to the one
hundred men who could fairly be said
to stand at the head of the financial,
commercial, professionalan and education
al 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. Will you be kind enough to
tell me
l. Whether your home during the
first fifteen years of your life was on a
farm, in village, or in a city, and,
2. Whether you were accustomed,
during any part of that period, to en-
gage in any kind of work when you
were not in school
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 a simple answer to
these questions.
No less than eighty-eight of the busy
| gentlemen who received this circular
were kind enough to answer the ques-
lonesome of them briefly, most of
! them quite fully, and it turned out that
few had been brought up like most of
| the boys who crowd the backgrounds
and fill the streets of our cities ia these
later days. Here is brief summary of
the returns:
Of these Lightweight men, twelve
spent the first fifteen years of their life
in the city, twelve in villages, and six
ty-four were farmers boys.
But of the twenty-four who lived in
villages and cities, six were practically
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:
81 learned to hoe, dig and NOV in
| fact, was obliged to work, whether l
| liked it OF not. In winter went to
|
ings for my board"
Another said: 81 used to work away
| from home 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 y-eight-almost four-f -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? Did
they have an easy time of it 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 humber
classes, many of them in narrow and
needy circumstances-andt though they
lived in cities or villages, they were
accustomed from their earliest years to
hard work
"Was generally employed" says one,
"during the summer months, and in va
cations, in doing any kind of work that
offered"
Four of the city boys were newsboys
One of them says: "The last year was
connected with the press, earned $1OO
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 eighty-eight boys, five
only had nothing particular to do.
4. While these boys were growing and
working, great many others-sons OF
merchants and lawyers-were growing
up in Springfield, going to school anC
amusing themselves, as boys of thei
class are apt to do. Where are they
Only five of this class are heard from
among the eighty-eight solid men o
: that city. Some of them, perhaps, ar
! prosperous men in other cities, but tn
number cannot be large, for in Spring
field only five men out of eighty eigh
; came from this class. Ninety-feur ant
! half per cent. were either farmers
: boys or poor and hard working town
boys.
/. Mr.. GLADDEN. made his report to tn
public of Springfield, in the form of
lecture. The mere announcement @
t the subject alone crowded the church
r which is large one, and the interest i
!. the lecture was SO great that the Mayo
!, and several representative citizens re
t quested repetition in the Music Hal
When this came off, the hall was pack
: ed, and hundreds went away from tn
doors unable to gain entrance.
!, Mr.. GLADDEN. has rewritten the let
Y ture, and his interesting facts and log
d cal deductions will appear in one of II
leading magazines for March. He
e now engaged on, a "Talk with Girl
d for the same magazine. 1t will be prin