Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-02-21
The Dlsadvantages Of city Boys.

The Disadvantages Of city Boys.
Some months ago, Rev. Washing
ton GLADDEN., of Springfield, Mass.
believing that if he could find ou
! how the active and prominent mer
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 edu-
| .catiOnal interests of the city I:
i, 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- l4G@ ESQ VS. fiiNianar
1.u Whether your home during
| the first fifteen years Of your life
was on farm, in a village, or in a
city; and -
+ 2. Whether you were accustomed,
during any part of that period, TO
engage in any kind of work when
/ You were not in school?
IshouId be glad, of course, to have
! you go into particulars as fully as
you are disposed to do; but i do
not wish to tax your patience, and
| shall be greatly obliged for sim
pie answer. to these two questions.
No less than eighty-eight of the
busy gentlemen who received this
circular were kind enough to am
swer the questions-rsome 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 ball grounds and fill
the streets of our cities ia these lat
er days. Here is a brief summary
of the returns:
p OF these eighty-eight men, twelve
spent the first fifteen years of their |
lifein the city, twelve in villages,
and sixty-four were farmers boys.
But of the twenty-fOur who lived |
in villages and cities, six were prac-
tically 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
Z 1learned to hoe, dig and nov; in
fact, / was obliged to work, wheth-
er i liked it or no. In winter i
went to school, and worked nights
and mornings for my board
s Another said: 81 used 10 work
away from home some on a farm in
the summer and fall. In the vim
ter, when going to school, we three
boys used to work up the wood for
winter use." aa.en ic i3~
-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 seven
ty out of eighty-eight-almost four
tifths of all these men-had the
training Of farm-life.
Now how was it with the eigh-
teen 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 ne studied law when
out of school, and that was not ex-
actly play. The rest of the eighteen
were poor boys-not paupers, by
any means, but children of the hum
row and needy circumstances-and
though they lived in cities and viii
lages, they were accustomed 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. - bat ia
Four of the city boys were news
boys. One Of them says: "The II
last year / was connected with the
press / earned one hundred dollars
before break fast.p
Another; 81 have paid my own
way since eight years of age, with
put any assistance except my board
from my eighth to my eleventh
year." a as
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
we're growing up in Springfield, go-
ng to school and amusing them
selves, as boys of their class are apt
% 40. w mere are Iney Only HNe (
)f this class are heard from among !
he eighty-eight solid business men
If that city. Some of them, perhaps,
ire prosperous men in other cities, ,
1ut the number cannot be large, for !
n Springfield only five men out of ,
came from this class.
and a half per cent.
we're either farmers or poor and /,
Woodworking town boys. h