Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-16
BOYs AND uaRD woRK.

Plenty of work is conceded to be good thing for boys by almost everybody except the boys themselves. Those who employ them are usually careful to see that they do not rust in idleness, even if to prevent such @ misfortune 1t is necessary to give them a mans task. Wise parents prefer to have their boys work, and work hard, although 1t may not be absolutely necessary, and those parents who mistakenly let their boys grow up in idlensss usually know better. Fortu- natsly, most boys are obliged to work, and thus, through stern necessity, get some, at least, of the benefits of an early course in in dustry. The full benefits of such @ course can hardly be overrated. ''habit of york; in any occupation in which men seek their daily bread. or something more, is invaluable. in youth.
 If there were any doubt as to what is the best training for boys an inquiry made by Rev. Washington Gladden., of Springfield, Mass, would throw light on the subject. Mir. Gladdsn sent the following note to one hundred men who could fairly be said to stand at the head of the financial, commer- cial, professional and educational interests of his city: q desire to find out, for the ben eft of the boys, how the leading men of this city spent their boyhood. Will you be kind enough to tell me: (1.) Whether your home during the first fifteen years of your life was on farm, in a village, or in 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?" Out of the one hundred persons who received the notes, eighty-eight answered the questions. It seems that of the eighty eight gentlemen who sent answers, sixty-four were brought up on farms and were farmers sons, twelve spent their boyhood days in villages and towns, and twelve were brought up in cities. Of the twenty-fo who lived in villages and towns, one quarter were accustomed to do farm work, and were practically farmer boys, only that they possessed some advantages that the sixty-four did not It is proper to say, thsre- fore, that of these eighty-eight of the wealth fest and most prominent and useful citizens of Springfield, seventy were trained in their youth upon farms. Of the eighteen boys who lived in cities and villages, five of them report that they had no work in particular to do, while the rest were sons of people in rather poor circumstances, and were accustomed to do all sorts of work up to the time they left the paternal roof. To sum up: Of eighty eight solid men of Springfield, eighty-three were hard workers in their younger days, while only five had ''nothing in particular to do."
 If some one should ask of the successful men of New Haven, or of any other city, questions like those asked by Mir. Gladden. it would doubtless be found that most of them did not pass through their youth with moth ing in particular to do," but were hard work ing boys. It would doubtless also be found that the majority of them graduated from New England farms, where the conditions for learning to work hard are very favorable. In spite of such instructive and significant facts, however those who can s'take it easy' when they are young, and afterwards be numbered among those who stand ''at the head of the financial, commercial, professional and educa- tional interests" of their country, State, city or town have our sincere congratulations, not to say envy.