Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-01
" Pickety" in New York.

Mr.. Charles L. Brace, in an admira
BILE paper in the St. Nicholas. draws 8
parallel between the remarkable ssWolf
reared Children of Dude, India. and
the New York Street Arab; and then ex.
plains the methods employed by the
New York Children's Aid Society, o,
which he is Secretary, in reseu;nr these
little waits and sending them to homes
in the West. The following extract
shows the experience of one boy in this
admirable institution:
Well, here comes one of the wolf
reared children to the Office of the Chill
dren's Aid Society. in Fourth street,
New York. He has no cap, but his
hair serves as a covering for his head:
| bright and cunning eyes look out from
under the twisted locks; his face is SO
dirty and brown that you hardly know
what the true color is; he has no shirt,
but wears ragged coat. and trousers
out at the knees and much too large fol-
him; he is barefooted, of course. He is
not at all a timid boy, small as he is,
but acts as if nothing would ever upset
his self-possession, whatever might hap
pen. The benevolent Mr.. Macy, who
has been dealing with poor children for
the last quarter of century, meets him,
and asks:
''Well, my boy, what do you want?''
ga home, please, sir.''
"What is your name?''
''Hain't got no name, sir; the boys
calls me Pickety.''
"Well, Pickety, where do you ive?'
"Don't live nowhere, SIR
"But where do you stay?''
II don't stay nowheres in the day
time, but sleeps in -barges, sir, and
sometimes in dry-goods boxes, and
down on the steam-gratings in winter,
till the M. P.'s policemen) come along,
and jist now cove has taken me in at
the iron bridge at Harlem
''Iron bridge! What do you mean?"
"Why, them boiler iron things what
holds the bridge up. He got it first, and
he lets me in.
"Pickety, who is your fatherp''
''Haint got no father, sir; he died
afore I knew, and me mither, she
drinked and bate me, and we was put
out by the landlord, and she died and
the City Hall buried herr' And some
thing like shadow came over his cum
ming blue eyes.
'sPickety, did you ever hear of God?"
eyes, sir; have heared the fellers
swear about Him, and know it's lucky
to say something to Him when you sleep
out in bad nights
''Did you ever go to school, Pickety,
Or to church?'
"No, sir; l never went to no church
nor school. [ should kind o. like to
learn somethin' -
''Wel Pickety, We'll make man of
you. if you will only try. You will, /
see''
So Pickety is sent by Mr. Macy down
to a clean, beautiful lodging House."
A kind, experienced Superintendent,
Mr.. Calder, meets him, and matron-
Mrs. Calder-takes him in hand In
his secret heart, little Pickety thinks
they must be very soft set, Or else that
they want to make money out of him
by and by, but he takes their kindness
very quietly. Perhaps, too, he is watch
ing for chance to pocketa handy little
article or so, or to slip out-of-doors with
something.
And now, first, he is put into bath
short by cutter such as those used for
after all this, and quite enjoys clean
he must wear his old trousers again, so
his hastily formed plan of slipping away
with whole suit of new clothes is
nipped in the bud.
He then enjoys a plain, wholesome
supper in company with other boys;
and when he sees the sweet face of the
matron who is serving them, he finds
his feelings change a little. and he al
most thinks she is too good for him to
try to cheat her.
Presently he goes up willingly to a
large, cheerful school-room.
This room is as clean as wax-work,
and Pickety is very glad he has had that
thorough washing
After this came the lessons, and for
the first time he was introduced to all
the letters, though he had known
enough before to tell one newspaper
from another; and he was very glad to
find that he learned them quickly, and
that in counting and sums he was
quicker than the others; Of course, this
was because he had sold papers and so
had had to make change SO often.
Little Pickety's greatest surprise.
however, was when he was taken up to
the sleeping-room-a large, handsome,
airy dormitory, clean as ships deck.
with nice, springy wire-beds arranged
on iron frames, one over another, like
ships hunks.
After his breakfast next morning, he
heard that some boys had put their
money into the savings-bank'' in the
audience-room; and others had borrowed
from the fund for starting boys in bust
ness, and others had paid for theirlodg-
ings and meals tive cents each), and he
began to feel he, too, must do some
thing. ssss
Pickety at length ventured to speak
to the Superintendent, who kindly ex-
planned to him that each boy was ex-
pected to do all he could to paw his
own way, and that some kind gentle