Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-12-25
THE rnArNINe or zoUTH.
rAsy shoula be EaasAs to as aoneshn
Useful.


Is beyond control, and II IS still more
difficult thing for them to acknowledge
it. But when they do realize it, and
earnestly Wish to do what is best caleu-
lated to develop the intractable young
ster into q helpful man or woman and a
useful MEMBER Of society, then the pro
blem seems most VsZati0us and difficult
Of solution. For the Well-to-do and
prosperous there are schools where both
girls and boys may be guided by the
Wisest and most discreet discipline;
meanwhile their minds are developed.
Many Of these schools are presided over
by persons of rare genius in that par
ticular line, and VINO have, moreover, de
voted their lives to the one study of
training the youthful mind. Besides
those schools where boOk-study and
| obedience are all that Is required there
/ are many schools Of technology, where
the hands as well as the head are taught.
/ The masses Of the people ara not yet
educated up to a full appreciation OF
their benefits, but OF their utility there
can be no doubt. The sons of rich men
are not all born to follow the learned
professions. Many an incompetent law
| yer, or doctor, or preacher, would have
made an excellent carpenter, or TUNER,
or tinker, and have been useful and hap
py In the vocation for which nature 1T
/ ted him. The hOmely adage that you
cannot make a slken purse out Of
''sow's ear" applies well here. HaPPi-
| ~, the more tarseeing prosperous par
ents are growing more and more in favor
Of technical education for their boys and
girls, and the day may not be far distant
when the educated fool" with his head
full Of bOOklOre, but good for nothing
under the sun, viii be a TUrG GUts.
However that may be, the multitude OF
good schools Of all sorts effectuallY dis
poses Of the question: "What shall We
do with our boys and girls?" lat least
for the present. 50 far as the wel-tO-dO
father and mother are concerned.
Not so simple a matter to deal with
the less favored ones. The child Of the
hard-WO rking day labOrer is frequently
endowed with its full measure Of OrigI-
nal sin. The fight for food engrosses
both mother and father to the extent
that very little time is left them to look
after the morals Of their offspring, and
when the realization comes home to
them that their boy or girl is Wayward
and bad It comes often with crushing
force. What to do with them Is the next
question.
That ''the boy is father to the man,
and that the way to reduce the number
OF criminal men is to increase the num-
Der Of honest boys are principles now
recognized by all enlightened persons
who have given the matter any thought
have gone to work on this plan, and thus
it is that our industrial schools and
homes, houses Of refuge and state re-
form schools, are now conducted on diff
ferent principles than those that char
acterized their management a few years
ago. The boys and girls are taken be
fore they are hardenedin crime, brought
under good influences, taught that
honesty is the best policy, and that labor
is more profitable as we'll as more honor
able THAI idieness More than that
they are prepared for the workshop or
farm, and when their period Of probation
4 is over they can go forth into the world
with the knowledge Of what they have
to do and how to do it.
The most striking illustration Of what
may be accomplished by technical train
ing even with those boys who seem to be
almost Rppallingly wicked and aban-
dOned go forth every day from the re-
form schools Of France. These schools
are upon the highest plane, owing to the
efforts Of NJ. George BOnjeau, the eldest
son OF President BOnjeau, who was shot
by the Paris Communists. His life ana
his fortune have been devoted to study
ing out the best means Of retaining the
poor and neglected youth. The result
Of his experience is that the way to get
rid OF a criminal and useless population
is to purify the jails, and, above all, to
take the abandoned child and, when his
heart, conscience, viii and intelligence
are developed, teach him the use o. his
hands In a technical school The re-
fOrmatory systsm as practiced in HE in
stitution, is based on strict, but kind,
discipline and a belief in human dignity.
In dealing with boys he appeals to their
honor, and he has found such appeals IN
the main effective. Education, disci-
pline, work, kindness and confidence
have converted thousands Of incorrigiDle
boys into useful and reputable men.
The reform schools OF our own land
are not far behind. There are George
Bonieaus at work here as we'll as abroad,
and while the name "Houss Of Refuge has
nothing enticing about it the institution
/ itself is not at all horrible. I have had
/ occasion to inquire into the workings of
some OF these retOrmatory homes, and I
have found the inmates Well-fed, com
iortably clothed and uniformly happy
ViciOusnesz and disObedience bring con
sequent misery there as elsewhere. The
technical training and book education is,
perhaps, not so thorough and far-reach-
ing as In the regular schools Of technOl-
ogy, but it is gOOd-the principle is the
same, and it can not fail Of a most benign
influence.
1t may seem a hard thing for a parent
| to place a child In one OF these rsfOrma-
tories; but is it not infinitely better than
to allow 1t to grow up with vicious and
idle habits which viii take it headlong
to ruin? Every child, boy or girl, should
be taught to do something useful There
are plenty Of people who stand ready to
/ do this for those who are able and will
| ing to pay for it; the state stands ready
| to do it for those who are not. No mock
sssltimentality should be a stumbling
block In the way Of duty to ones chill
dren. To do the best that in us lies for
their future welfare is a heaysn-impUsed
obligation, and one we dane not ignore.
And what to do with the "bad boys"
need be no very difficult problem to
those who earnestly wish to solve it. Its
greatest intricaciss have already been
ciphered ont