Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-08
Daily Eas1e
THE WILD BOY NUISANCE.
MANNER IN WHICH YOUNG ROUGHS
AND LOAFERS ARE DEVELOPED.

Noisy Gangs Which, Infest the Street Cor
ners-Apparent Failure of Wen Inten-
toned People-The Trials of the Lady
School Teacher.
All our cities are infested by gangs Of wild
boys, who make the evening and the Sunday
hideous TO well disposed people. The news
papers occasionally relate their misdeeds, and
we see them for ourselves grouped upon their
favorite corners, ladies going around the
block to avoid passing them. Nor can we
claim the wild boy nuisance is peculiar to
great cities In many pleasant country towns,
and even In remote villages, there are boys
rough, lawless, unfeeling, untaught-who
have contrived to escape the sedate civiliza-
ton Of their native place. In their course
from babyhood they have learned little ex-
cept how to make life torment end
shame to their mothers and a terror to their
neighhorhood.
Az we pass these idle ugly, defiant groups
we may very naturally wonder how they
have come to exist, considering the number
of seductive traps good people have set to
catch the wild boy and make decent human
being Of him; our vast school system, for ex-
ample, including the evening school, the
Sunday school, the truant officer, the reform
school and the inviting rooms OF various
young mems associations.
Let US see how this unhappy creature is
evolved Any one may observe the process
who viii take the trouble to study closely
one large public school Of boys. There he sits,
Gstless and disseminated, chewing gum, his
mouth already disfgured by the odious
habit, q center and source Of disorder to his
quarter of the school room. He remains
languid and quiescent only SO long as no
chance Of mischief presents itself; but when
it does, he shows some cunning and prompt
ness in availing himself of it. 1t was not in
the school room, however, that he became q
wild boy. He begins bis days progress in
the bad way ut home, in his hurried, dlsor-
derry breakfast, from which he goes TO
school, half nourished, to devour whatever
indigestible substance he can find. And there
be sits, with his dirty hands and unclean
clothes, an incipient wild boyl If there are
a hundred boys in the schoolroom, there are
usually half dozen of his kind The school
room is presided over by a young lady, in
lovely white apron, her hair done to a nicely,
and she tries every hour to tame these few
young savages by ell the arts OF persuasion
at her command. She is secretly afraid OF
the wild boy, and he knows it, She knows
and he knows that if 1t comes to fight it
will not be tho teacher who will gain the vic
tory, and so they live in condition of de-
moralizing compromise. Tommy" she says,
in her sweetest note at the beginning OF
school, 81 see you have brought that auger
10 school again. Don't you think you had
better take it out into the entry, or let me
put it into my deskl"
Tommy does not think SO, and the gentle
lady knows well that, il she were to proceed
from advice to command, and command to
compulsion, there would be a scene in the
schoolroom, from which her soul recoils with
horror. She could expel him. The law gives
her this power Why does she not use itl
Because she is a gentle and good woman, and
knows this boy, and perhaps his widowed
mother also, and all that mothers vain efforts
to reform him, and she knows that expulsion
would simply mean his precipitation into the
career Of wild boy.
Sooner or later, however, the school system
loses its hold upon him, and he develops
rapidly into ruffian of the streets.
No one can hold in more grateful regard
than do the patient, much enduring ladies
who form so important a portion Of the
teaching force OF this country. The benign
influence Of good women is needed in every
school, and in no kind Of school so much os
in school Of boys When the school is
large enough 80 have at its head a strong,
able man, to whom in cases Of difficulty and
rebellion the ladies of the corps can appeal,
all goes well They seldom need to appeal.
The mere knowledge that the man is there,
with his strong arm and his possible stick, is
usually deterrent that suficeS But when
we place a lady in charge of a school in
which there are boys beaver and stronger
than herself, and leave her there to fight it
out with them alone, day after day, with no
resource against persistent disorder, which is
confession Of defeat, we do something
which is extremely likely to result in the de-
yelopment of wild boys
1t is surprising how well many Of our
gentle and resolute ladies manage, unsup-
ported as they are by visible force. But out
of every fifty boys there arc likely to be as
many as five who viii defy the teacher, if
not totally conquer and Illustrate her, to the
extent of making her life daily renewal of
bitterness and shame. II we place lady
over a lot Of lively and vigorous boys, we are
it SO that, ct any moment of need, she can
summon by telephone or otherwise a super
intendent, selectman, trustee, with stout
policeman accompanying him, well provided
with the means of subduing the rebel. he is
always coward. Let him but know that
his gentle teacher has this resource and it
win usually keep him in order.
As people, l fear we are little too soft
l. L. II,
advantageousiy caress it a little less and
study it much more. Children, like other
musical instruments, give forth music only
when they are played upon by skillful hand.
often think of a school as resembling great
organ full Of pipes, trunpets and flutes.
When master touches the keys and works
the pedals, the mighty instrument fills all the
region with harmony 1t is wofully other
wise when al unskillful or insufficient player
fills tho organist's seat.
A well governed child, that is, a child that
has learned reasonable obedience without loss
OF natural yivacity, is the most enchanting
object in the universe 1t graces and cheers
every home OF which it is a part. Every eye
rests upon it with pleasure and benediction.
But alas! an ungoverned or miSgoverned
child can EASILY become something hideous
and terrific. No creature can be more cruel
In my life l hars known two or three 10
stances Of cruelty to children from parents
and teachers, but it seems TO ME / have
known a hundred cases Of the most savage
cruelty committed by children upon parents,
teachers and one another. They ale cruel
because they are young. a proper considera-
ton for the rights and feelings OF others is
not naturally trait Of childhood; it belongs
to maturity 1t comes with knowledge of