Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1889-01-21
THE WILD BOY NUISANCE.
MANNER IN WHICH YOUNG RouGHs
AND LoAFERs ARE DEVELOPED.
Noisy Gangs which Infest the Street Cor
ners-ApT=rent Failcre Of Wen Inten-
TONED PeonIe-Tho Trials OF the Lady
School Teacher.

All our cities arc 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 sec them for ourselves grouped upon their
favorito 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, nnfceiing, untaught-who
have contrived 10 escape the sedate civilian
ton Of their native place. In their course
from habyhood they have learned little ex-
cept how TO mako life tormeAt and a
shame 10 their mothers and terror TO their
| neighborhood.
As wo 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 sec how this unhappy creature is
evolved Amy one may observe the process
who viii take the trouble to study closely
| one large public school Of boys. There he sits,
istiess aud discontinued, chewing gum, his
mouth already disfgurcd by the odious
habit. a center and source Of disorder TO his
/ quarter Of the school room. lie remains
| anguid and quiescent only SO long as no
chance Of mischief presents itself; but when
| u does, he shows some cunning and prompt
ness IN availing himself OF 1t. II was not in
| the school ROOM however, that he became a
wild boy He begins his days progress in
! the bad way az home, in his hurried disor-
derby breakfast, from which he goes to
school, half nonrished, 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
n hundred boys in the schoolroom, there are
usually half dozen Of his kind. The school
room is presided over by young lady, in
lovely white apron, her hair done to nicely,
and she tries every hour to tame these few
young savages by all the arts OF persuasion
at her command. Sho is secretly afraid Of
the wild boy. and he knows it. She knows
and be knows that If ID comes to fight it
will not be the teacher who will gain the vic
tory, and 50 they live in a condition of de-
moralizing compromise Tommy she says.
in her sweetest note at the beginning Of
school, ~ see you have brought that auger
to school again. Don't yon think You had
better take il out into the entry, or let me
put it into my deskln
Tommy does not think So and the gentle
lady knows well that, il she were to proceed
from advice 70 command and command to
compulsion, there would be a scene in the
schoolroom from which her soul recois with
horror She could oxpel him. The law gives
her this power. Why does she not use itg
Because she is a gentle and good woman, and
knows this boy, and perhaps his widowed
mother also, and all that mothers vain efforts
70 reform him, and she knows that expulsion
would simply mean his precipitation into tho
career Of wild boy
Sooner or litter, however, the school system
loses its hold upon him, and he develops
rapidly into n rufIian of the streets.
No one can hold in more grateful regard
.han do the patient, much enduring ladies'
who form 60 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 as
III q school Of boys When tie school is
large enough 20 havo at It's head strong
able man, to whom III cases Of difficulty and
rebellion the ladies Of tho corps can appeal
ell goes well. They seldom need TO appeal.
Tho mere knowledge that tho man Is tscrc,
with his strong arm and his possible stick is
usually deterreps ihst sqilices, But when
we place lady IN charge Of q school in
which there are boys beaver and stronger
than herself and leave her there to eight it
ont with them alone, day after day, with no
resource against persistent disorder, which 10
a confession Of defeat, We do something
which is extremely likely to result in the de.
velopment Of wild boys
It is surprising how well many Of cur
gentle and rosolute ladies. manage, unsun-
ported as they arc by visible force. But out
OF every fifty boys there are likely tc DO as
many as five who viii defy the teacher. ii !
not totally conquer and Illustrate her, to tho
extent Of making her life a daily renewal Of |
bitterness and shame. If We place a lady |
over lot Of lively and vigorous boys we arc |
bound 10 supplement her We must arrange |
it SO that, at any moment Of need, she can /
summon by telephone or otherwise super
intendent, q selectman, trustee, with a stout /
policeman accompanying him, we'll provided I
with the means Of subduing the rebel. He is /
nlwaysa coward. Let him but know that /
his gentle teacher has this resource and it I
viii usually keep him in order.
AS people, fear we ARE a little too soft /
and sentimental about childhood Wemight /
advantageously cares it a little less and |
musical instruments, give forth music only |
when they are played upon by askillful hand |
! often think Of school as resembling a great |
organ full Of pipes, trumpets and flutes |
When master touches tho keys and works |
the pedals, the mighty instrument Oils all the |
region with harmony. 1t is wofully other
wise when an unskillful or insufficient player
Ellis the organist's seat
A well governed child, that is, q child that
has learned reasonable obedience without loss |
Of natural vivacity, is the most enchanting
object in the universe. It graces and cheers
every home Of which it is part. Every eye |
rests upon it with pleasure and benediction.
But alas an ungoverned or nlisgoverned
child can easily become something hideous
and terrific. No creature can be moro cruel.
In my fife / have known two OF three in
stances Of cruelty to children from parents
and teachers, but it seems to mo / have
known hundred cases 0f the most savage
cruelty committed by children upon parents,
teachers ana ono another. They arc cruel
because they are young. A proper considera-
tion for the rights and feelings Of others Is
not naturally a trait of childhood. it belongs
to maturity. 1t comes With knowledge OF
life and experience OF suffering. Hence the
necessity of children being instructed in Gle
mentsry morals, and OF their being corr
PEELED, if necessary, nv tho strong hand, to
respect other peoples rights.
In truth, stable virtue in all its forms be-
longs to maturity, while yico is a thing
green, raw, mindless, stupid, immature. in
1 our schools and colleges il is tho crude, pro
vincial minds that give trouble and when we
visit one Of our prisons, we find that three