Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-23
THE ssB. B..
The First New Haven Company of
the Boys, Brigade OF the United

rhe First New Haven Company of
the Boys, Brigade OF the United
States.
70 the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
What do these two letters stand for. A 1
yery great invention. Until the "B. B."
was discovered scarcely any Sunday
school teacher was able to do more than
keep order, quell riots, subdue irrelevant
remarks, minimise attacks upon his per-
son, and protect his Sunday hat from de-
struction while before class of boys,
with "quarterly" in one hand and his
Bible in the orher. If you, the reader of
this article, have ever been the teacher of
class of boys in Sunday school you
know perfectly we'll that no boy has yet
succeeded in listening to you for two con-
secutive minutes. They have learned |
nothing whatever. Respect is unknown,
obedience jest. Even the minor virtues |
of regularity, punctualtty and courtesy
have not yet dawnad upon their virgin |
minds.
What is wrong? Want of INTEREST," You
may be walking biblical encyclopedia
and q good fellow, but they have no inter-
est even in a stationary encyclopedias and
less in your kind of goodness. They are
not interested.
So, after the usual Sunday riot, at your
preparation hour, as Professor Henry
Drummond says, "Instead of trying to
find out whether the Israelites crossed the
Red Sea by the shoals at Suez or went
round, 'as some say by Wady Tawarik,
you read up the literature of the ''B. B."
and learn how the children of your own
al ho 1ad kbo SoY,1f
of life's temptations"
After reading up the literature of the
tB. B." (which letters, now that you are
one of the initiated, mean ''Boys' Brig
| ade'D loaned to you by Pastor Luckey of
the Humphrey street church, you resolve
that Saturday evening you will visit that
church and see how the new process
works. At precisely p. m. you hear the
bugle call and drum roll and 10! nearly
fifty "B-ys!" Excuse me, there are no
boys present. There are privates, full pri
and guns, which latter, while war
ranted to shoot only a blank cartridge to
the relief of fond mammas, are weapons of
no mean cslibre. Captain Hayes, coached
by Captain Brown of the Grays, stands
before this line of BIS excuse me pri-
vates) and instead of starting off with the
old injured Sunday school air with which
you have been familiar many years, "Now,
boys, behave yourselves,"-he shouts:
cometh to pass that the entire line is
paralyzed into rigid statues After prayer
he then keeps them moving-msrching
hating, marking time and doubling, till
they are dropping with fatigue. What
liberties he takes with them! "No lion
king" as Professor Drummond says,
"making his wild beasts jump through
hoops could be prouder of himself. He
criticises their hands, their faces, their
feet-even their boots-without murmur
of dissent. Amazing and preposterous il
fusion! Call these boys, boys which they
are, and ask them to sit up in a Sunday
class, and no power on earth will make
them do it; but put a cap on them and call
them soldiers. which they are not, and you
can order them about till midnight. The
genius who discovered this astounding and
inexplicable psychological fact ought to
rank with Sir Isaac Newton. Talk of what
can be got out of coal-tar or waste paper
Why, you take your boy, your troglodyte
your Arab, your gamin, on this principle
and there is no limit to what you can ex
tract from him or do with him. Loci
at this quondam class, which is tonight
q company. As class it was confusion
depression, Generalization, chaos. Al
company it is respect, self-respect, enthu
sissm, happiness, peace. The beauty o.
, the change is that it is spontaneous, secur
ed with heartburn, maintained withou
compulsion. The boys own nature rise
specimen the greater its hold upon him."
And now. after Captain Hayes, Lieuten
ants Trowbridge and Bush with all tn,
non-commissioned officers have marched
, and drilled the company until $50 p. m.
all in true military order and discipline
procure chairs and seats themselves for
half hour with Prof. Harper's inductiv
Bible studies on the life of Christ Bible
. in hand they read the lesson and through
: out the remainder of the hour they ar
l respectful, attentive and receptive of tn
:. truth.
Such In actual, concrete reality, befor
i" your very eye, is the new process as it il
+ working in the First New Haven company
q connected with the Humphrey street Con
gregational church of the Boys Brigade il
the United States of America. That tn
movement is practical and meets need il
% the advancement Of the kingdom of God
: one company of thirty boys in 1883 to 45
e companies Of $4,000 boys in 1891! Th
largest number of companies is, of course
u in Scotland, where the movement original
!, ed. There are twenty in the United State
u of America and only three of these east O
's the Rockies. No boy is admitted unde
the age of twelve, nor any allowed to re
main, save in the case of officers, beyon,
r, seventeen. The brigade, therefore, as yo
It can see, is only designed to oper
ate on boy during a specif
10 part of his development, and b
10 is supposed to be handed over when tina
d is complete to the church The brigade
-, in fact, is meant to supply the missin
q link between the Sunday school and tn
"a church. AS soon as boy becomes wag
~ Garner and breathes the free air of churc
- or workshop the Sunday school ceases t
y hold him; and without something to bridg
II ability to entirely paddle his own canoe h
- would be either lost or spoiled before tn
church throws its protecting arms abou
him. 1t is in this respect more. perhaps
than in any other that the Boys brigade i
.s to be welcomed to place among the stapl
r. institutions of the country.
In conclusion, it cannot be too emphat
10 ically said that the 'Boys' Brigade" is
sr religious movement. Everything is SUI
le sidisry to this idea. 1t may not always b
g. brandished before the eyes of the boy
themselvesSin so many words, but at bo1
~ tom the brigade exists for this, and it j
never afraid to confess it. On the for
!. front of the earliest documents stand
!. these words: "The object of the Bow
"a Brigade is the advancement of Christ
a kingdom among boys, and the promotio
+ of habits of reverence, discipline, self-re
ar spect and all that tends toward a tru
, Christian manliness."
II That flag has never been taken down.
Contrary to a somewhat natural i'm
N preston, the Boys Brigade doe
not teach the 'sart of war" no
does it. foster or encourage tn
"war-spirit." It simply employs militar
" organization, drill and discipline as th
Is most stimulating and interesting means Q
20 securing the attention of volatile clae
and of promoting self-respect, chivalry
T. courtesy, esprit du corps and host 9
/. kindred virtues. AS to the retort that tn
n end can never justify such means, it i
- simply to be said that the "means" are nc
"a what they are supposed. To teach drill |
~ not to teach the TART of war;" nor is tn
y drill-spirit "war-spirit." Firemen ar
~ drilled, policemen are drilled, and, thoug
a it is true the cap and belt and gun of tn
h boys are the regalia of another order
it may be doubted whether drill i
any more to them than to thes
other sons of peace. With the off
GERS, all Christians and church member
saturated as they are with the deepe
d meaning of their work, feeling as they d
the greatness and responsibility of thei
% commission, it is an idle fear that an