Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-04-19
BAD PLACE FOR BOYS.
Would as Soon Cut Her Sons Throat
as Turn Him Loose in Chicago

Would as Soon Cut Her Sons Throat
as Turn Him Loose in Chicago
Often as | pass along the streets
of this town, says a Chicago woman,
notice certain places which | do not
burn down, nor tear down, nor other
wise demolish, merely because of in
herent cowardice and inadequate
strength. If 1 had a wide-awake grow
ing boy [ would no more turn him
loose in your town, Mr.. Mayor, than
| would cut his throat with my own
hand. Not, certainly, if there was q
spark of human nature within him,
and a boy without such a spark is
hardly worth raising. And more than
that, / will say this that what with
your wide-open gambling resorts. and
your doOrWays of hell, wherein sit
spiders Turing flies, it has come to pass
that every mother whose boy encoun-
tiers harm thereby should be entitled
to damages at least as great as juries
award a careless pedestrian who gets
his legs cut off at a railway crossing.
You say the laws are inadequate to
cope with evils of this kind; if that
is so, then an outraged citizenhoOd
should rise superior to law, and enter
upon crusade to destroy the infa-
nous denS that decoy our boys. On a
certain downtown street there is a
newly opened resort, the windows of
which are closely draped, and before
the door of which a placard is sus-
pended which invites only men to
enter within. Now and then a hideOus-
ly ugly man, with a yellow beard,
comes to the ticket window and looks
out like a tarantula from it's hole, but
in the main the place seems absolute
~ unfrequented.
Take your stand and watch for
awhile, though, and you will see young
men and small boys, old men and
slOuching reprObates of all conditions
and colors going in and coming out by
dozens. Why doesn't some good citizen
enter a complaint of that place and
break it up? We would pounce upon a
smallpox case soon enough wherever
it might Turk, but we are strongly in
different where the menace is only to
the soul.
How can we expect to keep our boys
pure, and raise them to lives of use
fulnesS when such Ubiquitous places
are run wide open on public streets at
monday, granting admission to all
masculinity between the ages of 7 and
10?
A Well-guarded youth is supposed to
be at home in the nighttime and not
to be frequenting shy neighborhoods
at any hour. SO that we might feel
comparatively safe about the boy we
send out into the world at an early
age to begin his career as GRAND
boy or messenger if these perniciOus
decOyS were maintained only at night
and in low vicinities. When the trap
center of the town by daylight what
safety have we? Whenever ] look into
the face of an eager, bright, curious,
thoroughly alive boy | feel like shak-
ing every other duty of life and going
forth to do battle with the devil for
that lads soul.
Why should evil have so much
greater chance than good? For one
reason L don't believe we make the
good attractive enough. The devil has
stolen the trademark of light for half
his wares. Why not have more fun
and frOlic in the home? Why not add
a gymnasium and a dancing hall to
the Sunday school and filter some of
the worlds innocent sunshine inside
it's gloomy walls? Why may not the
eager, active heart Of youth find its
good cheer and jOllity somewhere else
than in forbidden places and among
smooth and INSCRIPTIONS KIN ives? If
we made our churches less auStere and
their GATHERINGS more alluring to the
young. these low and vicious resorts
might close for lack of patronage.
God bless the boys. I love them
next best to girls and sometimes even
a little better, when they are especial
ly frank and brave and true. / am
not going to see them harmed without
a protest, either, and I would be one
of a crowd this very day to march
upon the resorts of evil that lie in
wait, all over town, to destroy the
bonnie fellows. If I had my way
every man or woman who makes
money by pandering to the curiosity
of boys nature, melting to unworthy
passion by means Of lewd pictures
and the like, should be consigned to in
slant perdition. The earth is too hal
RI l,a;r IL