The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1895-06-19
Mr. Hewitt on New York BOYS.

The Rev. Mr.. Peters Of the Blooming
dale Church preached a sermon on the
Enemies Of Youth" last Sunday, and in
the course Of IL read this extract of
letter written by the Hon. Abram S.
Hewitt.
al sometimes wonder that any boy in this city
grows up in the path Of virtue the associations
here so demoralizing that II is almost a mir
ace IL any boy escapes the evil influence OF the
saloons, the gambling houses, and the lower
class Of entertainments,n
1t is wonderful that boy anywhere
grows up in the path OF virtue; nay, more,
1t is wonderful that he grows up at all in
any path. The feeblest creature in the
animal creation is baby. Its birth is
surrounded with perils. Without con-
slant care extending over years it cannot
live. II cannot Of itself make the battle
for existence, but must be watched over,
protected and nurtured by others. After
short period of maternal care calf or
puppy is turned out to look after itself,
but child must be tenderly and con-
stantly cared for in actual infancy and
for years thereafter. The most critical
period Of child's life, so far as the as
saults of disease are concerned, is ex-
tended by vital statistics to his fifth year.
During boyhood the dangers in his path
because OF his indiscretion, both physical
and moral, are innumerable, and it is
wonderful that he survives them. They
continue throughout his youth, and they
remain in his manhood. He is always
surrounded by temptations, wherever he
may be. They may come from outside
OF himself, or they may come from with
in. The effort to exclude and sequestrate
him from the one may only serve to
increase the chances that he may become
the victim of the other. He cannot be
kept away from them, wherever he be
and whatever the influences about him.
He can escape them no more in the
isolation Of a remote country farm than
amid the crowd and hustle of great
town.
Is it not wonderfully then, as Mr.. Hewitt
sometimes thinks, that all boys de not
turn out bad, and that they have net al
ways in the past gone TO the devilf But
practically, the great mass Of them turn
out well, and the desperadoes are COM
paratively few. The race has advanced
steadily from savagery to civilization.
The career OF Mr.. Hewitt himself has
been honorable and exemplary in the
eyes Of all men, yet he was brought up
in New York amid the very influences
and surrounded by the. demoralizing
associations from whose communicating
consequences he wonders that any Of the
present generation Of boys can escape.
OF course, in his boyhood and youth the
population Of the town was only very
small part of what it is now; but "the
saloons, the gambling houses, and the
lower class of entertainments" existed
then, and, relatively, they were as many
as they are now, il not more. A minister
from New England who visited New
York before the Revolution, recorded
his impressions that even then both the
youth and the manhood Of the place
were going straight to the devil because
OF the multitude ofgrog shops and vicious
resorts Of many kinds, The records of
the police fifty years ago show that the
demoralizing influences were more prev
alent than they are now, and that pro-
portionately they were actually more
harmful il, their demonstrated conse-
quence in the breeding OF crime and
deprayity. Parkhurst would then have
found a relatively wider field for his
peculiar activities, and he could have
found it at any time and under every
administration OF the municipal Govern
ment from the very beginning. The
devil was always about seeking whom he
could deyour; but always the great mass
OF the boys escaped from his clutches.
They grew up in the path OF virtue in
spite OF the evil influences OF which Mr..
Hewitt speaks, formerly more dangerous
and less resisted by public sentiment
than they are now.
Meantime the town has increased TO
the proportions OF one OF the great capt.
tails OF the world Counting all its own
and all those who come under the in
fuences Of which Mr.. Hewitt speaks, 1t
has become the second city OF the world
in magnitude. 1t has increased by the
incoming Of vast multitude Of foreign
ers and Of migrants from all parts OF the
Union itself, chiefly from the country,
but the nucleus Of the population still
remains the descendants from the inhab-
itants whose boyhood was passed amid
surroundings and associations OF the sort
described by Mr.. Hewitt All the two
million people now in the titular New
York and the three millions in the real
New York are under these influences,
and the majority have grown up nom
boyhood under them; but the number
who have departed from the path OF
virtue simply because OF that particular