Evening star., 1897-03-27
The Small Boy Problem.

Mrs. NJ. L. Rayne in Chicago Times Herald
Il can suggest reform that is needed in
the home education of our boys more than
the curfew bell" said Snagsby recovering
himself from a fit of retrospection.
Let us have it," / replied; now is the
time when IT is needed
1T is mothers slipper sole / would never
be the correct fellow / am nowhere
Snagsby inflated his chest-''if il had not
been for the frequent use of that benign
instrument of home rule
What is the matter with fathers trunk
strap" / asked slangly.
'Oh, fathers are TOO severe. They handle
a boy as if he was of their own size. and
arouse a rindictive spirit that lasts a life
time. Now, mothers don't hurt much. II
is the humiliation of being whipped by a
woman that hurts but IL never leaves any
ranking spirit of an injustice done. and is
as salutary a dose of physic.'
What has become of the slipper sys-
tenn
Gone out with mothers doughnuts and
mnce pies. 1t is no longer a factor in the
education of boys. The modern mother
doesn't know anything about the old soft
soled slipper that whacked goodness into
the Johns and Williams of the past. An
oxford tie with French heels could never
be educational. / tell you that dear old
slipper was an active home missionary"
and Snagsby wiped away tear over its
memory.
Apropos of boys. does not a summing up
of the daily aggregate of crime recorded
against youthful offenders in all large cities
| suggest the inefficiency of present methods
| of reform? Locking up a ten-year-old boy
| in a prison pen for a small theft. and in
roking the whole machinery of the law to
convict him, is more conducive to a Grim
| inal career than to one of reform and peni-
tence. Then. too, the whole spectacle OF
| uniformed authority has glamor for the
small offender. who feels that he is identi-
| fed with the objects of his awe and ad-
h.at rl bras
buttoned official. From that moment his
career of degeneracy is confirmed.
Now for the suggestion of a remedy. We
all know of the noble work of the sisters of
charty-why not have system OF brothers
! of charity-home missionaries, paid by the
| city which employs them to look after
| street children, to teach them. If need be,
| In the market square or on the street cor
| ners the way to better childlife? Let
them sing the songs of Eugene Field TO the
| Wynkens, Blynkens and Mods of the slums.
| and thereby raise nobler monument to
| the memory of the poet than could be built
| of marble stone. or recite the Pied
| Piper of Hamelin, and. when crowds
| gathered TO listen, pass around the hat for
| the street mission. To do for the least OF
| these little ones whom Christ blessed Is
what the Salvation Army has done for
/ adults.
Not all our sacramental creeds
Can cleanse our hearts from guile.
| If, seeing one poor infant needs,
| Our souls grow hard the while.
| Another institution of the past suggests
| itself here as a refuge for children who
| have too few or too many luxuries. and OF
| the two conditions l favor the first IL is
| an Institution that is essentially English,
| and not looked upon with favor by Ameri-
i can parents. for whose children il is most
desirable-I allude to the nursery. 1t is a
! happy medium between the barrel-and-
| buEghole system, and that of the unre-
| strained freedom of American youth. Plain,
| wholesome food. such the children Of
Queen Victoria ate, and thrived on: plain,
| sensible clothing: the long hours of sleep
| necessary to the development OF all young
| animals and peace for the elders, That is
| what the nursery gives.
II is singular that an appeal for the chill
| dren should include the heirs TO home.
| wealth and all the prerogatives of life-but
| 1t does. The cliffs and blows of respectable
| poverty are more wholesome than the
| sweets and diminutives of luxury. where
| fine clothes and airs are cultivated more
| than the graces of the soul. The little peo-
| pie OF the world-gentle or simple-can hold
| their elders responsible, not for their here
| after but for their here-the life that now
| is.