Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-12-11

We seen CWp vi LhIee VI lue WOESl
cases Of nostalgia si~ce I've BEN here.
Sec ..ft l!.tle fellow ceer thcre?"
pointing to rather urdersized boy
with square shoulders and clear eyes.
"When he first came here he was very
home4.cl. He used to write, asking to
see me and when / sent for him would
say: MRS. Sage, / can't sleep nights
thinliin' O. my father an m1ther.
Tkon he would cry "a bit and add: My
father ,-ot so drunk and he b6ated my
N other awfully. But l wish | could
&C home, What Kind Of ONE do
you suppose he had? An awful one it
Was, md his father beat him SO that
| he had to run away. That's how he
came here. Yet that boy cried for a
week to 90 home to his mother"
There is one small boy about 13 in
the detention or quarantine pen now
who hos been on the island only nine
days. He is from East New York and
is almost sick for a sight of his mother
or f2ther or something he called home.
There's p queer case of a very well
appearing boy in the institution. His
mother went to see the superintendent
and Mrs. Sage recently.
"This is such a splendid work." she
began. 1--WE always been interested
and active in such work. I'm worker
myself in missions" Then she went
on and told how her boy had been
brought up to be little saint. "Why,
when he was only four years old he
went up to the policeman on the corner
and asked him if he loved Jesus and he
knew where he'd go if he didn't" said
the mother And it didn't seem at all
queer to her that her own boy should
go aStray while she was looking out
for other peoples morals
The House of Refuge boy has Ian
guage OF his own that no philologist
has yet studied. Some of his own
words have become almost Official Ian
guage. At any rate they are thorough
ly understood by everyone attached to
the house service. A boys chum is
his rake" He never speaks of trying
to escape. It's ALWAYS beating it,,
the past tense of which appears to be
"he beat it," And he never stops plan
ming how he can "beat it,
Three of the boys were crawling
somehow out Of a guardhouse opening,
when the small son of the farmer who
runs the gardens sDied them. Nobody
knows how the little one had heard
tie expression and nobody stopped to
ask what it meant as he yelled:
"Oh, fayther, they're beatin' it,
they're beatin' it,
But they didn't succeed Another
boy still has his arm in sling as the
result of an attempt to slide down a
rope made of three hospital blankets
The colored boy, who is captain of one
division, saw the attempt and reused
the entire house force by a peculiar
shrill whistle with which he sounded
the alarm. Now the boy with the
broken arm has made up his mind.
after this" he said, I'm going to
behave. 1t ain't no good tryin to beat
it. Yer can get out quickest by bein
good"
OF course boys are sent to the insti,
tuition from all over the State One
l typical farmers son has the sympathy
of all who know his tory. This is the
story, at least as he and his friend tel
4 it. The boys father and neighbol
both were setting muskrat traps The
The boy by mistake got two belonging
to the neighbor-two traps that would
u MT have cost 20 cents apiece when new
i Apparently there was some quarrel be-
tween the men. for the owner of thu
traps at once had the boy arrested anC
taken before a relative. who sentenced
: him Immediately to the House O
Refuge. The boy was brought from
his country home to New York. TIL,
c boys have told him of the wonders o
t the city, of Brooklyn bridge and tn,
{ big buildings and Coney Island and th
{ big boats and Broadway. The boy i
i divided between homesickness for tn
country and amazement and curiousit,
d at his strange situation. There are n
bad marks against him, and when hi
u time is up he'll be taken to see tn
! wonders of which he can only dream
% as he looks at the smoke of the cit
Ie across the river But when wise me
&c are trying to get all the boys into tn
u country ito reform and rescue then
le and advocate the location of all re
u formatory and penal institutions in tn
;" county, it is queer to see small boy
20 brought from country and small town
u to the city to be punished.
i0 The great need of the House of Re
81 fuge is gymnasium. OF course tn
- boys are raDturous base ball fiend
" and the days when they play other il
~ stitution teams are historical.