Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-05-02
BARRE'S YOUNG MEN.
Rev. E. M. Fuller has Something to
Say Regarding Them.

EDITOR of The TELEGRAM: --- ! have
been interested in the articles recently
appearing in your paper concerning
the gathering of boys on our streets,
and their conduct there. OF course,
it is not at all gentlemanly or right
for them to do what it is said they do,
and some effective means should be
employed to prevent such gatherings
as are an outrage upon decency and
morality.
But the question has arisen in my
mind, what else have the boys to do?
If they are away from home, there
are no influences but those of the
street to come upon them. They have
nowhere to 60 except the corners, and
there they find the company they
want. A boy is the most social being
in the world. He must have society:
and he is bound to find it somewhere.
OF course, the ideal place is the home.
but there are many homes where the
surroundings are but little better
than those of the street, and where
the company the boy would be likely
to receive would be no improvement
upon that of the corners. This is no
doubt true of many homes in this city
unless Barre is an exception to the
universal rule.
Then, again, the boys have very
powerful example set before them by
the men. And you know that if a
boy can't do as the men do, he feels
very green, and that is the worst feel
ing boy can have. So long as the
men are allowed to stand upon the
street corners and befoul the air with
smoke and unclean talk, and make the
sidewalks unfit for lady to pass over
on account of their filth, we cannot
consistently be too severe in our iudg-
ment Of the boys.
But what | wish to come at is this:
The remedy for the whole trouble lies
with the citizens themselves. Not
in arresting the boys, but in furnish
ing them something better. A glance
at the large number of young men
who are too old to be classed as boys,
will show the fruitage of the neglect
which is so painfully apparent to one
who has the moral interest Of the
community at heart. In the inten-
sitv of the commercial life. SO newt.
able in town which has outgrown it.
self as Barre has, everything has been
subordinated to the one main thought
of making money. Capital has been
invested in such enterprises as would
bring money returns. And the fu-
ture of the boys and the young men
has been forgotten; or if thought Of,
it has been with feeling of helpless
ness which saw a need, but knew not
how to supply it. With the host OF
able young men which our city con-
tains-sec0nd, | believe, to none in the
country for quality, we surely ought
to have adequate provision for their
social life. Our schools are excellent
ia the direction they give to the ed
ucational side of the life of the boys,
and the churches are fairly well
equipped for looking after the spirit
ual side. But there is no proper pro-
vision for the social part Of their ma
ture, distlnctively.
The Christian people of this city
ought to take this matter in hand,
and see that another year does not
pass without some place being pro
vided where the boys can meet freely,
under proper control, and have good
time of the best sort, and thus have
one part of their nature developed
which is now sadly neglected. Leav'
inc out Of the problem every conSid'