The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-22
MISSION WORK
HEREABOUTS
SUBJECT DISCUSSED BY MRS. d
L. RHoNE.

L. RHONE.
There Is a Great Field for the Home
Mission Workers Right at Their
Doors--Boys ought to Be Taken
Out of the Mines and Sent to
school-Memorial Service a, Fea.
ture of the Morning Session Of the
Home Missionary Convention.
Mrs. ID. l.. Rhone. of Wilkes Barre
read paper before the Woman's Home
Missionary conference yesterday or
Need of Mission Work in the Goa
Regions" which attracted much at
tention Mrs. Rhone has written books
and Is a frequent contributor to the
magazines. Among other things she
said:
The most subtle, far-reaching element TO
deal with In the ccal region is not the
Slav immigrant, rough, half barbarous rs
he undoubtedly IL. rhe forces which we
call Americanism are already working
upon him, kneadng and softening him.
This Is the first strike in which he has
taken part, for we may call that of 1eOU
merely the preface to this, but tho eie-
ment with which we have to deal is the
boy Of the coal regions-the boy in the
mines His part in the strike, his part
in the future of the coal regions cannot
possibly be ignored. Every time figures
are made the boy is rcckoned as a man,
- when the boy stops the mine stops. of
the $4,000 mines workers-and you have
heard those figures about thousand
times in the last six months-there are
about 10000 miners and laborers.
Every boy above sixteen years of age
has a vote in the union. below sixteen
a half vote; that Is. a boy who cannot
vote for school director or town con-
stable can vote to wreck the business of
these great anthracite valleys. These
boys are almost all American born. They
nre the children of the earlier imm-
grants At twelve years Of age the law
permits a boy to work in the breaker, at
fourteen the law permits him to drive
mules and open and close the doors In
the dark 1abyrinths of the mine. That
there are children of vet more tender
years employed in these occupations is
we'll known for parents swear falsely
about their children's ages in order TO get
them employment.
It's Bad Thing.
1t is a bad thing for a boy to be a wage
Garner 1t gives him an Independence
which he has not the discretion to use
properly and it renders paternal author
ity altogether null. he parents usually
recognize this and reason that If little
Johnny works in the breaker all the
week he ought to be allowed to attend the
cock fight on Sunday and to spend a
share of his wages in cigarettes and the
theater.
To shut a boy up underground with a
biting, kicking. balky mule or in a roar
ing breaker for nine years of his early life
is sure to bring him up almost savage.
His chief excitement is in maullng a
mule and his chief ambition to umpire a
Sunday base ball game. Many boy Is
early deprived of a father, and the bur
den of maintaining a mother and tile
Younger children has been thrown upon
him. lie is thus early made to feel the
pangs of poverty and the hardships of life
in their most acute bearings and becomes
hardened to his condition with stolid in
difference.
Here at our feet is not only an open
door of opportunity but positive imper.
tive call to duty for selfdefensc. There
must be measures other than and far
different from the terrors of prison, the
policeman's club or the soldiers rifle.
What shall we do about It? The truant
officer would drive him to school but
he public school is All institution too
highly refined for him under his pres
The boys ought to be taken out OF The
mines. Do not misunderstood me. lie
should be taken from the mines not be-
cause the mines are dark and dirty and
dangerous. There Is no better business
in the world than coal mining, there is
none where promotion is more certain and
swift. From slate picker or driver to la
borer, to miner to boss, to foreman, to
superintendent. to operator Is a path
which has been followed by many men
whose names are familiar to you all.
Ought to Be in School.
But he ought to be taken from the
mines during the tender years while char
acter is forming. He ought to be in
school learning not alone from books but
learning obedience to discipline. learning
to be an intelligent miner. not a mere
local slate pickers will be put in the
will come when the work that he is do
ing will be done by machinery. Mcchan-
ical slate pickers will be put in the
breakers. The work that is being done
underground by boys and mules will be
done by steam or electricity. But we
cannot wait until that time comes-It
may never come.
A good deal has been done in this mat
ter. Mrs. Palmer's Boys Industrial as
ISOLATION In Wilkes. Barre and similar
institutions in other places have done
something. Young Mems Christian as
sociations have done something, The
school boards in many Of the cities of the
coal region are willing to provide night
schools but seldom have any pupils for a
boy who has worked all day is TOO tired
to study at night. The various church
organizations have done much in the
larger cities and boroughs but the su
burban villages along the "outcrop'' have
been woefully neglected because of the
difficulties of penetrating them They
OF lifHcu1t n oh q
the Filpinos and the Chinese. Consd~
erng the environment aud lack of home
culture of the boy he needs some special
effort of simple love and kindness. Public
opinion has no force upon him outside
of very narrow circle of his own occu-
patton and nationality. Here is a special
class to be operated upon by those who
do such work from love and sense OF
religious duty, the home missionaries.
The election of officers Tuesday re-
suited as follows: President, Mrs. C.
y. Mogg, of Wilkes Barre; first vice
president, Mrs. a. W, Hayes, of Bing-
hamton; second vice president, Mrs
Henry Tusksley, of OneOnta; cores
ponding secretary, Mrs. q. 3. Kulp
Wilkes Barre; recording secretary
Miss Harriet Pascoe CarbOndale; treas
urer, Mrs. Frances p, Hough, Bing-
hamton.
Memorial Service.
Mrs. C. T.. Mogg presided at the love
feast of the morning session, and fol-
lowing this was a memorial service
Mrs, George Genung, OF Waverly, n
" died but three weeks ago. She was
a prominent worker I'm the church and
was particularly efficient in the mis-
sionary societies, AS district secretary
her place is very hard TO fill. Mrs