The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1902-01-25
II.cOb 4. Rifs' Lecture.
(Rcbortcd expressly for THE TINES by Rev. Jes
ID. Searlsl

plymouth congregational CHurcH
| was well filled Wednesday evening by
al apprsciative audince which listened
with intent interest to the Lecture
given by Jacob A. Riis, of New York.
| upon the subject Of 1.-The Sums of New
| York" Mr. Ris has been p years in
this work, and President Roosevelt
| says that he has done more than any
other man in New York for the reform
alton of the slum districts in that city.
| Mr.. Kiis in n s that We have in
| Robert EeForest, president of the slum
)mmissioness, the right man In the
right place-"A man whom you can
! tie to-
| The speaker took one principal
| phase of the work, namely, 'the typi-
! Gil boy of the slums, y whom he fer
/ convenience called Tony" Tony
was boy who, with his chum. de-
lighted in throwing mud on all things
! that were neat and clean. Tony and
his chum literally plastered the beauti-
full windows, stained glass, with mud.
The rector had Oft befriended him.
Tony knew no reason why he did it
it was his way of showing his graft
tude. Stones and mud were Tony's
weapons. He described Tony's home.
Pace twenty buildings i'll row side
b. side, closely packed, then turn
them up so they will be twenty build
ilgs high SO thai 1900 children shall be
IN one block, whole family i'll one
room, no means for privacy, filth and
darkness prevalent, mud outside and
mud inside, and you have Tony's
home Even the cat died; and Tony
brought the cat TO his mother and
said: ''Here is a good ca. spoiled. y
Tony robbed of home is robbed Of
character. He is also robbed of his
school; he grows up and is examined
for civil service-he is asked TO name
five of the original thirteen states; his
answer is England, Ireland, Scotland,
Boston and New York; He is asked
to tell what he knows about Abraham
Lincoln, and he answers: Il know that
he was killed by Balington Booth"
The speaker deprf ciated the cram
ming system in our schools. Scholars
should be taught to think, to see
things in their proper relations, then
he learns 10y doing The boy has
rights which are as sacred 10 mn us
the rights of habras corpus is to his
father. He has the right to play ball.
to play in the park. The stereotyped
placard TO "keep off the grass" i'm
presses him that we think more Of the
grass than of the boy-that we wor-
ship grass and care nothing for the
boy A boy is little steam boiler
with steem always on. You sit down
on that boys safety valve and you
have spoiled boy. $4,000 persons
lived on 81 acres of land. No green
thing in sight. Murders were fire.
quent The speaker went i'll for re.
formation In four and one half years
after the reform not one murder case
was reported.
Respect for law essential to charac-
ter building Law is crys talized pub
lie opinion. Authority given to the
father if used is good for the boy, and
is also good for the 'old man" The
boy SAYS "father is slow, or Dutch
that explains it." The boy goes out
and joins the gang. There was no
authority exercised at home. We
speak of heredity as accounting for
these evils That is nonsense 1t is
lack of home training. Moral sense is
left uncultivated. Ninety per cent of
children in reformatories are without
moral sense He experimental on
his own child. Could easily induce
his little girl to consent to see her
mother killed by a furious animal. He
soon trained her to SO respect and love
all life that she took great pains to
protect all life, even to ant hills and
moles. Moral sense should be early
and constantly continued Some in
cidenI may arouse that sense which
often lies dormant.
\ kid had been arrested by the
police was being carried to police sta
ton; the trolly became uumanage-
able and ran away like steam engine
The kid saw an infant on the track;
he managed at the risk of his life to
reach the fender of the car, snatched
the child from the jaws of death to
the great Joy of parents and all be-
holders. That boy did not go 10 the
reformatory, but went rapidly to the
front.
Little Fighting Mary" the terror
of the slums, took a pie given her in
her rations. looked upon it, shed tears
OF gratitude, carefully screened it and
carried it home to her mother 1t so
impressed the ladies in charge in
that they made a rule that all
girls should have pie for mother
when they received one for them
selves. a little child shall lead them"
Tony saw for the first time a COW.
The cow was chewing her cud. He
looked up in the face of the owner
and asked: do you buy gum for all
your cows
A slum gang of boys became so un-
manageable that the gang successfully