New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-06-14


To give these boys pleasant place IN which
10 spend their evenings the Foote Club has taken
nm ole rink in the centre of New-Haven anu
0tted IL up as clubhouse for the young see'S'
with a gymnasium. baths. playrooms' reaaihs
and clubrooms. In arranging the mouse On
these lines and leaving out the religious meet
ing idea the Nev-Haven club IS working along
the lines outlined above. preferrlns to Interest
the boys along their own lines Instead OF re-
forming" them. As the manager or the ci"o
put it to-day. 1.-The reform will come "hen we
set the bows interested in self-improvenlen--
A novel feature of the Foote Boys Club is the
large clearing house room, where strange Dogs
are admitted for evening. instead OF oelhe
turned away from the doors. and where they can
see a good deal of what is going on in the ciuo-
rooms without being admitted past the WICKET
fence Here every night a motley Assembly
ef small Youngsters is 20 he found, of all sizes
and ages, anxious to prove themselves ehglpie
10 the larger liberties they inside. After
hoy is admitted he Joins one of the clubs of
which the institution is made up, and once IN,
,othtns car deter him from attending the club
meetings as often as the manager permits them
To be held.
As The New-Haven Boys Club is an expert
srent the results OF which will go long way
howard establishing new system OF reach
tng the unemployed urchins of the large cltes'
suggested by the boys themselves In order to
bring IN some of the elements that would other
wise stay out the idea has been fostered of per
Knitting the youngsters TO continue their
gangs and clubs This has subdivided the
Foote Club into a large number of smaller
clubs each with its special name and OBJECT a
scheme which has attracted the boys at once
THE manager of the club the other night asked
b new group of boys who had applied for ad-
Emission as to what kind Of club they had
oh" said one of the youngsters, our gang
xoes through holes in fences, crawls under Old
barn floors and finds secret places in tumble
oowr buildings. Then we lay for fellows we
Cont want in. There's a kid what wants to
soin this club now, and when we get in here
se're going 70 lay for him. Then we eat fruit
Eat fruit? asked the manager. You don't
steal II, do your"
oh no we don't steal it. But there's an old
man and woman up our way that has fruit
Orchard. We hang around the orchard and keep
other boys away
The CARRYING out of this small club idea has
proved a most popular method in New-Haven-
rhe boys enjoy certain secrecy in conducting
their affairs, and this increases the interest
among them. The other night some OF the older
s,ovs were studying chess with member OF
shs Yale Chess Club behind locked doors sew
sral Of the younger members. passihs te
closed door, knocked to see who was INSIDE
They were told that club was in session DOE
Ems more knocked in the course of the next nair
hour and little later a delegation waited on
the manager and informed him that checker
club had been organized, and that the new ciup
wanted a room by itself with key
This idea has produced the organization OF a
xozen or more clubs where the boys can meet
10 their full pleasure, thus carrying out the
sdeas which are spreading throughout the coun-
try as to the best way to conduct boys cluos'
There are now, for instance, in the Foote Ciuo
1ndependent organizations for boys VINO oehehI
sn assuming Indian names, for debating, ORA
.natics study of electricity, carpenter WORK
fiction reading. history. stamp collecting, print
.ng military drill football, baseball and cross
country running All of these clubs are man
Rged h. young men, many Of them from fale
rTniyersjtv and the boys have thus far taken
great interest in them small weekly paper
SIS soon to be published by the printing club, in
which the news of the organizations VIII De
published
Managing these clubs has brought large
number of young men into the work from the
satv and university Practical heads of the in
ssustrial clubs have been found among the WORK
sng and artisan classes while the Yale under
graduates have taken charge of the literary and
athletic clubs During the few weeks in which
the club has been in existence there have peeh
several basketball games and indoor basepaA
-raroes and these have served TO bring great
slurber of boys in who would otherwise nave
remained away. Once in, il has been found mat
she boys stay the club idea directly Interesting
Them. Yale students to the number Of about
two hundred are regularly interested in club
work in New Haven and they have taken hold
of the Foote Club energeticaily. A member OF
the baseball squad is training the youngsters
IA baseball, another Yale athlete is working up a
k,ava and 1gt1Tl
will next fall help in giving the boys some ele-
,nentary instruction in football In the same
WAY the reading classes have been taken over py
she college men. One Of the most popular CLUBS
&c The chess club the members of which, all of
ihem working boys. are in charge OF fale
Chess Club player :,
has already proved successful. Recently a
soung Armenian entered one of the clubs. He
showed a remarkable gift for designing ana
This having been brought 10 the atIeitloh Oh d
friend Of the club he viii have free course ID
che Yale Art School The plan Of the New
Haven club. carrying out the broad principles
which are being taken UP all over the country,
SIS 10 give the boys who join chance 10 proad-
en themselves in lines which would be impossl-
bic ~ they remained in their regular employ
snent-carpenter work, printing etc--ti a 81.
them for trades which they might later 9oln
where they would otherwise never be found IN
Ill probability
As the New-Haven experiment in boys club
work is along the line of developing the boy
without forcing him into classes" or attempt
sng to reform him, the youngsters are per-
united TO DO about what they please, as long as
no disturbances occur. Said the manager to-
day: -
Necessarily the boys enjoy 'scrapping among
themselves and all that is necessary for
rough and tumble fight is for any one boy TO
drop the remark that he can DO better imam
some other boy in anything, or that some other
boy said he could do him In the midst Of a
peaceful half hour, when everything is going
on all right a youngster will say something like
that. and before stop ii they are hard
Ct II"