Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1904-03-19
WORK OF CHILDREN.
NEW YOPK'S JUVENILE LEAGUE A
VALUABLE ORGANIZATION.

Clubs Formed on Many blocks to
Assist the street and Health De-
partments In Keeping the city
CIean-T.n For the Members.
New York has unique organization
that aids in keeping the streets of the
city clean. 1t is known as the Juvenile
City league or what IS now cQuiva-
lent to n Juvenile street cleaning bri-
gadc, and its object is To inStill into
the children some civic pride. Clubs
parts Of New York. and the members
aid the city authorities by picking up
waste paper and reporting dead ami
mails.
OF course the most natural questions
for n stranger to ask about this ap-
parently utopian scheme are: What Is
the incentive? What makes the chill
drcn want to give up their play to pick
rubbish Off the pavement? Those who
have the matter in charge have not
forgotten that some feature more at
tractive than the promise Of clean
streets must be offered to the youthful
population. and they have provided the
needed stimulus, says the New York
Times. They call 1t 'circulatinS
sporting goods library" and it is moth
Ing else than Goodly supply of base
ball bats. boxing gloves and such ath-
lctic implements. which are taken out
in much the same way as books are
taken from public library and then
returned at the proper time. The head
quarters of all the clubs are at present
room on the corner of Eleventh ave-
nue. and Fifty-third street
Another incentive besides the ath-
letic goods circulating library" Is the
military feature that is injected into
the organization of every one of the
little clubs. OF course, as everybody
knows whose memory goes back to the
time Of brOoms used for guns and
sticks for swords, marching and drill
ing have an irresistible attraction for
boys, and If they can get together, have
commanding officers and march up and
down they are sure that they are In
possession of the secret of enjoying life
Well, each one of the clubs-Or perhaps
it would be more military to call them
companies a captain and two lleu-
tenants. chosen by the 'privates" them
selves.
AS many of the company as possible
are supplied with sticks with points at
the ends with which to pierce garbage
or L,per and remove 1t easily from the
street These warlike implements may
be used for guns. and with them slunS
over their shoulders the children will
drill for ten minutes and then be will
ing to pick up trash couple of hours
in order to drill ten minutes more when
the work Is done.
The men in authority say that the
scheme is succeeding much better even
than was expected, and it is certain
that the blocks where these clubs are
formed have Il much ncater look than
do the others in the same general vicin-
ity. 1t was necessary at first of course,
to introduce some ruse in order to get
the start, but now that the work Is
once under way youngsters whose faces
indicate anything rather than patriotic
pride seem to take genuine delight IN
freeing the street from rubbish. And
when their sense of duty, which is,
needless to say, very small, does not
make them do the cleaning, their spirit
Of rivalry fills the gap and brings
about the same result. Two nearby
blocks will be the scene of small
sized battle. of which the goal is n
n, ctr ho fS nnuSnd
by each side trying to reach the goal
first
Besides picking up rubbish off the
streets there Is another way in which
these clubs are helping the health de-
partment. In the part of New York near
the wharfS are an unusually large
number of animals-ratS, dogs and cats.
These animals die, as animals will do,
and their bodies often remain on the
street until their proximity becomes
exceedingly uncomfortable to the peo-
pie living in the neighborhood. 1t is
one of the duties Of the clubs to notify
the health department Immediately
upon finding anything dead in the
street so that 1t will be removed and
no annoyance will result. In several
instances already this has been worked
and prevented much discomfort, per-
haps sickness.
Every week the director of the clubs
gets out a printed card of directions
for the members. A topic is selected
for the week, apd the printed matter
consists of short sentences telling the
members Of the companies what to do
In certain cases.
village Improvement Societies.