The Newark journal., 1909-07-23
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

That is the word he prefers to use.
The term club" suggests too much
law and order to suit his spirits. His
gang" period begins when he is about
eleven and sometimes earlier; IL con-
tinues till he is IL and sometimes IA
or Is. There are two reasons why the
boys get together; they are at the
get together" age, it is in their bones
and burning like a fire, the beginning
of the social stage; and their physical
activities are such that no boy can get
all the exercise he wants except with
the aid of other boys, who assist
him in organizing his energies into
cooperative enterprises. There are
very few trials so taxing to him as to
be left alone Get with other boys
he must Girls are not in his class,
they have no charm nor terror to him,
not yet but soon. They get together
by neighborhoods as rule and at the
call of some one who is a natural
leader and who assumes all the func-
tions of leader, without appointment
and without hesitation. There is no
rotation in office and when the chief
goes the gang Is already gone; it has
reached its term and expires by
natural limitation and the boys have
no more use for 1t than for their ia
theirs old clothes.
There are some things they must
do-they must do things, do them with
heads and hands and hearts and feet
and voices. Do not forget the cease
less accompaniment of sound. And all
of them must do things and do the
same things. AL the kids do it" is
the conclusive reason for given deed.
The man who does things Is their
hero, whether shooting mountain lions,
or riding a bueking broncho, or play
ing ball or going as heroic mission
airy to the heather. One boy, when
asked whom he wanted to see when
he got to heaven, answered, Cellar"
His activities. which may be entire
ly admissible, are hunting. fishing and
roaming into the country; making
bonfires and attending fires. for il
there is one thing boy enjoys above
another 1t is being promptly on hand
at every eonfagration and remaining
till the last fireman has left; partici-
pating in political parades; attending
Sunday school picnics; going on real
bona fide errands, when the gang
spirit is recognized in some distinctive
way; engaging In any kind of we'll
doing, to which he is led. by comrade-
ship and not by the collar. Put special
regalia on him and he will work till
he drops. The above list does not be-
gin TO be complete, as every boy
knows, it is suggestive.
He is very inventive about this time.
He thinks out nomenclature which
would surprise any adult maker of
dictionaries. II is an era of slang and
nicknames. The leader is often
Judge" or DOC" or "Capn" and
every boy has new name that is far
beyond the reach of a Dickens to in
vent. This is the era of warts and
hayseed cigars and yells and signals
and whistles and shyness among
strangers and disinclination TO show
affection, as such, at home or any
where else. He thinks great deal
more of his teacher than she imagines
and he dotes on his daddy and often
brags about him. but would rather
keep him in ignorance of it. His tai
ent for inventing and pursuing games
of all kinds seems phenomenal and it
is all team work. He has not lost his
tn tt,fI ho1
but has lost a part of his old individ-
ualism and is now part of brother
hood His life is widening out from
its birthpoint
Some latent qualities that he was
not aware of are being released during
this period. courage and loyalty to
others and the spirit of cooperation
and benevolence and obedience to au-
thority and the sense of reality. He
learns to hate cowardice and the boy
who will take a dare" Is read out of
his class, at once. That boy is
baby, a Sissy" and has no sand"
The gang may be good or bad, may
turn itself into self-improvement
club or a band of marauders. Often
they don't know which way they are
drifting. II a strong and wise and low
ing hand lays hold of them and keeps
itself invisible most Of the time. 1t
may conduct them through that period
and work transformations and when
the gang is gone and the individuals
remain, loyalty to little group will
be loyalty to the larger group Of man
as such; friendships within the group
will grow into the finer friendships OF
manhood; courage in the face of per-
sonal or clan peril will become that
doughty strength of heart and con-
science that will dare to do right any
where and always; the sense of reality
will be the perception OF truth;
obedience to the law OF the clan will
be reverence for the laws of God and
man. The boys will appreciate 1t IL
some one will come back and down to
their level and get into the gang with
them, provide some place as good as
good home for them, keep mischief
from becoming malice and turn ener-
gies and impulses into ennobling ac-