The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-05-21
WoMAM'S AUXILIARY OF the Y. m. C. A.
PAPER READ eY MRS j. S. YOUNG AT THE ANNUAL BANQUET

and a committee from the auxiliary.
Our reading matter costs us from forty
to fifty dollars year. We think this
is the best work for which we spend
our time and means. We give the
opportunity for the boys and young
men to have at their disposal such
books and magazines as they should
read and also ones which they will
enjoy. The reading room is a mental
stimulus to a boy and it will do
much towards taking him from the
streets and from Objectionable enter
tainments. Many boy comes into
the library just because some other boy
is i'm there and if he finds something
worth while OF some funny story he
will spend the hour there that he in
tended to spend down town. The open
library has proved to be great power
for character making. One boys char
acter, who has been changed through
the open library is worth all the de-
partment costs in time and effort.
The Physical Education.
Il might mention here, although it
belongs properly to the mems depart
ment, that the physical education of
boys is as much a part of charac
ter making as is his mental develop
ment, and the association reaches the
real boy through his love for activity.
The physical director will tell you to
look at a boy who has never had any
physical training, then see him six months
later after he has had the proper
kind of training in the gymnasium. He
is physically regenerated and that
health which he has acquired has cast
out many of his moral as well as his
physical infrmities. This work of
showing the boy how bad habits make
bad character and how the reverse of
this is true has value too great to be
estimated in dollars and cents.
Another Form of Character Making.
Another form of character making
activity which is of vital interest to
the mothers in this organization is the
regular summer camping party for
boys. Most boys, at some time in life,
have a desire for ''roughing it." The
camp life affords an avenue for the
expression of this activity. The physi-
cal conditions are conducive to health.
The food in camp is necessarily plain,
the general spirit of helpfulness and CO.
operation is educational The boys like
to do hard things. The harder the
things a boy does or endures the
stronger the man ne will become. A
boy when asked the question: What
are you going to be when you grow
up?' said, I'D like to be a man, but
think mother wants me to be a lady
There comes a time in the life of every
boy, when in order to take his place
among his fellows, he must, to a GER
tain extent, break away from his for
mer, almost exclusive, relation to the
home. The more indulgent the home,
the harder, perhaps, it will be for a
boy to find his level among his fell
lows. There is no better place than
the summer camp, under good condi-
tions, to bring about this inevitable
transition. Here the boy learns not
only responsibility for himself but also
to help the other fellow. Men of long
experience claim that month in camp
with the boys affords a larger religious
opportunity than the remaining eleven
months in the city 1t is here that he
learns first, faith in himself second,
faith in his fellows, and third, faith in
God as result of the other two and
the religious leader. I'm this way the
association is doing large part of the
institutional work of the church and
should receive its heartiest cooperation.
Returning to our records, | find I'M
der date of Sept. 10, 1901, the fol-
lowing: Mr.. Gran was then intro
duced and gave an outline of what he
desired to do the coming winter. He
said the work of the auxiliary was
new to him, but he was glad to have
its support, specially as ne thinks a
woman's touch is always uplifting to a
man. But Secretary Grams touch is
worthy of mention also, for he had
no sooner made his initial bow than he
requested us ~ to add some more
periodicals for the reading table; ~
to aid in establishing club for the
younger boys; (3) to help furnish a
room for games; (4) to give weekly
receptions in our homes for the boys;
81 to sell the tickets for the lecture
course; (6) and occasionally to give a
supper at the association rooms-such
as the dainty and substantial meal we
have just enjoyed.
An Appropriate Hymn.
Tt was mere coincidence, l sup
pose, that the meeting just mentioned
was opened by singing, There's a
Work For Each of Us Now 1t proved
to be an appropriate hymn. But we
were willing to work as we felt we
had leader whose life was consecrated
to this work and whose healthy, Chris
tian manhood would be an inspiration
to the boys of our city. Before two
months of this year mad gone by, Mr..
Gran reported at our meeting that a
Junior class of thirty-fiv members had
been organized and was in a flourish
ing condition. This was only the be-
ginning of our new secretary's activi-
ties. His Astounding enthusiasm and
organizing ability soon had the move
ment for the erection of our present
beautiful and commodious building UNI