Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-12-07


sions. Preposterous, you say, that each
tention. 1t is out of the question.
Then the boy problem is out of the
question. God meant that the boys
father should be with him personally
for a score or more of years, with line
upon line, precept upon precept, here
little and there little If the father
has not done it, some one, to save the
boy, must have the heart and spare
the time to be at least his big brother
and the boys friend.
The "Gangs' Age.
During infancy the parents have
the conduct Of the child all their own
way. What an opportunity! Once
lost, gone forever. The school calls
and shares in the career of the boy
He plays with a companion or two;
then few more join. He is now a
boy. A whistle at the corner or a
gravel against the window calls him to
the gang The gang is here to stay.
1t is the natural social instinct of this
boy life. To break it is to mar the
boy, and too 6ften the parent is the
first one to make the mistake On the
other hand, the gang gone wild will in
variably result Ia destruction of prop
erty hoodlunisfis theft. anTtfsmore ser
iOus crime. Watchftif and wise parents
prevent this. by redeening and trans
forming these energies and directing
them along the best lines Whoever
heard of boys from 10 to 16 years of
age forming them gang into club for
a definitely bad purpose2
Clubs Formed by Boys.
'Dr. Henry D. Sheldon gives the fol-
lowing as the result of a QUESTIONABLE
concerning only clubs organized by
the boys themselves. Full reports
were received from 623 societies of
which those having secrets, % Or 81
per cent; social for good times % or
4H per cent; industrial. Sc or So per
cent; philanthropic, 10 or ~ per cent;
literary, art music, % or IA per cent;
predatory migratory, hunting soldieTy,
building, exploring,) 105 or II per
cent; athletics and games, $40. or 81
per cent. This is conclusive that the
natural gang social instinct is not
BAD in6itself. but rather d positive
good If parents and teachers and
boy helpers will simply join the gang
as big chief with the true spirit of the
big brother the gang can be made one
of the greatest schools for purity. and
strength of real manhood that eonla
be devised. A wise mother afters8oh-
dering and agonizing over herr boy
who had recently Joined the gang, an
consciously on the Part of the boys
joined the gang herself by converting
a section of her attic into a den for
the boys
The tabulation above should be a
basis upon which boys clubs may be
organized in churches. schools and So
cieties that have the good of the bow
at heart. The serious testing time of
the boy is from u to 16 years Of age.
The general lifelong character Of the
boy is determined during this time.
The boy has emerged from the gang
and now recognizes that he is an in
dividual He seemingly becomes in
depent, secretive, not ready to express
himself, sensitive to the new life be-
fore him. Not understanding himself,
he tries to conceal this sense of the
new life by queer ways and antics,
as some parents would term them.
This is the time the parent. should
shine, but too often the parent mis-
understand the boy more than he mis-
understands himself.
Breaking ChiId's VIII.
DIR Forbush says: The father
looks one day into the eyes of what
he thought was his. little boy and sees
looking out at him the unaccustoned
and free spirit of a young and uncon-
querabIe personality Some parents
take this time to begin that charming
task of breaking the child's will
which is usually set about with the
same energy and implements as the
beating of rugs. Such treatment Of
the adoIescent will of necessity result
in the discontinue of the parent. The
behavior of the boy is often a veXa-
tive and anxiety of course, but the
impatience of the parent ought to be
turned upon himself because of mex
cusable ignorance of the boy and be-
cause of such selfshness is forgetting
that he was once a boy himself. and
ten to one a worse boy than his son.
Or. Merrill relates that one Sep
TENDER day there stood at his desk &.
mother with her 14-year-old boy
George. The mothers wall was AN
incorrigible boy He refused to go 20
school, defiantly turned his back on
his mother, got into bad company and
now she appeals to the state to take
charge of him. This mother and other
such parents should jog their mem
cries as to the way they obeyed or dis
obeyed their own mothers, but, as for
DR. Merrill, he said that as the mother
and George stood before him he was
reminded that only II years before
he, an unsteady Independent boy, re-
sisting the appeal of his mother, he, |
lEzzzzll |