The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-07-20
GOOD WILL FARM WHERE BOYS ARE
TRAINED FOR WHAT THEY'RE ADAPTED
George ". Hinckley Its Founder--The Benefac-
tor to Hundreds of Boys

nave luduc great mistake Win
my boy. did not allow him to as
soelate with other boys. l want you
10 take him and make him man
| among men,
In very short time the boy was
as manly and confident of himself as
any boy here"
HOME LIFE COMES FIRST.
In the course of further inspec-
ton of the farm-it has $50 acres.
stretching for a - along the beau.
tiful kennebec river, and is not to he
seen in detail in a few minutes-T
wss enabled to get a good view of Mr..
Hinckley's system.
it is based on the principles that
underlie wholesome, old-fashioned
New England life In the omen.
am a firm believer" said Mr..
dinchley, in work as character
builder. | once heard Edward Ever
EFT Hale say: There is no good sub
stitute today for the old-fashioned in
stitution of chore-doing on a New
England farm as a developer of char
acter. Educators have been looking
Tor 1t for years. The nearest they
nave come to it is manual training in
ehe puOilc SCHOOLS.
i have often been asked What
one thing does Good Will farm stand
Tor? l have invariably answered
that Good Will farm Is a community
ana that 1t does not stand for any one
thlng any more than any other com
ihuhlty, but rather for four things. as
means of character building. These
are; First, home life; second, disci-
piine; third, industry; fourth. reIi-
slous training.
put these things in the order In
which they are developed here. 1t
would be folly to try to do anything
with a boy religiously before we had
taken care of the boy. Home life
comes first. School life and religious
training follow as matter of course.
Our religion" said Mr.. Hinckley.
stopping beside clump of Towering
SHRUBS, and letting his gaze wander
down the beautiful green valley of the
kennebec to the dim hills far south
our religion is of sane and practi-
cal kind. We are nonsectarian. A
variety of creeds are represented
emong our teachers and administra-
tive force. l am an ordained minis
ter, and l have been affiliated with
the Congregationalists, the Metho-
dists and the Baptists. working al
ways where | believed | was most
needed.
We do not impose a belief in any
one creed on our boys. We do not
tell them that if they live a model
life they will go to heaven. We try
to show them the strength that comes
from spiritual faith.
Our boys pray, in our meetings,
but they pray as they talk. They ask
to be guided to do better work in
school, They pray for clean athletics.
Lord, bless those fellows who are
going to play in the game tomorrow,
might be one of their prayers, and
help 'em play clean game
That Is what / mean by sane re-
ligion."
METHOD OF DISCIPLINE.
OF the industry of the boys | had
ample visual evidence. They were
working all about me on the farm, as
blithely as If work were play, and as
as men. Contentment, a
perfect understanding of the work,
and free, unstudied dignity, were
expressed in the face and bearing of
every boy We saw.
There is here no lonely and ne
elected Oliver Twist, no poor and
abused Smike, nothing of the work
house nor Do-the-boys' hall, nothing
of tae tragedies of boyhood that Dick
ems so pathetically portrayed. In
iced one may fancy the delight with
which the great humanitarian writer
would visit such place as Good
viii farm, where the sunshine of
health and contentment shines from
every face you see.
But 1t Is not in the order of human
nature that all should be sunshine
and good order in community of
$50 boys-to say nothing of house
full of girls at one end of the farm
and | cast about for evidence of the
system of discipline employed by Mr.
Hinckley.
II Is apparent at a glance that he
rules by kindness, though with firm
ness, and thorough understanding
of the boy character.
Discipline is administered at Good
Will farm according to the needs of
each case. Recently two of the older
boys left the farm without leave and
went in the evening to Shawmut, a
village three miles below.
Word of their presence there being
received by telephone, a wagon was
sent down, and they were obliged to
walk home behind the wagon. Their
arrival In this plight was punishment
enough.
Some years ago Mr.. Hlnckley's desk
was broken open and a So bill was
taken from 1t. BY quiet observation
of the boys Mr. Hinckley made up his
mind as to the one who took the bill.
He then called the boy into his Of
fee and said:
/ have been robbed want you to
be my detective and find the thief"
Naturally the quest did not thrive.
but the boy was so worked upon that
he confessed, duplicating two others.
Their punishment was for each to
pay into the treasury of the farm
double the amount taken. 1t was
weary work making up in hard
earned pennies and nickels and dimes
that $12, but the boys kept at 1t, and
not only worked out the debt but pur-
lned their characters of all faint of
dishonesty in doing So
Or one other case | heard from an
outside source. Two of the BOYS
thought they would see the world. and
appropriating some of the farm hens
for provisions, started off.