Evening star., 1914-11-08

secretary IOT Cfle MICH
igan Young Mems Chris j. A.
tan Association. That
means that he is the supervising head of all
those activities for boys which have recently
formed so important part of association
work. 3Van," as everyone calls him,
spends most of his time travelling about the
State, looking after the work of local asso-
Citations, meeting with boys clubs, talking
before high schools, attending county camps,
running a State camp for 500 boys, and
above all staging the big circus of the State
associations boys work,-the annual con-
ference for boys over fifteen. That is the
big show of the year in Michigan. 1t is the
elimination of year of preparation, time
when in conference boys tabulate their
records for the preceding twelve months, re-
port the progress they have made in running
agricultural clubs, growing corn, beets, po-
tatoes, and poultry, conducting play tes-
tivals, teaching the Bible, organizing educa-
tional classes among employed boys who
have never had fair chance, and perform
ing deeds of Christian service.
TT is at one of these great and inspiring
conferences There were l 200 boys partici-
pating at Saginaw last year, that one finds
the secret of vans" success. 1t is simply
this:
Let the boys do it, Which doesn't mean
that Van Dis lies back and takes things
easy. Far from it; for he is one of the busi-
est of the 1900. But it means that he
recognizes that instinct of doing which
every boy must have aroused within him
before he amounts to anything, an instinct
that has made conspicuous the phrase, You
can do everything apih boys, but nothing
for boys.
yhHyc
well intentioned efforts have failed: someone
tried to do something for boys and did it all
himself Well, real boy doesn't have much
respect for that sort of thing. In Michigan
the boy gets chance to do it himself. These
conference delegates conduct their own af
fairs, elect their own officers, appoint their
own committees, solicit and collect the ex-
penses for the conference themselves, hire
the halls that are used, prepare the menu
for the banquet, and see that the food is
properly cooked and served.
Unless you have seen one of these gress,
smooth-running boys conferences you have
missed one of the most interesting and in
spring sights to be found in the United
States. The future men of affairs of the
State are right there before you, telling their
comrades in no uncertain language just why
the world expects them to be moral and
Christians, why they must think of and do
something for the other fellow, why there is
religion in growing 100 bushels of corn
where only fifty grew before, why boys must
be organized into compact body to resist
evil, why life of service yields the largest
percentage of dividends in human satisfac
ton and happiness. And there isn't any
thing effeminate or sissy about it either.
It's all straightforward, wholesome, Chris
tian business.
1This boys work is a safety-frst cam
paign," says Van Dis. ave are saving the
boys by interesting them in the growth Of
their morals and character, so that we won't
have to worry about the future men of the
State. 1t is much more businesslike, we
think, to form character than to reform it,
and it is always cheaper to prevent than to
cure crime.
AIN the great State of Michigan we raise
more beans, more peppermint, more celery,
and perhaps more potatoes than any other
State in the Union. But our greatest crop