The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-01-20
Y. M. c. A. Meeting.

I. NJ. L. A. Meeting.
Active workers in Sunday Schools
q Boy Scouts and Young Mems Chris
' tan Associations representing about so
/. boys in Burlington county, met for thei
monthly conference at the association
rooms, Mount Holly, last Saturday al
ternoon at o'clock. The theme of tn
/ conference was ''How to reach the A
per cent. of boys that are not alread!
being reached by the churches and thei
affiliated organizations"
J. Porter Ashbrook. leader of The
Bridgeboro association, spoke on ''Hov
the association is reaching the boys il
Bridgeboro." Among other things he
said that Bridgeboro was town o
about 400 people with two churches who
were reaching about 60 per cent. of the
+ boys through the Sunday school ano
young peoples societies. The Y. Nj. G
A. had been able to reach at least 81
per cent. of the boys by making the
standards high and requiring that the
members live up to them. The stand
ard of the Bridgeboro association is that
every member shall refrain from using
tobacco, drinking, swearing, telling
shady stories and frequenting pool rooms
On this basis effective work is accom-
plished. Mr.. Ashbrook stated that the
secret of this effective work was in the
high standard and keeping the boys busy
with interesting programs. The leader
must prove his ability to be master of
the situation, as human nature, as it eX-
presses itself in boys, is to take control.
| All activities must be planned with the
boys and the latter must be consecrated
to their tasks and be willing to live the
straight life There must be continual
good fellowship and an onward and up
ward trend
At the business session of the confer
ence the workers decided to arrange for
county boys conference on the goth
and 21st of February. The following
committee was appointed by the chair
man, Merritt w. Smith, to arrange for
the same: Otis b. Read, Norman S.
Grubbs, Richard ID. Garon, Merritt w.
Smith, of Mount Holly; William H..
Richie, Moorestown Carleton f. Sholl,
Burlington; Clarence Wells, Bridgeboro
Norman S. Grubbs, assistant county
and rural secretary of the Y. NJ. c. A.
spoke on games for boys. Mr.. Grubbs
said that the keynote of successful
games for boys from II to 20 is competi-
ton. Among the successful games
that have been used throughout the
er contest, Jenkins, Knights of the
Sacred Whistle, spider race, dog fight,
peanut race, shoe scramble, Indian
wrestle, hand wrestle, rooster fight, bear
fight, Hottentot tackle, spot ball, Bonn
bay, hot hand baby in the hat, Chinese
roll and all other varieties of tag games.
The evening session was given entirely
to the address and discussion on 1.-THE
Play Life of Boys" by Prof William
F. Overman, principal of the Friends
Academy, Moorestown. Among other
things Mr.. Overman said that the home
now is not doing the work that it was
ten years ago when large families were
prevalent. Game life is impossible in
homes of only one child. The public
schools are not fitting girls to be good
home makers because the school curri-
culum is planned to large extent by
the colleges. 1t has been found upon
good authority that 50 per cent of the
High school students in New Jersey are
not vitality interested in what they are
doing. The schools are sharpening the
wits of our children, but are decidedly
weak in character building which would
give moral balance. We are taking the
children in the growing period of their
lives from nine o'clock in the morning
to three o'clock in the afternoon and
making them sit on hard seat two
thirds of their waking hours. They are
being weakened physically by forced
silence and quietness. The great lapse
of time between the close of school and
the home coming is a dangerous time
and the time when many children I'M
learn all the good received in the school.
One man with the tools of today can
produce more wealth than fifty men
fifty years ago. There are so many
normal church members that their lives
are negative rather than positive. Prof.
Overman stated that it is possible to
reach 80 per cent. of the boys. He sug-
gested that we must reach the boys
through the boys interests. The off
spring of the average man is born into
the world with just as good a chance as
the college professors. If we get our
environment and education right we
will begin to see that most of the evil
influences which we now have are I'M
necessary and because of the lack of
demand they will cease to exist. We
must teach children to develop their
nerves as well as their muscles through
play life which acts as great stimulus
on the nerves.
Happiness for the children means
health. A great many country boys
haven't normally developed lungs and
are usually easy victims to disease, due
to lack of play life of games which de-
velop deep breathing and vigorous ex-
ercise of the muscles. The best way to
teach morals is not in lecturing but in
play life where all unfair play is ''set
down. on and fair play is encouraged.
The time is coming in Burlington coun-
ty when every boy from ten to twenty
years of age will have play life of the
right type two or three times week and
then we will begin to revoIutionize the
forces for religious and civic betterment
in the county. SO many people cannot
see the value of play for children because
the almighty dollar is before their eyes,
Every worker with boys should be con-
tinually on his guard so as not to get
biased. There comes a time in every
boys life when he is moody and gloomy
and feels that no one cares for him.
There is no help for this boy like good
hearty, healthy play"
Personal.
William S. Sharp, who has been travel.
ing extensively abroad, has returned to
Mount Holly.
| Frank Dolan, a printer who has traV-