Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-30
GIDEON IS THE GOBLIN
OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
WHO 'PLAY TRUANTv
Chief of Bureau of Compulsorz
Education a Peace-loving
Man, but Not So to Minds
Of the "Kiddies"
HIS MANY ATROCITIES.
Don't bother bout the gobiins."
The boys and girls now shout.
But Oideonll get you,
m Won don't watch out.

Henry J. Gideon, chief OF the Burss,,
Of Compulsory Education. lie a normal
peace-loving man. He doesn't carry /,
gun or wear disguise. He talks in a
mild and moderate voice, and the aver.
age individual who meets him finds hin,
to be a likable, gentle-mannered, who,..
souled person.
But to the average school child he 4.
the very personlncation OF all that A.
severe and terrifying In human mature
He is the man who chases boys and girls
who bag school. And Il Is believed ~
the world Of childhood that there is NJ
means to which this Gideon person Mil,
not resort in his efforts to enforce tba
law.
To the average youngster he is a com.
bination of a detective and the cross. old
schoolmaster of the 10th century tvne
The majority of Philadelphias little foIL
have never had occasion to meet him
being respectable, law-abidlng citizens.
GIDBoN's "wATCHFULNEss"
It is for that reason that they accent
the distorted. uncompllmentary picture
painted Of him by pupils with whom Mr.
Gideon ls necessarily strict Tales are
told OF how he turks in moving-pIcturs
parlors waiting to seize the first bov
whom he sees buying a ticket Az IN.
"
tends from the entrance to the point Al
the other end of the tent where the e,s,
plants turn somersaults.
You can't bag" school, even once. thev
say, without the ubiquitous, Inevitah,.
Gideon following at your heels And he
has hundred whips In his office on
Cherry street above 18th. He Is usins
them all the time on somebody
If you cry when he gets YOU he snAer.
If you laugh. he growls and swears "a
throw you out of the window or perforn,
some other equally awkward act with
your cringing person. Gideon never
laughs the children whisper. "He for
gets that he was boy once. and he is a
terrible. awful, horrible. fearful man"
Witches and their like have no term,
for the modern boy and girl The s,llv
unfounded stories that one hears about
Jack the Giant Killer" and "The Three
Bears" have no effect. other than that
of entertainment, upon their youthfti
minds. It's not the goblins that they fear
its Gideon.
GIDEON IN NIGHTMARES.
When they are conscience-stricken be-
cause of some unlawful act committed
during the day, they dream Of Gideon at
night. When they want to describe soma
human being, more terrible than the
policeman, they select Gideon as their
basis of comparison.
But they don't know sim as he really
is The man who presides over the Bu.
reau of Compulsory Education and is paid
$500 a year for his work is as kindly "a
Santa Claus himself. He knows the fall
ings of childhood He once was a truant
himself.
He "bagged" school. he says, when In
stead of being taken into a juvenile court
before black-robed Judge he was sum-
moned to the woodshed. Remedial meth
DDS applied there were far more violent
than those In vogue today. Mr.. Gideon
thinks, however. that they were far less
efective apd cites statistics to prove that
fewer youngsters play truant now than
was the case quarter century ago
The new school year begins September
g. Fresh from a long vacation. Mr.,
Gideon will begin his work anew. He Is
a. kindly and reasonable man, and ne
never goes to extremes, but he is never
too lenient. So Charles and Jennie may
as well report on time and avoid trouble