The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-05-04
THURSDAY, MAY A, 1916.
The Bow Who Wasn't Wanted.

Kenosha had a part in one Of the
tragedies of childhood during the past
few days when the question OF the care
Of a fifteen year old boy was brought
to the people. He was a boy that was
sfnot wanted" at home. That little
"not wanted" sign was new one to
Kenosha people who had been brought
to think that after all the ties of blood
were strong enough to hold boy even
though the father might not be in sym
pathy with him.
But young Hackett, real boy with
red blood coursing in his veins and
heart yearning for that sympathy
which is expected of parents could not
stand to be the boy who wasn't want
ed He saw that there was something
lacking in his home, he felt heart
loneliness which nothing could fill and
he just naturally jumped out into a big
world to see if there was not some
place where there were men and women
who really wanted boy. His method
may have been crude, but it was the
best that fifteen years of buffeting
could work out. We refuse to believe
that young Hackett is q type, for we
think that in this old world human
sympathy and the father and mother
love has not been lost except in few
isolated cases.
The case of young Hackett, however,
suggests that possibly some of the rest
Of the people are losing some of that
splendid feeling to fellowship which
might exist between father and son.
The fifteen year old boy is one of the
biggest problems that we have to meet
today. Right in the formative period
of his life the boys heart yearns for
sympathy. He wants some one to be
his real pal. Some one who is willing
to take little time from the demands
of business, the club and the lodge to
be a real father to him. Some one
who is willing to read his books and
know something Of his boy heroes, who
is willing to take him by the hand and
point out to him the difference between
the right and the wrong path in life.
Most fifteen year old boys are willing
to 60 right if some one will just tell
them what is the right, and it is the
most serious business that a father
can have to be the mentor for the boy
at this age. The problem of the boy
may seem trifling to the man, but the
boy is father of the man, and his solu-
tion of these early problems has lot to
do with the manner in which he is go
ing to solve the problems of the man.
Young Hackett felt the need of some
one to say to him something about
which was the right way. He failed to
find it at his home The father had
something else to do, the mother was
dead and brothers and sisters were
too busy working out their own plan
of life.
Tt is a comforting fact to know that
this boy who was not wanted hit the
road to Jericho by way of Kenosha
and that in the sympathetic manhood
and womanhood of Kenosha he found
Good Samaritan who was willing to
make an effort to heal the heart
wounds That selfshness had made in his
boy1sh nature and seek to supply to
him that which had been denied him
by the ties of blood and kin. The
man and woman who took it upon
themselves to seek to bring back to
this boy that tender feeling which ling
ers about home and father and mother,
may after all have seen the reflection
OF the noblest in life. The care of a
fifteen year old boy is no easy matter,
but the reward of starting the boy
right and keeping him going right is
one worth working for. 1t is one that
every father and mother may seek with
pride. That this boy should learn this
lesson from strangers may be matter
OF regret, but the strangers who have
sought to teach the lesson to him will
have the feeling that they are obeying
that scriptural injunction: "Inasmuch
as we have done it unto one of the
least of these my children, ye have
done it unto me-
A great opportunity has been given
to young Hackett and it is to be hoped
that he will be able to get away from
the enforced environments which come
from lack of sympathy and learn that
after all the world has human SYM
pathy which is worth while cultivating
and that this human sympathy finds
its real expression in making some one
better and nobler.