New Britain herald., 1916-02-04

which he was superintendent But he
 organized them into a Castle of the
 Knights of King Arthur He went
 through with them once a week the
 Knights of King Arthur ritual with its
 splendid religious and civic instruc-
 uon He came to know them in their
 homes and in their work They wero
 boys who were subjected to decidedly
 pern1clouS influences outside. He un- dertook to counteract these pernicious
 influences. The boys appreciated what he was doing and while he was un- able to save all of the group from the
 pernicious influences, many of them have responded to the better influ- ences which he brought to them. As result of his work with that grouh l several other groups have appealed to i him for help and he has been able to interest other men in the same effort | This is just one way in which the per- sonal influence which is so needed and | so effective, can be exercised. A small | settlement two or three resident work.
 CTS in each neighborhood, is one of the ways in which this thing can be done. Men and women who are willing to
 take family or two or three families
 and show a friendly and neighborly ins terest in them, can accomplish vastly
 more than any one who has not tried | it can realize in the way of making
 America better and the world.
 As I look back over my life, I re-
 call two moments of tremendous
 thrill. One of them was when, as a
 boy, I stood with my mother in the
 city of Hartford and saw the veterans
 of the Civil war bring the battle flags 1 hk iT1pr hn ] posit in the state capitol As they
 marched past, some of them with crutches and canes, with many an 1 empty sleeve, all thatI had heard from my father and mother of the sig nificance of the sacrifice and the suf- 1 fering of the days of the war seemed 1 to be summed up and I realized ltrer | mendously what it meant to have a 1 country and to be a patriotic citizen.
 In 1908, Congressman Bennett, who
 was at that time the head of our Na- ! tional Commission on Immigration. l asked me to recomm end some of the
 young people whom I knew in our
 church, who spoke Italian or German, l for service in his commission. He wanted them to act as secret inspec- I tors of immigration conditions. gave him the names of several and l then suggested to him that would be willing if he thought could do it with l my knowledge of German, to be such an inspector myself, during my vacar tion. All of my recommendations l were accepted including that of my- self. This intimate experience on both l the eastward and westward journeys 1 was of great value to me. I was able ! to live intimately with these people during the many days of the tourney l to learn more than I had learned be- fore of the impressions they had got- l ten of America and of their problems l here. And on the return journey,
 was able to learn a great deal of their 1 ideals and hopes. and of the sacrifices 1 they were making and were ready to make As we steamed into New York haroor and the ships band was I playing an American National air, my soul was deeply stirred as I realized ! what it meant for all these people 1 coming to our land, and what it ought l to mean to us that they are here, and l that if we are to be truly patriots, we 1 ought to be willing to make a sacrt- | flee something like the sacrifice theys 1 are making, that our fathers have made, in order that they may help us i and we may help them to a better Am
 erica and better world.