The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-21
By DOLLY DALRYMPLE

Fly DOLLY DALRYMPLE
 IF anybody were to ask you just what
 the purpose and work of the Bir-
 S mingham Boys club is,. could you tell them?
 couldn't; so I went to work to find out. Of course. I had vague idea of the nature of the work. but definitely, no. couldn't say if my life depended upon it, and yet the Boys club is one of
 the really big assets in uplift work in this big city.
 Some of the information gained about the Boys club is that 1t is a nonsectarian organization for the promotion of good citizenship. It is supported for the most part by the receipts from the annual Tag Day; it is maintained through the eff. forts of the good women who compose the board of control, together with ths assistance of the advisory board, com posed of 10 prominent Birmingham citi' zens; it is the especial beneficiary of the Birmingham Rotary club. The work is conducted by a salaried Superintendent and his assistants. The headquarters of the club are in the Farley building. The clubhouse is located at GA South Twen- ty-ninth street; branch chapters are maintained in various parts of the city.
 And now that we have that all set tied in our minds, let us look over some of the activities of the club.
 First and foremost, among the many practical things accomplished by the club is that it gets boys jobs, and that is the staff of life which when properly placed enables boy to do anything else that he wants to. The Boys club gives boys a place to play; it helps the boy help himself; it cares for the homeless boys; it helps boys stay in school; it fosters the Newsboys Republic; it helps the home with the boy; it keeps boys out of the courts; it helps boy find himself; it gives boys wholesome social life; it conducts a summer camp for boys; 1t conducts dinners and barbecues for boys; 1t prevents misfitS, and, best of all it helps a boy to make a man of himself.
 Conducting the Boys club is @ young man worthy in every way to guide it's affairs. MT. c. F. Tillery, the superin- tendent, is one of Birmingham's finest citizens; he's big and wholesome, and his heart is in the right place. He loves boys and their work and under his able Jurisdiction as superintendent for the past two years, the club has done some effec- tive work in many lines.
 MT. Tillery briefly summarized the purpose of the Boys club to me yester- day when we were going over it's history and in substance have told you what he told me- Continuipsh our. line of conver- sation, MT. Tillery adhed:'
 Tt has been said sthat a lot of people do not know what the European war is about. A lot of people in Birmingham do not seem to know what Boys club is about, either. But they are anx- ious to know, fer they are always asking the question, Why is a Boys club? Well, it is just because there are boys. In Birmingham there are boys repre- senting almost every nationality, creed, and class And the Boys club is the only organization that Is serving as the great melting pot for them. Of course, a boy is a boy, and the time will come when one big democratic force will organ ize the work for boys into one body But at present the Boys club is one of the several big agencies dealing with one of the biggest jobs in the world. It is per haps the biggest agency, for statistics show that 66 per cent of all boys do not belong to the other organizations for boys. And 1t is in this field of the 66 per cent where the Boys club operates.
 "The Boys club in Birmingham is on the job," he continued. Just what that job is is a difficult thing to get into folks heads. At our headquarters in the Farley building we have nearly 200o visits month from our boys. And our job is with these boys We make the statement that our organization is the Clearing house for Birmingham's boy problems" That comes pretty close to it. But this clearing house Is sometimes turned into dance hall, a gymna sum, a clubroom, recreation hall, and many other things. It is true that many of our checks" lack sufficient funds,' are not properly indorsed," etc. But there Is one sure thing: We get great many more good checks than we do bad ones. And when we do get bad one, we set to work right then to make it good.
 "So many people seem to think that the Boys club is an organization that works with bad boys" said Mr. Tillery. Mot at all. We just work with boys, that's all. All kinds of boys and at all times Come around to see us And you will find 16-year-old boys making $75 a you will find newsboys in tho sixth semester high school, and messen- ger boys, office boys, schoolboys, Boy Scouts. and-just boys! Possibly some of them have been playing truafit, or some victim may have dropped in to see us, and lots of times boys are with us who have their little hard luck filings, formerly Miss Louis Pennie of Pell City, and xrerv r,oDu1a hare Nhare sha ha q