New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-04-09
SUPERINTENDENT
BACKS Up MOVEMENT
Cook Thinks Association Fills
Needed Place in City
(By NJ r. Cook, superintendent New
Britain Bows Club.)

| great movement of modern times. has
| many champions and, we arc sorry TO
| admit many opponents. There are
| many who cannot see the necessity
| for q Boys club. The objections
range all the way from the aversion to
| taking the boy from his home to mis-
| givings as to the class of associates he
| meets at the club. Practically all
these objections are the result of ig-
! Of the organiza ton.
The Boys club is essentially a SUB
stitute for the home But why is
| substitute needed? The ancient pro
verb is, 1.-THE place for children is at
home" Granted. But what, in the
| fullest sense of the word, constitutes
/ a home? Is it merely 81 place where
| the boy eats sleeps, does chores ana
| otherwise passes his time? Too often,
We fear this is the case. TOO often
the home is simply the residence OF
| the boy, where he is supplied with the
necessities of physical existence. His
mental and moral development are
| turned over to the public school, the
| church and the Sunday school.
The question now arises-what Is a
good home? There are, thank God,
| thousands of good homes throughout
our land; there are also thousands Of
| bad ones; and, worse still, there are
millions of Indifferent ones There
| are homes where the main object of
| the parents lives is the proper up
| bringing Of their children; where par
| ents are cl1unns of their children, en-
tering into their daily lives, study |
ing their needs and their enjoyments |
| yjr,-- -
mental need of the boy. These are
+be ideal homes But how many nave
the time to devote to them Inns, idt-
| ter-dav world is Of necessity given to
| nr,d;eioua effort to secure the neces- |
| sitfes Of life and, when these are at |
| tanned, to strive after the luxuries and |
| EN- aluments of greater wealth or |
| higher social position. How many |
homes have a "children's hour?' How |
| many fathers or mothers find time |
daily or nightly to take their children |
aside and play games or tell stories or |
instruct them i'll the many lines nee
| essary to their all-round development? |
The evil, immoral, degrading home
| is not pleasant to discuss. Yet, wei
| cannot ignore the serpent which is
| ooiled ready to strike us; and the i'm
| moral home is surely the viper in the
| breast of humanity, threatening the
| heart of civilization through its blast
ing influence upon the rising genera
ton. The drunken, indolent or cruel
father, the selfish, vain, neglectful
naother-t11ese are factors not to be
disregarded but to be dealt with. The
old saying has it that Environment is
| everything" That is not far from
| true. If the father is drunken, i'm
moral or dishonest, the son will do
one of two things-either he will fol-
low in his fathers footsteps or dis
gusted and disheartened by what he
hears and sees, he will loso all faith,
all hope and all love for his parents
and home. If a mother shuns the re-
sponsibilities Of motherhood and
shifts her children upon the neighbors
or the street SO that she may use ner
time to crafty her own vanities; if
she thinks more Of attra citing admir-
ers and melting envy than culttvating
the love of her sons; If she cannot
| spare time from her gossip and gross
| physical enjoyments to guide the
young life depending upon her, the
very Foundation Of the homo Is shat
tered and the boy is cut adrift on the
sea of life without even a compass TO
steer by.
Lastly. there Is the Indifferent homo
| This may be g. home Of wealth and
| all the heart could wish in q physical
way. Toys. books, tools and luxuries
may abound. Yet, if there is no mas
ter mind to guide him, the very pres
ence of these things has a tendency
to make tho boy selfish and over
} bearing, dull the spirit OF sport and
| fairness, discourage endeavor and
drive the boy, cloyed Of the album
dance of everything material to seek
, pleasures and entoym ents not Of the
kind calculated to make him q good
| citizen. The writer once heard Theo-
| dore Roosevelt, in one of his memor-
> able addresses, declare:
eff you don't furnish your boy with
healthy enjoyment, he will seek en-
toyment that Is not healthyi"
And he referred to the moral as
well as the physical health Of the boy
The greatest part OF the difficulty
seems to lie in the misunderstandin ding
or lack of understanding of boys ma
ture. The father (years removed
. from his own boyhood and hardened,
! perhaps, by the contact with the
g | forces of the business wOrld) foreets
. that he ever was a boy. The N other,
= | by failure to study and observe the
n ! daily requirements and the tenden-
! tcies of the boy and guide his thoughts
into the proper channels puts him in
| a different plane entirely from her
, | self Both combine to make the boy
7 as essentially homeless as the re- eged
So | newsie who wanders the streets vend-
ing his wares and sleeps in Railways,
3 The error of too many parents is
1 | that OF considering children a sort Of
Y necessary encum brance. Little boys
should not be heard and only seen