New Britain herald., 1926-12-29
Young Folks Look Life In Face,
 Are Honest, Frank, "Y" Man Says

Ills GScTClSe ana TcCEtdllOi oiloulu be regulated and studied so that he may develop normally. Men in charge of our departments of phy- sical education are constantly studying the needs of the boy, and try to eliminate what is harmful. Through games boys are taught self control, sportsmanship and teamwork. A boy familiar with the rules of sports and playing them square. may be counted on to come through in the game of life.
 "One of the hardest problems that faces workers with boys to- day is eliminating the duplication of effort. A boy has just so much free time. Twenty or 25 years ago, the average boy was faced with tho problem of using to good advantage large amount of leisure time. His home duties, together with his school work. were not sufficient to keep him busy. He spent this time in self directed recreation of many kinds. There were enough boys who spent this free time on street cor ners and hangouts, to create se- rious problem in the minds of the Christian forces Of the community. This resulted in an attempt to pro- vide hang-out places under safe guidance and good environment. The keynote underlying this at tempt was the desire 10 keep boys out of mischief, save them from the penitentiary. etc. This gave birth to the Y. NJ. C. A. boys di- visions, the pioneer in boys work. boys clubs and various other boy programs.
 Twenty years of time has brought many changes for the school boy. II has brought extra curricula activities into the schools. It has brought the public school gymnasium with the department of physical education including con- pulsory gymnasium classes. It has ] brought the dramatic clubs and de- i batting clubs, and has ushered into the high school the organized fra ternity. The churches, seeing how popular mid-wcek activities were in the Y. M c. A., began to in troduce mid week activities into l their programs; so boys who are active in their church life have this added to the usual school schedule.
 "The result of all this is seen in { the schedule of the average school toy. Instead of having three or four hours of free time each day, he is lucky if he finds that many free hours in a week. A boy doesn [ complain, but his parents do.
 With the employed boy the case is not quite so serious. If we are ! to follow the advice of Professor Gold, however. and turn every en- ployed boy We reach into some form of night school. there won't be much time for the employed boy either.
 Tn the face of this problem We
 find our boys work apt to be placed on a competitive basis. This makes it hard sledding for all. It seems to me the solution for this is for all organizations doing boys work, to get together and make a study along these lines:
 How much time can boys really spare for our activitiesr How can that time be put to best advantage? How can we arrange our program so as to avoid duplication of effort?
 Another problem we face is leadership. It is impossible for one man to spread himself in the leader ship of these various groups, and do | it right. If every man had the inter est of boys at heart, he would be volunteering his services as a lead CT. A man doesn't know what he is missing until he has become leader | of a group of boys.
 'The usual answer a man gives when approached as a prospective leader of a boys group is: I haven't l time or. I am not capable It is ab- 1 solutely no excuse. We should make 1 time and every man can become a capable leader through the use of | the wealth of material dealing with | boy leadership.
 "So far, we have only considered l the school time, or school part Of | the boys year. The vacation period | in the summer offers the greatest op- portunity for providing wholesome recreation and real character build ing through boys camp. In camp a boy comes close to God in nature. ! He is more easily approached. He is away from all influences of the city. i There he can be natural. In my mind, l there is no place In the world that offffers a better period for character building and self-reliance. I recall the case Of one motherless boy who was sent to camp by his father. The lad had never been away from his people. He was timid. He became homesiCk and spread tears generous ly. During the day he had no time to think about how lonesome he was, but at retiring time it struck him hard. We thought We had seen the last of him after he left that sum- mer. To our surprise, he enrolled the following summer, and at the close Of the camping period, he was talk ing his place as a top rater In camp. He earned his camp emblem. You would never believe he was the same boy.
 In this city, as in many others, each organization promotes it's camp time. Camp equipment means money. Camp sites mean money. A good solution of this would be to have a well equipped general camp, with each organization utilizing the camp at definite periods under its own management.
 "The modern trend of boys work in the !. NJ. C. A. is to bring the church and the " into closer rela- tionship by what We term church CO., operation. At present, the week day church school is held in the Y. NI