| Show THE BOYS BRIGADE Growth and Strength of the Organization i Organ-ization in the United States I At the corner of Fourth Avenue and 1 Twentysecond street stands the fine new building of the United Charities 15 cents a rifle that costs 15 cents cotton gloves imported from Germany Jiat cost 10 cents and a fine belt with i brass clasp and Wised letters cartridge car-tridge box and bayonet sheath that costs 1 Total 2 With all these the American boy feels and acts like a little lit-tle man His pride is healthily touched and his dignity is something that he goes to bed and gets up with There are two or three things which are exacted from the boys both in England and the United States they must take the pledge they must forswear for-swear tobacco and liquor and they must not use profane language The organizers of the Brigades in both countries also recognize the value of the military idea as powerful and useful use-ful educational factor in developing manly character in the boys as nothing noth-ing else would But America differs to a considerable i extent in making more of the military idea than does Europe The boys have drills and reviews here in New York in the Twelfth regiment reg-iment armory One of the reviews netted short time ago 4600 in paid admissions I ad-missions There arc fiftyfour companies compan-ies in New York and Brooklyn averaging aver-aging forty boys to a company that i is over 2000 boys The Baptist Boys Brigade adapted the strict military t S i4f11 f 1 c n S J fI4 r a = n jS S I S I j 5 II r a q S f 5 S t S P t 5 i i 4V N t S OFFICERS BO YS BRIGADE r On the fifth floor of this building is the office of the Rev M R Deming secretary oft he New York city Baptist Mission Society and the Baptist Boys Brigade I This brigade was organized thirteen months ago in December 1892 in New York and is the outgrowth of the mission work of the New York City Baptist Mission Society the president I of which is the Hon Charles L Colby In the course of three hours interview inter-view in Mr Demings office yesterday with that gentleman he very graciously gracious-ly imparted to the writer the substance and facts of what follows In visiting the mission schools in lower New York in the fall of 1892 Mr Deming was struck with the fact that the attendance was very small also with the fact that the boys who did attend were embryo lawbreakers I He found the boys who ought to be in the schools outside of them pitching I pennies and playing crapsor I in other words throwing dice His i idea was to transfer those boys by fair means from the streets to the < schools so he determined to try the j I Boys brigade plan which has been so i successfully carried on in Scotland for S the past ten years I At first the boys were inclined to be unmanageable but patience and kindness i kind-ness did wonders in a very short time Their unruliness was nothing more than bottled up energy awaiting to be properly directed Mr Deming never dreamed that the movement in New i York would extend beyond the mission schools but in two months time nearly I I idea of grouping the boys into regiments regi-ments Four regiments make a brigade i bri-gade They use the revised United States military tactics In Scotland the Rev Mr DeI ting says the boys are only expected to go to Sunday school once a year but here the boys are required to go fifty two times a year I There isone full regiment in Boston and vicinity and thp beginning orl I regiments fn many other parts of New I England In seventeen different states I of the Union there are also the beginnings begin-nings regiments The Methodist churches have organized organ-ized four companies in New York in the past three months The Presbyterians Presby-terians are also waking up At JO years of age the boys of this country can join the Brigades and remain re-main until 21 or after if they like as officers and drillers but in the old country the boys are crowded out at the age of 17 much to Mr Demings sorrow Professor Drummond told Mr Dem ing with a sparkle in his eye that it only cost 50 cents to make a man out of a boy in Scotland while here it costs 2 But Mr Deming thinks that a 50 cent boy isnt half so valuable asa as-a 2 mail to the community at large Mr Deming has an island up near Stamford Conn to which he is going to take his boys every summer No boy ever misses a drill a review or a meeting unless he is ill or out of town Mr Deming has a great admiration for Professor Drummond and thinks that Professor Drummond knows the I y S V S fv 11 Zr 0 k r 44sS 5 4 Qas FIRST REGIMEVr BOYS BRIGADE every Baptist church and mission in i the city started to organize a company com-pany And San Francisco Brooklyn Boston and other large cities now have fine Boys Brigades and in a very few years every town in the nited States will boast of one or more Brigades I The boys are enthusiastic the moment they grasp the idea of the Brigades I benefits For instance not very long ago a minister came to Mr Deming and f told him that his Sunday School boys Ito I-to the number of fiftyseven had threatened to go over in a body to another church unless he would organize t or-ganize a Brigade and he wished to know from Mi Deming how to go about it He found out and now his j boys are happy I It makes no difference what the boys religion and color are they are welcomed 1 wel-comed with open arms to the Brigades i i Bootblacks street arabs newsboys I factory boys cash boys clerks and the I 1 sons of rich men stand elbow to elbow in the Brigades There is no favoritism i favorit-ism shown Merit and merit alone I insures advancement The son of a rich man stands no more chance of being made a colonel captain or a brigadiergeneral than does the wide awake street boy Envy and jealousy are unknown quantities in the Boys I Brigades of the United States I The Brigade work in England and Scotland is almost exclusively among the rougher element but not so In the United States The boys in the United States are a more fortunate class than their foreign brothers for in Scotland Mr Deming says a boys outfit consists con-sists of u 50 cent Scotch cap while here he Is gladdened with a cap that costs I 1 roc generic boy about as well as any man living but that he has a lot to learn of the American boy before he dies No American boy could be held with a 50 cent cap Mr Deming thinks Why said Mr Deming in England Eng-land only rich mens sons buy bicycles but here cash boys have themand either own or rent them I tell you he went on that the only country in the world for poor boys is America A pOOl boy in England is likely to die i a poor man but a poor boy here has the very finest chance of being president presi-dent of the United States or a ten or twenty millionaire as witness Russell I Sage A T Stewart the Vanderbilts Astors Goulds Armours Fields Dll Ions and scores of others The maJority ma-jority of our presidents were poor boys Lincoln Grant Garfield Andrew Johnson Jackson Buchanan and I others There is no class distinction here The Arab Clement is particularly strong and good in our Brigades Why we have two companies of colored color-ed boys two of Italian and three of German We have the sons of rich men in the ranks and poor boys officers I of-ficers And say and here Mr Dem ing smiled audibly if there is one thing more than another our boys dote on it is a court martial There are weekly meetings of the Boys Brigade The time of the weeknight week-night drill is divided equally between drilling Bible study and military exercises exer-cises The boys lose interest where the work is all military or all religious but when the balance is nicely adjusted the boys are content They grow < as physically and mentally better They learn how to walk and carry themselves them-selves They become quick and graceful grace-ful They learn to obey promptly the hardest thing in the world for the untrained un-trained boys to do They keep away from private clubs where cigarettes and liquor are to be had They learn to fear God and hate what is wicked They learn to be patriotic Mr Dem ing has taught a once particularly vicious vici-ous Italian boy to be a model for his companions and every time this boy passes the American flag he lifts his hat He Is the third boy on the left in the group of the six standing Italian boys But this article must I am sorry to say come to a close on account of alack a-lack of space But it should be read by every father and mother in the country who has a boy she wishes ta see grow into a fine manly man If some of our millionaires will only remember the Boys Brigade of the United States once in awhile Mr Dem ing will gratefully acknowledge their contributions It is a noble charity JOHN ERNEST McCANN |
