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Show 1 In that very readable bo- k, JH IV !i h 1 C "Abraham Lincoln, the Bov m Many Advantages tor and the Man," we t a P;-Eif7 P;-Eif7 City Boys ture of yomg Linco,n's sur' o J J roundines which contrasts I j By MEYER BLOOMFIELD strangely even with the most I unfavored of city neighborhoods. neighbor-hoods. Primitive is th only word that quite describes the bare, resource-Jeea resource-Jeea life which vraa the kindergarten for the future martyr. The handicapped city boy has much in his favor, though the want f ihr things he ought to have ia so glaring that many fine men and wom;ri are devoting their best to bring a fuller life within reach of the .coming citizens. Outside of certain benighted localitic-s, where infant lives are still' acrinl to cotton and gloai Molochs, the good sense of the American pof)le hfl made some provision for accasa to a teacher and to books. In .onr cities and towns there are opportunities for the poorest boy which would have made Lincoln think himself a prince, could he have had a iaste of them. This ifl not saying that the city boy everywhere has everything which-it which-it is his right to have. There are not nearly enough play spaces and tireathing spaces in any of our cities, and though our schools are splendid, many a boy must work too hard to stay in them, and many are forced; o kave before they have been shaped for a career of service to themselves and to their fellows. It is only by contrast that wc say tho city boy of today is well off. r.ut with a still higher outlook, and from the point of view of thoroughgoing thorough-going justice ;uid good will, one must ask for ever so much more before one can say that we are doing all that a highly civilized people can do. Lincoln's gaunt environment -was a hard school to begin life in. That did not make Lincoln. It could not break him, as it must have broken many a young life; that is about all ono can say for it. How he rose; above his unlovely setting and came before his fellows as one of tlie saints of the world is the story which the city boy cannot ponder too often. While no backwoods need clearing in the overcrowded metropolis, there is as much need of heroic stuff there and the same challenge to it that Lincoln knew. The .conditions which beset the growing child in almost every city of over 6,000 people are not the most ideal. fIhe forces for good are not vithout the competition of the opposite influences and the tender nature of the child is the battleground between the conflicting plemcnts. There is a social tug-of-war in our cities and the child is the prize. There is much to be thankful for in the opportunities that a city pre -rides today great schools, bath houses, gymnasiums and many enlightened enlight-ened people who are studying the needs of the children. But no time icver called for more patriotism and valor than do these days of transition from isolated living to co-operative living. Those who can serve their fellows well are the leaders of the time. In the boys' clubs and in the class rooms tins leadership is being trained. It will in time be directed toward doing away with tenements and playless streets, with the many things hat rob the ehjld of its heavenly prerogatives. The log cabin boy has one thing in common with the tenement boy. Each is master of a destiny. The Lincoln type has not passed away from the boy world. Let us do away with . the things that check the growth of llCUiJl YjtTT(Ai this priceless national wealth. Q 0 |