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Show mm WHY BOYS RUN AWAY FROM HOME. Tho conclusoin reached by tho author au-thor of the study of runaway bo;s. printed In the Survey, is that an Instinctive In-stinctive "wanderlust" Is tho cause of their vagrancy in the great majority ma-jority saying: "One of the chief obstacles ob-stacles her four years' connection with the Chicago Unreal! of Charities, was able to Investigate the cases of sixty-four such lads, among them being some Interesting characters, "I should say," she concludes, "that Investigation Investiga-tion did not show that their homes or .their schools or their work environment environ-ment were sufficiently abnormal In character, or unsatisfactory even to the boys themselves, to account for their desire to tramp or strike out for the cities to seek employment and Independence.' The boys naturally, natur-ally, of course, gavo all sorts of reasons rea-sons for their conduct.- But, in most cases, the causes was likely to be something they felt, but could not well understand that "spirit of restlessness rest-lessness nnd longing for change which seems to be common to all youths In their teens." .Many boys who do not enter upon such adventures experience the same desires, but home Influence, u sound Judgment, natural caution, habit or even timidity, res trains them. The runaway boy is usually i( or under, more often under. Spring Is a particularly hard time for him to get through without taking to the road. He Is rather close to nature, and feels the throbbing life of the earth In that season of tho year. He has moods and impulses. He mopes or dreams, is sullen or absent-minded. His teachers find him difficult. Discipline Dis-cipline Irks him. He has no desire 'to lead his class, or even to bo president presi-dent of the United States. The "spring fever" Is upon him. And then mere accident may start him on his wanderings. "Tell such a boy," writes Mrs. Solenberger, "that he will bo arrested ar-rested If he commits n certain offense of-fense and he may do It at once out of a mere childish curiosity to see the Inside of a Jail or from a deslro to have a ride in a patrol wagon. Similarly Sim-ilarly some chance word, some picture pic-ture or story, or even some sound, like the whistle of u distant engine on a railroad, may act as a wiggest-Ion wiggest-Ion which lends that boy to run away from home." Not infrequently 'a father's fa-ther's harsh word or a sister's contemptuous con-temptuous manner will servo ns tho immediate causo or his escapade. Foi jonio :eason, at any rate, off ho goes some fine day, leuting n father anx-.'iu anx-.'iu , a mother in tears and the entire en-tire home in gloom.' Springfield (Mass.) Republican. |