AN OLD "BOY."

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 8

AN OLD "BOY."

CURIOUS CAREER OF A MAN. A “boy” fifty-three years old, who will not go home, to say nothing of establishing a home of his own, is a problem in what might be called second pedagogy which the Children’s Aid Society of New York are being called on to solve. For, although the society’s work is limited to children, and this grey-haired man is technically beyond tho province of their aid, what is to be done with a ten-year-old mind in a fifty-three-year-old body? So the regulations have been stretched a little in this case to cover aid for second childhood. For the lasi ten years of this man’s second childhood he has been dealt with repeatedly as a man. Man’s work has been found for him, because in matters of mere manual labor he is an adult. Man’s wages and man’s independence have been provided for him time after time. But nothing will overcome the child’s homing instinct in him, and after a week or two he returns from his job to the Brace Farm School at Valhalla, which he regards as his established home. This “ boy,” approaching his threescore of years, was not always a boy. Unlike Peter Pan, he did grow up, but then grew down again, so to speak. Once he was the prosperous and respected superintendent of one of the most fashionable of the clubs for men in America’s metropolis. There he was liked and respected, but in his supervision of the rare wines and liquors in the club’s cellars he found it impossible to leave drink alone. He tried to overcome his weakness, but could not do so. At last one of the club members sought Mr C. Loring Brace, secretary of the Children’s Aid Society, and asked if there wasn’t something they could do for the man, who was becoming a nervous wreck. “ Send him out to the farm school for a little rest cure. The fresh air and change of scene and absence of temptation will help him,” was the reply. So the man went out for a week’s stay, and has been there ten years. He stopped drinking, and has not touched a drop for years. He is a model member of the community. But to achieve this position he passed from man’s estate, mentally, to that of a boy. The slate of his mind was washed clean, but his muscles and physique increased under the good diet, the fresh air, and outdoor exercise. He is not idle, and works for his keep. He has taken to himself the job of keeping the great barns and dairy buildings swept out. At times he keeps them almost too clean, continues to sweep when there is far more important work to be done, but he is a specialist with a broom, and does not oare for general practice on the farm. Occasionally he has a dim memory of days of grown authority, and perhaps orders some of the boys around a little. He reads one newspaper religiously from cover to cover. Ho wants one of the sensational afternoon newspapers. He does not require that it reach him on the day of issi» If it conies the day afterwards it is all riJit, and if the Saturday edition does not arrive until Monday noon he is perfectly satisfied. For, haring started ten years behind the news of the day, what does twenty-four hours matter? He never discusses what he reads, never laughs at the funny pictures. He just reads seriously, and, having read, goes back to sweeping his barn, and sweeps it the same, whether Mr Taft be nominated or an earthquake happen in San Franoiseo. The attitude of the boys thcni'elves toward the senior student is in itse'l a studv. When these boys, from twelve to sevent*Tn years, first come to the farm from unrestrained life in New York streets to be drilled enontrh to make them acceptable farm hands in the West and South, they are rather mystified by the strange bearing of this permanent comrade. At first they may resent a little his ways of authority and observance of tradition, but they soon come to understand, and, instead of plaguing the old man, treat him kindly. For his strange affliction seems to gain for him immunity from pranks. The little boys at the farm, who have either been abandoned by their parents or have been taken away from bad surroundings, and are being cared for until a foster home can be found for them, soon learn to love the old man, who, half-child himself, is kind; to the little folks.—‘Tribune.’