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"Some men live near to God, as my right arm

Is near to me, and thus they walk about Mailed in full proof of faith, and bear a charm That mocks at fear, and bars the door on doubt, And dares the impossible. So Gordon, thou, Through the hot stir of this distracted time Dost hold thy course, a flaming witness how To do and dare, and make our lives sublime As God's campaigners. What live we for but this, Into the sour to breathe the soul of sweetness, The stunted growth to rear to fair completeness, Drown sneers in smiles, fill hatred with a kiss, And to the sandy waste bequeath the fame That the grass grew behind us where we came." -J. S. BLACKIE.

CHAPTER IV

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

"There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;

There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
F In a fellowless firmament;

There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran-

But let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man."

-SAM WALTER FOSS.

The hermit or recluse is always regarded as an abnormal being, for it is a law of nature for bees to go in swarms, cattle in herds, birds in flocks, fishes in schools, and boys in gangs. "This gang instinct is absolutely necessary for the proper social education of every boy. There is no other way . . . whereby he must be saved from narrowness of mind, selfishness and selfconceit." "The gang instinct itself," says Dr. Hall, “is almost a cry of the soul to be influenced." Up until about eleven years of age the boy is still self-centered and must be dealt with individually. While he likes to be with other 1 Forbush, "The Boy Problem," p. 63.

boys, yet the competitive motive is strong, and he has no adequate conception of subordinating self for the good of the group. As he enters the teen period this form of selfishness gradually disappears, and a new social consciousness takes its place. It is the desire for fellowship. The most interesting thing to a boy is another boy. Homesickness is a universal disease for which there is no better medicine than a sympathetic friend, a father, or a mother.

In the preceding chapters we traced the boy through his physical, intellectual, and emotional changes and developing instincts until, through the senses, he awakens to the consciousness of being an integral part of human society. He is now becoming acquainted with the world outside himself. His life is widening out. Indiscriminate chumship is beginning to wane and gives way to the gang. After the gang days chumship sets in again and has in it the element of endurance and discrimination. This main chum period is usually at the age of fifteen or sixteen.

G. E. Johnson has called attention to the fact that a very large part of our life is spent in preparing to live. He says that a cat is a kitten for about half of its life; a dog is a puppy for about one tenth of its life; it takes a horse one seventh of its life to come to maturity; but it

takes a human being almost one third. Why this one third? And if there is a Divine purpose in it, should not more attention be given to the way these years are spent?

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Misfits in society are the result of neglected and, many times, abandoned boyhood. Human derelicts are products of a misguided youth. Rosenkrantz that moral culture is the essence of social culture. The moral idea grows out of the social. According to Prof. James, "By the age of fifteen or sixteen the whole array of human instincts is complete." Unless the boy is considered as a part of society now, as a boy, and as a citizen in the making, to be related later to social facts, he is liable to get lost in the midst of conflicting social conditions. Many social forces are pressing in upon him which make it imperative that an adult come to his rescue, before the destructive social forces claim him as their prey.

"The social instincts are those concerned with relations to other persons. This class includes sociability, shyness, sympathy, affection, altruism, modesty, secretiveness, love of approbation, rivalry, jealousy, envy.'

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Desire for sociability, or the friendly instinct, is the link that binds man to man, the fire that warms an otherwise dead and cheerless world.

2 Weigle, "The Pupil and Teacher," p. 67.

It is this instinct which decides the choice in the exercise of the "pairing" tendency. "The choice of friends," says Hugh Black, "is one of the most serious affairs in life, because a man becomes moulden into the likeness of what he loves in his friend," for

""Tis thus that on the choice of friends

Our good or evil name depends."

-GAY.

He who tactfully guides a boy in the selection of his chums or intimate friends is his benefactor. It is not only sociability which creates within a boy a desire for chumship, but the confiding instinct is also developing, and he is now growing secretive. He is the possessor of newly awakened powers and he is not sure of himself. Another boy discovers he is in the same condition. The two come together and they understand each other. The things they talk about are naturally the things of their daily life, sports, ambitions, and-girls. They have a peculiar whistle, mysterious signs, and even a code language with each other. After awhile, this chumship emerges into the larger combination of congenial spirits and becomes the "gang."

It is as natural for gangs to come into being and as much a part of boy nature, as is the desire to swim or play baseball. "It is safe to

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