Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/399

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home for the newsboys of that city. It raised a fund to erect a monument to the memory of Steven C. Foster, a native of Pitts- burgh, who wrote "The Old Folks at Home"; it started a young folks league, a baseball club, a brass band and drum corps, two clubs for girls, an athletic league, etc. The Times, of Troy, New York, following the example set by The New York Tribune, started its Fresh- Air Fund by which hundreds of children could get the benefits of a two weeks' vacation at the fresh-air home erected by The Times in the mountains of Rensselaer County. The Tribune, of Chicago, Illinois, initiated two reforms which developed into a national movement, that of a "Sane Fourth of July" and the "Good Fellow Club," the object of which was to make the children of the poor acquainted with Santa Claus. The News of Indianapolis, Indiana, built a fresh-air village for sick women and children, in addition to building several public mon- uments. But in doing this The News did not forget that such humanitarian enterprises could begin closer at home. It es- tablished a sub-station system of delivering papers to boys in the neighborhood where they lived and appointed a district man to look over them, to keep in touch with their parents, and to guard them as jealously as a school teacher, and above all to teach them business thrift. In this way The News eliminated the old-style newsboy with dirty face and worn shoes. The Press, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was one of the pioneer papers to carry on all-round welfare work for its newsboys. Knowing that boys like a noise, it started two bands, a senior and a junior, the latter to teaeh the rudiments of music to beginners. It went into the business of education to start a day school for the lads han- dling the noon editions and the extras : to be sure, the school was ungraded, but the teacher, always a high-grade woman with a good salary, has taught the boys from the poorer families so well that the movement has the endorsement of public school offi- cials. To its Hoe press it added the strange equipment of baths and a swimming-pool for the use of its boys. It put in a lunch counter where the carriers could get sandwiches, milk, buns, etc., for less than cost. The crowning feature of the welfare work of The Press has been the "Happy Hour" held in its own halls every Sunday afternoon. Here the programme begins with a flag