Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/97

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CHILD LABOUR PROBLEM.

any wish on the part of the parent, but because the child longs to become a wage-earner, and indulge in freedom which comes only with pocket money. Among the great majority of boys pocket money is a rarity unless they are at work, and in view of the character of modern ideals, it is not strange that the average youngster should be so anxious to get his share.

In the small industrial towns, many cases are found where the child leaves school against the parents' wishes and goes to work. When compelled to return to school, the child "plays hookey," and gets back to the factory, or mine, or mill, where his friends are employed. "All the boys is at work, and I ain't goin' to go to school," is an attitude often found where most of the boys work, and where, if nine members of "the gang" are earning wages, it requires strenuous pulling in the opposite direction to keep the last member in school.

The age of youth is the age of education. Children are not expected to form mature judgments, nor to understand what things