up-town Lodging-houses seem often to gather in a more permanent
class of lodgers; they become frequently genuine boarding-houses for
children. The lads seem to be, too, a more destitute and perhaps lower
class than "the down-town boys." Possibly by a process of "Natural
Selection," only the sharpest and brightest lads get through the intense
"struggle for existence" which belongs to the most crowded portions of
the city, while the duller are driven to the up-town wards. We throw out
the hypothesis for some future investigator.

The great amusement of this multitude of street vagabonds is the cheap
theatre. Like most boys, they have a passion for the drama. But to them
the pictures of kings and queens, the processions of courtiers and
soldiers on the stage, and the wealthy gentlemen aiding and rescuing
distressed peasant-girls, are the only glimpses they ever get of the
great world of history and society above them, and they are naturally
entranced by them. Many a lad will pass a night in a box, and spend his
last sixpence, rather than lose this show. Unfortunately, these low
theatres seem the rendezvous for all disreputable characters; and here
the "bummers" make the acquaintance of the higher class whom they so
much admire, of "flashmen," thieves, pickpockets, and rogues.

We have taken the pains at different times to see some of the pieces
represented in these places, and have never witnessed anything improper
or immoral. On the contrary, the popular plays were always of a heroic
and moral cast. "Uncle Tom," when it was played in the Bowery,
undoubtedly had a good moral and political effect, in the years before
the war, on these ragamuffins.

The salvation of New York, as regards this army of young vagabonds, is,
without doubt, its climate. There can be no permanent class of lazzaroni
under our winters. The cold compels work. The snow drives "the
street-rats," as the police call them, from their holes. Then the
homeless boys seek employment and a shelter. And when they are once
brought under the series of moral and physical instrumentalities
contrived for their benefit, they cease soon to be vagrants, and join
the great class of workers and honest producers.

A CORRECTIVE.

One of the best practical methods of correcting vagrancy among city boys
would be the adoption, by every large town, of an "ordinance" similar to
that passed by the Common Council of Boston.

By this Act, every chi