young clergyman, who quietly superintends their doings; "if they didn't,
it wouldn't be a right club." So they pay their pennies and enjoy the
independence of it. The result has been a transformation in which the
entire neighborhood rejoices. "Four years ago," said their friend, the
clergyman, "these same boys stoned us and carried on like the toughs they
were. Now we have got here a lot of young gentlemen and loyal friends."
Every week-day night the Parish House in East Sixteenth Street resounds
with their merriment; on Saturday, with the roll of drums and crash of
martial music. Then the Battalion Club meets for drill under the
instruction of a former officer in the United States Army. In their natty
uniforms the lads are good to look upon, and thoroughly enjoy the
exercises, as any boy of spirit would.

The Little Boys' Club languished somewhat for want of a definite programme
until the happy idea of a series of talks on elementary chemistry and
physics was hit upon. An eminently practical turn was given to the talks
by taking the boys to the gas-house, for instance, when gas was up for
discussion; to the ship-yard, when boat-building was the topic; to the
water-works, when it was water; and to see the great dynamos at work, when
they were grappling with the subject of electricity. Afterward the boys
were made to tell in writing what they had seen, and some of them told it
surprisingly well, showing that they had made excellent use of their eyes
and their brains. There is a limit, unfortunately, to the range of
subjects that can be illustrated to advantage in that way; the managers
had come to the end of their tether, and were puzzling over the question
what to do next, when a friend of the club gave it several thousand
dollars with which to fit up a manual training-school. Since then it has
been in clover. A house was hired in East Eleventh Street and transformed
into a carpenter-shop, and preparations to open it were in progress when
these pages were sent to the printer. The club then had over two hundred
members. It will probably have twice as many before the winter is over.

[Illustration: TYPE-SETTING AT THE AVENUE C WORKING BOYS' CLUB.]

The carpenter-shop of the Avenue C Working Boys' Club has been a distinct
success for several seasons. The work done by the boys after a few months'
instruction compares often well with that of the majority of apprentices
who have been years learning the trade in the regul