“IF you are going to do anything permanent for the average man you have got to begin before he is a man. The chance of success lies in working with the boy and not with the man. That applies peculiarly to those boys who tend to drift off into courses which mean that unless they are checked they will be formidable additions to the criminal population when they grow older. “No Nation is safe unless in the average family there are healthy, happy children. “If these children are not brought up well they are not merely a curse to themselves and their parents, _but they mean the ruin of the State in the future_.” PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT. _PART FIRST_ CHAPTER I. On the corner of one of the principal thoroughfares, in a very large city, there was located, fifteen years ago, a small grocery store. In front of the building the enterprising owner displayed fruits, vegetables and other goods; articles that were particularly tempting to boys. In a near-by cottage there lived a very bright boy, twelve years of age, and familiarly known to every one in the neighborhood, as Jimmy, the newsboy. And that meant a bad boy. On the disappearance of an occasional apple, an orange, or if one of the fruit-stands was upset, it was declared that Jimmy did it. All fights around the corner originated from Jimmy. So bad was this boy’s reputation that every one in the ward, including several Sunday-school teachers, was kept busy looking for a favorable opportunity to give Jimmy, what they thought he deserved, “a good licking.” The groceryman was not slow in letting his customers know how bad Jimmy was. He was kicked, lectured, preached to, and a dozen times a day was pushed off the corner. He was abused because he annoyed men and women by his misbehavior. No one ever stopped to ask this boy where he lived; what about his parents, his home life, or to see if there was really any good in him worth trying to develop. The bad was visible, and the people seemed to delight in their vain efforts to correct him by censures and kicks. There was no question about Jimmy being bad, about as bad as any street-boy would become who had his own way, and, whose parents permitted him to go and come when he pleased, and to associate with bad company, particularly boys older than he was. Jimmy was a leader of a gang of little toughs who always met at the corner, in the evenings, and delighted in making it unpleasant for those who lived within hearing distance. He was strong, quick, and could throw to the ground any boy of his size, and never hesitated trying a much larger boy. He was the terror of the corners. Yet with all his bad reputation, no one ever caught him doing anything for which he could be punished under the state laws. Circumstantial evidence was all the groceryman could produce at any time he was accused. The boy who “squealed” to the groceryman about Jimmy had to remain away from the corner until he thought that Jimmy had forgotten it.