The children of Israel had no better friend than Moses, and when they obeyed his warning they never went astray. We may be wrong in our liberal methods of giving to charity; we may be wrong in dropping pennies into the hats of the street beggars—the blind—the lame—the crippled who stand or sit on our public streets pleading in a tone of experience; and we may be satisfying an ever-warning conscience; but there is one thing certain, we can never make a mistake by warning a newsboy from doing anything wrong—from stealing, lying, swearing, or gambling, and it is always wise and safe to give a boy the right start in life. In every city, with a population of one hundred thousand or more, thirty per cent. of the newsboys, the sellers, have no homes or their homes are worse than none at all. If men and women would stop to think, to investigate, listen to the stories as told by these street boys; of the wants, miseries and degradation in the sad conditions that surround many of them; these dirty, ragged boys would receive a more Christian-like attention and care. If your nature to mingle with the meek and lowly is forced, if your mission for doing good in this world is cast in other fields, where better results may be reached, you can take a personal interest in seeing that those who are familiar with work among street boys, and who delight in trying to aid them, are given proper encouragement and assistance so that their work may be carried on successfully. CHAPTER XXIX. A few months’ experience with boys who spend most of their lives upon the street, and pride themselves on being tough, will teach one a great lesson. You will learn you cannot reach a boy unless you get near him, are of his kind; and the most lasting and truest friendship, and through which you can gain the best results, is where you place a boy under personal obligations to you, through kindness. You may buy him for money, but he does not look upon you with the same interest and confidence as when you gain his love through personal attention. The boy must be understood. No two boys are alike. Though many are endowed with similar characteristics, each has his own individuality. The trees are not all of one kind. Even the leaves on the same tree differ in size and contour. One tree in the writer’s yard, one of the choicest of plums; a long branch sprouted out every spring and grew so rapidly that before the leaves in the fall began to show signs of decay, it became strong and reached several feet beyond any other branch. It made the tree look awkward, unnatural, but when trimmed down, even with the others, it produced more and better fruit than any other portion of the tree. The boys are like the birds who are unlike in plumage and song; the flowers in color and fragrance, and yet nature would not be perfect were it not for these different lines of beauty, strength, and fragrance.