For a young man to reach a rich inheritance he must work; he must remember that the root qualities of character are sobriety, industry, unselfish economy, and he must be honest in all that the word implies. Swearing, stealing, grafting inclinations, expecting something for nothing, smoking cigarettes or drinking intoxicating liquors will prevent securing good positions. Already some of our great railroad systems will not employ a young man who drinks intoxicating liquors, or smokes cigarettes; and some go so far as to forbid swearing while on duty. To gain this rich inheritance, to build up the boy who has no chance in life, who, in many cities, is regarded as a sort of a pest, something to be kicked and cuffed out of the way, is the great aim of the Boyville Newsboys’ Association. It is a kindergarten in the great school of business and citizenship, and many years experience proves conclusively not only that the boy of the street is capable of conquering himself, and of mastering his own will-power, but also that he can assist his companions, to be honest, patriotic, and self-reliant. Many a boy goes astray simply because home lacks sunshine. If home is the place where faces are sour and words harsh, and the boy is continually hampered with don’ts and censures, he will spend as many hours as possible elsewhere. A personal investigation of twenty homes of boys who were upon the streets a greater portion of their time, especially at meal hours or after nine o’clock at night, revealed the fact that nine boys were away from their homes on account of there being no restriction on the part of the parents. These nine families did not know, did not care, at what hour their sons returned at night, or whether they were at home at meal hours or not. Home should keep in sympathy with a boy. His little troubles, his sorrows are made much easier and lighter through attention and sympathy, and if the boy can’t get this at home he will go elsewhere; and he will often find it in society he would otherwise shun. No boy ever grows too old for love. And should the boy seek companionship in our crowded streets and discover some one in whom he can place confidence, his whole life is wrapped up in that love. CHAPTER XXXVI. In the Boyville Association it has always been the rule that, no matter how great a wrong committed by a boy, and the fine or sentence be what it may, if the boy looks forward to doing better, to putting his whole soul into trying to do right, if he hates and despises the act committed, that boy has a right to be honorably reinstated, and is heartily welcomed back to his friends. “Often” says a thoughtful writer, “men and women mourn over past wrong-doings with which their present identity has no connection.” A good preacher once asked a despondent soul, whose life was shadowed by a wrong committed in early years: “Would you do the same thing again?” “Do it again?” answered the man, “No, a thousand times, no.”