the gang age, from ten to sixteen, is one of the most important eras in a boy’s life. one man out often may belong to a church, one out of five to a fraternity: but as sheldon has shown, three boys in every four are members of a gang; and the character of this gang determines in no small degree what sort of men these boys shall become. taking our lives through, our parents probably make us most, and next to these our wives. but next to our wives, in their influence over our characters and careers, come for most of us, the group of companions whom we knew as boys and who together with us formed our special gang. our domestic education takes place in our parents’ home and in our own; but our social training has had at least its foundations in our gang.
9 curiously enough, in spite of the fact that three quarters of all boys are members of gangs, the gang plays a somewhat inconspicuous part in the literature of boyhood. neither in “david copperfield,” nor in “being a boy,” nor in “a boy’s town,” nor in “tom brown,” does the gang, qua gang, appear. there are traces of it in owen johnson’s lawrenceville stories, and in certain tales of elisha kellog, dear to the heart of a generation ago. only one story of boy life, so far as i know, gives the gang anything like its full value in boy psychology.
this tale is “the story of a bad boy” of thomas bailey aldrich. the “centipedes,” to which the bad boy belonged, were a real gang. they had their local habitation, their badges, their ceremonies, their secrets. they went camping together, swam and boated and fished, snowballed the constables, fought the boys from the other end of the town, bombarded the sleeping inhabitants of rivermouth on the night before the fourth, and altogether comported themselves like the indefatigable young savages10 which all proper boys have been since boys were. the story is said to be highly autobiographical, to be, in short, the inside history of aldrich’s own gang. at any rate, it seems to be the most adequate account yet in print of a typical boys’ gang, told with insight and skill. one can hardly imagine a better introduction to the ways of all boys than this story of a bad one.
like most persons who were once boys, i was myself in my boyhood days a member of a gang; but i never began to realize the spirit and power of gang life until, between 1902 and 1905, i sat behind the principal’s desk in an industrial school for boys. before that desk stood each new-comer, and it was my duty to place each boy in his school work, and to be responsible in part for his discipline. i soon learned that rightly to guide a boy in the school, it was essential that i know pretty thoroughly, not only the boy’s personal traits, but also the social conditions of his home and of his neighborhood. i asked, therefore, many questions about home, school, and playmates,11 especially about playmates and the way in which the boys spent their leisure time.
many boys, after a short acquaintance, told me freely the inside stories of their gang life. occasionally, to start a narrator when he stopped talking, i would put in a question: “when do you meet?” “where?” “what do you do nights?” “saturdays?” “sundays?” “whom do you let in?” “have you any rules?”—and the like. where a boy had a good memory and a fair command of english, no questions were necessary; he simply went ahead and told me quite frankly all he knew, while i wrote down the story as nearly as possible in the boy’s own words. later when, as probation officer in a juvenile court, i became responsible for the behavior of dependent and delinquent boys, i carried the study further.
as a result of this information, it soon became evident that certain gangs were doing irreparable harm. two boys, for example, out of one gang had been sent to the state reform school on the same day; another12 contributed to the same institution, five of its six members. good, promising boys, too, they were, though the world thought otherwise. apparently, then, some gangs at least were pretty thoroughly bad.
on the other hand, some gangs proved to be almost as thoroughly good. their members were real boys, but on the whole the gang was helping them to become worthy citizens and upright men.
i have especially full information concerning sixty-six gangs; and i pass without more ado to the boys’ account of certain of them. most men who read these pages can supply the inside history of at least one other.
the morse hollow athletic club
this is a typical all-round gang, though its main purpose was to play games. its membership varied somewhat with the game, but it usually contained from nine to eleven boys, between twelve and seventeen years of age. of these one was irish, two were french, two americans, one negro, and one scotch. the historian of the gang is13 the scot, a distinctly bright boy who is now doing well at the printing trade.
“met nearly every day in vacation time; had a shanty for a clubhouse over in the woods; met there most of the time; met on r. a’s hill.
“r. a. was the leader. one that could jump the farthest was made president; one could jump next farthest, vice-president; next, secretary; one that could jump least distance of all was made treasurer; club was for athletics, so that was the way we wanted it.
“we played baseball in the spring and football in the fall. we didn’t let a fellow into our club unless he could play baseball or football. nights we would meet on the corner of the street and talk over games. we have been going together four years; we take in a new lot of younger boys every year. sometimes we put a fellow out of the club because he will not pay his share of the expenses.
“sundays we went to church; sometimes we would go up on r. a’s hill in the afternoon and watch some men play cards for money; they gave coppers to the boys.
14 “we often jumped a freight to gates crossing and then went berrying or after nuts. we used to play indians in the woods; one boy captured the others and put them in a hole. we had three detectives. we stole some apples out of orchards. we had a fight with the ‘garden of eden’ gang; we were coming home from football; we guyed them for beating us; they fired sticks at us; we made some swords out of wood, got an air rifle, and made an attack on them and drove them up on to a haymow in a barn.
“we sometimes ran away from school; two of us would go out at a time, so as not to throw any suspicion on the gang. our rules were that all members should be present wednesdays and saturdays, and each boy should pay equal parts for ball. when there were disputes the officers would most always settle them.”
the tennis club
this is a thoroughly good gang, one of the best gangs i know. in fact, i came to know about it at all only because one of its15 members dropped out, joined the distinctly evil “dowser glums,” the account of which immediately follows that of the tennis club, and as a result got himself into various kinds of trouble. the same boy gave me the stories of the two gangs, adding frankly, “if i had stopped in the tennis club, i should never have been sent to a reform school.” a thoroughly worthless man, twenty-six years old, was in the glums, while mr. m., the father of one of the boys, was practically in the tennis club. the contrast cannot be described in words.
there were fifteen boys in the tennis club, twelve to seventeen years of age, all americans except two swedes.
“met at tennis court at m.’s house. met after school, nights and saturdays. had a captain of baseball nine, captain of football, and treasurer. treasurer collected things at m.’s house,—gloves, rackets, etc. if a fellow was a good ball player or an all-round athlete, let him in. sometimes fellows [by way of initiation] pounce on a fellow and give it to him for two or three minutes. tell a fellow16 he didn’t belong there and he would leave. been going together for seven months when i left off going.
“m.’s parents would buy things for their boy and we could use them. we played tennis, baseball, football, cricket; went bicycle riding; camping out. went a little ways from m.’s house; went out to camp days, swimming, boating. made a boat and went fishing for pickerel and perch. play ball and cricket after supper till dark. sit in porch and talk over stories a little after dark.
“ring doorbells and play tick-tack on windows of fellows of our club. sometimes would have a fight; other fellows would stop it. never let a big fellow pick on a little fellow. we were against smoking.”
the dowser glums
this tough gang contained four irish boys, three french, one american. the members were for the most part seventeen or eighteen years of age, except the man of twenty-six. the place-names, i suppress, as of no interest.
17 “met out in the woods back of an old barn on spring street. met every day if we did not get work. any fellow could bring in a fellow if others approved. put a fellow out for spying or telling anything about the club. tell him we didn’t want him and then if he didn’t take the hint force him out. it had been going for two years; broke up now, i think.
“we played ball; went swimming, fishing, and shooting. each of us had a rifle. meet [at night] and tell stories of what we had done during the day. go to shows. go and watch dancing class. sundays we loafed around streets. sometimes went on a trip in the country. went shooting. other days catch a freight and go to w—— and l——. went to b—— to shows and circus.
“purpose of club was to steal; most anything they could get their hands on; fruit off from fruit stands; snag ice-cream at picnics. robbed a store and put it in an old barn,—revolvers, knives, and cartridges. work for two or three days, then loaf round and spend our money; spend money for18 circus. sometimes folks would make us spend for clothes. play cards,—poker, whist, high low jack. played in the woods. smoke cigarettes, pipe, and cigars. biggest fellow drank; he tried to make the other fellows drink but they wouldn’t.”
the island gang
twelve boys: four irish, three french, two poles, two germans, one jew. ages between twelve and eighteen, but generally about fifteen. the boy who told me the story, one of the frenchmen, said with much pride, “we never got caught stealing.” i have since watched boys stealing from the big markets; they certainly have reduced it to a science!
“met on l. street; all lived on that street. would not let any gang on that street. give a strange boy a licking.
“m. was ring-leader,—steals most; says, ‘come on’; biggest and oldest. didn’t let anybody in after we started; been going together five years. m. started it, and asked us to be in the gang.
19 “we played run-sheep-run, tag, relievo, hide and seek. stay out all night; have a fire down by the foundry. go to shows monday and saturday nights; like railroad jack, great white diamond, white eagle; like plays where there was fighting.
“jumped freights to s—— and p——. ran away from home to u——; stayed up there two weeks. hated to go to school; ran away because i didn’t like to study. saw boys out, so i liked to stay out and play baseball. go to w—— market in a crowd; steal apples, candy, grapes, and peanuts; we never got caught.
“put wires across the sidewalks. fight with another gang; fought for the fun of it, to see which was the strongest; fought with clubs. if there was a dispute in our crowd, leader settled it. if two fellows were fighting for a thing, the leader took it away from them and gave it to another fellow. if a member of the gang lied to one of us fellows, we called him a squealer; if he told on us, we called him a spy.
“get our money from junk. drink beer.20 all smoke. we had our best times bunking out, ringing doorbells, and tying cats’ tails together. we like to plague girls,—ask them for a kiss, and things like that.”
the medford street gang
six boys: two americans, four irish. ages between twelve and fifteen. this is, paradoxically, a bad gang of good boys. five out of the six members landed in reform schools, and i knew personally four of the five. all were distinctly above the average, and all are now doing well in life.
boys “jump freights” because they “like to go and see places”
“we fought for the fun of it”
“met on corner of street. we had three different leaders; i was leader; st. j. was leader. when we first moved there we gathered together and kept together all the time.
“we played baseball, football, cricket, tag, and hide and seek. we had a tent,—stayed out nights. we stole pigeons, broke into slot machines. we all divided up about the same. if a fellow lied to one of us, we put him out of the crowd for a week. used to think school was too hard; didn’t want21 to go because there was a show in town; stayed away just for the fun of it. best time was going to theatre, like comical plays, irishmen and fighting.
“we never used to think of girls, [“how do you treat them?” i had asked.] i don’t know how to treat them; never tried it.”
another boy’s report of the same gang—one year later
the gang now contained seven boys: four american, three irish.
“met every day, right after school, corner medford street and somerville avenue; thought that medford street belonged to us. if a strange boy came around, try to pick up a fight with him to see if he was a good fighter. a. was leader; st. j. was leader sometimes. anybody moved around there we thought safe to come in, would let him in. put a fellow out if he go and tell on us. we have been going together five or six years.
“we play baseball, hoist the sail, how many miles to barbery; go to beach; go to22 theatre once or twice a week, city square and grand opera house; like love plays best. sundays go around in city; wander around the streets; go to beach. other days go down to freight yards and jump freights. we used to snowball jews who came to slaughter house to get food. plague a man down there; ring doorbells; play tick-tack. steal money, candy, hens, iron, and fountain pens.
“all of us smoked. get lager beer saturday nights off beer wagons. boys gamble with dice; shoot craps. chuck a fellow out who made a dispute.”
the methuen gang
six boys: five irish and one “yankee,” between thirteen and sixteen years of age. this is an especially adventurous gang, whose chief amusement is travel. note especially the characteristic initiation to test the candidate’s resourcefulness.
“i was called ‘bull-dog,’ because i stuck to it when i started a thing. c. called ‘gulliver’ because he traveled around so much.23 m. called ‘puggie’ because he had a flat nose. o. was leader; biggest and best fighter.
“when one fellow went out, let another fellow in; get a fellow who would keep things to himself; make him take an oath. put him [as initiation] on a freight train and send him off alone to see if he could get back alone; if he came back he was a member of the gang.
“been going together three years. all live on the same street. play baseball, football, punch bag, tag, hide and seek, bull in the ring, leap frog. build forts and capture them.
“go to boys’ club twice a week. go to shows two or three times a week. like tragedies. get up shows ourselves and let fellows from the district in. went to a show and traveled with the show as far as w——. stay out all night sometimes. go off to different cities. jump freights. sundays sometimes go off on a fishing trip, or a picnic out in the country.
“plague the ragman; upset his cart; run24 off with the rags. ran away with banana team. all work for a spell and then all loaf a while. if one of the gang got hit, stand up for one another. save up our money and then go off for a good time; go to b—— saturday afternoons; buy our tickets on that trip.”
* * * * *
boys’ gangs, then, as one may readily infer from the foregoing accounts, are of various types. they may be large or small, good or bad, long-lived or evanescent. yet with all their superficial differences, they are fundamentally alike. each exists for the sake of a definite set of activities—to play games, to seek adventure, to go swimming, boating, and playing indians in the woods, to make mischief, to steal, to fight other gangs. few are the groups which do not, at one time or another, do all these things. especially noteworthy is the desire of the gang for a local habitation—its own special street corner, its clubroom, its shanty in the woods.
all normal gangs, in short, are so much alike that if we discovered any group among25 the lower animals acting with equal uniformity, we should unhesitatingly ascribe their behavior to instinct. without doubt, there is a gang-forming instinct set deep in the soul of boyhood. whoever, therefore, would understand boys, must study their spontaneous organizations.
