PREFACE
The aim of this book is to call the attention of ministers to the important place which boys' work may have in furthering the Kingdom of God. To this end an endeavor is made to quicken the minister's appreciation of boys, to stimulate his study of them, and to suggest a few practical ways in which church work with boys may be conducted.
The author is indebted to the Union Church of Waupun, Wis., and to the First Baptist Church of Detroit, Mich., for the opportunity of working out in actual practice most of the suggestions incorporated in this book. He is also indebted to many authors, especially to President G. Stanley Hall, for a point of view which throws considerable light upon boy nature. The Boy-Scout pictures have been provided by Mr. H.H. Simmons, the others by Mr. D.B. Stewart, Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen, and the author. The greatest contribution is from the boys of both village and city with whom the author has had the privilege of comradeship and from whom he has learned most of what is here recorded.
The material has been used in talks to teachers and clubs of various sorts, and in the Men and Religion Forward Movement. The requests following upon such talks and arising also from publication of most of the material in the Biblical World have encouraged this attempt to present a brief handbook for ministers and laymen who engage in church work for boys.
ALLAN HOBEN
CHICAGO August 19, 1912