“Ran to go to the ball games.”
“Ran to go fishing.”
“No fun in school.”
“Ran to go to theatre.”
In short, the boy is a natural vagabond. He wants above all things excitement, experience, and adventure. He is not lazy, but he will do anything sooner than work steadily at desk or bench.
The Theatre
Such adventure as the boy cannot get at first-hand by running away from home, he gets at second-hand by way of the theatre. Boys have a raging passion for entertainments, and the stage gives them an opportunity to get much of life condensed into a deglutible form. Boys will do anything to get into the theatre,—pick over the dump, work hard, be good for a whole week,—all from a desire to learn something more about the world and to have a new experience.
Not many of us adults fully realize the power of the theatre in the lives of children in our cities and larger towns. According to a study made at Worcester, Massachusetts, of children between ten years of age and fourteen, it appears that one quarter never attend the theatre at all, another quarter go at least as often as once a month, while no less than half of all the children examined go habitually once a week or more frequently. There is no reason for supposing that Worcester is in any respect exceptional in this regard.
Let us note the reports of the boys themselves:—
“Go to shows two or three times a week; liked tragedies; get up shows and let fellows from our district come in.”