Judge Albert Besson of Chelsea, Mass., found a novel use for six boys, averaging fifteen years old, brought before him for sentence for entering freight cars and stealing candy. He sentenced them to keep a certain city street clear of waste for six months. The street in question is a long one, and friends of the boys living on it made things interesting for the culprits keeping the cigarette stubs, tin cans, papers and milk bottles picked up. The boys were supervised by two policemen.
The children of the sixth and seventh grades in one school in Inchester, Pa., started a tin can crusade, which aroused every citizen in the city. With two days of the contest still to run, the children had gathered 37,000 tin cans.
In accordance with the proclamation of the Governor, the Mayor of Montpelier, Vermont, observed April 25 as Arbor Day and Clean-Up Day. Outdoor exercises were held, including an address by the Mayor. The children were not required to attend school in the afternoon provided they spent two hours cleaning up the streets and grounds about their homes.
Toledo school children were divided into squads and to each was given a section of a ward. Each day a ward was cleaned and the results were printed in the next day’s papers, thus creating rivalry among the children.
Everywhere the Boy Scout has found his level in the Clean-Up Campaign. It is a Scout law that he must be clean. Almost every troop of Scouts has done its full quota in civic, local or county clean-ups. In patrol or by troop they care for school grounds, public grounds, make systematic campaigns against flies and mosquitoes, destroy their breeding places; plant trees, bushes and shrubs; in general, keep the streets free of litter and waste of all kinds. Divided into squads, they do much for city betterment. Vacant lots, waste property, fields and streets are rid of tin cans, milk bottles, scrap iron, weeds, and in their places flowers, vegetables and shrubbery planted; unsightly billboards removed. Sometimes they are paid for their work by the Civic Leagues, as in the case of Cornwall, N. Y., and St. Paul, Minnesota.
In many cities the Scouts have done splendid work in inspection duty, reporting all unsanitary conditions. In patrols, troops or companies they are assigned to investigate and report to the superintendent of streets or the organization having charge of the clean-up. The inspection is done day by day as the clean-up progresses, and any oversight or unsanitary condition reported at once.
Another method of interesting children is the organization of boys and girls into what is known as City Clubs, whose duty it is to keep the streets clean. The clubs are limited to 25 members each. The members wear buttons and each one is provided with blanks on which to report. In some instances these clubs work throughout the year but usually their work is confined to the spring clean-up, in which event they attend to the general clearing up of vacant lots, back yards, school property, and cart it to the curbs for the city dump wagons to haul away.
In Boston, under the auspices of the Women’s Municipal League, the Junior Municipal League, loaded with posters reading “Do you have pride in your city? Then Clean It Up,” and armed with brooms, shovels and rakes, proceeded to clean up. “Little Italy” was no small job. How the children first became interested in cleaning up this district is told about a little Italian girl who persuaded her merchant father to put covers on his barrels because the papers blew about and littered the back yard. This so improved the appearance that the child decided to sweep the back porch every morning before going to school. One morning a policeman saw her doing this and remarked on the improvement and gave her a button; immediately all the children in the neighborhood became industrious.
Gratifying results were obtained in Kewanee, Illinois, through the cooperation of the Superintendent of Schools and the Junior Civic Club, consisting of 650 members from the seven schools of the city. To each pupil desiring to become a member was presented a button in the school colors, bearing the words “I Will Help Kewanee.” A photograph was taken of the child’s home, showing as clearly as possible what he desired to improve. A letter was sent to the parents of the members of the Club, stating that the Kewanee Civic Club offered prizes to children who would make the most progress in cleaning up yards at home, plant flowers, make gardens, and do any other work. For the best showing in each school district $5 in gold was first prize, and $2.50 in gold second prize. To all the children who made an honest effort to clean up and beautify their yards were given diplomas of award signed by the Superintendent of Schools and the Committee. The taking of the pictures was a most expensive plan, but the expenses were materially reduced because the Camera Club of the High School contributed largely of their time. A contest in growing vegetables and making gardens was begun in the summer, and in the fall prizes were offered for the best showing. In order to stimulate interest in that direction, motion pictures showing what children had done in other cities were used.
A school in one city presented a one-act play typifying the following characters: Fly, waste, paper, fire, soot, dirt, microbe, sickness, death, sorrow, poverty, cleanliness, swatter, refuse pail, fire prevention, paint, scrub brush, soap, water and flowers. Lines were fitted to each character, and in the end cleanliness and happiness overcame sickness and dirt.