J. Adams Puffer, B.A.

              Figure

Boy Problems The Social Problems of the Day

Boy Nature as seen in Boys' Gangs
Boy Leadership
Delinquency and Degeneracy
Educational Methods of Checking Delinquency
Juvenile Court and Probation Work


F. Adams Puffer, B.A. Teacher, Author and Orator
The most important problems that confront the Nation





1.
Boy Nature as Seen in Boys' Gangs.
This lecture is based upon a personal study of sixty boys' gangs, represented by one or more members at Lyman School.  Brief outline: The play and social instincts in the early adolescent period.  Similarity of a boys' gang to a savage tribe.  The fighting instinct and its training from physical to moral courage.  Group games and the spirit of self-sacrifice.  The virtue of loyalty fundamental in gang life.  Importance of respecting and using this virtue in cultivating true manhood.

2.
Boy Leadership.
A character study of eighty boys, for the purpose of determining the characteristics which make for leadership.  Four classes are found:

1.
Independent Boys.
2.
Leaders.
3.
Boys who want to Lead, but cannot.
4.
Easily Led Boys.

These classes are compared with each other by physical and character tests.  Importance of and methods of training boys to enter the first two classes.
(Charts are used with this lecture)

3.
Delinquency and Degeneracy.
A physical and psychic study of one hundred delinquent boys.  The delinquent and the normal boy.  Parallel relations between physical, mental and moral life.  Marks of physical and psychic degeneracy.  Problem of retarded growth.  Incipient stages of habitual and instinctive criminality.  Heredity and environment.

4.
Educational Methods of Checking Delinquency.
Prominent tendencies of boy life which lead to delinquency and crime.  Methods which can be adopted in home, church and school, to satisfy and check the dangerous instincts.  Socia forces for delinquency and crime.  Preventive social agencies.  Hero-worshipping, showing the character traits necessary for successful men leaders.

5.
Juvenile Court and Probation Work.
Punishment and educational method of preventing crime.  Limitations of the modern system.  Educative work of the Juvenile Court.  The use of the gang spirit of honor.  Work of probation officer.  Volunteer probation officers.  Trade schools.  The need of and dangers of institutional training.




WORDS OF MOTHERS and PRESS ITEMS
Your lecture on the Boy Problem, both as to matter and manner, was a most interesting presentation of this much neglected question.  No mother could hear it without receiving valuable knowledge and incentive to help in understanding and holding her boy to the things which she most covets for him.  I hope you may have a wide hearing, for your council will bring courage and hope to many perplexed mothers.

FRANCES C. PECK, Murdock Parsonage, Winchendon, Mass.

It gives me pleasure to speak of the value of Mr. Puffer's lecture on Delinquency, before the Mothers' Association of Malden.  His experience and experiments will do much to help those who are attempting to deal fundamentally with boys.

MRS. HENRY D. HERVEY, Pres. of Mothers' Association.  Malden, Mass.


(Athol Transcript)
Mr. J. Adams Puffer gave an eloquent address on subjects of passing interest to the home and the town.  He spoke with great force and sympathy on the Problems of Boy Life.

Mr. Puffer's lectures on Boy Problems are thoroughly human.  He has a very intimate knowledge of boy nature.  All mothers who care whether their boys become true men or not, should hear these lectures.

MRS. W. F. SKERRYE, Pres. of Woman's Club, Templeton, Mass.

Your paper was most excellent, and will open the eyes of thoughtful women to some facts in their sons' natures of which they have never before thought.  Mr. Puffer's advantage for a thorough study of boy life in the Lyman School, gives the note of sincerity so necessary.

MRS. SARAH H. DUDLEY, Pres. of Woman's Club. Berlin, Mass.


(Gardner News)
Mr. Puffer, who has evidently made an exhaustive investigation of boys, spoke for about an hour on The Social Forces which make Criminals.  He received the closest attention of his audience, and at its conclusion, his talk received the heartiest applause.




Destimonials from Prominent Eoucators
BENJAMIN B. LINDSEY Judge of Juvenile Court, Denver, Col.

Your pamphlet upon Boys' Gangs is a magnificent study, well put together, and a very valuable addition to the literature of the subject.

G. STANLEY HALL Pres. of Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Your study of Boys' Gangs is very good, and contains much new and interesting matter.  It is surely of much profit and instruction to all interested in the subject of boys of the gang age.

We enjoyed your lecture on Boys' Gangs.  Both teachers and parents found it profitable.  I wish every teacher and mother could hear it.

W. SCOTT WARD, Supt. of Schools, Athol, Mass.

The lecture was a careful and thoughtful study of juvenile delinquency, and showed in a striking manner the influence of environment in determining character.

J. O. DEALY, Prof. of Social and Political Science, Brown University.

The delinquent boy is the school problem of today.  You have an array of facts gathered at first hand on this problem, which makes us think along right lines.

W. H. SMALL, Supt. of Schools, Providence, R. I.

I was greatly interested in your lecture at Montreal, on Juvenile Delinquency.  Your investigation of the subject of their proper care, is both valuable and interesting.

HOMER FOLKS, Sec. of State Charities' Aid Association, New York City.

Mr. Puffer's study of Boy Leadership among the Reform School Boys, with whom he has had much experience, is an encouraging contribution to a real science of human character.

EDMUND C. SANFORD, Professor of Experimental Psychology, Clark University.

The address on Delinquency before the Barnard Club, was both interesting and instructive.  It had the merit of being based on personal observation and experience, and therefore it had weight.

HERBERT W. LULL, Supt. of Schools and Pres. of Barnard Club, Newport, R. I.

Mr. J. Adams Puffer has made an important and timely study of the subject of Juvenile Delinquency.  He should have a wide hearing.  This problem is among the most important that confront the nation.  Mr. Puffer's contributions to an understanding of the problems are most valuable.

ARTHUR L. WEATHERLY, Worcester, Mass.

The lecture on Boys' Gangs was practical and profitable.  It cannot fail to benefit all who are interested in the growth and education of boys.

JUDSON I. WOOD, Supt. of Schools, Gardner, Mass.

The lecture on Delinquency and Degeneracy is the result of careful study and research.  Everyone who hears this lecture will be better qualified to help the youth of this generation.

W. F. ROBIE, M. D. Baldwinville, Mass.

Mr. Puffer has spent a great deal of time in studying at first hand delinquency among boys.  His lectures, which have grown out of his personal observation, are most interesting, and a valuable contribution to this most important problem.

FRANK W. PRATT, Hopedale, Mass.

Mr. Puffer has rendered a real public service by his careful study of delinquency among boys.  His lecture reveals many significant facts not commonly known or appreciated.  His conclusions are sane, and his suggestions are worthy of the consideration of all having the care of children and youth.

WALTER E. RANGER, Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island.

I have heard Mr. Puffer present his discussion of Boy Leadership, and I am glad to urge its value upon the attention of all who have to do with boys.  He analyzes in a most striking and convincing way the qualities that make for the power of leadership.  It is a lecture from which every teacher, principal and superintendent will derive great profit.

R. N. ROARK, President of State Normal School, Richmond, Ky.

Mr. Puffer's lecture on Boys' Gangs is a fascinating topic for men, presented in a forcible and convincing manner, by an able speaker, who has thoroughly studied boys, and is competent to tell us some things we ought to know about them.  The men of our club were interested from start to finish, and unanimous in praise of the treatment and conclusions of the speaker.

GEORGE F. PRATT, Minister of Christ Church, Dorchester, Mass.




MR. J. ADAMS PUFFER is a successful teacher and educator of boys.  His life has been given to this work from the age of seventeen, when he began as a teacher in the public schools of Maine.  He has not only the ability of the trainer, but the keen insight of the student into the real psychology of boy life, and more than this, the rare ability of giving the results of his studies to his audiences in a clear, direct and eloquent manner.

MR. PUFFER was for three years Principal of Schools at the Lyman School for Boys, Westboro, Mass.  (The State Reform School.)  His lectures have grown from his personal experiences and study of delinquent boys in this school.  As a result of a scientific study of Boys' Gangs (published in the Pedagogical Seminary, June, 1905), MR. PUFFER was honored with a Scholarship and Fellowship at Clark University, where he has continued his studies of boys, under the direction of PRES. G. STANLEY HALL. MR. PUFFER works as a volunteer probation officer of the Boston Juvenile Court and is now making a careful study of the Juvenile Court system.

Plainfield, Conn., Apr. 30, 1908.

My Dear Mr. Puffer:

Your lecture before the Eastern Connecticut Teachers' Association at New London, April 24, on Educational Methods of Checking Delinquency, was listened to with the greatest interest by the six hundred teachers present.  From every source I have since heard expressions of greatest satisfaction at the clear, keen and direct exposition of a problem which is of vital interest to every teacher.

Many of those present, especially principals and superintendents, have said to me that it was for them the important address of the day.  It afforded us an opportunity to learn more of this subject from one who has gathered his facts from his wide experience, and who has brought to bear upon these facts his keen insight and broad sympathy, and has thus become able to suggest the proper remedies.  We hope to again have the pleasure of listening to you on other phases of this great subject.

Sincerely yours,
J. L. CHAPMAN, President of Eastern Connecticut Teachers' Association.

Winchendon, Mass., Apr. 24, 1908.

At our Teachers' Association of this month the lecture on Educational Methods of Checking Delinquency, by J. Adams Puffer, was listened to with interest.  The result of Mr. Puffer's painstaking and systematic study of Boys of the Gang Age for the past few years, are admirably summed up in this lecture.  My only regret is that every parent in Winchendon did not hear it.  This lecture is a contribution of facts gathered at first hand, concerning boys of the adolescent age, which is much needed in our study of the ever present boy problem.

I only hope the day will come soon when a compilation of such facts may be gathered from all over the country, and the study of the Delinquent Boy by Cases be required in our Normal Schools and Colleges in the Pedagogical courses as is the Case study of law in our Law Schools of today.

W. B. SPRAGUE, Superintendent of Schools.

Augusta, Me., May 3, 1908.

My dear Mr. Puffer:

Your lecture on Delinquency and Degeneracy, is a most valuable contribution to the study of the broader educational work.  Your presentation of the subject is most forceful, and you have left a strong impression with our teachers.

Very cordially yours,
PAYSON SMITH, State Supt. of Schools.