he Omaha Sunday
FART THREE
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO SIX
PART THREE
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO SIX
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Bee
VOL. XLVXO. 33.
TIIT! OMAHA SUNDAY UKK: MAKC1I 5, 101G.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Ambitious
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ure to
Climb
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Industry and Hard Work Still the Rungs of the Ladder to Success
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William
Wintrovh
By EDWARD BLACK.
HERE seems to 'be no accounting for the
appetites of boys in matters of food for
their mental pabulum. The general
average of boys attend school, get their
fnirtv waH a r a mnrA or less interested In
" - -
youthful activities, are Just average boys and be
come good average men and citizens. There are
toys who have to.be driven to take an Interest In
their lessons. The school room bores them and
getting lessons does not seem to be their lot. Some
of this class become subjects for the Juvenllo
court. Another class comprises boys who have an
insatiable desire for learning, who will bend every
effort to advance themselves, even against the
greatest odds.
Public Schools the Open Sesame
The public school system in recent years has
bee elaboruted to reach boys (as well as girls)
who need extra attention, or whose conditions of
life warrant special provisions. The new evening
high school proved, a success right from the start.
The Kort Svhool for Boys reaches a -class of boys
v ho do not respond to the ordinary methods of
the grade schools. There are ungraded rooms in
tevcral of the elementary schools, some of the at
tendants binr passed their majority. The High
School of Commerce is another striking Instance
ci specialization la public school work. Every op
portunity and advantage is offered to (the am
LitiouB boy or girl to succeed.
The efforts oeing maae Dy some ooys ana
young men recently from Europe might be re
ferred to as prodigious. Take, for example, five
youths in the eighth B room at Kellom school.
The names of these aspirants are Frank San
Filipo, David Swarts, Elmer Darrough, Henry
Toselson and Louis Israel.
Fine Example of Self -Denial
Frank San Filipo furnishes an exceptional,
though not altogether exclusive, instance of hero
vn and self-denial by a youth who has well
grounded ideas of what it means to become a de
sirable eltixen of this country; of the value an
education will be to him in after years, and how
to succeed in the world without kith or kin in this
country to help him. Frank is 22 years of age.
He came to this country for the first time when
he was 17V4 years of age, locating in Omaha for
po particular reason except that he had heard of
the great west and Its opportunities. Soon after
be arrived here, he secured work vlth a Union
Pacific bridge gang, then five months with a sec
tion gang at $1.60 a day and for a year and a half
worked in the Union station at Council Bluffs.
unng mat ume ne savea s&oo and acquired some
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after work hours. He went back to Italy to help
his father provide a dowry of $400 f ir one of the
boy's sisters who was to be marriel. That was
voluntary on Frank's part. He stayed four months
in Italy and then resolved to return to Omaha and
get aa education. He returned to his work at the
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Henry J&jelson
Samuel Khyer
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Here is a Group of Omaha Boys Who
Will Some Day Be Typical Self-Made
Men. They Are Working Their Way
Through School and Doubling Up on
Their Lessons Night and Day in Order
to Get the Education Which They Know
to Be the Needful Foundation for Their
Future Usefulness : : : : . :
Council Bluffs station and for three months
worked in the Klrkendall shoe factory, saving
enough money to enable him to start to school.
He entered the ungraded room at Pacific school
rnd later was transferred to Kellom school. Last
May he found his money depleted, so he worked in
a freight house for four months, returning to
tchool in the fall. At the end of June, barring
any misfortune, he will be ready to enter the High
School of Commerce, with a total of two years of
school in this country and only two years in Italy!
Last fall he entered the Kellom night school, as
the day school did not provide his ambition suf
ficient material for progress. He carries an even
ing paper route and every hour of the day, from
early in the morning until late in the evening, is
made to count for something worth while. He
lives alone, cooks his own meals and '.a able to sus
tain himself on the earnings from his newspaper'
work.
Boy Who Knows the Constitution
August ! of last year he faced a Judge of the
district court and answered such questions as wer
required to qualify him to be a citizen of the
United States and the Judge complimented him
upon his excellent preparation for this examina
tion. He knows the coriKtiiutlon of the United
States by heart and knows the meaning of the text
and the moht valued of his possessions is bin cltl
7tnship certificate. He says he has no relatives in
this country. At 9 years of age, In his native
country, he began the seriousness of life by carry
ing rocks from uncultivated land. He received 10
cents a day for that service and one day, so he re
lates, while resting from the wearying work of
carrying rocks, he vowed he would some day get
an education. A few years later be bought a little
loliime which had translation of Italian words into
English. Then he bought a map of the United
States and in his chlhllBh way Imagined himself
far beyond the Atlantic, in that land known as the
great west. Today he la beginning 'o realUe the
dream of his boyhood. He Intends to go through
the High School of Commerce.
How to Be Real Economical
Frank says he has lived on a loaf of bread a
day at times. Just to be economical. Ella Reed
of the day school at Kellom and Principal Gepson
of the night school take an Interest in this youth
whose fire of ambition keeps burning under cir
cumstances which have discouraged others more
favored.
In the same day school class with Frank are
the four other boys mentioned. All attend the
Mime night school and all expect to graduate in
June and enter the high school next fall. All have
employment between day and evening school hours.
Three have regular paper routes, one diells papers
in thestreets and another works from 4 to 6:30
In a box factory. There seems to bo a community
f Interest among these boys and the teachers are
t'olng all they can to help them succeed. Three are
16 years of ago, one Is 15, and Frank San Filipo
is 22. Three are Jews, one German rnd one Is
Italian.
Here's the Determination That Wins
Samuel Klaver is another boy who believe
that determination will. win. He has Just started
a course at the High School of Commerce. Six
yours ago he came from HubbU and at once began
! business caroor by selling newspave'i. He at
tt r.Uod Cues school, where a year a&o uo was cap
talu of the athletic team and proveu himself a
t atural leader. During last school semes'.er hs
went to the Kellom night school, which ext'a work
i nabled him to enter High School of CWmerc
tt the beginning of this semester, rather than wait
for the opening next September. The advancement
ct half a year in the struggle to enter high school
means much to these boys who are fighting their
ways to the front by dint of their own persever
pnee. Willie Wintroub, one of the new entrants at
Central High school, is another example of what
a poor boy from Europe ran do when be makes up
Ms mind. Sweeping aside dlflcultles which would
fctagger most boys, thin lad faced the world un
fl'nchingly, cheerfully; accepting conditions as hs
found them and having mounted the peaks which
formerly seemed so far away, he has set his fac
toward still higher places. This boy does not
have to be cajoled or r.colded when it Is time for
him to arise in the morning. Four o'clock sees
him out of bed and before most boys are awake he
Is selling his papers on West Farnam street. He
hi at Central High school before opening time. He
has paid for his board at home ever since he was
11 years of age, has money in a bank and after
completing his high school course, Intends to go
to an advanced Institution. He attended Kellom
night school last term.
Apt Pupils Please Teachers
These boys illustrate in a concrete way what
the public school system Is doing for boys who
uould otewUe be unable to realize their ambi
tions. Night and day school teachers take a kindly
interest in these youngsters within whom the fires
of ambition seem to have been kindled even before
they crossed the great Atlantic.
From a pedogoglca) point of view there Is eon
tiderable satisfaction in training such apt pupils.
They give little or no trouble and usually are
exemplars for the other children. Freed from their
circumscribed conditions in Europe, they respond
readily to the spirit of the west and are eager to
take advantage of the free Institutions provided
for all who will become amenable)