From the pages of The Spider magazine, June 1941
Yardstick of Honor
HERO-WORSHIP has always been a strong factor in the formation of character. This has been known and recognized since before the days of King Arthur's illustrious Round Table; and in every country right up to the present day, there has ever been some outstanding individual whose good influence proves our point.
>That person may be an adventurer, a soldier, statesman, actor, aviatoror even a professional sportsman. Whatever his calling, he never becomes the idol of the hero worshipper unless he typifies the essential virtues of humanity. He must be a man whose life is clean, a man whose character and integrity are above reproach. He must be a living example to all those who aspire to ideal manhood.
Consider the case of Babe Ruth for years the hero of almost every small boy throughout this land. The Babe realized the heroic proportions to which he had ascended in the minds of American youngsters. He never turned down a request to visit a hospital, an orphan asylumor any institutionwhere, by mingling with kids and autographing a few baseballs, he could make hearts glad. More important, because he was a true sportsman who heeded not only the rules of baseball, but the rules of LIFE, he helped to mold the characters of the thousands who adored him.
In The Spider Magazine for November last we published the story of a youth upon whose family, misfortune had fallen. You may remember.... His mother died when he was a kid; his father, because of grief, took to drink and landed ultimately in prison. Then the boy, exposed to kid-gangs in a slum neighborhood, engaged in petty pilfering which promised to send him on his father's path. He caught pneumonia, and during his convalescence at a city hospital, a nurse introduced to him The Spider Magazine. The kid became a.hero: worshipper; his hero was the Spider. Because of Richard Wentworth's influence, the kid forsook crimeand later steered his own dad back to honesty and ambition! ... We have thought of that lad's story many times. We have wondered u-hat part the Spider has played in other misdirected lives. Now and then on Saturday afternoons or Sundays we have wandered through the poorer parts of New York, where dwell the underprivileged. We have talked with social workers, playground directors and other people who come in contact with kids in various stages of development. We found Spider readers all right, lots of them, and a few whose adoration for Dick Wentworth had caused major changes in their lives. Hero-worship had again served a beneficial purpose.
We found Johnny de S., a bright-eyed, straight-standing youngster who was not afraid to look the world square in the eye. We remarked to his play-ground director (who had introduced us) that Johnny de S. didn't appear to be a boy whose character ever needed mending.
"Take a walk with him," the answer was. "Ask him."
So we took a walk with Johnny de S. We asked him, and he told us.
He held up his tanned fist and said "See that?"
We looked. There on his finger was a shiny Spider ring."It means a lot to me, mister," he said. "Just a little more than a year ago I wouldn't of had a right to wear that ring. I was in reform school. I was the third in my family to spend time in reform school..."
He unfolded a pretty grim story. Before he was ten years old he had participated in the theft of two automobiles. His brothers, fourteen and sixteen-year-olds, did the actual stealing, while Johnny stood "chicky." Later, he himself stole property from parked carstires, lights, bumpers and other accessories. The money he acquired this way helped to give him a warped opinion of school. What could school teach him? He was a hot-shot; he made dough the easy way. He played hookie constantly. He came to hate the sight of a cop or a truant officer and, finally, when they caught him and sentenced him to six months in reform school, he got the idea that everyone was down on him.
However, the superintendent of the reform school was a man who knew his job. He managed to straighten out some of Johnny's ideas, despite the influence of other inmates who were well on the way to becoming confirmed criminals. Johnny behaved for a while, and even stayed in public school until his brothers were released from the reformatory. Then it began againthe thieving, the truancy, the pool-room haunting and the smoking of stolen cigarettes....
"About then," Johnny said, "a new truant officer was assigned to the district. I stayed clear of him until one night he walked into the Mick's Pool Hall. He grabbed me before I could scram out the back way. I kicked and fought, but he hung onto me. I screamed that I'd die if they sent me back to reform school.
"Mr. Costello, that was his namesaid he wasn't taking me to Children's Court yet. He wanted to talk to me. I kept squawking, but he dragged me into his car and drove away...."
Mr. Costello never raised his voice, Johnny told us. He just talked about the Giants and the Dodgers, and how vacation would soon start. He told Johnny that he knew a fellowhis brother, in factwho had a grocery store. He could use a kid to make deliveries.
"I said only a sap would take a job like that," Johnny went on, "and run himself ragged for peanuts. He asked me if I was hungry, and I said I wasso what? My ma was sick, my father was dead and my older sister was a lousy cook."Well, he took me to his own home. His wife was giving the baby a bottle when we went in, she was pretty and she smiled at me. `What have you got for dinner, honey,' Mr. Costello said. `We have a guest.'
"`Beefsteak,' said Mrs. Costello. `A nice thick one.'"
Johnny told us that his mouth was watering, but he suddenly got the idea that he wasn't going to "eat off no lousy cop." He started for the door, but Costello grabbed him again.
"He was plenty strong," Johnny said, as we walked along, "but he didn't hurt me. He sat me down in a big chair and said, `Look, Johnny, I want to make a trade with you.' I figured he wanted me to snitch on my brothers, but before I could holler out he went on talking. `We feed you all you can eatnice juicy steak. Then you do two things for us. You mind the baby two hours and read a story I've got.'"Johnny felt like turning down the offer. Minding the kid was all right, but he didn't want to read no religious stuffno reform baloney. "By then I could smell the steak cooking," Johnny said, "so I said okay. I didn't have to read that junk if I didn't want to."
According to Johnny, that steak was the most wonderful thing he'd ever tasted. And there were fresh vegetables, too, and dish gravy, and home-made pie. Afterward Mrs. Costello took him into the baby's room and told him just to jiggle the crib a little if the baby cried. Johnny looked at the baby, and he says it was the sweetest smelling baby he ever saw. Aloud, he said, "I guess I can stand the brat for the meal!"
We sat down on a bench in the park. "I can never thank Mr. Costello enough if I live forever," Johnny de S. said fervently. "He and his wife went out, and I sat there holding the magazine he had given me. It was not full of phony uplift like I had expected. I read every word of it. It seemed like only five minutes before the Costellos got back, but it was a good two hours.
"`How was the baby?' Mrs. Costello asked, and I said, `Fine.'
"Mr. Costello said, `You can run along now, Johnny. Thanks very much.'
"I got up and went to the door. I felt kind of funny, and ashamed. Finally I managed to say, `About that grocery store job, Mr. Costello. I'd like that job. And do you think maybe I could join aa Spider Club?'"As Johnny sat there on the bench beside us his eyes were shiny. There was an expression almost of rapture on his face. Then he grinned.
"Mr. Costello stuck out his hand, and I shook it. `I had an idea that Dick Wentworth was the fellow who could reach your heart,' he said. I squeezed his hand hard. Mrs. Costello came over with another piece of pie for me, all wrapped up. `Goodnight, Johnny,' she said. `What are you crying about?' Then we all laughed, and I went home."
We sat there on the bench for a few minutes, not talking. Then I asked Johnny if hero worship had changed his attitude. He said, "Hero-worship ? I never heard of that. But I see what you mean. And the answer is yes"
Johnny's two brothers belong to his Spider Club, now, along with nine other fellows. As far as we know, it is the only Spider Club of its kind: every member has served at least one term in reform school. Yet the cops in the districtwe talked to themhave no qualms about those lads whose code is now the same as the Spider's own!
THE EDITOR
From the pages of The Spider magazine, March 1941 (Letters)
