Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/159

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no friends, and he found in their hearts a long- ing which he knew all about. He gave them the sympathetic hearing and the kind word he had wanted, and “they drank,” he says, “they drank in my friendship as if they were famished.” Right there we have one secret of his “hypnotic” influence over children. The Judge is proud now of the fact that he has made himself a friend of every boy in town, or, at least, of every “feller that needs a friend,” and he will tell you the philosophy and the use of his method if you care to listen. He will tell you how he learned from the gangs that the members thereof did bad things largely because some big fellow, who was bad, or some leader of their own, suggested to them evil and praised them for its accomplishment. He will reason it all out for you, now, if you wish, showing how by his method he has put himself in the place of the big fellow; made himself the fountain of praise, the source of approbation, “the feller” for whose good words kids do good things now. In short, Ben Lindsey is the actual leader of most of the gangs of Denver. And the loyalty which the boys give to him, he is giving back to the State.

All this, however, is but the unforeseen result of this kind man’s native sweetness and strength. The only definitely thought-out method is that