parks and along speed—ways, to stop automobiles and horses that are going too fast. There are special policemen who watch railway stations and boat docks, where visitors who do not know city ways are likely to get into trouble. There are always a great number along the line of procession, at fairs and celebrations, and where there are labor strikes.
The policeman you know the best is the patrolman, Patrol is a soldier word. It means to walk over and guard a district. A police patrolman has several blocks to watch. He goes over his district several times a day. At night, another man takes his place. The patrolman has to see that no law is broken, and that everyone is protected. Some night, when you are asleep, there may come a ring at the doorbell. A policeman calls up that he found a basement window unlocked. He goes through the place to see if some burglar has broken in. No, he says, you were careless and left that window open. Your father thanks the policeman. And that makes you all the more careful afterwards.
A policeman must see that people obey the health and street cleaning laws. He must stop fights and scatter noisy crowds. He must make people keep things off fire escapes. He must arrest any one whom he finds abusing a child or an animal. He must take care of any person injured on the street, send him home or to a hospital, and arrest any one who is to blame for the injury. If a man is out of money, and has no place to sleep and eat, he can always go to a police station. That is a safe, public lodging house for a night.
Always answer a policeman’s questions and obey his orders. He is an officer of the law and he has a right to stop and question people. He has a right to your help, if he needs it. Sometimes boys have clubs or "gangs," just for fun. Policemen are apt to watch "gangs, " for they know that crowds of boys often do selfish and mischievous things. But don’t look upon them as enemies. Be open and above board, and don’t hide or try to play tricks. Active boys can help a patrolman keep order in his district, for they see everything that is going. on. In some cities boys have formed law-and-order clubs, and have been given badges to wear by the Chief of Police. Districts that have a band of little citizens helping the police are always cleaner and more orderly, and are shunned by sneak thieves and mobs. Some boys in such clubs have won medals for bravery in fires and for protecting animals that were being abused.
There’s a lot of fun in being a little law-and-order soldier. Try it.
