BOYS' CLUBS, organizations in which boys constitute the membership. Among clubs formed by boys on their own initiation, those for games and athletics seem to predominate very largely. Clubs for hunting, fighting, etc., are also popular. Sometimes the organizations have a distinctly literary or musical character and sometimes they are chiefly social in their nature. Numbers of clubs are formed for in dustrial purposes, but judging from statistics, secret societies do not meet with as great a degree of favor as would naturally be supposed. These societies for boys are organized by adults; the aims are in general to keep boys from had surroundings and stimulate them to nobler ideals of life, to refine their taste and encourage them in habits of thrift, industry and study. Such clubs also try to foster a habit of reading good books. Clubs in large cities sometimes have hundreds of members and provide fine buildings, in which opportu nity is offered for a variety of activities rang ing from manual training and other forms of instruction to social entertainment. The reli gious interests of the boys are also cared for in various ways. The clubs connected with social
settlements are often small, thus affording a better opportunity for reaching the boys per sonally, an end difficult of achievement in so cieties with large membership. About 200,000 boys in America and 25,000 in England are members of such clubs. See Forbush, 'How to Keep Boys' (1900); Forbush, 'The Boy Problem' (1901); Newman, 'The Boys' Club in Theory and Practice' (1900); Buck, 'Boys' Self-Governing Clubs' (1903); Russell and Rigby, 'Working Lads' Clubs' (1908); For bush, 'The Coming Generation' (1912); Mc Keever, W., 'Training the Boy' (New York 1914).
BOZ, bor., a pseudonym used by Charles Dickens in the publication of 'Sketches by Boz,) which appeared in book form in 1836. That the pronunciation of this name now in vogue is not correct is shown by Dickens' ex planation of its origin. A younger brother of the author had in childhood received from the latter the nickname Moses, "which being face tiously pronounced through the nose became Bases, and being shortened became Baz?