Page 276 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

around the countryside, your clientele will naturally develop through word-
of-mouth advertising. At a period like the present, when money is scarce,
swapping is in high favor.

Boys’ Club Proves Profitable

J

OHN BANCROFT had been quite an athlete in college. He found it difficult
to get the sort of work he wanted after he left school, so he made a job for
himself which not only paid him well but filled a community need. He started
a club of boys interested in athletics. He calls it the “Springfield Boys’ Club,”
and divides the boys into two groups. The first group is composed of boys
eight years old or younger. It meets after school two days each week and on
Saturday mornings. The second group of boys from nine to fourteen years of
age meets three afternoons each week. The charge for each boy varies from
$3.50 to $5.00 a month and with from twenty to twenty-five boys in each
group, John Bancroft’s income runs well over $1,000 a year. Out of this
amount he pays such expenses as the fee for the use of a swimming pool, the
salary of an assistant, the operation of a “caddy wagon,” and other
incidentals.

The club is a year-round affair and is divided into two semesters: the spring-
summer term and the fall-winter term. The athletic activities vary according
to the season and include baseball, football, swimming, boxing, hiking,
rowing and gymnasium work. Special arrangements are made with one of the
local hotels for the use of the swimming pool during periods when it is too
cold for the lake. Of course, during the swimming season, the boys are taken
to the beach for their swimming lessons. On rainy days, the boys are
instructed in making such things as kites and toy airplanes which they are
later taught to fly. From time to time, John Bancroft or his assistant takes the
boys on all-night hikes or hikes over the week-end in order that they may
learn something about woodcraft. A caddy wagon—a truck fitted with seats
—is used to transport the boys to the various locations where they are to play.

At the end of the term he holds an athletic event at the hotel swimming pool