husband had left her and no longer gave a thought to his son — could the Father take him? He looked at the boy and his heart filled with pity, and he granted the request of the wronged wife, who kissed her boy and departed. When he told the boy to stand up, the child stayed where he was and answered: 'I cannot, Father!..' The poor thing was a cripple. He comforted him, saying: 'Never mind — you will be happy with us. I shall call one of your big brothers to carry you to his room, and you will stay here. Would you like that, my dear?'
The story of this boy became the basis of the town's emblem: the picture of a big boy carrying a crippled child, and beneath it written these words: 'He is not heavy, Father — he is my brother!'
Such was the spirit that filled the whole atmosphere of Boys Town. His firm belief was that there are no worthless children — it is the parents and the environment that are the cause! And so he succeeded by his faith and his determination, overcoming every obstacle. He asked for help at public meetings through the lips of his boys, and the women of Omaha helped him by collecting donations. Today you may see Boys Town a town in truth, recognized by the government of the United States: it has its own post office, a newspaper, baths, a secondary school, and a farm of its own — a self-sufficient district whose government is made up of the boys themselves, who elect the officials and punish those who disturb security and order!
It is not the buildings that have immortalized the name of Flanagan: in his lifetime he saved hundreds of boys from crime and from a life of misery — some of them were killers, though they had not yet reached adolescence — and he treated them with love and tenderness. He sheltered the homeless, the outcast, and the orphaned, and thereby rendered signal services to society and to humanity, for some of them today hold high positions.
At the end of the war the government sent him to travel around the world, counseling the educators
in the stricken countries, and death took him by surprise, after a heart attack, in Berlin in 1948 — from all the hardships he had borne and the despair and failure he had met. He died a few hours later, and the last word he uttered was 'Amen.' His body was carried back to Boys Town, which he had founded in America!
Campbell's Brand Chicken Soup
No need to call them more than once
For they love Campbell's brand chicken soup
Campbell's Soup contains the most delicious kinds of tasty chicken — easy to digest, inexpensive, and nourishing
Always keep quantities of it in your house
Campbell's CONDENSED CHICKEN WITH RICE SOUP