A SHIRTTAIL TO HANG TO

Boys' Ranch, near Amarillo, Texas, is one of this country's most successful efforts to train and befriend homeless or neglected boys who are potential or actual delinquents. This book by the author of Glacier Pilot and No Hiding Place tells its story, and also in large part the ""rags to riches"" tale of its founder, Cal Farley, himself a victim of a wretched, disrupted childhood. A professional ball-player and wrestler, Farley came to Amarillo in 1923 to wrestle, and settled there, marrying and making money through a tire-shop and radio station. Interested in boys because of his own troubled boyhood, with other citizens he started the Maverick Club to get boys off the streets and to teach them sports. In 1939, on property given him by a rancher, he founded Boys' Ranch, starting with a caretaker and his wife and five homeless youngsters. Almost at once more boys arrived, some with criminal records, all needing help and supervision, and the Ranch outgrew its beginnings; today it has 800 acres, 36 buildings, 40 staff members, endless farm animals and dogs, and 240 boys who do most of the work and who, under tough, friendly men, learn jobs and self-discipline. A true success-story -- the Ranch counts only a few failures with its ""Ranchers"" -- this well-written and appealing book should interest parents, teachers and social workers.