Part 24 (1/2)
It isthemselves of the provisions of this act, to appoint, at the annual s of said towns, or annually by the mayor and aldermen of said cities, three or more persons, who alone shall be authorized to make the complaints, in every case of violation of said ordinances or by-laws, to the justice of the peace, or other judicial officer, who, by said ordinances, shall have jurisdiction in the matter, which persons thus appointed shall alone have authority to carry into execution the judgments of said justices of the peace, or other judicial officer”
It is further provided that ”the said justices of the peace, or other judicial officer, shall, in all cases, at their discretion, in place of the fine aforesaid, be authorized to order children proved before the up in truancy, and without the benefit of the education provided for them by law, to be placed, for such periods of tie expedient, in such institution of instruction, or house of reforned or provided for the purpose in each city or town availing itself of the powers herein granted”
This principle has been incorporated into several municipal codes
Children in the city of Boston, under sixteen years of age, whose ”parents are dead, or, if living, do, frolect to provide suitable employment for, or to exercise salutary control over” them, may be sent by the court to the house of refor the State Refore may be sent to this school from any part of the commonwealth, to be there ”instructed in piety and e as shall be adapted to their age and capacity” The in this part of their duty, the trustees ”shall have scrupulous regard to the religious and moral character of those to whom they are bound, to the end that they ood example, and wholesome instruction, and the sure e, and thus the opportunity of becoent, moral, useful, and happy citizens of the commonwealth”
The Massachusetts State Reforned to be a ”school for the instruction, reformation, and employe, ”convicted of any offense punishable by imprisonment other than for life,”the term of his sentence; or he may be bound out as an apprentice; or, in case he proves incorrigible, he inally have been but for the existence of this school
The buildings erected are sufficiently large for three hundred boys
Attached to the establishs are completed and furnished, and the farricultural implements, it is estimated will be about one hundred thousand dollars A citizen of that state has given twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars to this institution, partly to defray past expenses and partly to for this noble institution, one can not but think how closely it resembles, in spirit and in purpose, the mission of Him who came to seek and to save that which was lost; and yet, in traversing its spacious halls and corridors, the echo of each footfall seems to say that one tenth part of its cost would have done more in the way of prevention than its whole a, and would, besides, have saved a thousand pangs that have torn parental hearts, and a thousand more wounds in the hearts of the children themselves, which no human power can ever wholly heal When will the state learn that it is better to spend its units for prevention than tens and hundreds for re must the state, like those same unfortunate children, suffer the punishment of THEIR existence before IT will be reformed?”
Kindred institutions have existed in several of our principal cities for a quarter of a century, a which are the House of Reformation for Juvenile Delinquents in New York, the House of Refuge in Philadelphia, and the House of Reforradation of their parents, the absence of correct early instruction, and the corrupting influences to which the children sent to these institutions have been exposed, becoenerally _criminals_ before any effort has been , one may onder at the success which has crowned the efforts that have been put forth in their behalf, for the greater part of them _are effectually and permanently reformed_ This, however, only shows es that may be derived from the establishhout our country
_But how are these reforhtly different fro of unoffending children Take, for instance, the House of Reformation in the City of New York In the first place, they have a good school-house, e nearly all the round are of ample dimensions, and are inclosed by a substantial fence This constitutes a barrier beyond which the children, once within, can not pass But the clean gravel-walks, the beautiful shade-trees, the green grass-plats, the sparkling fountains, the ornahtful It is, indeed, a prison in one sense, but the children seeain, well-qualified teachers and superintendents are employed The spirit which actuates the themselves the friends of the children, the children beco their forenerally ular, and they are constantly employed A portion of the day is devoted to study; another portion to industrial pursuits; and still another to recreation and amusements Strict obedience is required This may be yielded at first from restraint, but ultimately from love The love of kind and faithful teachers, the love of approving consciences, the love of right, the love of God, separately and conjointly influence them, until they can say ultimately of a truth, ”_The love of Christ constraineth us_”
Their industrial habits are of incalculable benefit to them They all learn some trade, and acquire the habits and the skill requisite to constitute them producers, and thus practically conform to this fundamental law, ”_that if any man would not work, neither should he eat_” The other conditions that have been stated as essential to success are also coood teachers, and of the sa their continuance in the institution
The well-qualified and e been connected with the Refuge in New York, in a late report says, ”The habits of industry which the children here acquire will be of incalculable benefit to theh life Yet we look upon the School Departreatest of all the norance and vice As it is the mind and the heart that are mostly depraved, so we must act mostly upon the mind and the heart to eradicate this depravity
”The education here is a _moral_ education We do endeavor, it is true, by all the poe possess, to iood education; and not only to _impress_ it upon the mind, but to assist the mind to act, that it may obtain it But our principal ai spark of virtue, and kindle anew the loith fresh ardor, and shi+ne forth again in the beauty of innocence Our object is not to store the memory with facts, but to elevate the soul; not to think for the children, but to teach them to think for themselves; to describe the road, and put them in the way; never to hint what they have been, nor what they are, but to point them continually to what they may be
”_We feel assured that our labor will not be lost_ Judging the future frouine in our belief that our toils have left an impress upon the mind which time can not efface Scarcely a week passes but our hearts are cheered and aniht of those e taught in by-gone years, who bid no fairer then to cheer us than those e labor now Yet they are saved--saved to themselves; saved to society; saved to their friends--who, but for this Refuge, would have poisoned the moral atmosphere of our land, and breathed around them more deadly effluvia than that of the fabled Upas”
The success which has attended well-directed efforts for the refor free schools_ for the education of adults of all ages whose early education has been neglected, ought to inspire the friends of hu power of a correct early education, such as every state in this Union otten, and when a good coht of every child in the community, then may the friends of free institutions and of indefinite human advance-cherished hopes For one generation the community must be doubly taxed--once in the refornorant adults in evening schools, and again in the correct training of all our children in ieneration will coe under , and each present generation will be better prepared to educate that which is to follow, to the end of time
THE REDEEMING POWER OF COMMON SCHOOLS