The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-03-11
From the Toledo Commercial. Feb, I4th-l
The Reform School for Girls.


sign. From these come not only III
difference but many pTejudiceS which
threaten seriously TO affect the useful
ness Of the enterprise. These causes
are not confined 10 section or class,
but seem to exist in all localities and
among all people. Intelligent busi-
ness and professional men, Probate
Judges, Legislators, State officials, and
Editors, even, with noble exceptions,
need enlightening. This evil Is felt
specially at every time when, for its
fullest success, it needs directly the
opposite experience. In its very in
fancy without opportunity for the de-
mOnstratiOn of is ability to meet the
ends of its establishment, whereby it
might be placed on footing with the
older charitable institutions of the
State, it has just and special claims
upon the liberality Of the people. lest,
being dwarfed in infancy, it may take
long years to reach a healthy growth
and development.
One serious obstacle in the way of
the speedy success of this School, and
having its origin, too, among its pro-
fessed friends, may be thus presented:
at is an experiment" Now, judic-
iOus men, men of forethOught, have
learned by observation, if not by ex-
/ perience, TO invest cautiously in tex
periments," and this prudence has its
influence here. Underlying this-and
no doubt giving it much of its force
is the question, "Can this class of
Girls be reformed ?n Here, with
many, is the great difficulty-Often
expressed, but Oftener felt. In refer
erence to this point, it may be stated
/ that those who have taken pains to
! inform themselves, are well aware
| that many females whose recovery
was more hopeless than any anticipa-
/ ted inmates of this institution, have
been restored, and are now being re-
stored TO virtue, friends and useful |
ness. This is no longer an "eXperi- I
ment." Very low, indeed, must be 4
/ the estimated value and efficiency of |
moral and religious instruction, of I
regular, industrious habits, and the 4
influence of the Christian family as
refOrmatOry agencies; and TO what |
untold depths of depravity must these
young girls, many of them mere chill !
dren, have fallen, in the eyes of such |
judges!
But to return: What is the "expe-
riment?n The location? Appur- |
D 4
One or all these may be. They are |
only incidentlls; they are not the in
stitutiOn or the principles on which /
il is founded. They are no longer an |
experiment" For fourteen years /
they have been thoroughly and fairly |
tested i'm sister State, and pronOun-
ced success, after this protracted |
trial. Are wayward girls in Massa-
chusetts less wayward, mere easily re-
formed, or have they more skilful |
and earnest workers and better appli-
ances than in Ohio? We unhesita-
tingly answer, no. Human nature |
develOpes the same traits in both, and
the law of cause and effect is the
same.
But why go abroad for a demonstra-
ton that these principles are based in
truth, and will work out glorious re-
suits i'm the reformation of the young? /
Who that has visited the Reform
School for BOys-whatever may have
been his previous cOnvictiOns-if he
did not 90 with his eyes closed, has
not been thoroughly convinced that,
after experimenting for nearly
twelve years with more than one
thousand boys, the results prove be-
yond a peradVenture, it is an "eXpe-
riment" no longer, but a fact, fixed
and patent to all? "But these are
boys-girls are far more difficult to re-
form" This notion, by its direct and
reflex influences combined, does more
than anything else to prove itself true.
Call boy a thief, and others believ-
ing your statement, will treat him as
one; and very likely, in the end he
may become one; and if one already
it will confirm him in his evil cOuse.
But admit, for sake of argument, that
this reformation is more difficult
work than that of Boys, snail they
therefore be abandoned, and given
over to certain ruin? Shall they not
only be damned to swift destruction
themselves, but draw Others in their
pOlluting wake, and these, in turn,
others; and the stream thus go on
widening and deepening to the end of
time? If the work be difficult, so is it
necessity imperative. That this is prac-
ticable, experience has shown; that it
is solemn duty, the public good,
humanity and Christianity, all earn
estly insist, and urge us forward in its
performance.
Another notion prevalent, that
needs to bo ventilated, is the one that
this institution is designed as n recep-
tacle for those so far gone in sin that
every effort for their recovery has
failed; and as n last resort, they are
sent there, if not for reformation, at
least for confinement. That Occa-
sionally one of this class may find her
way there, is quite probable butsuch
are not to form the character of the
institution, any one at all familiar
with its design or with the character
of the present inmates, needs not to
be told. The School was designed as
RefOrmatOry, and those who are
proper subjects, are such as can be |,
reached by the refOrmatOry influences
there eXerted; others would not only
be i'll the way of those more promis-
ing, but would prove a positive him
drance, by their example and other
influence. For such the institution
was never designed as asylum. As
long as tIereis to be found any reas-
enable ground of hope for reforming
4 applicant, she should, most assuT-
edly, have the SOUL benefit of it; but
when that has been swept away, why
retain a moral ulcer to eat out what ,
is left of hope or promise in Others? ?
There are, at least there should be,
suitable asylums for such frail ones
for their own and the common good
where they can be restrained if not ;
reformed.
The greatest hope of success, is with
the youngest of the three classes eligi-
bic for admission; for, as years adj
vance, waywardneSs Also progresses
and becomes incOrrigildlity, and in
corrigibility sin and almost hopeless
ruin.
One thing needs to be kept in mind
in this connection, and that is, that
''the day of small things is not to be :
dcspised." OF all the many institu- {
tions, whose success and usefulness
attest both the benevOlence and the
of the people of Ohio, not one c
reached its present degree of success, i
except through the same early strug- :
giles against popular increduiity and
The people need to under
stand that such agencies, no more :
than the oak, come To maturity at I
once; but reach their strength by
growth. There is no reason why the
Girls ReformatOry should not be sub
ject to the same law, and that its great
est possible usefulness may not be i'm
paired, its friends should take every |
means to familiariZe the public mind :
with both its design and its wants. In
this the press of the State must be :
largely relied on, since it is through
that agency that the people are most :
reached. We submit, then, :
to our cotempOrarieS in all parts Of !
the State-especially such as have not :
done sO-whether they can do better
service to the unfortunate class in !,
whose behalf this enterprise has been
than by presenting to i,
their readers from time to time such :
inregard to the character \
and regulations of this institution as :
shall at the earliest practicable period :
familiarize their readers with its aims
10 the popular support. y
''Still they COme."-Our excursion
lists are thus introduced to the people !,
Of Nashville, by the Republican Ban $
ler on the 4th inst: '
We had the pleasure of visit yes r
terdaV from Mr. i IT. Martin of Tiff