Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-03-10
From the Toledo Commercial, Feb. l4th.
T.re e <nrI,, Sca1oI for Girls

Information in regard TO It's design.
/ From these come not only Indifference
! but many prejudices which threaten
seriously 20 affect the usefulness Of the
enterprise. These causes are not con-
| fined to section or class, but seem 10
exist in all localities and among ali pee
/ pie. Intelligent business and profess
sional men, Probate Judges, Legislators,
State officials, and Editors, even, with
noble excePtions.) need enlightehing.
| This evil is felt especially nj the very
time when, fer lis fullest success, it
needs directly the opposite experience
In its very infancy wi,hout opportunity
for the demonstration OF its III iiity to
meet the euds of lis establishment,
whereby it Julght be placed on footing
with the older charitable Institutions of
the State, ii has just and sPecIai claim
Gpon the liberaiity Of the people, lest.
teing dwarfed in Infancy, it may fake
long years to reach healthy growth and
development.
One serious obstacle iH the way of the
speedy success ofthis School, and having
its origin, TOO, among its prolessed
friends, may be thus presented: at ia
an experiment. Now, iiudicieus men,
men of forethought, have learned by ob-
seryation, if not by experience, 10 inv est
cautiously in eXperimenis.' and tGis
prudence has IFS influence here. Under
lying this-and no doubt giving it much
OF its furce-is the question, "Can tins
class ofGiris be TefOrme,.?h Here, with
many, is the great difficulty-ofteu eX
pressed, but oftener felt Ia reference
10 this point, it may be stated that
those who have taken pains 10 inform
themselves. are well aware that many
females whose recovery was far more
hopeless than any anticipated inmates
of this institution, have been restored,
and are now being restored 10 virtue,
friends and usefulness. This is no longer
an experiment" very low. Indeed,
must be the estimated value and efiiCi-
ency OF moral and religious instruction,
of regular, industrious habits, and the
influence of the Christian family as re-
formatOry agencies and to what untold
depths of depravity must these young
girls, many OF them mere children, have
fallen, in the eyes of s'Ich judges.
But to resurn: What is the ''experi
ment?'' TIE location? ? Appertanance?
Those having it in charge? Oee or ali
these may ne. They are only inciden-
tails; they are not the institution or the
principles on which it is founded. IHey
are no longer All experiment" For
fourteenyears they have been thorough
ly and fairly tested in sister State, and
pronounced 2 success, after this prOtract-
ed trial. Are wayward girls in M3ssa-
chusetts less waywiTrd, more easily re
formed, or have they more skillful and
earnest workers and better appliances
than in Ohio? We unhesitatingly an
swer, no. Human nature develops the
same traits in both, and The law ofcause
and effect is the same s".
But why go abroad for dernonstra--
ton that these principles are based in
truth, and will work out glorious results
in the reformation Of the young2 Who
that has visited the Reform School for
Boys-whatever may have been his pre-.
vious convictiuns-if he did not go with
his eyes closed, has not been thoroughly
cor WINGED tiIat, after experimenting"
for nearly twelve years with more than
one thousand boys, the results proye
beyond u peradventure, it is an "exper-
imentn no longer, but q fact, fixed and
patent to all ? But these are boys
girls are Tar more difficult to- refnrul.'
This notion, by It's direct and reflex in
fluences combined, does more than any
thing else to prove itself true. Call
boy thief, and others believing your
statement, will treat him as onr, and
very likely, in tine end he may become
one; and if one already it will confirm
him in his evil course. But admit, for
sake of argument, that this reformation
is a more difficult. work than that of
Boys, shall they therefore be abandoned,
and given over to certain ruin? Shall
they not oply-be damned to swifts Ge
struction themselves, but draw others in.
their polluting wake, and these, in turn,
others; and the stream thu go on widen
ing and deepening to the end of time
| If the work be difficult, so sit necessity
imperative. That it is practicable, eX-
perience has shown; that it is q solemn
duty, the public good, humanity and
Christianity, II earnestly insist, and
urge US forward in its performance.
Another notion prevalent, that needs
to be ventilated, is the one that this
institution is designed as receptacle
for those so far gone in sin that every
effort for their recovery has failed; and
as last resort, they are sent here, if
not for reformation, at least for confiae-
ment. That occasionally one of this
class may find her way there, is quite
probable; but such 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 design
ed as Reformatory, and those who are
proper subjects, are snch as can be reach
ed by tue Teformatory Influences there
exerted, others would not only be in
the way of those more promising, but
would prove positive hindrance, by
their example and other influence. For
such the institution was never designed
as asylum, AS long as there is to be
found any reasonable ground OF hope
for reforming an applicant. she should,
most assaredly, have the full benefit of
ft; bat when that has been swept, why
retain 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 comm0n s0od-where they
can be restrained if not reformed.
The greatest hope Of success, is with
for admission; for, as years advance,
way-wardness also Progresses aai he :
comes In corrigibility, and lncorrigibi!i
ty sin and almost hopeless ruin.
One thing needs ODE kept in mind
IN this connection, and that is, that
"the day of small things is not to be
despised." Ofall the many institutions,
whose success and usefulness attest
both the benevoleHce and the sagacity
of the people of Ohio, not one reached
its present degree OF success, except
through the same early struggle against
popular incredulity and prejudice. The
people need TO understand that such
agencies, no more than the oak, came to
maturity at once; but reach their
strength by growth. There is no reason
why the Girls Reformatory should not
be subject to the same was, and that its
= y i
impaired, its friends should take every |
means 10 famiiiaIize the public mi;id
with both its design and lis wants IN !
this the press of the State must be |
largely relied on, since it is through
that the people are most readily and !