, 1875-04-18

| without any reward but the results obtained
| and without any abatement Of zeal In 1859
| there were in New York alone 10, o0o childre,
with no home but the street At night, the,
might be found sleeping in the open air, il
old garrets, in the porches of houses, il
cellars, on the Wharves, in old boxes ans
this in winter as well as in summer. Tht
police could do nothing to remedy this STATE
Of things. If sent to jail, they we're soon SCI
free again to resume their old mode of life
Mr. BRACE determined or. op;s.ing nun
ber Of lodging-houses for their benefit
With the assistance Of others as benevolent
IS himself, he established the Fulton street
clearinghouse. Knowing that a1ms-giving has
debasing influence on the moral characte,
Of the receiver, he fixed the price Of lodging
ut couple Of cents.a night. Here they OBJ
tanned clean, comfortable bed to rest in.
The next step taken was to induce thetchil-
dren OF the lodging house to attend night
school opened for their benefit. Gathering
his boarders about him one fna morning, Mr..
BRACE told them that there was i gentleman
in want Of an ofice-boy, and that he would
pay him SO day: The competition for the
position was appalling, until Ar. BRACE in
formed them that the boy should be able to
write good hand! That was qualification
which none of. them possessed. Whereupon
Mr.. BRACE proposed night-school, which
was accepted unanimously, and the
school was successfully established. Most
of the boys have some ittle source
Of income, selling papers, backing boots.
running errands, etc. The establish
ment Of savings-bank initiated them into
the secrets of economy. At present there
are a number of such schools and lodging
houses in admirable working order in New
York, Each boy has bed Of his own, and
is furnished, for tho smallest pittapce. with
all the comforts Of home. Els washing
costs him nothing In the school he is
taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geogra-
ply, and history. His bed costs him cents
night; his breakfast, dinner, and supper
the same amount each. Child1an unable to
pay obtain credit, and their self-respect has
been developed to such an extent that it
rarely happens that they fail to meet their
engagements, which it is never insisted they
shall, In 1873, 1900 children frequented
the Newsboys' lodging house, near the City.
Han The total expense for the year was &c.
600, one-fourth of which was paid by the chill
dren themselves. As many as 1,24O Of them
had made some Ittle savings an aggregate Of
s., ,5oo,. Owing to tho establishment Of these
Institutions. tie number Of children in New
York arrested for petit larceny, ETC., dimin-
ished 50 per cent in the interval between
1861 and 1871, spite Of thefact that the popu-
lation increased vastly during the same peri
I'd. This is equivalent to saying that one-ha1f
Of the young criminals Of New York we're re-
claimed to an orderly life, or that one-haf Of
hose who otherwise would have become
criminals werer through the educational
agency Of the }odgmg-houses and night
schools, prevented entering on criminal
course. What stronger proof can be pro-
luced to show that opening schools is the I
oest way to make prisons useless, and that an
Increase in the number Of school-teacherB
antails a decrease in the number Of police
nen7 Schools prevent crime, prisons punisl,
t. Reach the class from which criminals
proceed by the school and there will be no
eason to reach them BY the prison, when
he formation OF character il at end, and
an impossibiity.