New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-15
INSTITUTIONS OR HONEST

Tho magazine issued on behalf of the Five
Points House of Industry discusses this moth
tho relative influence of home life and OF
public institutions upon children, subject
worthy the attention of every one concerned
in tie question Of hoy We sh2!! deal with the
>a.cajIed dopcefoSss classes t,sSscs The writer urges,
what would appear at first sight to be a Sc:
evident fact, that a child is better of in an
institution with clean beds, pure air, whole
some food, and good, clear. moral and re-
ligious atmosphere about him, than in the
basement or the attic where the wretchedly
poor congregate in abjcct poverty, vice, and
misery. and "where," he adds, "all sense OF
"shame and the soul itself is soon lost"
This is forcible statement, but 1t Is a
statement of only one side of the question.
We yield to no reformer as to faith III " pure
air. good food, and II clear moral and re-
&" ligious atmosphere" but these are not going
of themselves to save the soul, or we'll
clothed and well-bred scoundrel would be UNI
known among us. Some influence must be
brought to bear on the child which shall
purify the heart as well as the body, anu
make of the "moral and religious atmos-
"pheren an active principle in his character
impelling to right-dOing and to right feeling.
This element Nature supplies ordinarily by
domestic affection. That family must be sunk
low in brutality where the mothers love
is not a strong lever lifting it perpetualy
into human feeling and action: the very care
which the children of the poor are forced
To give TO each other, the thousand little daily
sacrifices and anxeties of household (even the
household of an attic uncOnsciOusly cultivate
tbc whole range of the childs emotional ma
ture. Now in an institution, however well
managed. this element is lacking The child
becomes No. 20 or so Of well clad, well
drilled multitude; he is nursed by rules put
into molding machine, 80 to speak. But the
mother touch the magnetic influence which
comes to him personally, and makes this me-
cbapical virtue about him real, dear, loving
thing to him, is lacking.
Truth compels us to say also that lnstltu-
tions are not always well managed; as for in
stance the model ReformatOry School in Phil
adelpha, cited by us last week, which, under
the most eminent and pous of managers, has
been made a tread mill of oppression and cru
ety. In the case qf the vicious mother in a
basement or attic, only one or two children
suffer but Witch ny du VI
selfish man or woman becomes superintendent
If an institution, hundreds Of children are
maltreated in body and debased in character.
Another objection to such institutions also lies
in the doubt whether their atmosphere really
he either moral OF religious no matter how
stringent the rules or watchful the superin-
tepdents, the atmosphere" where large num-
hers of ignorant and vicious children are
herded together is not likely to DE pure or
elevated in its moral tone.
The question, however, is no longer mat
ter of speculation, but of facts and statistics.
The system of industrial and reformatOry
schools. which is but a recent experiment IN
this country, has been thoroughly tried in
Great Britain under the most favorable
auspices. both of Government support and the
watchful superintendence of different religious
denominations. So marked has been the i'll
effects of the lack of domestic affection, or
any emotional personal influence n take its
place, that the whole system has been de-
pounced in Parliament as n failure. The
annual Report of these schools for 1874 adverts
to this fact relative to the lives of the chill
dren after leaving the schools: However
outwardly correct the conduct of the boys
"may be- there is u perceptible hardness,
I" selfishness, skepticism as to religious
truths, which render them accessible
"to temptation and obdurate TO re-