New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-18


without cause. Her crime stealing eggs, in
stigated by her mother. The weaving from home is
difficult though the home represents hardly any
thing else than vice, dirt and brutality. She OBJ
serves that call the Abbe's attention TO her the
lstless expression changes to a lachrymal grmace,
and the tears are soon on her checks. The Able is
a caJoler of children-he approaches and asks the
of the trouble She has lost her needle but it
is easy to that the lost needle is only pretext
Tor crying over the loss of home The Able ex-
amnes her stitching assures her that it is better
than he could do himself, tells an anecdote which
ELECTS exclamation all around. and in which the
Httle blonde joins through her tears He who thus
stops the rain and brings the sunshine says that in
SIX weeks she will have forgotten the dark alley and
the drunken father and mother.
lie aclualnts me with the history of another. She
Is known as one of the bread consprators. At q
tender she, with two of her sisters stole a loaf
OF bread from a bakers window. One broke the
wlndOwpane, another took the loaf, and the third
ate 1t, for which they all consigned to a house
of refuge.
On my rcmarkng that this was harsh justice, the
Able responds:
If the children had had home and honest
parents the court would not have sentenced them
for comparatively long a house of correction
for stealing bread. When Justice sees that children
Will be perverted by vicious parents it takes advan-
tage OF the delinquency to separate them and place
the Young ones where they may he reformed. Thus
the procedure of the court becomes an act of
charity"
One girl sits isolated, sewing in hand, not FAR
from the Sister i'll charge. This Is punishment for
beng naughty, but she says she will not do it any
more.
Singing is practised by all from time to time to
tighten the monOt0ny of work. and while are
present they cheeriy lift up their a simple
arr. This Is varied with occasional readings by the
SISTER irou book OF prayers. and 1t occurs to me
that this might be varied still further with profit
by the reading of short stores 1t Is plain that the
singing is much enjoyed AS go out the children
rise to their feet.
WORK AND STUDY TO OVERCOME VICE.
We cross a courtyard which covers about acre
OF ground and am ushered INTO another large hall
well lighted and aired, where two-scoIe of gills
between the age of twelve and twenty are at work
sewing. and who rise enter, the Sister in
charge coming forward with greeting. The girls
present the same healthy appearance those we
have just left, with two exceptions, where
they are suffering for the sins of their parents in
inherited disease.
lssuin z from thir building we diagonaly traverse
the courtyard to another of greater dimensions and
enter the school-room, which for the time being is
empty. but where every girl passes two hours q
day In learning to read, write, cipher, and some
elementary knowledge of the geography of France.
From this pass to the factory where threc-score
of girls winding dyed cotton by mac hniery
moved from steam power in adjoining building.
The blue dye OF the cotton has stained their hands
and faces, which makes them less prcsentable than
the girls in the other departments
The Able here explains that he endeavors to give
each girl an occupation suited to her intelligence
physique, and particularly to the requirements of
the neghborhood from which she comes Thus IL
size comes from agricultural community and
she is lifted for il, she is taught farming and on
The superintendent here. in every other der part
mcnt OF he institution, is Sister of the Sacred
w a
like those of the girls.
We mount to an upper floor of an adjoining build
ing, whore fifty sixty girls from twelve to
twenty are at work on American sewing machines
making slurts the whole moved bv Ateam nnNer
producing ii noise which compcls the Able to shout
in my W hat he has To say. In the midst of tho
buzz and click OF the machinery remark TO him
that one OF the young women has certainly passed
the limit Of twenty-onc years of age aud he ex-
plains that this is exceptional case, the woman
beng twenty-elsht. Atterward h. showed me her
record. She had committed thelts and arson
aud was at the time she entered the greatest
condemned by the Tribunal to exceptionally long
term. For the last six her conduct has been
Is good as that of any of her comrades, and recon-
mendation had been made to the proper authorities
to abrdge her term, and the probabii ties that
We descend to a large worl1room which may be
regarded as the top OF the ladder in the industry of
the place. 1t contains rec or four young women
who design and cat shirts, the most sklful of
all, and their selection for tins employment is to
them their baton de n,drechai. One of them hand
mate her sentence having expired time ago
and she now works from choice.
HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY
In a long hall, twice the length of a ten-pin aev
are two rows of iron bedsteacs, each isolated and
bearing straw mattress attached to the foot of
each bcdstead l., "A white pocket containing "a couple
of combs. At end of the hall is a long zinc
trough for additions. The rafters are lofty and the
building IS well pierced with windows. According
to the Able all these beds are filled by ten minutes
after in the evening and empty at forty min
utes after In the morning. Each girl sleeps alone
such separation being considered conducive to
health and morality. Each bed is opened and the
straw exposed for several hours every day. and the
sun is allowed to shine unobsructed through each
window.
In the garden which we enter behind the factory
eight ten robust girls, from fourteen to eighteen
are wedding and cutivating Their cheeks are like
deeply eolored peaches We approach one of the
heathiest of them whom the Able accosts with:
Hold up your head, my girl, and show us your
pale face"
She shows her round rcd face with n conyuIsive
giggle o
=: give them," continues the Able, "a fat soup
with bread at discretion in the morning at s. At -
they have dinner of meat and vegetables with cider
they have supper Wholesome, simple food at fixed
hours air. sunlight regular hours for sleep in a well
ventilated hall, keep them generally in good con
out the hill to the faru where the constant out
of doors exercise almost always restores her.
Afterward he shows me one of those ,r;.,ht,,
loavcs OF Norman bread, made of unbolted flour
baked on the bottom of "a stone brick oven, and
called pain de meaage.
is the foundation of health and strength. With
tins You can make women. Smell OF 1t; it is eqnal
to myrrh and frankineense."
am informed that all the girls in the factories
work ten hours sleep eight hours are two
hours play and eat four, and that most of them pre-
fer to be employed at agricultural labor OF the
twenty live Sisters of the Sacred Heart, twenty re-