Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-11
TO SAVE THE BOYS.
A CHICAGO LADY SUGGESTS A PLAN
 TO REFORM BAD URCHlNS.
The System of Placing Them in Contact with Adult Wrong Doers Damns Them


 for All Time-An Appeal to the oni-
 cials.
 Your editorial of the 9th inst. on GA House of Detention for Children Accused of Crimen touches most important point, might say a vital one. Certainly it is that to the chil- dren themselves. There are now in the boys ward of Cook county jail twenty-four lads ranging from 9 to IT years old-bright, ac- tive, bad children. Some of them claim to be i'll on suspicion, others are held as wit nesses; but all are promiscuously huddled to- gether. Brazen, self confessed thieves talk and whisper with the new conner who seems ashamed and sorrowful; but how long will that last in such company? These under graduates for the penitentiary are busy work CTS, faithful in their vile teachings; many time has larger boy pointed out a smaller one and said;
 "That feller got me in here"
 Last week a boy told me with quite de- gree of pride that he had spent sixty hours in the dungeon Cause he was so bad" and | the boys around him looked admiringly at him.
 Many of these lads are there by inherit l ance. Their fathers and mothers were and are criminals. They haVS inherited their l criminal tendencies just as much as they
 
 l there through associating at night with l groups of good and bad mixed, and it is the | good who always suffer by this association. HARDLY MORE THAN BABES. | Many little fellows are brought in so small | that their toes cannot touch the floor while sitting on the benches, and are kept in jail | until called before the grand jury or a judge, | when, after kind but earnest reprimand, if ! it is their first offense, they are dismissed ! with a warning of what will happen "next ! time" All this has taken weeks. as the "law's delays" are proverbial, and these boys have during this time been in jail They | have seen, heard ard learned that which in such boys will never be forgotten. Some men are in the boys ward, and a boy of 17 has less shame as a wicked teacher than 8 man has, and the boys are put into cells two by two, so that night and day the work of | corruption goes on.
 | Since 1882 there has been a school held in ! this ward, at first one session, and after a \ time two every day, but now only one, and \ that ill the morning The teacher endeavored ! to train, first of all, their moral nature ! Much time is spent in that direction, and the
 singing of Gospel hymns is a great delight tc
 the boys. Then reading, spelling, writing and arithmetic are as thoroughly taught as
 the short time will permit. These boys chew
 tobacco like veterans and smoke cheap cigar
 cites till the air is blue and choking, but | when the teacher opens her school with c
 pleasant Good morning, boys," hats arc
 taken off, tobacco is pushed in a great lumI
 into the cheek, cigarettes are pocketed and { l general attempt is made to ''straighten up l and appear little better, which shows that | some self respect is left.
 APPALLING STATISTICS.
 Since 1882 there have been 4,620 boys 1T \ this ward of the Cook County jail, many o1 ! them, I sorry to say, for the tkird anG ! fourth time, so that their faces have become
 quite familiar, and they recognize the teacher
 as an old friend In this state, according tt ! the latest census, there are S,270 minors il
 prison, 733 of these being between the age
 of 12 and 15 years. These figures do not ill
 clude those who are temporarily in the vari \ ous jails of the state The superintendent ) of the State Reform school at Pontiac say that fully 30 per cent of the boys who ge into trouble are within the pale of hope. ) fact that certainly affords stimulus to earn \ est effort in their behalf.
 ' Let it be remembered that boy who
 put in jail is corrupted, depraved, and in jured for life-here and hereafter Is h
 helped by being sent to the reform school
 A thousand times mol There, instead o
 forty or fifty boys, there are hundreds . ! Cook county alone has over 100 all of tn
 time The lowest light in which one ca survey this frightful question is that of econ 3 omy, and to the tax payer let me appeal. DETENTION SCHOOL. S It costs great deal more money to carr s ! boy through the jail, to the reform schoo , ! to the penitentiary, and perhaps to the seal ! fold than it does tC save him from such n ! fate. If building, Or rooms, with the ns ! cessary locks and keys, altd must add bar E also, but called "The Detention Manus - | Training school" of Cook county, were to b furnished by the county and we'll equipped i - an inexpensive manner, so that these boy r could be taught not only the simple bl a necessary English branches with this ss8 a \ moral training in a wise and brief manns d and could at the same time learn a trade d part of trade, so that on getting out the @ would not be obliged to steal to get som < thing to eat and to wear, it would not onl ~ save many of them from life of crime hr a also be a financial saving to the count,
 Many of them have no homes, even of tf | poorest and meanest kind, and what place
 open to them but their old haunts, and wit @ ! them their old comrades2 A trade of son '5 kind is what is needed, for these boys al r, busy, active fellows, and are not unwillin T. ! to work.
 ?, If the county will help me in this matte the daily morning school shall cost thel r. nothing. We have carried it on through 6 g these years, and will continue to do so. Tn le question is so important, relating as it do r. to the future men and women of the cit, "a that am sure of kind consideration frol ., the thinking and wise people of Chicago a; Adelaide B. Groves in Chicago Tribune. b, Ancient Roman Plank Roads. The Prussian minister of education, Vo v Gossler having learned that Professor