The Washington critic., 1888-09-22
wAsHINGToN, sEPTEMBER 22. lsss
RrEoRMAroRY HOMES.

The efforts that are being made in
New York for the establishment Of n
Reformatory Home for ex-convicts will
ultimately succeed. The fact that Miss
Linda Gilbert, one Of the most jealous
philanthropists Of the day. has identified
herself with the undertaking gives as.
surance that it has made fair start and
is on the road to contamination.
Aside from this merely individual
consideration, however, there is a rapidly
growing public sentiment in favor, not
only of amelorating the condition Of the
inmates Of our prisons. but of encour-
aging the prospects of those who, having
served out the terms OF their confnc-
ment, are thrown upon the cold charities
and colder chances of the world TO shift
for themselves.
II is the growth OF this sentiment that
affords strong evidence of the establish
ment, at no distant day, Of homes where
all the graduates of the penitentiary who
choose to avail themselves of the benefits
thus offered will be put in the way of
earning an honest livelihood and redeem
ing the past.
Communities may remain Indifferent
TO the methods of prison management
that deal with persons isolated from So
ciety and in whom they have no direct
interest, or fail to realize that they have,
but the convict set at liberty with the
brand of dishonor still upon him, even as
Cain was branded, is present and liv-
ing fact that cannot be avoided. 1t Is "a
condition, not theory" that here con-
fronts us.
Here is lost man. What shall be
done with him?
Shall he be given helping hand or
shall he be driven by sense of disgrace
and the finger of scorn back into evil
courses and the further retribution that
is sure to overtake him.
Shall he be made to feel that he is still
a man, with possibilities of duty vel
performed and confidence regained still
before him, and that he is not utterly
barred out of the doors of human sym
pathy, or upon the other hand, shall h,
be inhumanly reminded at every turr
that however great his remorse for tn,
past and however sincre his resolves foi
the future, he is nothing but an outcas
for whom the world has no place anc
against whom every avenue of honest
self-respecting endeavor is closed?
The economic principles that underli,
our social fabric as well as the impulses
of true philanthrophy afford alike tn,
ready answer--that no man who ha
once made legal reparation for his of
fenses shall be prohibited from making
moral reparation for the same anC
thereby gaining reinstatement in the re
spect and esteem of his fellow-c citizens
1t is to secure such as these from tn,
perils that surround them, to guido
them into new and safer paths, to in
spire them with ambition and self-reli
ance, to make men of them again ant
blot out the stigma of prison life, tina
the movement is making for the estah
lishment of homes for ex-convicts
where they may be afforded such educa
tional training, and be surrounded will
such reformatory influences, as will en-
sure them new lease of life and enabl
them to overcome the barriers that nov
stand in their way.
1t is one of the noblest of causes an,
commends itself TO the approval of al
who hold that no man is so WORTHLESS
but that he is worth an effort to save.