Los Angeles herald., 1891-12-31

school over five months and is true
manly fellow.
Here is a letter that boy received
few days ago:
Los ANGELES, Cal, Dec. 4, 1891.
My DEAR Son | received your wei
come letter. was glad to have you writ,
to me. / know that you think of me
but you do not think OF me as many
times as l do of you. / should hav,
been over there, but you know mother
has great deal to do, and as the chill
dren are going to school in the morning
l have not had time to come, but will
come before long now and shal
bring the colt 80 you can see it
the boys are all well, they would like tc
see you, and Addie, che has been tc
private school all the vacation, and she
will pass in another grade tomorrow
Now, son, you must be good boy, and
think you will learn all you can, and
see what a nice man you can make.
The neighbors are all here as they were
when you went away; there is no
change. shall be glad to hear from
you as often as you can write me. Now,
be good, and here is kiss from your
mother, who loves you with all her
heart. She loves to think of the time
when you will come home to her and
be blessing to her, and be. her noble
man, as you can be. Goodbye, dar-
ling. From your loving mother,
Mrs. A. G. F.
| Do you object to the state taking such
boys, and educating and clothing and
feeding them decently, in school?
| could go on giving details that are
interesting to me about each one of
| these children, because in almost every
case there are reasons that make you
wonder that the boy didn't fall lower,
and that there is SO much left in them
all that is lovable and interesting.
There has been much criticism over
the fact that there are no walls around
| the Whittier school. Prominent men
predicted that within six months the
necessity of the walls would be proven.
1t may be true that now and then boy
will leave the Whittier school the same
every variety of homes, but shall we, to
retain that occasional boy, make prison-
ers of hundreds of boys? Our six
months history in regard to run
aways is as follows: Sixteen
days after the school opened two girls
ran away one evening and were brought
back next day. Four and one-half
months after the opening of the school,
two boys who were hauling gravel one
mile from the school left their work and
were found in the cahon, one-half mile
away, two hours later. Five and one
half months after the school opened two
boys from San Bernardino, who had
only been with US three or four days,
ran away and were caught forty-eight
hours later. All of the six boys and
girls who have given US trouble had
only been with us few days, not long
enough to feel the influence of, or get in
harmony with, their surroundings.
1t is said that in the palmy days of
Sparta, Lycurgus had royal visitor
who expressed great surprise at the abb
sence of walls around the city. Lycur-
gus ordered out the army. and pointing
to bis brave soldiers. said to his guest:
"Here are Sparta's walls" Similarly
the state of California savs to visitors
who expect to find walls around the
Whittier school: 1.-The boys of the
school form the walls of the SCHOOL,
We tell you that these boys who are
with US are just as intelligent; we tell
you that these boys who are with us are
naturally just as studious; we tell you
that these boys who are with us are just
as responsive to kind words and actions,
and we tell you that these boys who are
with us today are just as capable of be-
coming good citizens as the average boy
in the public school and we ask your
personal influence in their behalf.
PUNIsHMENTs.
There was an old doctor who had on
the shelves in his office one bottle
labeled Typhoid fever" another labeled
''lung fever" and another marked
"fts." The doses were also plainly
marked on each bottle. Whenever he
had case OF fits the medicine out of
the properly labeled bottle was given in
the regulation dose every time. He had
not learned that it was more important
in order to prescribe properly to know
| the patient, lis individual peculiarities,
his physical ancestry than it was to
know the name of the disease he was
suffering from. The modern, progress
| i've physician finds that each case OF
| typhoid fever needs course of treat
ment differing from all other cases.
rhus it is in our school. There are 125
children in the school and each one
must have punishment suited to his
temperament. to his past opportunities,
| duu W tllc lDluClCC Va lcTcOliy.
One boy is learning to be an electrician
and engineer, and is deeply in love with
his work, His punishment for certain
offense might be to put him at work for
week with pick and shovel. Another
boy is a great eater, and his punishment
might be limited diet, while lew
words to another boy would have still
greater effect. The punishment, then,
is determined entirely after studying the
boy to be punished.
RELIGION.
In the United States, church and state
are entirely separate. The state wants
every person protected in his religious
belief; consequently realize that as a
servant of the state am employed to
make good average citizens of these
boys, and not to make Catholics,
Protestants or Jews of them; but. on
the other hand, good Catholic,
Protestant or Jew is good citizen.
There are in the school three children of
Jewish families and about sixty of
Catholic and sixty of Protestant FAM
lilies. Sunday morning all the Protestant
children go to a Protestant church to
| Sunday school up in the village OF
| Whittier, and the Catholics are making
arrangements to build church in the
t,wn, and shall then send the Catholic
children to that church for their re-
ligious instruction. Sending the chill