The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-11
HAVE TOWORK.
Scheme to Teach Boot
blacks and NeWSbOyS.
School Privileges Arranged
for Factory Workers.
There Are About Five Hundred and
FIT" NewSbOys in Town.

| sued tie names are given to Truant Ofii-
Ger Whittemore, who goes through the
| lists and sorts the names OF all those under
| Is years old into their proper school dis
tricts. Their attendance Is then looked
up in both public and pnrochial schools
and an investigation made OF those who
do not atend school. This is quite job,
naturally, but the newsboy pro blem pre-
sents difficulty which the authorities
have been trying to overcome for long
time and which they think they have at
last found plan to obviate. 1t isa bother
TO get the boys to their lessons, some feel
ing obliged to sell papers at o o'clock In
the morning, others TO handle the New
York papers at IL a. M, and others want
to get out at 3 or $3.50 o'clock in the al
terncon to tackle the evening papers. The
difficulty in such an arrangement is at
once obvious. The scheme now proposed
is to put teacher into the old Meeting
street school especially to take care OF
those who sell the New York papers, or
live too far away to get through selling
in the morning to get to school right on
time. and also TO accommodate those who
must get out in the middle of the after
noon. This would do away with a great
deal OF hindrance now experienced by the
teachers and maks it easier for the au-
thorities to control the young vendors.
Then there is another thing which has
long been in process of evolution, quietly
aud unobtrusiveiy, and which is today
practically complete and successful. 1t
is the arrangement Of granting labor GER
tificates to mill children so that the nec-
essary attendance at school is secured from
each child each year without interrupting
the classes or going.to the expense OF un-
graded schools. Chiliren who have to
work before.they are 10 years old have TO
have a labor certificate aud the burden
OF looking after them (thero
are about 6C0 ali told st presently
devolves upon the trusnt officer. There
is a blank TO be properly filed and then
entries are necessary In stub and other
books. The child must be IL years old be-
fore the certificate is granted and records
must be looked up at the city hall and
State House TO prove it, or, il Catholic, a
parish clerk will furnish q record Of
christening. Sometimes it is necessary
to send to Canada to get. the desired in
formation, and again, old country friends
OF the parents have TO swear that they
have known the child IL years. Then the
500 days preliminary school attendance is
necessary, unless poverty, sickness or
other good cause is shown for excuse, and
the teacher mas TO SO certify. Then, IL
everything is o. H., the child may work
for the balance OF the year. When that
time is up more days schooling is due
and the teacher has to certify that the
child gets back, so in this way there is a
crowd at work waiting for school TO be-
gin for them and about an equal number
at school waiting for work ana the thing
about equalized. The amount of work
in keeping trace OF all these is also plainly
discernab BILE and it is creditable TO the de-
partment that the records were complete
up to last Saturday night
In all other cities ungraded schools
have been necessary to take care Of the
working classes and we came near having
them here. They are very expensive,
however. In Providence they are obvisted,
because in the pI imary schools there are
two promotions year, there being two
grades, in February ana in September,
and il has been so worked that the child
rem come out of the mills generally at the
beginning of the school term, and vice
versa. This arrangement has been per-
fecting two or three years and i, now
practically perfect, as well as economical
for the city,
The matter Of taking care the irreg
ular attendants upon the schools and the
truants is OF itself big item. as can well
be perceived. Mr.. Whittemore has on
hand now about 140O cases to investigate,
223 complaints having come from teachers
since November IL last. These include
Catholic schools. There is also a court
record OF some account, 1872 cases. a con-
viction being scared in every case being
the record for the past three years. The
rules Of law apply in these cases and fire.
quently counsel opposes the authorities
The majority of violations OF the truancy
law Bre cured, however, by once carefully
explaining the law TO tn. parents. Ii is
not neccessLry TO go into detail OF the
work involve but II does not always fol-
low that a child is a truant because ne
plays on the street during school hours
There are several good causes for ex-
emption, such as contagion in the family.
Mr.. whittemore has run up against
some pretty affecting scenes in making
his rounds. lie tells OF going TO house
TO sec why a lad wasn't in school. "There
he is by the stove" taid the mother.
The boy had no shoes, MS father was sick
witf typhoid fever, tho home was little
better than hovel aud the family meal
consisted OF beans and bread, each break
ing of a piece of the latter and sticking
il into the bean dish. there being no
knives, forks, spoons or rAates. A priv
ate fund, which the donors wished kept
from public notice. helped that family.
Speaking OF the school census, Mr.