The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-19
BRIDGEPORT CHILDREN OUT
 LATE.

Many Spend the Evenings in the
 Streets-Citizens Want an Ordinance
 Passed on the Subject.
 The Bridgeport Farmer says: Com plaint is heard from all sides about the young boys and girls who spend their evenings in the streets. The children, who range from nine to fifteen years of age, are allowed by their parents to roam around the city under the pre- tence of selling the evening papers. This up to certain hour is all right, but some of the girls have been seen as late as eleven o'clock and the boys of ten are out till after midnight. Some time ago a petition for an ordinance governing the matter was drawn up and presented to the common council. The matter was referred to the com mittee on ordinances, who gave the petitioners leave to withdraw, or in other words killed the ordinance which many hoped to have passed.
 Though the petition was of no avail the matter has not been dropped, as those who know the true condition of things are still in hopes of having something accomplished. A new phase of the subject was brought out by Superintendent Charles w. Deane concerning the public schools. He in- formed a Farmer reporter that the children who were accustomed to sell papers in the streets at night were generally the lowest in their classes, and were hardly ever known to come to school in the morning with their les sons properly prepared Of course there are exceptions, but they are very rare. He said that in many cases the parents of the children were unable to get them to return home at a reasona- ble hour and would welcome any measure that would aid their efforts. Then again, many parents are too shiftless to bring up their children in the right way, and these should be shown the grave responsibilities upon themselves and the community, for in most cases of this kind the children grow up to be vagabonds, of which this country has a great sufficiency. There are some who send their chil- dren out, and demand that they sell a certain number of papers before re- turning, and though it is hoped this number is small, the only way to cor rect this evil is to pass a law govern ing the matter. Then, in the event a child is found out late, the reason can be ascertained, and should any of the latter class be found the proper au- thorities could act and the offending parent be punished.
 Of late the subject has been disussed
 
 of the large cities have adopted laws governing the hours at which children ! must be in the house, unless with some older companion. The following article, taken from the New England Journal of Education is well worth reading, as it shows what can and has been done:
 | There is well-defined healthy movement toward the establishment of the ''curfew'' in American cities and towns. Upon this subject the school board of Springfield, Mass, through | Charles Jacobus, says in the annual ' report: The strengthening of charac- i ter should take precedence of intellec- tual work. It is during the hours out of school, when pupils are away from | the care of the teacher that the street ! with it's attendant lessons of evil us urps the place of good home instruc- | tion. We are heartily in sympathy with the establishment of the cur | few, or it's equivalent, lately instituted in some cities, and seriously consid- cred in others The community thus recognizes it's own laxity and proposes to do, through legislation, what ought l to be done by the common sense of pa. rents. It is here that the selection ot | teachers comes in as the greatest solu. tion of the problem.
 It. is doubtful if the American public will yield gracefully to so much pub lie interference" with domestic affair: as would be implied in the ringing il of the children at bedtime
 The "curfew' movement was started by the Boys and Girls Nationa Home Employment Association" il l 1894. The ordinance provides that al children under fifteen years of az, shall be doors, unless accompanied by responsible seniors or are sent ol errands, by nine o'clock in summe evenings and eight o'clock in winter l hlllcOlll, 1NtD, lS Soiiu lO nave DeeH In first to adopt it, and now several hun dred places have adopted it, amons l them Omaha. Denver, Pueblo Kan sas City, Des Moines, Topeka, Leaven worth, St. Joseph (Mo), Quincy ant Evanston Qll), and a number of tn smaller Minnesota towns Concernin, the operation of the ordinance in Lin coin, the mayor reports that it was complete surprise, both to the polic and parents; that there was a decreas of seventy-five per cent. in the arrest of youths during the first month; tha no increase of the police force was ne cessary, but, on the contrary ther was a pecuniary saving from the fall ing off in the number of arrests.
 A decided improvement of the youtl of the city, socially and morally is al so noted. The superintendent of tn | Nebraska reform school testifies tha there has been a decrease in commit ments of delinquents to that schoo from places where the ordinance is en forced. and the chief of police of Lin coin says: Teachers in the pubi
 schools say that since curfew went il
 force boys who formerly kept lat hours on the street at night, and wer
 behind in their studies, under the cur
 few come regularly, and punctual an
 mentally refreshed, and up with thei
 studies"