The age-herald., 1898-03-20
4 ReiormatOry;
 Women Should Work for IL


 Women Should Work for 1t To reach any good, to attain successfully to any desired end requires patience, per- severance, energy and faith.
 Any one who feels any concern In the reformation of young criminals, or, to give it broader significance, fin the redemption of the homeless children of the state. Is aware of how fruitless all efforts in their behalf have proven in the past. But the futllity of these endeavors need not dis courage those persons who recognize the necessity for the adoption of such means in the interest of certain classes Of young Alabamians. It is a matter of very recent history. that for an apparently hopeless time the school system of the state re- mained reproach to the citizens, ana ohly very lately has public sentiment been so thoroughly aroused that changes, imme- diate changes, are inevitable 50 also MitH the proposed constitutional convention. Where there was indifference to this sub feet, on the part of majority Of Ala bamians two years ago there IS beginning to be heard a demand for a convention which will provide a wiser and proaoef constitution for the state-form the mouh- tains to the gulf coast.
 IleS6 factS encourage lO thS DSiASA the day is not very far distant when the young offenders in Alabama will be pro- vided with place of refuge, where nope may come and reformation may occur. III this work certainly the women or Alapanna must feel a keen interest. There IS no longer any excuse or anything to be sa1d in attenuation of the treatment accorded youthful criminals in Alabama IL IS barbarism, brutally atrocious to crowd to- gether in misery and degradation the chlld who stole banana or loaf of bread ana the murderer and burglar, hardened anu depraved The state owes many things not yet accorded to it's children, ana IL IS eminently proper that public opinion should be aroused upon the subject of reform- atory. and aroused by thoughtful women before the meeting of the next legislature It is never wise to spring question or serious import upon people before pre- pairing them for the issue by an insistent presentation of the cause and It's advaht- ages.
 The following description from an eX- change of an experiment being made III New York state along helpful lines indi- cates what can be accomplished Tor way ward boys at not very great expense:
 It is only little journey from New 1ork to this place of good deeds, up in Vest chester county. After you have driven TOUT or fiv miles from White Plains, through a
 
 upon the top of one of those famous hills which have made Westchester famous a big gray house that looks comfortable as far as you can see.
 Everybody that lives anywhere around there knows that it is. There is genuine ring of pride in the voice of whenever you may ask about the Brace Memorial farm or, as they call it there, the place where they make chldrens minds over.
 O,,t t1,a tn ha be seen on every side and are atwork. There are big boys and little boys, but there isn't one of them who doesn't look as if he were having a good time right along. It is hard to believe that these lads are waifs from New York streets, called from that weltering mass of human flotsam and jetsam which contributes so largely to keep up the supply of criminals. This Is exactly what they are, though. children's aid society takes them for the purpose of re- claiming them from evil ways and making good citizens out of them. They have not necessarily led criminal lives, though many of them have; some. however, are old enough to have become hopelessly welded to life of vice and crime. There is noth- ing compulsory about their residence at the farm, to which they are taken with their own consent. If a boy insists that he does not want to stay he is taken back to New York and returned to exactly the situation he was in when the society began to try to help him.
 The ages of the boys at the farm run from to IS years.
 II is the belief of the officials of the or ganizatioR which watches over Brace farm that the best thing for the little vagabonds N hom it seeks to reclaim is to instill into them the belief that there IS no work for them like the work of a farmer. So the boys are taught farming; then; if some sturdy farmer out west wants to take a boy and make a man of him, Brace farm can easily supply that want.
 The boys enter into the spirit of the work with much enthusiasm and show a dispo- sition to be industrious that would amaze their former companions in New York. The superintendent says that the young sters seem to be stirred to real ambition for the first time in their lives.
 There are fifty-two. boys at the farm at present Each one has his duties, and each has the alternative of performing them faithfully or returning to New York. Few wish to return, however, it is such a de- lightful change for a half-starved young ster to be sure of having all he can eat three times day, instead of not being sure of anything at all
 While the boys are taught the various things the farmer boy has to know, their minds are not neglected for moment. On a hillside back of the old farmhouse is perched the school All sorts of eyes look at you when you walk into the big room from the wondering look of the 6-year-old to the keen glance that Is shot from the shrewd orbs of the boy of IS, who knows chiefly what he has learned in New York streets. The faces are rarely indicative of serious evil--not nearly as much so one would expect when the origin of the boys is taken into consideration. There are few dullards among them, and if appearances count for anything. some day they will be notable additions to the ranks of American citizenship.