New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-11-18
TRAINING. MAYNARD GIRLS.
DISCIPLINE AT WHITTIER STATE
SCHOOL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MUSIC AS AN AGENT OF
MORAL REFORM.

1t is claimed that the girls department of the
Whittier State School, OF California, has undergone
a revolution in methods and management since the
beginning of the administration of Mrs Adina
Mitchell of Los Angeles. as trustee She has been
during part of her term president of the Board of
Trustees The school, located in the quaker CITY
of Whittier, eleven miles southeast OF Los Angeles
is an industrial scholastic and military institution
OF correction for boys and girls. II was estab-
lished eleven years ago as State charge ana
pupils can only be committed to it by the Superior
Judges Of the State 1t comprises 1850 acres of
land, all under high cultivation. These are iaid
out in lawns, vegetable and landscape gardens
berry fields and great stretches Of orchards in
Guiding thousands of trees in the highest stage of
culture There are twelve buildngs-the admin
istration building, shops and cottages, with ca
pacity for five hundred persons.
The girls department comprises three buildings
two cottages and an industrial buding-with three
acres of land laid out in flower gardens and shaded
by trees 1t is situated threequarters of mile from
the main buildings The buildings heated by
steam lighted by electricity and equipped with not
only the necessary furnishings but with tasteful
pictures and ornaments. \ small library is at the
disposal Of the girls. The table is supplied with
wholesome foods. and flowers are always to be
found in profusion in the various rooms. Most of
the OF recreation the year around are spent
in the open air in work upon the pretty grounds
or in games and sports.
The aim of the school train the girls to be
practical housekeepers. About twenty-five girls
houses, including the cooking, sewing, laundry
ETC. is done by them under the direction of teach
ers Half of each day is devoted to school and
half to industrial work. One of Mrs. Mitchells
first victories, after her appointment In 1896 was
the doing away with corporal punishment.
A rational merit system has been introduced.
which, is claimed, has proved an efcacious fac
tor in discipline. The school is divided into three
grades. Each girl upon entering Is placed in the
second grade and is clothed in gray gown, the
regulation school uniform Three months of per-
| feet department and the proper number of merits
entite her to white collars and cuffs with her
uniform. \ certain number Of dement's places the
offender in the third grade, dark blue dress
placing gray one, and the wearer is deprived of
many privileges. There cells. dark rooms
| no hoggings, bread and water diet. though
often 1t is found necessary to place offender in
confinement, but even then some occupation is con-
sldered a necessity. Mrs. Mitchell has also intro
| duced the study of music in this school. OF this
| experiment she says
We have made music one of the principal factors
1t has been of great assistance to us in the unlock
ing of closed chambers of the mind and in teaching
control of emotions. which, with this class of chill
dren, are so easily aroused And we have placed
The outcome has been that music has haco1,e ~
prations and the steady dscipliuarian their emo
dustrial work Several have said that music as
| sisted them in their mathematics and enabled them
to understand many things that were blank before
| Most of our children can read and write music
ton Of good music and a better understanding of it,
Most OF the girls have excellent voices and several
are quite talented. and all are taught music for
| music's sake
| At Whittier the girls are of necessity more re-
| Stricted than the boys and at times there Is a
| monotony that makes them dissatisfied and rest
| less Some outlet is needed and with these girls
music has been the channel through which this
condition has been swept away. There is longer
| the repression that often comes from contact with
| others. Let say that the moral effects of
music are insignificant for music has accomplished
wonders toward the elevation Of the human char
| acter and has brought particularly to womankind
| hThar zeal iZat ion Of he praS rta-
ton of music to young minds we do no better
than to follow the Grecian parent and be exceed
| ingly particular the kind Of music the child
! receives, because we have the yellow in music as
| well as in literature. And most important is II