Omaha daily bee., 1901-02-08

10 the uudNOluduie dbstutt OIL DTs H. H. |
Hart, general secretary Of the National |
Conference Of Charities and Correction, who |
was to have delivered a steropticon lee
ture on Child Saving Work" An address |
by Chancellor f. Benjamin Andrews Of |
the State university was substituted and !
1t is expected that DR.. Hart will arrive in |
the city In time to deliver his lecture at |
one of the Friday sessions
The Omaha Banjo club opened the pro-
gram with a pleasing selection following
which was a song by Jules Lumbard. An
other banjo number preceded the address
OF Chancellor Andrews on Education in
Penal and Charitable Institutions" de-
livered in a direct, easy manner and well
received by the audience.
Address by Chancellor Andrews.
The chancellor spoke in part as follows
Efforts to upllft the inmates of eleemosy-
nary and reformatory institutions com
monty spring from religious moral and
| philanthroplc motives. but they are inpera-
| lively demanded also by social and politl-
cal interests, as such work tends not only
| to prevent crime and to lessen the expense
| OF arresting, OBTAINING, conviCting and sup
| porting criminals, but also to swell the
numbers OF law.abiding, wealth-creating
The educational side of charitable an penal
administration has been too much neg
lected Its treatment is important, not
| withstanding the hope that the coming
years will bring to these institutions fewer
ySpth, This hope rests In part ON our hope
| part on recent changes In the treatment of
dull and delinquent children I'm school and
establishment of klndergartens, Juvenile
| courts and parental schools in large cities
Good Will come. too, from the provision of
special sections in the ordinary schools for
dull and backward children, who now tend
to truancy and so to crime. Many large
| city schools already have such ungraded
| rooms. 1t is my belief that when these ap-
| pliances are In working condition all but
or per cent of the youth who now grow
| up TO vice and crime will be saved TO use
ful citizenship.
The parental school by itself will work
| wonders. Alarming conditions have been
| menacing and still menace the Childlife of
great towns. Hundreds of fircsides are
schools of crime. Drunkenness and destitu-
ton blight thousands of homes Children
are often imprisoned simply because they
are poor. a complete remedy lies at hand
In the parental school. Prompt, wise and
| effective application of this remedy should
| be made. This end can be secured only by
awakening public sentiment to existing con
| ditions and to the consequent responsible
| ties of all citizens. But the country is
larger than the city. The, parental school
use slowly, while many sections will never
be populous enough to erect such. Charita-
BILE and penal institutions will therefore for
q long time, II not always, receive more or
fewer youth, whom 1t will be their business
to educate.
In all forms of educational work. and es-
pecialy In that which concerns these in
stitutions, certain well established princi-
Piles need to be borne In mind. The first
or these IL that In mans present state the
mind is as good as absolutely subject to
bodily conditions, 80 that mental health
body is duly cared for Scientific observa-
ton of children with peculiar traits of
character shows that physical mental and
moral deficiencies are intimately related.
The relationship Is far closer than was
once supposed and is fact on which edu-
Gators have to reckon in all their theory
Another principle is that while the results
of heredity are undoubted and have to be
allowed for In all educational work and
while there are heritages of bodily, mental
and moral evils which are beyond all cure
the results OF .educa tional work itself are
equally undoubted. While education can
perhaps I'm no case be depended on entirely
to overcome the effects of bad heredity, still
no limit can be set to its power In this di-
rection, so that at least in the case of
young persons, the utmost depravity or
dullness should not discourage the employ
ment of educational means. THE greater
portion OF our defective classes acquire
their defects after birth, says DR.. Byard
Holmes, "ether through improper environ
} ment, through disease or through society
Another principles; Education is to a very
great extent a product of association, sur
roundings, example, the sight of the eye
I and the hearing OF the ear. Influence from
conscious, but none the less pervasive and
Irresistible. Children are impressed more
by what is done about and before them by
, |
geniuses and even by freaks and fools than
they are by precept Human beings are
natural imitators, more M Par,cuiSar nS sTec,ni m
mental power has been nightly helped by
some rare personality IN the hI. share 9t StcS a
, teacher said than by what he was and what
he did.
Dawson found that almost every deSen-
/ crate boy or girl had been EXTRAORDINARILY
Influenced by n chum or by chums.
1t follows that the non-criminal youth TO
be cared for in our public institutions
should be as completely as possible sepa-
rated the criminals As crm S
/ nal tendencies he should not be left TO
, injure the rest. There ought to be no
young persons In jais. Hardly less wicked
Is 1t 10 herd children with paupers or the
D chronically inefficient as is so frequently
I done in almshouses. This vicious custom Is
, responsible for no end Of vagrancy and
8 You have to deal with three classes OF
. | children intellectually considered: % Those
so low in intelligence that they can never
make much. If any, Improvement q
r Those who appear little hopeful at first
gress in one direction or another, usually
learning more through the hand than witt
= the head alone C3y Those who, though un
4 fitted for ordinary school conditions, speed
q | lily brighten up under earnest instruction
= finally revealing considerably capacity,
Individual cases and conditions must b'
Q studied with the utmost care and classihca
k tion for teaching and other purposes made
|
mentally dull and backward as much al
= | YOU can from imbeciles and idiots. Amont
u imbeciles and idiots those probably sus
= | ceptibe and those probably not susceptible
VI of Improvement should be kept apart.
y The environment of the inmates and al
r methods OF dealing with them should be a
: natural and non peculiar as the case al
: lows. Words like prison, jail, almshouse
house of correction penitentiary, reforma
z tory and bridewell ought to be eXpunse'
from all dictionaries. 1t would be mos
p beneficial act to rename all these institu
/ tions, particularly such contain younl
/ persons. The present names are poten
/ with III associations. Name your bridewel
/ The Windermere, your almshouse IN
/ Manse your house OF correction Pinehursi
J and so on Other good titles would be Tn
Louvre Windsor Castle, Eolyrood, Prybilol
ID St. James, Fifth Avenue Hotel There
ID much In a name and there's oyermuch o
~ evil in a bad name All words, phrases
u Implications and methods of address calcu
lated 10 remind them unnecessarily of thei
misfortunes vices or situation should b
l. | avoided Just so far as Is possible. Thes
people should be dealt with like ordinar
members of society.
be Absolute and unvarying kindness shoul
at be used even to the most vicious, lnliiC
:, | penalties only In the rarest cases and the
VI with no spirit or manifestation of Ver
geance. Till the last ray of hope ~ gon
IN even coughs" should be handled as
4 we expected reform and even when we ca
~ no longer expect reform let us keep up IN
Us temper of friendness. Let an unruly pei
ed son be convinced that the state is his fc
OF and you can never win him to good citizeT