Evening star., 1902-01-04
How New York Shows Maternal So
lieitude for Youth.
YOUNi OFFENDERS PLAY and WORK
Smart Uniforms and Square Treat
ment Help Greatly.
w H AT RES Its SH Nv

Written for The Evening Star.
1t appears to be more easy to shirk work
in town than in the country. No doubt that
is why many folks like town. Ease of
escape into the streets is inviting to certain
temperaments also, and the young fellow
whose ideal, so far as he has one, is to be
a tough, like his big brother, or the fellow
who used to sit next to him in school, finds
II not so hard to make himself objection
able in New York as it would be in Secau-
Gus. There is this to be considered, how
ever: that while Secaucus would placidy
disapprove him. it would do little to make
him better. 1t would regard him as one of
the disa greeable fixtures, like the mos
quitoes and the malaria and the odors from
the fertilizer factory, but it's constable
would never receive or heed an appeal to
arrest and lock him up unless he had COM
mitted actual felony. Where men gather
into congregations OF millions this dull
indifference to evil will not do. Offenders
imperil property and public comfort. They
are easily encouraged to assault personal
safety.
The country hoodlum is usually a vulgar
boor with a saving of sense of humOr, but
the city hOodlum seems to take on all the
attributes of evil that he sees and to prac-
tice his misChiefs unsparingiy.
After learning to smoke and swear, the
candidate tipples, usually on beer. After
little the hoodlum takes to begging pen
nies for this refreshment, and when he is
strong enough he does not beg, he demands
House of Refuge Not a Prison.
He has now grown to be a nuisance and
q menace, yet he is not yet a criminal
Unless society steps in and checks his
vicious tendencies he will be, however; so
society does it's duty. 1t is for the like of
him that it has created what it calls the
house of refuge. The superintendent of this
house, Omar V. Sage, former warden of
Sing Sing, refuses to speak of 1t as a penal
institution. Its purpose is helpful and re-
fOrmatory, not punitive. Its population is
almost wholly of boys from the city al
though it is devised for the care of bad
boys from the eastern part of the whole
state, the western section confiding its
wayward youth to the State Industrial
School IN Rochester.
Randall's Island is an insulated tract in
the East river between Manhattan and
Wards Island, the latter containing i'm
mense asylums and hospitals. 1t is owned
by the city of New York, while the House
of Refuge itself is the property of an as
sociation, and the support of the institution
falls upon the state. The schools are con-
Quoted by the educational authorities of
New York city. In spite of this division
of ownership the place Is managed with
little friction, and there is little complaint
The system is strict, yet kindly and pater-
nal, and Mr.. Sage and the members of his
family are personally liked and respected
by the boys and girls who have been Sc
questered on the island.
1t is dreary place in winter, with the
river lashed by storms against the banks
and overti0wing under the floors, but in
summer the lawns are green and flowers
grow in the yards, and tall trees give
masses of shade The main building is an
ancient-looking structure, really only half
century old but grim and institution-like
In aspect, topped with four little domes
that appear to serve no function except
that OF ornament This phalanstery is
nearly a thousand feet long, and the cell