Evening star., 1902-01-04

OF humor, as a class. It is no great Won
der, for life to them has been tragedy.
To give smart appearance to the boys
they are dressed in gray uniforms but
these garments are not often smartly worn.
Ihey are, for instructional purposes, di-
vided into two battalions, which meet now
and again in competition, and are ready to
challenge any equal number of troops in
the National Guard. They have a drum
and fife corps, but band, and the bugle
SOUNDS reVellle and taps. A citizen major
commands the corps, but the captains and
l1eutenants are inmates. Badges and rib
bons denote scholarship and behavior, and
promotion must be earned by study and
good conduct. When a boy runs away ten
weeks are added to his term, though he
can make his account good by an eXcep-
tional earning of marks afterward. If
youngster who is allowed to go home on
parole, as happens now and then, vio-
contempt by all his classmates. For after
such an clopement boys who might other
wise have been released for the holidays
are kept in, and numbers, therefore, suffer.
Ih1s in itself Is enough to account for the
disgust, but there is a moral objurgation
In the attitude also.
While an inmate can be kept till he is of
age, he can also be released whenever he
SHOWS his fitness to go back into the
world, provided, however, that he has had
| a record OF seventy y-eight weeks of good
conduct.
Punishments consists in loss of marks.
restriction to the "roost, as the boys call
the upper floor, and confinement in cell
for one, two or three days, according to
the gravity of the offense. There is no
spanking and no starving.
When Mr.. Sage became warden at Sing
sing convict one day dropped on his knees
before him, as he was making his rounds
through the place, and begged for permis-
sion to speak. He had been trying, he
said, for six years to do this, and had never
till then had a chance. He wanted to ex-
plain certain business matters that affected
his family and that added to the burden of
his existence. Mr.. Sage did away with a
system that permitted such state Of
| things as this, and he not only listened to
the convicts when they had anything to
parts of the building, into which the pris-
oners could drop requests and complaints.
He permits and encourages the writing of
similar letters here, and every evening
there is quite a batch of notes to read
mostly requests for personal meeting, in
order to explain alleged lacks in studies or
violations of rules that threaten a reduc-
ton In rank. Inmates may receive all let
ters from friends. but they can write to
them only once month.
When the boy leaves the institution he is
kept In sight for a while by It's officers and
agents, who cause his rearrest If he goes
wrong. who warn him If they see that he
Is slipping into evil ways and who help him
when they see that he means to do right.
Not few Of the inmates enlist in the army
and navy, and good reports come of them
from the Philippines and elsewhere. It is
guessed. rather than known, that about rs
per cent of all discharged members of this
community behave well after gaining their
liberty, but the reports Of some agents
would Indicate better than that, if it were
not that some Of the boys remove from
New York. and are therefore lost sight of.
One of the visiting agents, who represents
the girls department, reports that Of six
ty-three girls recently set free, forty-eight
were doing well at last account, seven were
doing 1ndinerently well and eight We're GO
ing wrong. The boys visiting agent de-
clares that of 286 boys he watches so per
cent are behaving well, and only per cent
have gone back to mischief
A record-l like this shows that the institu-
ton is an important factor in reform or
else that young human nature, even in
Manhattan, is not so bad as people had
supposed 1t.