Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-07-26
a Practical Test Of Probation in
Milwaukee.
THE JUVENILE COURT.
Considered 23s Cases in the First Year
Of Ats Existence-Some Repre-
sentative Cases.

! cases have passed through the court III
/ its first year; 80 children have been
| committed to state and county inStitu-
/ tions and 10 others have gone, on recon-
| incubation of the judge or on probation,
\ 10 new surroundings Apart from these
| latter cases, many of which were first
| Investigated by probation officers. about
+ sixty children have been befrended in
/ their own homes. This is not 4 great
record. but it certainly has meaning, for
! these sixty children would formerly have
1 gone, either directly or after a useless
/ term in Jail, back 10 the very conditions
/ which had led to their ofeuseS.
Some one has said: children under
/ arrest for the first time are more Pc
| culiarly susceptible TO influence than
even other children, and the impressions
| made at this crisis go far to nix their
| lives" Probation is an attempt to stop
vicious habits before 1t IS too late. lie
! peated arrests so soon take these mere
| children beyond the bar of childhood and
! then it is too late For example, Joe
! is only 10. A year and half ago he
/ cried himself to sleep in the midst or Il
! group of boys in the county Jail. but he
| has grown accustomed to many things
4 since then, and when he came up last
| in the juvenile court he dared to discuss
| his sentence with the judge.
A Probation Officers Work.
The work of a probation officer, with
| it's lights and shades. is full of human
| interest. There was 14year-old Fred.
| brought in for stealing. Fred had done
| this thing before in Interpretation days
! and gone to Jail for it. Jail did not
help him a bit: only made him a little
| more wary perhaps. His straight-fOr-
ward confession that he had been in
| court before was in his favor. He was
! sent home on probation While his
| mother showed her great relief. the lit
| tie lad, away from the desk and back
among the benches, sObbed bitterly from
| sheer exhaustion and fright. Before he
went home, a plan of action was mapped
! out FOR him so far as hasty diagnosis
Of the case would permit. Boys who
! steal want something. and If a boy of IA
! wants something curing the summer va
! cation. he had better work for it. But
| that is not all; he needs help to rise
| above the thriftlessness of his home. 1t
| is good for him to visit the office Occa-
| sonally. to tall; about the work or the
| play he likes best, and perhaps TO Dor
| row book or a game. Fred was a
! very satisfactory probatiOner because ne
| always reported as ordered. He was
| sensible little fellow and never had oc-
| CaSiOn to consider the officer IS other
than n friend. Poor little chap, A
| glimpse at his home showed that he had
| not much there to inspire him. His pro-
| baton ended long ago. When last heard
| from he was the only regular worker
| for n large family.
On the other hand. there was little ia
cob, II years old Things went wrong
at his house and Jacob manifested the
fact by transgressing the law. Perhaps
| if someone befriended him things would
90 better, so a probation officer was put
in charge of Jake. but he seems not to
have understood the situation at all and
70 hay p9xrn fhn S.ffi u
chance to help him, so the little runaway
had to be brought back to court and sen
| fenced to the industrial school; and in
spite of the shabby way in which he
treated the officer who sought TO be his
guardian. that good man knew the boy
was not to blame.
Then there was James. His father
| pronounced him incorrigibiC. but the pro-
| baton officer found That the father was
brutal and any sensible boy would have
| been incorrigible under such government.
The Tanning of Henry.
| Henry was Il bad boy-a very bad boy
! at home. and sometimes he had been bad
mt school. His mother was afraid of him
! because he frequently struck her, or to
| be strictly truthful. he frequently struck
| his mother because she was afraid of
| him. Such bad boy could NOT be eX-
| pected to respond to friendly advances,
| but one might try. so the officer tried.
Did he like to draw"
| Yes
Would he draw something now"
YES, he would draw n horse"
| So he sat down at the table and began.
| hut the horse was perpleXing and he had
| forgotten how il went; he would draw
| house instead.
Henry and his new friend had made
| good beginning. The former was doing
| a favor and there was nothing personal
I,I.g, III i
he forgot that anyone had ever called
| him bad.
Such a queer house it turned out to be,
| What q poor muddled little brain But
the boy liked TO draw
Henry was much too good a boy to
stay in a home where no one could make
the best of him, and another place was
found where the Judge sent him on pro-
baton for Il while, with the hope that he
will learn in time TO feel a kindly pity
for the poor mother who so utterly
spoiled him.
One day John came into court the
most forlorn and hopeless looking of
mortals. He had stolen iron and spent
the money for ice cream. He pulled
himself together and said: I'll never be
In such trouble as this again Probably
he meant it, but he might as we'll have
undertaken to guide an army as himself
Everything was wrong in his unhappy
IRE. lie was slave TO cigarettes. and
nervous wreck. His loving but igno-
rant mother was helpless to make mat
ters right. Nothing but the most insist
ent supervision made even an impression.
The officer gaSped when he learned that
this boy of Is could neither read nor
write one word. He is learning TO do
both now. The day of his arrest opened
up a new life. The stealing was an in
cident. The conditions leading up to il
were deep-seated and momentous
The Case of Dishonest Jack.
Jack was dishonest There was no
doubt about that, but fear aud ill-regu-
lated punishment had much TO do with
his dishonesty and also with another
very eXaSperating trait. His habit Of
rapidly disappearing upon the approach
Of his probation officer made Jack much
| trouble and several long walks which he
might have avoided. He did not mean
| TO be bad boy. and now thar he is
learning to trust his fellow men he NAV
grow to he an honest one.
Alfred was found sleeping out Of doors
on a bitter cold night. As he was only
10 and had a good home. it seemed mex