The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-01-31


are in the city hands as destitutes,
&C improperly guardianed, or as
criminals, petty or great. In other
words more than p per cent. OF the
aov+ Generation of New Workers are
TODAY in the shelter of asylums, re-
fornatories and charitable substi-
+u+es for homes in general.
Only a few years ago the effort of
philanthropy would have been to
ooc+ these thousands in one mould,
ike so many buttons, subjecting
them all to the same treatment re-
oardIess of their individual charac-
tpristics. The wiser policy OF to-
dav aives the personal equation first
consideration. 1t begins by making
COMMUNICATIVE intimate acquain-
+ance such as can be gained only
nv personal contact-With the sur
roundings that have produced the
vouno unfOrtunates and the people
who have been responsible for their
care The New York Juvenile Asy-
linn for instance-the Protestant
institution to which, with the Cath
Ole and Hebrew protectories, the
CITY authorities consign most of the
waits who come directly under their
nstice-employs a visitor to Guilt
vate this personal acquaintance, in
the light of which so much Of its
work is done.
Curse of the Pavements.
There has been at the Juvenile
ASYLUM for a month now a we'll
grown German lad Of II whose pc
culiar Indifference and hardness al
WAYS attracts attention. His mother
at home in three rooms Of a tenement
on the upper East Side cries about
him every day, calling him my
Philip"
He was not a bad boy, my Phil
ip, she says to the visitor, only
he has cursed so hart und vas al
ways NIT de bad boys. Nights he
would stay oud, unit den, because he
is afraid Of getting a vipping off his
papa. he don't dast come back.
Sometimes he comes back unit sleeps
in der hall outsite, but he wouldn't
never come in.
Den, one morning, wen he had
been away tree nights, he comes in
unit says, Mama, he says, won't
you gif me a cup of coffee?' Unit l
tell him I must take him to der Judge
to put him away because I vas not
able to keep him from der bad boys.
But he has broke my heart, ," wept
the patient, stolid-looking German
woman.
Yet in this home there appears to
be nothing to drive a boy away. The
rooms are bare, but they are clean
and wholesome; there is even an at
tractiveness about them. The moth
er, distressfully thin and sad, has
touching tenderness of manner to-
ward her children; the father is a
sober, hard worker who uses his
authority with his family justly and
kindly. 1t seems to have been the
curse of the paYements" that made
Phlhp unmanageable.
Driven to Thievery.
The parents of one little fellow
now IN the asylum, preferring whis-
Key to work, began by sending him
out to beg for the food they we're I'M
Wiling to earn. Begging for money
followed naturally. Then jimmy,
realizing that he was the real sup
port OF the household, began to stay
away when he felt like it, spending
Sne proceeds of his industry for
himself When the home broke up
entirely, as it eventually did, of
course, the household goods that
nao represented the comforts of life
lor three persons were sold for SO
cents at public auction, and the boy
was reluctantly compelled to learn
now to earn an honest living in the
INDUSTRIAL shops of the juvenile asy-
There is no greater contrast be-
ss@@een the wretched howell with its
% cents worth of furnishings and
one tidy little rooms of Philips
mother than between the boys that
IttPresent the two homes in the in
SUI orICunon at Dobbs Ferry. The phil
a;n1t45ropist, the criminologist, the
,nye5..hgent refOrmer have come to
t t5allze the full meaning of this, and
c "m9 youIngster.guilty Of no greater
me than improper guardianship
- no longer II Gated as if he were an
sp44eoto ll rufian, predestined to
state prison.
hn