The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-02-13

not that respect Tor rellSion Iney ndd
so or 60 years ago, and while this may
be the case, yet it would seem as if no
one who kept abreast of the times
could deny that never in the history
not only of America, but of the world,
has philanthropic effort been conducted
on such intelligent, broad-minded, SYM
pathetic, truly helpful lines as at pres
ent 1t is probably true that people do
not attend church as they did in the
days of our grandmotherS, when every
child of the family on the dreaded sab
bath morning was dressed in its best,
taken to the injecting house" and
forced to listen to the long, doctrinai
sermons; also true that children are not
brought up to read the Bible as they
were in those days, and that daily fam :
fly prayers are now almost unknown,
and yet to say that the world is not
really growing more tender-hearted and
more truly Christlike all the time would
be an admission of surprising lgnor-
ance of what is going on all around us
to-day. Methods entirely different from
those employed in the past are now
used in every kind of philanthroplc
work, and nothing illustrates this any
better than the manner in which the
Cleveland workhouse is conducted. This
remarkable institution, which is under
the charge of DR.. Harris r. Cooley, a
estate where the workhouse and other
buildings are located is called THE
Cleveland Farm Colony and is a farm
-, of 1900 acres on high ground overlook
ing the city and Lake Erie. The pris-
oners, committed for drunkenness, va
grancy, assault and petty offenses gen
orally, are set to work in grading land,
making roads and sewers, farming and
in other outdoor employment, not in
the usual striped convict suit but in
ordinary clothes and without guard.
For seven years this experiment has
been going on, and in all that time only
very few prisoners have tried to es-
cape, tho to do SO would be a COM
paratively easy matter. The men are
put on their honor and treated like
men, everything being done to restore
self-respect. According TO the oil
methods. such men We're locked up IN
a workhouse in the city. Morally and
+ usually physically weak, unstrung, with
the feeling that ali mems hands We're
against them, they We're put at labori-
Gus and combining work indoors, and
when their release came We're even
weaker physically than at the time of
arrest, and consequently less able 20
resist temptation, almost invariably get
ting into trouble again at once. Under
the present system the men grow
strong mentally and physically, under
the healthful out-of-doors work. and
when they are released feel themselves
equal to an honest fight with life and
able to win. So attractive are the even
ing schools at the workhouse that dis
charged prisoners often return to spend
their evenings there, rather than at the
saloons. Real nobility of character is
often brought out by this humane treat
ment, of which the brotherhood" is
one result. Two years ago one of the
discharged prisoners, who had saved a
little money, returned to the colony,
and with two others like himself start
ed the brotherhood" They rented a
house, and spent over $4,000 in furnish
ings, every cent of which they have
now paid off. They go to the work
house and take the discharged prison.
ers, keeping them until they get work
In two years time APT men have passed
thru the Brotherhood, which is sup
ported entirely by the prisoners. There
is also q "BoyvilIe'' in the colony, where
youthful offenders against the law are
reclaimed. The boys live in cottages
which bear such names as Washington,
Lincoln, etc., presided over by q kind
hearted rnatron. The main building Is
a school where the boys spend part
of every day in being instructed. They
have their fire department, where they
are drilled to protect the property of
the colony; their pond, where they
skate in Winter and fish and swim in
Summer their pets, dogs, calves ana
goats; their baseball nine, etc. 1t is no
disgrace to boy to have been at Boy
Vile" sojourn there is a long, happy
vacation, the only real home many OF
these boys have ever known, and which
they frequently leave with the deepest
regret
A revised version of Goethe's Faust
was recently presented in Paris, which
represents Faust as worthy, amiable
married man, most indulgent to Mar
guerite, his wife, who spends all his
money and then runs off with Siebel.
When pay day comes, however, and
Mephistopheles arrives to claim the soul
which Faust has agreed to give him in
exchange for youth, the man Of evil is
struck by the injustice of the thing,
and carries off Marguerite instead,
which is very funny.
This is the day of the expert, and
people who want to do things right
cannot depend on luck or even empiri-
cal knowledge entirely, but are obliged
to make a thoro study of their subject
If they wish to achieve the highest
amount of success. The wife of q
Western millionaire, whose husband
gave her a 300-acre dairy farm for &
Christmas present, shows that she ap
preciates this fact and is a thoroly
sensible woman by enrolling herself a:
q student in the Wisconsin university
for the purpose of taking course IL
farming.
The japanese are great lovers of ma,
ture. They will walk miles to see
tiny waterfall, and their feeling fol
Full amounts to alteration. Whoever
saw a japanese screen or fan that didn
have a bird, a tree or flowers embroid
cred upon it with such wonderful clev,
erness that it seemed real? In theii
tiny houses the little dwarfed pine tree
in the pot commands attention, because
It Is usually the only thing in the way
of ornament about, and is an evidenc,
of this intense love of theirs for natura
things. Wherever one goes in Japan
outside the cities, crowds of japanese o
the lower and middle classes are Away
to be seen on their way to the scene o
some natural beauty. The tea houses
on the way over the mountains from
Nikko to Chuzenji, usually so placed a
10 command the most beautiful view
where the rickshaw coolies always drol
you for rest and cup of tea them
selves are filed with japanese peasant
making the trip on foot, althc they hav
undoubtedly been over the groun,
many, many times. Sometimes at thes
places are signs In English. giving in
formation or instruction to American
and English travellers. These are fire.
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