The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-12-18
onAisrMAs IN NEW YORK CITY.
How The Various Charity Organizations
La..A IN TIA Halliday.


dosn aud iish and poor. high aud lowly
anlle ~ the work 81 making Isal ioF ll.s
childteh 81 the metropolis the most
lsopslot aud gigantic Santa Claus "a
Ahnsiehdoin. That the spinl Vt nlrlids
may hot 50 10 waste, but that out ol all
BIC socd cheer aud generous heafieslnss.
be most bsneiil may come, there have
hem established all sorts II undertaking.
TO cafv Tor the unioit unaie--'e contact
points as the social worker calls them
A d're,oTy published by the Charity or
sanisallon society gives the number which
may properly Is Included IN The let AZ
stu, but a. a matter at fact, the con
tact points" IN greater New York arv
nearer 10000, Each has ils special mis-
slon with which Il bushes iiseli 81 weeks
IA the year; tu, on the odd day VI the
jas all energies ate devoted 10 the same
end, Whether II he a PRISON association
or Tree kindergarten, hospital or a
fresh air ehanly, a day nursery, a luye.
nile asylum, a legal aid society or one Of
the variety Of educational oeniers, clubs
and schools, each onlerpIlse Tor the bet
tefment Of mankind becomes ON Christ
mas a distributing station for the I'M
mensc dynamic force oi happiness that
might otherwise amount 20 little better
than laundering good will. Allowing an
average OF i've workers for each OF the
contact points and this j. low esii'
maie-lhen are SQ,0oa individuals en-
ployed IN specially directing the Christ
mas spirit OF Gotham.
Christmas, Of course. u primarily the
children's day. hut entirely apart from
the desire TO give holiday cheer 10 host
Of boys and girls TO many Of whom little
other happiness ever comes, there h a
very serious reason Tor the constant work
a. al .ttans tkE
| juveniles. From the youngsters Of today
will be developed the men and women OF
tomorrow, and sociologsts agree that IN
the work OF lettering mankind an ounce
Of prevention Is worth many pounds oil
cure. Children being IN the formative
state am more easily nodded than their
parents, who often are 80 lar broken IN
spirit and 20 discouraged rs TO make i'm
possible more than slight improvement,
Yet in city where 70 much Is TO he
done as here complete success cannot he
hoped for from prevention alone. Many
of the children OF the slums asslmilate
evil from their surroundings in spite OF
all that can be done TO help them
against themselves. Sooner or later they
commit an offence against law and ORDER
many times only minor offence but
still one that society cannot overlook Tor
It's good or theirs. Then they pass IRON
the world OF freedom into a land OF cap
tiyity whittier also find their way scores
of youthful unfortunates who, innocent oil
any wrongdoing themselves, must ID pro.
tected against cruel or neglectiul parents
or rescued from the demorallzlng iniiu'
ences of bad family associations.
Cniously enough, however, the human
mites who have come into this estate oil
restraint through the juvenile court are
among the hapipest OF New Norks tene-
ment children at Christmas time, and Tor
that matter, during all the rest OF the
wear. AT least, this surely Is true OF
those who find themselves in one OF the
institutions which have adopted modern
Informative methods for young delin-
quents, and have moved out INTO the
country where wholesome AR and God
sunshine work miracles in human nature
that were impossible in the cramped
prisonlike quarters of other days that at
their best could not keep the little feet |
from straying on the pavements. Il
Perhaps the most famous institution OF
this sort in the country is the children |
village of the New York juvenile asylum
at Dobbs Ferry. Here there are 10 cot, /
tages in a tract of 300 acres OF fields and
woodland, and in each cottage ~ children
await the coming of Santa Claus with an
interest as keen and wholesome as that
III
this model village range IN age from
three years to IS, two of the cottages be-
ing given exclusively to the use OF chill
dren under six. The colony now numbers
800 little people, and as fast as funds are
obtained for the work, other houses will
be built until a thousand youngsters can
be cared for.
Anything approaching real Christmas
is new to these children OF the streets
and slums. Last year some OF them were
selling papers late into the night, eating
pedder and sleeping in dirty tenement
room or on the sidewalk where little
comfort was to be found by one who
cured his weary body on the grating over
some warm cellarway. AT the village
Christmas eve will be spent before big
open fires in the living rooms OF the cot
tages. with games, corn popping, laughter
and excited anticipation OF the morrow.
Dawn will find each villager, snugly
tucked in a small white bed which he, has
come to call his own, and the rising hour
viii mark the beginning of a round OF
Jun. An entertainment, in which the
noys take part, and the distribution OF
presents is scheduled for the forenoon.
After that there is to be genuine, old
fashioned Christmas dinner with turkey
md fxins" and in the afternoon there
will be more presents for some. since
friends and relatives have been invited
10 share the festivities, coming on spe-
,ial train from the city, 20 miles away.
,mnty handed, for many gifts have been
fashioned by the boys working spare mo-
nents in the trades shops, or have been
Fought with the merit money 1T is posi- 8
ale for a lad to earn by exemplary con-
luct. The amount seems small-a cent
or nerfect conduct and satisfactory prog, !
,ess in studies, but that it is given at al {
: characteristic of the methods OF the {
modern asylum. There are no harsh re- {
,ressive methods for forcing boys INTO
ertain mold, but all along the line they |
re- stimulated toward excellence and en-
outraged to develop individuality, to be
lappy and healthy, in short to be }ust
,orrma1 children. Punishment is the last
esort to be used after denial OF priv
eoes incident to good behavior, such, as f
Individual bed rooms, and greater freedom Y
Two ' things are ardently desired by ,ev- r
nv boy at the village for Christmas Day. =
these are fine snow on the MUS aoolI t
n the citv these things were of little con S
eouence since the opportunity to, ENJOY ]
hem was absent. Now, however, former :
treet bows have become country iads S
III, keen love for outdoor sports which t
h le,l are given every opportunity to en- en- p
w. w. The best that the, village does Tor n
S charges when they have been made aad $
yer and fitted with healthy bodies and s
,inos is to send them west, where upon
arms arms thew are freed once for all of the f
Wis 1iisi' Of the city environment. Some 1000 S
b;Idren have thus far been assisted in "
h;s wav. and the records for those who e
avs been placed on farms since the asy- p
I'm I'M changed over to the village type sew a
raj years ago show that all but frac, e