The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-12
ASPECTS OF HGRTS ISLAND
THE BOYS ~ GRAY AND BLACK
AND THE PAUPER DEAD.

I.ada IN the ReformatoFy and After They
Get out Making Coed CitiEsns Sf
Doubtful Material Burial place OG
one Out - Ten % the CID's Dead.
Two years ago this summer a dog
jumped overheard from a pleasure criit
bound up Long Island Sound and swan
over 10 Harris Island. He Ia there vet.
and he IL to-day the only prisoner there
who came willingly and Who would not
jump AZ the chance 10 get away.
The more usual avenues 81 approach
arr many One night last winter a hoy.
ont for tho first Tins after late bedtime.
was afraid 10 60 home; 10 he bethought
himself Of a friend. a janitor Unfor-
tunatelv. after he had effected an en-
trance into his friends basement quarters
and found him not a. home. residents
discovered him and called the police.
The hoy vas taken up the river the next
day.
! Among the 7OO-Odd boys In gray up At
! Harris there are other late stayers- out:
there are also many bad boys: for Il Is
here that the city collects what Il culls a.
IL most undesirable Young citizens.
puts gray clothes on them and holds
them for siE months or longer No boy.
% whatever degree Of badness. may have
les than ak months Of the island
A system Of marking may eliminate
| In the required so marks in ain months
n wsll.bshaved q boy may receive 10
marks = day; n continuously 20. 30 a
month. 1. so in cir months. The normal.
average boy In not continuously well be-
haved and fines are in plenty.
Large cards listing offences and penal
ties hang about the buildinga, an ever
present warning: but boys will scrap
Just for the sake Of the scrap. and q scrap
costs sOO marks. They also work together
With the boys In black. older culprits
transferred 20 tho bFaDch Workhouss al
Harris Island. The woFkhOuss men may
smoke. tho gray boys hnd. borrow and
steal the fndings and marks, ten Of which
make = day. pile up,
The boys in gray stand together and
have formed a sort Of mutual aid society
They have made some rules and penalties
Of their own 10 help one another. Any
one guilty Of blasphemy IL fined a Diecs
Of bread. taken from his not OveFabun-
dAnt evening meal; the remainder 9f hi,
bread and even his coffee may be Loot
for the boys are In earnest.
In the schOolFOom you may see the
spectaCls u boys In their late teens Ia.
bOrioualy spelling out Of third reader
and even primers. for not only are good
had and indifferent boys Jumped togethei
but foreign and native EhElish speaking
bright and stupid
The lot II the one teacher Who ha,
had 20 cope with the patchwork attain.
meats of his hundred-Odd pupils has
not been enviabls. but the present
oversssr has oonceived the idea og train,
ing some Of the brighter and more adj
vanoed bOys % help teach the others
This haa worried well. for u not only
alloWs more breaking up into claase,
70 meet individual requirements but q
has a bsnsaciAl eject on the young
teachers.
That httla drummer boy who wen
the journey up 10 re STAND not long az
has uSt put Idle bands IN Mr. Mischief
pgoducing 8atAns way uinoa bic arrival
Tor q regular drum ougpa has basn o.
Tanigsd; smother modem % ths over
oaera. ne dFuEmog b1y found eags
and h@aluyo apt ilpupilA and tap