The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1911-08-18
"A NOVEL INSTITUTION.
MARYLAND RefOrmatOry Deals Sue
cessfully With Incorrigible OOIorei
BOYS.

Ou6 Oh Lie uuG6L CQulPpCu duu UCSb
managed institutions In the United
Tor Colored Boys, at Cheltenham,
Prince Georges County, Maryland.
This institution is the only lone ~Df
Its kind In the United States, and in
addition to the boys committed to its
it In used by the United States gov
eminent for minors who have been
convicted i'm the United States Court
and for whose care they pay quite
literally.
a conscientious effort is made to
reform these boys and equip them for
some future work In life after their
discharge from the institution, which
ID much more preferable than ,confln-
ing them In jail or penetentiary, and
thus making them confirmed GRIMM
ais.
With a review of the causes for
which many of the boys were com
mitted to this reformatory, ii could
be better understood the kind of ma
terial upon which the officers OF the
school have to work. Had not the
youthful years of majority OF these
inmates been considered, they no
doubt would have been sentenced to
serve terms in jail or perhaps the
State Penetentiary, where their youth
full minds would have been contami-
mated by daily associations with the
hardened criminals, whose only am
bition-in a vast number OF cases
it, to boast of the degrading and sin
full acts of their past lives.
Persons who take an active interest
in reformatory work and consequent
~ the future welfare of degraded,
dishonest, incorrigible, vicious or
unfortunate youths, who from time to
time are committed 10 and discharged
from this and kindred institutions,
occasionally ask the question: What
good is being accomplished; are the
boys better when discharged than
when they are entered; has the COM
munity received an equivalent for the
expense requisite for their support"
During the past twenty years, this re-
formatory has taken from the midst
of the people over thirty-one hundred
boys who we're being educated in
crime through the low haunts Of filth
and iniquity by which many OF them
were surrounded, dishonest and de-
grading habits, being their constant
avocation.
On receiving boys into this institu-
ton, a general history of their past
lives is recorded with the offences for
which they have been committed
They are Invested of their dirty
clothes, given bath, 1tted out with
new under-clothes, and two suits of
the regular uniform, one suit for ev-
cry day use and the other for Sunday
and special occasions, such as gener-
al inspection, company drill and pa
rade. The boy is then examined to
determine his mental and moral
standing, his general temperament,
which governs his treatment, and his
aptitude for labor, which governs his
assignment. He must be under the
eye of an officer at all times and
watched continuously, restrained or
encouraged as the case may require
Habits of the past must be discontin-
ued and new ideas cultivated. 1t be-
comes necessary therefore to study
the individuality of each of the in
mates, to note his weak points in or
der to administer such discipline as
will favorably impress the mind OF
the boy and make him realize that
the restraining influence put forth in
this reformatory is for his individual
good.
The school has at present over
three hundred colored boys, ranging
in age from seven to twenty one
years, and all in good health and
condition. All the boys are given the
rudfments of an education, such as
reading, writing and arithmetic, but
no attempt is made towards an ad-
Yanced education. These are taught
some useful trade for which they are
fitted, but not such as to put them in
competition with the skilled mechan-
lie. Their training il with the view
of placing them on farms, where
they are always in demand. This in
cludes cultivation of the soil, black
smithing, wheel-wrighting, and for
the smaller boys who are unable to
do other manual labor, chair Gaming
and Recommending.
The superintendent and his assist
ants always endeavor to assign boy
to the industrial branch or the insti-
tuition in which he Is most capable OF
making a success. The more success
full they are the more contented they
are. Boys, like men, never succeed i'm
performing duty which does not in
terest them. While one would sue
coed at Recommending, he might per-
hapS fail at black-smithing or some
other industry. All boys are requir-
ed to engage in some kind of manual
labor, four and one-half hours daily,
also to spend an equal number OF
hours fn school when schools are OBJ
en-. The older and the larger OF the in
mates-whose physical condition war
rant-are assigned to the farm, the
most important industry In the insti-
tuition. From the products OF the
farm, the school depends to a very
large extent for supplying it's in
mates and officers with food. This
being a necessity, large number OF
inmates are detailed to this important
branch.
The reformatory farm consists OF
about eight hundred well kept acres
During the summer months most o1
the boys are occupied In farming and
trucking pursuits, giving them plenty
OF good exercise in the open air, while
the results OF their work are shown
In the beautiful, clean fields of corn
tomatoes, beans and other articles
needed for use at home or sold out
side.
The smaller of the boys are doing
the work in the various departments
Of the institution, either broom-mak-
Ing, cooking, baking, tailoring, shoe
making, black-smithing carpentering
painting, as walters in the several
dining rooms, In the laundry, or do
inc the necessary hOuge-WOrR in NM