The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-01-23

to be returned.
Mrs. Marshall's Plan.
Mrs. Marshall has worked out some
rules that she has found practical in
placing girls after their release from
the school. Where the girls own
home is a suitable place for her to be,
she is sent back to her parents after
her parole; otherwise, she is provided
for in other places. Every girl who is
placed in a home not her own, receives
wages, and none of them are put where
they are kept for their board only.
Mrs. Marshall encourages them in saw
ing. by having them open bank ac-
count as soon as they have earned
little money. Another rule of the school
is that girl who marries without per-
mission of the parole officer. should be
returned to the school This. of course,
is a problem which the parole officer
for the girls has to face much oftener
than the officer for the boys school.
rs it not better Mrs Marshall was
asked, that girl should be sent back
home if it is at all possible?"
THAT depends entirely on the kind of
home she has. If her home is not what
it should be, it is worse than useless to
send her back to it. 1t is like taking
pig out of mudhole. cleaning it up
and throwing it back into the puddle.
Il am the mother of two daughters,
Mrs. Marshall continued, land I have
always taken a great interest in girls.
1 have been able, by using what tact
have, and in serious. kindly converse
ton with the girls in my charge.
to learn something of their inner
there. 1 have found that in many
cases. the blame is entirely with de-
generate parents. In one case the
father of one of those girls was SO low
| that the school was her protection
from him. learned from her own lips
her reason for refusing to return to him
after she was paroled.
Parents to Blame.
IT have found among the chief rea-
sons why girls drift into the kind of
life that brings them to the industrial
school, first, divorce. When parents
separate. the children are almost al
ways neglected, and sometimes cast OF
entirely. Lack of religious teaching is
another factor in their case. A few of
them are abnormal. the children of de-
generate parents. Many of them
would call sub-normal but Offering
good hope of becoming useful women.
In some cases, the results of poverty
bring them there. They are brought up
In bad neighbOrhOOds, and amid sur
roundinss that are detrimental to clean
illness and common decency in home
life. Others come from fairly good
homes but have fallen into bad COM
pany. And there are some who are all
right, except that they have been
showed off into the hands of the state
| by parents who didn't care enough for
them to support them.
Keep Away From Boys.
In finding homes for the girls am
often asked if l can guarantee good
conduct on their part. 1 always say
that cannot guarantee that they will
be well behaved. If there was any
possibility of being sure that they
would do well, the care that is given
to their life under parole would be
unnecessary. I never place girls In
homes where there are boys or young
men near their age. and l take every
precautiOn to see that the members
of the family where the girls are sent,
would do nothing to hinder them in
an effort to keep straight
Previous to the establishment of the
provision for a parole officer, no ade-
quate record of paroled students was
kept, and the chances Of their drifting
back to the same life from which they
had been taken, were ten to one. That
meant that the school could not do all
| that 1t might do for the reformation of
its inmates. and it meant constant ex-
pense of returning those who lapsed
from good behavior, before final dis
missalS
Mrs. Marshall, who is the pioneer in
this work for Kansas, has been active
! in club and welfare work for q good
many years, and was one of the most
efficient and active workers for suf-
! frage in the campaign of 1911.
!