The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1921-06-15

| WIN
school tries to counterfeit by it's disci-
pline. By having the boy there twen-
ty-four hours day, it is possible to
develop a spirit of work and play and
obedience. In the cottages the base
ment is for play Of the noisy type. The
first floor is the school" Or general
longing floor where games are played
and study. The upper floors are for
sleeping. The heavy screens on the
windows of the sleeping floors is
the only appearance of forced con-
fnement.
To me there seemed to be an atti-
ude of cooperation among the boys
to make the school a success. I was
told that they feel that the Superin-
tendent was trying to help them out
of the difficulties they are in and they
seemed to know what was necessary
on their part to get back to the life
of a law-abiding citizen. The old
guard house has been turned into a
cottage for some of the officers and
the old discipline company has been
disbanded. Yet there seems to be a
strong spirit among the boys that it
is very wrong to do wrong.
"It amt bad after you get used to
it. The new ones get homesick at
first" said one Of the lads as he was
showing me around. This is evil
denced by the fact that during the
year ending June, 1920 there were
; thirty-one boys returned by them
selves temporarily when they get
out of job or wanted help.
There are two chapels in the audi
forum, one for Protestant service
and one for Catholic. The boys have
special suits for Sunday which are
uniform but not Of military or con-
vict style.
All boys of school age attend
school one half of each day. They
| work the rest Of the day unless there
| is some sort Of game or recreation.
The work may be in the barns, in
the shops, greenhouse, band, or any
kind of work which may or may not
be vocational training. If boy had
mentality that will permit the
learning Of a good skilled trade
then he is given the chance if the
proper equipment is furnished.
| When a boy enters the place he is
given a physical examination and as
soon as possible he is given differ
ent mental tests in order to find out
what he is most likely to be best
fitted for. It is impossible to tell ex-
actly but many things are found
out so that in short time, by
changing the boy from one thing to
another, he is put into the work
where he will probably make a sue
cess. The rate Of mentality of these
boys is much lower than the average
group, so it cannot be expected to
place every one in skilled trades.
/, Yet many boys who are usually con-
sidered as very defective will have
some good special ability that will
make it possible to acquire interest
in some work and consequently turn
| his thoughts away from the way
ward life that he has been living.
Mr.. Fulton is of the opinion that
when once the boy gets interested
in some vocation his former troubles
are ended. He said
81 find that usually when a boy
gets interested in the band, his
troubles are over"
| The printing shop is well equip
ped. It prints notices and pamphlets
for the school and for many other
institutions. The work that is turned
out is as good as that of private
shops where union journalmen print
ers are employed. Boys who show
the proper attitude are put ON the
linotype machine. Some of the boys
who have gone out from this shop
| with nine months or so of training
have been put into positions paying
| Y, 1n@1 LII h
The carpentry shop boys do much
work about the institution. The shoe
shop boys repair the shoes for their
| own use. The tailor shop makes all
of the clothes that the boys wear
besides making the bed linen for the
whole school, A well equipped laun-
dry does all of their own work. The
greenhouse and garden boys raise
vegetables for the dining rooms. The
; band this summer will be made up
of thirty-fve or forty pieces.
The boys are paroled or discharg-
ed as soon as it is thought that they
can get along by themselves. If a
boy shows himself to be one that
can be trusted, he is sent back home
or given a place where he can work.
There are three parole officers who
check up on the boys and do what
they can to keep them in a school
or at some kind of work. If a boy
gets out of work or has such mis-
fortunes he may come back to the
school until he is placed somewhere
else. He is urged not to come back
unless it is absolutely necessary.
Quite number of the boys do come
back this way and are treated as
honor boys until they can be sent
out again.
According to the last report, over
one third of the boys were either
discharged or paroled before they
had been at the school more than
six months. Over two thirds of them
were there less than one year. Of
the boys on parole about one fifth
return to the institution. Part of
these came back because of I'M
suitable homes or employment.
The chronological ages of the boys
admitted range from eight to twenty
years, and their mental ages range
from seven to nineteen years. The