Milford chronicle., 1925-12-18
PLACE new YORK BOYS
ON FARMS In DELAWARE
Most OF The 1850 Provided With
Homes By R. L. Neill, Child
dren's Aid Society Agent.

asserted by Mr.. Neill.
He frequently has visited Della
ware to check up on "his boys" AM
is known to many persons dowl
state. w. ]. Bryant is representa-
tive of the Children's Aid Society a
Harrington and knows Mr.. Neil
very we'll. Referring to the retire
ment of Mr.. Neill, the New Yorl
Telegram says:
AS Robert l.. Neill retires from
twenty-five years of active work
with the Childrens Aid Society he
is receiving letter after letter from
the boys and girls for whom he has
found homes and to whom he has
given the chance at happiness de-
MED them by the accident of birth.
Since 1900 Mr.. Neill has found
homes for 1850 boys and girls. Most
of them have gone to farms and
many OF them have remained in the
country, acquiring land of their own
and becoming leading citizens of
the communities in which they were
placed.
From one of his girls Mr.. Neill
gets a letter thanking him for all
that was done for her at a period
when she was quite a freethinker"
and needed careful handling. Incl
dentally she mentions the fact that
she now has ten children. That, to
Mr.. Neill, who is still a bachelor, is
more remarkable than all the other
things his boys and girls have done.
Mr.. Neill has kept in close touch
with his children and has rejoiced
with them at weddings and births
and advances in jobs and salaries.
Like a real father he answers the
question about the success Of his
boys.
zone of them is going to be Pres
ident of the United States," he adj
mitted, just as if the boy were his
own son. HE isn't that yet, but he's
going to be-"
Some of the boys have left the
farms on which they were placed to
go to college and become preachers
or lawyers or accountants or busi-
ness men. And they all realize the
difference a home atmosphere has
made in their lives.
What we look for" Mr.. Neill ex-
planned "is a motherly woman. The
man is important, too, but we never
place a child on a farm unless we
feel the farmers wife is going to be
a good, motherly soul. The children
who are taken from institutions or
from homes where they cannot be
cared for properly need, more than
anything else, mothers care. And
that is what the Children's Aid So
ciety tries to give them"
Most of Mr.. Neill's boys and girls
have been placed in Delaware. A
certain farming section there, where
the soil is rich and the climate de-
lightful, has always wanted chill
dren. They have taken all that Mr..
Neill could supply for twenty-five
years and they still want more.
The society is careful, through
semi-annual visits, to check up on
the families where children are
placed. The agents see whether the
child is happy or not, whether it is
being properly cared for or not, and
make sure that it is not being over
worked.
Mr.. Neill has kept a record of his
1850 children, showing the percent |
age OF successes and failures, the |
amount of schooling and the final |
occupations OF each one.
The percentage, needless to say, is
strongly in favor of the successes.
The failures column of the report
has so few marks in it that it is
negligible.
Some children, after a few years
with foster parents, were returned
TO their own parents who had in the
become competent to
AXE care of them. 1t was impossible
o follow up all of those children,
)ut if they gained in health and
character while with their foster
PARENTS it has been assumed that :
hey were successes.
In listing the work of the society /
rom 1900 to 1910 Mr.. Neill has un-
arthed some interesting figures.
During those ten years 1907 depend
mt children less than 16 years old
,ere placed by the society in private
antilles. OF these, 1881 boys and 72S
iris are listed as successes. Two
and forty-three of these
id extraordinarily well, while 18
re looked upon as notable. The fail
res are held down to the small i
umber of 152. Three hundred and
lirty-iVe he found difficult to class
y. Il
eeps in Touch With Them
The society has kept in touch with
any of these children during the
hole 25 years, but those who were
turned to their parents or to in
itutions after a year or so bring
g average number of years the So
ETY. was in touch with each child
wn to nine. IN
Six hundred and forty-nine Of the
ciety's boys enlisted either in the
my or the navy during the war,
d three were killed in action.
Out of the whole number only SO
re ever arrested and only II of
ese for serious offenses.
In addition to the work with chill
en- under 16, the society has had a
ecial division for placing boys and
is Is years of age or more.
This is a unique work, think"
;. Neill said, "for the usual organ
tion interests itself only in young
children. But we have placed
Us as old as 20. OF the 861 boys
] girls placed we can class 527 as
,cesses and only SO as failures.
o hundred and forty-nine of them
too difficult to classify, but %
70 dnna VARY well and frrn have IL