New Britain herald., 1927-04-09

go out and steal. said Miss BRISTOL.
No child is born bad" said Miss
BRISTOL. adding that II they IRE
trained properly they will turn out
all right She stated that feeble
minded children come to her atten-
ton at times and they must be
trained very carefully.
An almost complete record of
every child is handed to the 'udge
each Saturday morning when court
starts so that he is familiar with
the habits. shortcomings, home In
fiuence and other factors in the
youngsters life before he is haled
before the court
Valentines Funeral
Miss BRISTOL related several in
terestirg stories in connection with
her work. One OF them concerned
five boys, the oldest IA years OF age,
who decided to so TO New York and
see Rudolph Valentines funeral. One
of the five stole some money from
his father. while another, more
thoughtful. asked his mother If he
might see Valentines funeral.
The mother, who has large fam
ily. was busy at the time and took
II for granted that he wished TO go
TO the movies. SO she thoughtlessly
said. IT you can get the money. go
on. ! haven't any to give you" The
boy considered that permission
fo1l l,, h<,
and his friends played hockey from
school and rode part way TO New
York by train. They "bummed
rides the remainder of the distance
OF course they did not see funer.
al. but they had very exciting
day. Since they did not have money
enough to buy regular meal they
bouhgt crullers at a bakery and
got along very nicely.
When they started for home they
were not as successful in securing
auto rides az they had been on the
trip to the Big City. Two boys fin
ally decided, after tramping some
time, that they would remain in
New Haven, They had great diff
Guilty in finding a veranda to sleep
on or under and they were finally
picked up by the police and detain-
ed over night. Their parents were
notified and brought them home
the following day.
With the exception Of the child
who stole the m oney there was moth
ing particularly vicious about the
case, Miss BRISTOL said. The theft
was the first one for that particular
child. All Of them were quite ade-
quately reprimanded by their par
ents. so the probation officer felt
an added reprimand from her
would be sufficient. The case was
rot brought into court.
Hunger Made Him Steal
The case of boy who stole be-
cause he was hungry was also re-
cited by Miss BRISTOL The case was
brought to her attention when sew
eral complaints came in that the
boy had been stealing. An investi-
CATION resulted and 1t was found
that the parents had been In police
court for drunkenness and immoral
conduct and that the boy had been
shunted around from place TO place.
He admitted that he had been steal
ing, but he said he stole because he
was hungry and wanted food.
This was found 10 be true. The
child received no food at home and
the father had instructed the grocer
to give him none. much against that
worthys objections. The probation
officer felt that the child was too
Young to be too severely condemned
for stealing money. with which 70
buy things to eat. under the cir
cumstances.
II was decided that he needed
different environment, so a home
was found for him in Hartford and
the father was ordered to pay for
his support The child stayed about
a week and then he left, returning
20 New Britain. He was rounded up
and another home was found for
him. He left that place also within
a short time. The next time 1t wa.
decided to obtain a home in New
Britain for him, the officials heliev-
ing that he was HON esick and that
II he could be In a familiar locality
things would be Strengthened out
lie started to play hockey and he
finally went away for two days.
When he was next heard from he
had been stealing money for food.