Year: 1871

THE REFORM AND INDUSTRIAL


SCHOOL FOR GIRLS AT WHITE


SULPHUR SPRINGS, OHIO.


Communicated to the Delaware Gazette.1


A clear understanding of any subject
is always necessary to a rightly devel-
opcd love and interest in that subject.
And as we believe that every citizen of
Ohio should be interested in this late
benevolent enterprise in behalf Of wo-
man, "The Girls Reform and Industrial
School, we fear enough has not been
written on the subject, that there is not
correct understanding of its general
workings and design, as well as the sue
cess that is surely crowning the efforts Of
those into whose hands it was committed.
This enterprise the voluntary outgrowth
of that enlightened benevolence which
has by its rapid progress. under such exc
cutive administration as we move njoy,
marked the development of our State in
the last few years in such a pre-eminent
degree, must surely have had a very
vigorous infancy and its young life been
deeply laid in the affections of those
having it in charge, or It would never
have out-lived the assaults of open
enemies and professed friends that have
been made from time to time upon it.
And these, on the other hand, surely
failed to read Alright, or appreciate the
great first principle Of Ts101Us developed
at its birth, whose fruits viii not only
crown and bless the coming years, but
the ages of eternity will reap its rich
blessings in redeemed womanhood.
The migrating benevolent institution
of this kind, or any kind, onto a fash
tionable summer resort, necessarily in
volved difficulties. And these, in first
starting the machinery in motion, were
very prejudicial to those having it in
| charge, and gave rise to the many
prophecies of failure that were rife the
| first few months of its existence. And
then came the notable action of our last
winters Legislature, seeming TO ignore
even the very life of the poor little feeble
thing, paralyzing for months the efforts
of its friends, and retarding materially
| the progress of one of the noblest enter
| prises ever started in our State. But
kkat, which had struggled up to light,
was an immortal good that was to tell on
the future of woman, it was in His keep
/ ing and they could not strangle It or
thus quietly push it off the boards of
existence But history holds in its
record their action, and will take care of
this 'cJEiZas j6LaY" of the Fifty-nint
General Assembly of the State Of Ohio.
This Industrial School has been in
| operation more than a year, and to those
who have marked its successive stages


of development, amid the trying ordeal
through which it has passed, cannot but
wonder at the rapid progress it has made,
/ i-order gradually coming out of con-
fusion, and pleasant home me-atmosphere
pervading everywhere.


Sixty three young girls, representing
every part of the State, and every age
! from six to sixteen, have been gathered
in from cold and neglect into this warm
! home, many of them realizing for the
! first time that there were those on earth
/ who cared for them many for the first
time drinking into their famished little
souls the full meaning of the words
Mother and Home" and all feeling
the sweet influence of loves sunshine,
and that beautiful rainbow of promise
/ that tells of better life, once unknown,


but now possible to them.


| The Trustees read Alright. that woman


alone can redeem woman, and that
! through the affections And in finding


a Matron to preside over and pioneer
this infant institution to a successful


future, they wisely chose one that had a
! Hea1z,--one that could be a mother in


the deepest sense of that word. They


well knew how uninviting was this field,


with its weeds and briers,-its roses to


be gathered only in the far-off future.


For It may be an easy matter to hold to


our hearts, and care for, the children
God has given US, but to open the arms
| to these little outcasts of society, to hold


out and feel a m0tkey'S koUe for these


waits gathered in from life's highways


and hedges, has in it the elements of a


moral power and. beauty not born OF


earth. The Matron is this mother.


The old ballroom, where once merry
i young feet danced away the glad hours,


has been changed into school room


and chapel, dedicated anew to the nobler


purpose of lifting up the moral and in
tellectual natures of these poor little
neglected ones into a new and higher


life. And when we listen, at the sound


of the chapel bell, to the Little fastening
feet that have taken the place of those


that once hurried to the dance, we vii


not say who are the most blest to-day
these or they. They, the favored chill
dren of wealth that often carries within


it subtitle poison as deadly as any thai


poverty distills; these, His poor, the





, and care.


Many have taken up the idea tha
: none but the vicious and corrupt arr
sent here; that it is a kind Of secone
Penitentiary for depraved females. 1hI:
, is mistake, which their very ages
f would contradict Rather would We
: style it simply an Industrial Schools
family of neglected, wayward children
: who need turning to the right, whose
sad inheritance should be their only
: 6yaRd For numbers come here for nC
other crime than that of being poor
are sent to save them from that which
) is inevitable in the life of neglect and
f exposure in which they are found. AND
one of the beautiful systems of order IN
: rroduced, is the entire protection afforded
this class from any communicating in
: huences of those older and more cor
rupt in life And this is accomplished
! too, while permitting the most perfec
= freedom of intercourse, which gives e
: these older ones all the benefit of thi
} pure atmosphere of innocence ant
r youth. The school is divided into fam
t lies, each of which is under the imme
: diate care of one teacher, supervising
r their work and mingling in their hour
S Of recreation; the whole uniting in tn
a school room under one or the other of th'
: teachers, and at night occupying sepa


rate rooms, rendering it almost lmpos
e sible for unhealthy influences to Prevai
to any great extent.
!, How much we have enjoyed wheI
D gathered in school or chapel to watcl
i these young faces How pleasant, bu
I'll SIN how sad the study For on ever,
n one is stamped some trace Of neglect 0
II sin. Poverty has written its name OF


many pinched-up little face, and III


sad past given to many a bright ey


there an anxious undertook, that seem
:, to be peering out into the dark futur
a and asking, "Who win love and car
n for me there :" We see in many a saJ