not very fashionable, though quite decent in their attire, are
amusing themselves with tops and balls, and, if noise is a test
of comfort, they are very happy. Ascending an outside stair,
he turns into a somewhat spacious apartment. The roof indeed is
not lathed and plastered, but there is all the more ventilation.
Everywhere, although things are homely enough, there is an air of
perfect cleanliness. Two or three excellent maps hang across and
divide the apartment, in one end of which are the boys, in the
other the girls. Let him look at either class, and what a strange
study for the physiognomist or phrenologist are the faces and
foreheads of the pupils. Some have countenances on which the traces
of very early hard life are still visible; the lines of misery are
scarcely yet effaced. There are others, free, good brows, which
give unmistakeable evidence of shrewdness and talent; but on every
face there is contentment. The teachers in both divisions are busy
at the usual lessons; but, at the stranger’s visit, the classes
are united, and an exercise is gone through by individuals of
either sex, chosen promiscuously. In the back seat there starts
up a little fellow about twelve years and a half, who, caught
half-naked, begging through the streets some fifteen months ago,
can read his Bible like the best of us; another reads a verse or
two of poetry; a third small youth, whose only occupation, till
within a year or so, was selling matches through the streets, is
proved, after trial, to be far the best speller in the place, where
there are not a few very good ones, and so on. The procedure is as
orderly, and the advancement in secular and Christian knowledge, of
these once outcast and forsaken children--now clothed and in their
right mind--is as great as in any of the best public schools; and
seems to have been _at least_ as rapid as among the children of
what are called the respectable classes of society. And now a hymn
is sung by all united, and, as they sit and sing, with folded arms
and serious looks, there is enough, whether in the whole scene, or
in the music so touchingly chanted, to send something like a tear
into the corner of the eye. This over, the ranks are marshalled,
and then pass down to the room below, where dinner waits; and,
standing silently over the homely but substantial fare, a sign is
made, when every eye is closed, and grace is said aloud. Enjoying
themselves over their humble meal, our visitor leaves them, and
heartily joins us in recommending a visit to such a scene, and
inviting public attention to the principles on which these poor
children are made what they are. The leading and moving principle
is that of kindness and love--the endeavouring by all means to
win them back to trust and confidence in the kindness and love of
teachers and friends; and looking at the interests at stake, surely
we may say that these are endeavours which a Christian public _is
bound_ to second, especially when the seconding costs so little,
and is attended, as we have seen, with so great results.
If any of the readers of our Journal would see this same wise and
humane policy exhibited in actual life, let him visit the Foster Home,
(at what is known as the Preston Retreat,) or the Children’s Home in
Moyamensing, and he will see how much seasonable care and kindness will
do, towards counteracting the downward tendencies of poverty and social
corruption. The following stanzas happily express the grand idea of
social reformation.
SPEAK TO HIM KINDLY.
Oh! speak to him kindly--the boy has a heart,
Pray think, ere you bid him in anger depart;
His tatters and rags will not darken your door;
Perhaps its not _his_ fault he’s dirty and poor!
Would you wonder to find him a rogue or a fool,
With Distress for his master--the Street for his school?--
Some feeling of pride in his bosom may beat,
Though he stands at your door without shoes to his feet.
Do you question his story, and turn on your heel?
_Starvation_ can teach him to beg and to steal;
Would you drive him to pilfer by scorn and rebuke?
Oh! a beggar has virtues as well as a duke.
Remember a man’s not the wisest and best
Because of the star that may shine on his breast:
The poorest on earth may nobility own,
And a king be a villain in spite of his throne!
Yes! there’s found in the garret again and again
A power that softens e’en poverty’s chain;
A spirit of honest endurance, that brings
More comfort than throbs in the bosoms of kings.
Then turn not away from that fatherless boy--
His soul is not dead to the feeling of joy;
A kind word on his path like the sunshine will fall,
And his dull eye light up to repay you for all.
Oh! treat him not harshly--but win if you can;
The boy in his rags will one day be a man!
That urchin before you--so haggard and pale
May live in a workhouse, or die in a jail!
But virtue and truth may be found in him still.
Then turn not aside--you may save if you will:
Can you leave him to grow up a knave or a sot,
With a home or a school not a mile from the spot?
Then speak to him kindly--’twill cost you no more--
Oh, drive him not hungry away from your door!
But give him, in pity, a morsel to eat,
A coat for his back, and some shoes for his feet.
The humble though homeless by Jesus are prized,
Remember that He was both poor and despised--
And oh! think on his words, ere impatient you be,
“_Inasmuch as ye did it to these, ’twas to Me._”
NOVEL RESIDENCE OF A DEN OF YOUNG THIEVES.--From a late London paper,
we take the following remarkable sketch of the rendezvous of a gang of
juvenile depredators. We have some such domicils, and some such tenants
of them, in our own cities.
Five ragged and filthy boys were charged with trespassing on
property belonging to the South Western Railway Company. An
officer stated, that at three o’clock, on the preceding morning,
he examined the arches under the terminus of the South Western
Railway, and observed a hole, capable of admitting a man’s body in
one of them, situated in Granby street. On looking through this
aperture he discovered the prisoners, some of whom had pipes in
their mouths, smoking, while others were talking and laughing;
and all seemed as if they were perfectly secure from discovery in
their hiding place. The moment he threw light upon the groups, they
all started upon their feet, but the arch being enclosed on all
sides, they had no opportunity of escape, and were secured without
difficulty. They had worked holes, and undermined the arch in
several places. In a hole, covered with a piece of board, he found
small parcels of coffee, sugar, pepper, candles, &c. There was
also a quantity of coals, and straw covered a portion of the ground.
The magistrate then asked the witness if he knew the prisoners? The
officer said that they had all been convicted of petty offences.
The officer of the South Western Railway said that a number of
their companions were convicted some time ago for a similar
offence, and that it cost the Company £75 to repair the arch which
they damaged by taking up their quarters in it! Seventy-five pounds
expended in good schooling, would have gone far towards making good
boys of them.
They were sentenced to imprisonment for various terms, from 25 to
40 days--probably to come out ten-fold more the children of evil
than when they went in.
CASES OF THEFT AT A SINGLE TERM ON PERTH CIRCUIT, SCOTLAND.
_No._ _Articles Stolen._ _Previous Convictions._ _Sentence._
1 A tub, 4 (1 in Justiciary) 10 years trans.
2 A pail, 5 (1 in Justiciary) 10 “
3 A purse, with 5_s._ 4 (1 in Justiciary) 10 “
4 Purse, with 1_s._ 8½_d._, and trinkets, 2 7 “
5 Silver watch and appendages, 3 7 “
6 10 lbs. lead, 4 7 “
7 Jacket, vest, cap, and boots, 3 7 “
8 Jar, pepper-box, and 2_s._ 6_d._ 2 7 “
9 Gown and pair of shoes, 5 (1 in Justiciary) 10 “
10 Quantity of soap, (1 in Justiciary) outlawed.
_Note._--The value of the articles stolen may not in all exceed £5;
there were 33 previous convictions, of which _five_ were by the
Circuit Court of Justiciary.
The investigations and trials of these ten persons must have cost
the country at least £1000, which would have thoroughly educated in
an Industrial School 200 children.
SINGULAR ASSOCIATION.--Lord Campbell tells us that he once heard
a judge at Stafford sentencing a prisoner convicted of uttering a
forged £1 note, and after having pointed out to him the enormity
of the offence, and exhorted him to prepare for another world, the
dignitary thus concluded:--“And I trust that, through the merits
and mediation of our blessed Redeemer, you may there experience
that mercy which a due regard to the credit of the paper currency
of the country forbids you to hope for here.”
FRIENDLY BENEFICIAL SOCIETIES.--There are 14,000 enrolled Friendly
Societies in England, having 1,600,000 members, an annual
revenue amounting to £2,800,000, and an accumulated capital of
£6,400,000. A still greater number of minor Friendly Societies are
not enrolled, and do not, therefore, possess the privileges and
means of self-protection enjoyed by the former. It is estimated
that there are 33,223 societies in this position in England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; having 3,052,000 members, an annual
revenue of £4,980,000, and with funds amounting to so large a
sum as £11,360,000, the praiseworthy accumulations of the purely
industrial classes. Indeed, half of the laboring male adult
population are members of beneficial societies.
DIMINISHED PAUPERISM.--It appears from a late return presented
by Mr. Baines, to the House of Commons, that there are well-nigh
26,000 fewer adult able-bodied paupers in the workhouses of
England than at the corresponding period of last year. Of paupers,
generally, no matter what their sex or age, the diminution is
somewhat more than 56,000.
INTEMPERANCE AND INSANITY.--From an article in the Scottish
Temperance Review, it appears that returns from 25 Lunatic Asylums
give 24 per cent. of cases, caused by intemperance and vice. The
total number of lunatics in England and Wales is estimated at
26,516. Of these, 6,629 were reduced to their lamentable condition
by intemperance. The sum expended in England and Wales, for the
maintenance of the insane, exceeds $3,500,000.
METROPOLITAN MORTALITY.--From a very interesting and carefully
compiled statistical table, published in the London _Medical
Times and Gazette_, on the births and deaths in the Metropolis
during the past year, it appears, that the number of births was,
39,882 males, and 37,984 females, being a total of 77,866, or
an excess of males over females of 1,898. The number of deaths
during the same period was 28,096 males, and 27,249 females, or
a total number of 55,345 deaths, being an excess of deaths of
males over females of 847, or an excess of births over deaths
of 22,517. The ages at death were from 0 to 15, 25,712; from 15
to 60, 17,999; and from 60 and upwards, 11,362. The proportion
of deaths, in 1851, to population in the several districts of
London, will be seen by the following:--In the west districts, the
population by the last census was 376,427, and the deaths in 1851
were 8,326; giving a proportion of one death to 45.2 inhabitants.
In the north district, population 490,396; deaths 10,860; or one
death to 45.1 inhabitants. In the central district, population
393,256; deaths 9.474; or one death to 41.1 inhabitants. In the
east districts, population 485,522; deaths 11,819; or one death to
41.1 inhabitants. And in the south districts, population 616,635;
deaths 14,884; or one death to 41.4 inhabitants. By a comparison of
the above with the former year 1850, it will be observed that the
births have increased, in 1851, by 2,554, and the deaths by 6,775.
In 1850, the excess of births over deaths was 26,738; while in
1851, it was only 22,517, being a decrease of 4,221. The deaths at
the age of 0 to 15 have increased over those of 1850 by 4,341; at
the age from 15 to 60, by 1,634; and from 60 and upwards, by 780.
THE GREAT WASHED!--During 1851, there were 213,485 bathers
at the baths and washhouses establishment, situated in St.
Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London; the receipts amounted to £3,437
17_s._ 9_d._ There were 50,290 washers: the number of hours’
washing was 103,836; and the receipts under this head were £499
14_s._ 1_d._ So at “the Model,” in Whitechapel, there were during
the same period 156,310 bathers, with £2,143 7_s._ 8_d._, receipts.
There were 43,462 washers, who washed for 98,824 hours, and paid
£513 1_s._ 2_d._ Taking the Metropolis generally, which as yet
yields us reports but of five establishments, of which one was
opened on the 2nd of September, we find that during the past year,
there were 647,242 bathers, who paid in all £9,141 8_s._ 6_d._;
and 132,251 washers, who paid £1,498 19_s._ 2_d._ The sum of the
combined receipts is £10,640 7_s._ 8_d._ The country returns yield
similar results for the periods during which the establishments
have been opened to the public.
The most remarkable indication of the state of trade in Birmingham
during the past year, is to be derived from the savings of the
working classes. These are shown in various ways. The accounts of
the savings’-bank for the year 1851, although not yet published,
are made up, and it appears that during the last twelve months,
there has been an increase of 1,025 depositors, and of upwards of
£20,000 in deposits. The aggregate amount of deposits, as will be
shown by the report when it appears, is close upon £400,000. But
this is not all. There are numerous Freehold Land and Building
Societies in Birmingham, and not less than £70,000 has been paid by
the artizans of Birmingham into their various treasuries.
SCOTCH PRISONS.--The Twelfth Report of the Commissioners of the Prisons
of Scotland, shows that the average number of persons in custody in the
prisons of that kingdom, in 1850, was 2990 against 3143 in 1849. The
total expenditure on prison account for the last year was $220,000.
CHARITIES IN LONDON.--Taking the whole of London, and not exempting
from the account such as may be correctly classed as metropolitan
institutions, as Greenwich Hospital, &c., there are no less than
491 charitable institutions, exclusive of mere local endowments
and trusts, parochial and local schools, &c. These charities
comprise--12 general medical hospitals; 50 medical charities
for special purposes; 35 general dispensaries; 12 societies and
institutions for the preservation of life and public morals; 18
societies for reclaiming the fallen and staying the progress of
crime; 14 societies for the relief of general destitution and
distress; 12 societies for relief of specific descriptions of want;
14 societies for aiding the resources of the industrious (exclusive
of loan funds and savings-banks); 11 societies for the deaf and
dumb, and the blind; 103 colleges, hospitals, and institutions
of almshouses for the aged; 16 charitable pension societies;
74 charitable and provident societies, chiefly for specified
classes; 31 asylums for orphan and other necessitous children;
10 educational foundations; 4 charitable modern ditto; 40 school
societies, religious books, church-aiding, and Christian visiting
societies; 35 Bible and missionary societies; showing a total of
491 (which includes parent societies only, and is quite exclusive
of the numerous “auxiliaries,” &c.). These charities annually
disburse, in aid of their respective objects, the extraordinary
amount of £1,764,736, of which upwards of £1,000,000 is raised
annually by voluntary contributions; the remainder from funded
property, sale of publications, &c.
PRISON AT ATHENS.--The following description of an Athenian prison is
extracted from a letter of an American citizen, (Rev. Dr. Jonas King,)
whose name is doubtless familiar to most of our readers as associated
with a very extraordinary exercise of arbitrary power.
_In the Prison of Athens, called Medrese, 9th March, 1852._
I am now in prison, and my name is inscribed among the vilest
malefactors of Greece, in a book kept for the purpose, in which the
names of all who enter are written, with the age, description of
their person, and the crime of which they have been guilty. Mine
is that of preaching the word of God. That of two others here in
chains, is the murder of seventeen persons.
The prison is called Medrese, which is a Turkish word meaning
school; and this is so called, because it was formerly used by
the Turks as a school. Besides myself, there are one hundred and
twenty-five persons. A few days since there were one hundred and
eighty. These occupy eleven small rooms, eight of which are about
ten or eleven feet square, in each of which are from eight to
twelve persons. The other three rooms are perhaps two or three
times as large, and in each are confined twenty-five persons. From
these facts you can judge of the accommodations enjoyed here.
Most of them have no beds on which to sleep, and some not very
warmly clad. It is enough to make one’s heart ache to see them.
The sight of them made me feel that my trials and troubles were
small.--Decent looking men, and the vilest malefactors; men not yet
tried, and who are perhaps innocent, and those who have already
been condemned for piracy, rape, and murder; the youth who has
committed perhaps his first crime, or no crime at all; and those
who have grown old in iniquity, and whose consciences are seared as
with a hot iron, are here crowded together in one common mass, from
which proceeds an odor by no means agreeable, even now when the
weather is cool, and which as the weather grows warm, must become
intolerable. And just think of sleeping in a little room, about ten
feet square, with ten or eleven others locked in with you for the
night, and only a small window in the door for air, and one by the
side of it for light, darkened by its thick heavy iron gates, and
looking upon a small court within.
It is scarcely credible that a country so closely associated with
the most enlightened kingdoms of Europe, as Greece, and a city so
conversant with modern improvements in municipal economy as Athens,
should be open to the reproach of such folly and cruelty, as this
paragraph discloses.
DOMESTIC.
NEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM.--The annual report of this
institution for the year 1851, furnishes the following facts: At
the commencement of the year there were 429 patients in the asylum;
366 have been added, and 357 discharged during the year; of whom
112 were recovered, 15 much improved, 51 improved, 13 unimproved,
and 45 died. The number in the asylum at the date of the report was
425, of whom 220 were males, and 215 females. Of those admitted
during the year, the greatest number were between the ages of 25
and 30 years. Of the causes of derangement, the chief is stated to
be intemperance, the number of patients from this cause now in the
asylum being 44 males and 1 female.
EMIGRATION.--The commissioners of emigration of New York, in a recent
report to the legislature, state, that at the port of the city of New
York alone, there arrived during the year 1851, 289,601, of whom there
were natives of Ireland, 163,256; Germany, 69,883; other countries,
56,462; making an increase of 75,998 over the preceding year. The
emigrants from Ireland exceed the whole number from other countries by
36,911. Of these, 85,000 were in a condition which required aid, being
either sick or paupers.
It is stated in the public prints, (and we have seen no contradiction
of it,) that a single Irish nobleman secured a passage to our shores of
nineteen hundred persons, at the rate of £2 per head, and ten shillings
on their arrival.
BOSTON CITY MARSHAL’S REPORT.--By the annual report of the marshal
of the City of Boston, we learn that the whole number of robberies
reported at the marshal’s office during the year 1851, was 562;
amount of property lost and stolen, $44,418; amount of property
recovered and restored to owners, $26,131. The whole number of
complaints and arrests was 5,449, among which were, for larceny,
625; drunkenness, 1,465. Of the whole number of arrests made, 1,110
were minors. There have been 969 complaints made to the Grand
Jury, growing out of the sale of intoxicating liquors; and fines,
exclusive of costs, collected, amounting to $12,474; and 36 have
been imprisoned in the House of Correction, for different periods,
amounting in all to more than 10 years. The number who apply at
the marshal’s office for charity is very large, and all who were
really deserving have had their wants supplied by that department,
from a fund which is the proceeds of stolen and unclaimed goods,
an accurate account of which has been kept. “There is no greater
imposition practised,” says the report, “than the system of begging
and soliciting charity. We have now in the office a large number
of written and printed papers which have been taken from these
impostors; and from one person we took _twenty-one_.”
HEALTH OF THE BOSTON FARM SCHOOL.--The following remarkable
statement respecting the health and the mortality of the boys
connected with the Farm School, on Thompson’s Island, in Boston
harbor, is made on the authority of Robert Morrison, Esq., the
Superintendent.
The number of boys in the school, June 1, 1851, was 85; January 1,
1850, 89; January 1, 1851, 97. The present number is 94, several
having been recently sent to places in the country. No death has
occurred on the island since August, 1845; which is the only time
when a physician has been sent for on account of sickness among the
boys, for nearly ten years!
Under Providence, we consider this, in some measure, owing to a
healthy location, a simple but wholesome diet, exercise in the open
air, and good ventilation.
The average number of boys in the school, for several years, has
not been far from 80.
BOSTON PAUPERISM.--The Annual Report of the Boston Society for the
Prevention of Pauperism, estimates the cost of pauperism to that
city, in 1840, at $43,454; in 1845, $45,000; and in 1850, $111,905!
It also states that in the past five years, the native American
paupers have decreased about 37 per cent., while foreign paupers,
supported by the city, have increased about 150 per cent.
MAINE STATE PRISON.--When the State of Maine was about to erect a
new Penitentiary a few years ago, the commissioners were disposed to
recommend the separate system as decidedly preferable on every ground,
except that it costs more at first, and may not yield so large a profit
on convict labor. By the last report of the commissioners, we observe
that of the whole number of convicts, (eighty-four,) about one-half
are employed in making shoes--a business quite as profitably pursued
in seclusion as in association. Basket-making furnishes employment
to such as, from age or infirmity, are unable to perform hard labor,
and this also might be as well done in a cell. As to the finances of
the institution, a special committee of the legislature, appointed
to investigate its affairs says, “they cannot give any definite
information,” but they portentously intimate, (what time will probably
reveal,) that if revenue is a prominent object in the management of the
prison, it will be defeated. “For any losses which may accrue to the
State,” say the commissioners, “we attach no blame to any former warden
or officer of the prison, for any neglect or want of care, but believe,
the loss arises from the universal credit system which has been too
prevalent in our State.” “We certainly hope so,” says a leading
newspaper, “for it is high time the State were realizing more from the
prison economy than it has yet done.”
We wish this notion of making penitentiaries a source of profit could
be eradicated, or absorbed in the higher and more important objects
of making them the means of instructing the minds of convicts,
softening their asperities, correcting their false views, elevating
their motives, and counteracting the corrupt influences by which they
have been surrounded. These humane purposes cannot be answered to any
considerable extent under any system, save that of _separation_, and
it is from this conviction, and not from any pride or pertinacity of
opinion, that we advocate the universal adoption of that principle.
THE MARYLAND PENITENTIARY.--By the report made to the Maryland
Legislature, it appears the receipts of the institution, during the
last year, do not equal its expenses by the sum of $9,302 78. The
average deficiency in the receipts for the last four years has been
89,267 63, and the aggregate deficiency for the same period 37,070
54. Various causes are stated for this deficiency--the unequal
competition which the manufacturers of the prison have to sustain
with those made by more improved machinery--the loss of time and
labor consequent on the necessity of teaching the most of the
convicts their employments--the prejudices which are entertained
against the prison manufactures, and the difficulty of selling
them at remunerating prices, being the principal causes to which
it is to be attributed. The number of persons received into the
penitentiary during the year was 119; discharged by expiration of
sentence during the year 44; pardoned during the year 18.
POOR AND INSANE OF RHODE ISLAND.--Thomas R. Hazard, Esq.,
commissioner to inquire into the condition of the public poor and
insane of Rhode Island, made his report to the Legislature at its
late session. In fifteen towns in the State, asylums for the poor
are maintained. In sixteen towns, not having asylums, the poor
are put to persons who will keep them for the lowest sum, or are
boarded out by contract. The average cost for each individual per
annum, in the asylums, is $51.50; for each individual, per annum,
of the latter class, $45.60.
The average number of poor, supported in asylums, is 500; all
others, 229; total, 729. Whole cost of supporting the poor,
including interest on cost of asylums, $51,003.23. Insane persons
in Rhode Island, 282. Idiots and imbeciles, 136. Blind, 60. Deaf
and dumb, 64.
RHODE ISLAND INSANE HOSPITAL.--We have not been favored with Dr. Ray’s
last report, but we learn from other sources, that of 54 patients
discharged, during the year, 36 were cured, and 8 improved. There were
16 deaths. Of 420 insane persons in the State, only 180 are enjoying
the advantages of Hospital treatment.