*P*. *at a "onr wunión las e tone wong or ar” Ani jeen në endefence hat he is stift mat the law fone *ng and might ʼn make truer Press. There are many Wher things that I might w It s 1 meet vien las 10 Limit. I ' I n be understood that so far as the work ď placing ont and reiting is ennesmet, we profess a to mat Choroughly. it zon maat 18. 3on will ind that we have tus system in moreastal operation.

Dr. Faurea Causing: It seems to me that what we need is a efficient espes of derai mgumce. That is what the bearing ont enten tecenia icon. When each child can he visited, then it *.. e 1 WCPPRA. But people take onildren for a very low price, the wint to make all they can out of them. Therefore t For; lirea & Jery large amount of vigilance. That is the Effekty of placing the insane in private dwellings. When the insane are in large institutions, we can apply the necessary vigilance. I would say, further, that the mccess of institutions depends very much ngon the personal eharacter of the superintendents. At the Reformatory Prison at Sherborn, for instance, the officers are of a superior order, and from that arises in part the great success of that institution. Of course the character of an institution depends more or less upon the character of the persons who compose it; but the success of the institution will after all be vitally affected, for good or bad, by the controlling spirit.

Mr. Loomis, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.: I merely desire to present a matter in the hope that it will elicit some criticism. I shall read what I have prepared, quoting a part of a circular soon to be isaned in the name of some leading citizens of the Hudson River Valley, concerning the Hudson River Industrial School for Girls:

We desire to call the attention of our benevolent citizens to the fact that in the greater part of the State of New York, there is no institution corresponding to the Reform Schools for Boys, or to the Industrial Schools for Girls, which have for years been established in nearly every Northern State. To meet this great need—first, for the Hudson river counties-it is proposed to erect at some central point in the valley, as the funds may be given us for that

irpose, a number of cottage homes, each under the charge of a atron and teachers, to which poor exposed and neglected girls of e following classes may be committed for such unsectarian, but ligious education, and discipline, as shall prepare them to be ansferred by the managers to respectable families for self-support. 1st. Those for whom homes must be provided under the act for e prevention of cruelty to children.

2d. Those who are now being brought up in beggary, or who y the neglect or crime of their parents, are exposed to a career of ice, under the laws against truancy and vagrancy.

3d. All the younger and more hopeful of those who are arrested y the criminal officers of the district, for petty offences, and who ught to be spared the contaminating influences of the juvenile risons.

Ten thousand dollars will found one of our cottage homes, and vill provide accommodation for about twenty-five young girls. Several of the homes of the Connecticut institution were founded by the individuals whose names they bear. It is desired to begin the undertaking by the erection of three of these homes and of a central building for general purposes. It is proposed that pledges shall be conditioned upon $75,000 being first secured; upon the recognition of the institution by the legislature as a place for the legal committal of young girls of the classes named; and upon a per capita allowance for their board as a State or county charge.

The above institution is as yet only in the hopes and prayers of its founders. As the latest of the efforts which are being made to care for exposed and neglected girls, we are endeavoring to avail ourselves of all the light we can get from the history and experience of these Industrial Schools which have been founded in so many Northern States. But these differ very much among themselves in several important respects. Some are wholly State institutions, built and officered by the State; others of private origin, and either in part or wholly of private endowment.

Some

Some gather their inmates in a single large building, and are of what we are accustomed to call the congregate character; others have adopted the family or cottage system of separate homes for small groups of girls,-not however even then, in all cases, of uniform size, but ranging from 20 to nearly 50 inmates. are supported by appropriations in given sums from the State treasury, others are allowed to tax the different counties a larger or smaller weekly charge for each of the inmates supported from their county. None, I believe, are sustained wholly by private and voluntary charitable contributions. In one or two cases the principle is distinctly laid down that residence in the institution is to be regarded as wholly temporary, and while the child is being

transferred to some family in the community; in others, residence from one to three years is contemplated and regarded as desirable. The disposition and arrangement of the industries employed is very different in the different institutions. The legislation is in regard to no two of them exactly the same. The religious question, as might naturally be expected, is very vitally important, and in institutions for children is somewhat differently provided for-in the various schools already established.

These questions are all, in one sense, practical questions to us, to be decided by our Trustees when chosen, by our legislature when we shall ask incorporation. If I mention all these matters here, if in part I bring our undertaking to the notice of the Conference at all, it is in the belief that it is even more important for this Conference to consider what is directly to influence the future, than to attempt changes in what has already taken definite organized form.

The Connecticut institution embodies more of the features we aim at than any other industrial school,—an institution of moderate size, in very small, economically built separate homes, to be provided by private beneficence with State aid, with a power of taxing upon the counties or the State for each inmate as one source of income for the current expenses. It should be officered by women, with industries which shall mainly be designed to prepare for selfsupport at the earliest moment at which the girls could wisely be transferred; and all under the management and supervision of an earnestly religious, Christian Board of Trustees. I wish very much that the approval of this Conference, and the weight of its influence in favor of these plans, might assist us in securing a large part of our endowment funds from the benevolent citizens of Eastern New York. And I venture to think that in relative importance there is hardly anything greater for this Conference to consider than the future which can be formed and shaped as compared with criticisms upon what has been already put into form and organized, and is so difficult to change.

NOTE. The heading "Fifth Day's Session" should precede the report of Mr. Letchworth, on page 271. The report of Mrs. Devoll, though read Friday, is for convenience printed in Saturday's proceedings.

SIXTH DAY'S SESSION.

TWO SPECIAL REPORTS.

THE RESULTS OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF A POLICE MATRON
IN THE CITY OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

READ BY MRS. SARAH W. DEVOLL, M. D., OF PORTLAND.
(Friday, July 29, 1881.)

In the year 1876, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, of rtland, considered the propriety and duty of such an organation, directing a part of its efforts to the reform of

ɔmen.

It was suggested that no plan or means to this end emed so immediate, and practical, as to place a woman at the olice station to care for the women taken there. The idea met ith ready sympathy. A petition was at once circulated, setting orth the need of the work, and stating that among those taken to he police station, were many women and children, that suitable care and assistance could be rendered them only by a person of their own sex; and asking the city government for the regular attendance at the station of a competent woman, permanently appointed, and the necessary appropriation therefor. The character and wealth of the petitioners secured the appropriation of $100 for the year, and the consent of the city government that the woman in the office of missionary should labor there. It was held that the office of government is not to institute or conduct reforms; nor was it deemed essential for the sake of decency to have a woman there; the idea that had led many men and women to sign the petition, who doubted the success of the undertaking as a reformatory work. Subsequently, for two years, the city paid the Matron $100, which last year was increased to $200.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union are responsible for all expenses incurred in the work; namely, the balance of the salary paid the Matron ($265 per annum), and the outlay necessary in the care and disposal of children, and the care, support, and reformation of women,- so far as it does not legally devolve upon the authorities to do it, as in cases of sickness or destitution. A committee of women supplement the work of the Matron, to whom she reports daily, if necessary, cases requiring more attention than she can give, or beyond the scope of her work.

310

EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES.

The duty of this Police Matron is to visit the station morning
and evening; if anything occurs at other times demanding her
attention, she is notified by the police. At her visits she gives
Sometimes she goes
attention to the physical wants of the sick, or those whom misfor-
tune or crime have brought there; learns of each their history
and the needs it unfolds, and presents to them the aims of the
society in a quiet, tender, plain manner.
with them into the court room, or waits to know the judge's de-
cision. Sentence is sometimes suspended, and the advice of the
Matron as to the course to be pursued in certain cases is followed.
Girls and young women are not allowed, if possible, if the
offence be light, or the first one, -to be taken into the court room.
These cases are handed over by the Judge or City Marshal to the
care of the Matron or the Committee. The room and cells where
women are kept are under the Matron's supervision.

It is her duty to see that they are supplied with clean bedding
and towels, water and soap. These were far from clean, or the
supplies ample, when the work first began. The duties of the
Matron include searching women arrested for stolen goods; and
the officers have extended this part of her work, in several in-
stances, by availing themselves of her discretion and tact in
detective work successfully, where they had been baffled. She
visits any of the persons taken to the station, wherever they go or
are sentenced, and notifies the ladies when their terms are about
to expire. Her peculiar opportunities have enabled her, in a
number of instances, to forewarn mothers of the danger of their
daughters, thereby preventing their arrest; the ladies aiding the
mothers to send them into the country, or to relatives away.

The Matron has made herself so useful, that she has come to be
sought by those who can go to no one else. Aware of her famil.
iarity with the lives of the poor and the wayward, they are not
afraid to tell her their tale. She is sought, also, by those who,
having heard from persons whom she has directly or indirectly
benefited, are themselves in need of counsel or aid; by those in
need of work; for many of whom homes and work have been
found. If no other fact could be presented than this, that the
services of the Matron are appreciated by those who need her aid,
it were enough to show their value and their need.

Four years have passed since the work fairly begun, and so
quietly has it been conducted that few are aware of its extent or