widely extended charitable work. By his kind attention the rooms are decorated with rare and beautiful flowers the year round, thereby contributing to refine and elevate the character and taste of the pupils. Number on roll, 336; average attendance, 112. Teachers-Miss E. Phillips, Miss A. Johnson, Miss J. Alburtis. The night-school is mainly for the boys of the lodging-house, and has been adapted to their various wants. The Fourth Ward Industrial School, No. 52 Market Street. An additional room has been added to accommodate the increasing numbers attending this excellent school. Mrs. Alexander Hamilton and her associates are unremitting in their attention to the wants and interests of the scholars. Number on roll, 380; average attendance, 83. Sixteenth Ward Industrial School, No. 211 West Eighteenth Street. The teachers of this school have penetrated the foul dens where exists that extreme wretchedness inseparable from drunkenness, and gained a strong hold on the children. The children regard them as their protectors and preservers. The teaching and the industrial work are well sustained. The Night-School Was adapted to the boys of the lodging-house, and was well attended. Teacher-John Gourley. The Newsboys' School, No. 49 Park Place, Was attended during the winter by large numbers of the irrepressible gamins, and was well taught by Mr. Tenney. The Water Street Industrial, School, Corner of Dover and Water Street. This is the result of an attempt to put a light in a dark place. The children come from the brothels, slums and rum-shops in the precinct, and, according to the teacher, are, even in their childhood, corrupt and vile. They drink, chew, smoke and swear, and are acquainted with evil in all its forms. Yet there is hope that, through Him who was sent to save, the hand of Christian charity may reach and save even them.. Number on roll, 150; average attendance, twenty-nine. Water Street Night-School Is attended by a class some shades darker, if possible, than that of the day-school. Here may be seen the pale, bloated face and bleared eyes of the habitual drinker just entering his teens, but already on the road to ruin. But, in some mysterious way, their teacher brings them to order, and imprints on their minds and hearts lessons of virtue and duty, and manages to interest them in their studies. Teacher-Miss A. E. Chandler. EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF WATER STREET SCHOOL. A Severe Labor. When I came into the school I found a few of the most riotous, dirty children that the fourth ward could furnish. No words of mine can describe their physical condition. They were covered with vermin, and rags and tatters served but to reveal their nakedness. In two of them the vermin had eaten sores, which a liberal supply of soap and water, untiring patience, and larkspur have eradicated. A word or a look was enough to set two of them fighting in the most outrageous manner, and lest the victory should be too lightly gained, the whole school usually joined in, that justice might be done. Books were stolen, and also slates, under my eyes, and I could not tell where they had gone. They jumped out of the windows; tobacco juice was freely dispensed; oaths garnished their conversation. Nor was this confined to the boys. Here the girls are quite as bad as the boys-some of them worse. This was last March. Now, in the day-school, I seldom hear an improper or profane word. The children are interested in their studies, and really try to learn. Two little girls, who, last June, only knew their letters by rote, but could not tell what they were when they saw them, now spell nicely in small words. They are interested in their sewing, and, as I sit writing, the two little girls who were apparently the most abandoned in the school are sewing away now quite industriously. These same two little girls, who used to have each other by the hair, and in other affectionate attitudes, have done so but once since school opened this term. When the school opened there were quite a number of boys in, but it was very evident that any attempt to keep them would result in the downfall of the school, as their principal object in coming was to while away unoccupied hours and wet days. They were never whipped, but when they grew too obstreperous they were politely shown to the door, and gradually they dwindled off until there were but half a dozen or so who even pretended to come regularly. These same boys, however, form the groundwork of my night-school, and are quite decently behaved there. The basis of the day-school is the little children. From them I have every hope. I cannot hope to influence, permanently, those girls who have attained to sufficient years to acquire a liking for the not only vagabond, but actually wicked life which they so early learn to lead. As was said before, from the little children I have every hope. They are very affectionate; they have not learned to lie understandingly. It is easy to break up ich bad habits as they have acquired. They are affectionate; they are very bright, and easily interested. Here would be an excellent field for a "Kindergarten." For it is my opinion that some extraordinary effort should be made in this school to keep these little ones as much as possible away from their horrible parents and beastly surroundings. Out of all the children who attend the school there are but four families who do not drink. And the drinking is not occasional, but incessant. The bodies of some of the mothers and fathers, when there is any father, which is seldom enough, seem to be saturated in bad whisky and rum, and to ooze with it. Truly, my heart yearns over these little ones, and I am ready to do anything which shall be of a permanent benefit to them. A. E CHANDLER. EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF ITALIAN SCHOOL. I wish that our friends could go back with me some fifteen years and take a look at the Italian population of the Five Points. Crowded into shanties and alleys, utterly ignorant and superstitious, diffident and suspicious, forced into associating only among themselves by the contempt generally bestowed upon their degrading street occupations, with no knowledge of English, a number of Italian families, comprising once 300 children, lived an isolated and aimless life. Ignored by our benevolent societies, their position would not have certainly changed for the better if the Children's Aid Society had not determined that the best way to do anything was to do it, and did it with a foresight and persistency that would not fail of success. The condition of this class, especially of the young generation, is now so different that the change can scarcely be realized. The great number of pupils whom, taken from the street, we have converted into useful and honest workingmen; the frequent visiting receptions and meetings, and the consequent association of their parents with the better classes, the charities and encouragements attending our operations, have produced results beyond calculation. The latest feature in the development of this work is the reading-room attached to the school, which has been recently opened, and is partly supported by the young men themselves, who have united and established "The Italian School Young Men's Association," with appropriate by-laws and regulations, aiming at the furtherance of their mutual improvement. Several of our friends very kindly helped us in this undertaking, and among the contributors to the fine stock of books already in the library, our old benefactors, L. Bailey and E. P. Fabbri, Esqs., as well as Messrs. Harper Brothers, deserve special mention. The most searching investigations are made as to their moral character before admitting members, who are, without exception, hard-working and exemplary young men, formerly pupils of the school. They offer, to say so, an end to the view and aspiration of the younger pupils, and having themselves experienced the benefit of instruction, are quite in earnest in their exertions in bringing us new children. While, therefore, we continue to exert, over such a body of respectable young men, an influence that will prevent them from the danger of falling into bad habits and company, we secure at the same time their valuable aid in recruiting our attendance from out-of-theway quarters. During winter, lectures and debates will occupy some evenings, and it is to be hoped that the fund which is now being collected will soon reach a sum that will enable us to carry still further our operations, and open an attractive reading and sewingroom also for the other sex of the same age. Respectfully, A. E. CERQUA, Incident in Avenue B School. Going from school one day, we met a bright-eyed little cripple playing on the sidewalk. Finding he did not attend school, we asked him to "step just around the corner and see what a pleasant place it was." He promised to come next day, and came, bringing an older brother, who was asked to stay, but said "he could not, for mother was dead, and he must do the housework." Jimmy became one of our prompt scholars, and much attached to his teachers. He often said to his grandmother: "Just wait till I'm a man; I'll have plenty of money." "Won't I make my teacher nice present!" "I'll have nice horses, too, and give her a ride." a Last winter we visited Jimmy's home-a dark and very filthy basement in Thirteenth street. The room contained a table, two chairs, and something which they called a bed. A woman (whom Jimmy called stepmother, but said she was not married yet) hovered over a few cinders that were smoldering on some bricks, for there was no stove. But there were two cheerful objects in this dark basement, Jimmy and his grandmother, and loving friends they were. After a time, Jimmy's father and the woman drank and quarreled so much, that poor old grandmother was unable to endure the home longer; so Jimmy was left to the mercy of a drunken father and a very bad woman. Though a little cripple, no face at school was happier than his; but when the time of dismission came, it seemed as if he would gladly stay longer. After a while school closed for the summer vacation, which brings so much pleasure to many, but to poor Jimmy it brought neglect, unkindness, and finally, typhoid. Grandmother came back to nurse him, and a dear angel of mercy (Dr. Mary Putnam) found him, and not only prescribed for him, but took rice and other necessaries to him, as well as tea and meat to grandmother. We miss a happy little face now, and the sound of a little crutch, for Jimmy has gone to a new home. Grandmother mourns for him and the daughter who left her a few years ago, and "wonders why she left dear Ireland." She has been to our school visitor several times for help, and never in vain. She says: "He is such a cheerful giver;" ""The Lord preserve him;" "He is so good! but she must not trouble him again till Christmas.' She is staying with a poor woman who gives her "free lodging." We saw her eyes sparkle to-day at sight of some cold victuals that were about to be thrown into the gutter. Respectfully, JANE A. ANDREWS. REPORT OF MR. M. DUPUY, VISITOR. When I sit down and gather around me the incidents that afford the strongest evidence for the need of such work as we are doing, I am overwhelmed by the pictures of poverty, suffering and vice which they supply. I have concluded, therefore, that I could not better portray what has fallen under my own observation than by giving one or two incidents which have occurred in connection with the several schools with which I am more particularly associated. Let me call your attention, first, to the one happening at Avenue C School-the last one organized by the society. "The Little Boy that Never had any Shoes." On the second morning of the school term, after the expiration of the summer vacation, the Principal, Miss Blodgett, saw a bright-eyed little fellow standing at the entrance way and looking wistfully up stairs. She asked him where he had attended school. He replied that he had never been sent to school. Said she, "Would you like to come here to school?" "Oh! yes, ma'am," he answered. "Where do you live?" "I'll show you; just here in the alley-way; come with me, and I will ask my mother to let me go." The interview was had, and permission given the little chap to enter his name as a scholar at the school. The next morning he was again at his post by the doorway, and announced his presence by exclaiming, "You see, ma'am, I am here!" With one exception, he has been present every day since his first admission. He lives in a rear tenement. His mother is a pale, sickly woman, compelled to work day and night to support herself and little family; and so scanty had been her income, that, until a few days ago, her little boy has never worn a pair of shoes. Since the day he met his teacher at the doorway, his feet have been wrapped in calico or old cloth, to protect them from the pavement. On the occasion of the mothers' festival, he delivered a recitation, with his little feet carefully dressed in clean cloth coverings. A gentleman who was present, seeing his condition, volunteered at once to present him with a pair of shoes--the first he had ever worn. To show that the little fellow is the possessor of noble qualities, let me relate an occurrence that took place a few mornings since. It has been his habit, for weeks past, to meet his teacher when alighting from the cars. On this occasion he failed to appear, and, when he |
