HOUSE OF REFUGE IN MAINE.

Extract of a Letter to the Chairman of the Maine Commissioners: "Hon. HUGH J. ANDERSON.

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My Dear Sir, In a letter just received from the secretary of state, in answer to one of inquiry, your name is first given on the commission for establishing and locating a House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, or a State Reform School.

"Should you think it important to fix on your location before you think much of your plan of building, permit me to suggest some of those things which appear to me to claim great consideration, in deciding the question of location.

"1st. About one acre to each of any probable number of inmates, of good, fertile land, which may be easily tilled, which is pleasant and dry to walk upon, which is in a good degree certain to yield its increase, and which has variety of woodland, tillage, meadow, pasture, and variegated surface.

"2d. An abundant supply of unfailing, pure, and soft water, with head and fall to raise the same to any desirable elevation of the building, for mechanical purposes, to wash, bathe, and drink, found on the premises, with right of control and undisputed title.

"3d. Stone of good quality for building, easily quarried, convenient, cheap, and of easy access, with an unfailing supply on the farm. It may be granite, limestone, or argillaceous slate; it is not of so much consequence what kind of stone as what quality of the kind, and whether easily quarried, convenient of access, and unfailing in quantity.

"4th. Timber of all varieties oak, pine, hickory, cedar, spruce, maple, chestnut-for building fences, for fuel, and for agricultural and mechanical purposes.

"5th. Clay for brick making, and good sand for mortar and building purposes.

"6th. Proximity (one or two miles distant, neither more nor less) to an intelligent, enterprising, industrious, virtuous, and religious population; where temperance, integrity, education, useful labor, progress in agriculture, horticulture, and the arts, as well as in religion and morals, are the order of the day.

"7th. Facilities of communication by railroad or by steamboat, and by carriages on good roads, for persons and heavy articles.

"8th. Pleasant prospects of land, water, and wood; of sea or river; of mountain and lake; of springs and running brooks; whatever is attractive and pleasant to the eye.

"All these things, good in themselves, may not be found in one locality; but by sufficient painstaking and search, it is surprising, and even wonderful, how many of them have been found together, and on what reasonable terms they have been bought, in the United States, within the last quarter of a century, to carry out the good purposes of an enlightened philanthropy concerning Houses of Refuge and Asylums.

Wishing you and your associates most gratifying success in obtaining a good location, and a better plan of building than has yet been carried out for a State Reform School, I am your friend and obedient servant.

"P. S. When I saw the House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents in New York city 25 years ago, it consisted of 11 boys, in a private house, under the care of Joseph Curtis, a Friend. Since that time, it has received more than 5000 boys and girls, and apprenticed more than 3000; many of whom are reformed, and are now respectaable, self-supporting men and women, with families, and often return to the institution on the Sabbath, with their families, to acknowledge it as the place of their redemption from vice and crime, and their restoration to respectability, usefulness, and comfort.

"And, what is very remarkable, the mortality of these children while they remained in the House was not one per cent. annually on the whole population of the house.

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Frequently, out of two or three hundred, not one would be found sick and in the hospital.

"The institutions of this kind have been examples of health, industry, and improvement to private families."

"Dear Sir,

"BELFAST, October 5, 1850.

"Your letter of the 1st instant is received. In reply, I would inform you that the commissioners for the establishment of a Reform School in this state will be in Boston on Wednesday of next week, (19th,) proposing to go from thence to the institution at Westboro', in Massachusetts. I shall probably feach Boston, myself, on Monday evening, and shall be for the next two days at the Adams House, in that city. My two colleagues will also be there, and any further suggestions you may be inclined to offer in reference to the subject, may be addressed personally to the commissioners while there. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "H. J. ANDERSON."

Letter from the Superintendent of the Farm School on Thompson's Island, in Boston Harbor, State of Massachusetts.

"Dear Sir,

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"BOSTON FARM SCHOOL, May 24, 1851.

"In answer to your several inquiries respecting this institution, I would state that the number of pupils is limited to 100; that being as many as we can accommodate.

"The number of boys here January 1, 1849, was 85; January 1, 1850, 89; and January 1, 1851, 97. The present number is 94, several having recently been sent to places in the country.

"During the year 1850, 50 boys were admitted and 42 left the institution. Of the latter number, 24 returned to their friends, and 18 were apprenticed to farmers and mechanics. None deserted.

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"The interrogatories relative to expiration of sentence' and being ' removed by courts' will not apply to this school, as no boys are received here by sentence of court.

"I am unable to give you an account of the expenses and receipts. of the establishment, as the accounts do not pass through my hands, but are kept by the treasurer.

"No estimate has ever been made of the boys' labor. Their employment, when not in school, consists in labor on the farm, and in domestic duties about the house. The number thus employed varies as their services are more or less needed, and according to the season of the year. It is seldom that more than one fifth of their number are at work at the same time.

"When employed, their hours of labor are between 7 and 12 o'clock in the forenoon, and 1 and 6 in the afternoon.

"The hours of instruction are from 8 to 12 A. M., and from 2 to 6 P. M., in summer; and from 9 to 12, and from 2 to near sunset, in winter, with an evening school of about two hours.

"They rise about sunrise, make their beds, and wash; then repair to the school room, where selections from the Scripture and a prayer are read. The evening is closed with the same religious exercise.

"During the summer months, some person interested in Sabbath schools is generally here to address them on the Sabbath. When this does not occur, a sermon, with the usual accompanying exercises, is read to them in the forenoon, and a Sunday school kept in the after

noon.

"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. Yours sincerely,

"ROBERT MORRISON."

Important Circular Letter (such as should be issued in every State where there is not a House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents) concerning the Want and Necessity of such an Institution.

"BOSTON, February 20, 1846.

"Sir, "The joint special committee of the legislature to whom has been committed the subject of "A State Institution for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders," are desirous to obtain information in regard to the nature of the evil thus sought to be remedied, its extent, and the best mode in which the remedy can be applied. It is supposed that cases are constantly occurring which come under the notice of the Court of Common Pleas, Police Courts, justices of the peace, and keepers of the Jails and Houses of Correction, in which children are charged with offences against the laws of the commonwealth, or good morals, at an age so tender that education is a better appliance than punishment. It is also supposed that our Jails and Houses of Correction

are entirely unsuitable and improper places to which to send these children for such a purpose.

"With a view to obtain the desired information, the committee respectfully request you to send them, at your earliest convenience, answers to the following questions, or such of them as you may be able to answer; together with any other information on the subject which you may choose to communicate.

"1. What number of boys under the age of sixteen has been, to your knowledge, in the city of Boston, during the year 1845, convicted and sentenced to fine and imprisonment for any offence against the law?

"2. What number under the age of ten?

"3. For what offences have these convictions taken place?

"4. Do omissions to prosecute for offences, or acquittals, or disagreements of juries, often happen, in consequence of the apparent disproportion between the punishment provided by law for the offence and the youth and neglected and friendless condition of the offenders? "5. Are there any suitable accommodations in the Jails and Houses of Correction in your county for the restraint, instruction, and reformation of juvenile offenders?

"6. In your opinion, can such accommodation be conveniently and properly furnished within, or in connection with, such Jails or Houses of Correction?

"7. If further provisions of law are necessary for this class of offenders, would a state institution, or smaller establishments, in the several counties, be preferable?

"8. To what crimes or offences should the power to sentence to a House of Reformation for Juvenile Offenders be extended?

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"9. If the state should provide such an institution, what ideas can you suggest in regard to its plan, location, and management? 'By order and on behalf of the committee. "E. ROCKWOOD HOAR, Chairman.”

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Letters from General Lyman, late President of this Society, the then unknown Benefactor of the State Reform School at Westboro', a few Days before his Embarkation on his last Voyage to Europe.

"I am obliged to go to Europe, and I shall probably be absent ten or twelve months. I shall embark the 12th of the next month. Will you allow me to ask if you are acquainted with M. De Tocqueville, and do you feel authorized to give a letter of introduction to him? If so, one would be of great service to me, and I should feel very much obliged to you for it. My journey is one of necessity, or I should by no means go. I expect to be at home in May Truly your friend, "THEODORE LYMAN.

next.

"BROOKLINE, June 19, 1848."

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My Dear Sir,

"I received, yesterday, the letters of introduction for MM. De Beaumont and De Tocqueville. I am exceedingly obliged to you for them, and I have no doubt but that they will prove of great value

to me.

"I hope to return before the next annual meeting of the Prison Discipline Society, or, at any rate, about that time. My son will have authority from me to continue, at the usual time, my annual subscription of $100.

"I may get abroad information that will prove of use to the cause. If so, it will be at your service.

"I have asked for a letter to Colonel Jebb, which I suppose will be all that I shall need in the way of prisons, for England. I however thank you kindly for your offer for that country and for Germany, but into the latter I shall not go.

"And now, my friend, good-by, and may God bless you and the cause in which you are engaged.

"Truly and faithfully yours,

"BROOKLINE, June 23, 1848."

"THEODORE LYMAN.

General Lyman died a few weeks after his return from Europe; was very feeble when he came on shore from the ship; was able to see a few only of his friends; and departed to receive, we believe, a great reward. By donations before his death, and by bequests afterwards, he gave $72,500 to the State Farm School. These letters show, by inference, incidentally, what he probably let no one know in any other way, one great design he had in view in his last voyage to Europe, viz., to see what could be done for juvenile delinquents, and how it could be done in the best manner. was just like him, not to "let his right hand know" about it; and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he uttered from the cross to a beloved disciple, "Feed my lambs." Our departed friend remembered these words. The institution at Westboro', with 300 poor boys, is his memorial.

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Here in his farewell letter, we have, at the close, under his own hand and seal, his friendly recognition and his parting blessing. To be called friend by such a man, and to receive his blessing, and his blessing on the cause in which we are engaged, is enough for the present.