during a whole day without appeasing their hunger? This, indeed, appeared the only certain method of ensuring their attendance. The privation of three substantial meals per day, the penalty of vagrancy, proved an irresistible argument, and secured for the schools of Aberdeen an attendance far more assiduous and regular than that of similar establishments where the children did not dine. But Mr. Watson rightly felt that no education which confined itself to mere intellectual culture, which did not seek to open the mind to the hopes of a better world, could succeed in correcting the evil propensities of these unfortunate children, born and bred in ignorance and vice, and, indeed, would probably serve only to render them more envious of their neighbour's goods, and more skilful in defrauding them. "The higher and middle orders of society," says Mr. Alexander Thomson, who has recorded the history of these popular schools, "have other checks which save them from the path of crime, and preserve the semblance, at least, of virtue, even where the reality is wanting; but in the lowest classes, without a sincere and deep religious faith-nay, without the firm. belief in another and a happier world, to compensate them for their sufferings in this-the most frightful disorder must ensue." It was, therefore, to instil religious principles that the founders of the schools of Aberdeen directed their special efforts. To most of these children regular labour was completely unknown. In their miserable homes they had never received any example of industry, and for some time it was found impossible to induce them to apply to any study or employment whatever. But gradually, by the combined aid of reason and authority, the teachers succeeded in taming these half-savage natures, and the greater part of the pupils, ere leaving the school, were in a condition to earn an honest livelihood. The question whether or not the children should be lodged in the establishment itself presented considerable difficulties. On the one hand, it was feared that, if permitted to return home at night, all the good impressions of the day would be speedily obliterated by the bad example of the evening. Happily for the cause of moral reform, the insufficiency of their resources compelled the founders to abandon the original idea of housing the pupils; for fifteen years' experience have proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that these daily returns to the parental roof are rarely attended with danger to the children, while the lessons these young creatures bring back to the bosom of the family often exercise the most salutary influence on its members. It is not rare to find that the first seeds of moral regeneration in the hearts of depraved parents have been sown by the lisping of these childish lips. The success of this effort led to the erection of a similar school for girls; it was opened the 5th of June, 1843, and the number of pupils rapidly rose from thirty to sixty. But these two schools did not supply the wants of the population of Aberdeen. There was a class of children still lower in the scale of misery and vice who never made their appearance there. The directors, in concert with the magistrates, proceeded to found a third establishment, called the "Juvenile School." This was to receive both boys and girls, for in England the two sexes are seated side by side on the same forms, and mingle in the playground, till they are ten or twelve years old; and this custom, which in France would be considered as most objectionable, is here regarded as favourable to public morality. The committee of the soup-kitchen lent its committee-room, the vestry offered to pay the teachers, and the police were authorised to bring into the school all the young vagabonds, who in virtue of an Act of George IV., which had long been a dead letter, were liable to sixty days' imprisonment. The work was commenced May 19th, 1845, with the incredibly small sum of £4 sterling. The respectable artisans of Aberdeen felt so keenly the utility of an institution which preserved their children from moral contamination, and from contact with thieves and vagabonds, that the very first year they contributed £250 towards its expenses, while the whole subscriptions of the wealthy citizens did not amount to above £150. But there was yet much to be done for these unfortunate children. The three asylums received those only who had not been convicted. In 1846 a fourth was opened for the little thieves who had been brought to the bar of a criminal court. The judges, who were not then empowered by law to save these young offenders from the penalty that hung over them, and who yet felt the gross inconsistency of dealing with them in the same manner as with adult malefactors, generally deferred pronouncing sentence till they had instituted an inquiry as to their antecedents, and the condition of their family, reserving the right of inflicting punishment in the event of an attempt to escape, or a repetition of the offence; and meanwhile lodging the young culprits in the workhouse, where they were kept in separate confinement, but permitted to attend the industrial classes. In 1854 this state of things, which was merely provisional, was sanctioned by a legislative enactment, called Dunlop's Act, by which the police were empowered to bring all the young vagabonds found in the street to this establishment. In 1841, the first year the new schools were opened, there were sixty-one children in the prisons of Aberdeen. Ten years later this number was reduced to eight, but in 1852 it augmented to a considerable degree, and in 1854 it had increased to forty-nine. This naturally excited the alarm of the directors of the school; the cause was soon brought to light. Certain professional thieves, perceiving the excellent results of the industrial schools, had established others on precisely similar principles, with one slight difference only-the nature of the education. They also lodged, clothed, and fed a number of children, whom they carefully instructed in the profession of thieving, affording them opportunities of exercising their skill to the best advantage. The arrest of these novel pedagogues put an end to this dangerous competition, and restored the ordinary attendance to the schools, by reducing the inmates of the prison. When the children made their first appearance at the Industrial School, at the Juvenile Industrial in particular, nothing could exceed the wretchedness of their general aspect. Stunted in body, dwarfish in intellect, with cunning, or stupidity, or both, stamped on every feature, they were certainly as unpromising subjects as could well be conceived; yet, in a very few years, these miserable-looking beings had become healthy in mind and person. The downcast, sullen look was, in most cases, exchanged for a free, open bearing. So great was the confidence inspired by their training, that they never failed to obtain employment, and, generally speaking, turned out well. Such is the abridged history of the schools of Aberdeen. At the present moment, all the principal towns of Great Britain have similar establishments.* In 1854 the Reformatory School Act was passed, authorising the establishment of reformatory schools * In 1849, 280 children were living by begging and thieving in Aberdeen. There is not one at the present moment (Sept., 1858). throughout the United Kingdom, and empowering magistrates to send thither all children condemned for theft, or any act punishable with not less than fourteen days' imprisonment, after they had undergone that term of confinement in the gaol. This act, however, was permissive and experimental only; in fact, it was on its trial. The annual reports of the Inspector-General of Prisons had at length succeeded in calling public attention to the continued increase of juvenile delinquency. In 1847 a select committee of the House of Lords had taken into special consideration the state of the criminal legislation as regarded youthful offenders. As the result of its deliberations, it declared that the contamination of a gaol was fatal to children committed to prison for a first offence, and recommended the substitution of reformatories, as affording the only chance of diminishing crime. This committee was followed by another in the House of Commons in 1850, and the unanimity of opinion as to the necessity of a new course of treatment to be adopted towards children led to a conference at Birmingham. It was there proposed to make provision for the three classes which most required reformation-namely, those not committed for any offence, but who, from the neglect or extreme poverty of their parents, were growing up in complete ignorance; secondly, those guilty of vagrancy or mendicancy; thirdly, those who had been convicted of felony-by free day-schools for the first; industrial feeding-schools, with compulsory attendance, for the second; and penal reformatories for the last. It was proposed that the free day-schools should be supported by such extension of the Government grants as might secure their maintenance in an effective condition; that, for the industrial feeding-schools, magistrates should be authorised to commit juvenile offenders to such schools, སྐ་ |