His

these boys may be a voter ten or twenty years hence. vote will then be as potent as yours or mine. In countries where the sovereign is a prince it has ever been thought. prudent to bestow special care upon the training of an heir 5 to the throne. Here the people are sovereign, and the little boy, now wandering about the streets, neglected or led astray, is in one sense joint heir to a throne. Every dictate of prudence points to his being fitted to fulfill the duties of his station. Who can say that if duly cared for he may not Io grow to the stature of a leader of the people ranking with the foremost men of his time, a benefactor of the race, a teacher of great truths, a helper of the helpless, a brave soldier in the "sacramental host of God's elect." If, on the other hand, he is left to himself in the swift current of want and vice, 15 floating in the scum of sewers and the company of thieves, he will prove a scourge to the state, and may bring up in a prison, or perchance on the scaffold.

For this reason, and the one preceding, it should seem to be the duty of the community to look after children whose 20 parents abandon them or lead them into evil ways, or are incapable of taking care of them.

We have already in many instances acted upon a like theory. The compulsory education acts, the corporations formed to prevent cruelty to children, and the unincorpo25 rated societies organized for their relief, are so many agencies established upon this principle. Take, for example, the eighth section of the elementary education act of 1874, as amended in 1876: which provides that the board of education in each city and incorporated village, and the trustees 30 of the school districts and union school in each town, by the vote of a majority at a meeting called for the purpose, shall make all needful regulations concerning habitual truants and children between the ages of eight and fourteen, who may be found wandering about the streets or public places during 35 school hours, having no lawful occupation or business, and growing up in ignorance; the regulations to be such as in

the judgment of the Board will be conducive to the welfare of the children, and to the good order of the city or town, and to be approved by a judge of the Supreme Court. able places are to be provided for the discipline, instruction and confinement, when necessary, of the children, and the 5 aid of the police of cities, or incorporated villages, and constables of towns, may be required to enforce the regulations.

The Penal Code makes it a crime to desert a child "with intent wholly to abandon it" (Sec. 287), or to omit without lawful excuse to perform a duty imposed by law to "furnish 10 food, clothing, shelter or medical attendance" (Sec. 288), or willfully to permit a child's " life to be endangered, or its health to be injured, or its morals to become depraved" (Sec. 289), or "the child to be placed in such a situation or to engage in such an occupation" as that any of these things 15 may happen. Another section (291) provides that a child under sixteen who is found "gathering or picking rags, cigar stumps, bones or refuse from markets," or without a home, or improperly exposed or neglected, or in a state of want or suffering or destitute of means of support, being an orphan 20 or being in certain immoral company, "must be arrested and brought before a proper court or magistrate as a vagrant, disorderly or destitute child." The Code of Criminal Procedure (Sec. 887) declares, as vagrant, any child between five and fourteen, "having sufficient bodily health and 25 mental capacity to attend the public schools, found wandering in the streets or lanes of any city or incorporated village, a truant without any lawful occupation;" and it provides in the next section (888), that when a complaint is made against any such vagrant, the magistrate must cause the 30 child and its parent to be brought before him, and may order the parent to take care of the child, and if he does not, "the magistrate shall, by warrant, commit the child to such place as shall be provided for his reception." If no such place has been provided, the child must be committed 35 to the almshouse of the county, and a child so committed

5

may be bound out as an apprentice. A child found begging (Sec. 893) must be committed to the poorhouse, and there kept at useful labor until duly discharged or bound

out.

A

These are very sweeping provisions, but they are said to fail of the effect intended, by reason of defects in the machinery for working them. Indeed, the theory upon which they are framed is in some respects erroneous. child under twelve should never be treated as a criminal 10 except after conviction for crime, in the few cases in which a child between seven and twelve may be convicted. To treat him as a criminal leaves a stigma, which after years do not efface. A friend who visited lately one of the reformatory schools in Boston described an inspection of the in15 mates, noting in particular the bearing of a little boy, three years old, who went through the exercises with the greatest spirit, intelligence, and glee. Should this little child be classed with criminals, brought into contact with them, or be exposed ever to be told that he had been so classed? 20 Our laws now use in regard to such a child the expressions arrest," "prefer complaint," "bring before a magistrate for hearing," and the like. When the word "arrest" is used in respect of legal process it is darkened with the shadow of criminality. Why not say "take," or better still 25 "rescue." A child under seven years of age is, and one between seven and twelve is presumed to be, incapable of committing crime. A policeman finding such a child homeless should be required to bring him before an officer specially charged with the duty of examining such cases, not 30 a police justice. The state would thus appear to take the child under its protection as one of its wards or children. Such should be the treatment of every child under twelve years of age, whatever might be the circumstances; and the same officer should be the one to decide in the first instance 35 whether a child between seven and twelve should be sent to a criminal magistrate.

66

5

When a child not charged with crime is brought before such an officer and is shown to be abused or abandoned, what should be done with him and with the parent? The latter should be required to support the child, so far as the law can make him responsible. The like is required of persons classed as disorderly by Section 901 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and under the education acts is also required of parents who fail to send their children to school. How to reach the parent is a question for the criminal law, with which we are not dealing at present. But for the child, 10 what should be done with him? Most certainly he should be placed in a healthy and sufficient home and taught the rudiments of knowledge and honest ways. Here the state should seek the aid of private charity, acting through incorporated institutions, because the state can in this way best 15 control the institutions, and look after the treatment and welfare of the children. These agencies are sufficient for the present and may be sufficient always. Show the people the way in which they can best help the outcast, and their benevolence will supply the motive.

If these views are sound, they lead logically to the following conclusions:

20

I. That there should be a public guardian of homeless children under twelve years of age, whose duty it should be to find out the condition and treatment of those brought 25 before him, and when he sees that they require it, to place them in some institution incorporated for the care of such children, to be kept there or sent by them to homes here or in other states. In the category of homeless children may be included not only orphans without homes, but all children 30 under twelve years of age who are abandoned by their parents or so neglected or abused as to require that they should be taken in charge.

II. That every police officer should be required and every citizen should be permitted to bring a homeless child 35 before this guardian.

III. That a child under seven years

of

age

should never

under any circumstances be treated as a criminal, and a child between seven and twelve should not be so treated until he has been examined by the guardian and by him. 5 sent to the criminal magistrate. No child under twelve. should ever be left in the society of criminals under any circumstances whatever.

This paper has already reached the limit intended. It has not gone into particulars: on the contrary, it has been 10 carefully confined to certain general propositions. Their development and execution are matters of detail. The aim of the article is attained, if it has helped to impress upon the reader this lesson, partly social and partly political: Take care of the children and the men and women will take 15 care of themselves.

III.

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

Address at a Meeting in Behalf of the Children's Aid Society,1

Philadelphia, Pa., January 30, 1892.

MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN: To anyone who has had the privilege for many happy years, although it were many years ago, of watching the spontaneous and delightful generosity of the citizens of Philadelphia, it is indeed a great 20 delight to come back and recognize that which he knew well. enough to be the fact, that in the years that have come between that great, rich stream of benevolence and everthoughtful generosity has been widening and deepening. It is just exactly as when one comes back, having made a

1 Reprinted, by permission of E. P. Dutton & Co., from Essays and Addresses, Phillips Brooks,