WORK FOR GIRLS

GERTRUDE GRASSE

SECRETARY, BROOKLYN JUVENILE PROBATION ASSOCIATION

A phrase so often heard is "Work with boys is very satisfactory, but girls are discouraging. Many people believe that a girl once gone wrong, goes to pieces and is wrong all over and that there is nothing left to reform. We consider her a failure-we feel that we cannot cure the fault which brought the girl to Court. For most girls who come to the Children's Court, unlike boys who are brought for a variety of offenses, come there because of immorality or because they have been exposed to immoral conditions. A girl as a rule needs closer watching, greater encouragement and longer studying than a boy. The very fact that she has to be better protected makes it frequently desirable to send her to an institution rather than keep her in a home where the treatment is unwise, where she is not understood and where she is allowed to run wild. One of the deplorable things in the work of the Children's Court is that there are so many girls who apparently have no one who really "cares" and who can give her guidance at a time when the physical changes taking place in her are apt to upset her mental balance. It is a recognized fact that it is a girl's nervous system which first responds to any advances which may be made to her by a man bent on her destruction. Every girl, to be safe, must be protected by strong ideals, wholesome pleasures and watchful supervision. It is unfortunate that few, if any, of the girls who come to the Children's Court have any protection of this kind. Then too, what seems to many of us indifference toward the enormity of their conduct, is often ignorance. After all a girl of thirteen or fourteen or even a girl of fifteen or sixteen understands very little about causes and consequences. If we could but begin with the younger girls! If we could make their lives more normal, if we could teach them early the ideals of a healthy, active and sensible home. If we could teach them to control themselves and protect themselves, if we could substitute wholesome pleasures for those of the streets, we would make better progress. Most girls who go wrong have not done so from choice. Lack of care and supervision at home, no proper recreation, nothing to fully occupy the mind have all combined to push her along the road which has but one ending! If many of our girls are mentally defective they may not be sufficiently so to place them in our already overcrowded institutions. It is recognized, however, that they are a menace to the community and that their illegitimate children bring into the world a heredity which makes for degeneracy.

In considering the question of custodial care for the girls we must take into consideration the sort of home to which the girls would be returned if

discharged from custody. We do find homes where good care can be given if the mother will be taught to understand the kind of attention her daughter needs. There are other families, however, which are not fit to care for irresponsible defective children. With a father of subnormal intelligence and a mother who cannot be made to understand the danger surrounding the child, even a normal child would have little chance.

Then there is the girl, whom we all know, too nearly normal for custodial care and not normal enough to be left at large. Such a girl was Anna who had been sent to the State School for delinquent girls because no one knew what to do with her at home. She was not amenable to discipline, detested school, and life had been one long chain of things she did not want to do. At the institution she would do well for a while but there would invariably come a time when she would "break out" and efforts to understand her would be futile. Finally she was paroled, though with some misgivings. It was decided that a course in a trade school would be advisable, but there was the problem of a home for the girl while taking this course. An aunt, with daughters of her own, finally agreed to board her the Juvenile Probation Association paying her board and other expenses of her training. Once in a while there would be ruptures, both at home and at the school, and a "big sister" who had been appointed would be called upon to straighten matters out. However, after many troublous periods the time came when Anna was ready to go out to work, which the Trade School found for her. Since her aunt did not live in New York it was thought best for her to live in a girls' boarding house in the city, not far from her work. All this time in the Trade School there had been rumors of Anna's being "queer," from the place of employment and from the boarding house came complaints of Anna's "strange behavior" at various intervals. The climax came when one morning the "big sister" got a telegram to say that Anna had been taken to Bellevue Hospital. The "big sister" betook herself there immediately and learned that Anna had closed herself in the bathroom of her boarding house, and turned on the gas and tried to commit suicide. When arraigned a few days later in the Magistrate's Court she was a much subdued girl, but still refused to go home with her father. Not wishing to have the girl go to jail the "big sister" took Anna to her home in the country to stay over Sunday. The next question was to find a suitable place for the girl. She had had an ambition to become a nurse and used to sprinkle herself with carbolic acid to create the illusion-at least to herself-of connection with hospital service. When a friend of the "big sister" in the country asked her if she knew of some one to take care of her invalid mother, Anna was suggested and went to the new place. All went well until Anna one day had one of her "queer times" and called the invalid names and smashed things up generally. It was one Saturday morning early when Anna appeared on the back porch of the "big sister's" house in the country and asked for pencil and paper to write down something important. All urging to have her

tell her troubles failed and finally the "big sister" complied with her request for pencil and paper. When after a few minutes the "big sister" went back to the back porch Anna had disappeared with pencil and paper. The "big sister" had seen a bottle in Anna's hand and had visions of Anna committing suicide in the woods back of the house, leaving a note of farewell! She scoured the woods most of the day but no trace of Anna was found. Early Sunday morning Anna again appeared on the back porch much the worse for wear as she had been walking around the country in the rain all night. She had not had courage to tell the "big sister" that she had been discharged the day before and had no place to which she might go. The big sister would of course, have taken care of the girl over night if she had known of her need of shelter. It might be asked here why the girl was not confined in some institution before this? The reason was that these "spells" came at long intervals and that between times she was as rational and intelligent-yes even clever-a girl as one would wish to find. However, at this point it seemed desirable that she have a thorough physical and mental examination which, however did not show her to be feebleminded nor insane. She had never been wholly self-supporting. Clothing and necessaries of life had to be supplied frequently as she could not earn enough to get them for herself. She realized this and voluntarily went to Randall's Island to receive care. She stayed there for a time, then one day a number of girls were discharged, Anna among them. An organization interested in girls, got a position for her in an institution with children, where she remained a year and where her services seemed to be satisfactory. Perhaps it is the protection, perhaps the regularity of routine work, perhaps the love of children, but at any rate she held her own. When she felt that she had received all the training she could get at this place she applied to a small hospital and succeeded in being admitted for training. Here again her services must be satisfactory as the last word received from her was that she had been asked to stay after her training had been completed. Just what sort of an institution should be provided for the subnormal girl is a question still unsettled. It would seem advisable however, to have a place where these girls could be sent for observation and where it could be determined which of them will be safe in the community and which ones will need permanent custodial care.

It should be possible for us to learn to distinguish between the girl who is sensually inclined and the one who perhaps has a resistant nervous system which is her safeguard.

It is a well-known fact that a close relationship exists between mental deficiency and delinquency. Frequently the best the Children's Court can do is to send the girl to the State Training School. After attempts at training her there by a method which was designed for the normal girl, we see her return and go straightway back to her old companions and a vicious life. The State has spent a great deal of money without any returns on its investments.

Instead of being sent to the reformatory this girl should have been sent to an institution equipped to deal with the mental defect which brought her to the Juvenile Court. The period of her confinement should be indefinite but her parole should be possible if she is found to be a girl who is capable of improvements and who can safely be left in the community.

The defective delinquent girl should not be regarded as a criminal but as a child who needs the care and protection of the State. Nothing which we can do in caring for her is so costly as the results of our neglect if we fail to do so.

WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS

Like small curled feathers white and soft

The little clouds went by,
Across the moon and past the stars,

And down the western sky,

In upland pastures where the grass
With frosted dew was white,
Like snowy clouds the young sheep lay,
That first, best Christmas night.

The shepherds slept, and glimmering faint,
With twist of the blue smoke,

Only their fire's crackling flames

The tender silence broke

Save when a young lamb raised his head,
Or when the night wind blew,
A nestling bird would softly stir
Where dusky olives grew.

With finger on her solemn lip

Night hushed the shadowy earth,

And only stars and angels saw

The little Saviour's birth;

Then came such flash of silver light
Across the bending skies,

The wondering shepherds woke and hid

Their frightened, dazzled eyes.

-Margaret Deland.

SUBJECT MATTER AND METHODS

ARITHMETIC

KATHERINE F. BLACKWELL

Every day each one makes use of arithmetic in some way. When we do our buying and selling, we are dealing with quantity; when we wish to build a house we must know how much material and how many dollars it will take; we use number in arranging a school program. The housewife has to deal with quantity in the kitchen, in the dining room, and in the parlor. Therefore arithmetic is a necessary part of education. But the question arises, which of the many sub-divisions of this big subject must be taught in order that the individual may be able to get the most out of his life. Look back at your own schooldays and consider how much practical value did you receive from the study of Apothecary's Weight, Cube Root, Cases in Percentage, Longitude and Time, Least Common Multiple, Troy Weight, True Discount?

Until a few years ago all teachers of arithmetic laid great stress upon the use of these processes as a fine means of training one to think accurately. They claimed that if a child learned to think accurately in arithmetic, it would help him to think accurately everywhere. But recent experiments have shown that while arithmetic may make pupils think more accurately in arithmetic, it has little effect upon their thinking in other fields.

The function of arithmetic is to enable people to handle number, in order that they may do those things which depend upon a knowledge of number for their accomplishment. To fulfill this function how much of the present course of study in arithmetic is necessary? It can be summarized as follows: 1. A good working knowledge of the fundamental processes. 2. Thorough drill on these to insure accuracy and reasonable rapidity. 3. A knowledge of the solution of the ordinary problems of daily life. Only these processes and those problems which have practical value should be taught.

This leads us to the question of when should this subject begin? There is a growing tendency to delay the teaching of arithmetic as a separate subject. Especially in the Ungraded Classes where handicrafts are taught and games played, much arithmetic is picked up incidentally as by-products of study of other subjects and not as a separate lesson. The argument for leaving it till later is this-It is claimed that systematic arithmetic is too hard for little children and if we wait till they are more mature they will learn it more rapidly, and understand it better. That time which would have been spent on arithmetic can be better spent in gaining experience playing games, in reading and in handwork, if work be wisely selected. But in spite of the measures which have been taken to show the worth of