REFORM OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS.

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THE "ROUGH HOUSE" AT HORN.

What shall be done with these little vagrants? We cannot suffer them to grow up into hardened criminals. The burden of crime is already almost too

it. We cannot spare so many of the next generation for the hangman or the prison; they are wanted for honest employment, for the promotion, not the destruction of the interests of society, for the benefit, not the injury of the state.

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To the dweller in great cities, the sources from whence this horde of juvenile desperadoes are drawn, are painfully evident there are orphan children, left in infancy to the scant charities of a cold and cruel world, and who, by dint of begging and theft, have managed to wring from that world the pittance which has sufficed for their existence; there are the children of the honest and virtuous poor, many of whom, from the very poverty of their parents, have been compelled to undertake employments which have brought them in constant contact with the vicious and depraved; there are, too, the children of the vile and degraded, children whose birth and training have been in dens of vice, where it would seem that no trace of humanity was left; children instructed from infancy in every art of the beggar, the thief, and the harlot, till, though children in years, they are adepts in crime.

You may see them at any hour of the day, in any of the great cities of Europe or America, clad in rags, with keen, knowing, old-looking faces, faces which show no trace of the innocence, freshness, and joyousness of childhood, but which speak of scores of years of misery condensed into the days of a brief life. The eye, that expressive feature of the guileless child, is hard, cold, and glittering; the features are pinched with hunger and want, and there is often a firm closing of the mouth, and a look of desperation, which foretell, more strongly than language can utter it, that that child will soon become dangerous to the community.

We must seek their reformation; for vice is cumulative, and these abandoned children, if left unrestrained, will not only themselves become criminals, but they will influence a still greater number of still younger children to a life of crime.

What, then, shall be done for them? Prison schools, reform schools, houses of refuge, asylums for juvenile offenders have all been tried, and each has met with a measure of success.

All, or nearly all of these have, nevertheless, one objectionable feature. The child comes to them as a criminal, sent usually by the court, and his stay there is to some extent a punishment. High fences, strong walls, a cell dignified with the name of bed-room, into which he is locked at night, the employment of guards and sentries to prevent escapes, as practiced in some of these institutions, all savor too much of prison discipline not to be irksome to a child whose previous life has been entirely free from restraint. He may be reformed under this process; we are happy to know that some are; but the chances are greatly against it, and if not improved by his compulsory training he will inevitably be made worse.

This social problem has pressed quite as heavily on the benevolent in Europe as upon our own philanthropists. Crime is there more a matter of science than here, and the class of depraved children is proportionally larger. The gamins of Paris have always been foremost in the riots and revolutions of that city; the vicious children of London are more troublesome to its efficient police force than all the other criminals; and the same may be said of most of the other capitals of Europe. In none of these, however, is there a more formidable class of youthful evil-doers than in Hamburg, mainly, perhaps, because of its immense commerce, the result of its free trade, which has gathered there the vicious, as well as the enterprising of all

countries. With a population of about one hundred and sixty thousand these depraved children number some thousands.

In the year 1808 John Henry Wichern was born at Hamburg, of respectable parentage. He was educated at the best schools of Hamburg, and subsequently at Göttingen and Berlin, where he also studied theology. Returning to his native city in 1830 his sympathies were excited for the vicious children who swarmed in its narrow and filthy streets. He attempted to gather them into Sunday schools, and to instruct them; but he speedily became satisfied that they must be withdrawn from the evil influences which surrounded them before they could be materially benefited.

To accomplish this was a matter of considerable difficulty. His own patrimony was insufficient for such an undertaking; the city was indisposed to assist, and the friends of the enterprise were few and mostly poor; yet in October, 1832, they met, and, under the influence of the philanthropic spirit developed by the appeals of Wichern, resolved "that a house must be founded for the object of rescuing these children from sin and disbelief." Their subsequent success in obtaining the necessary means for accomplishing that which they had resolved reminds us of the formation of the Orphan House, at Halle, by Franke, a hundred and thirty-five years before. None of Mr. Wichern's associates possessed the means necessary for commencing such an institution, but, confident of the necessity of it, they resolved to do what they could, and as the means were needed they were provided. A man who was but slightly known to Wichem brought him three hundred dollars, with the request that it might be applied to aid in the founding of some new charity; a citizen of Hamburg, Herr A. W. Gehren, left a bequest of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars for a house of rescue; others contributed smaller sums, and in 1833, after much anxiety and deliberation, they first hired, and subsequently purchased the thatched cottage known as the "Rough House," and the little farm connected with it at Horn, between three and four miles from the city of Hamburg. On the twelfth of September, 1833, they called a meeting of their friends, and dedicated their new home to the rescue of the vagrant from the dominion of vice. It was not, how

ever, till the first of November ensuing that the school was opened. At that time Mr. Wichern removed thither with his mother and sister, and adopted, as his own children, three of the worst boys he could find in Hamburg. In three months he had increased the number to twelve. The grounds, when first purchased, were surrounded by a wall and high fence; this Mr. Wichem encouraged his boys to remove, and plant a hedge in its place. He desired that there should be no barrier but their affection for their new home to detain them with him.

The ensuing year the applications for admission were so numerous, and the desire on his part so strong to rescue as many as possible of these abandoned children, that he determined to erect another building, and thus receive two families. With but little assistance from abroad the work was commenced and carried on to its completion, the greater part of the labor being cheerfully performed by his family of boys. The house was dedicated in July, 1834, and named the Swiss House, from the fact that two young men from Switzerland, Baumgartner and Byckmeyer, had connected themselves with the institution while the edifice was erecting, and after its completion took charge of the first family, while Mr. Wichern himself adopted a second. In a year or two their place was again too strait for them, and they have been compelled to add building after building till they have now nine families, three of them for vagrant girls, all under Dr. Wichern's* direction.

The farm connected with the "Rough House" comprises about thirty-two acres, and includes two ponds of considerable size. Every part of the ground is laid out with admirable taste, and the whole forms one of the finest landscape gardens in the vicinity of Hamburg. Owing to the space occupied by the buildings and the ponds, the grounds, though cultivated altogether with the spade, do not furnish sufficient employment for the boys. It was deemed necessary, therefore, early in the history of the institution, to provide workshops, where they might be trained in some mechanic art. The variety of occupations now carried on in this busy hive is very considerable. There is a

Mr. Wichern received the title of Ph.D., (Doctor of Philosophy,) in 1851.

printing - office, in which the Fliegende Blätter, (Flying Leaves,) the periodical devoted to the cause of juvenile reformation and the other interests of the inner mission, is printed, as well as a large number of school and reform publications; a book-bindery, a stereotype foundery, a wood engraving and lithographic establishment, a book-store, a factory for silkweaving, joiner's shop, shoe-shops, etc. Some of the boys are also instructed in masonry, and most of the buildings on the premises have been erected by their labor. The course of instruction is not extensive. The boys are taught to read and write; they are well grounded in the elementary rules of arithmetic, and in the rudiments of geography, natural philosophy, chemistry, and botany. They have also instruction in agriculture, if they prefer that pursuit, or in mechanics, if they prefer a trade. Religious truths are taught both by precept and example.

It is not the object of the director to qualify them for stations beyond their walk in life; they are peasants, and the children of peasants, and although there are occasional instances of the development of rare and brilliant talents among them, the general plan is to qualify them for performing well the duties of the station to which they belong, and to inculcate the honorable character of honest labor and virtuous poverty.

Much attention is paid to the physical training of the children. The extreme poverty and degradation in which they have previously existed, is often manifested by the presence of scrofula and eruptive diseases, craving for improper and unwholesome food, morbid and gluttonous appetite, etc. When admitted many of them would eat mortar, clay, and even still more inappropriate articles, and seemed to have no appetite for wholesome viands; but by bathing, active exercise in the open air, plain but substantial diet, and regular habits, they soon lost this morbid craving, and have generally enjoyed good health.

It is wonderful how soon the influence of love and kindness, and the home feeling, so sedulously cultivated, wins these hardened and depraved boys from their waywardness.

They often come with a defiant temper, and a determination to be mischievous and troublesome; but they soon find that there is no one to contend with; that all around

them are their friends, anxious to help them, and ready to love them; the past of their lives is unknown, or never referred to; and the boy who comes to the Rough House with the most malicious disposition, soon finds himself subdued by the allconquering power of love.

Most of them, before coming to the institution, have been addicted to theft and falsehood; but when they find themselves trusted and reliance placed upon their statements, the feeling of honor begins to influence them, and theft and falsehood are very rare occurrences.

Occasionally a boy runs away; he is usually followed and persuaded, not forced, to return; his offense is forgiven if, as is always the case, his comrades request it, but he becomes convinced that his misconduct grieves those who are really his best friends.

Numerous examples might be given of the excellent results which have followed this mode of training; we will relate one or two. In the second or third year after the founding of the institution, a number of the boys had planned the erection of a hut for their own use, and had partially completed it; when one of them discovered that a stick of timber used in it had been taken without leave by the boy who had contributed it. Immediately upon this discovery the others demolished the building, in the presence of the offender, and would take no further part in its reconstruction.

On another occasion, when, owing to the admission of a large number of boys about the same time, there had been an unusual amount of prevarication, the director gave notice that the daily morning service would be suspended, until there was evidence of penitence on the part of the offenders. The effect of this measure was more powerful than he had anticipated. The pupils who had been longest in the institution gathered in secluded spots for private worship, and did not cease their affectionate entreaties till the offenders were brought to acknowledge their faults, and to ask for the restoration of the privileges so highly valued by all.

In 1842 the city of Hamburg was visited by a terrible conflagration, by which nearly a fourth of the city was destroyed, and more than thirty thousand people rendered homeless. A number of the children had friends in the burning district, and they

besought the director to allow them to go and render assistance. At first he feared that the temptations to plunder and escape would be too strong for them, but at length he yielded to their entreaties, on condition that they should go with him, keep together as far as possible, and return at his command. A band of twenty-two accompanied him, and their conduct was truly admirable. They exerted themselves with the utmost heroism and daring for the preservation of life and property, utterly refusing fee or reward, and after running at intervals to the rendezvous, to assure the director of their fidelity, they would dart away again on another errand of mercy. They continued to labor in this way until they were exhausted with fatigue, when they returned home, and another company took their place. So extraordinary were their services, that the Senate of Hamburg made public acknowledgment of them, and subsequently, in more prosperous times, granted from its treasury the amount necessary for the erection of new buildings at the Rough House.

But the self-denial and praiseworthy conduct of the pupils of Dr. Wichern did not end here. Among the thousands who had lost all their property in the great fire, not a few wandered to Horn, and sought shelter at the Rough House. With these poor wayfarers the boys shared their humble fare, and relinquished to them, for months, their beds, voluntarily sleeping upon the ground themselves, that they might accommodate their humble guests the better. We cannot wonder, that from that period to the present the Hamburgers have been prouder of the Rough House than of any other institution their city could boast.

The greatest difficulty Dr. Wichern has found in conducting the Rough House, has been in procuring suitable persons to take charge of the families which he organized. This difficulty led him, at an early period, to commence an institution for their special training. This has now grown to be a prominent feature of the establishment. Young men not under twenty years of age, of sound health and free from any hereditary tendencies to disease, giving credible evidence of piety, and of a special vocation for this work, possessing a fair education, and a knowledge of some mechanical business, or an aptitude for acquiring it readily, and having the approbation of their friends

in their adoption of this pursuit, are received as "brothers" in the institution. Strict as these requirements are, the number of applicants is always in advance of the vacancies.

The course of instruction comprises four years, and is both theoretical and practical, the former embracing a partial theological training, history, geography, natural history, English, the art of teaching, vocal and instrumental music, and religious instruction.

For practical training, the student is required to connect himself with one of the families, as an assistant, working with the boys, teaching the youngest classes, taking his meals with them, and lodging with them. At the end of a month he changes his quarters, going to another family, and proceeding with the same routine. He is also required to assist the director or head teachers in the correspondence, and in visiting the parents of the children. In the third year he is allowed to take charge of a family for a time, under the direction of the head teachers, and if he shows special aptitude for the place, and a vacancy occurs, becomes a "house father." If there is no vacancy, he is soon called to a position elsewhere, as assistant or superintendent of a prison, hospital, or reformatory school, or becomes a home or foreign missionary. Quite a number of these "brothers" are toiling as missionaries among their own countrymen in our Western states. During their period of instruction they receive no compensation except their board.

An organization, of which Dr. Wichern is the acknowledged head, called the "Inner Mission," (Innere Mission) has, within a few years past, attained a powerful influence in Germany. Its object seems to be to promote and institute all those reforms which have for their object the social and religious improvement of the community. Temperance, the organization of ragged schools, juvenile asylums, houses of reform for abandoned women, sailors' homes, and orphan asylums; efforts to promote attendance upon public worship, and to encourage family devotion; to introduce religious instruction into the schools; to elevate the character and aims of teachers; to visit, comfort, advise, and instruct the lower classes; to improve the management of prisons, penitentiaries, and hospitals; to circulate the word of God and re