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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
JULIA C. LATHROP, Chiei

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN
RURAL NEW YORK
BY

KATE HOLLADAY CLAGHORN

D E P E N D E N T , D E F E C T IV E , A N D

D E L IN Q U E N T CLASSE S, SERIES N o. 4

Bureau Publication No. 32

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CONTENTS
Page.

5
7
Part I. Summary and recommendations_________________ _____________ _______ 11-5 5

Letter of transmittal . ............... ........................................... ................................ ..
Introduction........ .................................................................... ............................. ..................

The problem............................................... •........................................... . .......................11-15
Scope and method- of stu d y .............................. ................................... ..............
12
Accuracy of- data........................................ ............ . . . . . . . . ........... ............. ..........
14
Amount of rural delinquency.................................. .......... .........................................
15
Nature of delinquency.......... ................................................... ......................................
16
18
Proportion in eaeh dass of delinquency............................. . . .................. ..............
Personal characteristics....... .................... . . _________ _______________ _______ __
19
Family conditions___________ ______________ ___ _____________________________21-25
21
Composition* of the family . .................................................................. ..............
Parental defects............... ................... ............................................... ....................
22
Types of parental discipline............................................................ ____ . .
24
24
Home surroundings............................... i......................................................... ' . . .
25
Social and economic plane...................................................................................
Confirmation by institution study................................................. ............ •...............
25
Community conditions................................................. .................................................. 27-41
Types of communities.............................................................................................
27
Economic background....................................... .*................................................
29
The rural church............................................
33
The rural school............................................................................. .............. ' ..........
34
37
Truancy........................
The tavern.....................
49
The village store...................................... ....................................... ........................
49

Relation to delinquency. . ............................................................................
Treatment of juvenile delinquency.............................................. ..........................._
Standards of law enforcement....................................................
The justice of the peace.........................................................................................
The county juvenile court............................................................. . ....................
The jail as a place of detention.........................................................................
Defects of treatment................
Cooperation of private agencies...........................................................................
Recommendations for treatment.................................................................................
Juvenile county court.........................................................................
Abolition of function of justice of the peace..................................................
Prosecution of adults........................................................................................ . _
Advisory board of citizens..........................................
Recommendations for prevention..............................................................
The school..............................................................................................
.
The church................... J................................................................................
The village. .........................................................
The family......................................................................................... _ J __

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'
41
41-4*8

42
42
45
46
47
47
48-51

43
49
59
54
51-55

54
53
54
94

4
Part II. Community studies.
Community A ...................
Community B . . . .............
Community C.........
Community D . , ..............
Community E ...................
Community F . .................
Community G ...................
Community H .................
Community I ................. .
Community J ...................
Community K .................
Community L .................
Community M .................
Community N ..................
Community 0 ..................
Community P ...................
Community Q ................. .
Community R,..................
Community S ...................
Community T ..................
Community U ..............

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CONTENTS.
Page.
57-199
57
70
, " 76
80
92

110
114
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122

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134
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184
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193
197

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
U.

e p a r t m e n t of

abor,

C h i l d r e n ’s B

ureau,

Washington December 22, 1917.

Sir : Herewith I beg to submit a report entitled Juvenile Delin
quency in Rural New York, prepared for this bureau under the
auspices o f the New York School o f Philanthropy by Miss Kate
Holladay Claghorn, o f the faculty o f that school. Mr. Henry W.
Thurston, a member o f the same faculty, was closely associated with
Miss Claghorn in the planning and final preparation of the report.
The field agents, to “ whose interest, patience, and skill in eliciting
information ” Miss Claghorn ascribes in large measure the value of
the material, were Miss Madge D. Headley, Miss Dorothy Baldwin
Miss Katherine Z. Wells, and Mr. Thomas A. Mason.
Many social organizations gave assistance in making the study,
notably the State Charities Aid Association of the State o f New5
York. To all, thanks are due.
The originality and significance o f the study and its method of
approach are discussed in an introductory chapter by Miss Ruth
True.
The report is the more painstaking and truthful because it does
not attempt an impossible series o f tabulations. It is noteworthy
that Miss Claghorn, a recognized statistician, has entirely abandoned
here the statistical method and presents a picture o f helpless child
hood under deteriorating social conditions which are obscured by the
very isolation and neglect out o f which they are made.
The report shows a type o f social life that, unfortunately, can be
matched in many places, and which must be generally understood if
all country children are to secure their claim to mental and moral
vigor and to education.
Respectfully submitted.
tt

*itt

Hon. W. B.

xxt

il s o n ,

Secretary o f Labor

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J u l ia

C. L

athrop,

’

Chief.
'

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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN RURAL NEW YORK.
INTRODUCTION.
The subject o f juvenile delinquency almost automatically calls up
a picture o f tenements and city streets, where traffic and trade and
play shoulder one another for room. This report is based upon its
study in an opposite setting. The investigators, leaving the main
crowded trail, went into country villages that were perhaps feeling
the stir o f a new industrial life or of an influx of city folk in search
o f a playground, or perhaps were holding to the old sleepy routine
as small trading centers of f arming districts. From these they went
out to still tinier straggles o f houses, clustering along a turnpike or
crossroads, and then back to solitary farms far up in the hill country.
Among children growing up in the isolation and comparative
monotony o f the countryside, they found a seepage o f delinquency,
as a rule little noticed and carelessly handled. As in the city, it
covered the range from mischief to crime. No guess is hazarded as
to the amount of trouble in comparison with that caused by urban
conditions. The answer could be given only through statistics,. and
in this field statistics are misleading. Therefore, figures are not a
feature o f this report. But a description is presented which makes
clear the causes of rural delinquency among children and the form
which it takes.
%
One fact made evident is that degeneracy is not wholly a product
o f cities. Many o f these country children have back of them a sorry
ancestry and around them a thriftless family group, often weak in
body and mind. The most dramatic instances of this are found in
the children brought up in squalor and ignorance by some wretched
family which has wandered into a lonely and desolate region o f the
hills. Not all such groups find their level in the slums; some have
still the nomad instinct for solitary places. Here they strip off
standards built up by the process of civilization. But in the villages
also is found, here and there, the “ run-out stock which has re
mained inert during the period o f city migration.
Weak heredity is, however, by no means the whole story. The
environment, in contrast to the teeming life o f streets, is a trouble

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breeder bv its very emptiness. People are not born knowing liow to
work; neither are they born knowing how to play. This is driven
home nowhere more clearly than in these places where mere lack of
space is not the factor which ties up the energy o f children. The
farm with its exaction o f long and often laborious service draws
them into the discipline o f work even earlier than does the factory;
but it does not teach them how to make use. o f what precious oppor
tunities they have for sociability. To this need the loneliness o f the
open country and the “ deadness ” of the little town again and again
make a stupid or a negative answer.
The children without older leadership and suggestion make their
own response in an eruption of mischief. Fortunately it often ends
here; but not infrequently it progresses to something worse. The
serious misdemeanors usually take some form of theft or of sex
offense.
Even the purposeless mischief is o f a kind to merit concern. For
it means nothing less than that the natural impulses of vigorous
children are not being set to work, made to stretch and feel their
muscles. Their activities degenerate into what is annoying and silly
or, at its worst, vicious.
What about the school, to which society turns with this problem?
The report shows how far the tiny educational unit in the back coun
try, with its isolation and pitiful equipment, has been lagging be
hind. In spite o f its honored tradition, the district school has not
met modern demandsThe teacher has faced the problems of training children of every
age from 6 to IX ; of meeting their hunger for activity and stimula
tion; o f disciplining older boys who have their own methods of
providing excitement and, many times, of controlling an epidemic
of indecency which spreads half under the surface. Into this sit
uation has been sent some young girl, fresh from her own schooling.
She has brought a dull, outworn program and method; she has
found a bare room where, in winter, the children may have to
gather around a stove in the corner. She has been given little be
yond a supply o f textbooks which may or may not be complete. The
answer is found in the movement for the consolidation of rural
schools, with its chance for better staff and equipment. With this
must go some practical method of transportation.
The church holds a real and valuable place in the socializing of
the country, but is making most unequal use of its opportunity. It
has for competitors the tavern and the village store, but as com
pared with the city church it’ faces a gap. It needs to bring to it
yet more interest and greater skill.
The compactness of the city makes the normal letting out of boys’
energy a nuisance to others and brings about arrests for all manner

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o f trivial causes. Again, the city creates certain offenses. A country boy can not play ball or throw snowballs on crowded, pavements ;
he can not sleep out in news alley or sell papers after the theater;
he can not steal lead pipe from empty tenements or snatch fruit from
peddlers’ carts—misdeeds common in the records o f city juvenile
courts.
The rule works both ways. The greater leeway o f the country
breeds a lenience to conduct which for the child’s own sake needs
sterner treatment. Especially is this true in cases o f improper
guardianship. The local agencies o f justice are inadequate; they
are not well informed; in general the attention they give to chil
dren is cursory and can not be counted on to reach under the sur
face.
The elimination o f the justice of the peace as a judge and proba
tion officer for children is needed. As a logical sequence some sys
tem must be worked out which will extend the services o f a modern
juvenile court into small townSj villages, and outlying regions.

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PART L—SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDA
TIONS.
TH E PROBLEM .
The problem o f juvenile delinquency is a matter of serious con
cern, rather because o f that to which it leads than for what it is in
itself. The actual present harm a child can do is limited by his
undeveloped powers. His delinquencies are for the most part trivial
in themselves, are undertaken for a lark, in the spirit of adventure,
or for sheer curiosity, and very little through calculation o f profit
or through a deep-seated desire to injure somebody. The child has
neither the power o f mind and body nor the development o f charac
ter necessary to the equipment o f a deliberate and finished criminal,
and as a matter o f fact a large proportion o f the bad *7 children
turn out to be fairly decent citizens.
But the results are not always so fortunate. Bad habits may
become fixed; a criminal character may be formed. It is probably
safe to say that o f our adult criminals the majority showed some pre
monitory symptoms of delinquency in early youth and that proper
treatment at that time might have prevented the later criminality.
.A general impression is abroad that juvenile delinquency is pe
culiarly a problem of the cities, and especially o f the foreign popula
tion o f the cities. In so far as this impression is based upon statis
tics o f arraignments or commitments it must be verified from some
other source, because o f the unfitness o f such statistics to give ade
quate information about the problem. In cities many acts which
are disregarded in the country districts are punishable by law ; and
in cities the standard o f enforcement o f law, especially against chil
dren, is much more rigorous than in the country. The result is that
the official record o f rural juvenile delinquency is unduly low
because it fails to include much bad conduct that is passed over with
out court action and soon forgotten but which, i f committed in the
city, would bring the children concerned to the judgment o f the court
and add their names to the list o f delinquents.
For another reason, also, statistics of courts and institutions are
misleading. I f we try to pick out the “ rural” delinquents from

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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN RURAL N E W YORK.

court reports, we are baffled by the fact that the delinquents are
classified by the place o f arraignment and not by the place of resi
dence ; and often a country child committing an offense in the coun
try is brought up for trial to, and committed from, the court o f a
larger town. And this confusion follows along to the institution
records, which give—indiscriminately, and without possibility of dis
tinguishing—as the place o f origin the child’s actual residence, or the
residence of his parents (though he may have left home long before),
or only the place from which he was committed.
SCOPE AND M E T H O D OF ST U D Y .

I f there is a problem o f rural juvenile delinquency, it can not be
found or measured by the present currently collected official statistics.
This study, then, goes back of the record of adjudged delinquency
to the actual happenings in rural districts, with the purpose of fol
lowing the history of these wrongdoings as they emerge in the com
munity life and of relating them to the personal, family, and com
munity influences that may have played a part in causing them.
In this study the main emphasis has been laid upon the social fac
tors—the community surroundings and the family influences—partly
because this is the side with which the present investigators were best
equipped to deal and partly because such excellent intensive studies
of delinquency in its relation to inherited characters have already been
made. The purpose here is particularly to point out circumstances
in the social environment which are harmful to children, and which
may be altered by appropriate social action.
In taking up this study of “ rural juvenile delinquency ” it was
necessary first of all to decide what we should consider “ rural,” what
“ juvenile,” and what “ delinquency.”
The term “ rural” by itself is most indefinite. On a purely nu
merical basis it may be, and has been, variously used in official statis
tics to designate communities o f less than 10,000—ranging down to
those o f 1,200 or less. Furthermore, the community units may vary
so much in acreage and in distribution of population that a scattered
community of 8,000 may show more truly “ rural ” conditions, in the
social sense of the word, than a community of 1,200 crowded together
in some lively little industrial town.
It seemed best, in order to locate our problem, to define “ rural ” as
meaning a locality of small and dispersed population, depending
mainly upon agriculture for its livelihood. We wanted, in other
words, to study the normal farming community and the small village
life dependent upon the farms. The localities covered by the report,
therefore, are either sparsely settled farming districts, without refer
ence to any maximum limits of population of the census unit in which

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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN RURAL N E W YORK.

they are situated, or villages and towns o f less than 1,200 population.
Most of these are less than 1,000.
For this study it was impossible to include all the localities in the
State which could be thus defined. It also seemed unnecessary, for
it was presumed that if localities were carefully chosen they would
be representative o f like conditions elsewhere in the same State and
also in similar communities o f other States. General districts for
study were chosen, then, which should represent different parts o f
the State. In the choice o f localities for study within these districts,
recorded cases o f delinquency, if there were any, proved a good start
ing point. If, for instance, one boy had been sent to an institution
from a given village, that same place would probably disclose half a
dozen other youngsters associated with him in delinquency with
whom the law had not dealt. Going back into such a village, then,
for which a case or cases o f adjudged delinquency had been recorded
a complete survey o f the village was made to find all cases o f bad
conduct. So the study o f each community unit shows us, so far as
the investigator could discover it, all the juvenile misdoing o f that
community.
The records o f children’s societies, the reports o f adult delinquency
and poor relief, and even the general reputation o f a community in
the neighborhood proved to be excellent clews leading to communi
ties where juvenile delinquency was found.
In the next place, what is “ juvenile ” ? The law establishing ju
venile courts in New York State cites all children under 16. In
this study, however, some young people over 16 at the time o f the
investigation were studied, partly for the sake o f their earlier his
tory o f delinquency within the legal limit of juvenility, and partly
to suggest the desirability o f raising that limit to at least 18. For
the investigators found many cases where the young people con
cerned, between 16 and 20, were far from being “ adults” in any
responsible sense. They were children—unformed, impressionable
ignorant, and needing guidance and care as much as those within the
legal limit.
Most important o f all, what is “ delinquency” ? It has already
been pointed out that the test o f court procedure is an artificial one.
We must go back o f prosecuted misdeeds to the acts themselves.'
Here it is difficult to draw a line between the serious and the trivial.
It seems unfair to brand as delinquency all sorts o f minor mischief
in which most children indulge and which most o f them outgrow.
But out o f this minor mischief may spring something more serious.
On the other hand, even in the more distinctly delinquent activities
o f children there is to be found much o f the unconscious impulsive
ness of the mischievous child.

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JU V EN ILE DELINQUENCY IN RURAL N E W YOKE.

The way to solve this difficulty seemed, to be to include in the study
all the children generally regarded m “ b a d ” in the neighborhood,
describing the content o f the “ badness ” in concrete terms, thus mak
ing it possible for the readier himself to make the- classification that
best suits his purpose.
This method brings to our attention all varieties o f childish miseonduet—the “ badness ” that is really bad and duly punished, the
“ badness ” that is such only because some one has decided it. should
be 'punished, and the “ badness ” that ought to be dealt with and is
not.
Consequently, the terms “ delinquent” and “ delinquency” as used
in this report, are to be understood in this broader sense and not as
technical terms based upon legal definitions and procedure.
To throw further light upon the behavior o f children, upon com
munity influences, and,, specifically, upon methods of treatment, of
juvenile delinquency, a ease study was made at the State agricul
tural and industrial school at Industry, one o f the three State in
stitutions for delinquent children.
The report, as here presented, consists of a summary o f results
and recommendations based upon the community and institution
studies, followed by studies of
different communities in the State,
giving their general characteristics and all cases o f delinquency
found in each one.
ACCURACY OF D ATA.

Throughout, the difficulty has been apparent o f securing abso
lutely accurate information on a matter involving such complex ele
ments o f life and character as juvenile delinquency.
In the community surveys the investigators had to proceed with
the greatest tact and caution and yet be alive to the slightest indica
tion o f the facts desired, in order to secure the material needed.
A ll available sources of information were used—families were
visited, and also teachers in the schools, the village minister, the local
justice of the peace, and all social agencies concerned with the neigh
borhoods. The investigators naturally had to depend for informa
tion upon what was told them and to make allowance for a natural
tendency o f the families involved in the delinquency to minimize
wrongdoing, and o f outsiders to exaggerate it. They were ready
to meet a certain amount of unfriendliness and reserve, and to make
use of all their powers o f persuasion to secure the facts they wished.
They found, however, a general willingness to talk about the prob
lems concerned. Even the families where wrongdoing had occurred
for the most part welcomed the investigator without question, and in
many cases were glad to pour out their troubles and ask advice.

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JU V E FILE DELIF QUEF GY I F BUBAL F E W YORK.

There was, moreover, little contradiction between the stories told
by the families and those told outside. In all cases the investigators
checked up the accounts given by one person by the statements of
others and found remarkable agreement. Sometimes sheer neigh
borhood gossip is admitted as part o f a story, but where this is the
case it is plainly indicated in the account.
The findings o f the community studies, then, have not the accuracy
of a mathematical demonstration; they are rather social portraits,
which we trust will carry their own conviction with them.
The case study made at Industry was found to have little value as
a contribution to the case and community study. The information
was gained largely from the children themselves and without full
verification or study o f the community at first hand, and therefore
might be misleading. Consequently the case records and results of
interviews with children at Industry are not given except in brief
summary in this report. The chief value o f the institution study
is the light it throws upon treatment.
AM OU N T OF R U R A L DELINQUENCY.
This study does not answer the question left unanswered bv
statistics-—what is the actual amount of rural delinquency, both in
itself and as compared with the city? The community studies are
intensive and descriptive in nature, and the number o f communities
and o f cases covered is too small to afford a trustworthy basis for
ratios o f eases to population. Furthermore, no ratios have been.
worked out between city populations and all eases of bad conduct
whether or not they were brought before court. Only i f made out
upon this basis, would such figures he comparable with those o f this
study.
The institution studies will not serve this purpose, for they are
under the limitations already mentioned for institutional records;
that is, they give only adjudged cases; they do not determine the
residence accurately; henee we have’ only a selected group. Commit
ments to different institutions are made in different proportions from
different places, therefore ratios to population based upon commit
ments to one institution only would be unfair.
We can say, however, from the facts brought to light, that there is
a problem of juvenile delinquency in rural districts and that it is a
serious one. During the investigation little communities were found
which at first sight appeared to have no problem yet, after study,
each yielded up a quota o f “ bad ” children o f various grades. The
showing in the pages of the report may well bring doubt into the
minds o f readers who are under a delusion that their own neighbor
hoods are free from taint.

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N ATU RE OF DELINQUENCY.
The community surveys give an account in greater or less detail
o f 185 children or young people who were implicated in some sort
o f wrongdoing or treated as if they had been. O f these, 119 were
boys and 66 were girls. That is, a little less than two-thirds were
boys; a little over one-third, girls. The scale of offenses begins with
general waywardness, sometimes no more than mischief. Then more
serious misdoings develop emerging into two groups—offenses against
property and sex delinquencies.
As we look over these surveys to find what the children actually
do, we see in all the communities first a group of children who are
generally “ naughty’-’ in domestic parlance—“ incorrigible” in the
stern and formal language of the law. Among them are some very
young children. One boy of 10 is noted as “ wayward” ; a girl of
11 is “ incorrigible ” ; a girl of 8 “ acted like a wild animal ” ; two
boys, one o f 5 and another o f 7, jabbed a horse with a pitchfork and
did other bad things. This naughtiness takes many different forms.
Some are hard to manage at home—they will not “ mind.” A con
siderable number get their reputation for “ badness ” by mischief in
school— annoying the teacher and the other children, creating dis
turbance, refusing to obey. One is a willful truant. Sometimes they
are cruel to animals. Many times their “ badness” takes the form
of general destructiveness engaged in as a sport and by gangs. We
note a sliding scale of damage, from the boy who laid squashes
(which he had pilfered) in the road to hear them pop under the
wTagon wheels, to the boys who wrecked the picnic grounds—band
stand, seats, and closets.
In other groups, somewhat more definitely bad conduct emerges,
specializing along two main lines; offenses against decency (sex o f
fenses) and offenses against property (stealing or fraud). Sex
troubles begin at a very early age. In school we find little children
of 8 or 10, or even younger, carrying on bad practices, sometimes as
a new game o f which they do not even know the meaning, taught
them by older children. Little groups write indecencies to one
another or scrawl them on the walls of the closets and, during the
unsupervised noon hour or on the way to or from school, expose
their persons or do other indecent things. Here and there a young
child, sexually precocious, is seen to be the ringleader.
A considerable part of this trouble among the younger children
seems to be brought about by sheer curiosity, and love of a “ secret
the attraction o f something forbidden by and unknown to their
elders—and only in part by genuine sex inclination.

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As the children grow older and their sex feelings develop, we find
them as instructors in vice to the little ones and involved in more se
rious sex complications of their own.
Among the older girls and boys are found cases of forced marriage
after pregnancy. In some o f these cases the affair is the result o f
personal choice, the boy and girl having slipped into this situation
either through ignorance or in anticipation o f marriage, and from
present indications are likely to get along fairly well. In one case
the situation was entered into deliberately by the man and the girl
to force the consent of the parents to the marriage.
Then there are. cases of seduction, where no marriage is intended.
It is not customary to look upon girls misled in this way as de
linquents but as victims. And this certainly is true in cases o f
rape, one or two of which are presented in this report; and in
some o f the cases, after the initial offense o f rape, a life of sex
promiscuity has been forced upon a girl who neither cares for it
nor understands what it means. But in some instances this offense
against a girl may be the starting point of real delinquency. There
is also a considerable number of girls called “ wild ’’—the type that
runs around at night after men and boys and hangs around the rail
road station or the village tavern.
In cases where the girl’s male associate is under 18 we take into
consideration the boy and his part in the delinquency, according to
the plan adopted o f studying children up to that age. Sometimes
he appears as the more or less innocent partner, sometimes as a
seducer. Sometimes he is the associate o f an older, more experienced
woman, who has perhaps seduced him. Again there are cases of
abnormal sexuality. In two instances boys of 13 and 14 attempted
criminal assault upon children—one a girl and one. a boy. In an
other case one very small boy badly injured another.
Among the offenses which can be grouped as those against prop
erty, some cases emerge naturally out o f undifferentiated mischief.
The boy who wanted to hear the squashes “ p o p ” had to steal them
from a farmer. Other boys stole the ice cream from the back porch
to have some fun. A large group of the boys whose main offense is
against property have taken horses, wagons, bicycles, fruit, and
chickens. Some o f these have done this purely for mischief, but
some, at parental instigation, for the family profit, and some be
cause they really wanted the things—the adult thief’s reason. An
other considerable group are technically “ burglars,” major offenders
in the terms of the law for adults, because their offense involves
“ breaking and entering,” breaking into a house or store for mis
cellaneous plunder—clothing, food, a lamp, candy, or cigarettes.

J jt

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Here, too, in the histories one may see the element o f mischief and
love o f adventure. Next in frequency is a group of young children who
are characterized as “ light-fingered.” This is manifested largely in
school or at the neighbors’, and consists in picking up various in
teresting trifles that catch the children’s eye. Sometimes the pilfer
ing is instigated by worthless parents as part o f the means of live
lihood. A considerable number of cases are o f this nature. And in
some cases the “ stealing ” consisted in taking from father or brother
money or supplies the boy or girl wanted for some special purpose.
But in only a few instances was a child found who stole things out
side the family for a serious utilitarian purpose o f his own.
A number o f offenses against property, that we might perhaps
count as “ fraud ” rather than stealing (following a distinction made
in classification of adult criminals), did not show the spirit of ad
venture, but a distinctly calculating turn o f mind. Fraudulent
transactions were planned and carried through. Boys collected
money due their parents and kept.it; one boy pocketed money col
lected from others to pay for a window they had jointly broken. A
girl solicited subscriptions to magazines and kept the money, and
so on.
In one case included in this study the child had committed no
offense at all. He was homeless and destitute, but because the towns
people were afraid he would become delinquent and because a justice
committed him to an institution for delinquents, thereby making
him strictly a “ delinquent ” in the technical sense, his case is given
with the rest.
PRO PO RTIO N IN EACH CLASS OF DELINQUENCY.
In what relative proportion do we find the three main groups—
the misphievous, the sex offenders, and the offenders against prop
erty? In judging the actual prevalence of a given class of offense
from the number o f cases actually found, it must be borne in mind
that a higher proportion of offenses against property will be gener
ally known than of sex offenses. Persons whose property is appro
priated are’ naturally aware o f this occurrence and have no hesitation
in speaking about it, whereas the knowledge and practice of sex
offenses are in the main confined to the circle of sex offenders. Even
innocent victims hesitate to give any information for fear o f the dis
credit it casts upon themselves. Consequently, the groups of boys
and girls shown in the report engaged in bad sex practices in school
are presumably typical o f groups in other schools, whose conduct
has not been brought to the attention o f parents or teachers. The
record'of sex offenses for the older boys is undoubtedly very incom
plete, while the record for the older girls is probably more nearly

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I complete, since their activities are more conspicuous in a small com
munity and the consequences more difficult to conceal.
In fact, possibly the record for the older girls is even larger than
it should be by the inclusion of cases where there is no direct evidence
o f delinquency. This is definitely stated in each case, however, and
in each the investigator has been personally convinced of the girl’s
character by the amount and nature of the testimony.
Again, in making comparisons it must be remembered that a
considerable number o f children are known to have committed more
than one class o f offense. This was the case with 30 children of the
185 studied. IiW;he discussion we have classified these 30 under the
head o f the leading or most conspicuous class o f misdeed committed
by them.
Moreover, the investigator may not have unearthed all the mis
conduct o f every child, hence there must be some whose open record
o f “ stealing ” and o f being “ incorrigible ” covers some hidden sex
delinquency, which thus escapes our count.
But grouping the 185 children studied according to the k n o w n
offenses o f greatest seriousness in each case, we find 41 to be classed
as u incorrigible ” only, 68 involved in sex difficulties of some sort,
and 75 who had stolen or were engaged in fraudulent transactions— a
little over one-fifth under the heading “ incorrigible,” a little less than
two-fifths under “ sex offenses,” and about two-fifths under “ prop
erty offenses.” This excludes the one boy who did not commit any
offense but was included among the 185 cases because he had been
committed to an institution for delinquents.
O f the “ incorrigible ” cases 35 were boys, 6 girls; o f the younger
sex offenders 10 were boys, 8 girls; of the older sex offenders 9 were
boys, 41 girls; and o f the offenders against property-64 were boys and
II girls. This shows a decidedly greater tendency to “ incorrigible ”
behavior and to stealing for boys than for girls. ¡For ¡the younger
sex offenders the numbers are about the .same. For older sex offenders
the preponderance of girls is partly explained by the circumstance
mentioned above, that the sex delinquencies of girls are less easily
concealed, and by the further fact that the histories show for a large
number o f the delinquent girls between 14 and 18 a male partner of
adult age. It can not safely be said, then, that girls are more in
clined to sex offenses than boys. It can be said, however, that these
histories show among the girls themselves a greater inclination to
sex offenses than to stealing or general incorrigibility.
PERSO N AL CHARACTERISTICS.
What personal characters are associated with the young delin
quents ? Are they bright or stupid, lively or dull, healthy or sickly ?

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The investigators have not attempted a complete catalogue of thej^pf
traits o f the children studied. A comprehensive analysis arid classi
fication of children by personal traits was not undertaken because
the available standards of classification are so unsatisfactory that
any such grouping would be misleading. Even tests of mental
ability, which have seemed the most certainly established, are under
fire to such an extent that it was thought undesirable to apply them
to the cases studied. The investigators have therefore given their
account o f the children’s traits in descriptive form, with no preten
sion to scientific accuracy, but simply as embodying the results of
their own observation and the testimony o f teacher? and others asso
ciated with the children. Looking through the histories, we find
information that enables us to make very rough groupings of the
children according to mental ability in 101 cases, to temperament in
88 cases, and to physique in 71 cases. This means, naturally, that
traits were recorded in cases where they were most noticeable, and
we may infer that the children undescribed had less marked traits.
Going through the descriptions of mental ability, it is possible to
picture several distinct types. First, the children who “ did well in
school,” were up with their age grade or beyond it, who were “ among
the best pupils the teacher ever had.” Let us call these the “ A ”
group. Next comes a type of child showing noticeable mental
activity, which is, however, in some way uncoordinated with the
requirements o f the school of the community. Such are described as
“ bright, outside of school w ork” ; “ could learn, but refused to
study ” ; and so op. Let us call these the “ B ” group. Then there
are the simply stupid children, whom we may put in a “ C ” class,
and finally children who appeared to the investigator (without tests)
and were generally considered distinctly subnormal mentally. This
class we may call “ D .”
O f the total 185 cases, about one-third were noticeable for mental
activity either of the “ A ” or the “ B ” kind, about one-fifth were
noted as “ stupid,” and only one-fourteenth noticeably deficient.
For somewhat less than half no clear description was given.
In respect to temperament also, the descriptions given by the
investigators show certain recurrent types. Some children were
noticeably “ queer ” or “ peculiar ” in actions and manner, “ hys
terical,” and so o n ; 12 children seemed to belong here. Then, others
were inactive and sluggish; 16 of them seemed to be of this type.
Still others were noticeably active, lively, enterprising, inventive;
there were 51 of these. Nine children were noted as crafty and
calculating and four as distinctly generous, impulsive, and “ lov
able,” but not “ leaders.” For the remaining 93 of the cases distinct
temperamental traits are not noted. The significant result here is

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that nearly 30 per cent of all children studied are noticeably and
conspicuously active and energetic— of the “ leader ” type.
With regard to physique we find about 30 cases mentioned where
there is noticeable physical defect—diseased conditions of some sort
retarded growth, and so on. In about 20 cases a superabundance
o f physical development is noted, sometimes in connection with the
“ stupid ” type of mind.
Looking over the case histories and such summary figures as we
are able to use, we find emerging distinctly two general types of
character: The active, enterprising, intelligent child—the born
leader— and the duller and more stupid child, the natural comple
ment and accomplice and victim of the first type. Many instances
of such partnerships will be seen in the case histories. The obviously
defective child is in the minority.
J
F A M ILY CONDITIONS.
The next question to ask is, W hat are the family conditions sur
rounding the child delinquent ?
C O M P O SITIO N OF T H E F A M IL Y .

The 185 children studied belong to 144 different families (counting
as “ fam ilies” the three cases where the child had no home). O f
these no record was made o f the composition o f 14 families, but of
the 130 for which record was made 72 (56 per cent) were headed by
the child’s own father and mother, legally and duly married before
the child was born. In two more families the first but not the last
condition was fulfilled; the father and mother had been married to
legitimate the child. In eight families the heads were a man and
woman—one or the other the parent of the child in question—living
together but not married to each other. In seven families there
was a stepfather or stepmother married to the child’s own parent.
In six families the children were under the care o f a grandparent *
in six families under the care of some more distant relative. In 18
amilies the head was a widow or widower or mother separated from
her husband; six were foster families; three children had no home
In two instances the head o f the family was an unmarried mother
Noticeable here is the fact that for over half the cases a “ broken
hom e” can not be held accountable; over half the child delinquents
were living in families headed by a married father and mother, living
together, from whom normal parental care, sufficient to keep a child
from delinquency, might have been expected.
Is there any connection between the composition o f the family and
the various types of offenses ? The numbers are too small to afford

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:any basis for final conclusion, but it may perhaps be significant, and
it does accord with what we might expect, that families headed by
persons living in irregular sex relations had more than their share
o f the older sex offenders. ¿Families where stepmother or stepfather
shared the headship, or where the heads were grandparents or more
distant relatives of the children studied, had a high proportion of
u incorrigibles ” and younger sex offenders. The families headed
by only one parent had far more than their share o f “ incorrigibles.”
The family normal in constitution—-that is, headed by father and
mother, living together and duly married to each other—on the other
.hand, had a heavy proportion of the offenders against property.
Why has the normal family such a heavy percentage o f juvenile
pilfering to Its discredit'? Reference to the histories indicate that
in a number of cases it is due to direct parental influence. The steal
ing was done at the instigation of the parents and in partnership
with them. On the other hand, the higher proportion of sex offend
ers in the irregular families (small though the numbers are) indi
cates an equally direct pressure on the child by an immoral parent.
This will appear more clearly when we look more closely into the
character o f the parents or guardians.
P A R E N T A L DEFECTS.

Taking up these families “ normal ” in constitution, how far are
they “ normal” in the elements of control? The case histories in
their accounts of the parents, from observation and from general
neighborhood testimony, give a fairly clear picture o f them. As we
look through the 72 “ normal ” family case histories we find that in
almost two-thirds -%e investigator has noted some obvious disability
or inefficiency in both parents—some trait or quality that was plainly
unfavorable to the successful rearing of children. 'Next in number
were the cases where one fairly “ good ” parent was handicapped by
the other, who was -either positively bad or negatively inefficient.
In very few, indeed, the investigator found both father and mother
apparently well equipped to cope with the problem o f rearing off
spring properly. Possibly the investigators, looking critically for
all possible influences favorable to delinquency, might have found
few parents altogether satisfactory, even if they had studied families
where no juvenile délinquency had as yet occurred. But the indi
vidual descriptions are convincing that, whatever happens in fam i
lies that escape delinquency, here at least are conditions favorable to
its development.
What are the specific defects found in parents or guardians ? The
records of the 144 families, including not only the present guardians
but parents who, at the time o f the investigation, had died or gone
away but whose histories are given, furnish the answer. O f the men,

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43 were noted as addicted to drink ; 21 implicated in some sort o f sex
irregularity— such as living in irregular relations with a woman,
abusing his own daughter, keeping an immoral resort, or performing
illegal operations; 10 were of noticeably low mentality; 8 were de'scribed as “ ignorant ” ; 8 had a record o f stealing or fraud o f some
kind; 7 were shiftless and ineffieient; 6 were cruel. O f the women, 31
were sexually immoral; 13 were ignorant; 8 were of low mentality;
12 were shiftless and inefficient; 3 more were unable to make a com
fortable home because they “ hated housework ” though they enjoyed
outdoor work on the farm; 3 were addicted to drink; 2 had a record
o f stealing; 1 begged.; 1 was epileptic. The most frequently recorded failing for the men was drunken
ness; for the women, sex immorality. But here again, as in the case
o f the boy and girl delinquents, it must be remembered that sex fail
ings are the most difficult to trace, and they are more difficult to trace
in men than in women. It is, then, a safe conclusion that the men
were more given to drink than the women, but it is not a safe con
clusion that the women were more prone to sex vice than the men.
The families o f normal composition show various combinations o f
paternal and maternal defect. One frequent type is the union of a
rough, domineering, drunken father with an ignorant, downtrodden,
inefficient mother. On the other hand an overbearing, energetic
woman, irregular in sex relations, will be found married to some
well-meaning but slack and inefficient man, quite unable to control the
bad family conditions created by his more vigorous life partner.
May special types o f delinquency be connected with special types
o f parental defect ? This can not be done with any exactness because
the number o f cases is too small; but it is at least worthy o f note that in
every case in which there was a record of. parental stealing or fraud
there was also a case o f juvenile stealing. In addition, other records
which do not report any instance o f theft for the parents themselves
show their influence in inciting their children to dishonesty. The
child steals because the parent has encouraged or ordered him to do
so; but in the majority of cases no such direct connection is shown.
The parent has a reputation of pilfering or o f shady transactions in
the past; the child’s present delinquency is stealing The connection
between parental and filial delinquency may be only the low moral
standard of the family on this particular matter.
On the other hand, considerably over half the parents or guard
ians with a record o f sex irregularity were found in the group of
families—somewhat over one-third, but much less than one-half
the whole number—where the most important recorded juvenile de
linquency was a sex offense. In some instances the connection is
direct and implied in the nature of the case, as where a girl is a sex
delinquent because her father or guardian has violated her or

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sold her to other men. In other cases an immoral mother has taken
a young girl or child with her on her own immoral excursions. In
still others there is apparently no such connection. And it is worthy
o f note that a considerable number of the juvenile sex offenders had
parents o f good reputation with regard to sex matters.
The “ incorrigible ” cases showed the largest proportion o f parents
noted as “ inefficient,” which is about what we should expect.
T Y P E S OF P AR EN T AL D ISCIPLINE.

Some frequently recurring special types o f parental treatment
catch the attention on going through the case studies and seem worthy
o f separate mention. In many of the cases, for instance, parents are
seen to be stingy and grasping in money matters in relation to the
child. They do not allow him any pocket money or they put him
at hard work and take away all his -earnings; they keep him out of
school to help with farm work. The bad effect of such treatment
upon the child is obvious. It seems as if it could not be too urgently
impressed upon parents that nothing is more likely to ruin the in
fluence of parent over child and embitter the child against the parent
than injustice in money matters. And this is only too frequent in
country districts. At the other extreme, some parents lavish money
unwisely upon their children, to their harm; but instances of this
appear to be far less numerous than of the other class.
Parental discipline generally seems also to show the same two ex
tremes of inefficiency. A considerable number of the fathers attempt
to exert a stern discipline, which on the one hand is often seen to
result in vociferous but unfulfilled threats of punishment; on the
other, in utterly unintelligent beatings and abuse. In other cases in
these records there appears the fond and foolish parent who thinks
the child is “ wonderful ” and maintains no discipline at all.
H O M E SURROUNDINGS.

What has the general condition of the home to do with juvenile
delinquency? The investigators noted conditions found in 79 homes
in such a way that they may be classified roughly as “ bad ” and
« o-ood ” in regard to the physical surroundings, with especial em
phasis on cleanliness and comfort rather than on mere ugliness and
disorder. Doing this we may call 35 of the homes noted “ good ”
and 44 “ bad ”— considerably more than half. And dividing them
by classes of offense we find the highest proportion o f good homes
among the sex offenders, the lowest among the child offenders against
property.

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SO C IAL AN D EC O N O M IC PLANE.

It is impossible to generalize definitely from the material here pre
sented as to the social or economic level o f the juvenile offenders.
The case histories record many families living on a very low plane—
really degraded or depressed families. The proportion of “ b a d ”
homes is a slight indication o f this. Again families appear which
are decidedly poor and live plainly, but which are well up to the
normal level o f the community where they live. In some cases the
juvenile delinquents belong to “ the best families in town.” In some
there is considerable prosperity and culture. One type of family
does appear in these pages fairly often—the family of the tenant
farmer, who works hard but unintelligently, gets a meager return
for his labors, and moves frequently. There appears to be a distinct
social menace in this condition.
We find also a type of family, rovers like the tenant farmers,
where the head has no regular occupation. They stay in one place
perhaps a year or two and then move to another. It is obvious that
this situation is not favorable for rearing a family properly, and in
such families illegal absence from school is especially frequent, for
town officers can not keep track o f them.
CON FIRM ATION B Y IN STITU TIO N STUDY.
The study of the cases at Industry, in so far as trustworthy infor
mation regarding the history and surroundings o f the children is
available, not only confirms the findings of the community studies,
but gives them a more general application, since the institution cases
were from a much wider territory than that covered in the com
munity. studies.
One difference which might be expected does not exist. We might
expect to find here a selected group of more serious offenders than
the average of the village, since they have been considered “ b ad ”
enough to commit to an institution. But, as a matter o f fact, the
children seem no worse than the usual “ bad boy ” o f the village—
indeed, they seem less delinquent. For a considerable proportion of
the cases are like those of the one child found in the community
study who had done nothing bad himself, but was committed' to an
institution for delinquents because he had no home. Or they were
like the children studied whose “ badness ” lay chiefly in the defini
tion of the people who dealt with them. Therefore the two groups
were not unlike.
O f 31 cases for which records were most satisfactory, 10 showed
the chief trouble to be a broken home or lack o f responsibility on the

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part of the parents rather than delinquency of the child, though 5
o f the children were committed as “ ungovernable.” In only 1 of
the 10 cases did the child have an own father and mother living
together in a home. In none of the 10 was there any official record
of really ungovernable conduct, but 1 child, on being interviewed,
admitted that he smoked with “ other bad boys ” and would not mind
his mother and ran about the village evenings. In the other cases
the circumstances recorded plainly indicated that poverty was the
real cause o f commitment. Five of the boys had worked for farm
ers, and in B cases there were indications that the farmer had abused
the boy.
O f the entire 120 children committed from towns and villages ox
less than 2,000, 19 were probably subnormal, as indicated by the
tests made at the institution.
Fifty-two o f the 120 cases showed traces o f school trouble o f one
kind or another, but only 10 were committed to Industry as a direct
result o f this trouble. Out o f 6 of these eases for which records
were full enough to be worth study the technical charge of com
mitment was in 4 of the cases “ ungovernable,” in 1 “ improper
guardianship,” and in 1 “ riding freights.” Three o f the boys (2
of them foreign) had no proper home discipline and were truants
in the course of a general “ running wild.” The father of a fourth
boy is a shiftless farm laborer who moves about from place to
place. The boy says he can remember 19 different homes. This
roving life naturally led to truancy and probably to general de
moralization. But some instinct for industry was at work in the
boy, as well as thirst for sociability and adventure, for his final
offense, consisted in running away in company with another boy with
a threshing gang, with whom he earned money to pay for his food
by carrying water and pitching straw. Another boy played truant
because he thought he had been in school long -enough and was
anxious to get to work. He was in the eighth grade and could have
secured working papers, but his father would not let him—he wanted
the boy to be “ educated.” The sixth boy, a Polish boy of 14, did
not play truant. His offense consisted in knocking the teacher down
when she attempted to punish him fo r writing an improper note
.to a girl. The boy had been truant, however, in the past. He is
described as a large, stolid, ignorant boy, whose time out of school
had been spent in hard farm work without any .recreation. He had
never even been to the “ movies ” until he was sent to Industry. These
school difficulties parallel those found in the communities.
In about one-half the 120 cases the chief cause of the boys’ com
mitment was larceny; in about 40 this was the only cause. Where
there was sufficient material for an adequate judgment it was found
that in most cases the nature of and motives for the offense was the

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£7

I same as in the community studies. Some o f the boys appear blameworthy m fact; some do not—the following eight, for example:
One boy, who seemed really industrious and good, with some other
boys took blankets from a cottage to keep warm while they were work
ing as choppers for a country inn during the winter, when the cottages
were closed. Another worked hard, but liked a good time, and stole
o have money to spend. Another (a case described in detail in the
community studies), brought up in a happy-go-lucky family, stole
a bicycle m an entirely irresponsible way. Another boy wanted a
bicycle and stole money to buy it ; but his case seemed to.be one o f too
much responsibility. H is father drank, his own life consisted o f un
remitting hard work and no play, and the bicycle seemed an irre
sistible temptation. A French-Canadian boy, rather too enterpris
ing for his family, stole chickens to sell them; while another, with
a sick mother and a cruel father who would not provide for his fam
ily, stole money to get food. Another boy, regarded in the institu
tion as very bright but troublesome,” had been a great rover, going
from place to place to work at different jobs, and had been arrested
twice for truancy. He finally stole $25 from a farmer for whom he
was working to buy a railroad ticket and some clothes to go out
W est. For this offense he was:sent to Industry.
The two remaining boys, both tiny little chaps 10 years old, were
committed together fo r a midnight burglary. They and another
boy aged 7, broke into a store and stole candy, money, shoes, and a
coat. It was their first offense.
In all but one case there was a definite record o f bad home condi
tions, and, as has been said, this appears to be the one mark o f dis
tinction between the juvenile thief who is sent to an institution and
the one who is not. The commitment may be made quite as much
because there is no one-to look after the child as because he has stolen
the actual offense being passed over with a warning if there are par
ents who can be held responsible fo r futiire good behavior.
COM M U NITY CONDITIONS.
What have community influences to do with producing juvenile
de inqueney ? First let us look at the general setting— phy s ical and
social.
' * < >
TY P E S OF C O M M U N ITIE S.

Within the bounds o f our definition o f “ rural ” the separate com
munities studied had a considerable range o f variation in character.
One type is the little country village—the trading center of a sur
rounding agricultural district. Its population is made up mainly o f
the native-born white o f native parentage—the old American stock—
and is decreasing rather than increasing because its young men and

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women, as fast as they grow up, are caught in the current flowing!,
to the large towns and cities.
Going out of the village center, and “ on the hills ” perhaps, we
come upon little aggregations of people, not big enough for a village
group nor yet wholly isolated on scattered farms. Such aggrega
tions may gather about some crossroads or straggle along some sec
ondary highway. Here the conditions described for the village are
in most respects exaggerated for the worse. These little centers, too,
are often the survival of better days, and there has been an even
greater drain on the population than on that of the village. And
this has resulted even more definitely in a survival of the least fit.
As a net result the little isolated settlement is apt to be of a distinctly
lower grade. There is less intelligence and activity; the social
standard is lower.
Still farther away from the center we come to the isolated farm
where many of our cases are found. This may be a good, pleasant,
decent home, but its owners are so far away from social influences
of any kind that they find it hard to take advantage of them. On
the other hand, the isolated dwelling may be a tumble-down old
shack to which have withdrawn a family group too inefficient to
maintain themselves in an organized community, or too vicious to
be tolerated there. Here we reach almost the negation of social life.
Practically all good influences are wanting. This is such an extreme
type, and the evil influences so obvious, that it was thought undesirable to devote much time to hunting out examples-of it. It
•seemed better to lay emphasis on the normal community, the “ coun
try village” that even yet holds a large proportion of our native
citizens, rather than on the degenerate “ hill people” who are com
paratively few in numbers. But such families were not avoided when
they came within the range of pur study, and several instances will
be found described.
A step was also taken in the other direction—into villages where
there is a background of agricultural prosperity in the surrounding
farming district, and into villages feeling the stimulus of industrial
development and either growing into towns or showing the social
effects that come from contact with such towns. Sometimes being
in the neighborhood of the large town emphasizes the u deadness ”
o f the little town. The young people get away more easily to cheap
amusements—the moving pictures, the cheap theaters, the garish
saloons, the evening promenade along the brightly lighted town
thoroughfare— and find their own village the duller by contrast.
And they are more rapidly drained away permanently by the indus
trial opportunities nearer at hand.
Industrial activity may strike the village itself. Small factories
start up, and a factory population is established. Foreigners begin

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to come in, and the original social homogeneity o f the American
country village is lost. It is interesting to note, however, that for
eigners appear to have been little involved in the delinquency found.
Still another type (also included in the study) is the country
village which has felt the stimulus o f industry by becoming the
summer or suburban residence of people who have achieved pros
perity in the industrial centers. Here a very distinct social strati
fication is. set up, in which “ the natives” is a term in common use
almost as patronizing as “ the foreigners,” used in the cities. Such
communities have resources for maintaining more extended social
activity better schools, better churches, organized play—for the
building up of the social ideal. The danger here is that the im
provements may not really take root in the community on which they
are superimposed.
EC O NO M IC BACKGROUND.

Next to take into account is. the economic background. In gen
eral, in the communities studied it is that of the farm and o f agri
culture. The usual complaint in the average country, district is
that “ farming does not pay.” - This means that the old-fashioned
farms and farming of our early years are being displaced by the
opening of more fertile districts, the introduction of more effective
methods, requiring greater intelligence. and more capital than the
old-style farmer had.^ In one region studied the attempt is made
to carry on farming in the old ways. Here a large proportion of
the farmers are poor. Two-thirds o f those who have records in the
farm bureau have labor incomes1 varying from below $200 to $500
a year. O f this two-thirds, one-fourth make from $100 to $200,
while one-fifth have no labor income at all. And in the hill dis
tricts the abandoned farms are more numerous than the cultivated.
Such unfavorable economic conditions mean poor and insanitary
living conditions, overwork, lack o f recreation, and difficulties in
the way o f making use o f educational opportunity.
Another region studied is, as a whole, rich and flourishing. Its
population is increasing rapidly. Land values are constantly rising
everywhere. It is, in fact, a land o f milk and honey, of large, im
posing farmhouses and enormous barns, o f beautiful automobile
highways winding their way between miles and miles o f apple trees
and peach trees and vineyards. Nearly every farmer owns an auto
mobile, their boys go to college and their girls go to the various
normal and training schools. There is a high level of comfortable
living and progressive Americanism. The village population is
1 Labor income: The amount that the farm operator has left for his labor after the
rhl™ eXPenSeS and 5 Per cent interest on the average capital invested are deducted from
the faim receipts. Bulletin 410, p. 4, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington.

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largely made up of retired farmers, who have either leased their
farms or sold them and come to the village to live.
These villagers are often wealthy, owning several farms within a
radius o f 5 or 6 miles. There are high schools in the larger villages
and the children o f the well to do drive in from their farms in com
fortable carriages drawn by sleek horses.
But in this region, too, out from the villages, back from the fertile
farms, will be found rocky, infertile districts where poverty-stricken
tenant farmers find it hard to make a living.
In all but one of the .communities studied the farm and its work
are seen to be a powerful influence in the child’s life, especially that
o f the boy. The hoy living in a farming district is expected, as soon
as he is big enough to hold a hoe, to do his part amthe work o f either
his father’s or some one else’s farm.
„ ^
Even where farmers are prosperous and farming pays, the work
the boy has to do is hard and lonesome. I f the boy is at work on his
father’s farm, the father is in no hurry to pay him wages, wishes to
keep up the p a r e n t a l control indefinitely, and the hoy gets tired o f it
and wants to get away.
Then somebody else’s boy must be hired. And the farmer is not
always considerate or reasonable in his treatment o f him. In the
cases studied are a number o f instances where a boy has gone to
work for a farmer or has been placed with one by some society or
institution and has been badly overworked and misused. More than
once the act o f delinquency covered under the former charge “ incor
rigible ” or “ vagrant ” consisted in running away from a farmer for
whom the boy was working. It must not be concluded that in all
these cases there was misuse o f the boy, but it may be assumed from
the evidence at hand in these instances and others that usually there
was some bad condition from which the boy wished to get away.
One o f the cases was that of an 11-year-old boy at Industry who,
before his commitment to the institution, had been placed with a
farmer, but was so abused by these foster parents that he was
removed by the truant officer.
An interview with the boy brought out the fact that the farm
where he lived was I .miles from the village. lAhen asked what he
did to have a good time he replied that he “ used to plow and drag
and milk and go to see the boys evenings.” The farmer used to
whip him for poor work and also refused to buy the necessary school
books for him.
Besides being hard on the boy physically, farm work causes
truancy, since there is a constant inducement to keep the boy out at
harvest time and at spring planting to work.

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Farm work under prevailing conditions in the rural districts is,
then, not only hard on the children while they are young, but affords
little opportunity for the future.
This evil, however, is becoming more and more clearly recognized,
and plans o f one kind and another are already being tried in many
places for the betterment o f farm conditions.
In New York State the State department o f agriculture and Cor
nell University are active in promoting measures for the benefit o f
the farmers. O f the 55 counties in New York State 26 are each
provided with a county farm bureau, organized under the State de
partment o f agriculture. These farm bureaus undertake various
projects, according to the needs and desires o f the counties in which
they work, along the general lines o f study of farms through gather
ing records o f farm operations and instruction o f farmers in modern
methods.
Some o f the communities studied are situated in counties thus pro
vided ; others are not. In some places the farm bureau assists in car
rying on the work o f the achievement clubs to be described later.
Then there is the grange—the farmers’ own organization that has
extended throughout the country. In some of the neighborhoods
studied the granges are becoming more active along educational lines
and in providing recreation for the young people.
In one region the grange offers scholarships to deserving young
grangers for a course in agriculture at a State university. They also
send a group of boys and girls to the county fair each year, and to
Farmers’ Week at a. neighboring university town, and cooperate
with the schools in encouraging the achievement-club activity.
A. well-organized i( achievement club ” in the schools o f one region
has done some successful pioneer work in connecting the school and
the farm. This club grew out o f a boys’ club which was organized
15 years ago in a large town by a public-spirited citizen with the idea
o f giving city boys an opportunity to know the country and to work
on a farm and at vocational work. In the winter 50 or 60 boys work
in the sfiop every night after school and on Saturdays 5in the sum
mer they run a farm about 5 miles from the city. Later the founder
of the club extended his work to poultry clubs in the city schools and
urged the development o f such work in the country schools. These
clubs were started in 1910, and have grown to a membership o f 600
during the last year. During the past two years over 1,500 boys and
girls have been given study and practice in raising pure-bred poul
try, in growing potatoes o f the best quality, and in making bread.
During 1914, 478 settings o f eggs, 403 bread tins, and 377 bags o f
potatoes were given out as prizes to successful contestants. This

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work, though organized in clubs, is directly connected with the -4^,
school. Pupils join the achievement club as volunteers and under
take one or two of the projects, which are potato raising, poultry
raising, bread baking, cake baking, flower raising, and the study of
bird life. The teacher, with the help of “ pointers” furnished her,
instructs the children in the various projects. Each school club has
a leader chosen from the pupils. The actual work is done at home.
Reports must be made monthly by all pupils who undertake the work,
and in the autumn achievement-club fairs are held, where the results
are exhibited, judged, and prizes are awarded. The fairs are often
widely attended by parents and friends of the children, and tend to
arouse the people’s interest in the school and in country life. Each
of several granges pays the expenses of one of the prize winners
to Farmers’ Week at the n e a rly university town, and the boy or girl
delegate is then expected to present a paper on the trip before the
particular grange.
, The success of the achievement club depends largely on the in
terest and initiative of the teacher, but in some schools the pupils
have urged the teacher to start a club and have been the moving
force.
The material fruits of the achievement-club work can already
be seen in the splendid flocks of snow-white leghorn chickens which
have replaced the old mixed breeds in one region. The effect which
it may have on the problems of truancy, staying out to work, and the
drift of boys and girls away from the farm can not yet be
measured.
In the country village there is little of the child labor of the kind
of which we usually think under that term—regular work in a fac
tory or shop, under insanitary conditions, with long hours and low
pay. Children are employed at odd jobs, but this does not seem to
oppress them much physically. We see in the case studies, however,
bad moral results coming from employment, as in the instances o f
boys working in a pool room or bowling alley.
For the child’s future about all that the village offers in the way
o f employment, beyond going out to the country to work on a
farm, are a few ill-paid clerkships, the one or two teaching positions
in the village schools, and odd jobs at railroad manual labor o f
various kinds. Even the skilled .workers who used to make a
good living in the village supplying the needs of the village—the
blacksmith, the carpenter, the painter—have lost their old monopoly
o f village custom through the growing centralization of industry.
Throughout the investigation are seen instances where domestic
service has proved a pitfall for young girls. For example, one girl
whose case is presented here had every opportunity and incentive

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to lead an immoral life' with the young men boarders in the place
where she worked; in another case a girl was criminally assaulted
by a boarder or member o f the family where she was at service;
more than one other girl was seduced by some member of the family.
It would appear that here is an evil situation which should be recog
nized and dealt with in some way.
T H E RURAL CHURCH.

Turning to the social side o f country life, we find the church thtj
one generally approved social institution for all ages. Its activity
is seen to range from the performance o f public worship, without
other contracts, to hearty participation in the community life as a
whole. The extent and nature of its activities seem to depend
largely upon the personality o f the minister. He is usually very
poorly paid, is sometimes ignorant, sometimes indifferent, but often
in the most discouraging' surroundings is eager,, devoted,: socially
minded, and laborious in trying to arouse church and community to
a sense of their mutual relation and obligation. In part, the tradi
tion of a particular denomination determines the extent, o f the
church’s social activity. But whatever the cause—the minister,
the denominational tradition, or the prejudices of the people them
selves— in some communities the church appears as a- positive
hindrance to the development of a wholesome social life, by its
hostile attitude toward certain forms o f amusement, or indeed
toward any amusement at all. In others it goes to the opposite
extreme in its laxity.
The activities of the churches described in the community studies
indicate ways in which even the very active church may be open
ing the road to harm in one direction while assiduously closing it
in another. Socials where young people play rough games and go
home late at night unchaperoned form an example.
At the two extremes in the matter o f amusement are the church
which holds, its suppers in a road house o f questionable reputation
and the church belonging to a denomination which permits no socials
and frowns upon women who wear ribbons or feathers and upon men
who wear neckties.
On the other hand, there was the socially minded minister who
formed a boys’ club following the rules o f the Boy Scouts, which
did a great deal o f good and gave him a wholesome hold on the
boys. This is the minister who wished to use the unoccupied church
building for a community center but could get no support from
his. parishioners.
4 9 9 8 5 °— 18----- - 3

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T H E RU RAL SCH O OL.

The social as well as the educational center for the younger chil
dren is the district school. The school may indeed be considered
the most important social influence after the family in the life of
the child. We might almost put it before the family; for in the
school the child is obliged to spend a larger proportion o f his waking
time than under any other one influence. Here he forms his asso
ciations with those o f his own age group, whose opinions, customs,
habits, and traditions have more weight with him than those of
any other group can have.
Looking back on his own past life any adult must recall that in
his young days it was the judgment of his contemporaries that
was important to him—that was vivid and real. What older people
thought or advised was largely ex officio. Their standard was some
thing far off, incomprehensible, “ queer,” and uninteresting. It was
their nature to be. dull and to enforce dullness on the young folks:;
it was the natural impulse of the young people to escape the yoke
and break down the prohibitions. - For this reason the school should
be made as effective as possible not merely educationally but socially,
and a definite effort should be exerted to make it a social center.
Here is society’s point of contact with the child’s little world that
turns so self-sufficiently upon its own axis. The light touch just
here may swing the child away from downfall into an orbit of
wholesome progress.
What are the school conditions actually found in the communities
studied ?
First, as to organization. Each township is divided into school
districts. These are again grouped into supervisory districts, each
u n d e r the charge of a district supervisor who is elected by the school
trustees of the districts under his charge for a five-year term, at a
salary o f $1,200 a year, and who gives his whole ¡time to the work.
Generally the schools are housed in one-room buildings in the
open country and two-room buildings in the villages. The one-room
district schools have one trustee, a man or ¿a woman ; the village tworoom schools have a school board' of five members, to which women
are eligible. The trustee of the board has the-power of appointment
o f teachers in the district. In many neighborhoods the office of
school trustee is considered one to be avoided, and is ¡often filled with
great difficulty. This leads to some bad misfits in an office which is
o f the most vital importance to the good o f the school, to the chil
dren, and to the welfare o f the community.
The district schools are all prepared to give the work of eight
grades, but few of the one-room schools have eighth-grade scholars.
Several village schools give high-school work, but the tendency is

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for the children to go to the high schools in the larger towns and
for the village schools to become grammar schools only.
The curriculum o f the rural school is not as closely related to
life as it should be, either in subject matter or method. Courses in
“ nature study ” and agriculture may be included, but as a matter
o f fact little instruction is given in either subject. In one instance
the people o f a district positively objected to the course in “ nature
study” which the teacher attempted to give because she took the
children out into the woods and fields and they “ wanted to know
where the children were.”
The school equipment and surroundings leave much to be desired.
Often the schoolhouse is dilapidated, bare, and ugly. Sometimes it is
positively dirty; sometimes inadequately heated; sometimes it is
overcrowded, though this latter is not a usual fault. Again, the
schoolhouse may be neat and trim and attractive in appearance with
a bright coat o f white paint, and with its flag flying, but there may be
no play yard nor any opportunity for play. Few o f the schools studied
had any playground equipment or any provision for play within the
building. The case histories show what mischief is possible and how
much o f it gets a good start at the unsupervised noon hour, when the
teacher goes home to dinner and the children are left alone, with
nothing to do, in the bare little schoolhouse. Here little gangs o f
mischief-makers are form ed; here begins the passing from one child
to the other o f forbidden knowledge and practices. Here, too, the
child often gets his start in pilfering, as we may infer from the num
ber of cases described of children “ light-fingered in school.”
In the little school away from the village we find the staff con
sisting o f one teacher. This is often a young, inexperienced girl from
the community itself, whose educational acquirements are not great,
whose ideals are bounded by the neighborhood, who is ill-paid, and
who is often quite uninterested in her work. Her chief problem is
apparently not the mental and social development of the children in
her charge, but the task of maintaining bare outward order and dis
cipline ampng heedless and mischievous youngsters and rough big
boys, who “ make their brags ” that they can “ run out ” a weak or
unpopular teacher.
Sometimes a man is in charge. But in the smaller school the
salaries are so low that the male teacher can only be some young fel
low who is using the position as a stepping-stone to more profitable
employment, or some unfortunate being who is handicapped for
other occupations, or some public-spirited individual who undertakes
teaching in addition to another line of activity, as did the minister
in one little neighborhood studied.
On the other hand, as in the case o f the churches, instances were
noted where the men and women teachers were doing their best to

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bring life and progress into the country school and build up charac- s
ter in the country child.
The efficiency of schools depends so greatly on the personnel of
the teaching force that the system by which teaching is left to young,
uninterested, and inexperienced girls has much to answer for in
producing juvenile delinquency. A teacher who has lived in her com
munity long enough to understand the people and who has interest
in her work can do a great deal with the children and can be a
leader of the older people. In one supervisory district studied only
about 20 per cent of the teachers stay more than one year in a school.
At least 30 per cent of the teachers are between 19 and 21 years
of age.
In barren hill districts, where the children present the hardest
problem, the teachers are the youngest and least experienced.^ Out
of the 13 teachers in one region, 7 are under 21, and 5 are girls of
18 or 19 teaching their first school. A young girl of this type is
not competent to deal with the problem set before her. She is
physically unable to handle the uncouth, obstreperous boy o f 14;
is too shy or ignorant to face and solve the ever-present problem
of obscene writing and talk, or more serious sex offenses; and must
put all of her energy on the mechanical details of getting through
her long program for many classes. I f the older boys who come in
during the months when there is nothing to do on the farm wish
to play dominoes or cards, what more is she equipped to do except
let them play ?
Often the difference between $10 and $15 a'week—$200 for the
term of 40 weeks—would tempt a well-trained teacher. But school
taxes can be counted in dollars, and the measure of education of the
children is not concrete.
In the villages conditions are somewhat better. The teaching staff
of the village school is larger and salaries are higher; therefore, it
has a greater opportunity to secure better and more experienced
teachers, who are likely to stay in the place long enough to be
effective. The student group is larger, giving chance for more social
contact and the better organization of recreation.
But the teaching staff, though on the whole more efficient than
out in the country, includes some very black sheep. Several cases
were found where a village school principal was a distinctly evil in
fluence over the schools. To counterbalance this we must keep in
mind the numerous instances noted by investigators where the village
school principal has done constructive social work by organizing
clubs, Boy Scout troops, games, and so on.
For all these reasons the children are not as eager as they should
be for higher education, or even to complete the limited course
offered in the district, school.

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A movement is on foot to improve the little district schools by con
solidation of districts, bringing the children together in a village
union school. This meg,ns the possibility o f grading and of expansion
of the curriculum, of better salaries for teachers, and of more efficient
teaching. This movement has not gone far in the districts studied;
in some neighborhoods it is not approved. In one region some
unfavorable reactions were noted upon the district schools which
were not done away with in^ the process of consolidation. It was
found that the well-to-do people in a small district would not
usually send their children to their own school but to the nearest
village school, sometimes paying a small tuition fee for the privilege.
Since these well-to-do people are the town taxpayers they are natu
rally. not interested in supporting a school in which they have no chil
dren. Another class of taxpayers who will never contribute to the dis
trict school are the absentee landlords—men who live in the villages
but own numerous large farms scattered through the country. The
burden of the support o f these little schools comes then on the
poorer class. The result is that funds become more insufficient
and all the unfavorable conditions noted for the district school are
exaggerated.
.
In some district schools, in townships where consolidation has-gone
far, the number of pupils has fallen off to the extent that only
5 or 6 will be found in a room designed.for 25. The psychological
effect upon these 5 or 6 educationally marooned little rural victims
may be imagined, separated as they are from the more prosperous
children o f the community. Is it a wonder i f they become a little
bashful with their village-educated friends, if they shrink into their
ragged, farmerish clothes a little when they meet the better dressed
children coming home from the village school? Is it a wonder if
their constantly narrow associations somewhat unfit them for a
wider life? They naturally would not think of such a thing as
going to the village high school if they can not go even to the village
grade school; and, in fact, their district-school training would ill fit
them to carry on the high-school work.
This means, not that consolidation should be checked but that it
should be hurried on until there are no more such stagnant pools
of educational backwater.
TR U AN C Y.

To a great extent not only do the children'drop out of the village
school at an early age, but while they are in school attendance is
irregular. The children who attend irregularly are not in general
“ truants,” according to the definition of the New York State law—
that is,' children absent without the knowledge and consent of
their parents. They are guilty of “ illegal” absence, or rather

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the parents are guilty, and they are the ones against whom to pro
ceed. For the older children the “ illegal absence ” is usually for the
purpose of helping on the farm, which is generally considered by
parents, children, teachers, neighbors, and even the attendance officer
a perfectly valid excuse. As an instance, in one little school at least
half the children are kept out to work during the autumn. In an
other district the investigator reports that almost no district school
in the communities studied was without a few cases of boys kept
home for work a few days at a time. ‘In this region very few girls
are kept out on this account, since their labor is not as valuable as
that o f the boys, who, during the harvesting o f the fruit crop, are
invaluable as pickers of grapes, peaches, and apples, and also for
picking up potatoes, and many other forms of farm work.
Some schools meet the situation by declaring a week’s recess,
known as v* potato week,” when boys may be thus employed without
being absent from school. But, as a matter of fact, one week is not
sufficient, and a great deal of illegal absence occurs even in the
schools which have the i; potato week.” This practice is to be found
not only in the poor, low-standard families, but sometimes also
among the better class of well-to-do farmers. They do not realize
that a boy who is thus kept out of school loses touch with and interest
in his work and that it is apt to result in his falling behind the rest
of his class. Becoming thus retarded and associated with children
younger than himself in his classes, he begins to “ hate school ” and
drops out completely as soon as he is legally able to do so, even
though he is really a bright boy and even though there is no financial
reason for his not continuing on through the high school.
In these rural districts there is a “ conspiracy of silence ” which
has resulted in parents not being prosecuted for this violation of the
law. The teachers send notices to trustees and to attendance officers
stating that such and such boys are not attending school. Nothing
happens, and parents know that nothing will happen.
Town school authorities are in general not inclined to enforce the
truancy law, except when obliged to do so by the State education
department. The explanation is simple—it is often neighborly feel
ing. Can a man who is a school trustee say to his friend and neigh
bor, “ John, if you keep that boy of yours out of school another day
I ’ll have you before the justice of the peace (another mutual friend
and neighbor) and have you fined $10” ? And then, even if this
trustee does have the courage of his convictions, perhaps the justice
o f the peace will not have, and instead of roundly fining neighbor
John will let him off with some good advice. Sometimes the trustees
tell the teachers they must accept any excuse that the children bring.

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itEW

YORK.

Sometimes the situation is met by haying the boy who is ©Id
enough to do so take out working papers in order that he may help
on the farm in the busy season. Such boys often come back .during
the winter months and are in many cases the “ rough ” element 'that
creates so much trouble in the maintenance of discipline and some
times actually disorganizes the school.
Other reasons for “ illegal absence,” which apply especially to the
younger -children, are the difficulty of transportation in the winter
and the lack o f proper clothing for the children to wear to .school
owing to the poverty of the family. This latter difficulty is supposed
to he met by the poor master of the town, whose duty it is to provide
the needed shoes or clothing, but in some of the cases cited he had
apparently quite failed in this.
It is interesting to note that the work of the achievement club
described in connection with efforts to promote greater interest and
efficiency in .agriculture is found to have a tendency to keep the
children longer in school.
In one region the investigator came to the conclusion that “ truant
officers seem to be elected for their inefficiency.” One truant officer
hailed the arrival of the investigator as an opportunity to inquire
if the truant officer is “ supposed to attend to cases of truancy which
result from farm work as well as cases of running away from
school,” and he was somewhat surprised and pained to be fold that
all cases o f illegal absence were within his province.
In the village schools where "janitors are employed this school
janitor is usually the truant officer. He is often some broken-down,
unemployable man past the prime of life. As truant officer this
type o f man is negligible. In one community the principal of the
union school, which is regarded as the finest union school in the
county, never utilizes the truant officer in eases of nonattendance, but
either goes himself to visit the family or, in some cases, telephones.
These janitor truant officers are also supposed to make the school
census at the opening of the school year. Without this census the
various teachers have no official list o f the children who should be in
school. In one village this so-called attendance officer failed to
include in his census the names of 10 or 12 foreign children. In
another this officer had made no census whatever as late as Janu
ary 1, and the teachers were without any lists at all. In another the
attendance officer refused to act on a notification from a justice of the
peace that a certain boy had not been in school at all during the year.
His grounds were that he must receive due notice from the teacher
o f the district. .As a matter of fact, this officer had known o f the
boy’s nonattendance from the very first.

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In addition to these glaring defects in enforcing attendance, these
officers frequently fail to act upon notice o f nonattendance gent them
by the teachers. In many cases of truancy found by the investigators
the teachers state that they have sent proper notices to the attendance
officer, but that often no action has been taken.
T H E TA V E R N .

The one active but disavowed rival to the church as a social center
for old and young is the village tavern.
In some cases the village itself is “ dry,” but anyone in search of
refreshment can easily find the way to a neighboring town or village
where rules are not so strict. The tavern is the catchall for every
sort o f amusement proscribed by the church and the stricter people o f
the town. Here dances may be given, here there may be a pool room
or bowling alley, and here sometimes may be found rooms to let for
immoral purposes. Here all the gossip o f the neighborhood is inter
changed ; and here, in the bar, pool room, or bowling alley, may be
found—legally or illegally—numerous little boys who learn to drink,
smoke, swear, steal, tell dirty stories, and amuse the adult crowd
thereby.
After so many years of agitation the large part drink plays in all
social problems hardly needs to be stressed. Perhaps, after all, it
should be stressed, because with the discovery of other sources o f
evil has come a tendency to minimize the one about which we have
heard so much. But certainly the present investigation shows anew
and decidedly the great harm done by drink, not only through tavern
training of the young but also in making parents and guardians
cruel or idle or inefficient, as found in case after case, and creating
those bad home conditions which are most favorable to the develop
ment of juvenile delinquency.
T H E V IL L A G E STORE.

No account o f social centers in a country district would be com
plete without mention of the village store. It is the clubhouse for
men and boys who do not quite like to go to the length of haunting
the village tavern; or for all, in “ d r y ” villages where no tavern
exists. Here neighborhood matters are discussed, personal affairs,
politics, the latest scandal. Here it may happen that “ racy ” stories
are told and matters of sex held up to indecent comment and ridicule.
The store is to a startling extent the place where social ideals are
formed and where the minds of the young are impregnated with the
principles which later will govern their work and play.
Here, too, a taste for gambling may be fostered. This is a form
of recreation greatly under the ban of opinion in rural communi
ties, but, as a matter of fact, quite frequently indulged in. It may

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be carried on in connection with games o f various kinds—-pool,
poker, and so on—entered into spontaneously. But worthy of
special note are cases mentioned in the investigator’s report of
petty gambling schemes, devised to play upon and encourage the
gambling instinct, run in connection with the stores. Such devices
are familiar in city neighborhoods where they are with greater or
less severity suppressed by the police. They are no doubt intro
duced into country districts in the process o f organization of trade
from some large center which is so characteristic a feature of eco
nomic life to-day.
Beyond these main centers of social life there is little-in the
average rural district. Grange meetings, farmers’ picnics, neighbor
hood parties occur, but they are few and far between.
The great complaint of the young people in the country neigh
borhood is “ nothing to do.” This gap they try to fill with sex
excitement and with riotous mischief that may end in larceny and
burglary.
R E L A T IO N TO D E L IN Q U E N C Y .

It is easy to see how the conditions described above may affect
tendencies to juvenile delinquency and, in many cases, the connec
tion may be directly traced. But in other cases it is not easy to see
how the general neighborhood conditions can be blamed for de
linquency. In one community a considerable group o f the juvenile
delinquents seem to have inherited their badness (whether physically
or through family tradition), for they all sprang from one set of
rough families that had been brought into the region as laborers
on construction work in former days. One village for no apparent
reason had a special tendency to low gossip, and here we find a nest
o f child sex offenders. In another, apparently under the most
favorable conditions where especial attention was paid to the social
needs of the young people, was found a regular gang—male and
female— of adolescent sex offenders, some of them belonging to the
best families in the place. In this case the trouble seemed due to
lack of parental control.
This does not mean that good community conditions are ineffectual
and that we rnay be indifferent about securing them. It simply
means that juvenile delinquency is a complex problem in which
heredity, home conditions, and community conditions may all play
a part.
TRE A TM E N T OF JU VEN ILE DELINQUENCY.
What means are used in these rural communities to treat the juve
nile delinquency which has already occurred or to prevent its hap
pening ?

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NKW YORK.

STAND ARD S OF L A W EN FO R C EM EN T.

It lias already been mentioned, and may be seen in the eases cited,
that tbe rural community has laser standards o f legal regulation
and enforcement than the urban community. Acts that create great
annoyance and damage in the city are more tolerable in the country,
and even where considerable harm ensues neighbors of the culprit
hesitate to make complaints that would cause unpleasant feeling
and perhaps further, damage to person or property. Among the
case histories are to be found many instances in which nothing is
done to the delinquent except perhaps to recommend a parental
thrashing.
The situation is a delicate and difficult one. Private citizens can
hot be forced to lodge complaints if they do not wish to do so.
Neighbors are unwilling to complain of one another. The employers
of the tenant farmers prefer not to bear testimony against their
employees’ children. No neighbor likes to say o f another neighbor’s
daughter that she is going wrong, that she is out nights, or that she is
about to bear an illegitimate chald. A rural minister seldom caresj
to speak of the deacon’s son as a petty thief or a sex pervert, even ■
though he well knows him to be such. A Catholic priest will never
betray the confidences or the secrets o f his parishioners. Physicians
are in honor bound not to speak of the troubles they find in th e,
families which they visit. Town officers and supervisors do not
care to run the risk of any loss o f popularity as the result of making j
complaints. Country storekeepers usually prefer not to enter com- ■
plaints against children who steal small things here and there. 1
“ I t hurts business ” is their lament. “ Why, we’d lose a lot more in
our loss of business with the family and all their friends than we’d
ever get out o f complaining against a kid.”
T H E JUSTICE OF T H E PEACE.

When the law is invoked against children in the rural districts of
New York State, it is, except in two counties, through the local
justice o f the peace.
This official has jurisdiction over a small but perhaps widely scat
tered population, is elected by the group he serves, and need not have
had—often has not had— any legal (training or any other special
qualification to fit him for the task o f giving judgments and making
decisions which affect human destinies.
It is not surprising, then, that the reports o f investigators show
grave deficiencies in the administration of justice at the hands o f
these men, though in many instances the justices were found to be
well-intentioned, interested in their problem, and generous o f time
and effort in trying to solve it.

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YOBK.

In proceeding against juvenile delinquents, the justices of the
peace act only when complaints are made. These complaints come
from the persons whom the children have annoyed, or from the agent
of some children’s society. In one region studied there are from two
to four justices in each township. The justice is a county officer, but
the law, by which he is paid for execution of warrants in his own
township only, limits his jurisdiction. He is paid for warrants which
he gets out for criminals anywhere in the county, but he can collect
for the arrest and trial of persons in his own township only. Usually
one justice is active, and he tries all the criminal cases. An officer
of a children’s society says that the justices are not versed in the
law and do not know how to deal with cases. An agent for a placingout society says that great difficulty arises in prosecuting cases be
cause the justices and local authorities will not back up the children’s
society agent. This is due to political considerations 5 the justices
do not wish to make expense for the taxpayers in their districts,
therefore they do not care to prosecute cases. The inaction of the
justices is amusingly illustrated in the following story told o f a
citizen o f one of the communities studied. 'A n old man stole his
wheelbarrow and sold it for 40 cents. The citizen applied to one
justice for a warrant, but he begged off on the ground of deafness;
another “ didn’t want nothing to do with it.” So the determined
man drove over the hills to find the third justice in another town.
He arrived late in the evening, only to find that the justice lived
2 miles farther on. In desperation he telephoned: “ Is this Justice
B--------- ? Well, are you ready to do business?”
Another reason for inaction on the part of the justice is unwill
ingness to make enemies o f neighbors by interfering with their
children. Even when the parent is vicious and unfit to have the.
care of the children there is reluctance to interfere. Sometimes the
failure to act is due to the justice’s unfamiliarity with laws and
procedure.
One justice, a lawyer (which is uncommon), and also mentioned
as the most intelligent and thoughtful of any of the county justices
o f the peace seen by the investigator, was found unfamiliar with
the newer thought and practice in handling juvenile delinquents.
His only knowledge of institutions was the county jail and house
of refuge. O f the latter he had a high opinion for its reformatory
influence, but he had never heard of Bedford or Industry. Ilfs
general theory o f treatment is that it is a very bad thing for a boy
or girl to be brought into court. The judge holds court in his office,
and, after appearing two or three times, the child, who finds that
it is just like any other place, loses his fear and inclines to do as
he pleases. He thinks that with really bad boys the fear o f being
sent to jail or a good stiff talking to does the most good. He some-

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times puts boys whom he believes it will influence on parole or pro
bation, but on the whole he believes in leaving matters to parents
even when irresponsible. He thinks that the delinquent child, after
going through a period of badness, will turn out pretty well.
The law requires that children shall be tried in a separate court
or room, as far as possible; that their cases shall have precedence
over other cases, and shall be recorded on a separate docket. Few
justices had obtained the new juvenile docket at the time of the
investigation. One of the justices sent for one immediately upon
the investigator’s inquiring if he had one. The justices are also
required to file at'the county clerk’s office a notice o f each case that
comes before them, and notices are sent to them, together with blanks,
which they are to fill out. But the investigator in one region found
that eight cases, which had been up before the justices of the peace
whom she visited, were not on record in the office of the county
clerk. And the county clerk could mention only one justice who sent
in full reports, a few who had sent records of convictions only, while
the majority had sent no records at all.
It must not be concluded, however, that there is nothing good in
the rural justices. The investigator in one region was favorably im
pressed with the general attitude of the justices with whom she came
in contact toward the whole delinquent-child problem. At least three
out o f six displayed special interest in this branch of their work,
and were eager for any new light that could be thrown on the subject.
Two of them were proud of their methods of dealing with the boys,
and told of fatherly talks with them. One does not believe in arrest
or corporal punishment for children. He refused to arrest gangs of
boj^s for breaking a bench on Hallowe’en, for playing ball in the
street, for catching trains, and for stealing corn. In the first case,however, he had them up before him and made them pay for the bench.
Then he arranged a tablet on the wall o f his office where they had to
write down their behavior. This was practically placing them on
probation, but without the stigma. Another justice spoke with great
pride of his fatherly talk to a boy and the boy’s improvement under
probation.
In this region the children are put on probation to the justices
themselves, and often live too far away to visit the justice in person.
Nor does the justice go to see them, but trusts to their letters or to
occasional hearsay reports. In the two cases where the investigator
found boys on probation they were left in the environment in which
the offense had been committed, and their “ improvement” was a
happy but fictitious belief in the mind of the justice. Both had re
peated the offense for which they had been brought before him.

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One justice realizes the defects in this system and urges the necessity
for probation officers to look after all their eases— children and adults.
I f not placed on probation, the children are sent to reform schools,
usually Industry for the boys, Hudson for the girls. Appeal from
the decisions o f the justices may be made to the county court. Cases
o f feeble-minded children always come before the county or supreme
courts, and two physicians must swear, to the defectiveness before
a child can be committed' to the institution for the feeble
minded.
In one region studied the county court has immediate jurisdiction
over juvenile cases. But even here instances are given o f meddling
by justices. Certain village justices of the peace have been found
treating juvenile cases unofficially, hearing the cases as private citi
zens, making no court record, putting the child on unofficial proba
tion to themselves, and in other ways avoiding the clause in the
law o f 1911 which requires that they shall give the offender over to
the juvenile court.
It is in the commitments to institutions that the work o f the local
justices is especially to be criticized. The community studies and
the study o f cases after commitment at Industry show that the
principle o f commitment to an institution for delinquents is not so
much the nature and degree of delinquency in the child: and the
suitability o f the institution to improve his character as the amount
o f bother and: expense to the neighborhood or the family to be saved
by sending the child. •
.. , :
The cases studied at Industry showed- a considerable proportion
in which commitment was the result o f pressure by local authorities
to force upon the State the support o f boys who were not really de
linquent but who were destitute. They should never have been sent
to Industry, but should have been placed or boarded out or otherwise
maintained at the expense of the town.
Such methods o f commitment mean that in one institution will be
found thrown together the normal child whose only fault is having
no home, but is committed as a “ vagrant” ; the troublesome but not
abnormal mischief-maker; the actually perverted and degenerate,
who steals, burns barns, and is guilty o f sex perversion, and passes
on the lessons o f evil at the first opportunity; and the feeble-minded.
These evils are lessened by the method o f segregation followed in
modern institutions, but it is unfair to throw upon an institution the
burden o f such a heterogeneous mass to assoi t.
The responsibility for this state o f things should not be entirely
saddled upon the justices, however. In many instances they are
powerless to do otherwise, because the community behind them will

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not help in shouldering its own burden—will not undertake the
responsibility for the oversight and support o f the destitute and
neglected child.
T H E C O U N T Y J U V E N IL E COURT.

The county court having jurisdiction over children in one of the
regions studied sits in a large city, and, though it has jurisdiction
over'the entire county, it works, -as a matter of fact, mainly with city
cases. This is not because the judge is not desirous of taking up
all rural cases also, but because no officers are attached to his court
whose business it is to bring before this court all cases of rural
juvenile delinquency o f which complaint may be made. The law
which established this court gave it jurisdiction over all children
under the age o f 16 and made it obligatory upon the justices o f the
peace of each town to hand over to this court all children who are
brought before them. This law is not in high favor with the town
justices of the peace, nor with possible complainants scattered
through the rural sections, for the reason that the prosecution of a
delinquent child now means that complainant, child, witnesses, and
constable must all make the journey to the city for the first hearing,
and perhaps also for adjourned hearings, and that much loss of
time and money will result therefrom. Several cases came to the
investigator’s notice in which the complainant refused to act when
he discovered how great would be his own personal inconvenience.
The situation is aggravated in the eyes of the ordinary citizen by
the fact that the depredations o f the youthful offender are usually
of slight importance. It is difficult for the complainant to under
stand why an adult horse thief may be tried without expense by the
local justice of the peace when a boy who has “ pinched ” a box of
cigarettes must be taken to the city, 10 or 15 miles distant, with a
retinue of attendants.
The result of this situation is that the county juvenile court is not
covering the entire territory over which it has jurisdiction. Cases
of rural juvenile delinquency are constantly escaping the hand of
the law which, had they occurred within the city, would have
received the immediate attention o f the court.
T H E JAIL AS A PLACE OF D E T E N T IO N .

After a child is committed to an institution by a justice, and
before he is sent there, he may be held in a jail. In one region
studied, between the time o f sentence and of transfer to an institu
tion, children are kept in the county jail. The jail record shows
that they stay there two, three, four, or five days, and one boy stayed

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6ight days. The jail has a juvenile department—a long room with
a space shut off by iron bars where the beds are slung behind more
bars, each bed in a small compartment. A stench prevailed and the
beds were dirty. The children are, however, allowed considerable
freedom in the jail. One little lad, committed for stealing a bicycle,
evidently had a pleasant time there. This was the boy who was
held eight days, while he was being examined for contagious dis
ease. He is the one described in the community studies who became
so popular and was treated so well that he said he did not wish to
return home or go to Industry, but would rather have stayed in the
jail.
.
•
But whether pleasant or unpleasant, as stated in the Missouri
Children’s Code Commission of 1916, “ A jail is no place for a child;
it breeds criminals.”
D EFECTS OF T R E A T M E N T .

What is the effectiveness o f institutional care o f juvenile delin
quents? That question this report can not attempt to answer, be
cause the institutional study was not sufficiently extended to do so.
It can only point out that, as indicated in the criticism o f the justices
for unintelligent commitments, the institution group throws together
good and bad, wise and foolish, who may do one another more harm
than the wisest training can undo. And an institution record ap
pears to be a distinct handicap to a child when he returns to his own
village. It seems to be plain that, so far as commitment to an insti
tution can be replaced by intelligent supervision in normal family
surroundings, it should be.
The weakness o f probation as carried on by the local justice of the
peace has been pointed out in the descriptions o f the different jus
tices and their activities. It seems, too, that the parole officers who
have oversight o f children after their release from institutions lack
training and have too many cases to make good work possible.
Another means of dealing with juvenile delinquency is provided
for by a clause in the law which makes it possible to prosecute the
parents o f a delinquent child on the charge of “ adult contributory
delinquency.” The investigator’s reports show no instances o f invok
ing this clause, though in a number o f the cases this would have seemed
the most appropriate action, notably in a group of the Industry cases.
C O O P E R A TIO N OF P R IV A T E AGENCIES.

Various private agencies cooperate with the public agencies in the
treatment o f juvenile delinquency. The State charities aid associa
tion and the society for prevention o f cruelty to children are

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primarily concerned with dependent and neglected children. But
they often become involved in delinquency cases through finding that
a supposed case o f dependence turns out to be delinquency and also
through the necessity of dealing with other members o f the family
than the delinquent. The investigators mention their activities in
connection with many of the cases investigated, usually with ap
proval.
In one region studied a humane society, established about 30 years
ago by citizens o f the one large town in the county and financed by
the allied charities, cooperates with the State charities aid associa
tion in caring for dependent and neglected children. The present
humane agent is doing excellent work. He prosecutes his own cases
and is very often called in in connection with cases of juvenile
delinquency.
RECOM M ENDATIONS FOR TREATM EN T.
JU V E N IL E C O U N T Y COURT.

The first recommendation to be made for the .treatment of juvenile
delinquents is to take cases of juvenile delinquency entirely out of
the hands of local justices and put them in charge of a juvenile
county court. The juvenile county court, as at present operating,
has its own serious defects. These, however, are not to he remedied
by abolishing the court and throwing the children back upon the
justices, but by extending the field and functions and improving
the operations of the court.
The difficulty o f inconvenience of access to the court from rural
districts might be met by dividing the court, assigning one part to
rural work and sending it on circuit. Or it might be met by the
appointment of one or more competent referees, who could hear
cases in different parts o f the county subject t o . review by the
judge in cases where an appeal is made from the referee. Whatever
the details of the method, the essentials are to secure judicial action
on juvenile delinquency cases in all parts of the county by a com
petent, experienced authority who is not subject to local influences;
to secure an effective unified probation system for the whole county;
and to avoid unnecessary expense of the time and money of parents,
guardians, and witnesses. Surely the county is a sufficiently small
unit to permit some practicable plan of administration which will
make the juvenile court accessible to all parts o f it without undue
expense.
Under this court the law should make available a probation officer
in every inhabited section of rural as well as urban communities.
This officer should preferably be a person publicly paid, but where

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this is as yet impracticable the best obtainable person should be
officially authorized to begin the work upon a volunteer or privately
paid basis pending the establishment o f a paid position.
Once an efficient system of court hearings on rural delinquency
cases is started in a county, and the probation officer is actively
at work day after day in all parts of the county, complaints about
offenses that now are not complained of at all would naturally be
made to him. Inquiry thus set on foot would lead to judicial action
wherever necessary. It is important that the supervision of girls
and women be wholly exercised by women, and that where the only
regular probation officer is a man the services of women volunteers
be secured to aid him in the supervision of such cases.
In connection with the juvenile court there should, furthermore,
be provided some other place o f detention for children than the
jail, the calaboose, or the police station. This does not necessarily
mean a new house o f detention. It is often possible to make satis
factory arrangements for temporary detention o f juveniles either in
some existing institution for children, or in some specially selected
family home.
The juvenile court and county probation system should be so
strengthened as to reduce the necessity for commitment of children
to institutions to a minimum.
Cases presented by the investigators seem to indicate the desir
ability o f raising the age limit of juvenile delinquency from 16
to 18. Many instances show a really childish type o f mind and
character in boys and girls over the age of 16 that could better be
handle# by the methods o f the juvenile court than by the methods
used for adults.
This appears to be particularly desirable for rural children, since
they do not mature as early as city children, for whom the exciting
experiences o f daily contact with crowds o f other human beings
afford a stimulus to precocious development which the country child
knows nothing about.
A B O L IT IO N OF FU N C T IO N OF JUSTICE OF T H E PEACE.

Notwithstanding the antiquity of the office and the firm footing
it has among our fundamental institutions, familiarity with con
ditions as described here leads to the conclusion that to abolish the
function o f the local justice in relation to delinquency at all ages
would help to solve the child problem. The same circumstances
which render the local justice ineffective in dealing with children
make him ineffective in dealing with adults. This fact in turn
reacts disastrously upon the family o f the adult offender and may
lead to actual juvenile delinquency. Even in cases o f juvenile delin
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quency where jurisdiction is vested in a county court the fact that
the local justice has jurisdiction over adults connected with the
case leads to much trouble and loss of time in going from one court
to the other, and to cross-purposes in giving judgment.
Take, for example, the case o f the young girl who had either
been violated or seduced by a young man in a farming neighbor
hood. The girl was taken by the juvenile court and placed in a
series of homes as a servant. The probation officer reports that
she is now doing very well. The young man in question was dealt
with by the local justice o f the peace, who had the reputation o f
being “ as slippery as an eel,” was locked up in the local jail for
several hours and then discharged. He celebrated his escape from
the clutches of the law by getting drunk at the village saloon, where
he boasted that it cost him $88 to get out of the scrape. Why is
the juvenile court not given jurisdiction over all phases of such a
case as this one? It is certainly desirable that legislation should
authorize the same court which has exclusive jurisdiction in juvenile
cases also to have jurisdiction in all cases of adults directly involving
the welfare o f juveniles.
PR O SE C U TIO N OF A D U LTS.

Whether any changes are made in the jurisdiction of courts or
not, a stricter and more consistent prosecution o f adults for neglect
and cruelty and “ adult contributory delinquency ” should be under
taken. In particular, parents should not be permitted to shift their
parental responsibilities for support and discipline upon the State,
even if it appears to be at the time the easiest way to handle the
situation. W hy should not a probation officer expend as much
thought and effort in supervising the child’s natural home as his
foster home ? A foster home is generally considered a better place
for a child than an institution. Surely his own home is better than
a foster home, if there remains enough parental intelligence and
responsibility to be nursed into strength and effectiveness by some
socially minded probation officer. It seems desirable, therefore, that
a probation officer for adults should be made available as soon as
possible for all the courts that have jurisdiction in cases o f nonsupport, desertion, neglect, divorce, bastardy, all domestic relation cases,
misdemeanor cases, and minor felony cases.
In counties where the population and the amount of service
needed makes it practicable to have one probation officer for juveniles
and another for adults this is preferable, but it is entirely feasible
for a competent officer to supervise both juveniles and adults.
It is essential for the real success of a probation officer with either
juveniles or adults that he possess the power and habit o f studying

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eacli person not as a detached individual but as a complete human
being having a body, mind, and spirit, and placed in the setting o f
his own special family and neighborhood, with their economic and
social relations. In short no probation officer can really succeed with
out being a good “ case worker.”
In some rural communities the probation officer may well be
clothed with other authority, such as that o f attendance officer, nurse,
parole officer, poor-relief officer, and S. P. C. C. and child-labor en
forcement officer. Such a combination o f duties may, in many a
county, justify expenditure for the whole time o f a well-qualified
person, when for each separate form o f service no adequately pre
pared person could be afforded.
In those counties where the work o f the probation officer is con
fined to probation the successful officer in rural, as well as in urban,
communities must be in close touch with schools, poor relief, recrea
tion, churches, women’s clubs, institutions, industry, granges, local
governmental officials, and all other social agencies that touch the
life o f his probationers in either remedial or preventive ways.
A D V IS O R Y BOARD OF CITIZEN S.

In every county there should be either a legal or an extra legal ad
visory board of citizens to cooperate with the judges and probation
officers in securing progressive efficiency in the social work for chil
dren and adults in the county.
In States like Missouri, Minnesota, and Alabama and in Dutchess
County, N. Y., where county boards o f child welfare are contem
plated under legislative enactment, sueh boards might suffice.
In counties where the law provides for no such boards it is wholly
within the power of the interested judges to create such an advisory
group by personal request and appointment.
RECOM M ENDATIONS FOR PREVE N TIO N .
The community surveys show the most striking needs o f the normal
child in rural districts to be mental and moral training, recreation,
and vocational opportunity; and o f the subnormal child, some ade
quate means o f diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
They also indicate what the existing social agencies are doing to
meet these needs. What can be recommended to meet them more
effectively ?
T H E SC H O O L.

First, the school; what more can it do ? It is evident that the
process of consolidating the little district schools should go on more
completely and rapidly, in order to bring to the service of small and

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poor communities the resources in skill, intelligence, and wealth of
the larger unit.
The consolidated school can afford to pay better salaries to teach
ers, can secure better service, and a larger staff which will permit of
specialization. The teachers will not have to live in the little, lone
some hill neighborhoods and be homesick and discontented; the
group of school children will be sufficiently large and varied to afford
a mutual stimulus.
The curriculum should be vitalized in the schoolroom as well as
in the printed course o f study. Attention to industrial and prevocational training seems especially desirable. In a case of de
linquency, where the boy spent his spare time making countless
chicken coops, bird houses, and dog kennels, o f no use to him or to
anybody else, just for “ something to do,” manual training would
have been a godsend.
Can the school undertake direct morql training? It seems doubt
ful if this can be done in any formal or institutionalized way that
is unrelated to the personal and social experiences of the child. But
within the field of experience there is promise o f effective correla
tion of the facts of experience— personal, family, play, work, social—
with moral principles. Correlation o f all such experience with
the principles of language and number has long ago been proved
practicable and educationally sound.
The inculcation of sex morality is badly needed, but it is doubt
ful whether the attempt to do this through the teaching of sex hygiene
in the rural schools would be altogether successful. A t any rate, the
rural teachers do not seem ready to undertake the task. Some of
those met during the investigation thought that more harm than
good would come of such teaching; and apparently they are not, as
a body, fitted to give it.
Perhaps it is emphasizing the obvious to suggest that the school
should take a particular interest in providing a good library, with
supervision of reading, not merely in connection with school tasks,
but for general culture and to broaden the horizon of the country
child. In many of the cases studied the boy or girl “ liked to read,”
but the books read made up some oddly assorted titles. For such
children the school library would be an invaluable means of awaken
ing interest and stimulating ambition.
Recreation should be regarded as an integral part o f the school
work. Consolidation of schools and the consequent increase of the
school staff would make it possible to detail one member to the or
ganization and supervision o f play of different kinds, as we have
seen done here and there, in an unorganized way and under handi
caps, by socially minded teachers.

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The idea o f the school as a community center, which has already
gained headway in larger communities, should be extended to the
rural districts. The school building should be available for grange
meetings, Boy Scout meetings, clubs, sociables, concerts, lectures, citi
zens’ meetings, or any other wholesome activity that brings the people
together.
Another thing the rural school can do, which is already being done
in cities. We have noted how much o f the trouble with children
has come from unfortunate home conditions. There is needed some
one who can, like the probation officer, enter into personal re
lations with the family and work as friend with friend to help them
adjust themselves to normal life. But the probation officer or the
agent o f a charitable society can be called in only when some delin
quency has already occurred or where destitution already exists,
and the rural family should be reached before such conditions have
come about if true preventive work is to be done. The probation
officer or the charity agent would seriously offend such families and
wound their self-respect by meddling in their affairs. But the
teacher, in whom is vested by law a responsibility for the care of
every child, can without offense and in the direct line o f accomplish
ing her task do just the kind of personal work with the family that
is needed, provided she has the time to do it and the social spirit aiid
training.
The consolidation o f schools will help in securing time for this
service. The State department o f education, by the appointment of
a traveling staff of social workers or visiting teachers, as they are
sometimes called, could provide training and supervision. Even
in the^ little district school as it exists to-day we are shown teachers
who are already doing real social work as best they can who would
welcome such help with joy. And for the rank and file who are
now doing their work in a mechanical way might not this instruction
in the social possibilities of their task be the means of inspiring
interest in a job that they find dull because they have failed to see
the full scope and meaning of it ?
T H E CHURCH.

The country church has also an important social function to per
form. Like the school, it must awaken to a full sense o f its social
responsibility. It has as direct an access to the people as the school,
and in some communities is better organized to undertake social
tasks.
The church should certainly share in meeting the recreational need
and making itself a community center. It must bring to the test o f
reason and judgment any traditional ideas of the propriety and im-

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propriety o f amusement and certain forms o f amusement; be ready
to cast aside any that do not come up to that test and to encourage
any that do.
Our surveys have shown what various socially minded ministers
are doing in their respective villages. A recent number o f a popular
magazine1 relates the success with which a progressive minister in
a little town o f 1,000 population, in the neighborhood of one o f the
regions studied here, introduced billiards and pool in proper sur
roundings and a moving picture show which he managed himself and
made self-supporting.
And the church has. as good reason as the school to provide a
friendly visitor for families that are not delinquent or dependent,
but do need instruction and advice.
T H E V IL L A G E .

The political unit—the village as a whole—should also be doing
some true social work. One task peculiarly appropriate is the
improvement o f vocational opportunities. Towns and villages are
already active along this line in the formation o f boards of trade
and other organizations intended to build up business in the town.
For the farmers, greater use o f cooperative methods o f marketing
and extension of rural credits will help.
The political unit is also responsible for its share in enacting and
enforcing social legislation, and civic organization is needed to
arouse community feeling along these lines. The evils o f child labor,
of truancy, o f drink can be cured only when the communities them
selves want them cured.
Village and town boards and officials charged with the duty of
giving poor relief also have a direct responsibility in the matter of
juvenile delinquency. Lack of judgment in caring for a dependent
family may result in the delinquency of the neglected children. The
official who carries on such work as this should not only realize his
responsibilities, but have some adequate training in the principles
underlying social work.'
T H E F A M IL Y .

One o f the most important o f social agencies is the family, though
we are apt to forget this, having in mind so often the family as a
social problem, upon which some other agency must act. But in
some communities we may see some enlightened family acting as a
social center, providing recreation, education perhaps, a social stimu
lus, and the power o f example. Such families are as truly social
1 Everybody’s Magazine, February, 1917, “ The parson who believed in pictures.”
lyle Ellis.)

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JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN RURAL N E W YORK;

workers as any school-teacher or minister or “ agent” o f any de
scription.
And every family ought to be a social agency for its own children,
for the normal family can provide better than any other agency for
some fundamental needs, and an important task of social work is
that of helping families back to their normal function. In the fam
ily that is fulfilling it the child has a background of mental training
that makes the work of the teacher effective, and moral training in
the family is given with the intimate knowledge o f the child and
his circumstances and with the affection for him that are needed to
make those lessons take root. The normal home affords recreation,
and it also affords training in various tasks and the assumption of
responsibility for carrying them out that are of great value in fit
ting a child for his work in the world.
The family is, indeed, the fundamental social agency for the child.
The community surveys made for this report, and other studies as
well, show how close is the connection between the bad home and the
bad child. Among the most important means taken to improve the
child is the improvement o f the home. However good the school,
the church, or the community, if the home is bad a fertile source
o f juvenile delinquency is left open. Therefore our best efforts must
be exerted to deal with the family as well as with the child.

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PART II.—COMMUNITY STUDIES.
COM M UNITY A.
T Jie townsiliP o f
nestled among the hills, is completely rural
in character. Only one level road leads out o f A village, which lies
in the center o f the town. High winds blow on the hills, and the
roads are drifted full of snow for several months in the winter,
practically isolating the dwellers on the hill farms. The town
board appropriates some money for keeping the roads clear, but even
so, m the winter one must leave the road and drive through the
rough fields to get anywhere out in the country.
These hills are sparsely settled; less than 1,000 persons altogether
are found in an area o f about 45 square miles. Farming is now the
all-important industry, though a little lumbering is also done.
Unscientific farming is still too much the custom around A. The
more intelligent farmers are applying the principles of combined
dairy farming and crop raising; but the majority still live in
ignorance of modern methods. The district is therefore poor. Hay,
potatoes, and grain are raised, and in the autumn everyone is busy
picking up potatoes. Some of the children stay out of school to earn
a few quarters at this work. Two creameries are located in the
village.
A, the only village, straggles on an open flat, from which the
hills roll up on all sides. About 200 persons live in the 50 houses,
which, with one or two stores and churches, a blacksmith shop, a
hall, and the schoolhouse, form the social, religious, and trading
units of the town.
At any time of day you can find a few of the idle old and the
incompetent young gathered, at the store. The counters on both
sides are lined with loungers, most o f them young men in the prime
o f life. The older men play checkers sometimes, but mostly they
just sit, and smoke, and chew, and spit— and gossip.
There are two churches in the village, and practically everyone
not only belongs to one church or the other but actually attends the
service and Sunday school. This does not prevent certain crowds of
older and younger men from going to a neighboring town and getting
drunk, but the church members here hold themselves pretty straight,
as a rule, and the churches undoubtedly are felt as a living influence.5

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In winter the farmers drive in in bobsleighs that accommodate
the whole family. The back seats of the church are filled with the
same young men who on week-day nights hang around the store,
and who are considered rather bad characters. Both churches engage
in social and philanthropic activities. One, at Christmas time, sends
presents to the poor. The two churches sometimes join forces for
social occasions, and a most jovial, friendly spirit prevails.
But the two churches have not always been so friendly. On one
occasion one church held a revival in which it asked the other to join,
thinking to unite the two congregations, and the revival was very
successful, but unfortunately the harmony of the two denominations
ended in a worse misunderstanding than ever. In one o f the churches
the minister' is very attive, and to him and to the Sunday-school
superintendent of the district the church owes an increasing member
ship and prosperity. The Sunday-school superintendent, who is in
charge of all thè six Sunday schools in this district, has graded both
the schools in A, established training classes for the teachers, and
made other improvements.
Both the churches hold many lively entertainments, the most in
teresting events of the countryside. These are held in the hall or at
private houses, and everyone comes for a good time. But the poverty
in initiative and in the range o f amusement illustrates the fact that
people do not by instinct know how to play.
A social held in the hall during the investigation was typical.
Supper tables stood along one side o f the long hall. Benches lined
the other side and one end. Supper was served at the other end
from a raised platform. The older women prepared supper and
washed the. dishes. About 50 young people were present. Boys
from 12 to 80 were here—schoolboys and the same young men who
line the store counters every night, who do “ nothing much,” and
who have no education beyond the district school. Sam and Daisy
Walters, who “ don’t know nothing,” were the only ones not dressed
in “ store clothes” and the only ones who were rather left out of
the hilarity. The girls were fine-looking and well-behaved, the same
girls who attended high school in a neighboring town, or who are
preparing to be teachers, or are just staying at home. One young
married couple joined in the fun.
A few older persons, present early in the evening, were a some
what subduing influence, but after they left the social became a
rowdy affair. The great amusement o f the evening was a lively
kissing game. Dancing was suggested, but at a church social it was
strictly tabooed as a menace to the morals o f the young people. ■
When the social broke up at 12.30 most o f the boys and gixls had
to drive from 1 to 3 miles or walk a mile or so.

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Private parties also are given. The more lively young people
occasionally give a dance in the hall, but not often. They make it
a custom, however, to drive off to any dance within a radius of
5 or 6 miles. The grange used to be very active and had TO membets, but now it has dwindled down until there were only T present
at the last meeting.
The four justices o f the peace in A have little to do. One o f them
tries most o f the criminal cases. In the past five years he has tried
only six. Another of the four had one case o f assault and battery
last year. In the past year they have had only one case o f poor
relief, and only one illegitimate child has been bom in many
years. '
, _
J
There are 11 schools in the sparsely populated township, and they
are failing signally to meet the needs o f the youngsters. The eager
ness with which the children leave school as soon as there is a pos
sibility o f escape proves that both parents and children feel this.
Even m the village school, where older boys have always been ae^
customed to attend, only two boys over 14—the age at which, they
can get work certificates—were found. The girls go out of town for
more advanced schooling. In the other schools, with an enrollment
o f about 100, only 10— 5 boys and 5 girls—were over 14. Nearly
one-fifth of all children enrolled are retarded. Many of the children
live a mile or so away from the sehoolhouse, which makes it impos
sible for them to attend when the weather is bad. Seven teachers
are young girls with little or no experience and little judgment and
they are always having trouble with the older boys.
Thus prepared, into what occupations do the girls and boys go?
Out of a neighborhood group o f 24 young men between the ages of
15 and 23, 6 were working on farms (2 on their fathers’ farms* 4 by
the month for $8 to $10), 6 were laborers (2 on the section gano- 0f
the railroad; 1 braking; and 1 on a bridge gang), 4 did “ nothin^
much,” 1 is a trapper, 2 work in the creamery,1 is a telegraph o jT a
tor, 1 clerks in the store, 1 runs a popcorn machine in a neighboring
town, and 1 took a course in an agricultural college and runs his own
farm, while another has been to a training class and teaches school.
The girls do better than the men and appear decidedly superior in
morals, education, and intelligence. Six girls from the village be
sides several from the remoter districts of the town, are now attend
ing high school in a near-by town. A number o f the girls prepare
themselves for teaching and teach for a few years. The others help
at home until they marry. Some few drift to the factories in larger
towns, and an occasional one goes out to do housework. The investi
gator heard one girl talking of her hope to become a trained nurse.
The village school has been difficult for any teacher to handle.
Oue, a young man, tried to win the scholars by kindness. He went

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swimming -with the boys, taught them to dive, and played ball with
them; but they treated him so badly that he had to give up the school.
Another young man of fine character finished out the term. He told
the Sunday-school superintendent that he was never in a' school
where such low moral standards prevailed. Even the girls Would
write vile things in the closets. His successor was a good teacher,
but he had such a sour face that the scholars hated him. The boys,
led by the reprehensible “ Doc ”—the prize bad boy of the v illa g e used to badger him to such an extent that it is amazing the towns
people would allow it. Another teacher became so discouraged by
the criticisms o f the village people that he took little interest in try
ing to teach anything, and most of the older boys left.
The whole atmosphere of the school is one of laxity, indifference,
and license. The pupils are rude to one another and to the teacher.
The schoolhouse is gaunt, bare, hideous. There is a fairly good
library, and the teacher takes a boy’s paper to school for the children
to read. Formerly a club to interest the children in agriculture was
maintained, but it died out.
In the town o f A 15 children were studied—9 boys and 6 girls.
O f these, 6 had come before the authorities in some way, 1 as a court
case, 4 as truants, and 1 for incorrigibility that might have to be
brought before the justice of the peace. The 3 truancy cases not
involving other bad conduct have been omitted from this account.
Except in the 1 court case, nothing constructive, or preventive of
continued and growing delinquency, has been done.
Case 1 .—Edward Lane, nicknamed “ Doc Packer,” after the phy
sician who attended at his birth, is an incorrigible child, who gives
a great deal o f trouble, but has a cherubic cast of countenance. He
is a sturdy, rugged little boy of 13, markedly undersized for his age.
“ Doc’s ” father was an expert driller in the oil fields, but the
field became exhausted and he returned to A, the home of his wife’s
people. Here he is a day laborer. When working on the State road,
near the railroad tracks, Mr. Lane and the “ gang ” used to get up
roariously drunk. “ Doc,” who often accompanied his father, was
given his share of liquor. When the child would become partially
drunk his father and the other men would regard it as a huge joke.
The boy smokes a pipe.
The first half of the year “ D o c ” went to the village school of A.
His attendance was fairly good, and he was bright, but unwilling to
study. The justice of the peace foresaw trouble with “ Doc,” because
the boy was badgering the school-teacher, and sent for a juvenile
docket. Nothing, however, was done. The people of the town be
lieve that “ Doer” is good-hearted, not mean. The present teacher,
however, says that he is a sneak, and is of the opinion that only his
small size saves him from the punishment he deserves.

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Cases 2 and 3. Malcolm and Robert Adams, aged 7 and 5, re
spectively , also live in the village, and are pretty bad children. A
neighbor found them sticking a pitchfork into an ugly horse o f his
one day, stabbing at it through the stable partition. The children
also stole tobacco from the same neighbor’s barn. Malcolm is mis
chievous in school. The teacher had to take away from him an old
pipe which he always carried around with him. He is not bright
at all, and really looks stupid. His parents say he did not seem to
learn anything at school. Robert has epileptic fits, during which
he lies in a state o f coma, sometimes for two days, without eating
or drinking. He is cross-eyed, pale, and seems very dull. The
teacher says he does not know anything and can not learn.
Their school attendance is fair, except that they are late a great
deal. When late they make excuses—their breakfast Was not ready
or their shoes hurt them and they had to wait for their father to
fix them. Sometimes they do not get to school before the afternoon
session. .

There are 4 more children in the family, and all 6 are lively
and quarrelsome. It is said that all the little boys began to chew
and smoke as soon as they left the cradle. The 3 little boys run
around wild, and the smallest girl, aged 3, has a vicious temper
and snarls at her father when he attempts to correct her. But there
is little attempt at parental discipline. The children are, however,
kept fairly clean and the house is clean, though disorderly. The
parents are lively young people themselves, who made a hasty mar
riage shortly before the birth of the first child. They belong to
the rougher class in the village, but have a good standing among
this class. The father fires-on the road engine, but has to be helped
by his own father, for he is rather lazy.
Go to almost any o f the 10 schools on the hills of A town and you
will find in each district one or two families where the children
need attention o f some kind.
The C school lies about 1-J miles from the village in the midst o f
the fields, and houses can be seen only in the distance. There is a
pretty wood back of the school where the boys play. You step di
rectly from outdoors into the schoolroom, which is a barren, unkept
room, and the floor is rough and dirty.
This has the reputation of being a rough school, and the teacher
says it is the worst she ever had. But she will probably be able to do
something with the children, for she has a fine, courteous attitude
toward them and they seem to like her. The boys have shown some
lack of decency, but she has talked to them about it and they are
doing better. There are only two girls in the school. It is a back
ward school, though only one child is actually retarded. Two cases
o f truancy have occurred—one of a boy who was kept out to work,

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though his father is the richest and most intelligent man in the
district; the other is of a girl, who is also incorrigible and whose case
follows.
Case 4 .—Lucy Thompson is a big, strong, stocky girl o f 8 years,
who used to act very badly—like a little animal. When an automo
bile went by she would lie down on the ground, kick up her heels, and
scream. She would fight violently with the boys, whom she seemed
to. consider her natural enemies, and would use vulgar language.
Though 8 years old Lucy does not seem more than 4 or 5, and she is
still in the first grade. Her school attendance has been very poor, one
excuse being that she had no shoes, but these were supplied. She
accepts things with great eagerness, and came to school one day be
cause she heard the teacher had some stockings and a ribbon for her.
The teacher believes that she does not have enough to eat.
Lucy lives with the Thompsons, adopted parents, who are a pecu
liar couple, living away up on a. lonely hillside, a half mile from the
nearest neighbors, on a farm which they rent on half shares.
The home is ill-kept and disorderly. Mrs. Thompson is in bad
health y she coughs and has been threatened with consumption. Mr.
Thompson is what the country people call “ foolish.3’ The man and
his wife are both very fond o f Lucy and proud o f her. The Thomp
son family has traveled around a good deal. Mr. Thompson has
always rented farms, except for three years when he worked in the
coal mines, as he says, for his health, because he thought the coal gas
helped him. This home is obviously no place for Lucy. She is not
controlled at all, and is growing up in an atmosphere that encourages
her incorrigible tendencies.
Case 5 .—Aubrey White also attends this school. He is 10 years
bid. He and his brother Norton, aged 13, live with Mrs. Acton, the
most well-to-do woman o f A. Their mother was a bad woman who
left her husband and four children nine years ago. *
An older sister, 15 years of age, and Norton seem quite normal,
but Aubrey is queer. The sister would not keep house for her
father because she could not get along with Aubrey. Mrs. Acton
has also found him quite a conundrum. When he came to her he
lied so that she could not believe a word he said. She has also
feared for his morals on account o f his mother’s bad character. In
school he has been quite incorrigible.
Aubrey is an odd looking boy, large for his age, but thin. He
has a small narrow head, extraordinarily light, colorless hair, a
strangely white skin, and wide, gray eyes darkened by large pupils
and bright and expressionless like a bird’s. He is very clever and
sees everything with eyes that betray no feeling. In Sunday school
he behaves badly, but knows his lessons welL He insists on bossing

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the class, and ha has enough personality, though only 10, to get his
own way.
It is in school that his real delinquency has come to light. He
has a violent temper and is light-fingered. His bad temper has
several times led to his drawing a knife and threatening his school
mates. Last year he threw a little girl down and was about to stab
her when the teacher interfered.
Once he stole a jackknife from the teacher’s desk, where a boy
had left it for safekeeping. The teacher suspected Aubrey, for the
previous year the Whites had a reputation for stealing, and after
some diplomatic dealing with him the boy confessed and gave up the
knife. On another occasion a boy missed 4 pennies out of 17 he had
at school. Again the Whites were suspected and, though nothing
was proved against them, they made restitution. The teacher asked
the advice o f the district superintendent in Aubrey’s case, but he
said that small boys often pilfered, but did not steal when they
grew up. Aubrey is bright in school; he could do fifth grade work
and his attendance is perfect. He is ready in accusing others o f dis
honesty, which suggests his own latent tendency in that direction.
The boys say they like it at Mrs. Acton’s. She is the district
superintendent of Sunday schools and claims to have a motherly
interest in the boys’ welfare. But the teacher says she has never
seen them in the front part of the house, which is the most com
fortable in the village. A man lives with Mr. and Mrs. Acton and
helps work the farm. H e divorced his wife on account of Mr.
Acton, hence this family combination is considered queer by the
Mr. White pays $2 a week board for the boys. He is a carpenter
contractor m a large town near by, earning good pay, and keeps up
a house there with a housekeeper in charge. He comes out everv
two weeks to see the children, and says he could not stand it any
longer without seeing them. He is a man of average intelligence
and Aubrey seemed fond of him. He gave the children nice presents
at Christmas, and the sister says he is very good to them.
Cases 6, 7, and A—1
The Tomlinsons are a roving family who have
made their way from a neighboring State to the lonely hills back
from this village. The man and his wife went to work for a farmer
and being good workers they made a favorable impression, though
their lack of furniture aroused some comment. But soon after they
were settled the sheriff came to arrest Mr. Tomlinson for debts left
behind. He settled them up, but this made the community look
rather askance at the family.
The Tomlinsons brought seven children with them-^three girls
aged lfi, 8, and 4 ; three boys, aged IS, 11, and 7, and a baby. The whole

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family were quarrelsome, and the children soon hegan to make
trouble. The hoys were all little thieves; but Roy, aged 11, was par
ticularly obstreperous. He stole everything—burrs off machinery,
tools, tobacco, and on one occasion scattered the contents of their
employer’s tool chest all over the barn. One afternoon Roy went
to a neighbor^ barn, got out one of the horses and rode it around,
and was about to get out the other horse when the man who worked
the farm caught him and gave him a beating. Not easily sup
pressed, Roy proceeded to rifle the coats which the threshers had
left near the machine while they ate supper. He took several pocketknives and some tobacco, and they never got the things back.
Byron, the oldest son, worked for a farmer, going home nights.
He was suspected of taking things, was intercepted one night, and
was found to be carrying home bags o f beans that belonged to the
farmer. The boy was frightened, and soon after returned to his
brother in another State. Even little Robert stole a paper of tobacco.
Mr. Tomlinson heard o f a job o f lumbering in another place and
left his employer, refusing to pay him the $8 or $9 which he owed
him for furniture.
The place to which the Tomlinsons now moved could scarcely be
called a community. It is on the highest hill around, about 3 miles
from A village.
There is one church, which is well attended; about 40 come to
meeting and 35 to Sunday school. The church members give the
pastor whatever they choose, amounting on the average to about
$280 a year. The young people support the church well, and the
minister says the moral standard is high.
He also teaches the school, which has been running only this year.
Last year the district contracted to send the children to a neighbor
ing district, but a young girl taught there, and the children behaved
so badly that the minister was begged to teach here, and he started
a new school.
A leader in bad behavior during that winter at the other school
was Roy Tomlinson. He fought with the boys, bullied the young
teacher, and stayed away. In November the truant officer was sent
after him and found that he was staying out to work. In December
the trustee sent for the truant officer again. He had been to see Mrs.
Tomlinson, but said he did not dare go again, for he was afraid that
Mr. Tomlinson would kill him. The father’s excuse for the boy’s
being out o f school was that he had no clothes. The poor master
then bought them $7.20 worth o f shoes and other articles. The
schoolroom in this little place is barren and disorderly; the teach
ing, however, is thorough and interesting. The teacher keeps the
children in order, but allows them considerable freedom o f action.

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Four of the Tomlinson children attend the school. Roy and Robert
are notoriously light-fingered in school and both o f them smoke and
chew. In fact all the Tomlinson children are said to smoke and
chew. The father buys tobacco by the pailful. Lilly, aged 11, is dull
m her studies, though bright enough outside; she does not like
school, but Elma, the little 6-year-old, is very bright in her studies.
Roy is considered bright, and the teacher says he behaves well so
long as he has something that he likes to do; but he gets uneasy
and is hard to manage as soon as he is not interested. He would
rather work than go to school. The farmers are as willing to em-'
ploy him as a man, but they overwork him and will pay him only
boy’s wages. Roy has a small-featured, low-browed face, with the
keen brown ^yes o f a ferret.
Robert has none o f his brother’s volatility. He looks anemic and
his eyes are dull. He sits dully in school and does not play even at
recess. Robert has been caught pilferin'g at a neighbor’s—a bag of
chestnuts and an orange, which his mother returned.
The family were already getting a bad name in the neighborhood
when, in February, Byron stole money from the railroad station.
The amount was only 78 cents and the agent was not going to do any
thing about it; but one of the neighbors who found out the theft
notified the railroad company, and the boy was taken before the
justice, where he pleaded guilty. The justice talked to Byron in a
fatherly way, telling him what a jail was like and that he would have
to go there if he did not do better. He put the boy on probation for
a year on condition that he should report in writing every month
full details o f his whereabouts and what he had been doing each day.
He has been faithful to his parole -and the justice thinks he shows
great improvement. The neighbors, however, are not so well im
pressed. The minister says he never comes to church or Sunday
school and does not observe the terms o f his probation.
He has not gone to school since he came from the State in which
they formerly lived, and there he went only a few months after he
was 13. He did not learn as fast as the other children and disliked
school, preferring to w ork; but he is fond of reading and reads such
books as the Alger books. His parents did not seem to mind his
leaving school. He has never done any regular work. After he was
put on probation he went back to their old home and did farm work
getting $12 a month on the first farm, then $2 a day. Last summer
lie got $1.50 a day picking up potatoes and doing other odd jobs. He
now helps his father irregularly in the woods. In the spring he will
have a job on the State road, at $1.75 a day. He handles his own
money, buys his own clothes, and helps at home. Now he has gone
to stay with a neighbor’s family to do chores.
49985°— 18---- 5

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When the investigator visited the family, Byron was at home and
showed that he was ashamed o f the theft. His mother did not talk
of the trouble before him, but talked quite freely when he went out.
She does not believe he took the money. He had been trying to get
a rifle with soap orders, but became discouraged with “ the bother.”
It was some of this money he had in his pockets when they searched
him, she said. Most of the neighbors are of the opinion that Mrs.
Tomlinson encotirages the children to steal and that Mr. Tomlinson
concurs simply for the reason that his wife bullies him.
Byron’s arrest does not seem to have put a stop to the depredations.
Koy has lately stolen from a private mail box a package which con
tained a pair o f gloves. Mrs. Tomlinson declared that Roy had not
taken them, but Mr. Tomlinson took them back early next morning.
The family from whom the things were taken talked o f doing some
thing about it, but nothing has been done. Roy also went into the
minister’s house one Sunday while he was at meeting and stole some
food, and Robert has taken a horse bridle from a neighbor’s barn.
Altogether this family presents a lively problem with which the
local authorities have proved themselves quite incapable of dealing.
Cases 9 and 10.—The Flagg family lives on a rented farm about
halfway up a long hill, 2 miles from neighbors, 1 mile from the
schoolhouse, and 3 miles from the post office. Mr. Flagg is always
a renter and moves from farm to farm continually. He had a milk
route last year, but fell into debt. They are very poor.
Mrs. Flagg is obviously defective mentally. The father is con
sidered by the neighbors even more foolish than the mother, and
there is a feeble-minded son.
There are also two daughters-at home, Jennie, a very pretty girl
of 15, who is in the eighth grade at school, and Minnie, aged 13, who
is also bright and pretty. The house was fairly clean, and, though
-'the furniture was cheap, there was sufficient for comfort. A small
old piano stood in one corner.
Because of the personality of the teacher, the district school plays
an important part in the lives of Jennie and Minnie. It is the only
place where they have any decent companionship or come’ in contact
with any ambitious people.
The schoolhouse stands neglected and alor^ on the top o f the hill.
The schoolroom presents a disorderly, comfortless appearance;
ragged old maps hang on the walls; it is so poorly heated that even
in moderately cold weather the children have to sit around the
stove on boxes, chairs, and an old bench until noqji. The condi
tion of the school is not to be wondered at when the school trustee
himself, the richest man around, lives in the direst shiftlessness and
filth. Mrs. Flagg is his sister.

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1^ .

Despite these drawbacks the teacher has succeeded in creating
an atmosphere o f mutual courtesy and pleasurable work. She gives
lessons in nature study every day, has taught the boys and girls to
sing, and she has taken a special personal interest in Jennie and
Minnie. On one occasion when Minnie was planning to go to a
neighboring town to spend the night with her aunt, who bears a
bad reputation, Mrs. Richards induced her to stop at her home. Her
daughter made Minnie have such a good time that she stayed there
overnight.
Jennie, the older girl, in the eighth grade, intended to leave school
this year, but the teacher has iduced her to stay. She comes to
school quite regularly because she wants to keep up with her chum,
Josie Daley. Josie belongs to the only family represented in the
school which has any claims to cleanliness or intelligence. Jennie
learns with difficulty, but works diligently. Minnie is very bright,
neat, and quick in her work. Minnie has stayed out ,26 days and
the trustee had to be sent after her. Jennie is a good girl, easy to
manage, placid, and stupid; Minnie has a great deal of energy, is
“ wayward,” and headstrong. At first the teacher had trouble with
her, but now the only difficulty is her truancy. She now wants to
make something of herself, and hopes to train for teaching. Both
girls have read a somewhat miscellaneous assortment, including
L ife’s Shop Windows, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, fairy books from the
school library, and Little Women. They take two illustrated
weekly papers.
However, the real center o f their lives is neither their home with
their feeble-minded brothers and their stupid parents nor the school
with its spark o f inspiration, but their relations with the “ Brown
boys.” These young men, aged 28 and 29, drink continually, are
shiftless, and do not bear good reputations. They keep bachelor’s
hall in a little run-down house back in the woods. Jennie and Minnie
spend much of their time in this place, often lingering into the
evening, on the excuse of helping with housework. Minnie says that
she does not go alone, but that her feeble-minded brother goes with
her.
Mr. Flagg makes some weak objections, but does not interfere with
the friendship. Their older sister, after a visit, wished to take one o f
them back to her home in another State, but neither would go for
fear of being “ homesick.” The village looks askance at the girls, and
the more respectable boys will no longer associate with them. They
are too far from the village to go to church or Sunday school. No
one in their home is capable o f giving them protection or guidance.
They have only the fragile help o f the school and the present teacher ;
and they are losing their standing in the little community, which in
all probability means their only chance in the future.

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Case 11.— The case of Mary Varek in a near-by district is in many
points similar to that of the Flaggs. Mary’s parents are from Aus
tria-Hungary. Her father came to America 21 years ago, worked
6 years, and then sent for his wife. They have several children in
the old country. He worked on the railroad section gangs in two
larger towns until a few years ago a clever, talkative real estate agent
got him to buy this farm away out in the desolate hills. After six
months he found himself in debt, and he and his son returned to
town, earned enough to pay off the debts, bought a team o f horses,
and returned to farming. The farm is several miles from the nearest
town, one-fourth of a mile from the nearest neighbors. There is
neither life nor amusement for the young people.
Mary and her sister began to go to dances o f a low tone, but to this
the brother objected. Then the sister married and went away. Last
year Mary stayed out o f school a great deal. When the truant officer
came after her it was found that instead of going to school, as her
father supposed when she started out in the morning, she went to
a neighboring farm to visit a man of 40 who lives there all by him
self in a most peculiar patched-up little house on the top of a lonely
hill. This man turned out his wife years ago. He earns about $175
a year fiddling at dances. He does not bear a good reputation; he
drinks, is dishonest, and has had several women with him since his
wife left.
Mary’s visits began when, left with only her younger brother for
a companion and with a dislike for the country, she wandered around
in search o f amusement. She came upon one of the fiddler’s daugh
ters who used to stay with him at intervals. A friendship sprang
up to fill a gap in Mary’s loneliness, and this girl would tease her
to “ skip ” school to go riding with her.
Mary continues to visit the hill, staying perhaps half a day at a
time. The noninterference of her parents is easily explained. They
are ignorant and childish, and speak such broken English that Mary
has to translate any complicated conversation. She is a pretty girl,
smart, and strong-headed, and seems older, certainly more sophisti
cated, than her parents. Mr. Varek sits and reads the almanac and
laughs at the funny pictures. He regards the neighbor whom Mary
visits as an old friend, and says, “ He is a good man.” Mary would
like to learn bookkeeping, and her parents are eager for her to earn
good wages. Money means a great deal to them.
In this case the school-teacher has offered a solution of the question
as to what shall become of Mary. She has told her of an opportunity
to study bookkeeping in the neighboring town. The teacher is just
18, and the school is absolutely dull and very slightly helpful in
preparing the children for life; as Mary says, even the teacher is
homesick up here. Mary left school with her working papers late

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in November. She intended to “ work out,” but put off looking for
a place day after day. Finally, she was persuaded to go back to
school, and in about two weeks she took regents examinations in two
subjects and passed both. She has decided that she likes school bet
ter than staying out. Her scholarship is good, but the teacher has
occasional trouble with her.
Mary does not care for reading, but tats or sews in the evening.
Sometimes she goes out and helps in.the fields. She loves dancing.
She deplores the lack of children in the school this year, only six
being enrolled. She used to have fun playing with them.
When they first came to the farm she and her sister were friendly
with a girl who came to the district to teach. This girl had known
them in their former home, and had thought them nice girls and had
looked forward to having them in the school. But they came to
her house so much—staying all day even when she had company—•
that she had to tell them not to come so often. She also had other
trouble with them. So a chance for good companionship was lost.
Now Mary goes by the house without looking in.
Case 12.— Charlie Powell is another boy of the “ smarty ” type
who is sometimes classed with “ Doc.” Two years ago, in April, Mr.
and Mrs. Wilson moved from town to a lonely, isolated farm on
the top of Jericho Hill, about 2 miles from the village. Charles
Powell, a lively boy of 14, a son o f Mrs. Wilson by a former mar
riage, came with them. He had always been hard to manage and
disliked the country. For several weeks he stayed away from school,
until the truant officer came after him. Then he went about every
other day, and acted so badly when he did go that it would have
been better if he had been allowed to remain at home.
The next term he attended school quite regularly. During the
summer he had “ made his brags” that he would “ ru n ” the teacher
and the school. The teacher being a mild young girl, he proceeded
to do so, and began rapidly to demoralize the whole school, for he
is naturally a leader.
The first teacher this year struck him, upon which he threatened
to attack her. The present teacher, a girl of 18, is anxious to keep
Charlie in school. But she has had to suspend him several times
already, and has almost decided that she can not keep him on
account o f the other children.
This school offers nothing in the way o f study to interest a boy
of Charlie’s type. He learns quickly and easily, but hates school;
in fact, Charlie is lazy. He is always on the move, but not in the
direction o f work. He goes to the neighbors nights, but he is most
happy when he can hitch onto the buggy and go “ gadding” on the
roads. He goes to every party around and attends all the church
functions; he never misses anything. He is likeable and popular,

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especially with the girls, but the older people regard him as in
corrigible.
A ll the school authorities have become aroused over his behavior.
The trustee does not wish to cause trouble by sending him away to a
reform school; the district superintendent suggests that he get his
working papers and leave school. His parents would like him to go
to high school, but they can not make him, so they are planning to
let him go to town and learn a' trade. They can not manage him at
all. The stepfather is a funny, kindly man o f weak character, and
when he tries to make Charlie mind the boy stones him. The boy’s
own father died when he was 9 months old, and the mother worked
very hard to keep her children together. She washed and ironed at
night and went out nursing in the daytime. Thus she kept them
well cared for. Her oldest daughter helped by working in the knit
ting mills, the others became telephone girls, and the older son went
to work at 16. This left only the youngest to be spoiled. Mrs.
Wilson is still a hard worker, keeping house and helping on the farm.
She thinks Charlie is wonderful. She is intelligent and has some
“ go,” but he is beyond her control. A pretty, attractive woman, she
seems a bit spoiled herself. She says Charlie is spoiled, because the
older children always objected when she tried to whip him.

COMMUNITY B.
B is a rural township o f about 3,000 population, scattered about
in small villages and upon farms. The largest village numbers be
tween 700 and 800 persons, and has a comparatively clean record for
delinquency. In this village was found only one girl offender under
the age of 18, and her family have only recently moved to town. No
serious boy offenders were found. There is, o f course, a gang of
lively boys here who are often in mischief. For example, at a church
supper they started “ skylarking” in the vestibule, and accidentally,
so they say, knocked down and ruined some hats which were hang
ing on the wall. This same crowd have been known to make off with
wedding ice cream from the backdoor steps and to steal grapes from
the “ meanest man in town.”
Outside the village, however, is one of those degenerate rural sec
tions often to be found away from the main tracks o f travel. The
railroad runs through the village; the rest o f the town has no trolley
or railroad, but is unfortunately situated along an automobile road,
once the old stage turnpike, which runs along a crest of land of
very inferior quality. None of the best farms are situated on this
old turnpike, because the land is so poor, but there are many small
villages in groups of half-dilapidated houses and old taverns, now be
come road houses, with a bad reputation. Notwithstanding the fact

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that the town has been “ no license ” for over 20 years, there is much
drunkenness. There is not a shiftless farmer on any one o f these
run-down farms who has not a good supply of cider, and will not sell
it quietly. Moreover, it is a trip of only 3 or 4 miles to the saloons in
the adjacent towns.
There are two rural churches outside the village. The more pros
perous people in the neighborhood go to the village churches, how
ever, and these two rural churches have only 30 or 40 members, no
funds, and tumble-down buildings. One o f them belongs to an obscure
denomination, which makes a moral issue even of pleasures which are
usually thought to be harmless. It permits no church socials; it
frowns upon women who wear ribbons or feathers and upon men who
wear neckties.
The other church possesses a young minister of training and
character, who is making every effort to better conditions, but he
works single handed, and what he may accomplish alone and un
aided by his apathetitc parish will probably be very little.
A further matter of interest in B is the large number of placedout children to be found here, sent by an orphan asylum in the neigh
boring city. These children are frequently diseased, their past his
tory has often been such as to familiarize them with immorality
and crime, and it would hot be surprising if they were found to have
a bad influence upon the country children with whom they come
in contact. But this supposition has not been confirmed by the
facts since there was no increase o f delinquency in these districts.
There were in B two district schools, not more than a mile apart,
each of which had, out of about 25 pupils, 7 or 8 of these children.
It is easy to pick them out in school by their poor clothes, their almost
cringing manner, and their retardation.
It has become the fashion in certain districts to “ take a boy from
the city.” Boys seem to be preferred to girls, because more work
can be got out of them. They not only can do farm work, but
they are valuable household scrubs. Frequently they are taken for
housework alone. One boy whom the investigator came across has
to rise at 5 and build the fires, help with the “ barn chores,” wash
the breakfast dishes, sweep and dust three rooms, and always arrives
at school nearly a half hour late. This same boy bore a red welt
diagonally across his cheek and chin, where he had been struck with
a whip.
Case 1 .— Lucy Warren, the only girl delinquent found in B, is
a fragile little girl of 16. She gives her age as 18, but she looks no
more than 14. She seems normally bright, but there is no school
record, for she has never gone to school in this village. Her father
is a man of very low reputation, a tenant farmer. He has taken into
his home as boarders three men who are employed on the farm where

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he himself works. Worse still for Lucy is a stepmother, in whose
company she remains constantly. This woman’s bad character is
well known, and she is said to have taken the child with her on night
expeditions.
The concern felt in the neighborhood for a frail girl unprotected
from such influences became so keen that.a complaint was made to a
society for the care o f children. An agent made an investigation,
but refused to take any action because he could not prove any actual
misbehavior on Lucy’s part.. The neighbors interested in her felt
that evidence existed which might have been obtained, and that, in
any case, the society which left the child in danger did perfunctory
work.
Warren came to town about four years ago and has worked on
four different farms. His present earnings consist of $375 in cash
for the year, the rent o f a small house, 20 bushels of potatoes, 1
quart of milk a day, a 150-pound hog, necessary small garden vege
tables, and a cord o f small firewood. His employer reports that he
is a good worker, and that he does not go on a spree more than once
in two weeks. This employer happens to be the local justice of the
peace, and he seems to have thrown his influence against any legal
prosecution.
The stepmother’s history is not known. She is so lazy that Lucy
has to get up early and get breakfast for her father and the three
boarders.
In the smaller villages and on the isolated farms the following
cases were discovered.
Cases 2, «?, and 4 .—Ada Bartow, at the age o f 14, was sent to one
of the State reformatories for girls on a charge of immoral conduct.
About a year before the investigation, when Ada had served three
years in the reformatory, she returned to B. Here she was joined
by her older Sister. They produced so undesirable a situation that
a children’s society removed the two younger girls from the house
hold.
The Bartow family is one of the older families of the town, and
is, as a whole, composed of self-respecting individuals. Ada’s father
has two brothers who are of fine reputation. He himself was ap
parently decent as a young man. He married well and had five
children— a girl, now aged 20, to whom reference has been made;
David, now 17; A d a ; Mabel, who is 15; and Sarah, aged 12. About
10 years ago Bartow became a heavy drinker; he ceased to give ade
quate support to his family, and one day, when intoxicated, he
threatened the life of his wife. A few days later she committed sui
cide by taking poison. After Mrs. Bartow’s death the family went
from bad to worse. Bartow kept a woman o f questionable reputa
tion in the home, and there was said to be no attempt whatever at

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privacy or decency.

The children were constant witnesses o f gross

andntw

^ he- reSUlt Was that the S11,13 became immoral,

fht T Ch n

be i t l t v , f’ a? ^ ’ 18 n° W a11 that a 17-year-old boy should not
be vulgar, profane, thieving, and a drunkard.
At the time the children’s society removed the two younger girls
Bartow was given the choice o f prosecution or sending away the

woman who had been hying with him, and also sending away his
older daughters. The girls have gone to a near-by cify T n d are
waitresses in a restaurant. Bartow, though he still owns the little
house in B, has gone with the boy to work in a factory town
6 -T d
Meyer, aged IT, is a drunkard, and is
harged with immoral and vulgar conduct; he is also very violent
and profane. On one occasion, when drunk, he knocked down with
his heavy fist a stranger who inquired the way from him. Recently
he was discharged from a position in an establishment where many

Pr da d ™ n cre employed’ because °f ws indecent remarfa

Anton has supported himself ever since he was 14. He is now a
grown man, large and strong. Though his attendance was vlry
^regular ,n the village school, he finished the eighth grade at 14
His father then equipped him with a team o f horses anT a w to R
and putdiim to work on the canal and highway construction. There
e associated with older men, many o f whom were rough characters
e was under no restraint, living at home very little, and growing
accustomed to spending all his wages on his own pieasurfs.

ffif

i?n t™ h T m e tw n 0Sltl0n beCame m° re Pronounced; he was constantly
m trouble with the overseers o f the construction work and ultimately
discharged. His father sold the horses, and Anton went to work in
a factory in a arge town. The influence o f the large town hasmade
the boy into a “ cheap sport.” He dresses fashionably and never com
“
at hom!

t0 the

Iy budget’ thoilgh with the father’s declining

18 n

helP' Ant0" !S n° W ° Ut ° f Work and is hving

Anton’s younger brother, Otto, aged 11, is frequently sent home
flora school and otherwise punished for his bad behavior. Otto is a
cigarette smoker, and seems to show a temperament even more
vicious than Anton s. Perhaps the boys inherited some nervous
weakness from the father, who is a peculiarly violent man, subject
o unreasonable fits o f temper. Otherwise he is a decent sort o f
parent, with no bad habits, though very ignorant; he has no ideas
at all as to the proper bringing up o f unruly children. The mother
is an ignorant though well-disposed woman, who has no influence
whatever upon the children.
muuence
9.—
T he Edwards family, to which Florence be
longs, has lived in B less than two years. When Florence was 16

8, and

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she gave birth to a child, which became blind and very soon died.
A boy of 18, named Whipple, claimed to be the father, of the child
and wished to marry the girl. Another young man of 19, named
Pendleton, also wished to marry her, and became insane for several
months, the neighbors believed, as a result of her refusal. He comes
of a family with a history of illegitimacy and insanity. Florence’s
people, however, maintain that a middle-aged man in a factory town,
where the girl formerly worked in the cotton mills, is the father of
this child. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were cotton-mill operators before
the family came to B. The father left the mill town in less than two
years without paying his bills, which were considerable. Florence
never went to school in B, and the general opinion is that she is not
very bright, though “ as pretty a girl as you might want to see.”
Whipple has disappeared from B. Probably he has followed
Florence, though his parents do not know whether this is the case
nor where he is. The young man would have married the girl if his
father had given consent. His father is a drunkard and a “ shiftless
nobody.” There are 14 Whipple children, largely supported by the
mother and older girls, who work out. They live in a filthy little
house of only three rooms.
The other young man, Pendleton, is the illegitimate son of a woman
who has had several other illegitimate children, and who is herself the
illegitimate daughter of an old man, now insane.
Case 10.— Albert Ferris, at the age o f 15, two years ago, ran away
from B, because a warrant was sworn out against him for attempt
ing to assault a little girl. The child was rescued by her parents
before harm was done; but the father, roused, tried to have the
boy arrested. Before the warrant could be served he was gone, and
has not been heard from since.
Albert has a generally bad reputation. A t the age of 14 he broke
into a neighbor’s house and stole the children’s bank, which con
tained about $1 in change. Other neighbors saw him make an
entrance through a window. A warrant was sworn out then; but,
since the constable at that time happened to be a cousin of the boy’s
mother, that warrant also was never served. Albert is dishonest in
word and deed, very destructive of property, and in the habit of
using foul language. He is not considered very bright, and was only
in the fourth grade at the age of 15.
The immediate family environment and the boy’s heredity are of
the worst. His mother was the illegitimate daughter of a notorious
old woman called Mrs. French. The identity of his father is not
known. His mother has been married, however, to her cousin, Tom
Ferris, who deserted her and lost himself in the West. Soon after
Albert ran away old Mrs. French died, and then Albert s mother
went to live with a man named Morton Root. This Root family is

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^ known for its immorality from the grandmother down. The Root
children are all still very young, but in a fair way to become delin
quent within the course o f a few years.
Case 11. Bessie Strang was not yet 16 when she bore an illegiti
mate child. The case was taken to the county juvenile court by
the overseer of the poor, who attempted to aid Bessie’s father in
fastening the paternity upon a young man named Wilson. This
young man has a bad reputation. A prosperous and influential
family seems to have protected him previously in similar trouble.
The juvenile court dismissed this case from lack o f evidence. Be
cause Bessie became 16 at this time, the court did not continue any
supervision. Within a few months Bessie married a man from
another town, where she has now gone with her child to live.
Bessie is not considered very bright. She is pretty in a vulgar
way, and is not a vicious girl in any essential manner. She never
went to school in B, because her father has only recently moved there.
Her mother died when she was a baby, and she never had any proper
bringing-up. The father is an ignorant tenant farmer, who has
been in town only a little over two years, and has worked on differ
ent farms. He is industrious and has no bad habits, but is con
sidered stupid. Her older sister, who keeps house for the father,
is a quiet, well-behaved girl.
Case 12. When James Freeman was 12 he made off with a horsie
and buggy which he found tied beside the roadway. This in all prob
ability was the act of a feeble-minded child. In the same irrespon
sible manner he took two watches from a store counter. For these
acts he was sent to Industry, where he remained for several years and
was then paroled. He had been at home about a year when an aunt
o f his by marriage— a widow—was arrested and taken before the
juvenile court on the charge o f immorality and improper guardian
ship of her children. She pleaded destitution and was given work as
charwoman in the shelter where her children were detained. While
she was so employed she gave birth to an illegitimate child, and
claimed that James, who at this time was nearly 17, was the father.
He did not deny the charge, and even professed a desire to marry
his aunt, who is over 30. A t this turn*of affairs the town overseer
of the poor hurried the boy out of town to live with a distant relative
and to work for his board.
No one believes that James is the father o f this child. The aunt’s
statement is probably the result o f a plot between herself and the
boy’s mother. The mother, a “ practical nurse,” largely supports the
family by her earnings. She desires to have James sent to some insti
tution where she will not have to meet his expenses.
This is not the first time that she has attempted to distort justice,
according to the opinion of the community. Sixteen years ago she

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accused, her husband of assault against one of their daughters, who ^
was then a mere child. It is the general belief that he was not guilty,
but that she was trying to protect the real offender. He was con
victed, however, and spent seven years in jail. On his liberation he
returned to his wife, with whom he has lived ever since. This man is
probably feeble-minded as well as James. He is a casual farm
laborer.
Case 1 3 —Lizzie W olf is a big, overgrown, jolly girl o f 17, well
liked by most people, but lacking in home training and without any
standards of behavior 5 for example, she swears like a pirate, fluently
and picturesquely. She has not been to school since the family mo\ ed
into B, when she was 13, possibly because her size led the authorities
to think her older than she really was. She is very ignorant, though
undoubtedly of normal mentality.
Lizzie began to work out as a domestic servant when she was 14,
and it was then that her troubles started. Her first “ place” was
with the Millers, a wealthy family living on a large farm where sev
eral men were employed. There was also a son at home, aged 21,
whose character is open to suspicion. When Mr. and Mrs. Miller
finally became aware that Lizzie’s conduct with these men was im
proper she was discharged and sent home.
Lizzie’s father, doubting the accusation against her, took her to
a physician whose examination confirmed the charge. A young man,
the son of a farmer living near the Millers, on whom responsibility
Seemed to be centered, ran away to Canada, where he has remained
for two years.
After this experience Lizzie worked in dry houses for a time and
then went to a neighboring city, where she has again taken employ
ment as a domestic.
Lizzie’s home surroundings were as bad as possible. Her father
is a horse doctor and a disreputable character. He is a drunkard,
lazy, and foul-m outW . The mother works out by the day while
he reads the paper at home. It is said that the last town in which
he lived gave him $25 as an inducement to move away.

COMMUNITY C.
C is an old-time village, a mile and a half up on a ridge of hills
away from the railroad and its station. It is a trading center for
the surrounding farming country. The village has a good public
library— an unusual thing in a place o f less than 300 pop u la tion kept open two days in the week by a volunteer. Entertainments are
given to raise funds for the school, for an organ, for new reference
or story books for the library, and for supplies which can not come
out of taxes.

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The schoolhouse is well kept and attractive. Both the teachers
are natives of the village, have ideals and pride, know the children
thoroughly with the family conditions of each one, and, therefore,
can be lenient or intelligently severe. "While there is some irregu
larity in attendance when the weather is bad, there is no great
amount o f truancy. Usually a warning by the truant officer is suffi
cient to check such as exists. The number o f school children is
steadily decreasing.
Besides general farming and work on the estates of summer resi
dents, the only industries are the quarrying of native stones and a
small sawmill. Neither gives work to any large number o f men.
Women get only an occasional day’s work, since most of the families
do their own housework, except washing and ironing.
Except for the usual tasks o f the children, there is no child-labor
problem. At times a child will take his working papers and be
steadily employed by his. father, but there is no general tendency to
take the children out for work or to take the certificates as a relief
from going to school. When possible the children go away from
home to continue their education.
After leaving school many o f the girls who do not marry young
go to a near-by women’s college to work as waitresses, or go to the
cities for domestic service or to factories. The boys drift into various
occupations.
There are three active churches to divide the support o f perhaps
500 people all told, men, women, and children, counting all those
who may drive in from miles around. There have been some at
tempts at consolidation, none of them successful. The three salaries
combined would be only fair for one minister. It is a mark o f
progress that consolidation is even considered. A ll the churches are
active in the social life o f the village with their “ socials,” suppers,
and parties.
The community boasts an active grange; a group of young women
have a rather exclusive camp-fire council; a casino on one o f the
estates is available for private dances; there are picnics and ex
cursions in summer, and much visiting between families in winter.
With all these advantages C has its slummy back street, which
for many years has been shunned by respectable people.
The people living here belong to a sort of tribe common through
all the region. Among them it is customary for a woman whose
husband is dead, or who has deserted her, to go and live with some
man whose wife has died or deserted him. For young girls the
lines are more closely drawn, and an illegitimate baby o f an un
married girl is rare. The men are laborers off and on, who readily
get work on farms but who can not do things intelligently, and must
be constantly watched, even when they try their hardest. The

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women are untrained in everything, because most o f their lives
they have had “ nothing to do with ” and no chance to learn. Scanty
furnishings, food plentiful or scarce as there is money to buy, and
clothing given by neighbors make up their household equipment.
The nearest justice o f the peace lives about 2 miles away, and
cases are brought before him very rarely. The children grow up
hardly realizing that there are laws or courts to which they might
become amenable.
Malicious mischief often goes unpunished
through the difficulty o f dealing'with it or through fear o f reprisals.
Case 1 .— In the back street above described lives the WalkerCartwright alliance. Walker deserted his wife and Mrs. Cartwright
took her two children and left her husband. Without the formality
of a divorce or of a ceremony the alliance has added five names to
the census. The children in school have to be watched for their
light fingers. They live a hand-to-mouth existence, with family
fights for recreation.
Case 2 .— Near by live the Clark family. The father drinks and
the mother is ignorant. The oldest girl is “ wild,” at 16 fully de
veloped, “ boy crazy,” but bright and intelligent, needing chiefly to
have her energies satisfied and directed. The next, a boy, hangs
around with teamsters and rough characters by preference, and is
wise beyond his years. To the minister, who gently reproved one of
the members o f this family who attended his Sunday school, came
the answer “ Oh, go to h------ .” Instead of thrashing the boy the
minister went to the constable.
Cases 3 and 4 .— Charlie is one of those who has yet to learn re
spect for. authority. He is restless, active, one of the town terrors,
and is blamed for having a hand in most of the mischief that is done.
He often plays truant to go hunting with the older boys or to go on a
long drive with one of his teamster friends. He swears, chews, drinks,
and smokes. He is easily excited; the men in the store give him
drink and strong cigars and then laugh at his semi-intoxicated actions.
His teacher says that he can get his lessons easily when he will,
but that he has “ spells,” when he refuses to do anything. He is
frankly tired of going to school, having entered when he was 4. Last
year he gave a great deal o f trouble because of the sex knowledge
which he insisted upon teaching to other children.
He belongs to one church, but attends services, socials, and even
prayer meeting in any of the three churches. He is evidently a
child without sufficient outlet for his energy who is trying every
thing around him.
His sister is one of the village girls who are inclined to be wild.
She is well developed at 15, is self-conscious and rather bold, a type
common on a city street, but noticeable in a quiet village. She is
regular in school, with occasional half days out for home duties.

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The father and mother are well-intentioned people, but have no
other idea o f discipline for their children than a thrashing. The
father drinks, the mother is slack, the family income is low, and
the children have few pleasures and none that cost money.
Case 5.— Victor, the 9-year-old son o f a neighbor, is another town
terror. So far as his years permit, he follows in all things the lead
of Charlie. The family is just on the edge of poverty; the father
works steadily but for small wages; the mother is always ailing and
a poor manager. The boy is quite without discipline out of school
hours.
Case 6 .— Just outside of C lives the Foster family. The Fosters
first became known to the children’s society when the sheriff asked
the agent to come to the jail and see Bessie, arrested for stealing.
Bessie left home and went to work when she was 13. While there
was no actual want in the home, she was the fifth child who had
gone away, half grown, untrained, undisciplined. The two boys who
went West write back at rare intervals that they are doing well.
The two older girls finally drifted to New York City.
There are left at home the father and mother with three children.
Edith, aged 13, is tall and well grown, good natured, and, except for
her eyes, not noticeably defective. She has apparently reached her
limit in the village school, for she has been in the third grade sev
eral years. Jennie, 11,.is pert and forward, bright and capable,
but is getting restless at home. Arthur, 9, is a fairly good boy in
school, but he is not very bright.
The father is queer, drinks heavily and often, farms in a slipshod
way the few acres which he partly owns, but never has anything
ahead. Each spring he must go in debt for seed. He is suspected by
neighbors of taking things from the adjoining estates—plows, tools,
or anything which is not locked up. Bessie is thought by the neigh
bors to “ come honestly by her light fingers.” When drunk the father
is foul-mouthed and abusive to his family, until the mother and chil
dren are so afraid of him that they lock themselves in one bedroom
at night. I f he kept sober he could provide well for his family.
The mother is thin, nervous, and overwrought. Usually she works
hard on the farm, doing a man’s work beside her husband, but occa
sionally she goes out for a day’s work to get money to buy clothes for
the children, which she says the father will never supply.
Frequently the mother makes complaint to the village constable,
asking to have her husband arrested; but she has relented so often
that usually she is sent home with a bit of advice. The constable says
she is nervous, “ nags,” accuses her husband of “ running after other
women, until any man would get drunk to get away from her nasty
disposition.”

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It was from this home training that Bessie went to work. When
arrested she admitted taking clothes and wearing them, but justified
herself by saying that the woman had not paid her wages. She was
released, taken home by her father, and later went to work in a sum
mer-resort hotel. Now she is married to a boy from a family similar
to her own, except that the mother was unusually thrifty and capable
and brought up her boys well in spite of the intemperate habits of the
father. The young couple have a baby, are well liked at the summer
resort where they work, and are making a fair home.
Case 7.— One of the boys living near the village, who has been sent
to Industry, is typical o f a number of other boys in the vicinity. He
comes o f a shiftless, ne’er-do-well tribe. When he was a baby his
mother left his father and came to keep house for an unmarried uncle
and, again tiring, went away and left the boy. The uncle, an excep
tional member of the tribe, is industrious, thrifty, capable, and a good
citizen according to his lights. While practically illiterate himself,
he married an intelligent woman; and they have saved what is con
sidered in that region a modest fortune—probably ten or twelve thou
sand dollars. They have built themselves a nice house and live com
fortably.
He did his best by the nephew who had been left to his care; but the
boy associated with a bad lot, including some of his degenerate rela
tives, and was on the way to becoming thoroughly incorrigible. The
uncle, the justice o f the peace, and the minister, after many talks,
decided that it would be wise to send the boy away for a time. The
uncle has gone to Industry to visit the boy and expects to look after
him when he comes out.

COMMUNITY D.
D is a rural township of some 1,500 inhabitants, containing no
village of any considerable size. The backbone of the township is
a rocky ridge of infertile land, with a fringe of depressed families
along an old turnpike. The district schools are small and over
crowded. One of them has had for several years an unpleasant repu
tation as being a center of childish precocity in sex matters. The
people of the village blame the large number of placed-out children
here for this situation.
The churches are ineffective. In a town of 1,500 inhabitants the
more important one has a congregation of about 50, mostly women;
Its church suppers are held in one of the old turnpike hotels, where
liquor is sold illegally and where questionable automobile parties
sometimes put up. One of the ministers o f this same church was a
disreputable person. Finding his salary too small for his needs he
more than doubled his income by serving as the village barber. His

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♦

barber shop was a popular resort for the young men o f the village
because of the racy stories which he was able to relate. He came to
the town an unmarried man; during his stay the daughter o f the
saloonkeeper bore ah illegitimate child; the paternity was traced to
this man, and a forced marriage followed. Later he was convicted
o f abusing his horse and disappeared, leaving his wife and child.
Soon after the desertion the young wife died, and the boy is now
being brought up in his grandfather’s “ blind tiger.” He was one
of the delinquent cases included in this study.
The successor to this pulpit was a young lawyer, who lived and
did business in a near-by city. He remained in D but a short time,
because rumors became prevalent connecting his name with one of
the married women of the parish.
He was succeeded by a man o f negative type, who was not aware
that any juvenile delinquency existed in the town, though the infor
mation secured from the more intelligent and wide-awake people of
the town revealed a great deal.
The township of D is supposed to be “ dry,” but it is so only on
paper. A corrupt county political machine makes it difficult to
enforce the law without large funds with which to offer rewards for
the conviction of violators o f the excise law. D does not possess the
funds necessary for this enforcement. The result is that anyone can
get a drink at the “ blind tiger,” provided he is known to be “ all
right.”
In D drink seems to have a stronger hold on the boys than in
other neighboring towns; and this is partly due to the fact that in
an adjoining township, only 2 miles from the village of D, is a large
incorporated village with a population of about 3,000. In this town
there are large shops, several movies, billiard and pool and bowling
places, several flourishing saloons, weekly dances, excellent trolley
and railroad connections, and everything designed to attract young
people. It is spoken of as the “ toughest little town in the county.”
This town seems to absorb everything good from the surrounding
country and gives in return nothing but evil. The churches in the
town have attracted the more well-to-do people in D and left the two
little churches in D with only 30 or 40 members; the schools in the
town have taken the better class of children from D and left only
those from the humbler families.
As a result there is no community feeling in D. With the attrac
tive saloons in the larger town doing a good business it is not felt
worth while in D, only 2 miles distant, actually to enforce the no
license law. D is an apathetic, “ dead and alive,” place and gets no
strength from the town. For example, a few years ago there was
organized in the town a branch of the Boy Scouts which lived for
49985°— 18----- 6

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some time under the auspices o f the churches. Then ill feeling arose
between these churches over some details o f the management and
no one could be found willing to carry on the work. Consequently,
the Boy Scouts’ organization died, and now throughout the approxi
mately 100 square miles of which the town is a center on a 5-mile
radius, there is not a single agency actively interesting itself m the
welfare o f the country children.
The following cases were found in D :
Case i —Martin is the child of the saloonkeeper’s daughter and
the preacher-barber to whom reference has been made. A-fter the
father deserted his wife and the mother died, Martin was left to be
brought up by an unscrupulous grandfather and a grandmother who
is mildly insane. His life has been spent in a disreputable old road
house. He spends his time with boys 5 years older than himself;
they are a very bad influence.
Though the boy is only 11 years old, he can drink down a glass o f
beer in his grandfather’s saloon with as much gusto as the men. In
fact, he has grown up in a bar room, which opens from the family
sitting room. The boy runs the streets o f the village day and night.
He has been known, with the other boys, to steal grapes from gardens
and strew them ruthlessly over the sidewalks; to pull up shrubs and
trample flower beds. He is the boy who took squashes from the vines
and put them on the road in order to hear them pop under the weight
of passing automobiles.
The people of the town resent the mischievous acts o f Martin and
his gang, but no action has been taken in the matter, except the effort
o f one philanthropic lady to start a boys’ club as an offset to this
youthful rowdyism. Martin’s grandfather, however, would not per
mit him to attend the boys’ club. Whatever benefit other boys may
have received from the experiment, Martin never got away from the
influence o f the “ blind tiger ” and his disreputable grandfather.
Martin is a very bright boy, and, in the village school, he is already
in the sixth grade. But even here he has not been under good influ
ences. This school has suffered from one o f those eddies o f vulgar
conduct and talk, apt to start from one child or clique and to draw
in others who probably only half understand its nature. In this case
the source of trouble appeared to have been a 16-year-old placed-out
boy. He was expelled from the school because a 9-year-old girl from
one o f the better families accused him o f saying indecent things.
Several months later this same giifi wrote Martin an improper note
on which obscene pictures were drawn.
There are other mischievous boys in this village, but no other is
quite so constantly in the forefront of trouble as Martin. He
drinks, smokes, is profane and indecent; he is having premature sex

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experiences; he is a lawless and wanton destroyer of other people’s
property.
r
. Case^ 2. Harry is a 15-year-old boy in this same village o f D, who
is a friend o f Martin and probably leads him into mischief. Harry
is known as the smartest boy in the town. He is the local authority
on the European war. He reads several papers every day and has
procured a great many books on the war from admiring friends.
Harry’s mother is a widow who acts as housekeeper for a wealthy
old farmer with whom Harry is a great favorite. Harry is con
sidered too good for the little village school which Martin attends
and so he is sent to the fine school in the large town only 2 miles
distant. In order to show his contempt for the village school, Harry
entered the vestibule recently and broke every one of the individual
drinking glasses. His punishment consisted in being kicked off
the premises by the janitor.
Harry is more than mischievous, he is dishonest. One evening
Harry and his gang were wrestling and scuffling on the piazza of
the corner grocery. They barely escaped breaking one o f the large
show windows and the proprietor ordered them off the piazza
Thereupon Harry led his gang around behind the store and broke
all the rear windows within reach. For this offense the proprietor
demanded 25 cents from each boy. Harry did not have the 25 cents
so he borrowed the sum from another boy and was also intrusted
with an additional 25 cents as this second boy’s contribution. Pos
sessed now of 50 cents, he appropriated the whole amount, and
neither the groceryman nor the other boy ever got his money.
Harry and Martin influence each other with bad results. I f
Harry leads Martin into nocturnal mischief, Martin, on the other
hand, attracts Harry to the saloon with the result that Harry is
getting the reputation o f being a “ tough, young corner loafer,” smok
ing cigarettes and occasionally getting a surreptitious drink. It is
Harry s misfortune to be so bright and attractive that he has never
received the discipline at home which he has needed.
Owe 3. Edward Lord is now 21 years old, weighs 200 pounds
and is one o f the worst young drunkards of the village.
Edward’s first overt act of delinquency was committed at the age
of 15. Then, in company with other boys, he threw several dozen
rotten eggs at a passing automobile. All the other boys ran a w a y
but Edward stood his ground, was arrested, and fined $15 which
was paid by his father. Since then he has had no court ’ record
though he has the reputation o f being a thief.
When in his eighteenth year, in company with two fellows about
3? / i f S
known as the “ Rider boys,” he is said to have taken
old Mrs. Atw oods horse and buggy from her barn one night and
driven to another town, where they stole chickens, which they after
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wards sold to the butcher. The “ Rider boys ” are a drunken, thiev
ing pair who are constantly breaking the law, and therefore the
worst sort o f an influence upon a boy with delinquent tendencies.
The next year many hams were stolen from smokehouses near
the Lord home. One night the dog’s barking awakened a neighbor
in time to see Ed beating a hurried retreat from the back yard,
where a smokehouse was situated.
E d’s drinking began at an early age. When he was only 18 he
became so violent with drink one night at home that his father had
to telephone to the constable for protection against him. The con
stable was obliged to remain with them several hours before it was
safe to leave him alone.
The father’s own character and history are peculiar. He is a
doctor, and some years ago he gave up a fine city practice and
removed his family to this unpromising little country village. The
rumor is that unprofessional behavior forced his retirement. He
is a skilled surgeon and is often called into consultation by the
country doctors roundabout. He is constantly embroiled in quarrels
with his neighbors, is painfully talkative, and appears somewhat
unbalanced. The family was very poor when the children were
younger, and Dr. Lord often went to neighbors to beg for food.
He has a reputation for great eccentricity. Mrs. Lord is also
peculiar and is always in a controversy with some one.
For the last year Ed is said to have worked industriously as a
farm laborer, earning about $1.50 a day. Every few weeks he
indulges in a drinking bout, but his daylight behavior is always.
quiet and gentlemanly, and he makes a very good impression.
Gases 4- cind 5 .—Benjamin Morris and Sidney Stevens were asso
ciated in breaking into a country grocery store. A t the time Ben
was 18 and Sidney was 16.
Ben’s father is a well-balanced man, sober, industrious; he works
early and late, carrying on a dairy farm and running a milk route.
But on his mother’s side Ben’s family influence is not so good.
Mrs. Morris has no sense of money value. She runs up big bills
in the shops, which she is unable to pay, and is always trying to bor
row things from her neighbors. She rarely succeeds in doing so in
recent years because of her reputation for never returning the bor
rowed articles. She is loud in her manner and vulgar in her speech.
Unfortunately, Ben greatly resembles her. He is now 20 years
old, and one of the village sports. He is bright, good-looking, and
bail fellow well met with the other young men; but, aside from a
slight tendency to drink, he has not been openly delinquent since
breaking into the store when he was 18. This occurred one Sunday
morning, when the boys thought that the proprietor was at church,
but they were mistaken in this and he caught them red-handed. They

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had forced open a rear window and were about to make off with
cigarettes, candy, and about 50 cents in change, when they were
suddenly outflanked by his entrance. Their punishment consisted in
being thrashed by their fathers (sufficiently humiliating, considering
that they were almost grown m en ); this punishment was the store
owner’s alternative to legal prosecution.
Ben has an independent spirit. He left school from the seventh
grade at the age o f 16, and since then has worked on various farms,
but has been unable to remain long at any one place because o f his
quarrelsome disposition. In this delinquency Ben undoubtedly was
the leader and Sidney the one who was led, since Sidney was only
16 at the time and has always been a dull boy—something o f a butt
for the livelier boys.
Sidney had but recently left school at that time, having advanced
no further than the fifth grade at the age o f 16. He is overgrown
lor his age, being larger and heavier than Ben, who is two years his
senior. He has never had other employment than work on his
father’s 300-acre farm. He occasionally “ goes to town with the
boys, which means playing pool at a saloon very popular with the
younger element, where drinks are served. It will be surprising
if Sidney does not become a heavy drinker, since his father is a com
Armed drunkard, and the hired man, who is Edward Lord of the
previous record, is the boy’s constant companion. Sidney’s father
inherited a large and valuable fruit farm, but, because of his un
controlled drinking habits, it has become mortgaged to almost its
full value.
Case tf.— Fred Bannon was 14 last winter, when he was convicted
before the justice of the peace o f having stolen skunk traps, which
other persons had set in the frozen swamp near Fred’s own traps
In this case the justice of the peace violated the law o f 1911 in that
he did not transfer the case to the county court but adjudicated it
^rniselr. He tried to avoid any legal responsibility for so doing
by failure to make a complete record o f the case and by assigning no
court number to it. The disposition made by the judge was that
Fred should make restitution o f the property and that he should
leave town. This latter requirement reflects the community’s attiude toward the boy. He is cordially disliked because o f his many
unpleasant qualities.
J

Fred is an undersized, undernourished, mean-looking bov who
smokes incessantly. He is accused o f all sorts of petty dishonesty:
he bullies smaller boys and annoys little girls. Fred always ab
sented himself from school a great deal, and left the sixth grade
as soon as he was 14, He seems to be normally bright, though very
peculiar m his manner, rather furtive, and wholly uncommunicative

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The identity o f Fred’s mother is unknown. She died unmarried,
and he was brought home by his father to be reared by himself and
his wife. This first foster mother soon died, and his father having
remarried, Fred was put into the hands of a second foster mother
with whom he lived until he was 14, for in the meantime his father
had deserted his second wife and had been divorced by her on the
ground o f bigamy.
The father’s family is “ a bad lot.” An uncle, who was active in a
corrupt, local political machine, was recently convicted of fraud.
Several other uncles are of the same dishonest stamp, though not
actually criminal. The father, whose whereabouts is not known,
has never been anything but a shiftless and unsuccessful farmer.
The second foster mother is a good woman, who tried to care for
the boy, but his manner toward her was so ugly that she became
afraid o f him and asked to have him sent away. It was just at this
juncture that he was convicted of stealing the traps and was ordered
out o f town.
Fred then went to work on a farm on the outskirts o f the neigh
boring town. Although only 15 years old he now earns his own liv
ing and is his own boss. He hangs about the streets o f the town
whenever and wherever he wishes. He is said to drink and to spend
every penny he can earn in the village amusement places.
Cases 7 and 8 .—Horace Painter is a quiet, shy child, with a notice
ably narrow face and close-set eyes; he looks subnormal, mentally,
though his school record shows that he is already in the fifth grade.
The teacher speaks of him as a silent child, who never gives trouble
in school. Horace habitually plays with younger children, particu
larly his younger brother, Malcolm, a cousin, Frank, both o f whom
are only 7 years old, and with a little boy named Herbert. Persons
who know these children well think that they are very precocious
sexually; it is known that an instance of sex perversion involving
them did occur.
Horace is actually known to have committed theft. On one occa
sion, when in Herbert’s home, the downstairs rooms o f a rented house,
he went upstairs, unknown to Herbert, and stole two lamps belonging
to the owner o f the house. He sold these to a local junk dealer for
25 cents. Shortly afterwards Horace persuaded Herbert to assist
him in stealing a feather bed from the same place. Unfortunately for
the success o f this act, their visit to the junk dealer with the feather
bed was observed and investigated and the whole affair became
known. Nothing, however, was done to the boys by the law. The
junk dealer, though forced to give up the articles he had received, was
not prosecuted under the Penal Code, section 484, which makes it a
misdemeanor for such dealers to receive goods from children under
16. Herbert received a whipping at home; Horace, who needs guid
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ance and correction more than Herbert, was not punished at all by
his parents.
Horace and Malcolm are not fortunate in their mother. Mrs.
Painter is a “ practical nurse” and is away from home most of the
time; the boys are obliged to take care o f themselves. It is unlikely,
however, that they would greatly profit by their mother’s presence if
she were at home, for she is a slattern, and it is thought that she is
morally a questionable character. The boys’ father is a farm laborer,
a man o f good habits but of weak nature. He is completely domi
nated by his wife. The family has been in town only three years,
and now is making plans to move to an adjoining town, where the
father hopes to find regular work.
Cases 9 and 10 .—Richard Park and his cousin Jennie, both of
whom were 15 the winter before the investigation, are large, strong
children with amiable faces. It is very probable that both are feeble
minded. The boy is known as a petty thief, and the girl has re
cently become the mother o f an illegitimate child, the father of
which is a man 20 years old, who has finally decided to marry her.
It is not thought in the town that Jennie has had other immoral
relations. Her present condition appears to be due to ignorance and
low mentality. The girl has scarcely gone to school at all. The
school authorities paid no heed to her because of her so-called feeble
mindedness. She has always remained rather closely at home.
Richard, -on the other hand, has been in school, though so irregu
lar in his attendance that he has never advanced beyond the third
grade. He was very troublesome in school; also, he has committed
other more serious offenses. On one occasion he took a horse from
a pasture and rode it so long and so hard that the animal died. On
another occasion he bought eggs at one grocery store on account
and immediately sold them for cash to a store across the street. It
is thought that someone else instigated this latter proceeding, for
the boy himself was hardly capable of showing such business
ability. He has stolen anything and everything—chickens, vege
tables, firewood. One man found him in his back shed taking a pair
of boots.
Richard also has the habit o f repeating improper expressions
learned from a notorious gang of young men who have done much
to corrupt not only Richard but all the delinquent boys in this
village.
The fathers o f these two children, Richard and Jennie, are broth
ers—James and John Park. James, the father o f Richard, is men
tally subnormal, illiterate, and incapable of earning a living for
his family. John, the father o f Jennie, is probably subnormal also;
he is immoral and lazy. Both men are drinkers, and their wives are
both said to be mentally subnormal. They have been in. town only

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two years, working only part of the time and largely supported by
their wives, who are the village scrubwomen and washwomen. The
men belong to the nomadic farm-labor class. The family has now
moved from town, and nothing is known either of their history be
fore they came to B or their present behavior in their new sur
roundings.
Case 11.— Walter Preston is a pathetic little ragamuffin o f 10, who
has been driven by poverty to take things not belonging to him. The
father, who is a tenant farmer and has been in town only two years,
is a drunken, dissolute man who fails to support his family properly.
He has a court record for stealing chickens, and was recently found
in a disreputable resort which was raided.
Mrs. Preston is a dispirited household drudge, who is regularly
beaten and insulted by her husband. Walter helps her to support
the three smaller children by working as a berry, fruit, and vege
table picker all summer long.

Already the family is planning to move again. The owner of the
house in which they live refuses to alloAV them to stay longer be
cause of their bad reputation, and for the same reason Preston pre
tends to find difficulty in getting work.
Walter goes to school very irregularly because of his work at home
and because of the fact that they live more than two miles from the
schoolhouse, and bad weather seriously interferes with his travel
ing. His father provided no books for him, and one of Walter’s de
linquencies consisted in stealing books from the desks of other
children and carrying them home. He was suspected, the home
searched, and the books taken from him. His punishment was a
whipping by' the teacher. This teacher reports him to be a well-,
behaved child and in the fifth grade though only 10 years old.
Another delinquency was in connection with his work as fruit
picker in the cherry season. He was caught appropriating the filled
baskets of other workers and discharged. The owner of the cherry
orchard happens to be the justice of the peace o f this village, and it
was his emphatic opinion that u the boy has criminal tendencies.
Another delinquency of Walter’s is the stealing of traps, which he
found in the swamp. The traps were found in his possession and
were taken from him.
Following are certain cases of feeble-mindedness which have
shown tendencies toward delinquency.
Cases 12 , 13, U , and 15.—The Francis family is of French-Canadian origin and at present consists of three different households in
adjacent towns. Some 15 years ago old Mr. Francis came from
Canada with his three children in their teens—Antoine, Christophe,
and Marie. Marie is now Mrs. Simpson. She is feeble-minded and
has several feeble-minded children. Antoine, who has never been

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very strong mentally, has become an alcoholic wreck, but his children
are apparently normal. Christophe himself has never been able to
earn very much, and the family has been in constant receipt of assist
ance from the town and from the churches and private individuals.
This family turns religion to profit by attending the church whence
comes the largest amount o f help. Both Christophe and his wife are
illiterate. He is wall-eyed and she looks like some small rodent,
with a tremendous nose and very close-set eyes. She also has a de
fective palate which affects her speech, a peculiarity shared by all
three o f her children.
These people live at present in a tumble-down house on the out
skirts o f another village; but their places o f residence in the last
three years are numerous. Three years ago the family lived in D,
and at that time a woman o f very bad reputation lived with them.
The situation was so offensive that the neighbors made a complaint
to the children’s society, which removed the two older children—
Rose, at that time 5 years old, and Alfred, 6—and placed them out.
Both these children were so troublesome that no family could be
found to care for them. The boy Alfred, is said to have taken a
hammer and broken all the plumbing in his foster home. The
children were accordingly returned to their parents, who had in the
meantime moved and left their objectionable boarder behind them.
The boy, Alfred, has just been expelled from the village school
because of his incorrigible behavior. He has been to school for two
years, but does not even know his letters though he is now 9 years
old. At school he would crawl about the floor on his hands and
knees; he would pound and kick on his desk, and no amount of
punishment seemed to impress him. His father says that “ the
schools can’t make children learn like they uster.” Alfred recently
set fire to the house by piling things in the middle of the kitchen
floor and then touching a match to them. Rose, aged 8, has in
herited not only her mother’s defective utterance but also her
father s wall-eyedness; furthermore, she has a slight spinal curva
ture, and though she runs about and plays, she does not go to school.
The third child is a boy of 5. He has the defective utterance of the
others and bears a strong resemblance to his mother.
Another branch o f the Francis family consists o f Antoine and
his wife and two children and old Mr. Francis, who has become a
hopeless imbecile.
Antoine is a tenant farmer, who has moved from one farm to
another every few years. His health is now broken down by heavy
drinking and he can do little work. He has had delirium tremens
repeatedly and is in,a fair way to fall into the same condition as
Lis father, who is at times dangerously insane, though he usually

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sits in a state of melancholy beside the kitchen stove. Occasionally
the old man becomes violent.
„
Antoine’s wife is a bright woman and comes from a decent family.
Her two children, a boy 9 years old and a younger girl, are bright.
The boy has been kept out of school during the autumn for a total
of six weeks for farm work. He picks up vegetables, potatoes, and
carrots, and helps his mother in many ways when her husband is
drunk. The family claims that the child is out of school on account
of sickness, but he naively says that he stays out'to work.
The third branch of the Francis family is headed by Marie, who
married a man named Simpson. Mrs. Simpson has three boys
Frank, 18; Tom, 14; and Ned, 8 years old. These three boys, as well
as their mother, are all probably subnormal mentally. The father
does not live with his family, though he supports them in a. meager
fashion. He is a teamster in the city and lives there with another
woman, but he comes out on Sunday to visit his wife and children.
He is normal mentally.
Mrs. Simpson and the boys live in an old house in the center of
the village with protesting neighbors on all sides of them. These
neighbors protest because this family ekes out its miserable existence,
in addition to what the father gives them and what Mrs. Simpson
earns casually as a scrub woman, by very extensive pilferings. Mrs.
Simpson has been known to send the boys out to steal from bakers’
carts standing in the street, from fruit venders, and from grocery
wagons. Then, when the boys return to the house laden with booty,
she can be heard eagerly questioning them as to what luck they have
had and whether they were caught.
These boys'pick up farm tools— anything in fact. One neighbor
left his coat lying on the grass and went into the house for a moment.
When he came out the coat was gone. Another neighbor, repairing
his automobile, left the monkey wrench on the running board and
went around the machine. When he came back the wrench was gone.
A neighboring farmer caught Tom one summer morning at 3
o’clock prowling about the barn. The boy had his face blacked with
charcoal and was wearing some old clothes of his father’s as a “ dis
guise.”
These boys have a gun, a common dangerous practice among
country boys. Frank and Tom break all the game laws, especially
that of shooting pheasants on the nest. When protests have been
made concerning their conduct, the visitant father has threatened
that he will “ shoot anybody ” who interferes with his boys’ liberty.
These boys are also truant from school a great deal, though they
live only across the street from the schoolhouse. Frank, who is 18,
. left school two years ago from the fifth grade: Tom is 14 and only
in the fourth grade. He absented himself from school 19 whole days

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one autumn, an equivalent o f about 4 weeks. His mother asserts that
she needs his help; as a matter of fact, he merely roams about the
town.
In school Tom behaves very badly, and the teacher seems rather
relieved to have him stay away. Possibly for this reason, and because
it is felt that this boy can not profit greatly by being kept in school,
no attempt has been made to enforce the truancy law.
Case 16. Horace Pryor is the only child met with in this in
vestigation whose principal offense is willful truancy, and: also one
of the comparatively few children who shows signs of nervous ab
normality. His health is not good and he claims to be troubled with
pains in the stomach.
Horace entered the higfi school in a town which is 2 miles from
D, but he claims that he did not wish to go to high school, and that
it was his mother who made him, Horace’s father, a minister, died
three years ago. The standards of the family are high to the point
o f becoming narrow. An older brother and sister, both about to
graduate from the high school, are - models of propriety. Yet the
mother, who tries to force her wishes upon the boy, is a silly per
son, ill-fitted to bring up a somewhat peculiar boy.
For instance, it is her firmly expressed desire that Horace shall
become a “ professor of piano playing.” Horace as firmly says that
he wishes to be an engineer. Accordingly, Horace has been put
through many piano lessons, seems to enjoy playing and plays well,
but it can not be doubted that he would be better off if he were to
spend three hours a day sawing and splitting wood for the woodpile.

Horace formed the habit of staying away from high school, and
now spends his time about the town in such places as naturally at
tract boys. ^He has been intimate with Martin, who lives in a saloon
and with him and others of this gang hangs about the saloon corner
and smokes cigarettes.
After some time Mrs. Pryor learned o f his truancy and placed
him in a private school in an adjoining town run by the denomina
tion to which she belongs. Horace liked this no better than he did
the high school, so he came home; and now his mother is in a helpless
flustered state o f mind and “ can’t imagine ” what she ought to do
next.
Meantime Horace is playing pool in the resorts iii the next town,
and when at home, gaining his mother’s leniency by fostering her
belief that he is very ill with stomach trouble. Horace’s age and
school grade entitle him to make application for a labor certificate,
but he has not done so, and his mother does not wish to make appli
cation; in other words, he is an idle truant, rapidly becoming de
moralized, and overlooked by school authorities.

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COMMUNITY E.
E is a rather seedy looking but pretty little village of some 600
inhabitants, lying in a valley, along which runs a trolley connecting
the village with a small city not far away. Beautiful old elm and
maple trees overhang the quiet streets and the ancient, retiring
houses. The town is thickly settled, covering a small area only.
The valley here is not more than an eighth to a quarter of a mile
wide, and from the valley roads lead in all directions out into the
hills.
The building of a canal was the starting point o f great prosperity
for the town, which afterwards ebbed away. And it was of special
importance in the social life of the place, for the presence here to-day
of many undesirable families may be traced back to the old canal
and lumbering days. Many rough customers came down the canal,
and the lock tenders kept “ tough” places. Disreputable women
would come along and stop with the various lock tenders for a week
or two, and parties were held at the lock house at which they drank
and caroused.
For many years the town has declined steadily in population, in
industry, and in social life. A foundry still runs in the winter, em
ploying 98 to 100 men, but runs for shorter and shorter periods and
has continually less work. A good-sized gristmill, run by an oldfashioned water wheel, employs three men. These, with a cider and
feed mill, are the only industries of the town. These small indus
tries are supplementary to the farming on the surrounding hills.
Some farmers bring their produce to the mills here. The three stores
also depend upon the trade of the farmers. Portable sawmills farther
back on the hills contract with the farmers for timber. These employ
a mobile labor force, which includes some of the young men of E.
The economic as well as the social life o f the village is much in
fluenced by the proximity of large towns where well-paid occupa
tions are available. Many men who live in the village or on the hills
near by work in machine shops in neighboring towns. Others work
on trolley, State road, or railroad gangs.
The general store is the one center of social life and trading. The
village boasts a two-story Masonic Hall, where dances, dinner, and
large public events are held, and where the boys play basket ball.
There is also another hall where town and fraternal meetings are
held, and in a row o f little dilapidated buildings is a pool room. In
this neighborhood, too, is a tennis court.
Quite the most exciting weekly event in E is the stopping of the
clock at the general store. This is a device to attract trade and is
operated as follow s: At the store cards are given with purchases,
each with an hour, minutes, and seconds printed thereon. The clock,

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provided with a wooden door'to conceal the face, is allowed to run
down, and no one knows at just what moment the hands come to rest.
Once a week purchasers gather with their cards at the store, and the
clock door is opened in the presence o f all, that there may be no
cheating. The purchaser who holds the card with the hour, minute,
and second nearest to the stopping time receives a prize.
At 3 o’clock the clock is opened, and from 2 p. m. on little else is
thought of in the town. Groups of women hurry along the streets,
farm wagons drive in; those who can not go send their cards by
a trusted friend. Around the store the scene is one o f the greatest
congestion and excitement. The street in front is filled with wagons
and buggies. Most o f the men stay outside— all classes being rep
resented, from the young men one meets at the dances to staid old
farmers. It is well-nigh impossible to crowd into the store. The
air inside is stiflingly hot.
As the clock is opened any pretense of indifference vanishes* The
young men forget their sangfroid and eagerly call out their num
bers. Out-door numbers are shouted across the street. The ladies
at the cracker boxes sort their cards and peer eagerly around. The slow
old farmers are bending over their wives’ tickets, mumbling the num
bers, though they scoffed five minutes ago. Disappointment is keen
as the set o f dishes goes to the giddiest of the young mein. The
women trail disgustedly homeward.
The storekeeper is criticized for this business, and the people know
that it is against the law, but no one wishes to stop an event o f such
marked sporting interest.
At night the town takes on a dark and mysterious aspect espe
cially around the foundry and the pool room. There are no’ street
lights, so everyone goes around with an oil lantern or a flashlight
From 6 to 7 p. m. a continual procession o f people passes to and^fro
to the post office, whereas during the day the streets are deserted.
Lights gleam on all the ways, and it is a time o f excitement and gos
sip. Groups o f men and boys wander about or loiter on the corners
longing for something to do. Later they end up in the principal
store or the pool room. The former place of an evening becomes the
social center; the men and boys use it as a club.
Young men of good social standing go to the pool room several
evenings a week. One of them runs it, and they saw wood and build
the fire themselves. They play for small sums o f money. Other
wise, the place is orderly and affords needed amusement. For further
recreation the young men go to the neighboring city, where many
visit the movies and the theaters, while others frequent less repu
table places. Some of the older young men play poker on the sly.
The influence on the younger boys is bad, for they follow the exam
ple and gamble when they can ill afford it.

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Since there is a nothing to do ” in E, they turn to mischief. A
summer restaurant was almost broken up by a crowd of youths w ho
annoyed the woman proprietor night after night by their rowdy
ism until she had to call in the justice of the peace. The older people,
especially the church members, condemn the pool room, and look
with suspicion on youthful recreations. And yet many innocent hap
penings such as dinners, socials, and club meetings take place, though
occasional dances are held in the winter at which there is heavy
drinking. Once in a great while an itinerant moving-picture show
comes to town.
The Sons o f Veterans meet once a month, and have a great celebra
tion on Decoration Day. The younger boys have organized the
cadets, a younger branch of the same organization, in which they
learn to drill, to fire salutes, and they take a prominent part in the
Decoration Day exercises.
Community life suffers from the existence of many cliques. The
tennis court is used by only a few o f the young people. Two read
ing clubs include only the older people of the better class.
The lack of constructive social sense on the part o f the better
educated people leads to neglect of the heeds of the young, of
minor law breakings, and o f the poorer families. Education ends with
the common school as a rule. Moreover, those who might lead are
interested in outside things and not in E and its problems. Sub
merged families are left to the care o f town officials, who pay no
attention until some members of them become such flagrant law
breakers that they have to be arrested. Such families are talked
about, their misdeeds are recounted, and there is general rejoicing
when they move on to the next town, but nothing is done to better
their condition. Thus situations are allowed to become acute that
might have been alleviated.
The township as a whole gives a relatively large amount of
poor relief. This is given out by the poor master, whose only idea
seems to be to save the town as much money as possible in the dis
charge of his duties. The acting justice-of the peace in the township
exercises some judgment in dealing with his cases.
The churches offer recreation to their own members^ but are other
wise remote from the social life o f the town. The minister of the
richest church comes to E only on Sunday. Church and Sunday
school attendance are small—about a dozen at church and six oi
seven at Sunday school. The women of the church try to get the
poor children to come to Sunday school, and they do some charitable
work, such as giving clothes to the poor and visiting the sick.
One o f the other churches has been especially active among the
young people. A Sunday school class of 15 to 20 boys and girls of
from 16 to 21 years of age have had corn roasts, picnics, suppers,

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find sleigh rides. Last summer they worked hard to earn enough
money to go camping, and camped for a week or so in a picturesque
place not far away. The attendance falls off between seasons, some
times only five or six attending, but they all come in again at Christ
mas. The young minister is a lay reader, still studying at a semi
nary. He has charge o f a church in another village, too, and says
frankly that he knows nothing o f the communities or o f the people.
The third church presents the most interesting problem, because
o f the personality o f the minister and his conflict with the opinions
of his parishioners. This man burns with a great ardor for reform,
and he holds advanced views on church activities. His. sermons
are often exhortations against the separation o f a repressive re
ligion from the demands o f everyday life, but he is hampered in his*
work by his congregation.
All three churches bear witness that boys, and girls to a lesser ex
tent, leave church at the age o f 16 or thereabouts. At this age the
desire for pleasure leads them to seek amusements and since these
are condemned by the churches the young people drop out.
The school at E proves the great value o f a socially minded prin
cipal and a good school to a country community. The principal
makes the school life of the children so interesting that he has no
problem of discipline, and he is trying to instill sound moral prin
ciples through the school and the Boy Scouts. But here, as in other
country neighborhoods, the boys usually stop going to school as soon
as they can; o f the 24 pupils upstairs only 3 were over 16, and
1 o f these had his working papers that he might occasionally work
on the farm.
The most noteworthy feature of the school is the attitude of active
friendliness between the principal and the pupils, and their coopera
tion in the school life.
The teacher downstairs upholds the sterner, old-fashioned disci
pline, but her relation with the children is pleasant. She keeps a
careful oversight o f sexual morality, and holds occasional mothers’
meetings, attempting to have some interaction between school and
home discipline. Since she lives in another village she is, however,
somewhat hampered by lack of knowledge o f local conditions.
Little truancy occurs in the school; there were eight cases in the
last two years, in four o f which the children stayed out to work.
When cases are reported the truant officer acts promptly.
The principal has organized what promises to be a most efficient
troop o f Boy Scouts. He inculcates democratic ideals, insists upon
obedience to such laws as that against smoking, and sees that the
meetings are led according to parliamentary rules o f order. One
Saturday six or seven o f the boys u hiked ” to a neighboring town to
deposit at least $1 each in the bank, in order to be promoted from the

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“ tenderfoot” class, and were proud of this achievement. On the
nights of their regular meetings, .which are held in the schoolhouse,
they parade around the streets, beating their new drum and making
a great deal of noise. The village people generally approve of the
movement.
When the boys leave school there is little opportunity for them to
learn a trade, and they are equipped with only the rudiments of an
academic education. The majority are to become laborers. The boys
still in school work at odd jobs, picking up potatoes, helping the
threshers, selling papers, and doing errands for the grocers.
O f a neighborhood group of 24 boys from 17 to 25 years of age,
only 7 had attended school after they left the common school. In
general they have drifted from job to job. Some learn molding, or
start to do so, in the foundry; others work on the trolley, section, or
railroad gangs; many drift to the machine shops in a neighboring
town; several work on farms around, trap and hunt, or do nothing.
Only 5 or 6 have settled down to a good trade or profession.
Though only 2 cases of juvenile delinquency were filed in the
county clerk’.s office, 17 children were found whom a wise juvenile
court could have helped.
Cases 1 and 2 .— Clyde Harper is a bright, good-looking boy o'f 15,
who did chores and tended fires for a neighbor. On several occa
sions he took George Dodd with him when he went to his work, and
would slip boxes of cigarettes from his employer’s stock into his
pocket under the very eyes of the employer. Clyde followed up this
petty thieving with more serious theft offenses. One night as he and
George were passing back of the house of a man named Herrick,
Clyde said: “ Let’s go in, no one’s at home.” They climbed through
a window, ransacked a desk, and took about $1 in change and some
cigars. This offense was repeated a number of times. The other boys
o f the neighborhood saw the stolen articles at school, and wished to
be in the adventure. One night the Herolds and Walter Murphy
went with Clyde and George; they did not enter, but stayed out on
the street and watched the house. In return they were given some
cigarettes.
These entrances into the Herrick house continued for about two
weeks, until finally George was found in the house. He was taken
before the justice and was very much frightened. The next morning
Clyde was arrested at his home. At the trial these two boys impli
cated the others, who were brought up later in the day. George and
Clyde were committed to Industry, Walter Murphy and the two
Herold boys were arrested as “ accomplices before and after the
act,” for they stood out in the street as guards, but they were dis
charged. The Herolds are a family of very good character, and Mrs.
Herold was so humiliated by the arrest of her sons that the family

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^W '

moved away soon after. In the trial, it came out that Lawrence Por
ter, another boy, had 44fired a revolver on the public highway.55 He
also was arrested, and admitted that he bought the stolen gun of
Clyde. The justice said: 44He was too nice a boy to file a certificate in
the county clerk’s office, so I never did.” His parents paid his fine of
$5 and he was discharged.
The stealing of the two principal offenders in this case appeared
to be the natural result o f family conditions and inheritance. Clyde’s
father is the black sheep of a good family. He is a good-lookinir.
intelligent man o f 37, but a drinker and a member of a gang o f men
who .drink and have a reputation for dishonesty, such as neighbor
hood chicken stealing. He was always very stern with Clyde, whip
ping him frequently for disobedience. He never gave the boy any
money to spend, nor did he give him any actual training.
Clyde’s mother is a pretty, attractive young woman. She dresses
neatly and keeps her house clean and in good order. She earns $2.25
a week working out and doing washing. But she belongs to a family
which is notorious. Her father stole and was otherwise dishonest,
and several of the girls 44went wrong.”
About the time o f the robberies, Mrs. Harper kept a boarding
house for the men on the State road gang, and IVlr. Harper did noth
ing. Both Clyde and George Dodd were a great deal in the company o f the men boarders at Clyde’s house 5 from them they may have
learned much that was bad.
George is a boy o f a very different type from Clyde. Whereas
Clyde is handsome and attractive, fond o f the social life o f the
church, and very popular, George is a dirty, ugly b oy ; however, the
children seem to have liked George. He was allowed to live under
most degrading conditions. His mother, a half-blooded Indian, left
his father, or was turned away by him, when George was young.
His father was a queer, ugly, lazy, old man. Mrs. Dodd married
him, her second cousin, when she was 17 and he was 37. He never
would work, and Mrs. Dodd had always been obliged to help sup
port the family. She claims that she did all she could to keep the
family together, and that she left her husband a number o f years
ago because he turned one o f their sons out o f doors for refusing to
give his father all his money. It is said by outsiders, however, that
her husband forced her to leave on account o f bad conduct. After
her departure the father and the boys kept house for themselves.
The condition o f the family was most squalid. George was so dirty
that the children teased him about it. He never brought any dinner
to school and the teacher and the children divided their food with
him. The storekeeper gave him food until old Dodd forbade it.
George says he began to ste^l by taking 44sugar and things ” at home.
49985°— 18-----7

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After he began his raids upon the Herrick house he found stealing
very' easy. He broke into a meat market and took money from the
drawer and also tried to break into the store.
At Industry, Clyde was trusted and allowed considerable freedom.
He went on errands, and one day he and two other boys escaped. The
others were caught, but Clyde told them that if he had to return to
school he would drown himself. His family has never seen him
since. Mrs. Harper believes that he would not come back to them
lest his father should send him back to the school.
George was discharged from Industry 15 months after having been
committed, having spent eight months in “ punishment,” during
which time he had to dig ditches all day. He is not'sorry he was sent
there, but did not like remaining so long “ because you can’t go
nowheres.” After leaving Industry he was put out to work on a
farm, but the farmer misused him, so he ran away. His next work
was in a livery stable, where he was under probation to the chief
of police. He remained in this place two weeks and then came
“ home ” to his mother.
The parole officer objected to his living with his mother because
she was keeping house for a man not her husband. He insisted that
she take a house for herself before she could have George with her.
She now has a very good 11-room house; the man for whom she had
kept house boards with her and she has $12 a month pension. She
is a shrewd woman of considerable force of character. George, how
ever, did not remain long with his mother. He worked two weeks on
the State road at $2 a day; then he borrowed a gun o f a neighbor
and went hunting a week. He tried working on the State road again
for four weeks, worked at fruit gathering for one week at $1.75 a day,
worked for a farmer for a week for $1 a day and his board. His last
place was in a livery stable in another town. The last report has it
that he is now living with his brother Henry, near the village, and
. working in the foundry. Henry follows trapping and skunk killing
as an occupation and lives alone in a little house near the trolley
crossing.
A ll the boys of the group who were connected, with the robberies
in the Herrick house began to smoke when from 7 to 10 years of age.
Their favorite reading was the “ Nick Carter,” “ Diamond Dick,” and
« Buffalo Bill ” series, which were passed around among them at
school. “ P a t” Murphy is held responsible for teaching them to
smoke.
Cage 3 .—Walter or “ Pat ” Murphy is the particularly degenerate
juvenile delinquent of E. The teacher says that Walter has done
everything which he ought not to have done. He began smoking
when only 7 years old and is a cigarette fiend. Now he “ runs with ”
older boys, frequents the pool room, and gets drunk. He has taken

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money from the railroad station several times. On one occasion he
was caught and gave up the money on the spot. This has been
hushed up by his grandparents.
Walter’s delinquency seems to be due to physical and mental ab
normality. His head is queerly shaped, too large at the top, and he
has epileptic fits every two or three months. He has a white skin,
lackluster eye, and weak chin. The sight o f one eye was injured
by a cartridge which exploded in his face five or six years ago.
He is bright enough in some ways; he likes to read—“ anything
but love stories ”—and his manner is a queer combination o f diffi
dence and self-importance. He organized the cadets, a younger
branch o f the Sons o f Veterans, and is very proud of it. He could
not join the Boys Scouts because he could not live without the
smoking, which has made him too weak to lift himself up on the
vaulting pole.
He has had trouble at school because he wished to go when he
pleased and stay out when he pleased. The principal says he is
bright in some ways, but his mind is lazy. She believes that he
will' probably become insane in five years or so. The principal
wishes that he were out of school, but his grandmother desires him
to continue, and blames the teacher for not letting him come as
he pleases. Walter hates school. He helps his grandfather in the
cider mill, and this autumn he tried for a job in the machine shops
in a neighboring town. He likes drawing and would like to become
a draftsman, but he is still doing nothing.
The Murphys are a well-to-do family. Walter’s mother died when
he was 24 hours old, and his grandmother took him to bring up.
He has never been healthy, and his grandparents and his uncle have
spoiled him. Walter’s father is a telegraph operator in another
town. He pays Walter’s board. Walter is one of the best-dressed
boys in the village; he has everything he wants.
The family lives well in every way. The grandfather runs a mill
and is quite intelligent and interesting. He admires Walter and
would probably not try to discipline him, and Mrs. Murphy always
takes Walter’s side, refusing to believe that he has done anything
wrong. She is active in the church and is an excellent home maker.
Case If..— Truman Franklin belongs to the group next younger
than the boys implicated in the house robbery. He is now 16 years
old and still attends school. Truman has not done anything very
reprehensible, but he has the name of being a bad boy and is con
sidered light-fingered. On one occasion he stole scrap iron from a
vacant lot and took it home. The owner found it out and told Tru
man’s father that he wanted it, but the father, after promising to
return it, sold it to a junk dealer. Truman is also accused of taking
money from the store. Several times he has been a truant.

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The principal influences in Truman’s life are the Boy Scouts in
school and a stern home discipline. H e is said to have improved
greatly since he joined the Boy Scouts, with whom he is very
popular, and is now a nice-appearing, well-mannered boy, wiry and
strongly built. He has had all but two regents’ preliminaries and
gets along well in everything except spelling. He likes school and
is devoted to the principal. His father intends to send him away
to school after he has finished here—wherever the boy pleases.
He earns a good deal selling papers and doing odd jobs, such as
farm work on Saturdays. One month he earned nearly $15. He
handles his own money and buys his clothes out of it.
Truman’s father is a rough laboring man, who drinks and does not
bear a very good name in the community, and belongs to a bad family.
There were eight children, and his father being sick, he had to
go to work at 10 years of age. After this he had little schooling, but
worked on farms and at lumbering, and has done much better for
himself and his family than have his brothers. When he is drunk
he is said to whip the children, especially Truman, unmercifully.
On all occasions he is a stern, brutal disciplinarian. He is proud
o f the fact that he gets from $1.50 to $3 a day in the foundry.
He has bought the house and lot where they live, and has made
improvements in the house himself. Mrs. Franklin is not quite
bright, but is an excellent housekeeper.
Cases 5 , 6, 7, 8 , and 9 .—The Burnses and the Doanes can best be
described together.
The Burnses had the worse reputation. They lived one-half mile
up the railroad track in an isolated and frightfully dilapidated
house. Mrs. Burns is strong and big and coarsely handsome, but
much degraded mentally by drink. As soon as her husband left
for work it was her habit to go off to drink and beg in the neighbor
ing city, leaving her oldest girl, aged 12, to keep house. She would
come back laden with clothes and food, bags of apples and potatoes,
which she had begged or stolen, and often in a drunken condition.
She always has a baby, and has five living children now ; is about
to have another; and has had twins and triplets, all five of which
she lost. She made no attempt at housekeeping; the children were
so hopelessly dirty that they had to be sent home from school. She
has also been known to pilfer from the neighbors.
The three older children, Elizabeth, aged 12; Dewey, aged. 9; and
Freddie, aged 7—all three bright, black-eyed little things— are noted
for stealing. They would come sneaking around the house back of
which they lived, and when the owner was away would fish through
the windows or crawl into the house, taking apples, squashes, pota
toes, or other articles. A ll three of them were continually truants.

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The mother kept Elizabeth out to help keep house, and the officer
was always after them.
Finally, Mr. Burns’s brother, aged 32, who lived with them, mar
ried Jennie Doane, aged 15, in a neighboring town and brought her
home with him. She belongs to the Doane family which had for
merly lived over the blacksmith shop in E. When she came- to E
as a wife, Jennie was still so much of a child that she played with
the children like one o f them. Because she was under age, though
married, the truant officer came after her. He told the family that
if they would move out o f the neighborhood where Jennie was known
they would do better, but that he would arrest them and send them
to an institution if they stayed here. Consequently, they moved to
another town, but their reputation followed them, for the owner of
the general store said that he dared not trust Mrs. Burns or the
children alone in the store a minute. This is the only licensed town
in the vicinity. Though a small place o f 1,200 inhabitants, it sup
ports three hotels and two saloons, and it is a tough town ; almost
any night the streets are infested with drunken men and “ wild ”
girls.
The Burnses moved into a little dilapidated five-room house onehalf mile from town, where they had no near neighbors except an
old negro from whom they rented, and where they could behave
about as they pleased. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Burns and the five
children, Tod and his wife, the little Doane girl, lived with them,
occupying a room upstairs. They had been here only a week or
so when it was discovered that Jennie had robbed her parents’ land
lady before coming to the Burnses.
The Doanes had lived on the second floor o f this old lady^s house,
a large, square, dilapidated old building set in a remote corner of
the town, off the road. The old lady, who is unbalanced, lives here
quite alone, and Jennie used to go downstairs and “ snoop” around
a good deal. Finally, she carried upstairs a trunk which belonged
to the old lady. The robbery was discovered through the fact that
the Burns, children and Nora Doane were buying things at the store
with five-dollar and twenty-dollar gold pieces and five-dollar bills.
The constable went to the Burnses to arrest Jennie. When she saw
him coming she ran upstairs and jumped out of a window,'but was
soon caught. In the house were found garments, spoons, and other
things from the trunk, but Jennie’s husband had made good his
escape with as much of the money as had not been spent. Mrs.
Burns showed such incriminating knowledge o f the whereabouts of
the trunk that she was arrested on the charge of receiving stolen
goods. She and Jennie were locked up in the jail.
When the authorities had convicted Jennie, who pleaded guilty,
they could find no place to which to commit her, for she was too young*

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for institutions which received married women, and not eligible for
girls’ homes. Jennie was kept for two weeks and a half in the
jail with Mrs. Burns, and was then committed to the Syracuse Shelter
for Unprotected Girls. Mrs. Burns was bound over to the grand
jury.
Mr.-Burns seems a decent sort of a man, though he is one of a
wretched family. His sisters went wrong as they came of age, and
one of the brothers so abused his wife that she died from the effects.
Mr. Burns is a day laborer, industrious, and always-has work. He
feels that his wife ought to be able to do better for the children on
his pay, and claims to have known nothing of the stolen goods.
Jennie Doane apparently never had a chance to be anything but
delinquent. In E the family lived in destitution over the old black
smith shop, and received poor relief. The girls, Jennie and Nora,
used to go to school without any dinner, and when the teacher asked
them why they did not go home at noon, Nora answered: “ There
ain’t no dinner there if we go.” The principal found work for the
family on a farm, and thought they were finely situated, for the
farmer seemed very generous with them. Then Artie Doane, the
son, came to work alone for several days, saying that his father was
sick, and asked to borrow money to get a doctor. The farmer gave
him $12. Next morning he did not come to work, and it was dis
covered that the whole family had flitted away to the town from
which Tod Burns brought Jennie.
The Doanes became notorious there when Mr. Doane was brought
before the justice for beating Nora and fined. He is the most des
picable looking old villain one could imagine. He drinks continu
ally and ‘is therefore not dependable, though a good worker when
sober.
Both Jennie and Nora were on the streets a good deal. Women in
the town protested to the district attorney about the case, but he
would not do anything. So the affair was allowed to drift on. At
last the father turned Jennie out o f the house. The mother decided
that the best thing for Jennie would be marriage, since her father
behaved so badly, and she was just at the age when girls are in
danger.
So Mrs. Doane signed the license papers, saying that Jennie was
18, and, though she looks like a little girl, and a stupid one, both the
town clerk and minister acquiesced in the ceremony. Whether
Tod Burns knew that Jennie had the stolen money before he married
her could not be determined. W hy he married her is a mystery. She
is an ugly, sallow child, low-browed and full-lipped, little, roundshouldered, and undeveloped, and talks in a husky, eager voice, with
a questioning gasp at the end o f every phrase. She is quite evidently
below par mentally, and at the trial she seemed dull and apathetic;

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her eyes roved from face to face, and a worried pucker grew on her
forehead.
The woman who taught Jennie when she was 9 years old, 6 years
ago, said that at that time she knew what was wrong, but was not
strong enough to do right; she seemed to understand when scolded,
but would immediately do wrong again. She took little things in
school, and stole out o f the garden and orchard, but did nothing
else out o f the way. She never got beyond the fourth grade in
school, and stole out o f the garden and orchard, but did nothing
She was a good writer, and at 15 did as good work as the 9 and 10
year old children who were in her grade. Jennie insisted that she
liked to go to school, and liked all the subjects, especially arithmetic.
Her sister, Nora, is growing up under the same conditions which
so injured her older sister. Nora is already quite beyond the con
trol o f her parents. Mrs. Doane is not a bad woman and does her
best, but she is of a low grade of mentality and perfectly at the
mercy of her husband.
The family has moved about continually. The oldest daughter,
Susan, has recently married a decent young working man. They live
in a nice little house, clean and well kept, far above the standard
of the Doanes. Susan is stupid and mild like her mother. Artie, the
son, about 18 years old, works on the State road, and his mother says
he would be all right if his father did not bother him all the time.
Nora has stayed a good deal at her sister’s, but the family is not
willing to keep her because she acts so badly and chooses dangerous
companions. Nora is a nice looking little girl o f 12, but has a pert,
pouty expression, and is already conscious of her attraction. Her
school record is good, but she is only in the second grade. She says
that if it were not for her father she would like to stay at home.
Mrs. Doane is willing to give Nora up, but Mr. Doane fights
against it.
Gases 10, 11, 12, and 13 .—Ed Lauder, the father, came of a bad
family. His mother committed suicide by pouring kerosene over her
clothing and setting fire to it. His father drank and gambled.
Ed smoked cigarettes to excess and could neither read nor write, but
he was clever and could “ figure u p ” when sent to sell produce.
His employer said he never had such a faithful man; that he took
as much pride in the farm as if it were his own. Mrs. Lauder also
belonged to a bad family. Her brother was in State prison for
killing a man and she herself was a hard drinker and neglected the
children.
*
These two had four boys, George, Sam, Philip, and Donald, and
one girl. The boys used to steal from neighbors. When Philip
was only 7 he took a horse and rode it up and down, then
brought it to the justice and told him that a neighbor wanted him

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to put it in his barn, but the justice suspected the boys and made
George and Philip put the horse back in the neighbor’s barn. Philip,
however, was a good little worker, and fond of the animals. He
took a currycomb from a neighbor’s barn in order to take special
care o f a favorite calf.
The father died of tuberculosis, and for a time mother and chil
dren drifted. Finally Donald and Philip were placed in an orphan
asylum and Philip ran away twice. His mother tried to have him
returned to her, but she was not considered a proper guardian.
Philip then went to live with his uncle in another part of the
State and got on well for a time, though he stole little things from
the teacher and pupils in school. Then one day he ran away after
dark, took a horse from a neighbor’s barn, and rode7 off. He was
taken in by a farmer in the next village for the night, but as he
claimed that he was going to visit relatives, he was allowed to go on,
riding horseback. He rode to where his mother lived, but became
frightened and started back with the horse. The owner of the horse
received him kindly, gave him his supper, kept him over night, and
sent him off early the jiext morning and nothing has been seen or
heard of him since.
Case Ilf..—-Maurice Rapelyea’s delinquency consists in mischief
which might be called malicious. He is said to have tampered with
a neighbor’s water system by letting the water out o f the cement
trough and filling the trough with stones. His mother had refused
to pay the water rent, saying that she did not use the water. There
had been some trouble about it, which may account for the boy’s
action. He is also accused of being light-fingered.
Maurice appears to be an ordinary child, except that he is surly
and disagreeable; the teacher thinks him stupid. He is 11 years
old, in the fourth grade, and likes all his subjects, but he is incor
rigible in school, whispers, laughs, and misbehaves generally. His
mother believes him to be a wonderful boy and says he works when
ever he can and is eager to help her and provide for his 3-year-old
sister. She will not let him join the Boy Scouts until she knows
more about them. “ Maurice is good,” says she, “ and I want to
keep him so.”
Mrs. Rapelyea has had a hard life since her marriage. Her hus
band was a drinker, and thinking he would do better out in the
country, she sold her property in the city and bought a little farm
m E, but he got tired of it and went to a neighboring town to work
in a hotel. She followed him, but he misbehaved and she came back;
then she followed him again to another town. Finally he abandoned
his family completely and was convicted therefor by the justice.
He promised to pay $4 a week for the two children, but never did so.

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. Mrs* Rapelyea then gave him up entirely and opened a restaurant
m
where in the summer she just about earns their living, but she
closes the restaurant in winter.
Case 15. Lawrence Porter could scarcely be classed as a de
linquent, though he committed an act of delinquency, “ firing off. a
gun on the public highway.” He was one o f the boys arrested in
connection with the robbery committed by Clyde Harper and George
Dodd, and was one of the crowd who began smoking at 10 years of
age, read “ Nick Carter,” and so on. He is a handsome, big, strong
boy of 17, fond o f excitement and fights. Hunting, trapping, fishing
are his chief joys. He likes lumbering and would like to become
a forester. He plays the violin a little, is very fond o f music, and
has spent his hard-earned money on music lessons. He belongs to
a Sunday school class and eagerly joined a young people’s choir
which they started.
Five or six years ago the Porters moved to E from a small city
and now live in a beautiful white farmhouse on a hill about one mile
from the village. Mr. Porter works nights as electrical machinist
in the power house for $60 a month. He is a slow, amiable, kindly
man. He never had much education, and learned to be an electrician
by doing the work. His family generally were a “ rough, bad lo t ” ;
one brother died in jail, where he was committed for rape. Mr.
Porter likes to live and work around on the farm. He allows the
children to do as they please, and is troubled by nothing. Mrs.
Porter says it would be a good thing if his father would beat Law
rence occasionally and seems worried about his future. Their home
is pleasant, well furnished, and well kept; they have a piano, an
organ, and much popular music.
Shortly after the escapade with the gun Lawrence left school, be
cause he felt that he was too big, and he had trouble with the
teacher. She beat him with a leather strap for kissing a little girl,
and he walked out and never came back. He worked on farms for
a while, and last summer got “ a job ” working in the woods with a
portable sawmill. He liked this outdoor work very much, the only
drawback being that all the men employed there. drank heavily.
He then got work setting telegraph poles for the railroad company,
where he received a good wage, $2.25 a day. He hates studying, but
would like a trade, and is now trying to learn to be a molder in the
foundry. He is poorly paid while learning, and his family urges
him to go to day laboring again, but he declares that he will “ stick
to it ” until he has learned the trade.
At night he comes down to E in search of excitement, but there
is little to be found there. On Saturday night he goes to town with
the crowd, but the other boys go to the saloons, and he does not quite
wish to do that. He told the investigator that about two weeks be
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fore he decided that he would “ go to the bad ” ; that he would drink
and associate with bad company.
Gases 16 and 17 —Daisy Vanderveer, aged 15, has been suspected
o f petty thieving, and it is thought that she has been guilty of sexual
immorality. The suspicion o f a thieving habit is based on the fact
that Daisy was seen examining the bureau drawers in a neighbor’s
house one day; nothing was missed, but the neighbor felt that she
could not trust the child any longer. Also, when Daisy and her
sister, Lucilla, now aged 13, were small children of 8 and 10 they
took letters from another neighbor’s mail box. However, this neigh
bor said, “ They were so little they didn’t know any better.”
Both the children are rough and use vile language. The neighbors
attribute the language to the fact that the children have been in the
habit of hearing such talk at home. There is no definite proof that
Daisy has actually been implicated in immoral conduct; but from the
attitude toward her o f the boys and men o f the place, and from
some of her own admissions to the investigator, it would certainly
seem that things are not just right with her in this particular. She
is a bright, rather pretty girl, but has a shifty and untrustworthy
expression and an undue self-confidence and sophistication o f man
ner. She missed two years in school and is in the eighth grade only,
though she is unusually bright and studious and has read a great
Heal— all the books in the school library. The school-teacher is con
vinced that both the Vanderveer girls are abnormal, if not mentally
yet physically, Daisy has had St. Vitus dance three times.
Lucilla is an unusually pretty girl with vivid red cheeks, curly
brown hair, and brown eyes with heavy brows. She is gay and
vivacious; likes to act in plays, to speak pieces, and generally to be
in evidence. She reads a great deal—school library books such as
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and the Alger books—and
ranks very well in the eighth grade. Lucilla, as well as Daisy, has
been suspected of sexual immorality. There is, however, no actual
proof, yet it is a fact that she is greatly interested in boys and is
very popular with them.
The mother seems fairly intelligent but immature. She is now a
large, strong woman, but she had St. Vitus dance as a child. She
was adopted when very young, and there is a rumor to the effect that
she was about the same type of girl as Daisy and Lucilla. She is very
fond of pleasure and of clothes. Apparently, she allows her children
to do pretty much as they please.
The family is in fairly good circumstances. Mr. Vanderveer is a
molder and receives $140 a month. They live in a small, white,
frame house.
Case 18.—Maggie Riordan has been looked at askance in E ever
since the Riordans moved there this autumn. At night her method

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o f amusement is to meet the trolleys, to sit on the bench in front of
the store with a boy, or to wander the streets. Her chief occupation
is “ going for the mail ” ; almost any time o f the day she may be
seen walking slowly and heavily to the store.
Maggie is a large, overgrown, overdeveloped girl of 14. She
talks continually of herself and her beaux. She is a truant, but the
truant officer in E has not paid any' attention to her. She was in
the fourth grade when she left school. Her mother says they always
kept her in the same grade. She does not like work and after having
tried a position for a week she stays at home, where she does not have
to do anything.
, Her mother lets her lie in bed and spoils her in every way, and
seems proud of Maggie’s popularity with boys. Maggie wished to
marry this autumn, but her people would not let her; she claims to
have been engaged three times. She reads a great deal—Laura Jean
Libbey, The Dutchess, and Charles Garvice. The boys come to see
her frequently, and she sometimes gives parties.
The latest development in Maggie’s career is her habit of making
visits to the foundry, which the employer has tried to stop. Vile con
versations are reported between her and the workmen.
The Riordans rent five rooms and there the father, mother, brother,
maternal grandmother, and paternal grand^ther live together. Mrs.
Riordan seems about the same age as Maggie. She has a splendid
physique, used to pitch hay, and do other farm work when they lived
on the farm, and now helps her husband unload wood. She went out
to work when 12 years old and married at 16. She is a pleasant,
healthy woman, but ignorant and foolish, and seems to stand in awe
o f Maggie. Mr. Riordan is a big, rough, unintelligent man. He is a
lumberman, and has to follow his work, so they move continually.
The brother, Francis Riordan, about 17 years old, is a handsome boy,
who appears o f a better class than he is. He left school at 15, when
in the sixth grade, because he wanted to get to work and earn his
own clothes, though his grandmother offered to send him to high
school.
Case 19.— Violet Franklin is the child o f Addie Pratt and Fred
Franklin, who were married when she was 16 and he 20. By the time
Addie was 39 she had had 11 children. Their married life was a
series o f quarrels; Fred drank terribly, and when drunk abused his
wife and children. He turned them out, or she left him, many times.
Once he deserted his wife shortly before her confinement, and her
aunt, Mrs. Dodd, <{ threw them on the town.” The authorities have
always tried to remedy matters by bringing them together again.
There are two sides to the family dissensions; while Mr. Franklin
always drank and abused his family, Mrs. Franklin has never been
willing to keep house and care for her children. The five younger

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children have seen many degrading scenes; they have had to sleep
out of doors, have been battered about from home to home, and their
schooling has been hopelessly broken.
Mrs. Franklin at one time set up housekeeping in a neighboring
town, where she “ worked out,” and an older daughter kept house.
Mr. Franklin gave them so much trouble by accusations against this
daughter that they broke up housekeeping. Three of the children
came to live with Mrs. Pratt, the grandmother, in E. Mrs. Franklin
took one child and became housekeeper for a wealthy man who lives
alone. She believes that her husband is insane, and tells of his burn
ing all their clothes. Mr. Franklin does look like a crazy man. He
works on a farm, and sleeps in the barn, or at his daughter’s. All
his spare time he spends wandering about, spying on his family, and
talking to the authorities, or anyone he meets, about getting a divorce
on the ground of the relations between his wife and the man for
whom she keeps house.
Brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, afford innumerable places
for family gatherings, and innumerable places for the children to
stay; thus they have no regular guardianship.
In such surroundings Violet was brought up. As she herself says:
“ It would’ ve been different if I ’d had a home.”
Violet is a small, sallow, round-shouldered girl o f 18, though she
looks much younger, with a sensitive, good, intelligent face. She sits
with her hands in her lap, looking straight before her. Always a
shamed, dismayed expression lies in her eyes, and some fear puckers
her forehead. Some people, including the justice, believe that Violet
had relations with several men, and can not tell who is her child’s
father. But her own story, told quite simply and honestly, is differ
ent. It is as follows:
After her mother left her father the last time, Violet tried to keep
house for the three younger children, but the father drank, abused
them, insulted her, and finally turned them out of doors one cold
winter’s night in the deep snow. They went to their Grandmother
Pratt’s in E, and Violet drifted, working for different persons. She
finally went to live with a married sister in another village. While
there a man boarder attacked her when he was intoxicated, and she
became pregnant. He never had had anything to do with her before,
and she did not wish to marry him, but her uncle urged her to de
mand marriage, which the man refused, saying that he would go to
jail before he would have anything more to do with her.
When Violet was a child her chest was crushed by railroad ties fall
ing on her, and she has not been strong since. Violet never got beyond
the fifth grade in school, though she attended as recently as last year
for a few weeks. She liked school, and was especially fond of arith-

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metie, but her schooling was interrupted by the continual moving of
the family.
The people for whom Violet worked just before she went to her
sister’s liked her very much; she was pleasant, and “ good as could
be,” and willing to work, but she would “ run the roads nights.”
Some nights they did not know where she stayed. The sister for
whom she worked said Violet was “ wild,” and had associated with
several different men. Before the baby’s birth Violet wgnt to her
grandmother in another town, where the younger children were also
living.
This grandmother, Mrsr Pratt, is a strong-minded old woman,
much chagrined at Violet’s fall, and very stern with the others; she
does not allow them to go out, especially to the sister with whom
Violet had lived. Mrs. Pratt has lived 27 years in the dilapidated
old house she owns in the outskirts of the village. The house is dis
orderly, but clean enough; the furniture is old, but plentiful and
comfortable.
'
The only means o f support o f this household is the $1.43 a day
which Mrs. Pratt’s son earns on the railroad section gang. Mrs.
Pratt, whose mother was a full-blooded Indian squaw, has always
been well thought of in the community. She has epileptic fits, but
despite this physical weakness has great strength o f character. She
has always had some o f her grandchildren there.
Marguerite, aged 13, and a pretty child, already refuses to mind
her grandmother. She is retarded in school, being in the fourth
grade only. After Violet came there she ran away from her grand
mother’s to the married sister with whom Violet worked. She has
been there ever since, and is attending school. She says that she left
because Violet quarreled with her.
Case 20.—Fred Bennett is a boy o f 10 and looks delicate. His eyes
are defective and trouble him in school, but his mother has refused
to have them examined, not wishing to go to the expense. He is
stupid and idle in school, and though in'the third grade should be
put back to the second. Fred’s mother says that it is very hard
for him to learn. She has considerable ambition for her children,
and Fred takes music lessons. Besides his studying at home and
his piano practicing, he does errands for the local storekeeper.
Fred has been a truant, in the legal meaning of the term—staying
out o f school, without the knowledge of his parents, to pick potatoes.
But his serious delinquency consisted of passing an improper pic
ture around in school. He was detected in this by the teacher. She
whipped him and reported the matter to his father, who also whipped
him.
The father belongs to a rough family. His principles are not
high and he betrays an undue interest in questions of sexual im
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morality. Fred’s interest in such matters is very probably due to
the fact that he has heard his father and mother discuss them. Mrs.
Bennett has very strict ideas about some things; she does not believe
in dancing and card playing, for instance, and thinks that young
people are often led astray through the allowing of such things
by the church. The Bennetts are thrifty, saving every extra cent
to make payments on a farm which they are buying.

COMMUNITY F.
This is a small residential village o f wealthy farm owners with its
surrounding farming district, cultivated largely by tenants of the
village residents. In this village there is no manufacturing o f any
kind. The population is almost entirely native. It has a fine
library and a good grammar and high school. In connection with
the latter, agricultural courses have been established which are of
a high character. These agricultural courses are popular, and a
large proportion o f the young men o f the town graduate from the
high-school course. A recent graduating class numbered 14, and
o f these 8 were boys. ‘ Six of these 8 boys took the agricultural
courses and 2 took an academic course'. Three o f the girls in this
class have also taken some o f the agricultural courses.
About three-fifths o f the pupils in this high school come from the
farms outside the village limits, and the rating o f this school in the
State regent examinations is high. This school shows great social
activity; it gives plays and holds fairs; it has four basket-ball teams,
one o f which is a girls’ team. It is, in fact, a social and moral
center and needs only the cooperation of the outlying districts, in
a movement toward consolidation, to make it a tremendous force for
good in the life o f every child in the town.
In spite o f this most unusually good school, and the generally
high type o f the community, there was considerable serious delin
quency found among the big boys of the town, as will be seen in the
following cases:
Case 1 .—Wilbur Knox’s family is one o f the old, respectable fami
lies of the town, but his father is a man of weak character and has
exercised no control over either o f his sons. His mother is a re
fined woman, though not a very resourceful person and in no way
tible to cope with the inefficiency o f her husband. In fact she was
n very unwise woman ever to have married him, since, even as a
young man, he was not very bright. His father, Wilbur’s grand
father, was a man of considerable wealth, and Wilbur’s father has
inherited between $50,000 and $100,000, all of which he has lost
through his mismanagement. A t one time he became a religious
fanatic.

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Among his various business ventures was a pool room where the
rougher element of the town naturally gathered. The two boys,
Wilbur and his older brother, now about 21, were in charge o f the
pool room much of the time. The older brother has been a pretty
tough fellow and a drinker for a number o f years. This fact has
not helped Wilbur to keep straight. He has been seen intoxicated
several times and is a confirmed cigarette smoker.
Wilbur was left alone in charge o f the pool room much o f the time,
and patrons o f the place»took advantage of his years not to pay their
bills. It is said, even when they did pay, that Wilbur stole the
money for his own uses. As was to be expected, the business failed,
and then Wilbur’s father tried to run a grocery store in the same
inefficient manner, and this also failed. Then Wilbur got a job as
teamster, drawing produce for farmers. The boy is bright and
completed the eighth grade when he was 14 and was ready to enter
the high school when his father put him into the pool room.
He is not a strong looking boy, and it is unlikely that his physique
will stand the strain of bad habits.
Case 2 .— Bert Synder left school as soon as he was 16, having com
pleted only the fifth grade; he never got on very well with the
teachers, and now puts in all his time butchering and delivering meat
for his father. The business is prosperous, and Bert’s father is one
o f the influential men o f the town.
Bert is a big, husky fellow. He plays on one of the Village basket
ball teams and is a general favorite with all the boys and young men.
In a game he is what is known as “ scrappy,” and once in a while he
gets into a good fight. His father, who is something o f a fighter
himself when he is drunk, is proud o f Bert’s grit and temper and is
sending the boy to the nearest city two evenings a week for boxing
lessons.
Bert’s first known offense was breaking into the schoolhouse, which
was locked up for the noon hour, and taking money from the teacher’s
desk. Bert was suspected and a trap was laid for him. He was
caught in a repetition of the offense and handed over to the principal,
who gave him a good thrashing. This caused an uproar in his family,
bringing vituperations from his mother and angry accusations from
the father against the principal. This occurred when Bert was 14.
His next alleged offense was when he was 15, when in company
with a boy named Baker he was accused of burglarizing a grocery
store and making off with $15. The boys were suspected and put
through an informal third degree, in which the Baker boy admitted
their guilt and returned his share o f the $15. Bert refused to admit
his share o f the act and, as the owner of the store and Bert’s father
were old acquaintances, the matter was dropped.

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A recent form of thieving which Bert has practiced is collecting
money for deliveries of meat and then charging the amount on his
father’s books, appropriating the cash for his own personal uses.
This has caused trouble with customers, but the father, far from re
buking the boy, seems to regard such actions as “ smart.”
Bert smokes, and is rough and profane. His saving grace seems
to be a certain irresponsible generosity, spoken o f by his admirers
as “ kindness of heart.” An example of this is the fact that he once
purchased one dozen pumpkin pies from the baker and donated them
to the church supper.
Bert’s home is very dirty and unattractive. His father is what is
known as the “ bottle drinker
a few years ago he had an attack o f
delirium tremens that nearly wrecked his mind as well as his busi
ness. Both father and mother are profane in their language.
Case 3 .— The “ Baker boy ” above referred to, whom we may call
Sam, was 15 when, with Bert, he broke into the grocery. For this
offense he was brought to court and put on probation.
Sam’s father was a section hand on the railroad. He was a
drunken fellow, and finally was killed by a train as he lay drunk
across the track. This was shortly before the robbery. Then Sam’s
mother and his six older brothers moved to Canada, whence they
had originally come some 10 years ago. These older brothers are all
rather a useless sort, given to drink and general rowdyism. Mrs.
Baker, however, was a woman with a good reputation.
Sam chose to stay in the United States against the protest o f his
family, and after their departure he built a shack out from the vil
lage and kept house by himself. In the summer time this was easy
enough and he found no difficulty in obtaining work on farms and
about the village.
He seems to have been a normal boy and well liked by everybody.
He was in the fifth grade at school at the age o f 14 and is said to
have been well behaved there. That he should have preferred to
break away from his older brothers is probably to his credit.
His first burglary with Bert was followed before he was 16 by
another in which he had as his accomplice a boy named Frank Shipman, Avho was two years older than Sam. One night the boys opened
a back window in a grocery store and stole a small amount of change
and some fancy groceries. Suspicion fell upon Sam at once and he
was taken before the justice o f the peace. He confessed and incul
pated Shipman, who also pleaded guilty.
It was now the turn of the justice of the peace to break the law, so,
instead o f turning Sam over to the juvenile court, he gave him a
good scolding and pretended to put him upon probation to himself.
O f course such probation was illegal.

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The Shipman boy was over 16 and the justice put him on proba
tion to a certain county official who happens to live in F.
The next event in Sam’s history was the burning o f his shack
one cold, winter night, after which he disappeared from town and
was not heard from for over a year. Very recently news came from
him as living in a town some 30 miles distant, where he is the confi
dential clerk and right-hand man in a store. He is spoken o f as the
hardest worker and best “ all-round man ” that the proprietor ever
had in his employ.
Case I/..— Frank Shipman is really a more vicious boy than Sam
was. He is large and good-looking, rather sulky and evil tempered,
and extremely stubborn. He has been associating with immoral
girls.
He left school when he was 16, from the fourth grade. He dis
liked school and used to refuse to learn his lessons, merely sitting in
his seat and looking straight ahead. At the present time he is on
probation for the offense described in the preceding case, and is
supposed to stay at home at night, but, as a matter o f fact, he is said
to be “ all over the town.”
His father is an immigrant from Canada, an ineffectual man who
has no control over the boy. The mother is a good woman but
very ignorant. At home the boy does a certain amount of work on
the farm, for they are tenant farmers, but he spends much o f his
time hunting and trapping.
Case 5 .— Blanche King is the oldest daughter o f a family which is
considered one o f the best in F. The Kings live in a fine house and
have many friends. When Blanche was 17 she ran away from home
with a man named Babcock, the son of a degenerate pioneer family.
They passed the summer together in an old farmhouse in an adjoining
town. Occasionally they came to F to spend the day with Blanche’s
family, but were not well received, though not actually refused ad
mittance. In the late autumn they were married, as a result, it is
said, o f threatened legal action. Blanche’s behavior previous to this
affair was frequently extraordinary. It is very likely that she is not
normal mentally.
Blanche has a younger sister who seems to be following in her
footsteps. She has refused to attend high school in F, and has gone
to the city, where she works as a domestic and attends the city high
school. It is not known that her behavior in the city is bad, but the
fact that when at home she was exceedingly bold and forward in her
conduct with boys leads to the supposition that she behaves similarly
now.
The discipline o f the home is o f the very worst description. The
parents issue strict orders to the girls and then do not follow them
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up, either with insistence upon obedience or with punishment for
disobedience. The father is never firm enough with them.
Cases 6 and 7 — Donald and Henry Smith are boys o f 13 and 11,
respectively, who have given trouble at the district school by their
language and their behavior toward certain girls.
The Smith family is o f low grade, the father is a drunken tenant
farmer of undoubtedly low mentality and the mother is slovenly and
vixenish. The father is lazy and the boys are said to do much of the
farm work which he might better do. There are four smaller chil
dren. They live in a tumble-down house 5 miles from the village in
a district which is isolated and unprogressive. They have no horse,
and the boys almost never leave their immediate neighborhood.
Neighbors say that they are feeble-minded, but this is probably not
so. They are, however, undersized and undernourished and only as
dull as they might be expected to be in such a deadening environment.
The school which they attend is one o f the worst types of district
schools. Teachers never stay longer than a year, and one year the
teacher who came in September left at Christmas.
It was last year that these particular boys'began to get into trouble,
though for years past the children of this neighborhood seem to have
been guilty o f sex improprieties. Recently it has become necessary
for the teacher to remain at the schoolhouse during the noon hour in
order to stop such behavior, at least within the building.
Case 8 .— One of the girls annoyed by these boys is Lucy Howard.
It is the opinion of the teacher, however, that Lucy is even more
guilty than the boys and that she was in part responsible for the
trouble. She is a very peculiar child and in her peculiarities is said
to resemble her mother. Mrs. Howard is the trouble maker o f this
little community.
.
It was thought best to send Lucy home from school a half hour
early every day that she might not be annoyed by Donald and
Henry. Lucy, however, did not employ this extra half hour of
leisure to go home, but played along the way until the boys caught
up with her. Lucy’s tactics for some time have been first to encour
age the boys and then to run with complaints to her teacher and to
her parents. Mrs. Howard sided with Lucy and has kept the school
authorities in a turmoil. There has even been some talk of expelling
the boys from the school. Perhaps the worst thing about Lucy’s be
havior is that she has succeeded in involving other more innocent
little girls.

COMMUNITY G.
This is a village o f great natural beauty, but the absolute lack of
any attempt at uniformity or beauty of architecture gives the town
a rather scraggly appearance. The only industrial establishments

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are a small factory, a feed mill, and two blacksmith shops. Several
men go daily to work in the large town near by. A railroad affords
excellent transportation facilities. Several milk wagons also run
through to take milk to the creamery about 6 miles from G.
Conditions are favorable to successful farming, but many of the
farmers appeared to spend much of their time on the roads and in
the saloons o f G. It is in fact the farmers who largely support
three hotels. Most of them own their farms and make just a fair
living. G offers little in the way of occupation, and the young peo
ple do not stay there.
The village has three hotels running full tilt. Two o f these may
properly be called such; the third is in fact merely a saloon. This
“ hotel ” does not pretend to furnish meals or lodging but runs a
bar, and the proprietor is not at all particular about those to whom
he sells.
These hotels are the recreation centers of the village. The women
and some o f the farmers gather in the stores, but most of the men
go to the hotels. One hotel has a billiard table in a front room and
card tables in the barroom. Each bar has its evening habitues.
An occasional public dance is held in the Masonic Hall, and some
select private dances. A machine show gave a week’s performances
the past winter. Those who can afford it go to town to the theaters
and movies. The moral standard of the community is apparently
low, and there are few public-spirited citizens.
One of the churches, however, has felt a great impetus under a new
minister. Where he found 25 or 30 attending church, there are now
80 or 90. His chief energy is given to arousing interest in the Sun
day school, which has now over 100 members. The other church
under a nonresident minister is not so active.
The G school has for principal a man generally admitted to be
an incapable teacher and an undesirable citizen, who drinks, and is
accused o f familiarities with the school girls. It is acknowledged
that a place on the school board can be obtained by anyone who will
take the position, which no one wants. Sadie Brown, the woman
member, swears and is illiterate. The board chooses the teachers
without consulting the district superintendent, and two out o f four
are obviously very poor. Only five or six high-school pupils still
attend the school. The others have left to go to town or to go to
work.
The school itself is an ugly, gloomy, neglected building. The light
in the two lower rooms comes from three high windows; the children
can not see out, and in the intermediate room also the light is in
sufficient. The toilets are defaced with obscene writings. Some
parents have caused trouble about buying textbooks, and their chil
dren have been kept out o f school.

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About 50 children are enrolled, but the dissatisfaction with the i
teachers has made the attendance record poor. Eight pupils are a
year or so retarded, but none are apparently subnormal mentally.
The teacher in the primary room likes the children, but is not
willing to expend time or energy on them. The teacher in the inter
mediate room is worried by the principal’s rudeness and brutality,
which she can not combat. She once called him in to correct some
boys, and he knocked his own son down three times before the whole
school and told her that a teacher could not be friendly with pupils
but must treat them roughly.
At the beginning of the year the high-school pupils started a club
and gave several parties in the schoolhouse, but the janitor objected
to the extra work and resigned. The parents realize just what a
bad condition the school is in, but they do nothing. It is felt that
influential connections behind the principal and his wife protect
him from discharge.
With such conditions in the town and in the school it is not sur
prising that, of the nine cases studied, seven are cases o f sexual im
morality, or bordering on it.
Cases 1, 0, 3, amd b —In the G school reports of improper talk
and conduct among the children came from so many quarters that
several of the more thoughtful mothers o f the town decided to take
action. Four children—two girls and two boys—all of the primary
grade, were involved. These children were Estelle Freeland, aged
10; Millie Prescott, 9; Floyd Reed, 11; and Roy Pettibone, 10.
The impropriety consisted of unclean notes and acts of sex per
version. The teacher discovered some part of the trouble, and some
portion of it was found out by the minister’s wife. The teacher felt
unable to handle the situation, but the minister’s wife went to Mrs.
Prescott and Mrs. Reed and urged them to take the matter up.
Then Mrs. Prescott went to several of the school trustees and made
an effort to have some one appointed to remain with the children
during the noon hour, but nothing further was done, except that the
parents talked to their children. This was less effective than it
might have been, for the reason that Miss Paine, the guardian of
the ringleader, Estelle, was never informed o f the trouble.
Estelle is the particularly bright and shining light of the school.
She fairly sparkles with life and energy; she has dimples and bold
gray eyes, short brown curls, and the movements of a saucy bird, and
she “ bosses” all the other children.
Estelle came from a bad family. Her father drank so heavily that
her mother left him, taking Estelle with her. Later the father, who
w as then living with another woman, came and got her. After
wards he was locked up for intoxication, and Estelle was taken away.
The little girl herself told everything except the fact that her

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mother was living with another man. Her accounts to the older girls
o f things in the town where she used to live showed that, when she
was very young, she must have seen and understood much that was
degrading.
Miss Paine took Estelle through a children’s society, knowing
nothing o f her parentage, and provides an excellent home for her.
Though a homely old maid, she is bright and attractive, a capable,
executive woman possessed o f great independence and strength of
character. She owns a large farm about a mile from the village and
lets out the land, but takes care of her three cows and her chickens
herself.
Miss Paine says Estelle has always minded well, and she helps
around the house. She is fond of playing and reading. It would
seem an ideal home for a dependent child, but there is one flaw. Miss
Paine is evidently devotedly fond of Estelle, but does not know how
to manage her, and Estelle is clever enough to deceive her. Miss
Paine is at a loss about the correct method of approaching Estelle
in this matter. She “ scarcely knows how to make her understand.”
Millie Prescott is Estelle’s chum, and is a bold, forward child. Her
mother died when she was born.
When Millie was 3 years old she went to live with an excellent
woman in a neighboring town for a short time. About five years
ago Mr. Prescott, a well-to-do farmer, married again, a fine, intelli
gent woman, who had been a school-teacher.
They lived on a beautiful farm up among the hills, about 2 miles
from the village. The house and buildings have many modern im
provements. The house is well kept and well furnished.
The stepmother has tried to instruct Millie about sex matters and
to win her confidence. The school environment, however, and the in
fluence o f the other children is stronger than anything else at this
age. When she heard o f Millie’s share in the misconduct and
charged her with it, Millie cried and denied it for half an hour, but
finally confessed. Her mother told Mr. Prescott; who, though usually
slack in discipline, beat Millie severely.
Mrs. Pettibone took R oy’s part in the trouble more serenely; she
thought it something o f a joke and did not believe it amounted to
anything.
Mr. Pettibone drinks rather heavily. He earns $12 a week as
engineer in the water company, but they live somewhat beyond this
small income. They own a small house one-half mile out of the
village, plain enough outside, but unusually well furnished.
Mrs. Pettibone is a handsome woman with a lively, youthful man
ner, and without a very good reputation. She has five children; the
two older girls work, one as bookkeeper and one as helper in a store
in a neighboring town. Her son, 26 years old, works on the railroad.

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A younger daughter, pretty and lively, goes to the town to high
school.
Several people expressed the opinion that Roy was at the bottom
o f all the trouble in the school, because he is under such bad influences
at home. His mother says that one day when he came home from
school he described with childish frankness some very indecent con
duct of the school children in which they wanted him to take part.
His mother told him that this was wrong; that he must not enter
into such things or he would be sent away to a reform school. She
said she would not show before him how amused she was. And she
thought it was a good plan to frighten him once, but she supposed
that it had all passed over, since nothing more was said about it.
She apparently does not pay much attention to Roy. He never
comes home from school until suppertime, uses bad language, and
hangs around streets. People consider him a “ b ad ” boy. He is
10 years old and in the third grade. He gets his lessons fairly well,
and after some sharp discipline by the teacher he has behaved. He
is a tall, thin boy with shifty, knowing eyes and a weak face. He
does not like reading, but likes his other studies.
Floyd Reed was apparently drawn in by the other children. The
Reeds live in a beautiful farmhouse pleasantly situated at the foot
o f the hills about a mile from the village. Mr. Reed hires no help,
but is a prosperous, self-sufficient farmer. The house is very well
furnished and neatly kept. , Mrs. Reed is a nice-looking, intelligent
woman o f 40 and has three children—Rosalie, aged 15; Floyd, aged
11; and a little boy. She does a great deal o f church work, and ap
preciates her responsibility in bringing up the children. In talking
about her daughter, tears came into her eyes as she considered the
possibility that she might go wrong.
When she heard about the trouble in the school last year she took
the matter in hand at once and induced Floyd to own up to his part
o f it. Then she told him that they were going to arrest him and
send him away; that this would be a terrible disgrace, and that
what he did was very wrong. She believes that so far as he was
concerned the misdoing stopped there; he was so frightened. She
thinks that the trouble was greatly exaggerated.
Floyd is an overgrown boy of 11, in the fourth grade. He has
moved into the second room, and the teacher has had no trouble with
him, though his deportment is not very good. He does not like
school, but wants to do farm work. Last summer he did all the
raking alone and was very proud of it. He is fond of his father,
who can make the children mind without being cross to them.
Floyd is rather stupid and a great sleepyhead. His parents
have had “ to keep at h im ” to get him to read during the long

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winter evenings, but he has succeeded in reading three or four books
this winter.
Case 5 .—Robert Paul, aged 11, son o f the school principal, has
made trouble in the school all the year. He annoyed the girls who
sat near him, and their mothers complained, so the teacher gave
him a special seat. He was also involved in the indecent note
writing. This teacher was dismissed at the instigation of Mr.
Paul, the school principal, whose brutality to Robert has been de
scribed. The present teacher considers Robert decidedly incorrigi
ble—the worst boy in school, “ always picking at the other children.”
She suggested that abuse at home might account for his acting so
badly. Robert is considered brainless and silly; he has a strangely
white complexion, and watchful, nervous eyes.
Case 6.— Constance Davis, aged 15, “ hangs around” the stores
and the station. Everyone feels that she is a doubtful associate for
other girls. She is willing to associate with the most defective and
disreputable.
Her present home and guardian are good, but she comes o f bad
families on both sides. Her father drinks and gives nothing toward
her support; her mother left him and is reported to be the mistress
o f a resort in a neighboring city. She helps clothe Constance, who
has lived with her aunt and uncle in this village for seven or eight
years. Constance’s aunt is very good and kind. The child wishes to
be a stenographer; she does not like the idea o f teaching. The aunt
desires Constance to have a profession, and would send her to a
neighboring town to school, but the girl would have to wait for
the bus from 4 to 6, and she thinks “ that girls get wild hanging
around in town all the time.” She will not allow her to go out at
night. From all this it appears that she understands the tendencies
which the child has shown.
Constance has not a bit of girlishness about her—no buoyancy or
vivacity or joy, and her worldly, experienced expression ill accords
with her 15 years. Her ambition is to go to the city and become a
stenographer. Meanwhile her environment offers her absolutely
nothing to fulfill the desire of youth for pleasure except her empty
flirtations.
Case 7.—Everyone says: “ It is too bad something can’t be done
with Esther Todd; she’d be all right if it weren’t for her mother.”
Sam Todd, her father, looks like a stupid little man and he never
says much. He has always worked in the woods, until two years
ago when he began working as a hired man. He is generally con
sidered weak mentally, but his employer says he is up to the aver
age. Mrs. Todd admits that her three younger children belong to
another man, who visits her regularly and contributes to her sup
port. Until he associated with her he was a respectable man o f

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good family— a widower with two grown-up daughters. At first.
Mr. Todd furiously threatened to shoot him, but he has since be
come reconciled.
Mrs. Todd has intelligence and a certain sort o f strength of
character, and has no fear of her neighbor’s opinion, nor any feeling
that she is a social outcast. She seems perfectly sure of her posi
tion and contented with it.
There are seven children: A boy, aged 21; Esther, aged 18; a boy,
aged 12; another boyvaged 9 ; and three younger children, aged 7, 3,
and 11 months. M rs.Todd is a big, slatternly woman, but she keeps
the children quite clean, though the four rooms they live in are
dirty and in disorder.
Esther has little to do with the men in her own village, though
she goes often to the town for a few days. Her conduct there has
injured her good name in the village. However, it is generally at
tributed to her mother’s influence.
She is a strikingly handsome girl, dark to swarthiness, with
lovely, expressive eyes, under heavy, black brows. She dresses well,
but her hair is always untidy. She defends herself from unfriendly
people by a proud, sullen, hard insolence, but is shy and pleasant
when she feels sure that one is not intruding, and has enough inde
pendence and intelligence fiercely to resent interference.
Esther left school in October, when she was in the first year high
school. The principal said she was the brightest girl he had ever
taught, and urged her to continue school, but she said: “ What’s the
use; I ’d still be a Todd.” She did not care for studying, but
studied hard, sometimes until 1 o’clock in the morning, to get her
lessons. She worked in a tobacco factory one winter and she has
worked in service. She told the visitor that she had secured a posi
tion in a mill in a near-by town.
Case 8 .—Lorene Brown is a foundling, adopted when 2 years old
by an unmarried woman o f middle age, who has boarded children
for many years. Lorene was born at the county house, o f an un
married woman, who later married—though not the child’s father.
Lorene’s father used to visit her, but he also married and comes no
more.
Lorene’s guardian seems quite unfit to care for children. Her house
is filthy and the children have always been allowed to go around
poorly clothed. Her character also is not above suspicion. Yet the
children appear well mannered and bright all except Lorene. This
woman is shrewd, but unintelligent and unattractive. She has been
on the school board for two years, but she worked for the position
and obtained it only because the men are unwilling to serve.
Lorene .has apparently been spoiled. She is about IT, and would
be rather pretty were it not for her furtive expression. Her face

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is low-browed, common, unintelligent. She is untidy in her dress, and
always looks frowsy ; is lazy, will not help around the house, and
wishes her adopted mother to do everything for her. She left school
as soon as the law permitted and took out working papers, but did
not work except at home. She did not care for school or studying.
Lorene has been involved in several dishonest affairs; for in
stance, she collected money for subscriptions to magazines and the
magazines never came. One neighbor asked Lorene several times
for the money, which she promised to bring back, but she never did.
A neighbor says that Lorene stole money from her a couple of years
ago. Lorene wept and begged the neighbor not to tell her mother,
and she decided she would do nothing about the matter. Last sum
mer Lorene collected money to buy a present for the minister’s baby;
but her mother went around and gave it back, and whether Lorene’s
intentions were dishonest or not is not known. Lorene lives in an
other village now and has a position at housework. She is fond of
parties and socials, and it was because there were no young people
and “ nothing going on ” in her own village that she left it.
Case 9 .— The Morton family has been under the oversight of two
children’s agencies for a long time. The father drank and abused
his wife and children and finally deserted them. Since then the
whole family has been dependent upon the town. Mr. Morton looks
like a perfect brute. He has little eyes, a low brow, and a heavy
jaw. Several persons have expressed the opinion that he is insane, at
least when drunk. But he is considered a good worker on a farm.
The family got help from the town several times when he went away
or was drinking, and he was warned that he must support them.
Finally he went to another town to work, from which place he would
come home drunk and penniless Saturday nights. Mrs. Morton had
him arrested, and he was put on probation to pay $5 a week to his
wife and not to drink. In about two weeks he disappeared and has
not been seen since.
Mrs. Morton receives from the town $5 a week and coal and gro
ceries, but people have become indignant at her demands and poor
management. She complains o f her hard lot continually and shifts
her responsibilities to the relief societies and the town, but she keeps
the house and the children neat and clean and has some claims to
education and refinement.
Mrs. Morton has no control over the children; she nags and frets
at them all the time, but admits that she can not manage them.
Neighbors say that she swears at them terribly. Bose and Ralph,
aged 6 and 5, follow the lead o f Elma, aged 8, who is quite beyond
control.
Elma does not want to work and has a better time anywhere else
than at home. She longs to go and live with some one else and just

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wants to play. She does not come home from school for dinner,
though her mother gives her nothing to eat at school. A t night she
does not come home until 7 or 8 o’clock, and once she stayed away all
night, which worried and angered Mrs; Morton. Lucy Maitland,
her chum, is a pretty girl, already “ crazy after the boys,” and Elma
is at her house a great deal. Mr. Maitland says that he tries to send
Elma home, but she will not go. She uses bad language sometimes
and has heard and knows all sorts of indecencies.
Elma has had fits of hysterics at school because she could not have
her own way—fits when she seemed almost insane. She stayed in at
recess all winter because she would not read a sentence as the teacher
told her. Finally she did read it properly, because in the spring she
wished to go out at recess. She has just been promoted into the third
grade, for she is bright, but instead of being pleased she resents it,
because she hates to study.
People consider her a bold, disagreeable child. Both her mother
and the neighbors believe that she is following the footsteps of her
older sister, who became incorrigible and had to be sent to an institu
tion.

COMMUNITY H.
This is a village of about 1,200 inhabitants, situated in an un
wooded, level, fertile farming country. Good roads and a railroad
connect it easily with the outer world. In the country about much
fruit is grown, and the village supports a cannery, a basket factory,
and some other smaller industries. There is no child labor in the
cannery, but picking fruit for it is a common form of work for the
poorer children of the community.
The fruit industry has drawn to the neighborhood a number of
Italians and Poles, and at certain seasons o f the year there will be
found perhaps 250 foreigners working in the cannery and the smaller
enterprises. These foreigners for the most part live in a colony o f
rough little shacks, crowded and insanitary.
The permanent population o f the village, while largely native
born o f native parentage, includes a considerable percentage o f per
sons of German birth and descent.
In this village the truancy problem was in the foreground, par
ticularly in the village school. This school, already crowded with
village children, absorbed from the outlying districts half as many
more pupils, with the result that the village schoolhouse was badly
overcrowded. These additional pupils were welcomed, however, by
the village board because they paid tuition of from $10 to $20 each,
depending upon the grade in which they were entered.
The truants from this school were largely the children of Poles
and Italians. Their parents were workers in the local cannery

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and were only too glad to have the children stay at home and cook
and clean and take care o f the babies. Most of the children hated it,
however, the boys especially being outspoken in their desire to go to
school.
Another reason which worked to keep these children out o f school
was the feeling in the village, that they were not suitable associates
for the village children. This feeling and the crowded condition of
the school led, unfortunately, to a laxity in enforcement o f attend
ance. A t the time o f the present investigation 10 or 12 children o f
school age not attending school were found in the colony whom the
village school board were deliberately not seeing. Efforts have been
made in the past to provide schooling for these children. A few
years ago the village school board started a special school for foreign
children in the basement o f the schoolhouse. This school was not
long lived, however, and the next year the board devised a new
scheme. A room in an abandoned pickle factory was fitted up with
some old school furniture, and a somewhat ignorant Polish girl
was engaged as teacher. One o f the children said about this experi
ment: “ Gee, I didn’t like to go to that school; we didn’t learn
nothin’ ; we just had a good time.”
This, too, was given up by the school board and the foreign chil
dren were allowed to go their own way, and it was thus that the
investigator found them.
It must be admitted that the problem o f the cannery workers is a
hard one for the rural school boards to solve. These alien families
come and go. A great part o f the responsibility for the situation
rests upon the cannery proprietors, who import these foreign la
borers from the cities and permit them to live in any way they like,
as best they can.
The village high school in H provides a curriculum which is oldfashioned and impractical. It offers no vocational courses nor
manual training, and boys are not attracted. The graduating class
o f 20 the past year included only 2 boys.
The village, together with the rest o f the township in which it is
located, supports nine churches for a population of about 5,000 peo
ple. Eight o f the churches are stationary or declining in member
ship, and take no active part in the social life of the place. The
remaining church, with the more progressive and intelligent ele
ment o f the village population in its membership, and an intelligent
and active minister, is growing in numbers, and doing some real
social work. In particular, they have organized a system o f boys’
clubs and girls’ clubs and other activities deliberately aimed at
reaching and holding the youth of the village.
The minister o f the largest and richest church in the township has
taken a strong stand for license and practically led the forces which

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defeated the no-license movement in this town. This church, supporting as it openly does the liquor interests, can hardly be an up
lifting influence in the community.
This village has a well-organized troop of Boy Scouts, but they are
socially exclusive. The neighborhood affords no natural amuse
ments for young people. There are no streams, no rivers, no brooks,
no skating, no hills for sliding, no woods, no fishing, no swimming—
as the boys say “ no nothin’.” Neither are there many forms of or
ganized sport, basket-ball being about the only one in the town.
There is no baseball field even in connection with the high school,
and a public-spirited woman who is trying to get the citizens in
terested in a public playground is meeting with much opposition.
The one recreation center is a public amusement hall, constantly
open for roller skating, pool, and bowling. Next door is a saloon.
This amusement hall has a bad reputation. Questionable characters
come from a neighboring city to perform as roller-skating artists;
sensational movies are to be seen three times a week. Various petty
gambling devices are a constant attraction to the boys. There are
besides 10 saloons in the township. Every year is held a “ firemen’s
muster,” which is an occasion for much drinking and immorality.
Fourteen cases of bad conduct were found in and around this village.
Case 1 .—The family of Dugald Koberts moved into H from
Canada. Dugald’s father was tubercular— a carpenter by trade, but
not being strong he went to work in a fruit-drying establishment. In
about three months he died, leaving his wife with two small children
younger than Dugald. Even before the father’s death Dugald’s
mother had worked in the cannery, but since she earned only $5.50 a
week she could not keep the family together. Dugald made it addi
tionally difficult for her by his incorrigible behavior. After his
father’s death his mother seemed to lose control of him completely.
In order to help in the family support, he went to work in the
bowling alley, setting up ninepins. His working hours were vari
able, usually from about 4 o’clock in the afternoon until midnight.
He earned 5 cents a game, and since his earnings were variable he
used much of his money for cigarettes and petty gambling without
his mother’s being able to control the situation. This work was
illegal, but no officer or private citizen took any steps to correct the
situation.
Under these influences Dugald, though a bright boy, became known
as troublesome at school, unruly and irritable at home, an excessive
cigarette smoker, and a bad influence upon other boys.
Finally Dugald’s mother appealed to the children’s agency in the
near-by city, which aided her to break up the family. The two
younger children were placed with relatives in a near-by town, and
Dugald was placed with his paternal grandparents in still another

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place. But, as far as Dugald was concerned, the result was far from
satisfactory. He had become by this time so violent and headstrong,
though only 13 years old, that he refused to obey his grandparents
and ran away from them within a week.
His mother has since remarried and has taken back her two
younger children. She would be willing to take Dugald also, but
his whereabouts is still unknown.
Case H.—Mary Barry seems to have shown sexual precocity at the
age of 12. When she was 5 she was adopted by the Barrys from an
orphan asylum and lived with them for seven years. She was a
pretty and affectionate child, intelligent and fond of books, and
greatly loved by Mrs. Barry, who is a nice, motherly woman well on
toward 60.
In whatever way Mary may have got a bad start she rapidly
became incorrigible. She had improper relations with boys at school
and even followed the men at work on the roads. When rebuked
at home for such conduct she was repentant and always promised
Mrs. Barry that she would try to do better, but she never did.
Finally at the age of 12 she was expelled from the school, where she
was in the sixth grade, and where she was in all other respects a
well-behaved child.
Then the Barrys took her to the “ shelter ” of a children’s society,
where she was held for three weeks and finally returned by the
juvenile court to her own mother who was living in another place.
Here she lived for over two years—until she was nearly 15. Then
the mother petitioned the court, alleging that Mary was an in
corrigible child. She was again held in the shelter for a month
and finally committed to an institution for the feeble-minded.
Mary’s character is still said to display the dual aspect of willful
ness where this one trait is concerned on the one hand, and, on the
other, intelligence, repentance, and affection.
Case <?.— Hattie Lawrence is not a very attractive girl. Her fea
tures are coarse and her manner vulgar. She has two married sisters,
much older than herself, whom she resembles.' Hattie’s mother had
a questionable reputation and her father was worthless and drunken.
The mother died when Hattie was i 2 and the father deserted imme
diately, leaving the little girl to live alternately with each of her
two married sisters. They were, however, mere girls o f 17 and
18 and were absolutely lacking jn control over the child or in any
proper understanding o f how to care for a child. When Hattie quar
reled with one sister she would go to live for a few months with
the other and then, for a similar reason, would come back to the
first sister.
She has a brother, about 20 years old, who left home at an early
age and enlisted in the Navy. He is now in Elmira, sent by a

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Federal court for sex offenses. One thing he did was to send in
decent letters to Hattie, which were held up by the school au
thorities.
In school Hattie was insolent and irregular in attendance. She
was normally bright, however, and when she was expelled at the age
of 13 for her incorrigible behavior, she was in the seventh grade
of the Union School.
Two or three years ago Hattie and a young man were arrested
on a charge o f improper conduct; they had spent the greater part
o f a night in an abandoned building. The juvenile court, on the
basis of a physical examination, took Hattie away from her sisters.
She was placed with an excellent family in the city. She remained
with this family only a short time, however, because she caused
gossip by her conduct with street-car employees. After leaving this
family the court placed her in a series of homes as a servant. The
probation officer reports that Hattie is now behaving very well.
The young man arrested with her was locked up in the local
“ cooler ” for several hours and then discharged. That night he
celebrated his escape from the clutches of the law by getting drunk
at the village saloon, when he boasted that it cost him $88 “ to get
out of the scrape.”
Case 4.— Margaret Reed’s mother was a good woman, but she died
when Margaret was only 12, and after that the girl ran the streets
all the time and was very irregular in her attendance at school.
Margaret’s father is mentally subnormal, though able to earn his
living as a baggage and express delivery man.
Margaret is a pretty girl, who is considered dull at school. She
was also deaf, but an operation, later performed for adenoids and
defective tonsils, greatly improved her hearing and would probably
have helped her in school if she could have had the operation
earlier.
The home was kept in a very dirty condition, for the feeble
minded father left everything to Margaret. Right across the street
is the bowling alley and roller skating joint, which booms with mer
riment late into the night. This was naturally an enticement to
Margaret. The culminating incident of her unrestrained liberty
was a fireman’s picnic and ball when she was 15. She went to the
ball and, later in the evening, went for an automobile ride with a
man whose name she said she did not know. On their return in the
early morning their machine met with an accident, which made
Margaret’s misadventure known. This resulted in an appeal to the
children’s society, which took Margaret away from her father and,
through the juvenile court, placed her in an excellent family in the
city.

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The probation officer in charge o f the case reports that Margaret
is wonderfully changed under the influence of her new environment
and her new friends, and that she is becoming a well-behaved and
attractive young woman.
Case 5 .— Emily Ransom is a feeble-minded girl o f 16, small and
undernourished, with vacant, dull eyes which look out from
sunken cheeks. Her father, her sister, and two brothers are below
par mentally. Her mother is normal and is largely the support of
the family.
Ten years ago this family moved into New York from another
State and have since lived in five towns. They have been here
nearly two years and have already worn out their welcome. It was
in another town, when Emily was 14, that she had her first unfor
tunate experience.
Her father was then, as he is now, at tenant farmer. In their
family boarded a boy of 16 who was also an employee upon the
farm. One day the older members o f the family went to town,
leaving this boy and girl together in the house, and the boy took
advantage o f the situation.
Perhaps no one would ever have known about it if the boy had
not told another employee, who in turn informed Mrs. Ransom.
The boy was arrested and taken before a justice of the peace who,
according to the mother, fined the boy about $10. Emily seems to
have been so young, and o f such low mentality that she has never
realized the meaning of what happened.
Emily has never passed out o f the second grade in school. There
is now some talk o f expelling her from the Union School because
the health officer testifies that she has a sexual disease. She also has
a chronic nasal discharge and is tongue-tied. In the summer time
Emily picks berries with her mother. They are paid at the rate of
2 cents a basket, and some days Emily has earned as much as 42 cents.
She is very proud of this record. The mother can earn about 80cents a day at this rate o f pay. This child has no proper care, nor
amusements, nor restraint. Her father and uncle are both drinkers,
and are subnormal. The uncle is said to be very ugly. The father’s
solution o f his daughter’s affairs was: “ She’ll git married pretty
soon and then she’ll be all right.”
Mrs. Ransom is this man’s second wife. The children by his first
marriage, who are not at home now, are said to be dull. Emily’s
younger brother is tongue-tied and badly retarded in school.
The minister o f the church which they had been attending stated
that all he knew about the family was that they were “ very poor.”
This represents the interest that the community takes in them. They
are generally shunned, and have no neighborly relations with any-

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one. The mother works out every day and, when the children are not
at school, they sit about the dooryard listlessly.
Case 6 —Robert Field was 18 when he broke into the hardware
store and stole a case full o f jackknives. His guilt was suspected,
his clothing searched, the knives found, and the boy well thrashed
by his father. This depredation was committed without accomplices,
the entrance to the store being effected by forcing open a rear
window.
Since then Bob has not been caught in any delinquency except that
ne conspired with and encouraged a boy who stole a bicycle, as will
be seen in the next record. Bob, however, is a trouble maker. He
is always getting other boys into fights, and he is very sly about not
being involved himself. He is a big, strong boy, but always “ played
sick” in school. He claims to have “ heart trouble,” “ kidney
trouble,” and “ stomach trouble.” His mother, who is a suspicious
character, has always supported him in these lies, and his attendance
at school was consequently very irregular. He never got beyond
the fifth grade.
Bob’s father died o f tuberculosis two years ago and Bob has an
vuder brother who seems to have contracted the disease also. The
father was a wholly worthless drunkard and ne’er-do-well. After
her husband’s death Mrs. Field renewed her connection with the
church to which she had formerly belonged, but, in spite of this pro
fession o f piety, she has hardly kept within the pale of respecta
bility.
The family is now supported by the earnings of the two boys, Bob
earning $3.50 a week as a printer’s devil and the older boy contrib
uting $7 by working in a basket factory. Bob also earns about 25
cents an evening setting up pins in the bowling alley. This money
he “ blows in ” for cigarettes and petty gambling.
Case 7.— Carl Kaiser was 15 when he, with Bob Field of the pre. vious record, took a bicycle trip to a near-by town. When he came
back he left his old wheel, which was of little value, and rode home
on a nice new one which he found leaning against the wall near his
own. When he was later questioned as to his motives he said that, he
made a mistake. He also said that Bob told him to take the better
wheel. This latter statement accords with Bob’s usual influence upon
other boys.
The owner of the stolen wheel quickly traced his property and
took it home a few days later. He did not prefer a charge against
Carl, but the school principal took the boy before the justice of the
peace. This justice made no court record, for to do so would have
violated the law o f 1911 which requires a justice to transfer children
under 16 to the juvenile court; he did, however, give Carl an in-

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formal hearing and then put the boy upon probation to himself.
This action was a violation o f the law in spirit, if not in fact.
Carl also stole a flash light from a jewelry store when the pro
prietor momentarily turned his back. He was detected in this
theft and forced to return the property. Besides, he stole boxes of
fancy cookies from the counter o f the grocery store. He was again
detected and again he pleaded that Rob Field told him to take the
cookies. No action was taken about this. In fact the grocer stated
that he “ never made trouble in such matters ” because if he did, he
would lose the trade of all the friends o f the family and, in the end,
lose more than he would gain by such prosecutions.
Carl is called a good worker. During the summer he earned over
$60 working in the basket factory at $8 a week, and gave his money
to his father. This factory work kept him out of school three weeks
in the fall, but the school authorities took no action, and he finally
entered school of his own accord. He is only in the fourth grade, a
retardation due in part to the fact that he has always been very ir
regular in attendance.
For amusement Carl builds chicken coops in the back yard. He
must do something after school, so he drives hundreds of pounds of
nails into hundreds of feet o f lathing and produces more chicken
coops than any normal family could use in a hundred years. Such
tastes as these might well be guided by a manual-training teacher in
the Union School, but no manual training is given.
Carl is perhaps not normal mentally. Tie has never made any
progress in school; he has an impediment in his speech; and, though
tall and strong, completely lacks animation and facial expression.
His father says that Carl is “ dull,” but the father himself is
T-ry stupid. He is a hard drinker and works irregularly as a day
laborer. His moral standards are certainly low. He told the in
vestigator that he did not blame Carl for stealing the wheel because
the boy had had three wheels stolen from him, a statement which
was not only unethical but also untrue.
It is the mother who has kept the family together. She works
out by the day and in the canning season earns $9 a week. An older
brother, now 17, works regularly and has never given trouble. Two
older sisters are well spoken of*
They are old residents o f the town, having previously lived on a
farm, but a few years ago they moved into the village in order that
the older children might work in the basket factory.
Their present home is in the very poorest part o f the village where
the boy is brought into association with a half dozen families noted
for their drunkenness and filth and sex irregularities. Carl has now
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teen taken in band by the one active church o f the village, lias been
induced to join the boys’ basket-ball team, which plays in a vacant
factory hired by the church, and lie is showing improvement.
Case 8 .— Frank Harris is a boy o f 13 who lives under the best in
fluences and yet he steals. He is rather a timid little chap who
spends all his spare time quietly at home reading. He has a passion
for “ history books ” and has read everything o f the sort which he
can obtain. In school he is considered an unusually bright and wellbehaved boy with the exception that he does noticeably poor work
in arithmetic.
Frank’s father and mother both work in the basket factory, earn
ing $12 and $ f a week. They are industrious, conscientious people
o f fine reputation. Frank has a younger brother and sister, about
9 and 10 years old, fo r whom he cares during the middle o f the day
when his mother is in the factory. He also has a certain amount of
housework to do and does not play about the streets with pther
boys, almost his only recreation being to go to the movies once a
week. During the berry season he picks berries, as do most of the
children o f the town, and earns about $2 a week f or five or six weeks.
This money he spends fo r his clothes.
There is, perhaps, on the part o f the parents a too marked thrift.
They are paying off a mortgage on the neat little cottage in which
they live, and Frank certainly has no money to spend for anything
except necessities, i t may foe for this reason that he was tempted
to steal money from the tpacher’s desk at school. He was seen hang
ing about the desk during the noon hour and the money was found
in his pockets later in the day. This was reported to his father, who
is said to have given him an outrageous beating o f which he bore
the marks fo r many weeks.
Frank again stole money from a man who hired him to do an
errand which included the making o f a small payment. Frank
paid only part o f the money and kept the remainder. He afterwards
maintained that he was not given as much money as his employer
claimed. This employer made no complaint ha the matter.
A third offense o f Frank’s was to steal a fountain pea from a
school desk. He was alone in the room when the pen disappeared.
When taxed with this act he denied it, font later the pen was found
lying conspicuously on the steps. Frank was not seen to place the
pen on the steps, nor to ¡take the pen from the d e s k , but the cir
cumstantial evidence was strong against him.
Another -act o f this boy’s was to steal a book from the JS-up^ay
school library. The book was missed by the minister, who fo|td
charge o f this library, and afterwards seen by him in the H a m s
home.

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. None o f these thefts o f Frank’s are known to the public, with the
exception of the money theft from the teacher’s desk. Nor have his
parents been told of the other things he has taken.
Before leaving the town o f H we must mention three cases o f
which a children’s society has a very brief record but for whom no
other material is available because o f the fact that the boys and
their families are now unknown in this community.
Case 9.— Gregory Potocki was 14 when, at the instigation o f his
parents, he stole a pail of paint from a hardware store.. He was
arrested and locked up in jail in H. The children’s agent pro
cured the boy’s release from jail and persuaded the authorities to
allow the boy to leave town with his parents who were about to re
turn to the city at the close o f the canning season.
Cases 10 and 11.— Even less information is available for the two
following boys, concerning whom the children’s society record states
that Jacob Moses and Frank Rocco were found in a barn on the
outskirts of the city with a stolen bicycle. They had ridden to the
city from the town of H, where their parents were workers in the
cannery. The boys were brought to the children’s shelter, examined,
and then sent back to their homes in H. These families are not
now known in this town.
f Cases 12 and 13.— Out o f the village in what is considered the
“ tough end of tow n” lives a 15-year-old boy named John. He
swears like a trooper, but he comes naturally by this gift, since both
his grandmother and step-grandfather, with whom he lives, are noto
riously profane and vulgar. O f course he smokes cigarettes. John’s
father ran away when John was a baby, and his mother soon died,
and he and his older sister were brought up by the grandmother who
treats him kindly enough in her rough, ignorant way.
John is a healthy, red-cheeked boy with a responsive smile. He
has, moreover, a sturdy, self-respecting ,manner and his whole per
sonality belies any innate depravity, yet his home training is so
vicious that he is known as the “ meanest boy in the village.” Re
cently he picked up a girl his own size and threw her into a deep and
muddy ditch. His explanation was that he was “ mad at her because
she said things.” This was probably true, since the village children
taunt John concerning the questionable character of his mother and
sister.
His sister, who is 19, recently came home from the city, where she
worked for four years, and gave birth to a child. The fatherhood
of this child was fixed upon a young Pole, and though a marriage
followed, the girl nevertheless remains at home and is not living
With her husband.
The step-grandfather is a shiftless farmer and a heavy drinker.
They move from one farm to another about once in three years and

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were ejected from their last farm because o f dishonest dealings in
connection with running the farm on shares.
John is a great trouble about the schoolhouse; he annoys the girls
by saying indecent things to them. The teacher, a man, has whippéd
John severely with, a rubber hose for these offenses but without
seeming to make very much impression upon him. The grandparents
always take the boy’s side in these matters and their influence is
worse than nothing. They even sent for the children’s agent and
attempted .to have the teacher prosecuted for whipping John in an
improper manner, but the agent sustained the teacher. The teacher,
who is a man o f over 30 years o f age and o f strong character and
intelligence, says that John has “ spells” of misbehaving and then
for two or three weeks will be the very best boy in school.
' Though this family lives on a 100-acre farm their home is within a
hundred feet o f a corner saloon. John is kept very closely at home
for farm work, but naturally he hangs about the saloon a great deal
since it is so near and fills a boy’s natural craving for excitement.
He has been kept at home so much and has been made so peculiar by
association with his depraved grandparents that he is not like other
boys. He does not know how to play ball, and when other boys
laugh at him he “ gets mad ” and starts a fight. Then somebody
makes a slighting remark about his family, then there is anoth&r
fight, a sulky session in school and a conflict with the teacher, and
then the rubber hose.
The grandparents are, it happens, in conflict with the village
church, due to some quarrel of bygone years. Therefore, John breaks
up the midweek prayer meetings by yelling like a red Indian out
side the open church windows. Protests made by the church people
to his grandparents elicit only angry vituperation.
John associates somewhat with a boy named Fleck, who is nearly
IT years old. Fleck’s influence has probably been bad, at least in
respect to John’s relations with the girls. Fleck’s father is physi
cally deformed and probably subnormal mentally, and his uncle,
a man o f 40, has spent most o f his adult life in reformatories and
prisons and is at present so confined. The Fleck home is o f a very
low type and an additional bad influence working upon John.
John is apparently a healthy, normal boy with a strong instinct
of loyalty to his family, but whose family environment o f vulgarity,
immorality, ignorance, drunkenness, and dishonesty is dragging him
down to its own level.
The teacher or the brotherhood class o f young men in the village
church might help John, but they can do nothing in thé face ô f
the grandparents’ opposition.
Case H .— Ada Watson, now 17, lives with a drunken father, a
feeble-minded mother, and five smaller brothers and sisters in a filthy

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little shack in H, on the edge o f a swamp, between the cannery and
the opening of the town sewer.
Ada recently entered into a forced marriage with James Rich, a
man of 60, which was followed in a few months by the birth o f a
child. After this Rich moved out of town, though he sends $1.50
a week to his wife for her support. She is very taciturn and, at the
same time, high tempered; she is probably subnormal mentally like
her mother.
The conditions in this home are particularly bad for the 12-yearold brother, Johnny—a small, dark-eyed, sickly looking boy—who
has already run counter to the law, though not personally respon
sible for the violations.
The home is ill-kept and dirty. The odors in the vicinity are
nauseating, but the conditions inside this home in this respect are,
if anything, worse than outdoors. Food is strewn all over the floor
and the furniture. The two small rooms downstairs are overcrowded
with steaming washtubs and piles of dirty clothes on which the
smaller children play. The two little babies, Mrs. Watson’s and her
daughter’s, lie crying and sick in two broken-down baby carriages.
The children who are able to walk have no shoes and almost no
clothes, and so can not go outdoors in the winter weather. The fam
ily is horribly poor, the result of the father’s drunkenness and the
.mother’s lack of sense.
Mr. Watson works in the coal yard as loader and teamster and
earns $13.50 in the summer, but in the winter time his pay is cut
djQwn to $11 a week and he is allowed to take home what coal he may
need for family use. He works very steadily but brings very little
o f his money home, wasting it instead in the saloons. Mrs. Watson
earns several dollars a week by taking in washings and, with the aid
of every church in town, they manage to keep alive.
Mrs. Watson is about 40 and very deaf ; she is also feeble-minded
and slatternly. It is difficult to aid the family because she spends
every penny foolishly. Her mania in this respect seems to be for
expensive kinds of food. Whenever she receives a gift or payment
of money she buys the finest fruits and meats and confections, after
which the family straightway relapses into its chronic condition of
semistarvation.
In such an environment Johnny was kept out of school several
weeks on the plea that he had no shoes. Whether the parents fur
nished the legally required excuses to the teacher or whether they
did not is a question difficult to determine. I f they did do so, then
the poor authorities are responsible for permitting the truancy to
continue; if they did not do so, then the.truant officer is responsible.
In this boy’s case the town authorities also permitted! a violation
o f the child-labor law, since Johnny, though only 12, has been work
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ing in the notorious bowling alley and skating rink establishment
already described. Johnny sets up ninepins, at 5 cents a game, late
into the evening. This was a violation o f the 6 o’clock law for chil
dren under 16. It was also a violation of the law which forbids a
child under 16 even to remain in such a resort unless accompanied by
a parent or guardian.
Johnny has always been a great worker for a little chap. A ll sum
mer long he picks berries for the cannery at 3 cents a quart. A ll his
earnings go toward the support of the family.
Johnny’s older brother, Tom, likewise went through the mill o f
setting up ninepins in the bowling alley. Tom is now 15 and left
home to work on an adjoining farm, where he earns $3.50 a week and
his board. Tom sends a part of his little earnings to his brother
Johnny and to his mother; it was he who finally bought the shoes
which enabled Johnny to go to school. But Tom was a confirmed
cigarette smoker as a result o f working in the bowling alley and be
came so anemic that the doctor advised his working on a farm. It
is more than likely that Johnny, already a sickly boy, will succumb
to the same influence within a few years unless some one puts a stop
to his evening work and his cigarette smoking.

COMMUNITY I.
In small-town parlance, I would be termed “ a dead hole.” It
bears also and more widely the reputation of being a “ tough Iittjg
town.”
It is a very unattractive town— a railroad junction—and as yon
come in on the train you see only the yards and the little homes o f
the section gangs. The square seems always neglected and lonely.
Very little is done in the way of friendly gatherings in the stores for
gossip and play to liven the evenings.
Railroading and farming are the only industries now. When I
was more prosperous there used to be a tannery and a factory.
Three section gangs live in the town, and the section hands are apt to
be rather a rough set. Their work is hard, especially in winter, and
they are fond o f drinking. The farm land around here is not very
good. Many farms are owned or worked by foreigners who do not
come to town much, so there is not the flocking into the stores on
Saturday that is such a .feature in many places. The railway fur
nishes excellent transportation facilities, unusually good for so small
a place.
Social and community spirit have been dampened by quarreling
on a variety of issues. One disagreement was about pool ypom%;
The pool-room question came up because the young boys were found
to be spending their money at the pool rooms, and the parents made

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objections; so the town board passed a law that no one under 20
years o f age should be permitted to play in these rooms. The poofroom owners objected in their turn, and some of the better citizens
felt constrained to take their side, because a prominent fellow towns
man owned the building in which the pool room was located, and
could not be expected to favor a measure which would hurt the rental
value of his property. A compromise was made in a regulation
providing that boys between 16 and 20 could play if their fathers
permitted it. A subsequent State law was enacted which prohibited
anyone under 16 from playing in public pool rooms.
The basket-ball trouble was more serious and is not yet decided.
Basket ball has been very popular in I. However, the boys took to
drinking at the games last winter and their coach did not discourage
this, but drank with them. The drinking has continued this winter
but has not been so bad as formerly. The high-school principal plays
on the team but has taken no stand on this point.
After the games informal dances are held. These are about the
only public dances held except an occasional one on Decoration Day
or after the annual picnic, at which there are the usual fakirs and
booths. It is the only regular event o f the sort. An occasional circus
comes to town, movies come to the hall once in a while, and a medicine
show gives nightly performances for a week and moves on.
The young minister o f one o f the churches, who came only last
yeai, has done a great deal to attract the young people to the church,
aiid now they can be depended upon to help in church doings; and
about one-fifth of the members are under 21 years o f age. The
Sunday services are well attended, but only a few attend prayer
meeting, scarcely any young people. The Sunday school has a large
attendance. The socials held by the church in the town hall or at
private houses call out all the young people.
One good thing the minister of this church did was to form a boys’
club following the rules of the Boy Scouts, though not belonging
to the regular organization. This made him highly popular with the
boys. The troop has 30 members. In the summer they meet in the
church, but they do not meet in the winter, for the church is too cold,
and they have no other place. The minister took them all camping
last summer. Some of the boys “ swore off ” from smoking, and the
movement seemed to do a great deal o f good. This minister, fresh
from the social class o f a seminary, appreciates the town’s need o f a
community center. He would like to use a vacant church building
for this purpose, but he can get no support.
; 'TfeTdfher church is a chapel, given by a rich man from the city,
in which church services are held every other Sunday, but there is
no Sunday school Under the influence ©f an active woman par
ishioner, the membership is growing, and recently a great many

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young people have joined. A t present more young people than old
belong to the church, the girls being particularly willing to work
for its support. The minister, who is still a student at a neighboring
university, is popular, liberal, and broad-minded. Suppers are given
once a month which are attended by about 100 people.
I is not much of a church town; neither is it a very orderly place,
despite the fact that the only active justice of the peace has had
but one criminal-case in the last year. The reason for this seems to
be that people do not dare make complaints o f one another, and the
justice does not dare prosecute for fear of losing his position. So
the laws are not enforced. It is generally known that the hotel
keeper sells liquor on the side, petty stealing can go on indefinitely,
and the pool room was looked into only after it had become flagrant
in its violation of the law.
The school building looms hideously gaunt and white on its tree
less grounds. Inside the walls of the halls are defaced with pencil
markings, and the whole is unattractive. The school covers eight
grammar grades and four years of high-school work, and about
100 children attend. There has been no serious truancy, and only
one application for working papers this year. About 20 children in
the grammar grades are retarded; 2 o f these are feeble-minded.
Case 1 —In the I school there has been continual trouble with
petty stealing, which is attributed to Alma Parker, a peculiar girl
o f 13, in the eighth grade. She picks up everything she can lay
her hands on— candy, pencils, and other small things—and one day
stole a fountain pen, which she took out at noon and dropped in the
street. The principal kept her after school and talked to her about
the theft of the pen, but she cried and denied it. She makes no par
ticular effort to keep the things she steals and persistently denies all
the thefts.
Alma looks like a changeling. She is small and thin, and has a
long, pale face. Her pimply forehead is too high and the top of
her head too large. She has large, shallow, pale, gray eyes with very
black distended pupils, and her untidy hair is the same pale tan
shade as her face. She is perfectly polite and self-possessed in man
ner and is quite intelligent and interesting. She said she could
imagine no reason why they should accuse her o f taking things.
Her schoolmates think she is very queer, and they do not like to
play with her. She knows they do not want her and so does not
come around them. In the stores the clerks keep an eye on her,
though they have never caught her taking things. They say-she
behaves as if she were watching for a chance.
There is apparently nothing in Alma’s family or home surround
ings to explain her stealing. The family lives about a mile and a
half from I in a fairly good though unattractive farmhouse. Their

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home is clean and well furnished, and the four children are well
cared for. Mr. Parker, an unusually intelligent man, lives here in
order that his children may have the advantage of a good school and
is about to move to a larger place that they may have even better
advantages. He has always lived around I and worked on a farm.
He seems very fond of the children and eager to show them off,
and has good control over them. Mrs. Parker, while not as bright
as her husband, is a good housekeeper. She is fond o f reading
Mary J. Holmes’s novels, but, while Alma reads these books, she
prefers boys’ books.
Alma’s parents are supposed to know nothing of her lightfingeredness, though there is a rumor that the teacher last year, who
was a relative of theirs, sent word to them about it. They are not
the sort o f people who would take interference well.
The other cases o f delinquency belong to families o f different social
status; one to a respectable but lower-class fam ily; two to a dis
reputable family.
Case 2 .—When William Harris was sent to Industry two years ago
on the complaint of his own father the townspeople were so shocked
that they would not speak to the father or to the grandmother. The
grandfather and grandmother live in a pleasant, comfortable house.
'The old man kept a shoe shop, and now draws a pension. He had
three sons, of whom John, the father o f William, is the black sheep.
This man is a harness maker by trade and is considered a very good
one; but he has always been a rolling stone. During the process
he has been in jail several times, and some 19 years ago he fooled a
poor little crippled milliner in a near-by town into marrying him,
only to leave her within a year. He went back to live with her once
or twice, and they had two children—William, who is now 17, and a
younger son.
When William was 4 his grandparents took him, but they never
could get along with him. They are both embittered, cross old
people, and were too stern with William. They never let him have
any money to spend, though his grandmother says he always had all
he earned. Once his grandfather refused him even 5 cents to spend
at a picnic. His father says the boy began smoking at 10 years of
age; he began stealing from his family as early as this. William has
stolen money, and, on one occasion, took his grandmother’s sewing
machine apart and sold the fixtures to the boys at school. She
punished him by sending him to bed. He used to steal rides on
freight trains, and once his father—home for the time being from his
wanderings—happened to catch him at this and made his only
kttempt at paternal discipline. He took William into the barn to
thrash him but could find no suitable implement, so he gave it up.

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From stealing at home it was but a step to stealing in the stores.
He took money from the meat-market drawer; he stole a fountaia
pen from the store* hid it, and refused to take it back, until finally a
boy friend who knew o f the theft did so. Then the father himself
got into trouble, through forging a check, and was sentenced to jail.
This was kept as quiet as possible. Then William stole a watch, for
which deed he was committed to Industry.
He stayed there over two years, his time having been extended
because he was accused wrongfully, according to his father, of put
ting something in the officer’s soup. He then worked on a farm
where he was placed by the school until November, when he returned
to I. At first he seemed very much improved, but old associations
proved too strong. He would not go to school and spent every cent
he earned in the pool room. Another boy and he carried away half
a barrel of cider from his grandfather’s cellar in pails. Finally he
ran away and went to tramping. After a month he came back; he
had been out in the West, and tried to get over into Canada to his
father, but was locked up because he did. not have the requisite $75
for immigrating.
His grandmother in despair sent him to his mother in another
town. This woman, although Mr. Harris declares she steals, lies,
and is immoral, has brought up her younger son well and has now
found a place for William on a farm. After a week he left and
went to work in the chain works in a near-by town. At this he had
to work nights and, since he spent all his daytime on the streets, he
went to sleep on his job and was discharged. He returned to his
mother and now works in the silk mills.
Case. 3 .— Mabel and Ethel Dimmock, aged 14 and 12, respectively,
are only slightly incorrigible, but their inheritance and home influ
ences are bad. The Dimmocks are one o f the “ tough ” families of
the town. Mr. Dimmock is foreman o f a section gang, though he
has not enough education to keep his own time schedule. He was
pointed out as a very strong man who would be apt to knock down
anyone who interfered in his affairs. One instance o f Mabel’s “ in
corrigibility ” is as follow s: On one occasion she went to a dance
with her half sister, Hattie Doane, a notoriously bad character. Her
father had warned her not to stay late, but she lingered until 10.30.
Then her father came after her, “ angry enough to beat her,” but
her sister interceded, so he gave her only a shaking. She says she
doesn’t dare misbehave, because “ pa whips so hard.” He is deter
mined to have her stay in school as long as she is under his control.
. Both girls have the reputation in the town of being light-'fingdi'ed
with apparently nothing on, which to base the idea so far as'Mabel
is concerned. The justice says he has these girls under surveillance,

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because they leave home evenings ostensibly to go to a neighbor’s
but do not arrive at their destination.
Both the girls are retarded—being in the fourth grade—and are
stupid. Ethel can not even read well. But they like school, and like
to read fairy tales from- the school library.
They live in a barren, isolated 6-room house which stands alone on
a weed-grown lot just opposite the schoolhouse. In the six rooms
are housed seven people—the father and mother, the two girls, the.
half sister above mentioned, and a little boy, said to be the child o f
Mrs. Dimmock, but really an illegitimate child o f the girls’ half
sister, and as the seventh member of the family a boarder, a man o f
30 or so, a Greek, who can speak little English. Mr. Dimmock earns
about $65 a month.

COMMUNITY J.
This is a settlement on the river bank, near the docks and wharves,
below the hill on which a pleasant residence village is situated.
The population is rough. There is much petty theft; a gang o f
boys run under a vicious leader; “ w ild ” girls infest the streets in
the evening.
Fortunately for the children, the village has persuaded one o f its
best citizens to act as truant officer. He is a man o f high ideals,
with children of his own, keeps in close touch with the children, and
sees that they at least attend school. The strong influence o f his
sympathetic, kindly authority carries weight with many a boy and
girl who has learned little o f discipline or self-control.
But keeping the children in school does little to counteract the
knowledge gained in vicious homes, and still less to keep the com
munication o f such vicious knowledge in check.
It is also to the advantage o f the village that the justice o f the
peace is resident. Children who tend to become incorrigible may
be brought before him for warning, even though he is loath to make
a court case which will be a record against the child. He backs up
the work o f the truant officer, not hesitating to fine offending parents^
even though occasionally he pays the fine out o f his own pocket.
The cases studied here are the follow ing:
Case 1 —Laura Blake, a slip o f a girl 17 years old, less than 5
feet tall, pretty mannered, appealing, not very strong looking, is
the mother of two illegitimate babies, the last one with so many
possible fathers that she herself can not determine who is respon
sible.
Her story is this: When she was 4 years o f age her mother died,
rind after that she never had any regular home. She lived for a
while with different, relatives in several towns, and finally was
taken by a doctor’s wife who, she says, meant to adopt her. She

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went to school, had music lessons, and helped at home and thinks
she reached the fourth grade. Evidently the family meant well by
her, for she still speaks of them with affection; but before she was
16 she had a child whose father was the son o f the house. The fam
ily sent her away, so she came back to live below the hill with her
aunt.
The' home to which she came is notorious in the village. In it live
three generations—progressively degraded. The old grandmother,
married to a shiftless man, has worked hard all of her life and still
goes' out to do washing and cleaning, bringing in most of the money
that keeps the home in food and fire. At night she comes back home,
through a broken gate into a yard saturated with decayed garbage
and filth. She goes through a bare, dirty hall to the semibasement
kitchen-dining-sitting room. Laura is almost sure to be at home,
just now, for she has a second baby, which lies in an old soap-box
cradle swaying unevenly on homemade rockers.
Four other children are growing up in this home, aged 3, 5, 7, and
10. Beyond constant attempts at truancy, checked by the truant
officer, the children have as yet no official record of delinquency,
but neighbors say that “ stealing is born in them,” and small things
are often missed. They are cruel to animals, having tortured a
cat until a neighbor had to interfere. A ll the children are keen,
intelligent, and lively. Their mother, the girl-mother’s aunt, is well
dressed and neat. She goes constantly to the movies, and men fre
quent the house or meet her elsewhere. Her eldest boy, now 16, was
illegitimate. Laura’s grandfather has always been a shiftless vaga
bond, whose idea of work is trapping, hunting, and thieving ; and
who is now serving a term in the penitentiary for stealing.
There are two other adult members of the group, making five
grown-ups and six children who live here. An uncle of Laura’s, son
o f the grandmother and brother of the aunt, is a worthless drunk
ard, who has been known to go to the house where his mother was
working, collect her pay, and get drunk to greet her penniless home
coming. He is willing to live on the .earnings of the women of his
family, no matter how the money is made. His sister, a comely,
well-appearing girl, works quite regularly in the cigar factory, but
makes low wages, and is willing to sell herself for the things which
are pleasures to her—an evening in a.dance hall, a couple o f hours
at the movies, a supper in a saloon restaurant.
Laura, grown hardened in this company, and suspicious owing to
her encounters with the law and courts, is furtive, untruthful, and
contradictory in her statements, but when she is pinned down, tells
her story fairly accurately, without in the least, however, seeming
to realize its degradation. A short time ago she made a legal com
plaint against several men. One of the men accused sent his wife to

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give the girl money to get out o f town. When the case was tried,
the girl’s conflicting story and reputation told against her, and the
matter was dropped. The police justice to whom she had made
complaint against the man she accused o f being the father of her
second infant found upon investigation that responsibility could not
be fixed, owing to the girl’s questionable reputation. She therefore
obtained no support for the child. A charitable society was notified
by the judge who heard the case for assault and planned to send
the girl to Bedford Reformatory, but, owing to the difficulties of
getting action, nothing has been done.
0hse 0.— Near neighbors to the Blakes, o f case 1, are the Morey
family— a father, mother, and six children. The father drinks
heavily and constantly, but is a good, all-round workman when
sober, and the man who gives him work most of the time has been
very patient with him.
The mother has been in the insane asylum several times for
melancholia and depression—each time released as recovered. Mar
ried at 15, she has borne six living children. While at home from
the asylum, she is notorious for her improper overtures to men.
The oldest son has tried, with small encouragement at home, to
improve the family fortunes. He works fairly steadily, but has too
.much against which to battle. The oldest girl ran away from home
and joined relatives in another city, some distance away.
A t the time the next girl was brought into court by the childrens
society, to be committed to Hudson, the family was living in a oneroom shack which the father had built on the river bank. No one
m ould rent them a house, because they were so filthy.
The institution at Hudson could not receive the girl because it
was overcrowded; later an epidemic o f trachoma developed, and
her entrance was again postponed. In the meantime she grew older,
went away from the village, got work as a housemaid, and at pres
ent occasionally returns, well dressed, pleasant mannered, and ap
parently doing well. The relatives did not know, or would not give
her present address.
The last time the mother was sent to the asylum the three younger
children were taken by the children’s society and placed in a board
ing home, preparatory to placing them out. This spurred the
father to extra effort; he moved into a four-room house, persuaded
a woman with three children to come and live with him and, as she
kept things neat and tidy, the children were returned to him.
Cases 3 and 4 .—A farmer who had been losing a good deal o f fruit,
caught, two Italian boys—brothers, one 16 and one 14—stealing his
apples and brought them before the justice. The justice tried to get
-the man to let the boys go- with a good stiff warning, but he was
determined to make an example of some one, so the judge imposed

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a nominal fine o f $1 'each. The boys have no other record of delin
quency against them and have sinee moved out o f the neighborhood.
Cases & to 9 — Five b oy^ -tw o 14 years o f age, two 15, and one 16—
tried to hook a ride on a wagon up a steep hill leading from the
river to the village center. The driver did not want to add so much
to his load and warned them to keep off. When they persisted, he
hit one of them with a whip, and a battle was on. The boys made a
concerted attack, pulled the driver off the wagon, and beat him rather
severely. The man promptly went to the judge, made complaint, and
swore out warrants. The boys were arrested, brought in for trial,
and pleaded guilty. Because they had been “ running a little wild,” _
though this was their first gang offense, the judge impressed them
with the seriousness o f their conduct by sentencing three to the
county jail, one to the house of refuge, and discharging one with a
warning. Sentence was suspended, and the boys paroled to the
village priest, to whom they reported once a week. The judge said
they felt much worse about being obliged to report than they would
have about going to jail. There has been no further trouble with
them, and since the case happened four years ago, the boys are grown
and the danger point is probably passed.

COMMUNITY K.

K is a village on the shore of a large river. Along the river front
lie the fine summer residences of city people. On the other side,,
lie the homes of the workaday village people, the two general stores, ,
the district school, and the railway station. Back from the river
about a mile the hills rise covered with timber, and here some
families have made clearings in the woods and are independent
farmers on a small scale; but the farms are isolated, and the farmers
are not thrifty. The population is mostly o f American stock.
Two cities are easily accessible and frequently whole families go
to the nearest city for amusement, shopping, movies, or dances.
Besides the farm work on estates and smaller places, employment
is furnished by two general stores, the railway with its station and
section w ork; and fruit picking, wood cutting, and ice harvesting in
season. An occasional all-round artisan is found. The work is more
or less seasonal, the best paid and most constant employment being
on the estates.
In this village child labor of a certain sort is usual. Technical
violations o f the law aje common, even on the part o f thoughtful,
well-intentioned people, who employ the small boys and girls foy
many jobs and errands. Usually the children take out their working,
papers as soon as possible. Many of the girls those who do not
marry early or help with the work at home—go away to near-by

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towns to work in factories or as waitresses; the boys take whatever
work is offered. While there is much hand-to-mouth living, there
are no actually dependent families, the minister’s wife reporting at
Thanksgiving that she knew o f no family where a basket was needed.
K is not oversupplied with churches. One holds its services in
a small frame building, with a supply minister from a neighboring
village. Membership is small and attendance irregular. Funds
for the support o f the work are mainly contributed by a few wellto-do families.
Another larger church is a real factor—both social and religious.
Through the generosity o f owners o f estates, a charming stone
church, parsonage, and sexton’s house have been built. The house
servants o f the largest estates, some o f the summer residents, and a
few village people make up the attendance. The minister and his
wife are friendly, sympathetic, and appreciative o f the problems of
their parishioners and o f anyone in the village who needs help, and
are active in all village affairs.
Neither church is aggressive in increasing membership, and many
o f the village people belong to neither parish and have no formal
religious life.
•
The chief stimulant to fun and play is a newly organized neigh
borhood association, carefully fostered by a socially-minded summer
resident. The activities are loyally supported by the village people,
who are slowly developing initiative. The schoolhouse has been
opened for dances, lectures, and meetings, and the school trustee hopes
to make it the voting place. Out-of-doors community entertainments
have been given.
Before the formation o f the neighborhood association, drinking at
the village tavern, rowdy dances in the neighboring village, or oc
casional trips to near-by cities, with shopping and church service for
the women and children, and an almost inevitable “ drunk ” for the
men, were the usual recreations. Already a dancing class has been
organized; it is considered more or less bad form to come drunk to
the dances; growing boys and girls are learning to know each other
under the family eye which sees quickly undue liberties. The station
platform and the country store now have a rival as a place for making
acquaintances.
It is even hoped that the school social center will rival the village
tavern. This resort, kept by an Italian, is the center o f social life
not only for Italians, but for some o f the American men, and for
some o f the boys as they grow up, who frequent it every evening.
Bfkwls5are common, and there have been two murders by hot-headed
young“ Italians. Some o f the most skilled workmen in the village
regularly take time off for a spree at this place.

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Drinking is also given social standing through the liquor which
is served at the parties given on the estates for the workmen and their
families. Consequently there was only.mild gossip when a number
of young men entertained girl friends by the roadside near the
Italian tavern with a keg of beer. The girls, about 16 years old, are
considered the nicest girls in the village.
The schoolhouse is an attractive frame building. The neighbor
hood association has already added to the furnishing and will do
more. The grounds are ample for all sorts of games and some
equipment has been provided by the neighborhood association. The
children make good use of this equipment, and have largely aban
doned their former favorite amusement of sitting on the wall and
throwing stones at teams going by, with yells and jeers for the driver.
The school is overcrowded, for the custom prevails o f starting
many o f the children wl\en they are 4 or 5 years old. The teachers
report much retardation. As yet there is no practice of going to a
high school, in a town only 6 miles away, connected with K by good
train service.
The increase of Italian children is complicating the work. Many
o f the children do not speak English when they enter, and the parents
have to be educated into sending them regularly.
A former teacher, familiar with the school, says this school has
always been difficult to discipline. Rough talk and, at times, rougher
actions are traditional. Three observations of the present group of
children showed them to be lax in language, actions, and attention.,
They shuffle when they walk, leave their seats at will, and have no
snap or go; the older boys try constantly to see how far they can
misbehave without reproof. The children are not at all ashamed o f
absences, o f nonpromotion, or of. being retarded. Punishments con
sist in keeping the child in, sending him home, or changing seats;
with the final resort of whipping with a dog whip or of suspension
or expulsion. The school trustee backs up the teacher in discipline
when called upon, but this is not often.
Illegal absence is quite common, though none of the children seem
to be truants on their own account. Excuses are easily accepted, and
some of them are of questionable validity. The truant officer for
this part o f the township lives some miles away, and does not have a
reputation for being particularly vigilant. Last year the school
trustee sent for him three times, but he did not appear. The senior
teacher lives in another town, comes on the train in the morning in
time for school, and leaves within an hour after closing.
The following cases were studied in this place:
Cases 1 and 0.—Johnny Grey and Joe Smith broke into a closed
summer residence. They wandered through the house, then going
back to the cellar, they selected some cans of food to take away and,

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what is more serious, opened the metal receptacle in which matches
were stored and scattered them where they might be lighted by rats.
The boys were frightened away before they removed anything, and
their entry was not discovered until the owner returned the next
week-end. Suspicion immediately fell on Johnny, who had been
unable to explain to his mother where he had been on a certain
afternoon. He promptly confessed, and implicated Joe, who also
owned, up.
The owner agreed with the parents that if the damage were re
paired he would not take any action. The boys were also told that
quite a large sum in damages was to be paid.
For punishment Johnny has been forbidden to go away from home
at any time alone, to go alone to or from school, to go on any drives, to
attend the boys’ club meetings which he so greatly enjoys; he was also
wdiipped. Joe was punished by a mere scolding, for his mother
blames the smaller boy, and calls the deed a boyish prank. Not until
it was pointed out to her that only the leniency o f the owner kept
her boy from going to the reformatory did she seem to have any
realization of the seriousness of the offense.
Johnny, the younger burglar, is 8 years old, bright, quick, inquisi
tive, and progressive, known to all the neighborhood as a likable
nuisance. He takes orders for premium soap, drives with anybody
who is going anywhere, runs errands, has a strong instinct for any
social gathering, takes an active part in all entertainments, and
sings in the choir. His questions fairly tumble over one another,
and his manners are most ingratiating.
The father is a jolly, friendly man, well liked in the village. He
is a social drinker, who gets drunk on holidays and frequently on
Saturdays. He has regular work on an estate where his habits are
not frowned upon.
The mother talks too much to be at all times polite or strictly
truthful; she has an extensive but incorrectly used vocabulary; is
hard working both at home and when she works out by the day to
supplement the family income. She is always one of the first to
offer help when there is trouble in a family, when there is a cake
to be baked for a social, or gossip to be heard. She talks much about
bringing up her children right; but, with low standards, little refine
ment and self-control, she is hampered in getting results. Both
father and mother are above*the average of the village, in energy,
ambition, and hopes for their children, but results so far have not
been up to expectations.
Joe, the other housebreaker, the son o f a widow, has recently come
to the village, and is a typical city mouse. He is 14, his hair always
smooth, his clothes tidy, his shoes shined. In school work he is
4 9 9 8 5 °— 18------ 10

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indolent, a little supercilious, and always on the verge of disobedi
ence. He is frequently out for half a day, or for a whole day’s
trip to the city, with only a perfunctory excuse from his mother.
Indications are that he is possessed o f undesirable information
which his mother does not suspect. To her surprise, she has just
learned since the housebreaking episode that he has smoked for two
years. He has been reported for questionable talk to little girls in
school.
The lack of self-control in the case o f Joe is plainly the fault o f
the mother. The boy’s father died when he was 5, and the mother
has since supported her two children by teaching. She is a florid
blond, slender, attractive, and makes her life a romantic dream, with
herself in the spotlight. She blames everybody else for her boy’s
shortcomings—the grandmother who lived with them for not con
trolling him when the mother was away; a brother who while not
actively bad, did not set a good example for her son; bad com
panions for teaching him to smoke, for giving him whisky to drink,
and for vicious talking before him.
The boy does not realize the seriousness of breaking into a house.
He readily admits his misconduct, without either shame or boasting,
and the suggestion that he had made himself liable to be sent away
to a reform school was clearly a new thought. He has heard his
mother extenuate his conduct until he can not be expected to realize
its seriousness.
Case 3 .—Not long ago the school was obliged to expel a boy for the
use o f obscene language to girls. The culminating offense occurred
on the way home from school. Two other boys were present, and
it was suspected that while not guilty at this time, they were in
the habit of using such language. The offender had previously been
warned, so he was expelled. Later, when the question o f schooling
for the boy came up, a certificate o f heart leakage was obtained from
a physician, and the boy did his lessons at home with the wife o f his
father’s employer. Though always retarded at school, he gave no
other trouble excepting that for which he was expelled.
Mrs. Winter, with whom the boy lived, could not make him learn
much from books, but he was good in helping in the house, and
was bright enough to do most things around the farm. He fre
quently swore* but she had never heard him say anything vulgar.
The boy’s mother died when he was siflall, and the father has moved
from farm to farm, wherever he could get work.
A neighbor who helped in an outdoor entertainment says that
the boy was difficult to manage during rehearsals, was rough, boister
ous. and inclined to indecent remarks.

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Case 4 .—Perhaps one of the worst cases found is that o f the
daughter o f Mrs. Pray and the son o f Mr. Dodd. When this girl
was only 15 and the boy only 17 it was discovered that the girl was
pregnant and the children were forced to marry. They have had no
chance whatsoever. The relation o f their respective parents is one
o f the scandals of the village. They have lived together unmarried
for many years. There is no legal reason why they should not marry,
but the man is unwilling. They are clearly abnormal. The man’s
son and the woman’s daughter were both very small children when
the man and woman began to live together. The girl grew up know
ing that Mr. Dodd was not her father and that her own father was
dead; and the boy grew up with the knowledge that Mrs. Pray was
not his mother, but that his mother was living and had left his
father. What standards o f rectitude can one expect from children
thus situated?
Case 5 .—The girl from the isolated farm presents a special prob
lem. The case of Anna White is typical. Her home is a half-finished
cabin, back in the woods, 2 hilly miles from the station. Here
lives the mother—a slight, overworked woman—with a boy of 8 and
a girl o f 6, and intermittently the three grown children—a boy of
20, a married daughter o f 18, and Anna, aged 16.
The mother at 19 married a race-track follower— a hostler, rubber,
and general utility man. Three children were born during the wander
ing life of following the races; the wife grew tired, and, in spite o f
her mother’s and husband’s protest, decided to go and live on the
isolated farm with her father. She had never known a settled home
because her mother had driven her father away with her nagging
tongue, and taken the baby girl with her when the home was broken
up. The father bought the place of 8 acres, back in the hills away
from talking tongues; half built the house, set out an orchard and
year by year scratched in a few crops. When he died he left the
place to his daughter, Anna’s mother, and here she has lived for 20
years. Two or three cows, chickens and eggs, with what they can
raise, make up the' living. Occasionally the mother gets a little
ready money by washing for the summer residents—walking the two
hilly miles to the village, doing a day’s work, and walking home in
the dusk. She is attractive, capable, and intelligent. After she
went to live on the farm her husband would come and stay from time
to time, and three more children were born. He was very jealous,
and at times abusive; he did not, until later years, drink much, but
gambled away everything that he could take and sell. The offense
which finally led Mrs. White to drive him away was as follow s:
She had paid him $5 for a wheelbarrow and a harrow. While she
was away from home, he took the harrow apart, loaded it on a wheel
barrow, and took it to the city, where he disposed of it. His wife

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had him arrested for theft and the judge fined him $10, which he
borrowed in order to avoid going to jail. In retaliation upon his wife
he brought from the city a girl of questionable character and lived
with her in a shack in the village, until, finally, he disappeared.
The mother says that he came of a good family and always insisted
on having the children go to school, even after they had learned all
the teacher could teach them; but he would do nothing to earn money
and send them to high school.
Anna was reported to a children’s society in a near-by city when she
was 14 for begging on the streets and for consorting with question
able characters. Investigation failed to show any definite acts on
which a charge could be based, but it was-certain that the girl was in
danger. She had come to the city to do housework in the home
where her sister had worked until she was married; but she was not
strong enough to meet the demands—she was only 14—and after
trying some other places, had gone into a factory. She was sup
posed to live with an aunt, but spent most of her time with a girl
friend who had left her family and started out to make her own
living. This girl friend appears to have been adventurous, success
ful in finding jobs, but not eager to keep them, and to have supplied
imagination and initiative for both. Anna is unstable and unam
bitious, easily led, and lazy. Jenny, the friend, found work for them,
including one adventurous outing as hotel waitresses. Between jobs,
Anna comes home for a while, but always grows restless and wants
to go away. Her mother says that she is “ dance crazy,” that while
she cares nothing for men, the men follow her, that she spends all
her earnings on clothes, and is unwilling to stay at home. Just now
she has gone to visit her married sister, and the mother hopes she will
soon get married herself.
The two younger children still at home bid fair to follow the
older ones. They must walk 2 hard miles to school, and the mother
does not make them go if there is any excuse. When the little girl
is sick, the boy stays home with her. In their turn, they are
helping with the work on the place, too heavy t^sks for their years.
The boy is musical, and the chief home amusement is listening to
tunes on the mouth organ.

COMMUNITY L.
This is a small town most attractively situated on a pretty river.
Since for many years this town has had the service o f two different
steam roads connecting it with the city, it very early became a resi
dential town for well-to-do persons who did not care to live in the
, city but who had business relations there. It is not precisely a

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suburb of the city; it is far too much of a country town to be called
that, but it seems to feel a certain city influence.
In this town great efforts have been made to maintain social
agencies for the benefit of the young people. A wealthy man has
given funds for weekly public dances, the aim of which is to offset
the attractions o f the many low-grade dances o f a commercial nature.
Another person maintains a public magazine reading room. A
young lawyer administers a very active Boy Scout organization, and
a woman of wealth maintains a Camp Fire Girls’ group and classes
in aesthetic dancing. Yet girls of 15 frequent public dances.
In spite o f social efforts, the general standard of morality in the
town is low, and many cases of delinquency were found, some among
the most prosperous families of the place. Parents seem to make no
attempt at a proper control of the situation. In fact there seems to
be no parental backbone in the entire town.
The justice of the peace was forced to put a number o f young men
on probation last summer for maintaining a gambling establishment.
A group of girls in this town has been allowed to camp and to enter
tain men unchaperoned.
The town o f L is a living example o f the futility of social-service
organizations outside the home unless the work of such agencies
receives the backing of the parents within the home. In L every
child is a law unto himself. Parents in this town need education,
and they need moral support.
Following are cases o f juvenile misconduct discovered in the study
of this tow n:
Cases 1 and 2 .—Adelaide Cropsey, a girl of 17, and Fred Walker,
a boy of 16, were married about Christmas time in order to legiti
mate the child which the girl was soon to bear. This action was
forced through by her relatives though both she and the boy were
very reluctant.
They are to live with the boy’s parents for the present— an environ
ment which will probably result in a further deterioration of the
girl’s character.
When Fred’s father died Mrs. Walker inherited from him a fine,
old country house wTith beautiful grounds surrounding it. Here
she lived for some years with a man whom she did not immedi
ately marry, though she has now done so. Fred and his older
brother grew up in this atmosphere with the old house allowed to
tumble down and the grounds to go to ruin. Both boys became
very wild.
Fred, though only 16, is 6 feet tall and built like a young prize
fighter. He is bright, though he left school at the age of 14. At
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as a result o f which he was forced to give up the school. His influ
ence in such matters was of the worst kind.
Fred is usually at the bottom o f any mischief going on in the
village. In this respect he is said to resemble his own father, who
died six years ago.
Adelaide’s family influences were theoretically better, though they
were not sufficiently strong to overbalance the bad community in
fluences. She is a pretty girl with refined manners, and comes from
one of the so-called better families o f the town, her mother being a
woman of refinement'and culture who made a very poor marriage and
whose husband ran away when Adelaide was very small. Adelaide’s
uncle, her mother’s brother, who has lived with them at times, is a
hopeless drunkard and hardly self-supporting.
Adelaide has associated with a group of girls who represent the
best families o f the town, among whom, however, are several whose
behavior has been very questionable.
Case 3 .—Elizabeth Foster is one o f a number o f girls who, in spite
o f good home surroundings and care, has been smirched by the
viciousness of this community. She has scarcely attempted to cover
up her indecent conduct, but the whole town, accustomed to its own
low standard, is willing to close its eyes; no one wishes to stir up
scandal. In consequence, they leave conditions untouched which, in
another place, would compel action. The watchword of the village
is “ Hush.”
Elizabeth’s father belongs to one of the old families of the town,
though he himself is a drinker and has degenerated until he has
become a casual laborer. Her mother is a quiet, sad woman whose
life has been spoiled, and who now never leaves her home. She
has never been a strong influence in the formation of her daughter’s
character.
Elizabeth has three brothers who are all more or less wayward.
One, aged 16, was recently brought home drunk from the neighbor
ing city by a man who formerly ran the saloon in L. This man was
very angry when L became a no-license town two years ago, and
since then he has attempted to show that a no-license town is as bad
for the boys as a license town. His method is to take boys to the city
in his automobile and there to get them drunk.
A ll three o f the Foster boys were arrested a year ago in a raid
which was made on a petty gambling house in L.
Case If.—Elaine Little has been accused of very grave immorality
and irregularity. She is an unusually beautiful girl, and always well
dressed, but her bearing is rather vulgar.
Her father is an excellent man, an elder o f the church, and a
leader in the town. Her mother is a good woman, though perhaps
not particularly intelligent. The child has never known the slightest

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parental restraint. At the age o f 15 she was allowed to go to dances
and to remain there unchaperoned until 2 o’clock in the morning.
She is still in high school, and is reported to be a bright girl and
one who never gives trouble. Her case is clearly due to lack o f
proper care on the part o f her parents.
Case 5 .—Laura Mott’s father, a good but negligent man, is a
wealthy farmer; her mother, a person o f charm and refinement, is
a church worker and a social leader in the town. Her grandfather,
who laid the foundations o f the family fortune, was a man of coarse
fiber and unscrupulous principles, but o f great energy. Laura is said
to resemble him.
Vivacious and headstrong, she is the ruler o f the family and always
has her own way. She has black hair and snapping black eyes’.
Her force has broken through the family discipline, and her conduct
has been such that her reputation has suffered severely. One of the
incidents that helped in this was her intoxication and boisterous
behavior at a public dance.
Now she has left what protection her family gave her and has gone
to a near-by city to work as a stenographer.
Case 6 .—Mary Black is the 17-year-old daughter of a tenant
farmer, a man o f good character but without ambition or spirit. The
mother is a good woman but very ignorant. The family has moved
about continually, having lived in three different locations within the
past year.
Mary is an irregular attendant at high school, where she is only
a sophomore though she has attended for three years. She is not
considered very bright in school and is also regarded as deceitful,
dishonest, and unduly interested in boys. Her physical develop
ment is precociously mature, and she has a gross and unattractive
face.
She has been detected stealing money from overcoat pockets in
school and has also stolen schoolbooks. It is known that she has been
guilty o f grave sexual offenses. Twice she has run away with a
young man, the 24-year-old son of a wealthy farmer on whose farm
her father has at times been a laborer. The young man wishes to
marry her, but her parents will not give their consent, owing to the
fact that the religion of his family is different from theirs. I f the
girl were o f legal age, the young man would marry her in spite o f her
parents’ opposition. He is a decent sort of youth, really too good for
the girl.
Cases 7, 8 , and 9.—There are 13 in the Hackert family. The
father is a drunken, shiftless, ignorant, and quarrelsome man. He
is a section hand, but does not work regularly. The mother is an
ignorant negress; an aunt, who lives with them, is addicted to
drinking; and both have the reputation for immorality.

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Three boys, aged 14, 15, and 16 are petty thieves. Their mother
has brought them up to the trade. An example o f her influence is
to be found in what might be described as her grocery-store tech
nique. Arriving with Tom, Johnny, and Sam at a grocery store
she so spreads out her voluminous proportions as to obscure the
vision o f the proprietor. Thus protected against observations her
filial accomplices stuff their clothes with nuts, oranges, etc., while
she is discussing some purchase. Next comes the formality of search
and confiscation, an unpleasant duty performed by the proprietor’s
assistant who stations himself at the door immediately upon the
entrance of mother and sons, and who permits no blockade running.
Mrs. Hackert does not allow such incidents to alter her trading
habits, and she is sure soon to return to the attack. These boys are
said to have stolen washing from the clotheslines in neighbors’
yards and to have committed all sorts of petty depredations. They
have never been punished nor restrained in any way.
The oldest child, Estelle, an attractive girl of 18, was brought
before the juvenile court when she was 13. The charge was that
she and her mother were in the habit of soliciting among the gangs
of workmen along the railroad track. The charge was not sustained,
however, for the women showed that they visited these men in order
to sell soft drinks and food. Estelle was kept on probation for
three months and then the whole matter was dropped.
There are six younger children who are scarcely clothed. The
shack in which they all live has only four rooms and is very dirty.

COMMUNITY M.
Midway between two large towns, in a river valley, lies the vil
lage of M, with a population of about 1,400. The region is one of
great natural beauty. The village itself makes no such impression.
Except for the main street, the streets are dirt roads not in. good
condition.
The river makes the region a fertile one, but the land is little used
for farming, real estate values being too great to make it profitable
on a large scale. In the village are small retail stores, 11 saloons, and
a butter-cutting factory, which employs about 7 men. Many of the
working population are artisans employed on construction either
near by or in towns along the various county roads, near enough to
commute. Two golf clubs furnish employment of an uncertain
character to the boys. A few men are. employed on the railroad
and around the station.
Perhaps the fact that there is an excellent street-car service
through the main street of M hinders the development o f indus-'
tries there, for it is comparatively easy for the inhabitants to go

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to larger neighboring towns to obtain work in shops and factories.
There are almost no industrial opportunities for children in the
town. Caddying, work in the small butcher and grocery shops,
and helping their fathers, if they happen to be artisans, make up
the list. In spite of this the school principal says that they have
great difficulty in holding the boys in school, and that they frequently
have cases where a boy within a few months or weeks of gradua
tion drops out and gets his working papers, even though he has no
prospect of a job and his parents do not need his wages.
Boys under 14 who work at caddying do so in violation of the
law, inasmuch as the work is done during the school term, though
not during school hours. Public opinion would not support the
enforcement o f the law, and the principal has even been asked to
excuse a boy from the school in order that he might earn a pair of
shoes. There are no records in the children’s docket in the police
justice’s court of any cases involving child-labor law enforcement.
The children who drop out of school and a great many of the
adults spend their time loafing upon the streets, hence at any time,
even in rainy weather, an unusually large number of idle men and
boys may be seen on the streets and hotel porches. A casual visitor
is particularly struck by the youth of the boys on the corners.
Often a group may be found in the drug store or on that corner.
The school, which reaches the eighth grade, has a principal who
is really in earnest and could be counted upon to cooperate in any
effective work in the village. He started a Boy Scout organization,
which, however, had to be discontinued because he was unable to
find anyone to help him. He offered to give evening classes in the
school for the boys who had dropped out and who felt the need for
more work, but the board felt that the installing of the necessary
lights was too great an expense. This principal feels very keenly
the need for some field and tennis courts, where the children may
be given a chance to learn how to play good games. An adjoining
space has been used for baseball. The noon hour could be much
better managed if such a playground existed; as it is now, the chil
dren bring their lunch, eat it, and then have nothing to do. There
is a rule that the children must stay upon the school grounds, but
there is no teacher in charge, and they often wander into the woods.
I f he had a playground,.the principal thinks that he could detail a
teacher to have charge for a week at a time and thus have constant
supervision. There is a menace in the unsupervised noon hour.
With the coming of the summer vacation, with all the teachers, away
and no organized recreation for the children, with no work outside
that provided by their parents or by caddying, the children are
simply turned loose upon the village.

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The school each year has a baseball team. Money for suits and
other equipment is obtained by stopping people on the street and
asking for contributions.
School gardens are maintained in the village, the one evidence
that the school is trying to reach the homes of the children. A
problem in connection with the schools is the reluctance of the
teachers to live in the town and the fact that as a rule the teachers
are very poorly paid and consequently, if they are good, use it as a
stepping stone only; if inefficient they tend to stay forever. The
fact that the high school is not in the town makes the break more
apparent, and the children do not have that incentive to study and
do good work.
A kindergarten was not successful at the school, because the
parents could not see the use of it, and were indignant that anyone
should think that their children, even at the tender ages o f 4 and 5,
were not “ smart enough” to go right into the first grade. As a
result most children stay two years in the first grade, and the
teacher’s problems are most difficult because of the parents’ objection
to all things not distinctly utilitarian.
A parent-teacher’s association was once attempted, but the parents,
so a board member said, did not see the advantages, and feel that
they could “ manage their children’’ without it. There are no
organized recreational activities that would appeal to the older
children.
The Boy Scout organization started by the school principal died
out. Camp-fire groups have never been established for girls. One of
the churches has a number of societies for the Sunday school chil
dren, but none that would fill this need. Another church, established
over 100 years ago, has a young people’s society, which gives a few
sociables. Another, somewhat out of the center o f the town, has
recently been holding dances once a week in the evening, in a rented
hall on the main street. The young people come early, and after
they leave the older people come. Ten cents admission is charged.
It is stated by a few thoughtful people that those most “ needing it ”
do not go. Dances are sometimes held in the small fire house. They
are occasionally the scene of rowdyism, but not as frequently as in
former days.
The village has no park, no library, no moving pictures. Movingpicture theaters have opened only to close. A 20-minute ride will
take the children to neighboring towns where there are plenty of
“ movies,” and some o f them use the libraries o f these towns, but
not many.
The 11 saloons are so situated that few parts o f the village are
more than five minutes from at least one, and there are indications
that they are open on Sundays as well as on week days, in violation

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o f the State law. Pool rooms exist. One proprietor was brought
up before the grand jury two years ago, with sufficient evidence to
indict him, for having allowed minors under 16 to frequent and to
play pool in his place, but the grand jury let him go free, because,
as the district attorney later said, they considered it too trivial a
charge. Amusement o f a similar sort was until recently furnished by
gambling machines in several stores. One storekeeper was prose
cuted over a year ago on the charge, and only recently the justice,
after receiving several anonymous complaints, closed up two or
three. The machines were of the type into which money is put,
and something, either merchandise or money, comes out. I f money,
it must be spent in the store in which the machine is located.
In the summer there is a swimming pool, which seems to be the
gathering place of the boys and a center for the dissemination o f
much information of a questionable character.
The local justice does not seem to be particularly fitted to dis
charge his duties. His commitments do not always fit the case.
Probation to him means practically nothing, which becomes particularly serious when it is noticed how often he uses probation, which
he frequently calls u parole.” His children’s docket does not contain
a complete record of cases which have been brought before him.
There is evidence leading one to believe that he is not a strictly im
partial judge, but is influenced by his own interests in the village.
He calls very seldom upon children’s agencies for advice, consider
ing that he can handle things alone. He has practically the entire
responsibility of admitting children to and discharging them from
institutions.
The following cases of bad conduct were found in M :
Case 1 .— Burgess Tomlins was arrested on a charge of petty larceny
when he was 13. He had never had any difficulty of any kind before.
.He pleaded guilty, was paroled to the justice, and reported to him
for six months. Shortly before the theft the family had been re
ported for destitution and referred to the poor authorities. The
mother who was a widow wished the children committed for the
winter. There may have been some connection between the theft of
some small thing and the poverty. No teacher at the school knows
about it, for though the theft took place there, the principal has
been changed.
Case 2 .— Petty offenses are sometimes brought before the justice
because they involve some one especially interested in having them
punished. Five children came to him upon the complaint of the
wife of the president o f the board o f education for throwing things
at her house. Two boys and three girls were involved. The diffi
culty grew out of the dissatisfaction of the children with the dis
missal o f the principal o f the school. They had previously rioted

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and started out in a procession through the main part of the town
and on into the next village. Because the case was so obviously one
o f a school dispute the justice said that he did not consider it neces
sary to send the children away, and so “ suspended sentence ” for
six months. None of the children have ever been brought before
him since..
Case 3 .— Bosa Luciano, an Italian child born in 1899, has lived
around M all her life. Her father came to the United States when
he was 18 years old. Her own mother died when Bosa was 3 days
old and she was placed in the almshouse near M. Bosa’s step
mother, with whom she now lives, also Italian, came to the United
States 18 years ago and is now 31 years old. She has never learned
to speak English. She has two boys, 13 and 11 years old.
Bosa stayed in the almshouse until she was 3 and was then placed
in a children’s institution, where she stayed either eight years or
until she was 8 years old, when she was taken out and came to live
with her father and stepmother who were then living in M.
The Luciano house is somewhat better than many of the Italian
homes in M, and compares favorably with the other homes visited.
After Bosa came home from the institution, her stepmother says,
she was always telling how the sisters did things, and wanting to
follow their ways instead of her stepmother’s. In Sunday school
her teacher was a sister from a near-by convent, to which she once
ran away. She was once expelled from the school as ungovernable
but, after expelling her, the principal wanted to complain because
she was not attending. The school-teachers said that she was a
thief, used bad language, and did not have good clothes nor enough
to eat.
Almost a year after coming home she was committed by a justice to
a Protestant institution, but later was moved to one which was
Catholic. After her return from there she was dissatisfied, and ran
away to her stepbrother’s godmother, in a village about 15 miles
away, and then again to a large city. She was picked up on the
streets of the city one evening at 8.20. She had walked from M,
a distance of over 20 miles, after taking $1—so the stepmother’s
tale goes—of her stepmother’s money. Bosa said at the time that
she left at 7 a. m., because her stepmother was going to beat her
for not keeping the house properly in the three days the stepmother
had been away. Bosa was doing well in school at this time, her step
mother says. She always read a great deal at home and did not care
to go out with the other girls. For running away in this fashion
she was committed by the justice to a Catholic institution.
The justice seemed to feel that it was very largely the fault of the
family that the child was so hard to control. He said that they
overworked her. This is borne out by the school record of the boys

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now in school, for it is only by the eternal vigilance of the principal
that their father’s desire to make them work is frustrated. The
justice described the child as rather unattractive physically, and said
that it was his opinion that if she had been an attractive child she
would have “ gone wrong,” as he expressed it. The health officer
volunteered the information that she had been “ a terror,” calling
people names and throwing things at them. There is no indication
that she had been anything but a child somewhat difficult to man
age, in a home lacking sympathy.
Two years after her commitment to the Catholic institution, Rosa
came home. The justice was asked to get her out and after talking
with the sister at what he calls the “ penitentiary,” he requested her
release. The justice then obtained a position for Rosa in a factory
in the neighboring town, where she now works, from 7 to 12, and
from 1 to 6, except Saturdays, when she works 6 hours, from 7 to 1.
The factory manufactures dresses and waists.
Rosa is now a short, rather stocky young girl, with somber eyes
and a manner o f great reserve. She is nicely dressed, and her hair
is becomingly arranged. She has not many clothes, however. She
has been home a month, and has written to the institution that she
is not happy. When visited she said that she was going to see the
justice that afternoon, and talk with him, for she was not satisfied.
The justice says that he thinks the trouble is that they do not give
her enough to spend; that she turns in all her wages, and feels that
she should have more back for spending money. He sa}rs that when
she came out o f the home her father spent as much as $12 buying
her clothes and that he probably feels that he should be reimbursed
for this.
Case — Rosa Mali is another Italian child, but her difficulty is of
another type from that of the other Rosa. Her parents are both liv
ing; her home is less attractive than the other, and a large family
o f brothers and sisters is crowded into three rooms. She is the oldest
o f eight—two other girls and five boys. One of the boys, Tom, aged
16 now, is working as an unskilled laborer. Tom and Rosa were
born in Italy, their father having been married while on a visit. He
has been in this country altogether 28 years; his wife 12. He is a
day laborer.
One day when Rosa was 14 years old she ran away with a boarder
in the home, who took her out West. A letter soon came from Rosa
which said that she knew she had done wrong in leaving home with
out saying good-by to her mother, but that wages were better out
there and she would be contented and happy if they let her stay.
The chief of police was immediately telegraphed to, and Rosa and
the man taken into custody. They had not been married. The man,
only 19, was later indicted by the grand jury, pleaded guilty, and

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was sent to Elmira. Before the man’s commitment his attorney made
repeated attempts to bring about a marriage between the child and
the man, but she consistently refused, thinking that it was only
urged as a way to get him out of trouble. The mother says that at
the time she wanted them to marry, but is glad now that they did
not. She says that Bosa’s father urged the marriage and that he
still feels bitter because Bosa refused. The justice also tried to bring
it about.
Bosa’s story at the time was as follows:
For a year the man had been one of three boarders in the home.
Three months before the elopement he misused her. She told her
mother, but the mother kept the information from the father, and
the relation continued, with the mother’s knowledge, until Bosa went
away. The man said that Bosa threatened to kill herself if he did
not take her with him, but she said that she had made no such threat,
that she wished to remain in school until she could graduate (she was
in grade 6A ), and she was much surprised after they had boarded
the train to find that they were going so. far. She went, she said,
because the wife of the fruit-stand proprietor had frightened her
by telling her how angry her father would be if he became aware of
her condition.
Though her father was so angry when she returned home that he
would not see her, she chose to go to an institution rather than marry
the man. She was consequently sent to a Catholic maternity hospital
in the city on a presumption that she was pregnant. This proved
not to be the case, but she was kept in the institution for over two
years and became much attached to the sisters.
Then she was taken out by her paternal aunt, who with her hus
band has a grocery and fruit store in a large town. The aunt seems
to be of stronger personality than the mother, and her relations with
Bosa now seem most cordial. She feels that the trouble was not the
child’s fault, but never allows the girl out alone in the evening,
though she says she trusts her and insists on such chaperonage sim
ply for the reason that it is the proper thing for any girl.
Her mother has been to see her a few times, but none of the children
have been there, not even the oldest boy, though it takes only half
an hour, and 5 cents carfare, to reach the house. The father will still
not see her. The mother says that he feels less bitter and she hopes
will get over it. Bosa was very eager for news of the children, and
was pleased to hear o f her sister’s school garden, and glad to have
news o f the teachers in the school.
Bosa earns about $5 a week in a factory where children’s clothes
are made, a position which her uncle obtained for her. She turns
all her money over to her aunt, who gives her all she needs; Bosa
says that she does not have to ask for anything. People in the town

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where she lives do not know her history and no one in M knows where
she is. She was lonesome at first, but now knows many girls and
seems contented.
Case <5.—There was in M a baker’s wagon, where light lunches
were served, a most tempting place for boys, and on one occasion
five boys broke into it, late at night. They were brought before the
justice, but there was not sufficient evidence, he says, to do anything
about it, and besides, he thought it a harmless prank. Were this
the only charge against the boys, the ease would not be significant.
A week later, the same crowd was up again, with the exception of
one boy who seems to have been along more by accident than in
tent, this time because they cut the wire leading from the fire house,
where a dance was going on, to the main feed wire. They were
given a sentence of 30 days (in jail, the justice says, though none
o f them was over 16). But the sentence was suspended, and they
were paroled” in the custody o f the officer (which means the
justice, in reality) for six months. They were not to be out after
7 o’clock in the evening.
These two pranks coming closely one after the other are the only
things that these boys have done that has brought them before the
justice. Their participation is important, however, because of their
later record.
One boy, John Mallon, is the youngest o f the three children of a
widow who has lived in M for 8 or 10 years. He has a sister about
25, a brother about 21, and he is now 16. The sister is well known
about M, and has an illegitimate child about 5 years old. The
brother is a drug fiend. The mother is “ nice,” the village people
say, but weak and not able to control her fam ily; her husband died
when John was scarcely 4.
Not long ago the proprietor o f a very unsavory road house was
murdered; one of the women present was induced to talk and tell
who had been there that night; and among them were the Mallon
children. The older brother disappeared and was under- suspicion.
Then the sister became frightened and told a tale to the effect that
she knew her brother committed the crime and that John knew it,
too. Both boys were arrested, but neither was convicted, owing to
lack o f corroborating evidence.
Neither boy had worked much; John had done some caddying.
The justice says that John had been suspected of one or two rob
beries on the outskirts o f the town in the past two years, but that
nothing had ever been proved.
Another boy involved in the wire-cutting prank was Walter Schal,
aged 14 at the time, who was living in the village with his aunt and
uncle. He was never brought before the judge again. He was in
school at the time and was very keen—the justice says the brains o f

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the crowd. But the principal said that he was absolutely the most
mischievous boy in the school and his brightness only made him more
difficult, so that finally after he had broken up a Christmas entertain
ment it was decided to expel him. The school board did not wish to
do this openly and suggested that the principal give the boy his
working papers instead, which wTas done. A teacher in the school,
who had the boy in her class at the time he was expelled, said that
he was the “ most aw ful” boy she had ever had; but another, who
said that the first teacher did not understand nor care for children,
did not share this opinion. She thought that the boy was bright and
keen and a pleasure to teach, if you “ got on the right side of him ” ;
that the real trouble was that he took a dislike to the other teacher
and she to him, and that he did not make any effort to conceal his
feelings. This teacher thought that it was a great mistake to send
him from the school, for he would have graduated into the high school
in the following June and was anxious to continue. His marks, in
spite of his mischief, were always good. He went to the city to
his father, his mother being dead, and has written to this teacher
and to another that he liked, telling them that he was working as
an electrician and going to night school. Others in the village called
him a most likable boy, and though mischievous, not bad.
Two other boys involved in the two escapades were brothers,
Italian boys, Tony and Joseph, of 15 and 13, whose father came to
the village as a padrone and who also kept a saloon. Both the boys
are now working in factories. The father has been before the grand
jury once or twice, once in regard to a serious stabbing affair, but each
time has come out free. The justice says that it was due to political
influence, and also says that his saloon is not at all desirable; that
each week end it becomes a disorderly house, and that it is soon to
be raided. Tony, the older of the two boys, is big and looks strong
but somewhat dissipated. Joseph, in marked contrast, is undersized,
wizened, and appears like either a drug or cigarette fiend or a
degenerate'. A younger boy in this family has recently been involved
in a sex difficulty at school, with other boys and girls. Tony says
that they hope to send this boy to college and to give him a chance,
and also says that he is always in at night by 8.30, and that he
always does his home work before he goes out.
Case 6 .—Edward Taylor, a colored boy, was committed by the
justice to Industry, a school for delinquent children, as having “ no
home.” The case is not properly a delinquent one. The record o f
the boy and his family is good, aside from the father’s desertion o f
the children, which, it will be seen, was perhaps not intentional.
The justice said that he committed the boy in order to get him away
from M, where he had no home and no care, and was therefore in a
position to become delinquent.

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The father o f this boy was a teamster in M, -who, after the death
o f his wife, went to another State to work, leaving an Italian couple
in charge o f his children. The children were neglected, and a chil
dren’s society and the judge both took the case in hand. The father
was located and sent for; the justice fined him $5 on each of two
counts, for desertion and for cruelty to animals—he had left his
horses, one of which later died. Shortly after the father’s return he
died of pneumonia. The justice sent for an uncle in another State,
who, apparently attracted by the property which he believed the
children had, took all three children to his home. So far as the
story can be learned, this uncle became disappointed when he dis
covered that the children had little money, and owned only the
shack in which the family had formerly lived. The two girls were
sent to relatives in the South, whose address is not known.
Edward was worked so hard that he decided to come home to M.
He lived in the old family shack or slept in woods or barns. He
got work caddying, or was given other work or food by friends.
Finally some of the townspeople who feared that he might become
delinquent, and others who thought that no child should be wander
ing about as he was doing, appealed to a children’s society and to
the justice. The justice in a talk with the boy found that he seemed
pleased at the prospect of going to Industry. Very likely the child
was lonely and glad of the chance to have any sort of home.
Case 7.—Willie Schuler’s family has always lived in the vicinity
of
His paternal grandfather was a German, a fine-looking man,
but a heavy drinker; his grandmother was an Irish woman, with an
uncontrollable temper. The boy’s mother is Scotch, born in Canada»
her father died when she was very young, and she was brought .up
by relatives, living in various spots in Canada. Mr. Schuler, a hodcarrier earning $3.25 a day, works in a town in the upper part o f the
county, to which he commutes. At one time he drank heavily. Four
years ago he improved in this particular, and at the present time sel
dom drinks to great excess. The justice was o f the opinion that
Schuler was not lively or ambitious enough for his wife. His wife
says that he is very hard to control 'when his passions get loose, but
that at all other times is very easy-going, and has never had any con
trol over the boys. He turns over all his money to her, and she lets
him keep about $2 a week. Mrs. Schuler was remarkably frank in
revealing her feelings toward her husband; she said that she only
married him “ to save her name,” and that he amounted “ only to
three meals a day,” which she would much rather earn herself. Mr.
Schuler, unfortunately, could not be seen to give his version o f the
family situation. In the village his wife’s opinion as to his lack of
control over the boys is corroborated, but many persons think he is
to be pitied in his iyife.
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Mrs. Sclmler is very active in. many ways. She has attended the
summer classes in sewing and cooking, given by a wealthy woman
in the same township, but not in the same village, and has won prizes,
She says, that she is a scientific cook. Another one of her interests
is suffrage; but other suffragists in the town wish she was less ardent
in this particular. Mrs. Schuler has not a very good reputation in
the village, and has been sharply criticized for several of her actions.
She knows and is rather defiant o f the opinion of the community re
garding herself.
Mr. Schuler at least had ambition enough to build a very nice
home o f pebble concrete—six rooms, two and one-half stories—the
total cost o f which was $1,400. He and his friends did the actual
work at slack times.
. ‘
There are three children, Willie, the second child, is now 16. He
is rather weak in will, according to the principal o f the school. It
is the opinion o f the principal that he is not the leader but is led
by a gang of boys o f which he is a member, and that he usually
receives all the blame for actions for which the others are partly,
responsible.
Willie, according to his mother, has been smoking cigarettes since
he was 6 years old. He has occasionally gone to the village pool
room, for which action his mother complained to the children’^
society. The complaint for which the boy was committed might be
considered an offense which is almost minor—he snowballed a man,
in the town and called him names. The justice says that he would
have let the boy off, but that his mother asked to have him committed.
It is interesting to note that the judge failed to record this case on
his docket, as required by the law. The mother frankly admits that
she asked the judge to commit the boy, but she gave the impression,
that the attitude o f the man making the complaint and the character,
o f the town drove her to it. She says that she considers the village
a very bad place for boys. Willie is now on a farm connected with
an institution in the upper part o f the State and, according to the
report o f the superintendent, is doing well. His mother said he is
happy and does not wish to return to the village.
At 16 Willie had reached only the fourth grade in school. For
six months during his period of school attendance he worked from
4 p. m. to 12 p. m. on an electric crusher, and was the only worker
whose machine did not get out o f order. He stopped because an
inspector discovered him at work. He was earning $1.50 a day and
went to school at the same time. Later he caddied at one of the clubs.
The older boy, Joe, has never been brought before the justice, but
he was weak and easily led, and his mother did not like his friends,
so, on the advice of the justice, put him in. the Navy. Her husband
refused to sign the papers,, so Mrs. Schuler did it herself.

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J ob reached the first year o f high school 5 then he went to work on
& construction job and later, on one o f the estates near him, earned
50 cents a day as helper in a blacksmith shop. He also had caddied.
He now sends all his money home to his mother, and she says that
she has it in a postal savings bank.
The third child, a girl, now 14, is still in school. She sings in the
church choir, and, out of school hours, takes care o f children. She
is an unattractive child, rather stupid, and unwholesome in appear
ance. She does poor work in school, but gives no trouble. It is the
opinion o f some o f the mothers o f the village that she is not a good
influence for the other children. It was she who spread the tale
among the children o f an illegitimate birth in the town. One of the
mothers said that this story was typical of the conversation which
the child overheard at home, and added that Mrs. Schuler herself
had done her best to give publicity to this incident.
The contradictory character of the mother of these children may
perhaps be the result o f thwarted ambition. She is of the type that
highly values books and a piano, the outward symbols of a learning
o f which she feels she was deprived. She says—with appallingly
bad grammar— that people would never know that she lacks an edu
cation, for she has picked things up by herself. However, she is
probably correct in her opinion o f the village. It is interesting to
note, for example, that the man who complained for her to the chil
d r e n ’s society in regard to the presence o f boys in the pool room
also went on the pool room proprietor’s bail, though he is the local
truant officer.
Case 8 .—Danny Hollorhan, a boy o f 14, is now in the first year in
high school and doing very good work. He is a boy who had a good
record, both in deportment and scholarship, in the elementary school,
and who is Very well liked by all in the village, and yet he has com
mitted a serious act o f delinquency. It seems that the summer when
Danny was 13, while all the boys were in swimming, in the pool in
the river, he enticed away and assaulted a little Hungarian boy who
lived near him. His younger brother reported this to his mother.
The mother, Mrs. Ivolak, did not wish to complain to the justice, but
her brother made the complaint some time after the offense was
committed. Both small boys told the same story, which the older boy,
Danny,.admitted. Mrs. Kolak said that she did not want the boy
sent away, because he seemed very nice, though he had called her
names because she did not speak very good English. She thought
that this was probably, as he said, the first time he had done such a
thing. The justice had the two families before him, at separate times,
and then the boy was out of town a while; no one could tell where.
Then he came back and nothing further was done.

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The justice says that the boy had always been very good until this
happened. He tried to do the best thing in the case and decided
that it would be a mistake to put Danny in an institution. So after
thinking it over, he put him on probation to himself for-Six months
and had him report.
The woman who first told the investigator about the case said that
the Hollorhan boy was not to blame, that he had been taught these
things by older boys and men in the town, who carried on such
practices. The father of the Hungarian boy said that the boys
learned such things at the swimming pool, and also heard the older
ones talking about them at the drug store corner.
The Kolak family lives in a very nice, clean apartment, with a
victrola, good furniture, and plenty o f room. The man is a chauffeur
and has always lived in the United States since he was a very small
child. They have four children, all boys, o f which the one involved
in this was the oldest. They are all well behaved and seem well cared
for. Mrs. Kolak is a distinctly capable and attractive woman, with
good sense and balance, and her moderation in speaking o f the other
family was marked.
The Hollorhan family lives in four rooms back of their butcher
and grocery shop. The mother keeps the shop and the father is
a day laborer and gardener. Until recently they lived in two
rooms. There are six children, four boys and two girls, of whom
Danny is the oldest. The children do not receive a great deal of care
from their parents, for they are too busy working, but aside from
being rather mischievous in such matters as calling names and bother
ing other children, they are not bad. Danny likes his books and does
well in school, but never played baseball because he was too little.
Both parents are Irish, and have lived here IT and 19 years, re
spectively. They call the Kolak family “ foreigners,” but Mrs.
Kolak says that they are just as much Americans as any one, and is
more amused than angry at being called foreign.
Case 9 .—The family of Margaret McCann lived on a street to
ward the outskirts o f the village. Her parents were both born
abroad—the father in Ireland and the mother in Sweden—but they
have been in this country for 25 years and have lived around most
of the time. Mrs. McCann was a servant in a large town before
her marriage. Mr. McCann is a carpenter, and gets good wages
when he works, but has been out o f work much of this year. Be
sides Margaret, there are three boys aged T, IT, and 19. Margaret
is 16. The house is somewhat shabby, the kitchen very dirty, the
mother' slatternly-looking; she has a rather pretty and sad face and
a gentle voice.
Margaret was in school when the principal discovered that she was
pregnant, and felt that he had to ask her to leave. Mrs. McCann

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says that she had no suspicion of her daughter’s condition until she
took her to the doctor; that her daughter was only 14 and did not
herself understand. The boy who was responsible had been coming
to the house for two years, and had taken her Out with the other
girls. I f Mrs. McCann had known in time she would have concealed
the situation. She said that other girls had gone to the midwife
and prevented trouble. Mr. McCann tried to make the boy, who
was about 17 and not working regularly, marry the girl, but he said
that he would rather go to jail. Her parepts regret that they did not
bring an action, against him, for he is still loafing around the town.
Margaret was sent to her mother’s relatives in the West, where the
child, a boy, was born. He was taken away from her and she does
not know now where he is. Margaret is still in the West, working
now in a factory, where she makes $6 or more a week. She worked
for a while at domestic service, and gave great satisfaction.
Mrs. McCann says that the children used to go out in the evening,
that Margaret’s best friend was a very quiet girl, and that they were
always together. Mrs. McCann’s strongest feeling in regard to her
daughter seemed to be a regret that she, of all the girls in the village
who had been similarly situated, was the one o f whom everyone knew.
Case 10.—During the past month there came to the M school
from a larger town a 12-year-old girl called Teenie. She had lived
/With her stepmother, and had now come to M to be with a married
sister. Shortly after her arrival the school building began to be
marked with obscene writing, and, though there was no proof against
her, Teenie was suspected. Shortly afterwards a number o f children
were found in the woods one night by the village constable, Teenie
being among them. On several other occasions suspicious actions on
the part o f the children were, noted. Teenie was always in the center
o f the trouble. The puzzling element in this situation is that both
the principal and the teacher in the school she formerly attended said
that she had had an excellent rating in deportment and had done
good work.
One other M child involved in this was a Buch girl, who, at 14, is
in the fourth grade, having been promoted each time only because
she had been two years in. the grade below.
The principal is firm in the belief that this ,is the first happening
o f the kind in the school. Nevertheless, two facts are certain; the
children o f the school even before^Teenie came had knowledge be
yond their years and the teachers do not seem to know how to deal
with the situation. The principal said that the girls had “ con
fessed ” to one of the teachers who as a matter of fact knows very
little about the matter. She feels that something should be done,
but does not feel that there is any responsibility resting upon her to
talk with the mothers, though some o f the children are in her

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room. She has taught in the school six years, but is in M only dur
ing school hours, boarding in the neighboring large town, and says
that she does not know more than five or six families, and does not
know these at all well; she does not care to know them. This teacher
has felt her responsibility to the extent o f having some other child
always detailed to play with the so-called feeble-minded Buch child
at lunch time, and watch her, for the teacher feels that the girl is
not a good influence upon the little children with whom die plays.
Case 11.— Helen and Lena Buch, aged, respectively, 18 and 14, have
g very bad inheritance. On the mother’s side o f the family there is
a record o f feeble-mindedness and illegitimacy. The family on the
father’s side is still worse; the record shows immorality and drunk
enness. The mother of the girls died of tuberculosis after a life o f
hard work, and the children live with their maternal grandparents.
The grandfather’s means o f livelihood consist o f collecting gar
bage and keeping pigs; the grandmother works out by the day.
The grandparents practically support the children. The father,
who is also a member o f the household, works for the grandfather in
part payment for the board of the children.
There is no actual proof o f improper conduct on the part of Helen
and Lena. The only accusation o f this has come from their grand
father. This was not substantiated. There is a feeling, however,
that things are not quite right with the girls.
The older, Helen, is a very fine-looking child, straight and tall,
with a good face. Though her grandfather says that she is lazy,
the house looked fairly neat, and she attends to most o f the house
keeping. She has no friends near at hand, but she goes to church
and has met a few girls there. Lena is a freckled-faced and sandyhaired child, rather a tomboy. She has a very nice school garden,
which she showed the visitor. Both girls have gone to the summer
classes to which reference has previously been made, and they spoke
proudly o f the knowledge of cooking they had gained, and o f their
sewing plans for the summer. Certainly these girls would profit
by wise guidance.

COMMUNITY N.
This is a sparsely settled farming district, in level country, sur
rounding a good sized town o f about 4,000 inhabitants which is not
included in the study. The little community groups in this district
feel the effects o f this proximity to a large town to their detri
ment,
The town has taken their vitality without giving anything in re
turn. For example, one little village which consists o f a group o f 15
or 20 houses once had a flourishing church; now this church, ah
though it has a large building, has a membership o f four. This is a

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church, which permits no church socials, and this policy has not
aided it in its struggle for existence. The town is nearly 7 miles
•away, but ¿those who wish to go to church travel all that distance
to do so.
And the district school in the same little village has an enrollment
of only six rather small children. This village is so dead that, even
the blacksmith can not make a living and is looking for work in the
town. In this particular little hamlet no juvenile delinquency was
found, though there were a number of adults notorious for a blend
of immorality and feeble-mindedness. In other parts of the district
were found the following cases:
Cases l j 2, and 3 .—The Rothman household has until recently in
cluded ,j\frs. Rothman’s illegitimate daughter Anna and her hus
band, Mrs. Rothman’s son by a previous marriage, and a young man
friend of his, whom we may call Spencer.
Mrs. Rothman is 40 years old and tubercular, but it is she who at
tracts various young men to the house. Mr. Rothman is industrious
and not a drinker, but he is dominated by his wife. The house is
offensively dirty.
The Rothmans are tenant farmers, which means that Mr. Rothman
receives, in return for continuous labor the year round for a rich
farmer, the rent of a small and very uncomfortable house, $250 in
cash, the use o f a horse and buggy, two quarts of-milk a day, and
enough potatoes and other common vegetables for the family’s an
nual consumption.
Young Spencer came into the household a few years ago ostensibly
as the friend o f Mrs. Rothman’s son Peter. Both Spencer and Peter
were then under 16. Spencer had previously lived with his parents
on a near-by farm, but he was an unruly boy and would not stay at
home.
Then Spencer went to the city and worked as a messenger boy in
one of the large stores. Meantime his family moved away from N.
They belonged to the nomadic tenant-farmer class.
. _ When these boys were 16 and when Spencer was working in the
city he is said to have stolen from his firm and to have barely escaped
being discharged. That he was o f a thieving tendency may be in
ferred from the following incident: One summer night he came out
from the city on a late trolley and joined Peter, who had elected to
sleep out o f doors that night. The two boys then rode on Anna’s
bicycle to a town 7 or 8 miles away. On the way their wheel broke
down; so they stopped at a farmhouse where they were acquainted,
stole part o f a bicycle there with which to repair their own wheel, and
continued on their way. Arriving in town they burglarized a gro
cery store, were detected, arrested, and sentenced to four months in
the county jail. A fter serving this time in jail Spencer disappeared

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and for two years no one has had any knowledge of his whereabouts;
Peter went to live with relatives in a distant part of the State, and
what his life may be is not known.
When Anna, was 16 years old she was a -freshman in the high
school, which is in a town about 4 miles distant from the Rothman
farm. She had been kept out of school a great deal and was one of
the very few cases which the attendance officer had acted upon. Her
parents had been threatened with prosecution if her attendance did
not improve, but nothing further was done about it.
She had been in the high school only a little over a month when
the principal learned that she Was about to bear a child, and she
was expelled from school. The father of her child was a young man
of 21 years whom Mrs. Rothman, as she expressed it, had “ n^ade one
of her family.”
This young man comes of a hard-working, hard-drinking family
of men of great physical strength and endurance. He was driven
out o f his home at the age of 16 to earn his own living and worked
for various farmers. Sornetimes when he was out o f work kindly
neighbors had sheltered him, and sometimes he had slept in barns
and lived the life of a vagrant. Finally he found himself living with
the Rothmans and the father of Anna’s child. Like all his family
he was a heavy drinker, and at about the time his child was born he
is said to have 'become partially insane as the result of various
excesses.
,
A marriage soon followed the birth of the child, and both he and
his wife continued to live with the Rothmans. Then Mrs. Rothman
took legal advice and actually succeeded in getting the marriage an
nulled on the ground that her daughter was under age. The man
was driven from the house and went to a near-by town and obtained
work as a section hand.
But he was revenged, for he eloped with his wife, and they are now
living happily in the town where he has work. It is said that he
has stopped drinking. Mrs. Rothman still has possession of the
child.
Case 4 .— The case of Kenneth Parsons, a 17-year-old boy, is an
argument for the raising of the age limit o f juvenile delinquency to
18 at the least.
Kenneth is possibly feeble-minded, though his apparent abnor
mality may be merely the result of his unhappy life on a lonesome
little farm, 8 miles from the village. His own father died when he
was 14, and his mother was remarried within 6 months to a man
who vented an ugly temper on the boy. He has been known to string
Kenneth up by the thumbs to a beam in the barn so that his toes
barely touched the floor and then beat him. The mother has been
known to pound him on the head with the stove handle.

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Kenneth has never even learned to tell the time of day by the
clock because no one seems to have tried to teach him. He was very
irregular at school and had finished only the fourth grade at the
age io£ 16.>}
.........
During the last two years Kenneth has absented himself from
home as much as possible. He has worked out on farms and is con
sidered a good worker, but has always been in trouble over his wages
because his stepfather has made a practice o f taking the money
away from him. Recently Kenneth, who has become a big, husky
fellow during the last year, knocked his stepfather down in a fight
they were having over some such matter, and since that day he» has
not been welcome at home. Now the stepfather is trying to persuade
the justice to commit him to Randalls Island.
Another way in which this stepfather caused the boy trouble was
to take him away from farmers for whom he was working, just
when these farmers needed him most in the rush seasons, and put
him to work on his own crops which needed attention. For this rea
son some farmers refuse to employ Kenneth, who is himself ready
and willing to work.
Kenneth has never had the companionship of other boys of his
own age because there are so few children in this corner of the town.
He fras associated with those from 20 to 30 years old, many o f them
,degenerates and drinkers. He has been seen the worse for hard cider
which these men have given him.
There Jiave been times when Kenneth has lived in a shack in the
swamps and slept on the frozen ground in winter because he had
quarreled with his stepfather and been driven out of his home by
him. Fortunately for the boy, he has the physique which can endure
this sort of thing. He is in great danger of becoming a regular
vagrant, for he is forming the habit of tramping all over the town
and sleeping almost anywhere. He is wretchedly dirty and un
shaven and looks like a ragged wild man.
About a year ago, when he was 16, this boy went into a neigh
bor’s kitchen and found the trousers o f the man o f the house hang
ing over a chair beside the stove and took a $10 bill and some loose
change from the pockets. The theft was detected at once, the cul
prit suspected and forced to confess, and the money recaptured. No
action was taken in this matter, but the stepfather thinks that the
boy ought to be sent to Randalls Island.
Soon after this Kenneth was arrested on the complaint of his
mother that he had, stolen a gun. The gun in question had belonged
to his father and had been left in trust to the mother for the boy.
It was kept in a trunk in the attic and Kenneth was to have had it
at the age of 18. He found it hard to wait, so in his mother’s absence
he appropriated the gun. The justice who held the hearing forbade

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Kenneth to carry the gùn, and his mother, to make doubly sure, sold
the gun to a neighbor and kept the money herself.
When Kenneth was 17 he was arrested for stealings a bicycle.
Kenneth had been accustomed to borrowing or hiring this wheel
whenever he wished from the owner, one of his disreputable cronies.
He is a vicious, irresponsible, drunken fellow who has had a bad
influence over the boy. One day Kenneth wished to use thè wheel,
and, not finding the owner at home, took the wheel from the shed and
rode off on it. He kept it overnight and returned it the next morn
ing. Meantime the man had come back drunk and, becoming very
ang»y at the disappearance o f his wheel, swore out a warrant for
Kenneth’s arrest. 'Kenneth was taken to town, 8 miles away, and
locked up overnight in the village cooler, was tried by the justice of
the peace the next morning, and put on parole to the constable. The
justice contemplated sending him to Randalls Island, but did not do
so largely, it seems, because of his lack o f information as to the
requirements o f the law regarding the various institutions for minors.
After Christmas time Kenneth committed another offense by tak
ing a few slices o f salt pork or ham from the family larder, for the
purpose o f taking these things as a Christmas present to an uncle
in an adjoining town whom he was about to visit. On his return
home a few days later his stepfather caused his rearrest»
The justice was now determined to send the boy to Randalls
Island, but before he made the final decision a new justice took office.
This justice refused to hear the case on a warrant issued by the ex
justice, and also refused to issue a new warrant, and thus the case
was dropped and the boy released.
A ll these events have not been without their psychological effect
upon the boy. Three different arrests, two different nights in the
lockup, and once on probation to the constable, and, as the boy says,
“ all for nuthin’,” are enough to make him distrustful o f all law and
order.
Case 5 .— The father o f Ed Leroy was a prosperous farmer, but
with an unsavory reputation; his mother and sister were women of
untarnished reputation.
When the boy was 16 he eloped with a girl from a neighboring
farm and went out West with her. His parents pursued and brought
the couple back to N, where they were separated. The boy was said
to have been very angry and to have vowed that his parents would
be very sorry for their action.
Afterwards, before he was 18 years old, he eloped with two other
girls whom he later abandoned. ,
Among other disgraceful episodes he maintained a negro woman
for several weeks in one of his father’s barns. He married before
he was 20, and later abandoned his wife.

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In the summer of 19— he was living, on the outskirts of the city-,
with a woman whom he had lured away from her husband. A t the
same time he began to show some attention to a young girl whom he
chanced to meet, with the result that the older woman, in a fit of
jealous rage, killed him with his own revolver.
Cases 6. and 7.—Ida and Eose Patten fell early under the worst
o f influences. When respectively 9 and 11 their mother died and
they went to live with their maternal grandmother. She is a good,
though a very ignorant woman, and her influence might have kept
the girls on the right path had it not been for other conditions. The
girls have two half brothers ; one o f these married a notorious woman
from a near-by city and came with her to live at the grandmother’s.
The father is a drunkard; so also is an uncle— and they, too, lived
in the grandmother’s.house. The little girls heard, saw, and learned
everything that was bestial.
In the course o f time the brother divorced his wife, but she did
not leave town for three years, and during this time, until the girls
were 14 and 16, they were constantly with her. In the course o f time
they left their grandmother and went to live with their father.
Here they were absolutely free to do exactly as they chose; and as
a consequence kept open house for all the young reprobates o f the
surrounding country. They have now left home. Ida is working
in a near-by town as a domestic servant. Eose, the older and more
decent of the two, is said to be keeping house for her grandmother,
who has become very feéble.
Both girls are vivacious and seem to be of normal mentality., Eose
even attended the high school for two years, and did very good work.
They come from a very bright family. Under different influences
it can not be doubted that they would have grown up self-respecting
young women.
Case 8.— Emily-Seaver was 16 when she had an illegitimate child.
She is apparently a normal girl mentally, and is spoken of as quiet
and well Jbehaved. She is, moreover, unusually attractive, and a man
of 40, living in the family where she worked as a domestic, wished
to marry her. Her parents refused to give their consent, but he
ultimately gained it by first disgracing the girl.
Her parents had no particular reason for their feeling of superior
ity. They represent the run-out pioneer stock o f the town. Mr.
Seaver is a casual laborer about the town. Ten years ago, when
the children were all small, he was convicted of bastardy and spent
five months in the county jail. After that Mrs. Seaver left him for a
time, but economic pressure seems to have forced her back to him. He
is not o f much help, however, for he is drunk most o f thè time, and
the family is always near starvation.

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Emily was the oldest child, so, as soon as she had finished the
required schooling, she went as a domestic into the family of a
wealthy farmer named Schroeder. It was the farmer’s son William,
a widower living at his father’s home, who was the- father' o i lier
child.
His history is not all that it might be. William and some cousins
had a share in a drunken spree in which a man was killed. As a
result, one of the cousin's has been serving a 20-year sentence for
second-degree manslaughter. For some reason William, escaped
-punishment.
Cases 9 and 10.—Jim Harper and his sister Nellie are now respec
tively 17 and 19 years old, but they have been delinquent for several
years past.
When Nellie was 16 she became the mother o f an illegitimate child.
A forced marriage followed to a man 25 years old, a thorough rascal,
who has since then been conspicuous as a constant admirer of Ida
Patten, the younger of the Patten sisters of a previous record.
Nellie Harper was a normally bright girl, very lively and very
good looking, but wholly without home training. Mrs. Harper, the
mother, was a coarse-grained, coarse-mouthed virago type o f woman.
Mrs. Harper comes from a lawless family and has two brothers who
have both “ done time,” one 6 months for larceny, and the other 14
years for rape.
Mr. Harper is a highly excitable type of man whose favorite insult
is to order persons “ off his land.” He is an English immigrant of
20 years standing, having been a gardener in the old country, and the
actual ownership of land has somewhat gone to his head. He is,
however, a hard-working and prosperous farmer and owns a farm
on which stands a large, old-fashioned house, only a few back rooms
of which are used by the family.
Nellie has gone to live with her husband’s family in an adjoining
county, but they are drunken, dissolute people and Nellie would have
done almost better to have remained with her child in her o^vn home.
She was probably a comparatively innocent victim o f the man’s
degeneracy and her own mother’s careless vulgarity.
Jim and Nellie have an older married brother who lives at home
with his wife. He is said to be somewhat feeble-minded and to be
unable to maintain a home of his own. He seldom leaves the farm.
He has no children.
I f there is a feeble-minded strain in these children, Jim shows it
only by unruly lawlessness. He resembles his mother in his blatant,
vociferous self-assertion, as he also resembles her physically, and
is a neighborhood nuisance. Farmers are forced to keep their barns
locked in order to keep him out. Unlike the majority of delinquent
boys, this young man o f 17 seems to enjoy a mean disposition.

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About a year ago he shot a neighbor’s hog in revenge for the
neighbor’s act in running over his dog, a pure accident due to the
dog’s own fault. Two years ago Jim stole a dog in the town 5 miles
distant, ^Through the constable as intermediary Jim’s father settled
this affair by paying $5 to the owner of the dog. The question of
the hog shooting is still in dispute.
Some time ago he entered a neighbor’s barn and stole a gun. The
evidence was strong against him because he was seen prowling about
the barn and later the gun had disappeared. He disposed of the gun
successfully, however, and it was never found in his possession. In
a similar manner he stole another farmer’s saw, but no action was
taken against him for the saw could never be found.
Last summer in the neighboring town a boy, two years younger
than Jim, was convicted of setting fires and was committed to In
dustry. In his confession he stated that Jim had been his accomplice.
Jim ’s parents, however, proved an alibi.
His latest escapade has been more serious for him. He was ac
cused o f stealing skunk skins, valued at $25 from another boy with
whom he had been trapping. The skins were actually found in his
possession and testimony was given that he had offered them for sale.
An order was issued that the skins be returned to their owner, but no
further punishment seems to have been contemplated.
In addition to this tendency to larceny, Jim has shown bad blood
in other ways. The parents of this boy dragged him from Mrs.
Rothman’s house at 1 o’clock in the morning.
Another habit o f this boy is to disappear periodically for a few
months at a time, usually when he has been accused of some delin
quency. It is not known where he goes at these times nor what he
does.
Although this boy is 17 years old his behavior is of the juvenile
’’type and he ought to be under the jurisdiction o f a juvenile court.

COMMUNITY O.
O is a stopping place among the hills, o f only 200 inhabitants, and
has not much individuality as a village. The trolley stops there
and the railroad furnishes shipping facilities for considerable‘ farm
produce. A rug factory, employs 2 or 3 women and 8 or 10 men.
There are two stores and two white-steepled churches. The young
people, what few there are, go to other towns for amusement. The
school is rather above the average, for both teachers have had many
years’ experience, and the trustees are interested in fixing up the
schoolhouse.
To this little settlement came to live the mother o f the lad whose
story is given below.

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Case 1.—Martin Spiegel’s father, a storekeeper in another State,
died before Martin was born. His money, all but $300, went, to his
daughter by a former marriage, so Mrs. Spiegel put the two older
children in a home. Here they were punished so severely that tthe
older one died, and one boy’s arm was so injured that he still has
trouble with it. Despite this terrible experience Martin was also
placed in the home. Mrs. Spiegel meanwhile married a man by
whom she had two children, both o f whom have been adopted into
other homes. Martin was bound out at 7 years o f age to a farmer
who beat him so badly that he ran away to a relative. This relative
u booted ” him, so he took $2.50 that he had saved and came up to O
when he was 12 years old.
His mother by this time had married a man much her senior
and settled in O. She says that this poor old man has supported
Martin since he was 12 years old, but Martin has worked on several
farms around, and she has always busied herself collecting his
wages.
When Martin attended school here he was in the fifth grade at
the age of 13; and the teacher used to punish him severely— knock
ing him down—because he was stubborn and said “ I dunno” to all
questions. Afterwards he did better. In arithmetic, which he liked,
he recited well, but he had no memory. The teacher did not con
sider him stupid nor abnormal; he passed all his grade examina
tions, except spelling, with good marks. The next year he left and
went to a near-by settlement, where he worked on a farm for his
board and clothes.
The neighborhood he went to is merely a cluster o f half a dozen
farmhouses at a trolley stop. The nearest neighboring towns are
only a mile or so distant, and the people depend upon them for church
and social life, but a bound-out farmer’s boy of 14, who could not go
and come freely must have found life here anything but interesting*
or attractive.
The school-teacher did not like to have Martin associate with the
little girls, owing to improper remarks o f his which they reported.
She felt that the boy needed such teaching in the matter o f sex as.a
good father would have given him ; she herself was unable to meet
his need o f guidance. The wife of Martin’s employer said that the
boy had very bad personal habits and that she regarded him as
* lacking.” One very serious offense the boy attempted. He coaxed
a little 4-year-old girl into a ravine in the neighborhood. The child’s
mother heard a scream, and, missing her little girl, ran to the ravine.
The child had been handled roughly, but, fortunately, not actually,
injured. The mother complained and took the boy before the jus
tice, who discharged Martin with a warning, though he has talked
to him more than once since at his mother’s request.

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Martin has done nothing o f this sort since, so far as could be
learned. He returned to O, where lie again attended school through
the winter, working at a neighboring farmer’s for his board. The
teacher says of him at this time, that he was as strange a person as
she ever knew ; like a little old man, for he would not play with other
children, but just stood around. She could not get anything out of
him in recitations, nor could he commit anything to memory, but he
was good in written work.
The last of April Martin got his working papers and began to
work for $8 a month and board with the farmer with whom he had
been staying. A t first he was good and worked well, and the
farmer’s wife tried to make something of. him, but she came to the
conclusion there was nothing to work on. Her young daughter
treated him well too, though none of the young people would ever
have anything to do with him. At first he did not smoke, for the
farmer and his wife told him he must not, but he began again, and
told his mother that he had to smoke to keep up his strength, be
cause the haying was so hard. After a while he abused his privi
leges, began to misuse the horses and cattle, and acted badly in
general.
Then they had trouble about his pay. His mother, Mrs. Jaynes,
insisted on having all the money, and Martin wanted 50 cents a
week to spend. His employer thought o f getting another guardian
appointed for the boy, but he found out through the justice that it
would be too much trouble. He went home one night with Martin
in an attempt to find out whom to pay, and the stepfather, Mr.
Jaynes, got angry ,and threatened to shoot the boy. Mrs. Jaynes
cares only for Martin’s money, and he hates lier ; “ she isn’t like other
folks— you don’t know her,” he says.
Then he left this place and went to work for a farmer away off
on an isolated farm. This employer found him slow but faithful,
and reported that he worked all right if left to himself. He received
his board and $15 a month, which his mother insisted on having
paid to her.
When winter came on, Martin returned home, and has had
trouble with his mother ever since. For over a month he has worked
in a near-by town loading wagons. The work is hard, unskilled
labor, and he goes back and forth daily on the trolley. He receives
$10.60 a week, and wishes to keep the 60 cents for spending money,
but his mother is determined to handle it all.
Twice the parents hâve turned Martin out in the cold at night :
once, Mrs. Jaynes declares, because he struck her and Mr. Jaynes.
Thé trouble was over his wages, so'me of which his mother thought
he was holding back. . On both occasions Martin went to the justice.
The last time he was at the justice’s house he cried was i f his heart

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would break,” and the justice sent him back to tell his mother that
she must take him in.
Martin’s present employment has no educational value, nor does
it promise any future advancement, and he wishes to get away, but
his mother holds on to him for the sake o f his wages. He has now
grown very handsome, and to the casual observer seems bright. .

COMMUNITY P.
The setting for the three following cases is the sparsely populated
hill country back from a little village 13 miles by rail from a goodsized city. In this hill district are small and stony farms along the
hill roads or in patches o f clearing on the mountain side. The
farmers make the barest kind of living; their mode o f life is o f the
most primitive. Their children must travel 2 or 3 miles to the vil
lage to school— a difficult task in the winter. The church and its in
fluences are equally remote. The following cases indicate what con
ditions may be expected in such a neighborhood.
Case 1 — George and Matilda were married and had 9 children in
18 years. The father was hard-working, heavy-minded, narrowvisioned, his whole thought and strength given to paying the mort
gage on his hillside farm of 24 acres, and finishing the house which
he had planned, raised, and partly completed with his own hands.
He came of a respectable hard-working family, whose only vice was
drink.
Matilda, the wife, came of mountain people. She must have been
a very attractive girl, for at 38, after having borne 11 children, she
is still lithe, slender, with an interesting face, apd black, snapping
eyes.
Apparently, the family lived the hard-working, narrow lives of
the small hill-farm people until the death of the father. A t
tendance at church was irregular, but they lived at a distance from
town. The children were regularly sent to school, and though
they were not especially bright, managed to keep up with their
classes. But since the death of the father, the mother attends ques
tionable dances and merrymakings, which often turn into rowdyism.
She sometimes leaves six little children at home alone, without any
provision for food, for two or three days at a time.
Many men visit the mother*; women of low character from the
hills are visiting her most of the time ; she has had two illegitimate
children. For the first child she collected $125 from the father; for
the next she did not know on whom to make a claim.
In the five years since the father’s death his children have de
veloped into community burdens. -The oldest son holds a job as farm
hand with difficulty, because sooner or later he is suspected of being
light-fingered. The next one died of neglected pneumonia, the doc
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tor not having been sent for till too late. The third son, two years
after his father’s death, when he was 14, got into so much mischief
that the justice decided to send him to Randalls Island for the sake
of discipline. A kind-hearted summer visitor intervened and paid
the expenses o f the boy at the George Junior Republic. The experi
ence did him some good, for with his elder brother he now works on
farms, but with some difficulty in holding a job.
The next son, when his father died, went to live with his uncle in
a neighboring village. Here he has had much better family sur
roundings than at home, has attended school regularly, but has per
sistently failed to learn. The teacher says that he apparently paysattention, but that when asked a question about the work he seems
to have no sense of what it means; but on the playground, or when
talking of anything not connected with lessons, he is bright and
quick. The boy is strong and well-grown.
The next two boys, 13 and 11, are in the third grade o f the village
school, to which they tramp a long, hilly mile and a half, carrying
their lunch. They have been detected in picking up things about
the schoolroom. When the mother is away they beg or steal from
the neighbors. They are scrawny, bad colored, and limp, with hardly
enough energy to get through the day. Shy and furtive while an
swering questions, they easily -get frightened and cringe like dogs
accustomed to being beaten. Their clothes are pick-ups, and unless
the poor master happens to relent and give them another new pair o f
shoes, their feet are apt to be on the ground, or they will come to
school in old arctics, in men’s shoes, or in anything they can find or
beg.
The only daughter, 8 years old, has never been in school. The
mother was not obliged by law to send her until she was 8, and now
is full o f excuses, though the school authorities have been trying
to have the child come. Her mother claims that it is too far and
too dangerous for a little girl to travel on the country roads,
though her two brothers go every day; that she has no clothes; that
she needs the child, at home; ending with promises that she will send
her soon. The neighbors say that the child uses such vile language
and teaches so many bad tricks that they will not let their little girls
play with her and that she prefers to play with boys. She is as fur
tive as a little animal and runs and hides whenever a stranger comes
near the house.
The three youngest children, two o f them illegitimate, aged 6, 3,
and 2, are scantily clothed, underfed, and brutally treated by the
mother, who seems to have no affection for them.
The home o f the family is an old shed, which has been boarded up
over the uprights o f the inside, and provided with a door and win499850— 18----- 12

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dow at one end. In the front part are a bed, table, some broken
chairs, a cook stove with stovepipe through the wall instead of a
chimney, and no floor space left free. When the father died, the
mother sold the place, which he had tried to earn, and put part o f
the money in the shed where they now live; the rest went for good
times. Nominally she now lives by taking in washing and by what
two older boys give her from their wages.
Case 2.__Both father and mother come from “ no-account ” families
who have extraordinary records for shiftless, hand-to-mouth living,
irregular marriages, drink, immorality, and general worthlessness.
They have drifted around the country, living wherever they could
without paying rent, getting an occasional day’s work, being helped
by the poor master from time to time, and regularly adding to the
family until there were six. When the family fortunes were so
desperate that the neighbors could stand it no longer, the family was
reported to the children’s society. The father had recently died
of typhoid fever; the children had been sent home from school
with the itch ; the mother was already “ running around ” with men,
sometimes going away and leaving the eldest girl, then 14, to look
after the five smaller children; sometimes leaving them with her
relatives; and in no way assuming any responsibilities for them.
Sometimes when the mother was home, she would send the children
to neighbors, saying they were starving, and could they please have
something to take home. At that time they were living in a dilapi
dated house o f one room, with wide cracks in the wall which let in
the bitter winter weather.
A children’s society placed the three children aged 8, 10, and 11,
in a children’s home. Later they were adopted.
This still left in the family the mother, a boy of 16, a girl of 14,
and the baby 1 year old. The boy was at work on a farm getting
wages of $2.80 a week and his living, barely enough to keep him
self in clothing, leaving the mother and girl to make a living for
themselves and for the baby. The duty was assumed by the agent
o f the same society of looking out for this mother and daughter, both
already enamoured of living in the easiest way. Then followed a
long, trying experience of attempts to fit them into homes where
they would be tolerated until they could be taught even the simple
housekeeping which they had never done. Both mother and daughter
are unusually attractive, and there seems to be no doubt of their
continued immorality.
After two years of aimless drifting the mother has finally taken
to living with a hard-working man o f fair reputation, who keeps
a stem eye on her and holds her to a regular, fairly decent life.
She goes with him to husk corn, and to cut and pile when he is
clearing: woodland. Their home, while scantily furnished, is clean.

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The small boy, now nearly 4 years old, is well fed and has good
manners.
The mother talked freely o f the life her daughter is leading; and
o f a long list of relations who are county charges—outcasts in every
community where they live. Her life has always been associated with
vice, and she talks of it as a commonplace.
The girl, now 16, is attractive but utterly irresponsible, steeped in
vicious knowledge, a cigarette fiend, and by choice a companion of
the worst possible associates. She has practically no education, be
cause o f the roving life o f the family, but she is intelligent and ca
pable. During her contact with the children’s society she developed
a strong affection for the agent and still goes to see her frequently.
She had naturally a great fondness for children, and through this
trait the agent hoped to get a hold on her, but with the girl’s wander
ing life, it has largely been lost. The girl has grown very impatient
o f any kind o f restraint and flits from one relative to another—
stays a few days or weeks in the country, then flits away to the city.
She declines every job that is offered because, as she says, she “ can’t
bear to think o f doing the same thing day after day.”
. ^ ase
The man with whom the mother in the above case is
living has a boy at Industry, where he has been sent twice. After
his first term, he was paroled to his father—not a wise course it would
seem, for the father had already failed to control him.
But the father’s story o f the boy is this: The mother died when
the boy was 3, and the two girls were only little things. He boarded
them out with a family where he thought they would be well taken
care of, and he worked as a farm hand to support them. They were
never made to mind and grew up hard to manage. The boy is bright
and was always “ crazy about horses.” The first time he was sent to
Industry he had taken a horse and driven it off, but the owner got
it back. For a while after his return home he did better, but later
on, he went to a farm where he knew the people and where his father
had once worked, stole a horse, and drove it to a city about 15 miles
distant. He tried to sell it for $20 and, since the horse was easily
worth $150, the police were suspicious. They let him go, and he drove
it some 12 miles farther, and put it in the barn of a man whom he
knew. Then the police arrested him and sent him back to Industry.
Letters from the boy are well written and very affectionate, though
evidently prepared under supervision. The boy is very fond of the
little child o f the woman with whom his father is living.
It is ra debatable question whether the father is a fit guardian for
the boy. The neighboring farmer for whom he does day’s work says
that he is steady, competent, and intelligent. He is illiterate, went
for a time under a name not his own, and now quarrels violently at
times with the woman he has taken into his home. He makes a fair

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income, sometimes taking jobs o f wood clearing on his own account,
and sometimes working as a farm laborer.

COMMUNITY Q.
Though Q is only 4 miles from a city and only 2 miles from the
trolley .line, it has all the characteristics and the appearance of a
rural community. The proximity o f the city emphasizes the isola
tion of this little settlement. The narrow road between the hills
seems to close behind you as you come to the slight widening of the
valley where the store and the schoolhouse lie.
The schoolhouse, to the right and back of the store, looks quite im
posing by comparison with the unpainted shacks which are the dwell
ing houses o f the community. It is a pretty building, clean and
white, with a flag gaily flying in front. Sunday school, started by
a lady from town, has been held in the schoolhouse this autumn.
But the membership dropped off, and the Sunday school was given
'up after a few meetings.
The day school offers eighth-grade work when anyone wishes it.
Except for nature study twice a week and music, only the usual rou
tine subjects are given, with no connection with life, as far as could
be seen. Facts and mental drill are emphasized, and the scholars
are good at mental arithmetic. The teacher is a girl of 19, suc
cessor to another young girl who could not manage the children last
year. She likes the children and is friendly, but stern in old-fash
ioned discipline. There is nothing here to interest boys and girls
from 14 to 16, unless they are preparing for high school, which the
children here are generally not doing. The city vocational and high
schools are accessible, but no pupils are inspired to seek further
education.
Last autumn action was taken by the school in cases o f children
“ staying out to work.” As a result several boys obtained their
school certificates in order that they might help on the farm in the busy
seasons. These boys come back to school during the winter months,
and make the teacher enough trouble almost to disorganize the school.
The attendance is poor, but the children always bring excuses, and,
though the teacher doubts their validity, she thinks she has no
redress.
The hill farms are rather poor. Farther over is a wonderful
patch of huckleberries, which covers about 200 acres back on the
hills, and many families add very materially to their income while
some few o f the lazy ones live entirely by berrying. Farming and
berrying are the only industries. The children work on the farms
a good deal. In the school there has been much trouble about irregu
lar attendance because the parents keep their children out to pick up
potatoes and to do other farm work. Several men live here for the

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sake of being out in the country, and drive in every day to work in
the city. Some men go to the city for occasional “ sprees.”
Both in the community and in the school there has been trouble
with the Rankins and the Platts. The boys will steal things out of
the store unless watched; they threw stockings in the pork brine
once; they stole three pairs o f mittens; they smeared lard on the
counters and on the storekeeper’s coat.
Case 1 .— Orville Rankin, aged 13, slipped a pair o f suspenders into
his pocket one day. The storekeeper, finding it out, chased the boy
across a field, caught him and made him give up the suspenders.
Orville is a truant. Where he formerly lived, he had not attended
school regularly for several years. He lives around everywhere—
sometimes with a man named Tom Blagden, sometimes with his
father. His mother is dead, and his father and brother are living
temporarily in a shack “ up the Hollow.” He is in the third grade
only, and is queer and stupid.
Case 0 — Harry Platt, now IT years old, was once up before the jus
tice for stealing a bicycle. The family says he only “ borrowed ” the
wheel. He was arrested, pleaded guilty at the trial, and was put on
probation for three months to the justice. Since this he has “ bor
rowed ” another bicycle, but the consensus o f opinion is that he did
not intend to steal it. The owner got the bicycle back, and the boy was
not arrested. More recently he stole a can of salmon from the store
and made the mistake of bragging about it. The storekeeper heard
of it and threatened him with the reform school unless he paid
50 cents for it, which he did.
In school he had a bad influence upon the other children. He and
Roland Rankin, for example, taught all the boys, even the small ones,
to smoke. He left when in the third grade, because he was too big
to go any longer. He did not like school at all.
The Platts have never been equaled for shiftlessness. “ Long
Tom,” as the father is called, was left a good farm, good dairy cows,
a team, and $500 when his father died. He comes from a good
family, and his sisters are well spoken of. But “ Long Tom,” himself,
is- so lazy and drunken that he has let the place go to complete ruin.
He has sold off 40 acres o f land, and all the animals are gone. Noth
ing is left except a tumble-down shanty and a dilapidated barn.
Though there is a good piece of woodland, and three able-bodied men
folk at home, they tear the siding off the house for fuel.
The shack has two rooms and a loft. At the time of the visit the
kitchen was very dirty; even the packing paper on the walls was
grimy. The furniture consisted o f one chair, a stove, a table, a stool,
and the wood box which “ Long Tom ” occupied. A heap of dirty
rags lay beside the stove, and on this sat two of the children—boys

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o f 4 and 5. They probably sleep there. The stove was rusty, and
dirty dishes and remnants o f food littered the table.
The children were ragged and dirty. Neighbors say they go bare
footed throughout the whiter. One had on a pair o f woman’s shoes,
both for the same foot. The two little boys and the third, about 2
years old, seemed like little animals. They said not a word, did not
play or move, but just stared with round, beady brown eyes.
“ Long T o m ” is intelligent and looks well bred, but he uses
all his money for drink. He lies drunk along the road many a night.
In the summer the family picks berries, at least the rest of them d o ;
he is too lazy for even this effort. Yet he is not too far gone to
feel his failure. The father has urged Harry to continue school, for
he believes in education; but the children disliked the teacher last
year, and Harry felt himself too big to go.
The older sons have also a reputation for shiftlessness. A neigh
bor said he would not board one o f them a day for what he would
do in a month.
The mother is called “ simple.” Even when her husband gives
her money, or when she has money from selling berries, she will let
him get it away from her when he is drinking. Then she follows him
along the road and cares for him when he is too drunk to know
anything. The older daughters are said to be well married. A
younger girl lives with her sister. There are 11 children—-5 girls
and 6 boys—in all.
Harry is not living at home at present; he works by the day on
different farms, sleeps in the barns at night, and is a “ regular
tramp.” His father says some o f the farmers do not pay him. In the
autumn he was working regularly at James Rankin’s, but Mrs. Ran
kin has fought against his staying, for she fears his influence on the
younger children. There, too, he sleeps in the barn, which is proba
bly cleaner than his home. He does everything—chores, picking up
potatoes, chopping wood— and earns from $1 to $2 a day. His work
is irregular, for he can usually get a job only three or four days a
week. There is certainly nothing stimulating about his association
with hired men and uneducated farmers. He learns at best a little
of shiftless farming. He goes out nights with older men, such as
Tom Blagden, and he hunts a good deal. Altogether ffis situation
is rather hopeless.
Case 3 .— Roland Rankin is the 15-year-old son of the Rankins for
whom Harry' works. Besides being connected with the disturbances
in school and “ cutting up ” in the store, he has been in two scrapes
by himself. He stoned a horse and its driver, for which he was
punished by his father, and he bought some seeds at the store and
did not pay the clerk. Later he brought the seeds back, saying that

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they were not right, and got the money for the return. The store
keeper made the father pay for them. Roland told the other boys
at school that he would have to go to jail if the seeds were not paid
for, so the boys stole eggs from the henhouses around and sold them
to the storekeeper to get money for Roland.
Although the Rankins are a well-to-do farmer family, they live in
an old, unpainted, wooden shack. Mr. and Mrs. Rankin and their
seven children, o f whom Donald is the oldest, live in two rooms, a
loft, and a pantry. For 26 years they have lived in this apology for a
house, but they have two good, sizable barns.
Mr. Rankin owns a good hill farm o f about 200 acres, besides
renting 25 acres for cash and working 40 acres on shares. He claims
to be a self-made man—to have begun as a day laborer and to have
earned all he has. A neighbor told the investigator, however, that
his father left him money.
Mrs. Rankin has all the savoir faire o f a city-bred woman and
dresses well. She is an attractive, lively little woman with a great
deal of “ go.” How she could have retained any vitality after hav
ing had such a large family, and with 26 years o f keeping house
and making butter besides, is a question. She pays to have the
washing done for her, but aside from this she has no assistance.
There are four older children who work in the city at good wages.
Mrs. Rankin has never had any trouble with the children; they are
all decent, she says. She was brought up strictly, not to believe in
card playing, and she talks to her children to make them behave.
Mr. Rankin is a typical, husky farmer. In his pursuit of money
he has overlooked the welfare of his children. Two o f his older
sons left him when he needed them on the farm— Fred because
he was not paid enough and because he could not have a horse to
drive;. Donald because he wanted a change. Therefore, he was
forced to hire Tom Blagden, a good-for-nothing, drinking man. He
pays him $18 a month. Tom, with his wife and children, lives in a
miserable little shanty some way beyond the Rankin farm. His
house seems to be a sort of recreation center, where the boys go to
play euchre. Fred thinks it would have been better if their mother
had let them play at home.
Because of the desertion of the older boys, Mr, Rankin has needed
Roland on the farm. When he has to go away there is no one to
leave, except Roland, so he had to stay out of school a great deal,
and as this made trouble about money he got his working papers.
His parents think that an education is necessary, and his mother
would like to have him continue school. He is in the sixth grade
and gets along all right, but dislikes school. He has returned to
school this winter after being out six weeks to work. He worked
all day with the hired man and Harry Platt. They had a good,

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sociable time together, and one can h a r d l y blame him for preferring
it to school, but the associations are no better for him than for
Harry.

COMMUNITY R.
This is a little hill settlement, reached by a tedious climb up a
winding road. About 25 houses, 8 saloons, a district school, and a
mission church straggle along the mile of village street. The dom
inant note is struck by the saloons, for to them come regularly to join
the villagers the hill people for many miles around. Men and
women drink together at the bars or stagger home with their full
bottles. Children learn the taste of liquor with their mother’s milk,
and hardly walk before their stray pennies are spent for chewing
tobacco.
It is 6 long miles to the railway station, down one long hill and
up another, hence visits to larger towns or cities are rare.
The majority o f these families of this neighborhood never have
more than a few dollars at a time, with a yearly income in many
cases of less than $100. The men do an occasional day’s work cut
ting timber or brush, hauling wood to market, or at farm labor for
a farmer in the valley.
The district school enrolls 26 children. Many of them come from
the isolated farms along wood roads, which are impassable after
heavy storms or when the snow lies deep. They attend irregularly
and carelessly, and the threats of the truant officer are given indiffer
ent consideration. In the estimation of the community education or
lack of it has little to do with the problem of making a living. From
the teaching side the school can be endured only by a young teacher
seeking the year’s experience which will help her to get a better
place. She usually mitigates existence during the ordeal by staying
as little as possible at school or in the village. Many of the children
under her charge are o f low mentality, with a prejudice copied from
their elders against the restrictions of the school; they are wise in
vice and skillful in petty meanness and they are undernourished.
Often they walk the long miles to school and make their luncheon
on such unsuitable fare as cold buckwheat cakes, stuck together with
cold pork grease.
At the mission church, erected as a joint venture of the more pros
perous churches around, services are held by ministers o f various de
nominations—generally twice a month, when the weather is not too
bad to make the long drive. Sparsely attended, these services bring
a scant measure of religion into the lives of the people. The min
isters drive the long, hard miles into the hills when death comes or
when, more rarely, some man and woman decide to marry before liv
ing together. Sometimes the doctor is the only moral influence with

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which the family ever comes in contact. On the isolated farms in
the one-room shacks birth, death, sickness, the brutalities o f intoxi
cation, and the intimacies o f sex relations are the common experiences
o f all the members o f the family from the toddler to the grand
parent.
Following are the cases found here:
Case 1 .—A t one end of the long village street lives the Marsh family,
consisting o f a father and three boys, 16, 14, and 8. Since the mother
died various women have lived with the father until they would
grow tired of his drunkenness and cruelty and leave him. The home
is a two-room, partly furnished shack opposite a crossroads saloon
o f unsavory reputation. The yard is cluttered with old broken
buggies, lumber, and junk of all kinds, picked up on the father’s
peddling trips through the country. Inside, the house is fairly
clean, man-fashioned; the boys are well fed and sturdy in growth,
and physically there is nothing on which to base complaint. The
boys go to school when they like; but they prefer to make the long
trips with the father when he goes peddling meat and provisions
across hills and valleys, or to go on expeditions o f their own. Often
the father comes back drunk late at night, and the boys must wait
up for him and take care of the horse or get a beating. The neighbors
say that he has tied the oldest boys to a tree and thrashed them with
a horsewhip. He is known locally as a thief and has been caught in
depredations, but the fear o f reprisals or o f more serious losses keeps
the neighbors from taking action.
In turn the father' complains that his boys steal from him—that
they take his money out of his pockets, that they can not be trusted
with anything about the place. When one boy broke into a store
owned by a neighbor and was accused, the father made him return
the money not on moral grounds but through fear.
The boys do not lack in native shrewdness and cleverness, and it is
likely that under careful and constant supervision they might develop
into capable men.
Case 2 .— One o f the women who has liyed with the family from
time to time is Mrs. Mead. She married one o f the men of the hills,
shiftless, no account, but a good carpenter and able to make fair
wages when willing to work. Four children were born—three boys
and one girl, o f whom one boy died. A fter many violent quarrels,
with accusations and counteraccusations o f drunkenness and im
morality, Mrs. Mead left her husband, taking the three children.
For a time she supported herself and the children with the help of
relatives by occasional day’s work and with some relief from the
poor master. She has a local reputation for being smart and capable
but vicious in temper and loose in morals. Provisions and clothing
sent by her husband after their separation she burned and has

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refused all attempts at reconciliation, though the husband has re
pented and is willing to support his children.
Then Mrs. Mead and her three children went to live with Marsh
and his three boys in their 2-room shack, with results to the children
which may be imagined. The 10-year-old girl became so vile in
speech from the things she has picked up in dance halls and saloons
that even the grandmother could see no cure except to take the chil
dren away. The mother refused to let them go, but agreed to move
from the Marsh house and live by herself, claiming that she was able
to support the children.

COMMUNITY S.
One could scarcely find a more isolated or more desolately poor
region than S. To reach it a drive up precipitous hills is necessary.
The nearest trolley stop is 3 or 4 miles away. The nearest trading
centers are 5 and 8 miles distant. Farm products are generally
driven to the larger places, from 8 to 14 miles away; a good macadam
road is found after the first few miles down the hill.
Lumbering is the only industry besides farming. Portable saw
mills settle down at the foot of a forested hillside, saw off the tim
ber felled, and move on. The farm land is very poor, so poor that
everyone has a hard time to make a living and few are well-to-do.
Now almost every other farm is deserted, and the gaunt, unpainted
houses and dilapidated barns add to the bleak desolation of the land
scape.
About 45 years ago all the houses were occupied and it was hard to
get a farm to work. The school used to be much larger, having 50
or 60 pupils. Fifteen years ago 25 or 30 children attended the
school. Now there are 18 pupils. There are practically no young
people in the place, for .they all go to the city as soon as they are old
enough to work.
As a result o f this social and economic decay a much less desirable
class of people lives around here now. Poverty-stricken, inefficient
farmers have taken up the land, which, for the most part, they rent
or work on shares. Some land is not used at a ll; some is worked by
farmers who live on their own land. Little dairy farming is done,
for that takes more ability and intelligence. Hay, grain, and po
tatoes are raised chiefly.
The poverty of the land and of the people is reflected in the
houses, in the barrenness o f community life, in the school, and in the
children. The settlement boasts not more than two houses in good
repair and painted to look Well. Several houses are banked up with
manure for warmth over the winter. Many are not fit to be lived in
at all.

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Social life is scarcely known in S. The farms are rather too far
apart for neighborly calls. The two churches used to hold meetings
and had socials and donations, but do nothing o f this sort now. A
peculiar sect has 10 adherents who have Saturday meetings, with an
occasional sermon in the schoolhouse. A general Sunday school is
held in the schoolhouse during the summer months.
One winter a series of biweekly dances held at a farmhouse at
tracted much attention and disapproving comment. Because the fam
ily giving them was considered rather disreputable, no girls outside
the family would go to the dances. Some dances are held at private
houses down in a near-by valley, and when the snowdrifts áre not
too deep the villagers attend these.
O f wider interest are the revival meetings which run from 2 to 6
weeks in the various churches. The people from the countryside
drive in to' such revivals quite generally.
The only big social event is an annual soldiers’ picnic held on the
picnic grounds, which consist of a clearing and wood patch on which
closets and a band stand have been built. Several hundred come
every year, sometimes as many as 500. A band is hired for the
occasion, and good speakers are invited. About a year ago some of
the men wished to build a dance pavilion and introduce dancing,
but considerable opposition arose on the ground that dancing at
tracted a low ,crowd. Accordingly no recreation is furnished ex
cept swings for the children.
The school has been noted for the past 50 years as a rough school.
When older boys of 17 and 18 used to attend, they made a practice
of “ running ou t” the teachers, who were young women.as now, until
the school board would hire a husky man who “ licked ” the ring
leader and thereafter all would be well for a time. The name for
roughness and incorrigibility still hangs to the school despite the
fact that no older boys are pupils now. The oldest boy is only 13,
and yet a gang of bad boys has developed under his leadership. No
one speaks a good word for the school.
The school building sits barely upon the very top o f the hill.
Neither building nor grounds afford the proper opportunity for
play. The teacher declares that the boys get into mischief simply
because they have nothing to do and nothing with which to play.
No attempt has been made to make the schoolroom beautiful or
interesting. In a high wind the ceiling cracks and rattles to such an
extent that the teacher can not hear classes; the cast-iron wood stove
in the center leaves cold the farther seats, which are right up against
the back windows. Even in November the girls have to sit with their
coats on. A fairly good library is kept in an old wooden cup
board and is used by a few o f the children. Textbooks are furnished
by the parents, but often the district has to buy books, for the parents
are too poor or refuse to buy.

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The single trustee, Mr. Trumble, takes a direct and active part
in running the school. He builds the fire in the morning, and often
acts as truant officer. There is continual trouble with truancy in
this school. A t least half the children in attendance are kept out
to work during the autumn, and in winter getting to school be
comes a pretty serious problem for young children who live 2 miles
from the schoolhouse. The regular truant officer lives many miles
away, but he is often sent for. Last year working papers were
granted to two o f the big boys, and people have been much dis
gusted with their actions since. They run the roads and swap
horses most of the time.
The teaching in this school aims apparently at drill and a knowl
edge o f facts which the children seem quite unable to retain. The
boys in the fourth grade read so badly on the occasion of the in
vestigator’s visit that the teacher had to tell them about every third
word. In arithmetic they halt at fractions. No spark of interest
seemed to enliven the dragging lessons. The teacher last year intro
duced excursions to the woods for nature study, but the parents ob
jected vehemently. They said they wanted to know where their
children were; they did not send them to school to wander around
the hills, and they thought “ the teacher last year was too friendly
with the scholars, anyway.”
Occasional lectures and lantern shows used to be held in the
schoolhouse, but there have not been any in two years. Election
speeches were made there too, but the people objected to such worldly
use of a schoolhouse, so now the “ town house ” is used for all election
and town business.
Case 1 .—Harry Porterfield was delinquent before the family came
here to live. A t the age of 11 he stole a watch. A t this time the
Porterfields lived a mile or so out o f a little village in the valley.
The watch was stolen from a neighbor, who got a Warrant for both
father and son, and the watch was found in the father’s possession.
He claimed that Harry had stolen it. But the justice says he does
not believe Mr. Porterfield would have said a word about the watch
had he not been arrested.
So Harry was sentenced to be sent to Industry, but the sentence
was remanded. The leniency shown by the justice may have been
due to friendship for the boy’s uncle. Harry returned to his family
and afterwards they moved to this place.
At the S school Harry—by this time 13 years old—became the
leader of a gang o f boys who had been causing all sorts of trouble.
In this gang were Walter Buckmaster, 10 years old, Johnny Buckmaster, 11 years old, George Cooper, 10 years old, and several smaller
boys. They began quite innocently by swimming in a brook near the
schoolhouse. The people upon whose property they swam objected,

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but the teacher could see no harm, for the girls were not around.
Since the boys were no longer permitted to swim they looked else
where for amusement, and committed a serious depredation. They
went to play during the noon hour on the picnic grounds and tore
one of the toilets to pieces, tipped over another, lifted still a third
off its base. Harry built a fire in the band stand, but the boys put
it out before it did any great harm. The boys all say that Harry did
most o f the damage.
The owner o f the picnic grounds did not wish to do anything
about the matter because so many o f the boys were implicated, but
he did report it to the school trustee, who talked to the school, par
ticularly blaming Harry Porterfield. The trustee then made a rule
that the children should not leave the school grounds from 9 to 4
o’clock. The district superintendent, also, lectured the school about
it and scolded the Porterfield boy. Meanwhile the boys kept on
searching for play. They built dams in the ditch and pounded
sticks in the ground. The only inclosed place for play on the school
grounds is the woodhouse. They took to playing in there, and Harry
taught Walter and Horace Buckmaster to smoke. The teacher heard
o f this and put a stop to the smoking. Now the boys “ set out in the
woodhouse on a seat we’ve got fixed,” as one of them described their
usual amusements. It is pathetic to see their attempts to make some
thing with no material save sticks of firewood, which they have
pounded in the ground, and a board which they have put across the
sticks.
The whole Porterfield family bears a reputation for thieving in S.
Mr. Porterfield was suspected of chicken stealing in the town he
formerly lived in, and John Doe proceedings were once got out
against him. He has twice been on probation for deserting his
family and he goes off on sprees every time he gets money enough.
He is a strange-looking being. A very badly crossed and bloodshot
bulging eye lends peculiar humor to a pose of frank, kindly
innocence.
Bad blood comes in also on the other side of the house. Mrs. Por
terfield’s brother is a rough, drunken fellow who is known to have
committed criminal assault.
Mrs. Porterfield is a neat, clean, capable appearing woman of 30
years. She is apparently o f average intelligence and shrewd enough
to put the family situation in the best light. She finds it lonely in S,
for she knows no one. She used to work out in a village where she
knew people. The younger children seem fond of her and mind her
well. She said Harry’s father mad6 him behave, and he told the
investigator that Harry had to mind him when he is around. A c
cording to Harry, however, his father has not punished him for any
o f his depredations.

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The house sits on a hillside; the- roads are rather bad, and when
snow comes the children have great difficulty in walking the long
mile and a half to school. Their isolation is complete. No neigh
bor’s house can be seen and the nearest one is a half mile away. The
house is surrounded by untilled fields, and beyond these at the back
a little wood begins. The family is allowed to live here rent free
for keeping the place in repair. Everything is certainly shipshape
as far as neat workmanship and good care of the premises can
make it.
Inside, an atmosphere of cozy homeliness prevails. Mrs. Porter
field has papered the living room with gay-flowered paper. The
furniture, while poor and scanty, answers their needs; it consists of
a sewing machine, a couch, chairs, and a cast-iron stove. The kitchen
floor is scrubbed white. Besides these rooms there is a downstairs
bedroom and a loft above where the two older girls—aged 11 and
16— and Harry sleep.
Mr. Porterfield bears the reputation of being the best worker any
where around, and they would have plenty to live on without stealing
i f he did not spend it on drink. As it is, people suspect that he gets
much o f his food by stealing. Chickens are generally missed. The
family has been several times quite destitute during his absence. But
their income is sufficient when he is at home, for he receives from
$1.50 to $2.75 a day and can almost always find work.
Besides the wrecking of the picnic grounds there have been several
minor wrongdoings, in which all the children concerned belonged
to the Harry Porterfield gang. On one occasion Harry, Johnny
Buckmaster, and little Charlie Trumble got into Frank Tyson’s old
vacant house, took a bicycle, rode it around until they broke it, then
put it back in the house. They, or some one, also ran a little ox cart
down into the cellar stairway of the old house. The boys were seen
with the wheel, and Mr. Tyson declared he was going to make an
example of them, but he finally did nothing. Johnny’s father found
out about it later and beat Johnny for it. Johnny says that he was
only with Harry. Harry and Walter have stoned windows out of
several vacant houses, and also went into a vacant house -and ran
sacked it, but took only some window stops. The children concerned
are discussed in more detail below in the following cases:
Case 2 .—Johnny Buckmaster would be considered the worst “ bad
boy ” of the neighborhood if it were not for Harry Porterfield, and
in fact there is some discussion as to whether Harry Porterfield or
he leads the little gang of boys into mischief. At any rate the boys
find each other congenial spirits. Johnny is large for 11 years and
better dressed than the other boys. He is an impudent child and
stares quite boldly.

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He is incorrigible in school—swears, quarrels with the boys, and
snowballs the girls. People say Johnny is “ queer ” because whipping
does him no good—he will do the same things right over again for
which he has been whipped, and his father has to tell him the same
thing several times over before he seems to understand.
He attends school regularly, and the teacher considers him bright
enough, but he fools away his time. He is in the fourth grade, but
the school standards are low. Though considered “ bright” he
struck the investigator as being rather dull. He said he had books
at home but could not remember their names.
The most noteworthy thing in this case is the character and atti
tude of the parents. A ll the neighbors and the teacher know how
they badger and bully J ohnny. He is so continually watched,
scolded, and punished that he never has a chance to do anything at
home. One or the other parent is “ at him all the time.” His father
swears at him, shuts him up, will not let him say a word, and boasts
o f beating him. But the father threatens a great deal, without
following it up with a whipping. As an example, Johnny said his
father “ just blowed” about the picnic grounds.
The father never had much chance for an education, because he
had to go to work when he was 12 years old, but he wants Johnny
to go to school until he is 16. Johnny is the only child. The mother
is a rather stupid woman, quite subject to her husband.
They have lived for the past 10 years in an isolated farmhouse
about one-half mile from neighbors, but several neighbors are near
enough to call on. They own about 60 acres and rent nearly as
many, and keep a couple of cows. The battered house is banked up
with manure for warmth in winter. The living room, little used,
is cluttered up with miscellaneous furniture. The family lives in
the one room used as dining room and kitchen, also much cluttered.
While fairly clean the house was disorderly and uncomfortable.
Case 3 .—Walter Buekmaster, Johnny’s cousin, also bears a repu
tation for incorrigibility. He is a much less attractive type than
Johnny, putting one in mind of a dark, dull, cramped little animal.
He listens open-mouthed to all that goes on, but his large black eyes
are quite expressionless.
The teacher finds him very hard to deal with; she would rather
get along with Johnny. He snowballs people, swears, whispers, and
is so stubborn she can not influence him. One day she whipped him
until she was tired because he refused to come to class, and finally
had to send for the trustee. Walter has been kept out of school
seven days at a time to pick up potatoes, and his little brother, 8
years old, was also kept out. He was among the boys who damaged
property on the picnic grounds.

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Walter and his brother and sister are continually late for school
besides being kept-out to work. He is stupid and reads very badly,
though he is 10 years old and in the fourth grade. The teacher
believes he will not get any further. He cries when he can not get
his lessons. He always seems tired out, as do his brother and sister.
The parents have had such a hard life that child care and training
have found little place in their home. They live on the old Buckmaster farm, in which they own a half interest. The father raises
hay, grain, and potatoes, but is a poor farmer, and the farm is in
bad condition. The whole place speaks desolation and decay; the
ruins of the barn, which -was blown over in a windstorm, lie undis
turbed as they fell, and the house is in the last stages of dilapidation.
In the house everything is in great disorder and very dirty. The
rough board floor is never cleaned, apparently.
Mrs. Buckmaster is a large, strong, slatternly woman, who works
a good deal on the farm, picking up potatoes, and so on. Her family
was much better than the Buckmasters and they felt the disgrace
when she had to marry John Buckmaster, four months before their
first child was born. She went to school here, then worked in a
factory in a large town, and gathered fruit. She is much blamed
by the neighbors for not keeping things up. She has slipped down
to the level of her husband, who is a rough man, uneducated and
rude. He went to work at 16 years o f age, got tired o f the country
and went to a large town where' he worked as a teamster. He gets
$4 a day when he works with his team on the road. The children
mind him well and seem fond of him. He says he does not let them
go with the Porterfield boy, but keeps them working at home.
Case 4 .— George Cooper was in'the gang of boys that had been
causing trouble, but he seems to have been in none of their bad
escapades. He has been kept out o f school to work and he is appar
ently worked pretty hard, as are all the children in the harsh life
of S. He is sullen and answered “ N o ” explosively and rudely when
the investigator asked him if he was going to be a farmer, if he
liked S, and if he liked the boys. He came to this school with a rep
utation for being “ a bad boy ” in the town he had left.
There is something tragic in the harshness and isolation of the
life of George’s young parents. They live off the main road, at least
a mile from any neighbors who are at all companionable. The house
is a well-kept-up, white farm house, and there are several good barns.
Mrs. Cooper owns the farm and Mr. Cooper owns another piece
of land. They hire no help now, and Mrs. Cooper works outdoors
and likes it. Mr. Cooper began working out for his board when he
was 12 years old. Now he is in poor health. For a couple of years
he worked on a section gang, but did not like it.

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His wife is more intelligent, a dark, good-looking girl. She lived
here in S, went to district school, and worked at home until she
married at 16. The children appear to be fond o f their parents and
the family relations seem to be most friendly. The Coopers take no
magazines and do no reading. They are one o f the better families
of the place, but are apparently not capable o f taking intelligent
care o f the children.

COMMUNITY T.
This community was of interest in the present investigation as the
temporary home o f a tramp family whom we may call Suley, in
which there was a case o f juvenile delinquency involving court ac
tion. Since the marriage of the parents 20 years ago, they have
made nine mo^es from town to town in a neighboring State and six
in New York.
Their written history begins when they took four children to an
orphans’ home in a large town. The oldest girl was taken to the
hospital with pleural pneumonia, and her mother took her out and
sent her to another State without the knowledge of the authorities.
Then she got all the children, and after this the agent o f a children’s
society found the children dirty and improperly clothed. Later the
youngest daughter died o f diphtheria.
After this.they moved back “ home ’’ to the other State and then to
T. The family is now composed of six children and the father and
mother. Frank, now 11, was connected with a store robbery, before
removing to T, when only 10 years old. Four other boys, one of
them 17 years old, and Frank broke into a store and took candy,
cigars, and packages of crackers, which they hid in the tall corn,
and which Mrs. Suley found and used. The constable took the other
boys and Frank to town and examined them, but the justice only
gave them a good talking to. The Suleys probably moved away on
account o f this.
The community into which they came is a typical hill settlement,
consisting of a dozen or so families living on isolated farms in the
neighborhood.
The only industries are farming and lumbering. The farm land is
not good, and it is considered a very poor district. The farms in
the valley below are better, and a good many o f the men who live
on the hill work out for the more well-to-do farmers. This is the
case with Mr. Suley, and he is well employed all the fall, threshing,
husking corn, or doing general farm work.
There is no active community life here. Occasionally some one
gives a private dance. A t Christmas time they have a communal
tree at the schoolhouse, to which everyone brings presents. Most
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o f the people own horses, hence they can drive into the towns to
keep up their connections with the world, but there are not even any
telephones on the part of the hill on which the Suleys lived. Per
haps they chose this extreme isolation purposely.
T had been a very honest community until the Suleys came. But
soon after the arrival of this family little things were missed and
chicken coops were robbed. Gradually the family came to have a
bad name in the neighborhood. Where at first people were kindly
disposed toward them, willing to give the man work and to let their
children play with his children, they now shunned and suspected
them, and the better class of farmers became unwilling to employ
him. Several men said they had not liked to complain for fear
“ such a tribe ” would set fire to their barns.
At last the theft o f a bicycle made them notorious. a It is all over
the place,” Mr. Suley said bitterly. He felt that this had lost him
work, and that it would be best for them to move away.
This is the story of the theft. One day in broad daylight Frank
took a bicycle from the ice house back of the store and rode it to
ward town, then back nearly to his home, where he hid it under a
culvert. The owner, suspecting Frank, asked him if he had taken it.
Frank finally confessed, and told where the wheel was. The owner
decided to let the matter rest there, but the authorities had had so
much trouble with the family that they decided it was best to send
the child away. Frank was therefore arrested and paroled in his
mother’s care. When the case was brought up for trial, the agent of
the prosecuting society attempted to examine the boy, but could get
little out o f him. When he was asked if he pleaded guilty, if he had
taken the wheel, he merely grinned and nodded his head. He showed
little interest in the proceedings. The agent read to him the pros
pectus of the school at Industry in order that he should know what
sort o f place he was going to and the parents should know too. But
Frank did not understand a vord and the parents were obviously
bored. When it came to discussing the disposal of the other chil
dren, Mr. Suley was willing to agree to the taking o f Myrtle and
Herbert, but his wife said that if they took those two they could take
the whole and she would break up housekeeping. A t this stage of
(he proceedings the agent began talking about a mother’s heart, and
Mrs. Suley wept. She did not, however, really soften. Indeed,
neither o f the parents displayed the least grief at parting with
Frank. Neither o f them even kissed him good-by. The agent said
he had never seen parents so little affected.
Frank was taken to jail in a neighboring town, where he was held
eight days while he was examined for contagious disease. At the
jail he became very popular, and the overseer o f the jail said he would

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like to take him on his farm. They let him play, and on Thanks
giving the sheriff took him to his own house and fed him on ice cream.
The sheriff’s children took him downtown and bought him candy
and the overseer of the jail fitted him up with old clothes and bought
him shoes, so he looked like another boy when he started for In
dustry. He had such a good time, in fact, that he said he did not
want to go back home or to Industry; he would rather stay in the jail.
On T hill the Suleys lived in terrible filth and destitution. The
neighbors say that they were “ squatters,” but they claimed to pay $3
a month for the dilapidated, unpainted house in which they lived.
Back o f the house stood several barns and a dirty toilet. The yard
was strewn with rubbish. The health officer found conditions in the
house that were beyond description. The kitchen floor was so dirty
that Mrs. Suley could not sweep, though she was trying to because
she had seen him coming. The family apparently all slept in one
room on one bed or on a straw tick on the floor which they pulled
before the kitchen fire. The officer saw no bedding. It scarcely seems
possible that a family of seven could live with so few things as this
family owned, especially when, in addition to the father, mother, and
children, there was a man boarding with them. In the kitchenliving room were only three chairs, a tkble, and the stove. Sweet
potatoes were being cooked for dinner^ and nothing else. A t the
time o f this visit they had two beds, one upstairs.
The two smallest children had evidently been washed up, but they
had been too long untouched by water to have one wash make them
really clean, and they had no underclothes on.
Mrs. Suley’s swarthy complexion and her habit o f wearing a
shawl over her head has won her the name o f “ looking like a gypsy.”
She is rather handsome, with bold, well-set eyes, and a wide, firm
mouth. She has a strong character and is smart but not intelligent—
her mental and physical vigor have been misdirected. She has been
married before and had two children by her first husband. She
works out sometimes with her present husband, husking com and
doing other farm work, but she will not keep house. She smokes
and swears like a trooper. Myrtle said: “ Ma is queer; she likes to
live where there ain’t no people.” During the visit she tried des
perately to make the children mind, but they paid little attention to
her, even when she threatened them with a heavy leather strap and
cuffed Herbert vigorously. Mr. Suley is not so much afraid of her as
one might expect. He has a keen, sly cast o f countenance, a heavy,
square jaw, and little, gleaming, brown eyes. He looks strong and
muscular, but has heart trouble. He drinks only occasionally.
As he tells his family history, when he was 7 years old his mother
died and his stepmother so misused him and the other children that

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they ran away. His father then placed them in an orphan asylum,
but after they had been there a year he once more ran away and
tried to steal his little brother, aged 5. He wandered around until
he was picked up and taken home by a kind farmer, and after this
he was always a wanderer and battered about from post to pillar.
He worked out for his board and went to school a little and occa
sionally his father would find him and take him home, but he did not
like his stepmother and would soon run off again. Swapping horses
seems to be his chief joy in life.
Mr. Suley is a good workman, and claims that he can do any
thing. He can earn about $1.50 to $2 a day at farming and $2 to
$3 a day skidding logs. He had steady work all summer, so they are
pretty well-off for them. As a father he is not much o f a success.
He can not make the children mind at all, and he does not often try
to, though he bragged of having beaten Frank once with a leather
strap.
Hattie, the oldest girl, aged 17, is feeble-minded. The truant offi
cer said she was a menace, for she had so little protection. He wanted
some one to take the matter in hand. Her parents, however, declared
that she was “ sich a good girl, and always stayed at home and helped
take care of the children.” They seem very fond o f her. She can
not see much, for she once had an infection o f the eyes. She is very
fond o f Malcolm, the baby. He calls himself u Hattie’s baby,” and
plays around her all the time.
Norman, aged 14, stayed at home here only a month, then went
back to the other State. Myrtle is the most intelligent o f them all,
as well as the best mannered and most decent. She appreciated the
family difficulties and would have liked a chance to leave. Although
13 and only in the third grade in school, she liked it very much
and never missed a day. Herbert, aged 7, sat by the fire smoking a
pipe when the investigator called. It is understood that the parents
let all the children smoke. Herbert is an impudent little animal, as
they all are, and has stolen several things around the neighborhood.
Malcolm, aged 2, is a very pretty, healthy, and bright child, and good
natured and playful, but bold and absolutely undisciplined.
Frank is the most attractive as well as the naughtiest one o f the
family. Everyone thinks that he is bright and would be all right
if he had had the proper training. He is a handsome boy, with
sparkling black eyes, rosy cheeks, and an impudent expression. He
is like a bright boy o f 6 or 7 years, but is certainly not 11 years old
mentally. He has smoked since he was 5 years old, and he swears
and steals. In school he was in the first grade; he had been in the
third grade, but had to be put back. The teacher said that he might
be able to*go a grade or two further if he were properly nourished,
cared for, and disciplined. He is not dull, but did not retain much

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that he learned, and his deportment was bad. He was impudent,
fought with the children, swore, smoked, and lied, but after she
whipped him the teacher had no trouble. One day she found that
he had been teaching the other boys to smoke in the woodhouse. He
had a strong influence on the other boys; they wanted to follow his
lead. He was several times a truant; he would leave school at noon
and go wandering around the countryside, evidently looking for
something he could pick up and take home.

COMMUNITY U.
In the hill country live a large number o f isolated, low-standard
families who intermarry, live together in all sorts o f informal rela
tions, scratch the earth for meager crops or depend upon the bounty
of nature, hunt, steal, and fish for their flesh food. Some o f them
are rovers within the limited bounds o f foot or horse travel, living
now with this nest of relatives, now with that. Some o f them have
lived for generations in the same shack. They retaliate in primitive
ways for injuries or fancied wrongs, both on each other and on
civilized neighbors. Known crimes are allowed to go unpunished
for fear of reprisals.
The boys as they grow up have a chance o f getting away. But thè
girls marry, or form irregular alliances before they are mature, and
are likely to carry on the family tradition, unless some unusual hap
pening rescues them.
In such a region the following case was found :
Case 1. Margaret is a pleasant faced, homely featured, stocky,
well-grown girl. In no way noticeable, either for physique, manners,
looks, or personality, she is in appearance one o f a hundred girls o f
her age and country training.
Margaret’s people are from the typical hill families; both the
father and mother coming from shiftless, dull, lazy stock. While
the mother lived, the family life seems to have kept a little above
the average for the type, but they moved frequently, the children
had only desultory education, and there was never anything ahead.
O f the children bom in 20 years o f married life, nine are still living.
Two o f the oldest girls are married to men as shiftless as themselves;
one is living with a man to whom she is said not to be married. All
have very questionable reputations. One son is in the epileptic
colony, two children are in a home waiting to be placed out, and two
others were placed out when the mother died. At that time Mar
garet was about 13. Their home, as she remembers it, was comfortably furnished, and kept fairly clean by the mother and children.
The father has always been a shiftless provider, and as the children
grew up they were expected to get out and make their own living.

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The mother gone, there was nothing to hold the family together.
The furnishings were sold, and the father and five younger chil
dren went to live in an old shack on a hill farm back in the woods.
It was off the main road, 2 miles from the nearest post office and 10
miles from a railroad station. O f the six rooms, five were used
more or less, but only two were heated in winter and at times the
three growii sisters, the father, and five younger children crowded
into these two rooms.
Some time after the mother’s death the constable and the agent
of a children’s society went to get the younger children, and found
the conditions in the home indescribable. The father had gone to
the hospital with neglected sores on his legs, and the children were at
home alone. The little boy had only a piece of old cloth around his
waist; the little girl an old pair of torn rompers. Their food was
flour mixed with water, and fried in the frying pan, which was almost
the only cooking utensil.
At this time, the three youngest children were taken and put in a
children’s home; later two little girls were placed out, and one, a
boy o f 10, went back to stay with his sister Margaret. The relatives
who were willing to take the children and were able to support
them were of such questionable reputation that it was thought un
wise to allow this.
The father returned from the hospital in December, and lived
again on the hill farm with Margaret and her little brother. Again
in June the family emerges into civilization, this time through the
truant officer.
Margaret has been questioned at various times and always tells a
consistent story, so there is little reason to doubt any part o f it. She
is a child of little imagination, is tractable, modest, and willing to do
the things which she has been taught. Her story, gathered at inter
vals and placed together, is almost incredible.
Soon after the mother died, when the girl was 13, her father, she
says, assaulted her, beating her with a horsewhip until she yielded
to his demands. He repeated this act on several occasions. Later he
brought young men to the house for immoral purposes in relation to
Margaret. These men came regularly from December until late
spring, and Margaret thinks that they paid her father, for during
that time he was not working, yet always seemed to have money.
For a year and one-half after the time the father first attacked her,
Margaret lived part of the time at home and part o f the time worked
out as a domestic. The girl believes that her older sisters had simi
lar experiences with the father. She says that she wished to tell
some one how she was being treated, but she was afraid, and, also,
had no one to tell.

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The next chapter begins when the truant officer, who had reported
the family at the time the younger children were taken away, looked
them up again to see why Margaret was not in school. While driv
ing her home she told the whole story to him. He took prompt
action, reporting the case to the district attorney and getting an
order for the three children living with the father to be boarded
temporarily in a children’s home till they were ready to be placed
out. The father was arrested, but after postponements o f the trial
was released because his daughter could be the only witness against
him. Physical examination shows that her story of abuse is true.
Margaret has been under observation in the children’s home for
six months. During that time she has been tried once in a position
at housework, but the experiment was not- successful. Now it has
been determined to keep her as a helper in the home for a time. She
is a good worker, willing and obedient.
There are other well-authenticated stories in the files o f the chil
dren’s societies o f children abused by these hill families. One
father was convicted for selling his daughter when she was only 14
years old to an old man o f vile reputation for a few vegetables and
an old stove. Another girl, placed in an orphan asylum when her
mother went to the insane asylum, was later taken out by a man and
wife, and when she had her first child by the husband was put out
by the wife. She later lived with a man by whom she had another
child; has been at Bedford and. at the poorhouse. Finally she was
taken as maid by a minister’s family, but found difficulty in learning
the varied and particular housework tasks demanded o f her, and is
now working in a factory. She is living independently and happily,
and is engaged to a good young mechanic who knows her story.
1

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Full text of Juvenile Delinquency in Rural New York, Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes Series No. 4, Bureau Publication No. 32

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