A PROJECT IN INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 639 



by which it is sought to train a certain number of poor children, if the 

 vicious be excluded. But the theory of the founders of the institution 

 is that children are not naturally vicious, but are rendered so by sur- 

 roundings or influence ; and hence, if they failed in successfully deal- 

 in o* with thera, they would be compelled to fall back upon the assertion 

 that bright and well-behaved children may be made into expert artisans 

 — a proposition which no one has ever denied. 



Fortunately for thera and fortunately for those whom they espe- 

 cially set out to aid, not one child out of that multitude which has ap- 

 plied for admission has been found to be beyond the reach of intelli- 

 gent treatment ; not one has been found where evil propensities were 

 more than skin-deep. 



Strange to say, the lad who upon entry proved the most stupid, 

 most stubborn, and ill-mannered, rose by rapid stages until, finally, he 

 reached the head of his class ! This lad, upon his first appearance, 

 was found to be not only dirty and ragged, but so obstinate that he 

 would only answer questions when it pleased him to do so. His eyes 

 were half closed, he rarely looked up, and altogether he seemed, if the 

 description of those who saw him may be relied upon, more fitted for 

 the career of a cow-boy or that of a bandit than for such peaceful oc- 

 cupations as those of the mechanic and decorator. The manager of 

 the school called, up the official physician and asked him what ailed the 

 lad. The physician made a careful examination, and then reported 

 that, besides being naturally vicious, the lad was weak-minded. But 

 this was by no means satisfactory to the manager. He examined the 

 lad himself, and made an altogether different diagnosis of the case. In 

 his opinion the lad's behavior and appearance were due to a long 

 course of ill-treatment and neglect. He had him thoroughly washed, 

 fed, and clothed, and prescribed good treatment. 



At first he was dull, very dull ; his mind seemed never to have 

 been called into action, but little by little he began to wake up ; day 

 by day his eyes opened wider and wider ; the cloud that seemed to 

 have settled over his face was gradually dispelled ; and finally one day, 

 when something more interesting than usual was afoot, he so far for- 

 got himself as to smile. Henceforward he gave no further trouble. 

 His teachers say he made rapid progress, and they finally discovered 

 that, instead of being mentally weak, as the physician had said, he 

 possessed a mind unusually acute. 



Many of the. children when first entered exhibit that viciousness 

 which, it is alleged, is inherent in those whose parents are of a class 

 essentially vicious. These children, or many of them, may be said to 

 have been reared in the gutters, and they found even the gutters more 

 agreeable than the darkened, squalid chambers provided for thera in 

 the adjoining teneraent-house, and willingly risked the dangers of the 

 crowded street without rather than endure the ill-treatment to be had 

 within. At first they show a disposition to repel the advances of 



