182 REPORT — 1855. 



of his countrymen the neglected state of the criminal poor in Holland, and it wai 

 not long ere he obtained the countenance and support of manj' eminent and distin- 

 guished persons to his proposal for the erection of a reformatory for the fallen. 

 M. Schuler, of Amsterdam, contributed 16,000 florins, which, with gifts of other 

 friends, was sufficient to purchase an estate called Rysselt, near the town of Zutphen, 

 and in the district of Gorssel, containing about 100 acres, and buildings on the 

 land of sufficient capacity to cultivate it. Two of the royal family of Holland 

 patronized the institution by each building a cottage to form a family house for the 

 children. 



Rysselt began with a dwelling-house, a farm of 100 acres, and separate cottages 

 for the families of children. There were at the outset eleven children under a family 

 father, M. G. J. Van Dyck ; and a director, or head-master, M. J. W. Schlimmer, 

 for twenty-five years a prison teacher at Rotterdam. At the end of the year 1851, 

 there were 45 children, and the work was then conducted by four family fathers, 

 and a master for the agricultural department. The great aim of the establishment is in 

 the reclamation of the children, to develope their moral and religious feelings, to teach 

 them the system of tilling the ground and gardening, to initiate them to a trade, by 

 which in after life — independent of the then agricultural training— they may be able 

 to gain an honest livelihood ; to endeavour to eradicate or deaden the sinful disposi- 

 tions, strengthening weakness of character, repressing and controlling angry feelings, 

 and thereby helping to develope the good qualities inherent more or less in every child. 

 To attain this end, systematic instruction is given in the simple elementary and 

 practical principles of religion, and (independent of the farm-training in the open air 

 and fields) by the common rudiments of knowledge taught in all schools, great 

 attention being paid to the child's musical faculties as an important instrument of 

 reform. They go four hours on an average each day to school, and when the time 

 of year permits, are employed six or seven hours at field labour. The school hours 

 are regulated by the seasons. In winter the education is given in the evening, in 

 summer early in the morning and in the afternoon. Horn music or the bugle is 

 found an efficient aid in promoting order and cheerfulness, giving life and animation 

 to all around. It is employed as a signal for rising, for going to bed, and for school 

 and labour hours. Military exercises form another branch of training, and half an 

 hour is daily devoted to this object, sticks being used in place of guns. Field and 

 garden labour, and work in the woods, are found to be of the utmost consequence : 

 hence the chief business is the culture of land, gardens, and trees. The small number 

 of teachers and family fathers does not admit of a variety of trades, as that would 

 imply large outlay for the wages of experienced workmen. It is at present confined 

 to carpentry and architecture. The boys helped to build the porter's lodge ; also, 

 a carpenter's shop, and a hut in which 60 boys can work wood. Tvco boys assist 

 the baker, who is also a family father ; a couple of boys are taught to shave ; all 

 are accustomed to darn stockings and to mend rents in clothes. They fill alternately 

 the post of porter, and by turns serve at the family table, and keep the family house 

 clean. Every morning the head-master, the farm-master, and the book-keeper (who 

 is also a family father), and all the family fathers, assemble to direct the labours and 

 work of the day ; this is noted down and made known to the whole at the morning 

 hour of muster. In spring and harvest, when speed is needed, the boys are all set to 

 work, and make up, during wet and frosty weather, for lost hours at education. 

 During the hours of winter, they are employed in mending tools, weaving and 

 spinning, &c. 



The results which seem fairly to flow from the facts contained in the foregoing 

 narrative are : — 1. That the union of labour, and especially agricultural labour, with 

 learning, and constant occupation and work in the open air and field, are the best 

 calculated to promote, in an efficient and oeconomical manner, the steady and 

 successful reclamation and reform of the majority of the criminal and destitute 

 among the young. 2. That under the operation of the recent legislation upon re- 

 formatory schools, the course which should be recommended to be followed is to 

 plant and encourage reformatories upon small farms, and, by following out the 

 family system, to apportion the children in such small sections, or groups, as will 

 be effectually managed (under a head teacher or director) by house or family fathers, 

 apportioned in cottages upon the farm, fitted to contain each family, and living 



