Institutional Training 73 



running," &c., and remember the expressions of loyalty and 

 affection for their Superintendent expressed in the letters of 

 Old Boys from School No. 2 ; or if we realize, what I have 

 tried to show, that the X. Home for Boys is a home in the 

 ideal sense of the word, then it is made clear to us that the 

 difference which exists between these and the pauper children 

 of whom Miss Williams speaks is due simply to a lack of 

 thoughtful after-care. 



Yet it is certain that even were a system of compulsory 

 after-care established for a definite number of years, this 

 would not in itself create the feeling " that there is one place, 

 one little group to which these children stand in a unique rela- 

 tion which they regard as they regard no other person, and 

 to which under any circumstances they can turn." How far 

 an institution can provide this depends very largely on the 

 personality of its Head. 



II. THE ADVANTAGES OF INSTITUTION LIFE AS COMPARED 



WITH THE LIVES OF CHILDREN ON OUT-RELIEF x 



In endeavouring to make some slight comparison between 

 the life of institution children and the life of some other group 

 of children, in regard to their future general efficiency, I have 

 chosen the children on out-relief for several reasons. It is 

 partly because I wished rather to compare these institution 

 children with children of a more respectable class than with 

 children of the class from which they themselves have sprung. 

 Presumably few widows on out-relief are members of Class A ; 

 for out-relief should only be given to people of respectable 

 character and antecedents. 



But chiefly because, desiring to make some comparison 

 between the mode of life of two different groups, and between 

 the efficiency of the child and the efficiency of the parent in 



1 I shall speak only of some drawbacks in the life of Out-Relief Children the 

 obvious possible advantages are taken for granted. 



