ON THE ABERDEEN INDUSTRIAL FEEDING SCHOOLS. 51 



It was fortunate on every account that it was so, and the results have been 

 most satisfactory. 



While thus fixing the exact extent of their field of labour, — and the 

 general principles on which the work was to be conducted, — the managers 

 were gradually pushing forward their attempts to get under their care all the 

 neglected outcasts in Aberdeen. 



The first and most natural step was to commence a school for girls similar 

 to that for boys. It was opened on 5th June 1 843, with only three girls, 

 and the number was gradually increased to 20, 40, 50, and at last to 60, the 

 full number for which accommodation was provided. 



The results were, if possible, more satisfactory than with the boys. A poor 

 half-starved outcast girl is felt by all to be a more painful sight than a boy 

 in the same condition. She seems to have been forced farther below her 

 right place in society than the boy, and to be less capable of struggling for 

 herself. Experience, however, soon proved that ameliorating influences acted 

 more rapidly, and perhaps more permanently, on the girls than on the boys. 

 The change produced by a few weeks of careful feeding and training upon 

 the most abject was so great, that the ladies who devoted themselves to the 

 arduous enterprise had every encouragement in their work and labour of 

 love. 



In December 184-4, the first complete year's report of the girls' school 

 stated the number on the roll at 49 ; and next year, 1845, it was above 60. 



During the third year 35 girls left; 16 because their parents had become 

 able to provide for them; 5 got employment in manufactories; and 7 as 

 domestic servants ; 7 deserted, and 1 died. 



During the fourth year the attendance varied from 56 to 69 ; 23 left for 

 domestic service, and 31 were removed by parents, as in the previous year; 

 and this must always be regarded as one of the most satisfactory results of 

 the schools, arising either from improved pecuniary circumstances, or from 

 improved moral feeling on the part of the parents. 



The expense of each pupil was £3 18s. 10|e?., and the earnings of each 

 6s. ll^d., leaving the net cost to the institution £3 lis. ll^d. The amount 

 of earnings was small, but as much as could be expected, considering that 

 nearly half the children were under 9 years of age, most of the rest from 9 

 to 11, and only 10 of them above eleven. The cost for feeding and teach- 

 ing the girls was nearly twenty shillings a year less per head than for the 

 boys. 



In 1847 circumstances led to a division of the girls' school into two, and 

 both have ever since gone on doing their work effectually, having convenient 

 buildings, situated about a mile apart from each other, — one purchased, the 

 other built for the purpose, and both of them thoroughly adapted to the 

 system of the schools. 



Soon after the original schools had begun to prove their usefulness, it 

 became clear to the managers that they were not accomplishing all that 

 ought to be done, that there was still a portion of the neglected outcasts 

 whom they were not reaching, and this forming the very class for whom 

 the schools were originally intended — the little beggars and pilferers who 

 infested the streets, and whom it had hitherto been impossible to draw to 

 the schools. 



It was resolved to make a bold and resolute assault upon this class, and to 

 compel them to be ameliorated whether they or their parents wished it or 

 not. 



The Local Police Act for Aberdeen happily contained a clause giving 



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