KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



339 



happy children I allude to, such as must 

 inevitably bring them, if they survive, in 

 their turn to the criminal dock ? Many 

 high-sounding phrases have been objected to 

 me, against severing parent and child. In 

 this instance, they appear to me to come 

 under the apt denomination of cant. Is it 

 not rather a fearful responsibility on the part 

 of society? Does it not almost make one 

 question the justice, of punishing those who 

 from childhood have been hopelessly aban- 

 doned to the teaching and example of the 

 lowest demoralisation, without an effort 

 being made to save them ? It were idle to 

 say that parents, however degraded, will not 

 teach evil to their children. There are but 

 too many proofs of the contrary. Still, even 

 were it so, of what avail would be the purest 

 teaching under the contaminating influence 

 of evil example ? 



To educate the vicious child, and neglect 

 the honest poor, would, it is objected, be 

 unjust. The child of honest parents does 

 not stand in need of such protection and in- 

 terference in his behalf. Facilities for giving 

 him education, might be afforded without 

 severing him from his parents ; which, in the 

 case of the others, is indispensably neces- 

 sary to any reformation. Were all objections 

 to be previously overcome, nothing would 

 ever be attempted ; and one which has been 

 made to some reformatory schools, does not 

 appear to me very well founded — viz., that 

 all the inmates are subjected to the same 

 rule. To attain a high degree of moral and 

 mental culture, no doubt individual idiosyn- 

 crasy should be studied; but for the 

 education of the masses, this would surely 

 be as impracticable as undesirable. Indeed, 

 such distinctions can scarcely be required, for 

 the mere teaching necessary to enable them 

 to fulfil worthily the duties of their station. 



It seems to me, that an institution having 

 for its aim the training of such children, 

 might also be made subservient to other 

 objects. How many are there reduced in 

 circumstances, pining in cheerless poverty, 

 and dragging a useless existence, who might 

 find in it a noble occupation and an honor- 

 able independence ! To how many would 

 such employment be more congenial, than the 

 ill-defined position and ill-requited labors of 

 a governess ! Would it not, in another point 

 of view, be more desirable to train up in- 

 dustrious, well-conducted artisans, than to 

 provide prisons for criminals, and workhouses 

 for paupers ? * 



It would be in vain to attempt too much. 

 To reduce all at once to order a number of 

 undisciplined children, would be hopeless ; 



* What very gloomy reflections arise in the 

 mind, when passing some of these imposing 

 structures! I shall have some few observations to 

 offer upon them at an early day. 



but small beginnings might, I think, have 

 great results. And even this difficulty might 

 not in reality prove so great as it is in an- 

 ticipation. In one of the French prisons, a 

 large number (sixty or eighty) of the worst 

 class of female prisoners are kept in sub- 

 jection by the presence of one surveillante 

 (Moreau Christophe). The same writer 

 observes, " that the love of justice and the 

 instinct of probity are never utterly extin- 

 guished ; " and he gives the following anec- 

 dote : — Two liberated felons met, after 

 having some months left the prison. The 

 one had returned to his former life — thieving, 

 the other had refrained from evil courses ; 

 but the want of the means of existence had 

 begun to shake his good resolutions. The 

 thief not only encouraged him to persevere 

 in the paths of rectitude, but supported him 

 for three months by the produce of his 

 robberies — pour qvCil ne fit pas de bassesses. 

 Yet he had cause of complaint against him 

 when in prison, and had more than once 

 sworn to be revenged on him ! 



There are in Paris self-devoted, exemplary 

 women, who shrink from no scene of human 

 suffering ; who visit the sick on their fevered 

 couch, the poor in their wretched hovel ; 

 who do not even desert those who are under- 

 going the penalty of crime within the cheer- 

 less walls of a prison. How much less 

 distressing, how much more hopeful the en- 

 deavor, to reclaim the young — the worse than 

 orphaned children of degraded parents ! 

 How much better to prevent than to punish 

 crime ! The best-paid artisan is not neces- 

 sarily in the best circumstances. It will fre- 

 quently be found that the higher the rate of 

 wages, the more idle, improvident, and de- 

 moralised the workman. The absence of 

 religious feeling, which no cold, gloomy, or 

 joyless observance of the Sabbath can re- 

 place — the want of intellectual and healthful 

 sources of relaxation, alike contribute to this 

 hopeless state. To the children of such as 

 these, the mere change from the squalor, and 

 darkness, and want — from the scenes of 

 violence, and profligacy, and cruelty, amid 

 which they have been brought up — to cheer- 

 ful, airy apartments, well-ordered habits, 

 occupations varied by exercise and recreation; 

 would of itself act beneficially, and aid the 

 superintendents in their philanthropic task. 



Now that the colonies protest so strongly 

 (in one instance successfully they have done 

 so) against receiving criminals from this 

 country (an example which there is little doubt 

 will be followed up with equal success), it 

 will become necessary to provide for them 

 at home. The urgency, therefore, of doing 

 away with those causes which it has been 

 proved tend to foster crime, must be evident; 

 but this can scarcely be hoped for, from mere 

 individual exertion. Fokestiera. 



