234 Letter from the City of Wafbington. 
where there. is no regular manufactory 
carried on, feems_ peculiarly neceflary, 
éf{pecially here, where many of the mothers 
“in the lower claffes obtain a livelihood by 
going into families as wafherwomen or 
charewomen, by which means the children 
are left at large in the ftreets, where they 
acquire habits extremely ruinous, (more 
particularly girls) both to themfelves and 
to the fociety of which they are members. 
Our {pinning fchool is by no means an 
adequate remedy to the whole of this evil, 
and ought rather to be regarded as a 
{mali fpecimen of what might be done, 
were feveral fimilar inftitutiens eftahlithed 
under the protection of the magiftrate, 
who would have the power to enforce re- 
gular attendance; and who, in failure 
thereof, might refufe parifh affiftance to 
thofe parents,, who having the opportu- 
nity of feeing their children inftru&ted ~ 
and employed, neglected to avail them- 
felves of it. ee 
In fome, inftances, where the children 
have been orphans, or where the parents 
are known to be extremely profligate, we 
have boarded them in fome decent fa- 
mily, adding, for that purpofe, to what 
the parith officers have calculated their 
maintainance in the poor-houfe would 
coft, or to what their friends could allow 
from our own fund; and this, I con- 
fider,as an important part of the inftitu- 
tion ; for, while public poor-houfes con- 
tinue, as they do at prefent, to mix com- 
mon proftitutes, and the moft wretched 
and abandoned of every defcription, with 
the decent poor, and with young perfons 
yet uncorrupted, they may weli be con-' 
fidered as nurferies of vice, and produe- 
tive of incalculable evil. " 
In re{peét to the general condu& of the 
girls after leaving the {chool, we have not 
upon the whole, much reafon to be dif. 
fatished. Some have turned out remark- 
ably well, feveral are now decent mem- 
-bers cf eur friendly fociety, and if we 
have been difappointed in the behaviour 
of others, if is not to be wondered at, 
conlidering the charaéter of the parents, 
by whom thefe children are brought up, 
the greater part of whom are. ihemfelves 
pits or feif-covernment; and as the 
leading object of the inftitution is to fave 
from ruin thofe whofe fituation would 
otherwile expole them-to it, melioratioa 
ef character rather than perfeGt good con- 
duét, is, perhaps, as much as can reafon- 
ably be expected. ¢ It may be obferved, 
however, that efforts cf this kind per- 
fevered in dor a long feries of years, 
[ Nov. 
would continually become lefs difficult, 
and eventually more fuccefsful, it being 
obvious, that thé children of thofe whofe 
‘charaéters were made fo far better than 
that of their predeceflors, would have 
fewer difadvantages to contend with, and 
be in lefs danger from the power of con- 
trary influences. 
I omitted to mention im its place, that 
we have found it expedient to promote 2 
fecond fub{cription, for the object of fup- 
plying the children with bread and milk 
for breakfaft; they attend the {fchool 
early, and we not only found that a great 
deal of time was wafted in coming and re- 
turning, but that their breakfafts at 
home, confifting generally of ordinary 
tea, without milk or fugar, was not fuf- 
ficiently nutritive to enable them to go 
through their work; and the good ef- 
fects of this additional benefit are vifible 
in the improved looks and greater aéti- 
Vity of the children. We are well aware 
that broth would fupply them with a 
cheaper breakfa&, but I fhould much 
doubt its being equally wholefome; and, 
befides, the poor of this country, efpeci- 
ally children, have fuch an averfion to it, , 
that nothing fhort of abfolute neceffity 
could compel them to live upon it. £ 
am, Sir, your obedient fervant, 
CatH. CAPPE. 
Yorz, Odfaber 20, 1798. 
. rE 
For the Monthly Macazine. 
Extrad from @ Letter written by an Eug- 
lifh & entleman feitled at the City of Wafh- 
wgton, in America, to a Friend in Eng- 
land, dated Fune 20, 1798. 
AM now fettled in perhaps the mof 
beautitul {pot in the world, and ina 
very agreeable neighbourhood. When 
the building of this city was determined 
on in the year 1790, it was at the fame 
time deftined to become the feat of go- 
vernment for the United States in the’ 
year 1800, That wra is faft approach- 
ing, and the holders of property here are 
looking forward to its arrival with ex- 
pectations of great advantage. Hitherto 
the price of ground has been fomewhat 
kept down by the fales. which have been 
made every three months by the commif- 
fioners for that purpofe, but as only a 
few lots are now remaining, their price 
of courfe increafes faft; fo falt indeed, : 
that, inmy opinion, thofe who have mo- 
ney to {pare, could not at prefent lay i¢ 
out to greater advantage than in the pur- 
chafe of thefe lots. 
The city of Wafaington does not at 
prefene 
