DISCHARGED CONVICTS, ETC.

ture, but go back to it with a full explanation of the wants of the Institution, and make an appeal to it, and to the public, for all the aid that might be necessary to meet those wants fully."

(5.) The New England Female Moral Reform Society. This organization is still engaged in its labors for the prevention of licentiousness and the reformation of fallen women, and though somewhat limited in its means, and in its sphere of effort, it is making progress in its laudable work. The total expenses of its last financial year were $4,275.52; and its receipts the same amount, the latter including income from the Temporary Home maintained by the Society, $1,024.85; and receipts from donations, legacies and life-memberships, amounting to $2,068.63. It continues its employment office and the publication of its monthly journal; and during the year, temporary shelter and employment were furnished to nearly 600 poor and friendless females, of whom upwards of 350 were received into the Home. The Society first received aid from the State in 1867, and its pecuniary embarrassments will probably compel another application for the assistance which it now needs.

(6.) The Agency for Discharged Convicts.

The annual appropriation made by the State in aid of this Agency is $1,800, which is further increased by the contribution of a society auxiliary to it. The Agent, Mr. Daniel Russell, has expended $1,980.74 during the year ending September 30, 1868, for the relief of 168 persons, some of whom have been sent to their friends, some to places of service, while others have been furnished with tools and other means to enable them to gain an honest support. It is not easy to estimate the amount of good accomplished in furnishing temporary assistance to newly discharged convicts, who manifest a desire to retrieve the past; but certain it is that instances are constantly occurring under the supervision of this Agency, in which such persons receiving its aid and encouragement engage in the pursuits of honest industry, and are thus restored to useful and happy lives.

PART IV.]

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

(7.) The School for Idiots.

[CHAP. II.

The Annual Report from this Institution presents valuable information relative to its past and present history, which cannot fail to enlist the consideration of the thoughtful and charitable. The example of Massachusetts in providing for the welfare of the demented and idiotic, has been followed by New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut, in each of which institutions have been established for the same purpose; while other States have generously furnished means to provide for their own unfortunates in this condition, in institutions elsewhere. Moreover, as Dr. Howe remarks, it has become a settled policy of our leading States, to make special provision for the training and teaching of idiots, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio having appropriated fourfold more for this purpose, while their edifices are larger and more imposing than our Massachusetts, which took the lead in the inauguration of this charity, has appropriated in all $41,000 for its building purposes, including the grant made the present year; and for the maintenance of the School, her appropriations have been increased from $2,500 to $15,000 per annum.

own.

Finances of the School.

In the returns rendered to this Department, the following exhibit is made of the financial condition of the School, Sept. 30, 1868:

Real estate, $50,000; personal, $9,718.73-total, $59,718.73. Receipts for the year: from the State appropriations for current expenses, $15,000; special State appropriations for buildings, (in part,) $6,516.64; support of inmates by towns. and individuals, $5,087.16; all other sources, $7,056.97total, $33,660.77, including $687.10 cash on hand at the beginning of the year.

The disbursements are thus classified: for current expenditures, $13,245.42; extraordinary expenses, including buildings and improvements, $12,452.63; loans and interest, $1,705.82; funds invested, $5,622.25-total, $33,026.12, which, with cash remaining on hand at the close of the year, $634.65, balances the account.

SCHOOL FOR IDIOTS.

Improvements, Inmates, etc.

Among the important improvements already made with the aid of the special appropriations of 1867-68, is a new and clear story in the rear building, 100 feet long by 40 wide; and also a new wing added to the rear building, 50 feet long by 30 wide, giving it a basement and three clear stories above.

The average number of inmates during the year was 77, and the average cost, computed upon the amount of current expenses, was $171.85 each, or $3.30 per week.

Of the whole number of applicants for admission to the School since its establishment, twenty years ago, 389 have been received, of whom 85 still remain. In regard to the nature and results of the system adopted in the care and instruction of this class of unfortunates, Dr. Howe says in his Report:

"Those discharged have been, almost without exception, improved in some degree, and many have been greatly benefited by their sojourn in the establishment. Moreover, they still continue to feel the good effects of those years passed in the habits of cleanliness, order, sobriety and industry. The common belief is, that however much we may elevate and improve an idiot while under discipline and instruction, he will sink down to his former low level as soon as he is left to himself. But it is not so; at least he rarely sinks to that level which they reach who are neglected, and so become brutalized.

*

"Defective children come mostly of those families in which by reason of ignorance, vice or poverty, there is want of nourishing food and warm clothing; but idiots come mostly from the poorest of the poor, the lowliest of the lowly; from those who, owing to lack of bodily vigor and vital force, have dropped out of the rank of self-supporters into that of dependents, if not paupers. To such a family, the birth of an idiot child is a new weight added to the load that was sinking them. Poor and defective as they may be, they are not always stunted in their moral and affectional natures. They love their poor idiotic child, with an intensity proportionate to its defects and wants. Many a burdened household has been relieved for a time at least; and many a sad heart has been cheered by the work done in this institution for the improvement of their

PART IV.]

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

[CHAP. II.

idiotic children. Upon the whole, then, we may look back upon the past of our institution with gratitude for the opportunity it has offered for doing good, and with satisfaction for the good it has done."

(8.) The Washingtonian Home.

A review of the history of this Institution and the benefits that have accrued from its system of treatment for the arrest and cure of intemperance, will commend the undertaking as a work of Christian philanthropy.

The whole number of patients admitted the past year was 332, representing nearly every trade, calling, or profession. Of these, 183 were married, and 149 unmarried men; 164 were free, and 168 were paying or part-paying patients; and the average cost of support was $38 each. The total expenses for the year were $12,621.81; and the receipts, $14,505.95, including the State appropriation of $6,000. The property of the corporation is now stated at $56,192.99, which includes an invested fund of $25,000, and buildings valued at $27,500, upon which there is an incumbrance of $20,500.

The results of the year seem to have strengthened confidence in the practicability and usefulness of the reformatory system adopted at the Home; while the applications for admission render more than ever apparent the necessity for greater accommodations.

(9.) The Discharged Soldiers' Home.

Since its establishment, this Institution has extended its benefits to more than three thousand five hundred sick and maimed soldiers. At first it was largely supported by private benefactions, but latterly it has become almost wholly a State charge, the anticipated closing of the establishment and other causes having induced the discontinuance of nearly all contributions from private sources.

The State appropriation for the support of the Home for 1868, was $15,000; and the expenses for the year ending in September were $14,745.56, of which $1,168 was paid for salaries, and $10,577.56 for supplies and contingent expenses. The number of beneficiaries received during the year, was 282; the

NEW ENGLAND HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

average daily number, 65; and the average cost of support, $1.36 per week. On the first of December, there were 52 inmates, of whom 36 were foreigners, and 16 natives. Of these, nine were represented as hopelessly disabled, while a large proportion of the remainder were suffering only from slight disability. Of the whole number, 13 only were Massachusetts men. This exhibit is doubtless a fair indication of the average status of the inmates, during the year.

The number of deserving soldiers whose sick and disabled condition requires the care and treatment of such a Home is rapidly diminishing, and the necessity for its maintenance is of course proportionally lessened; yet all pecuniary aid needed by this class of beneficiaries, should be freely and generously bestowed. There are those who believe that many who are supported in the Home at the expense of the State, might be more appropriately cared for in the National Asylums, which are so liberally endowed for that purpose; or aided at their own places of residence from the funds of those Asylums, such assistance being authorized in meritorious cases. Under such an arrangement, a small appropriation of four or five thousand dollars placed at the disposal of the Executive, to be dispensed through the Surgeon-General of the Commonwealth for the benefit of deserving soldiers, and in such manner and amount as their circumstances may require, would doubtless be sufficient to afford ample relief to all whose record and disability may entitle them to its benefits.

(10.) The New England Hospital for Women and Children. This Institution is a new applicant for aid from the State,the first appropriation of $1,000 granted for its benefit having been made by the Legislature of 1868. It has nearly 200 subscribers and donors, also 24 Directors, with an Advisory Board of Visitors, who have charge of its administration, and are actively interested in its prosperity. Its objects are threefold, viz. To afford women opportunities for the clinical study of medicine, including obstetrics and surgery; to educate nurses; and to provide for women and children, in sickness and childbirth, a good home, nursing and professional attendance by