CASES OF HARDSHIP. was obliged to bring a suit, which was carried to the Supreme Court, resulting in a verdict of six hundred and two dollars and seventeen cents ($602.17) for the boy. Suit has also been commenced against another master, who refused to disgorge the bounty money of his boy. The latter enlisted and served three years in the army. He fought under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, was wounded by a bullet through the thigh and a bayonet thrust in the body, lay three days upon the battlefield, was captured by the enemy and thrust into Libby prison, but finally recovered, and was paroled in season to march into Richmond with the victorious army. All this time he was sending home his bounty and wages, till they amounted to nearly seven hundred dollars. On his return, the master made a settlement with him (unwilling on the boy's part,) for three hundred and twenty-five dollars, ($325,) and refuses to pay him more. Several bounty cases have been compromised without litigation; and sums varying from seven to one hundred and seventy dollars, have been collected on account of abuse, neglects, or where masters have withheld the amounts due their children when of age. Several cases yet remain to be settled, in which the sums claimed amount to more than one thousand dollars, ($1,000.) I have befriended the children whenever they have got into trouble, helping them often at my own expense. One of our boys, fifteen years of age, who ran away from the Almshouse, committed larceny in Connecticut and got into jail. He sent for me and I visited him in prison, and was with him when his trial came on. He pleaded guilty, and, at my request, was sentenced to the Reform School instead of prison. On leaving the court-room one of the jury came to me and inquired if Massachusetts looked after its poor children in that way. He was assured that such was its purpose. "It is my native State," said he; "I am proud of her humanity. God bless her." In Vermont, on one of the coldest days last winter, a girl fourteen years of age was found piling brush with her master, a mile away from home. She was thinly clad and must have suffered severely. She had been accustomed to out-door work, REPORT OF THE VISITING AGENT. had no schooling, no decent clothes, and had not attended church in the two years that she had lived there. These neglects were promptly remedied after my visit; but the girl was dissatisfied, and I removed her to a clergyman's family, where she is now doing well. In the town of W, a boy thirteen years of age was found nearly barefoot and thinly clad during the severe weather of last winter, and from four o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock in the evening he was kept at work in the open air. He cried to come away with me and was promptly removed. There have been other similar cases; but such instances of hardship will grow less every year if the children are looked after. There are also cases of commendable forbearance on the part of families who have stubborn or ungrateful children. Many a child has found a home in such families, receiving all the care and kindness that parents could bestow on their own offspring. One of these families is now supporting a girl and her illegitimate child, loving the latter as if it were their own, and striving, with Christian faith and philanthropy, to redeem the injured character of the girl. Another forgives repeated crimes of an impetuous boy, saving him from prison, and winning him by affection to become honest, respectable and useful. Many of the children have been afflicted with defective or diseased eyes. Some of them had received little or no attention until they were visited. I have sent twenty-seven to the Eye and Ear Infirmary at Boston, and in most cases they have been helped, if not entirely cured. Children have been invited to visit the Primary School, and to consider it a temporary home when out of a place. Many of them have availed themselves of this invitation, and spent a day or a night at the institution. They are learning to look to the State as a friend, instead of a hard, ungenerous master. Two little colored girls came to spend their last Fourth of July at the school, and brought with them offerings of flowers for your Agent. One of our boys, just out of his time and engaged in a lucrative business, was asked what were his purposes in life. He THE TEWKSBURY CHILDREN. replied: "I want to get rich, that I may do something to help the children at Monson." Those who have married have, in most cases, done well, and occupy respectable places in society. Some of the girls have been exceedingly fortunate in this respect, marrying into families of wealth and social eminence. 2. Children placed out from the State Almshouse at Tewksbury. These children have been looked after by Mr. Elliot, one of the Inspectors, during the past year, and only one has come under my observation. From his statistics it appears that the whole number of children placed out from Tewksbury since the opening of the Almshouse to October 1, 1868, is four hundred and thirty, (430,) of whom he has found one hundred and three, (103.) One hundred and two (102) were found to have been returned to the Almshouse, eighty-five (85) to have absconded, nineteen (19) to have died, and one hundred and twenty-one (121) are yet to be accounted for. The number placed out from October 1, 1867, to October 1, 1868, is only eight, (8.) The following extracts from his report, made to the Inspectors of the Tewksbury Almshouse, are cited as giving other facts which are the results of his observation :-— have been put out from the on the books as 'returned,' "I find that altogether 533 children Almshouse; 103 of them are marked 'ran away' or 'taken by parents.' (These would seem, at first thought, to require no attention at my hands, though I have, when convenient, found it to be very useful to ascertain why they returned or ran away, and have oftentimes been led by such investigation to be thankful that the children did not stay in such miserable places as they were often taken to, but had sense enough to run away from them.) This left 430 whose cases needed investigation. Of these, only 103 have been found, though I have found and made account of several whose names were not on the books, and of whom I had no record. The residence of the remainder I have not been able, after personal visits and much correspondence, to find. The book I have prepared shows the 533 children to have been placed as follows: * Mr. Elliot here includes many children who are counted twice. The true number of different children does not exceed 430, it is believed.-F. B. S. |