AN ASYLUM FOR BOYS ESTABLISHED.

121

building of the orphanage in the city and entirely destroyed those on the Virginia country home. The damage amounted to $6,000, the greater part of which sum had already been contributed by the generous friends of St. John's parish.

The report of Sister Sarah states that for the purposes of a separate home for the older boys of the orphanage, an attractive house was given "by an untiring friend of the orphanage," and was opened on Ascension Day. The home started with 16 boys, under the charge of the Brothers of Nazareth, and the money needed for the new work was furnished by "a well-known philanthropist."

The report of the treasurer shows receipts of $5,190.22, of which amount $1,800 was received from appropriations by Congress. The expenditures for maintenance were $3,536.07; $200 was paid on the debt on the orphanage of $2,500, and $500 was added to the endowment fund. Besides the regular receipts, $6,329.50 was collected for rebuilding the orphanage country home. Special donations amounting to $497, besides considerable gifts of supplies, also were received.

CHAPTER IX.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

THE

1

IE Industrial Home School was organized on Thanksgiving Day, 1867, by a few benevolent ladies, who began a school in Georgetown, and was incorporated May 5, 1870. On March 12, 1872, the incorporators amended their union, as provided for in the general incorporation act of the District of Columbia, those signing the articles being Messrs. A. M. Gangewer, A. B. Atkins, John Hitz, J. S. Blackford, A. N. Zeverly, M. H. Doolittle, Thomas Taylor, W. W. Dungan, M. V. Buckley, and Walter S. Cox. The by-laws provided for the usual officers and a board of managers, 25 in number, to be elected annually by members of the association, membership being through election by a majority of the existing members. During its first years the school occupied rented quarters, but in March, 1875, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia set apart for its use the buildings and grounds of the Georgetown almshouse, on the Tennallytown road, about 1 mile above Georgetown and adjoining the grounds of the Naval Observatory. The building was constructed in 1830.2

In the thirteenth annual report of the school, for the year ending October 29, 1877, the fact is noted that the Commissioners of the District of Columbia had set apart the Georgetown Asylum property3 for the purpose of an industrial school, where "the children of the unfortunate or depraved could be properly provided for," and the trustees asked the Commissioners to recommend to Congress the enactment of a law, similar to that existing in several States, requiring the District of Columbia to pay to the board of trustees of the school the amount of $2 per week for each inmate of the industrial home. This amount, with some assistance from charitable people, the trustees believed would suffice to carry on the institution successfully, provided the requisite buildings were furnished for mechanical and industrial purposes.

The school already had a steam engine and other machinery, secured by act of Congress in June, 1871; but this machinery was in a rented building more than a mile distant from the then location of the home, necessitating a payment of rent of $250 a year and the loss of much val

1 See report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia for 1886, p. 431.

2 Report of Commissioners of District of Columbia for 1885, p. 108.

3 The ground was deeded to the city of Georgetown by Elisha W. Williams July 19, 1830, and was used by that corporation for almshouse purposes.

able time, without affording the requisite facilities for proper instruction in mechanical and other arts. Therefore an appropriation of $10,000 was asked for the purpose of erecting a suitable building for workshops in conformity with plans submitted. Such an appropriation had passed the House of Representatives during the previous year, but, owing to some misunderstanding, it failed in the Senate. This report was signed by John Hicks, president, and H. W. Blackford, secretary.

The report of the treasurer, M. V. Buckey, for 1877 showed earnings of $7,276.50, mainly from tree boxes furnished to the Parking Commission. The earnings of the home for the maintenance of paupers amounted to something over $1,500, while the proceeds from sale of products of the garden increased the amount by $153.77.

In the fourteenth annual report for the year ending October 30, 1878, the secretary, H. W. Blackford, says that the school "has established the fact beyond question that its aims are practicable, and really contribute to the public welfare; yet the trustees are forced to witness the humiliating spectacle of organizations in other places, which have followed out the ideas of the Industrial Home School, in the space of three or four years growing into large and flourishing institutions, with elegant buildings and surroundings, and affording homes and instruction to hundreds of children, while the Washington institution is compelled by limited means and room to refuse admission to many cases of destitute applicants who should by all means be rescued from their pitiable condition, and not be left to shift for themselves, and so ultimately become a burden to the community." She calls attention to the State public school of Michigan, organized in 1874, that had gone ten times as far in four years as the Washington school had in fourteen, "simply because the people of that State were enthusiastic on the subject of human progress, and wise enough to see that it will be money in their pocket in the end to educate their dependent children, give them a trade, and make them useful citizens. It is known to be a fact by those who have investigated the subject," she says, "that where children are brought up in large numbers together in institutions devoid of the means of industrial training, both girls and boys are apt to turn out badly, and in the end tend towards indolence and helplessness."

The buildings occupied as a home were sadly in need of repair. The industrial department was still in a rented building, more than a mile distant from the home, and under the circumstances the trustees renewed their application for $25,000 for the erection of a workshop and effecting the indicated improvements upon the home, already the property of the Government. The report for the year showed receipts of $7,091.02, of which amount $3,000 was the first installment of an appropriation by Congress.

The first report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, appointed under the act of Congress providing for a permanent form of government for the District, approved June 11, 1878, commended to the