The institution has an agency in the State of Illinois, and its Western work is confined exclusively to that State. Two men, residing there with their families, are constantly employed in finding homes for children, and in visiting those who have been settled.

The Directors of the Asylum are the legal guardians of these children until they become of age, and are required by their charter to see that the terms of indenture are faithfully fulfilled. Employers are bound to provide for the children in health and sickness; to give them at least four months' schooling each year, until they have a good common-school education; to watch over and guard their morals; and, at the expiration of their apprenticeship, give them a good outfit of clothing, and pay them a specified sum of money. They are also required to report to the Board, at least every six months, the health, education, and deportment of their apprentice. Children are placed only with families who are highly recommended by the most respectable citizens.

The city of New York pays one hundred and ten dollars ($110) per year toward the support of each child while in the Asylum. This amount does not cover the actual expense for food and clothing while in the institution, and the balance, together with the entire expense of the Western work, is obtained by private contributions.

Efforts are now being made to increase the capacity of the institution by the erection of additional buildings at High Bridge, for the accommodation of two hundred (200) girls and small children, and the Legislature has appropriated fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for this purpose, to be paid to the institution when an equal amount has been contributed by private individuals.

The Board of Directors is composed of twenty-four (24) members, well known to the community as among the most prominent and influential philanthropic citizens of New York, and not only give their time to this work without compensation, but contribute largely of their means for its support.

The Mayor of the city, and the Presidents of the Boards of Aldermen and Councilmen, and Commissioners of Public Charities and Correction, are also members of the Board of Directors of this Asylum.

T G. Pearse, Clerk of the Society (City Office, 516 Broadway). Israel C. Jones, Superintendent.

Edward W. Hallock, Assistant Superintendent.

Henry M. Whittelsey, M.D., Physician.

Rev. Bradford K. Pierce, Chaplain.

Edward H. Hallock, Principal of Schools.

John A. Deady, First Vice-Principal.

Miss L. Velona Stockwell, Second Vice-Principal.

This institution is not a place of punishment, nor a prison, but a reform school, where the inmates receive such instruction and training as are best adapted to form and perpetuate a virtuous character, to establish habits of industry, and to advance them in those branches of knowledge which are taught in the common schools of the State.

They are, accordingly, provided with a home every way pleasant and comfortable; are furnished with steady employment of a kind to enable them to earn their own support after their discharge; have appropriate seasons of recreation; are well fed and clothed, and, when sick, are attended by the house physician and carefully nursed; are regularly gathered into school at certain hours on five days of the week, and on the Sabbath are furnished with suitable religious and moral instruction. In order to accomplish the wise ends contemplated by the beneficent provision of the State, the inmates must remain a sufficient time to receive such training and discipline as will serve to reform their evil habits and to establish in them correct principles and habits of industry. The Managers, therefore, are guided in their decisions as to the term during which inmates shall be retained in the House by their conduct while confined, and, with a due regard to the previous history of the inmate, either prolong or shorten the period of confinement according to the circumstances of greater or less

delinquency in each case. Applications for the discharge of inmates are frequently made within a few weeks after their commitment, which, however, can not be entertained. Only in special cases, the circumstances of which can be stated at the city office, will applications be received by the Indenturing Committee under twelve months from the date of committal.

Parents, guardians, and other near friends of those children sent from the cities of New York and Brooklyn, are permitted to visit them once in three months, and on their first visit will receive a card designating these periods. Where friends reside at a distance from the city, they will be permitted to see their children at any time they are in the city, provided their visits are not oftener than once in three months. If unable, from residing at too great a distance, to visit their children, they will be per-. mitted to write to them once within the prescribed period, and to receive letters in return.

In case of the serious illness of any child, the friends will at once be advised of its condition.

The House of Refuge is on Randall's Island, in the Twelfth Ward of the city of New York, and the ferry at the foot of East One Hundred and Seventeenth street can be reached at all hours, either by the Second or Third Avenue Railroad. The city office is at No. 516 Broadway, opposite

the St. Nicholas Hotel, and is open between the hours of 9 A.M. and 4 P.M., where the relatives and friends of children can procure information respecting their welfare.