Pg. 599
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Charles Dickens.] BOYS TO MEND. 599
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Somewhat recently, it was resolved to remove the institution out of town; to enlarge and improve its character; and, by training the boys on a farm school in the country, to qualify them for emigration, or for home employment distant from their old evil companions. The Farm School at Red Hill was therefore opened in April 1849, and by degrees the entire substance of the town establishment was carried off into East Surrey.
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 To the Philanthropic Farm School, following the information written on the sign-post, we direct our steps, recalling thus the history of the place. Our way is down hill now, and between the luxuriant hedges crowning the high banks of red sandstone. Distant peeps are caught of a broad richly wooded plain that lies below. It is but a peep of country many miles away that can be seen over the trees that shade our down-hill path.
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 A dog has bidden us good morning in a distant way, and walks before us, pausing when we pause, returning half-way when we linger, yet decidedly repulsing all familiarities. A small bird, newly fledged, is fluttering among the fern by the way side, and dies in the dog’s mouth despite our intervention. Such a dog might contain the spirit of a Mephistopheles; we quarrel with him instantly, but still he goes before, and duly takes the final turning that will bring us to the Philanthropic Farm School.
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 A pleasant, rustic house by the hill-side, with roses shining, in the hot sun, around its windows! Through a flower-garden we come to the door; and, keeping out the dog, obtain admittance to the dwelling of the chaplain. While we wait in the drawing-room, the dog, who has coursed round the house, plunging among roses, makes a triumphant entry through the open window, and looks at us for applause.
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 1 Aided by the resident chaplain upon whom devolve all duties of superintendence, and who is in fact the local manager of the whole scheme, we proceed to walk about the Red Hill farm and watch the labours of its youthful population. We receive it as an encouraging sign, that the good chaplain does not deem it needful to put on his religion in the outward and visible form of a grievous waistcoat; or to make it known to all men by wearing a clear-starched dog-collar round his throat.
¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 1 The number of boys now at Red Hill is a little over a hundred; and the number of acres on the farm is about a hundred and thirty. The boys vary in age from ten or eleven to eighteen, and they vary also in the terms on which they have been admitted. Some of the youngest are children who have been sentenced to transportation, and recommended by the directors of Government prisons as more fit to be kindly taught than harshly punished. These are compelled to stay.
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 Others, are boys who, having suffered punishment by law, are sent by their parents to receive corrective training—the parents, paying a part of the expense incurred on their behalf. These may be removed at the discretion of their parents.
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 Others, are boys who come as volunteers, on the expiration of their punishment, from various Houses of Correction; being assisted in their own desire to become honest men. These may remove themselves at their own discretion.
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 Others, are boys who, by a recent law, have received conditional pardons, and have been excused some of the last months of a term of imprisonment, on condition that they be transferred to some place where they will receive for: a longer term educational discipline. These may be compelled by law to stay; but, after the term of their first sentence has expired, it becomes necessary to regard them very much as volunteers.
¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 1 It is obvious that boys differing so greatly in age, and working upon the farm under so many differing circumstances, cannot be managed by one rigid system. Military discipline does not suit children; the drill-sergeant is an excellent man in his way, but, they are not to be drilled into honesty and virtue. We have twice visited Parkhurst, and have taken pains to get what information we could upon the subject of that Government Reformatory, and we are convinced that its failure—there can be no doubt that it fails utterly—is the natural result of a blind reliance upon discipline, too many unbending rules and regulations, too little comprehension of the wants and humours of a child, too much letter and too little spirit. We are glad, therefore, to find at Red Hill that the rules are few, the punishments still fewer. Boys are trained to think for themselves; each is judged on his own merits, and guided as far as possible with a strict view to the development, of his own character. Good people are multiform as blossoms in the summer hedge. A military man, turned gardener, might drill everything he found in a garden, into rows of plants, properly arranged according to their heights and sizes; and might then proceed to prune them all, water them all, smoke them all, precisely in the same way. In a year or two his process would be as clear a failure as the human gardening in Parkhurst.
¶ 12
Leave a comment on paragraph 12 1
The boys at Red Hill are taught,
if possible, to think and. act on honest, kindly principles. Responsibilities
are placed upon their shoulders; they are even trusted out of sight, and are,
as it were, prisoners on parole, living where there are no bars to break, no
walls to climb. Dispersed about the grounds, are houses containing,
dormitories, washing-rooms, and other chambers, a forge, a carpenter’s shop,
a cottage for the farm-bailiff, a dairy, cow-sheds, piggeries, and other buildings.
In one part, a new house is being, built to contain dormitories; and, to
increase the accommodation for boys on the farm, and else where, a new
blacksmith’s shop is being built. All such opportunities are used for
Sean
Taylor Posik
A chaplain in this context is supposed to be a private priest working in the school, supposedly to help teach the boys who attend the Philanthropic Farm School good, Christian morality as the superintendent. The fact that he does not outwardly wear his traditional garb, or any adorning of a chaplain is telling of the priority of these schools, and towards the lack of care towards these children that “Boys to Mend” is implying.