Sunday's exploit, nor of the disgrace attending his confinement, must mourn out his thirty days with no words to greet his ear but the laconic orders of his keeper and the ribald and demoralizing conversation of the murderers, thieves and soulless wretches who are herded together in the circular hall just below. Will our county or city authorities tell us how this thoughtless child and the scores of others of a corresponding age, who are committed to the same quarters, and who are without the first emotion of moral responsibility, can receive, during imprisonment, the least germ of any principle or thought which will work that reformation in his conduct when again set free, which is intended to result from the infliction of punishment? To the increasing number of juvenile offenders who come before our courts for disposition, there is a probability of redemption in a Reform School, while in jail there is certainty of ruin. Let common justice be done and an imperative duty be discharged by the expending of a few thousand dollars in the erection of a Reform School."

Here is another, representing quite a different character of boy, but for whom no better treatment is afforded. It is from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"BOOT-BLACK ARRESTS.-A little boot-black was run in' this morning by the police, under the provisions of the boot-black ordinance, and locked up with offenders who have become hardened in the most villainous grades of crime. These industrious little boys are sometimes noisy, and perhaps a little rude, and frequently congregate in squads of a dozen, all of which is in conflict with the ordinance aforesaid. But it does seem as though locking them up in a prison is not the proper remedy. As a class they obtain their subsistence honorably. Some of them support widowed mothers and smaller brothers and sisters. To lock up one of that kind, who has never stolen a penny in his life, affords food for philanthropic reflection. A little squad of them were indignant over the arrest that was made to-day. Various opinions were expressed upon the subject, the most noteworthy of which were that the arrest was made so the policeman could get his boots blacked for nothing after the owner of the box was locked up, and that the hotel boot-blacks were the instigators of these raids upon the street wing of the fraternity."

I need.not comment. The subject is one of infinite importance, socially as well as morally, and is commended to the especial consideration of your honorable Board.

CHILDREN'S HOMES.

WASHINGTON COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.

I visited the Washington County Children's Home during the year, and was highly gratified to find that the high character of its management and continually increasing usefulness, was giving the Home a fast hold upon the people of that county.

During the year Dr. Hart and his wife had taken the superintendency. Possessing, as they do, rare qualities of disposition and culture for such

position, the institution must continue to prosper. I append an abstract of the report of the Trustees of the Home, made to the County Commissioners, April 1, 1869:

Children Admitted during the Year ending March 31, 1869.

Children Removed during the year ending March 31, 1869.

As the children are improved and prepared for usefulness by the training which they receive in the institution-they are sought for by those desirous of procuring such help-and many have been apprenticed to respectable and reliable persons, on terms which, if faithfully carried out, will be beneficial to both parties. The Trustees do not lose sight of the children when thus provided for, but exercise a guardian care over them, and stand ready to see that the spirit and the letter of the contract are maintained.

Others are adopted and receive that kind and gentle care which all young hearts need, and which approaches the parental affection as near

as is attainable. The Trustees are fully aware of the embarrassments which surround you, yet relying on the interest which you have ever manifested in the institution, we feel that you will still unite with us to make-what all benevolent hearts would have it—a Home for the little unfortunates of humanity, in all the comprehensiveness of the words "Sweet Home."

April 8, 1869.

WILLIAM R. PUTNAM,
F. A. WHEELER,

WM. S. WARD,

MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME.

Trustees.

The wise liberality of the Commissioners of Montgomery County, in providing a spacious and completely appointed Children's Home, was noticed in our last annual report. The Trustees of this Home report that during the past year the average number of children enjoying the benefits of the Home was fifty. This is probably twice as many as would have been found in the County Infirmary, and yet all were legitimate objects of public charity. Many a mother who would have shrunk from sending her children to the County Infirmary, and who was yet wearing out health and life in a vain struggle to keep her family together, has gladly committed a part of her children to the fostering care of this institution. Thus many children have been saved from the streets, and from a life of beggary and probably of crime. The Trustees state that the children, freed from the demoralizing influences of the Infirmary, in regular attendance at school, and surrounded by the best moral and religious influences, will compare favorably for capacity and good conduct with an equal number of children in our public schools.

No difficulty has been found in placing children of suitable age in good families in the country. In 1868 and 1869 twenty five have been indentured, and a considerable number more have been placed out with a view of adoption or indenture. It is the aim of the Trustees to retain the supervision of the children, and the reports received in accordance with the rule of the Board have been, in a large majority of the cases, most encouraging. The children, by good conduct, secure permanent homes, and all the priceless blessings we associate with the name-home.

A "Children's Home" is a necessity in all large towns and cities of the State, and can only be secured by private charity or taxation. The latter is the more certain and just method.

ORPHANS' HOMES.

Of these institutions there are quite a number in the State, several of which have been visited, and all of which are known in their respective communities as engaged earnestly and quite efficiently in rescuing the homeless and friendless little ones from want and ruin. Prominent among these are the Orphans' Asylum and the Home of the Friendless

at Cincinnati; The Hare's Orphans' Home and the Hannah Neil Mission and Home of the Friendless, at Columbus; the Industrial School, at Cleveland; the Orphans' Homes of Toledo and Zanesville. These institutions are, for the most part, supported by private charity, and may not, perhaps, be classified with State charities, or such institutions as are, by law, placed under the supervision of your honorable Board, nevertheless they do sustain a moral and social relation to communities and to the State that ought not be overlooked, and the importance of which cannot be over-estimated.

The pauperism and crime prevented, the lives rescued from shame and ruin, the culture bestowed by which characters are formed for usefulness, and the general interests of society thus promoted are not within the compass of human computation; but the fact that these things constitute the design, and that these ends are so largely attained, give to these Homes a relation to our public institutions, correctional as well as benevolent, and entitle them not only to local care and sympathy, but to the highest commendation and encouragement of the State at large, and the Secretary has therefore felt constrained to bring them thus to the consideration of the Roard of State Charities.

Respectfully submitted,

A. G. BYERS,

Secretary.