In one little room
some 20 small boys were sleeping and eating, and I found one child of
2 who was not able to walk and was eating in the bed in which he
slept.
Ventilation was bad, linen not very clean, a general feeling of
repression present, slovenly employees, and, in general, an atmosphere
of inefficiency and failure to develop a home spirit which one still
finds in some of the worst institutions in America. The instructor who
showed me this home realized its horrors, and said that the Government
intended to move the children into more adequate quarters as soon as
conditions permitted. In summer the children are all taken to the
country. In this institution all the older children go out to public
schools and there have been no cases of smallpox or typhus in spite of
the epidemics the city has had this winter. Forty children were in the
hospital with minor complaints. About 10 per cent of the children are
usually ill.
The school for feeble-minded occupies a large apartment house and the
children are divided into groups of 10 under the direction of two
teachers, each group developing home life in one of the large
apartments. There is emphasis on handwork. Printing presses, a
bookbinding establishment, and woodworking tools are provided. Music
and art appreciation are given much time, and some of the work done is
very beautiful.
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