says: John says it is true that he took Mrs. Doe's
money and I adjudge him delinquent, and he has the
right to appeal.'

"The police officer is then dismissed, the child sent out of the room, and the judge talks over the case with the parents and the probation officer; and the parents can thus be admonished, if admonishment is necessary, without the risk of lowering them in the estimation of the child and thereby further impairing their already insufficient control. Then the child is brought back and informed of the disposition of his case, with such comments on his past behavior and such admonition or encouragement as seem appropriate.

"If the child denies the truth of the charge against him, the judge sometimes talks with him at considerable length. All these pains are taken to get the boy to tell the truth himself, because it greatly enhances the efficacy of the subsequent treatment of the case.

"If the child persists in denying his delinquency, his parents and the police officer are brought in and the case is heard in the ordinary way (except that only one witness is in the court at a time)."

It will thus be seen that the rights of the parent in the first instance are wholly ignored. The judge overlooks the fact that the parents know more about their child than can any court, probation officer or other agent; that this mode of procedure is high-handed and not countenanced nor recognized by law; that the parents have rights that the court should not overlook; that before their child is adjudged a delinquent both parents should be present and participate in the hearing of the case. It is not in accordance with facts to say a child will talk more freely to a stranger than to the parent. The parents are interested parties, and they should not be ignored in any proceeding, be it judicial or otherwise. The true rule of law is, and should be recognized throughout the country, that before a child can be taken from the parents it should be found delinquent in accordance with the law, and the parents should be found unfit or unable to care for their child. The commitment, even in such cases, should only be temporary until the parents show that they are unable to ever properly care for their child.

One Supreme court in condemning such practice as above described, says:

"The fact that the American system of government is controlled and directed by laws not men, cannot be too often nor too strongly impressed upon those who administer a branch or part of the government. Where a proper spirit and good judgment are followed as a guide, oppression can and will be avoided."

"The judge of any court, and especially of a Juvenile Court, should, therefore, be willing at all times not only to respect but to maintain and preserve the legal and natural rights of men and children alike. Respondent, as the record discloses, either has no regard for or is uninformed in respect to the rules that the experience of past generations has evolved for the purpose of safeguarding the rights of all. Like most laymen, but seemingly without their good judgment, respondent seems to disregard these rules as mere technicalities to be brushed aside as obstructions in the pathway of what is usually termed common-sense justice.' He seems to be a willing convert to the theory that he is better, if not wiser, than both law and rules of procedure, and that he may thus disregard either or both at pleasure. While Juvenile Courts cannot, and are not expected to, be conducted as Criminal or other courts usually are, the judge should still not wholly disregard all wholesome rules in an attempt to establish guilt which he suspects, or, worse yet, merely imagines. Most of the rules of evidence and procedure were established, and their observance is neecssary, to curb the propensities of the inquisitor, and it would, no doubt, better subserve the best interests of all if the mot important of these rules were observed by respondent in his investigations."

Mill vs. Brown, 88 Pacific Reporter, page 609.

The only authority for any court to act is in accordance with the law. Acting in compliance with the law, the courts

are entirely independent of any power on earth except the power of the people to change the laws, and in exercise of that power the people could not abolish the judiciary or its inherent powers without conflicting with the Constitution of the United States.

The Boston Juvenile Court is composed of a judge and a clerk and probation officers. The Courts have uniformly held that a judge, except in specially designated cases, can act only as a Court. The main authority in this country on that point is the case of Sargent vs. Roberts, 1 Pickering Mass., page 337, appeal from Suffolk County in 1823. The Supreme Judicial Court in reversing the case used the following language: "When the court is adjourned, the judge carries no power with him to his lodgings, and has no more authority over the jury than any other person. It is not sufficient

to say that his power is in hands highly responsible for the exercise of it; the only sure way to prevent all jealousies and suspicions is to consider the judge as having no control whatever over the case, except in open court in the presence of the parties and their counsel. The public interests require that the litigating parties should have nothing to complain of or suspect in the administration of justice. It is better that everybody should suffer inconvenience than that a practice should be continued which is capable of abuse, or at least of being the ground of uneasiness and jealousy."

"A court is composed of a judge or judges, present and presiding, and subordinate officers."

Am. & Eng. Enc. of Law, Vol. 8, p. 25 (2nd Ed.). "A court has been defined as a place where justice is judicially administered. The presence of a sufficient number of the members of a body in the Government to which the public administration of justice is delegated, regularly convened in an authorized place, at an appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its duties; a body in the Government to which the public administration of justice is delegated; an organized body, with defined powers, meeting at certain times and places for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this its proper business by its proper officers, viz., attorneys and counsel, to present and manage the business, clerks to record and atest its acts and decisions, and ministerial officers to execute its commands and secure order in its proceedings."

Cyc. of Law & Procedure, Vol. 11, p. 652.

"The opening, holding and adjournment of court are the exercises of judicial power, to be performed by the court. To perform the functions of a court, the presence of the officers constituting the court is necessary, and they must be present at the time and place appointed by law."

In re Terrill, 52 Kas., p. 30. Bacon defines a court as follows:

"A court is defined to be an incorporeal political being which requires for its existence the presence of its judges, or a competent number of them, and a clerk or prothonotary, at or during which, and at a place where it is by law authorized to be held, and the performance of some public act indicative of the design to perform the functions of a court."

Bacon's Abr., p. 27.

"To give existence to a court its officers and the time and place of holding it must be such as prescribed by law."

Hobart vs. Hobart, 45 Ia., p. 503.

"The judge alone does not constitute a court." 22 Nevada, p. 280.

Burrill defines the term thus:

"A court may be described as an organized body with defined powers meeting at certain times and places for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this by proper officers, viz., attorneys and counsel, clerks to record and attest its acts and decisions. Proceedings at another time and place, or in another manner, than that specified by law, though in the personal presence and under the direction of a judge, are coram non judice and void."

"A court does not ambulate with a judge. A judge has no official power as an individual to make orders, de

crees and judgments when not acting as a court." Schlesinger vs. Allen, 69 Ill. App., 137.

"A judge has no official power outside of the court in which he officiates, and when discharging the functions of his office he is the court in concrete, though technically speaking the judge and court are wholly distinct."

Bowman vs. Venice C. R. Co., 102 Ill., 459.

It was unnecessary to cite the above authorities to show what the law is, not only in Massachusetts but in the entire country, in reference to what constitutes a court. Parents cannot be deprived of their children any more than they can of their property except by due process of law. The particular judge may be impressed with his importance and with his ideas of the mode of life each person should pursue. He may disagree with parents as to the proper mode of rearing and educating children. Nevertheless, before he can interfere with family relations he must find authority in the law. All his acts and all his orders should be performed publicly so far as the interested parties in the particular case are concerned. He should not arrogate to himself authority with which he has not been vested by the law. The law has always been jealous of the power and authority exercised by courts, and has insisted that all parties in interest shall be given their day in court, that is, that they may be confronted by the persons who are complaining against them or who in any way give evidence in the suit. We do not mean by this to say that idle spectators are entitled to be present at the hearing of cases, but do insist that all parties in interest should be present at all times when the case is on hearing before the court.

Any child, according to the Massachusetts Juvenile Court Act, who violates a city ordinance, town law or commits an offence not punishable by death or imprisonment for life, if within the jurisdiction of the Boston Juvenile Court, is subject to its jurisdiction. Such a child may be deprived of home, parents and friends and transferred to the control and jurisdiction of strangers during its minority upon the theory that it has not proper parental care. This proceeding is not conducted by a court of chancery but by a court in the same class and with the same jurisdiction as police courts or trial justices. The question at once presents itself to the ordinary reasonably minded person, is it wise, is it just to submit the sole question to any one person behind closed doors to adjudge a child delinquent? We should keep in mind at all times that the parent has the right to the care, custody and assistance of our child and the duty to maintain and protect it is a principle of natural law. The Courts have uniformly held that the law should not disturb this relation except for the strongest reasons. Slight evidence, in fact according to the mode of procedure no evidence is required. The judge in the above court simply adjudicates the child a delinquent. The Supreme Court of Illinois in passing on this question,

says:

"What is proper parental care? The best and kindest parents would differ in the attempt to solve the question. No two scarcely agree, and when we consider the watchful supervision which is so unremitting over the domestic affairs of others the conclusion that is forced upon us is that there is not a child in the land who could not be proved by two or four witnesses to be in this sad condition, delinquency. Acts, wholly innocent in the estimation of many good men, would, according to the code of ethics of others, show fearful depravity. What is the standard to be? What extent of enligtenment, what amount of industry, what degree of virtue, will save from the threatened imprisonment? In our solicitude to form youth for the duties of civil life we should not forget the rights which inhere in both parents and children. The principle of the absorption of the child in and its complete subjection to the despotism of the State is wholly inadmissible in the modern civilized world. . . . Before any abridgement of the parental right, gross misconduct or almost total unfitness on the part of the parent should be clearly proved.

This power of the parent is an emanation from God, and every attempt to infringe upon it, except from dire necessity, should be resisted in all well governed States. In this country the hope of the child in respect to its education and future advancement is mainly dependent upon the father. For this he struggles and toils through life; the desire of its accomplishment operating as one of the most powerful incentives to industry and thrift. The violent abruption of this relation would not only tend to wither these motives of action, but necessarily in time alienate the father's natural affections." (55 Ill., 280.) This same Court in the Cormack case, 211 Ill., 523, says: "We regard the rights of parent as superior to those of any other person, when that parent is a fit person to have the custody of children, and is so circustanced that he can provide the necessaries of life and administer to the requirements of such a child. The mere fact that some other person may have more money or property in any form is not one that appeals to us. The divine injunction to multiply and replenish the species was not confined to the rich, nor was it intended that the poor should beget the children and the rich should rear them. To recognize such doctrine would be little less than monstrous, and would be an utter disregard of those natural instincts of love and care and interest found in the breast of the parent. And while it is said in the books that the interest of the child is the controlling question, it is not meant thereby to say that financial interests only of the child shall predominate. .; Until it becomes contrary to law that people in poor or moderate circumstances shall produce children the Court must recognize and enforce the sacred rights and the legal rights that they have to their custody, control and society."

We offer the above criticism in the kindliest manner. We have not and have never had any fear of the constitutionality of a properly drawn Juvenile Court law, which in turn is enforced in accordance with the law. Our fear comes from persons who arrogate to themselves rights which the law never contemplated they should have. The law is jealous of the rights of parents and rightfully so, and it will not permit any person to interfere with these rights except in accordance with the authority given by the Legislature.

No Proper Guardianship..

330

107

Five times...

The parole of children is quite the most important branch of a Juvenile Court work. Not so much in the immediate analysis is the court best able to decide what the child requires as in the results born of parole supervision, and while this supervision is delegated to trained and tactful representatives the rate of reformations will remain high. Parole is the test that tells whether the boy's first error is wilful or accidental, whether he is the victim of influences and a boy who requires correctional care or one who is inherently bad. There are few of the latter class, and the results in the former tell more eloquently than mere words that all of the trials through which the system passed were worth the effort. That this work is done with such admirable results, without any expense to the city, by disinterested sectarian volunteers, is one of the best arguments that it should remain free from political control. So much is in the balance in curbing wayward tendencies and saving boys and girls from the errors of their ways that every effort should be made to continue the work in the present high degree of efficiency which, aside from the saving of souls involved, represents a municipal economy of $200,000 annually.

During the seven years of this court's existence, 10,053 boys and girls have been given their freedom on parole; under an older method 90 per cent of these would have been committed to reformatories. Of these ten thousand and fifty-three, 9,747 have gone forth never to be heard of again as juvenile offenders, or 87 per cent have been put in better home surroundings, found work, or homes if need be, and while this work of regeneration was going on, the freedom of the child and the independence of the home were not interfered with.

Respectfully submitted,

THOS. D. WALSH,

Superintendent.

294

1,805

I have often thought what a melancholy world this would be without children, and what an inhuman world without the aged.-Coleridge.

What would you do were you suddenly deprived of the use of your hands and arms, or worse still, lose those members entirely? Would you give up and decide to spend the balance of your natural life in a semi-helpless condition, possibly being -dependent upon others in many ways? Or again, would you do the best that you could to overcome the drawbacks resulting from your disabilities and play your little part in the great game of Life as you would were you not disabled?

Here is a little story about one young woman, Kittie Smith by name, who at the youthful age of eight years found herself confronted with the serious handicap of living the remainder of her

Driving Nails

The Happy Family

life minus her arms, the latter being amputated as a result of a most distressing accident. Owing to her extreme youth and dependent condition at that time, she became the ward of a well known children's home society, and remained as such until she reached her majority in 1903.

She did not look upon her misfortune in the light of a serious handicap upon her personal welfare, but with the same grim determination that characterizes all of her acts, she decided to do the very best that she could under these adverse circumstances. As a child she was naturally bright, but she found it necessary to learn many things all over once more. It is needless to add that she was successful in her aspirations, or we should have no reason to speak of her in these columns.

As a little child learns to manipulate and use its fingers and hands, Miss Smith commenced to do likewise with her toes and feet. And just as a little child makes progress from day to day in the use of its fingers, Miss Smith became more proficient with her toes. Today she numbers among her many other accomplishments penmanship that is much superior to that of some of us that guide our pens with our hands. She can draw equally as well, not just little sketches for her own personal amusement, but drawings that any artist of no mean ability would be proud to show. One of Miss Smith's favorite occupations is to teach her little friends to draw, an amusement that any child welcomes as a pastime, and one that ofttimes developes into real ability in that line.

Kittię Smith does many other things that require what we should term " a fine hand," but inasmuch as she executes these little arts by means of her toes, the expression seems rather inappropriate. Versatility plays an important part in her makeup, for she does not confine her ability entirely to the fine arts alone, but is a craftsman as well. She can hammer, saw, drive nails, paint, and in fact do most anything in the line of ordinary carpenter work. Heretofore she has been handicapped by poor and insufficient tools, but with the few that she does possess she is able to turn out various articles of furniture, such as bookcases, constructing them from ordinary lumber unassisted by any outside help. Miss Smith is likewise an ardent "camera fiend," and has quite a few excellent negatives and prints to show to her friends as results attained by her in the gentle art of photography. Here again her child friends play an important part, as many of her pictures are of her little friends, irrespective of the fact that children are considered difficult subjects in the line of portraiture.

With true Christian spirit, Kittie Smith has always been in sympathy with the dependent child. Being crippled herself, she is especially interested in the aiding of crippled children. She has succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of the officials of the very same society that cared for her in her early youth to the extent that she has been enabled to open a home for crippled and disabled children. This home, while it is conducted under the auspices of an incorporated society, is not exactly an institution, but a home with homelike environments in the true sense of the word, a home where the inmates comprise the family circle, and a very happy family at that. Miss Smith is financial secretary of the home, and ably tends to all of the duties falling upon her while serving in that capacity.

Nevertheless, she finds ample time to engage in other things, and has a corner of the basement which she aptly terms "her shop," where she is wont to go at times and hammer and saw to her heart's content. Being very modest, the others of the household are ofttimes not aware of her work until she shows them some article that she has produced by her own efforts. Her delight is to repair or make new toys for the amusement of her little proteges.

The various accomplishments of Kittie Smith would fill a very large book indeed. It is only necessary for us to add that she can do most anything that you and I can do. She feeds herself, operates the typewriter, telephones, opens any door, in fact, does anything that any normal person can do, possibly does some of these things better. Chicago is considered a rather difficult city for the gentle sex to get around in, but Miss Smith can be seen nimbly hopping on and off street cars, unassisted and unaccompanied.

Those of us that believe we are encumbered by certain things in this old life can learn a little lesson from the life of Kittie Smith. She has surmounted difficulties and drawbacks that very few of us would care to entertain. Such is the reward of perseverance and determination.

Using the Scroll Saw

OPPORTUNITY.

They do me wrong who say I come no more When once I knock and fail to find you in; For every day I stand outside your door,

And bid you wake and rise to fight and win.

Wail not for precious chances passed away; Weep not for golden ages on the wane; Each night I burn the records of the day; At sunrise every soul is born again.

Laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped,
To vanish joys be blind and deaf and dumb;
My judgments sea! the dead past with its dead,
But never bind a moment yet to come.

Though deep in mire, wring not your hands and

weep;

I lend my arm to all who say "I can." No shame-faced outcast ever sank so deep But yet might rise and be again a man.

Dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast?
Dost reel from righteous retribution's blow?
Then turn from blotted archives of the past
And find the future's pages white as snow.
-Walter Malone.