DAILY SCENES IN NEW YORK'S JUVENILE COURT. "As the twig is bent the tree's inclined," and the knowledge that a great many human twigs are so wofully bent that they grow up morally gnarled or stunted men and women caused our lawgivers to establish the children's court. It has been formed as a branch of the court of special sessions, whose judges preside over this new department. When one reflects that until about a year ago there were tried side by side the most abject criminals and small boys arrested for throwing snowballs, one is surprised that this court is of so recent date-but Dame Justice travels slowly.

Here are arraigned all offenders against the law who are under 16 years of age, and also those parents who forget or ignore the fact that their offspring have certain claims upon them. The object of the court is, whenever possible, to dismiss with a reprimand, or to parole, the youthful culprits, but justice without mercy is meted out to careless or irresponsible parents. If some of our luxurious members of society who dared the responsibility of bringing up one child could see the happy-go-lucky way in which families of six or seven are reared they would be shocked and perhaps benefited.

For instance, a family of half a dozen children are evicted for non-payment of rent and their goods and chattels are deposited on the pavement. The eldest child is left in charge of his younger sisters and brothers, while their parents disappear in quest of comfort and "mixed ale." By nightfall some neighbor takes pity upon the homeless children, receives them into her home and notifies the Gerry Society, which, with its customary promptness, takes the waifs into custody and locks up their guardians. Some days later, frequently after a sojourn upon the island," a sullen browed man and a woman with the straight, nodding black ostrich plumes of her class sit in the children's court and listen resignedly to a judge who in terse, vigorous terms explains to them their utter unfitness both as parents and as members of society.

CHILDREN CHARGED WITH DRUNKENNESS. Some of the saddest and also the most hopeless cases are those of children charged with habitual drunkenness. Of course, the parents do not believe themselves responsible, either through neglect or bad example, for the condition of these degenerates. A mother who had caused the arrest of her 12-year-old son upon this complaint told the court indignantly that only two days before she had caught him drinking a glass of beer. When asked if she had ever given him this, beverage she answered "No," with a head toss of injured innocence. But upon cross-questioning she acknowledged having often given him wine.

Perhaps no pursuit is more popular on the upper east side than pigeon raising. It is also fairly inexpensive, after the first outlay in purchasing the birds, for they fly off to the many breweries in this locality, fed upon whatever grain may be spilled there and then return to their proud possessors. This, at least,

is the theory of the industry. Its practical workings are largely influenced by the greater strategic ability of some bird owners, who succeed in luring their neighbors' pigeons to their own cotes. Willie, with the uncertain chin and changeful blue eyes of an enthusiast, might have become a great musician in his native Bohemia, but Fate had cast him on the east side of New York, with a father too ignorant of our ways to intrust his money to a savings bank. Willie appropriated $75 of the paternal hoard and bought some pigeons, which were at once lured away to his neighbors' cotes. But the possession of these white and metallic hued birds had become Willie's one object in life, so he soon took some more money, bought more pigeons, with a like result. He repeated this performance until his father was minus $250, while he himself was still minus all of his pigeons. With the aid of an interpreter the father brought a complaint against his son in the children's court. The case against the boy was quite clear, but as this was his first criminal offense, he was paroled on his good behavior. He assured the court he would go back to his former honest life, now that he had gotten all through with 'that."'

TENANTLESS HOUSES A TEMPTATION.

Tenantless houses which are without watchmen possess the same attraction for city boys that an unguarded apple orchard exerts over their country cousins. It's so easy to break in, seize all the gas and plumbing fixtures and to dispose of the plunder to dealers in old metals. Doubtless these dealers are considered honest men, but it is strange that they find nothing queer in a gang of boys who possess more old metal than a junkman. Yet it is always the victim and never the buyer who brings the culprits to justice.

This is the demoralizing result upon youthful minds of a too close view of the law as it is practiced. They have been taught sometimes that honesty and truthfulness go hand in hand. When they find that neglect of the former has brought them to the bar of justice they confidently exercise the latter quality and look to see it open their way to freedom; but, alas! upon their return home they are informed by their elders that their telling everything they knew has put the family to the expense of hiring counsel to defend them.

In this respect the children of the Ghetto are much more sagacious. Usually the parents, who cannot speak a word of English, sit helplessly by while their offspring with the mendacity of genius contrive to entangle the line of cross-questioning of the judge. Among our native born population this faculty apparently develops later in life, for what the Ghetto child does for himself the American parent does for his child. After hearing these good people testify to their children's character and habits one boils with indignation at the sight of the plaintiff who has caused the arrest of these "ewe lambs of the flock."

But it is to be observed later when said ewe lamb leaves the court in custody of his doting parent, that he anxiously watches

his parents' movements, as if he knew not when or how hard the blow would descend.

After a holiday the court calendar is filled with cases against the typical small boy. He is frequently a tosser of "fly" balls whose parabolic courses have been obstructed by a pane of glass or a careless passerby. At the moment of arrest he felt flattered to be the one of the "gang" to receive this mark of distinction. But by the time he is arraigned he sees things in quite a different light. He has also developed a most surprising memory, which can enumerate every ball he has thrown, and thus he recalls the fact that the one which has caused all this trouble was thrown by-well, not by him.

His Honor usually makes a great show of scolding these offenders, but the severity of his rebukes is tempered by the snickering of the big policeman and other court attendants. The judge watches him leave the stand, and sits musing for a few moments, in which he counts the years which have elapsed since he himself was a similar offender against city ordinances.

GIRL PRISONERS.

The proportion of girl prisoners is much less than that of the boys, for they are seldom arrested except on serious charges. Many girls are obliged to go to work as soon as they leave school, when if no better employment can found they enter factories and packing houses. Here they earn the small pay and unenviable title of factory girls. They are young, often pretty, and usually fond of giggling and behaving noisily in public conveyances. But they are far from suspecting the misery which this light hearted conduct may cause them, nor do they foresee the pitfalls into which older folk often lead them. To the majority of this class the fact of being arrested and brought to court is sufficient enlightenment as to the foolishness of their past conduct, but his honor is most careful of their interests and never counts the time spent in investigating their cases.

And the boys who are sent into the streets to make a living and who, despite a single error in judgment, will become good men if they are tided over the present difficulty, receive sympathetic treatment from the presiding magistrate. If the job be too strenuous for the boy's physical or moral strength the court endeavors to find him other employment. If he lacks family and friends some one is usually found who will take an interest in him. If he has fallen under the sway of a "gang" he is shown the way to escape from it.

These and all premature breadwinners, when they later in life enter the ranks of substantial citizens, will have cause to look back gratefully to the warnings and counsel they received in the children's court, which punishes only the deliberate wrongdoer, and not even him until he has been more than once arrested.

In the first year that the children's court was in operation there were more than 7,000 children arraigned, almost 5,000 of whom were convicted. There were ten times as many boys as girls convicted and by far the largest number were Hebrews. the entire list there were only thirteen children with negro blood in their veins.

GIRLS ATTEMPT SUICIDE.

In

Five attempts at suicide were made by girls; none of boys. Four of the girls gave as reasons for their acts abuse at home. If boys did not desire to abandon life they were guilty of plenty of other crimes and misdemeanors. Of the 399 cases of burglary coming up in the court only three were committed by girls.

Sixty-six youthful prisoners were charged with felonious assault, 149 with assault and battery, 300 with grand larceny, 972 with petty larceny, 64 with robbery, 72 with malicious mischief and one with violation of the liquor law.

By far the greater number were brought into court under the charge of improper guardianship. On this ground a baby of 2 years was arraigned in court.

One youngster was up for forgery recently and was convicted of the crime. He was employed at the Cornell Club and was so clever in his forgeries that he collected a good deal of money before he was detected. Another boy was brought in not long ago on the charge of passing counterfeit money.

One of the most puzzling cases was that of a little girl who invented a number of sentimental and distressing tales for the benefit of the court.

She picked out a name to suit her, located her home remotely up the state, deprived herself of family, friends and relatives and told a pitiable tale of isolation and desolation.

"I have had no food for two weeks," she asserted, solemnly. Everyone regarded her in astonishment. She was plump and looked well nourished.

"Didn't the Gerry Society give you anything after they picked you up in the hallway?"

"No. Oh, some soup, but I don't count that.”

"And you've had nothing else for two weeks?" "No. Oh, yes; a man gave me 10 cents one day and I bought candy, but that doesn't count."

The child was dressed daintily, in a way that indicated that some one had expended care and thought upon her. A member of the family appeared a little later and took care of the "neglected child," her absence from home having caused the greatest anxiety.

Far from showing any repentance, the youngster departed smiling over her clever deception.

By means of the vigilance of the children's court methods of propagating vice among children have been detected, gangs broken up and a number of the city's black spots where corruption of the young flourished have been cleared up. The worst problem to be faced is that in some of the institutions to which the children are committed the same means of instructing them in criminality prevail, in spite of the authorities.

CATHOLIC WOMEN HELP.

One of the features of the court which has helped to make its work in dealing with wayward or unfortunate children successful is the presence of women representing the Catholic Board of Charities. These women serve without salary and one of them is always present. Most of them are women of wealth and influence and all of them are deeply interested in the work of saving the children and training them for useful citizens, Human tenderness and sympathy thus supplement the stern decisions of law and the exactions of justice.

There is also a woman representing the Hebrew interests, but she is not present every day.

If the prisoner is convicted the time of committal and the day of release are noted, and as soon as the child comes out every precaution is taken to insure good conditions and to prevent a relapse into evil associations and circumstances.

In the case of Catholic children the interest of the priest in whose parish they are is enlisted, and he is in a way made responsible for the protection and reformation of the child and the improvement of home conditions.

So markedly efficient has been the work of the Catholic women in helping the waifs and lawbreakers that have been arraigned in the children's court that Judge Mayer, who formerly sat in the court and had an excellent opportunity to judge of the quality of the efforts made in their behalf, recently said:

"The result of the Catholic women's work is remarkable. During the first few months of the court's existence there were about as many child pickpockets of Italian descent and Catholic faith as there were of Jewish. While the diminution of these classes is to be attributed to some extent to the committal of some of the children, thereby breaking up 'gangs,' there is no doubt that most important factor has been the moral influence and constant care of the Catholic authorities in following up the children who have come to their attention."-New York Correspondence of the Denver Republican.

CHILD PROBLEM WOULD PUZZLE A SOLOMON. "Wait, wait," cried Magistrate Olmsted, of the New York Juvenile Court, with his hand to his head, interrupting the testimony of Agent James E. Colhoun, of the Gerry Society, in the Children's Court, and gazing fixedly at five small youngsters ranged up before him. "Go over that again. In the interests of sociology, if nothing else, it is important that we determine the parentage of these children. Now, whom did you say William and Frederick belong to?"

Agent Colhoun cleared his throat, took a new grip on his subject, and began again.

"William and Frederick-the two oldest boys, sir-they belong to William Myers and his legal wife. The other two" "Wait a minute," interrupted the judge again. Myers here?",

"Is Mrs.

"Sure," said the boys in chorus, bursting into filial tears. "Dou you know these other two children, Mrs. Myers?'' Mrs. Myers tossed her head.

"No, I don't. I ain't been livin' with Myers now for eight years. I'm livin' with a gentleman named Maloney." "Well, whose are the other two children, then?" asked the judge, appealing to the officer.

"I was just tellin' you, judge," continued Agent Colhoun, consulting his notebook.

"Florence and James," he went on-"Florence is that there little three-year-old, and James is the baby in the lady's armsFlorence and James belong to Myers and Lida Davis that kept house for him after his wife left him."

Mrs. Cordero began a vehement explanation.

"Where's Miss Lida Davis?" called the magistrate, gazing around the court room.

"She ain't present, Your Honor," said Agent Colhoun softly. "She's dead. She committed suicide in 1902."

"Oh," said the magistrate.

with the brown eyes belong to? He doesn't resemble them."

Then who does this little fellow

Does he belong to the Myers lot?

"No," said Agent Colhoun, "I'm coming to him. After Miss Davis dies, Myers he takes up with Ida Bower. She has a baby that dies, and"

"Miss Bower in court?" called the magistrate.

"No, Your Honor," said Agent Colhoun. "She's dead, too. She committed suicide last October."

"Oh," said the magistrate again. "Then whom does this child belong to?"

'Oh, him. He's Katy Cordero's boy. She took up with Myers after Miss Bower died."

"And is this boy Myers' child, too?"

"Oh, no, Your Honor. Katy says he's Cordero's boy." "Katy Cordero here?" asked the magistrate, and Katy, her face contorted with poignant emotion, stepped forward, a large and imposing manuscript clasped firmly in her right hand.

"What's that you've got there, Katy?" asked the magistrate. "It's me marriage lines, sir, " said Katy tremulously. "Oh," said the magistrate. "I thought it was your husband's death certificate. I understand there is some doubt about his being dead. Do you know that he is dead?"

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"I'll send the first two Myers boys to the Juvenile Home,'' said the magistrate, reflectively. The next two children I'll send to the Children's Nursery and Hospital. I'll issue a process for the fugitive Myers boy and Willie Cordero"

A wild cry rang through the court room and Mrs. Cordero was led away fainting.

"I will hold," continued the magistrate, when the excitement had subsided, "pending an investigation into the mother's character and her presence in Myers' home at the time of the arrest of the children."

Mr. Myers, his wife, his last housekeeper and Mr. Maloney amicably left the court room together.