Some concrete cases may best illustrate the working of the Juvenile Court and probation system. H. F., fourteen years of age, broke into a store and took some goods. He is proceeded against as a "juvenile disorderly person." He admits his guilt. The seriousness of his act and its consequences are brought forcibly before him by the judge. He can be sent to the industrial school till his majority. He is made to realize that he has no right to expect anything else. Sentence is pronounced. Like every other boy, he has a dread of the institution. The judge asks him if he would like to stay at home. With tears in his eyes he is ready to promise anything. After explaining to him the nature and sacredness of a promise, its value to him if kept, and the consequences of failure, the judge accepts his word of honor to obey the requirements of the court. His sentence is suspended during good behavior, and he is released on probation under the care of the officer and the parents, who, the judge is assured, are well-meaning people ready to co-operate with him. That is not all. The child is required to report statedly to the court, and may be called to account at any time for any breach of its rules. If his conduct is good, he is encouraged and commended, his pride is aroused, his self-respect appealed to, his manhood praised. If a bad report is made, the judge talks to him privately as one who understands his troubles, sympathizes with him, and wishes to help him as a friend. His confidence won, he begins to take pride in proving himself worthy such a friend.

Before the days of the Juvenile Court a boy eleven years old who, thru the natural desire to make a kite, stole a razor from a barber shop because his father angrily told him to get a knife the best way he could, was sentenced to jail and served his time, coming out to begin a career as thief and burglar. A completed sentence in the industrial school wrought no transformation. Once more he is hunted as a desperate burglar of sixteen. This time he is brought to the Juvenile Court. In spite of all the mistreatment this boy had undergone, he yielded to kindness and sympathy, and for nine months had a satisfactory record on probation, after which he was placed in a military school.

Some cases are less hopeful from the beginning. Little J. F., who, at eight years and seven months of age, had to his credit, or rather discredit, habitual truancy, the theft of a bicycle, a velocipede, and various other small articles, who in one week burglarized two stores, and was found on the street at one o'clock at night with his pockets full of money and a box of candy under each arm, was, in the estimation of the court, a doubtful subject for probation; especially as his father was a drunkard and had deserted the mother and family of seven children, of whom he was the eldest. The hopeless lack of home surroundings make successful reformation in such cases next to impossible outside the institution.

Fortunately such cases are rare. In from 85 to 95 per cent. of the homes of juvenile delinquents sufficient co-operation can be had from the parents to justify placing them on probation. When we learn that in several of our large cities not over 5 per cent. of those placed on probation have to be returned for breaking their parole, we are forced to admit the superiority of the new method. The reason is not far to seek. It is the method of love, not vengeance; the method of helpfulness, not condemnation. The fact that in one city one hundred and fifty boys, voluntarily or thru the influence of other boys, have come to the judge, made a clean breast of all their misdeeds, asked to be taken under the care of the court, and helped out of their difficulties, speaks volumes for the boys' appreciation of the fairness and squareness of their treatment by that court. The delinquent boy's sense of fairness and justice can be far more readily appealed to than that of the criminal adult. Once aroused, he can be depended on. He can do more in one week to convict men guilty of violation of liquor and cigarette laws than a police force can in a year. He can break up the criminal tendencies of his gang when all other methods fail. He can do more to make a good citizen of himself, when properly directed, than all the powers of harsh authority. Help the child to the best chance possible, and he will make a man of himself. Reformation is better than punishment. Formation is better than reformation. Direction is better than correction.

II. RELATION OF THE HOME TO THE WAYWARD CHILD

OSCAR CHRISMAN, PROFESSOR OF PAIDOLOGY, OHIO UNIVERSITY, ATHENS, 0.

I have been wondering how to define a wayward child. When we read Swift's 'Criminal Tendencies of Boyhood," and recall our own boyhood, the question is not, "Why do we have so many wayward children?" but rather, "How did any of us escape from being wayward children ?" I did not do everything that was bad when I was a boy, nor did I do everything that was good. The only reason I can see why we did not all grow up to be among the wayward children is not that we were not wayward, but rather that we were not wayward most of the time, and the waywardness kept growing less until we got far enough away from waywardness to keep away. Yet everyone here today has at least some one thing in his nature against which he must wage an everyday fight to keep it down, and which he fears may some day get the supremacy. Our growing away from waywardness was by our doing more good things than bad things, and thus we became gradually habituated to incline toward the better things; and as these better things came our way, we naturally took them up rather than the worse things.

On the contrary, the wayward child becomes habituated to doing the worse things rather than the better things, so that when good things come his way, he passes them by and takes the bad things. That is to say, the mind exercised in a certain direction, modes of habit are formed in that direction.

But the above does not tell just why one child falls habitually to choosing the good most of the time, and another child falls to choosing the bad most of the time. This can be answered only by the same old questions of heredity and environment. This paper has to do with such questions herein only as far as the home is concerned.

There are two forces at work in the family to produce degenerate children, and the effects of which we cannot know fully, which are alcoholism and prenatal influence. There is one phase of alcoholism which seems to be on the increase, and to which much attention is being attracted now; this is the use of patent medicines by the mother. In the 1902 Reports of Food and Drug Inspection by the Massachusetts State Board of Health I counted eighteen patent medicines which are set down as containing over 25 per cent. of alcohol, reaching as high as 47.5 per cent. of alcohol, and “the dose recommended upon the labels of the foregoing preparations varied from a teaspoonful to a wineglassful, and the frequency also varied from one to four times a day, 'increased as needed.'" Surely women who use these to excess must bear degenerate children, if it is true at all that the use of alcohol degenerates the race. Since it is true in nature that there is a tendency to degenerate where conditions favor such, we can see that alcoholic parents place the children born to them in condition for a descent from normal.

Our knowledge is so meager of the second element mentioned above—prenata] influence and so much is in dispute, that it is difficult to decide in reference to it. Just how far the condition of the mother affects the unborn child there is no definite way to determine. We know that the physical condition of the mother greatly affects the physical condition of the child, and hence it seems as if the mental condition of the mother must affect the mental condition of the child. As degeneracy is very greatly a physical condition, and as the mental condition reacts on the physical, both the physical and mental condition of the mother may affect the child, and prenatal influence may be one great cause of degenerate children.

One cause for degeneracy is the amount and kind of food of children. Experiments made upon animals show how greatly food conditions affect them; so food conditions must more greatly affect the young of man. It is a noted fact that children admitted to reform schools show very greatly the lack of proper food, and about the first thing to be done for them is to build them up thru proper feeding. Thus the tendency of the young to degenPedagogical Seminary, Vol. VIII, p. 65.

erate is aggravated by lack of proper food. Not only does this concern the food itself, but also the preparation of it as well.

One of the greatest influences on the child is the incomplete home, where one or other of the parents is missing all of the time or a great part of the time, and which shows how important to the child are both the father and the mother, and that monogamy is the best form for the rearing of children. This brings up, too, the effect that will come upon children of the future if there continues an increase of those things that are taking the mothers and the fathers away from the homes both day and night. With all that may be said against the stepmother, I believe that in the far greatest number of cases the child that has a stepmother is in much better condition than the child who is entirely without woman's influence in the home.

With all the home influences, however good, that may be brought about the child, there is one instinct that can never be eradicated, and in the boy is so strong as to cause him to be impelled toward a wayward life. I mean the migratory instinct. This is a race-instinct, and often cannot be overcome till a migration takes place; and even then it may be continued. In the large majority of cases the boy tries it but once; but if the instinct is very strong or the home surroundings are very unpleasant, and especially if both these happen together, the boy remains away, or tries it a second or more times, till he is given up by the parents.

The school must reecognize the need of helping these wayward children by helping to make good homes for them. After an address I gave not long since before a parents' and teachers' club I asked of the mothers present if they found that their daughters gave less time to learn to do housekeeping than when they, the mothers, were girls; and the answers were that such is the case, that the school duties are more burdensome, and that the social and church duties require much more time. Such being true, the education of the school should be made, more than it is at present, a preparation for the home. Especially is this needed where the mother is taken from the home to work, and also for those homes where the mothers rarely understand home-keeping and home-making. In this way the school should better prepare the girl for home life, and thru her elevate the home. Thus the school could do much more for the wayward child than it is doing; for the child of the future could thus have a much better home, and would want to remain in it. If education still continues to take more of the girl's time, and yet fails to prepare her for home-making, the home of the wayward child will still grow to be less and less helpful to him, and he will be driven from it even more than now.

DISCUSSION

LINUS W. KLINE, State Normal School, Duluth, Minn.—In opening the discussion of the topic of this morning I wish to direct attention to its timeliness. American life and living are pitched at such a high scale that the fundamental powers and virtues of our people are put to a severe test. Evidence of this is on every hand. It is seen in the early aging of our people, in the precociousness of our children, in the increasing growth of nervous diseases, in the lack of self-control in many unexpected quarters, and in the frequent outbursts of the mob psychosis. And there is every reason to suppose that these conditions will become more acute, and therefore ways and means for their cure and prevention more urgent, in the immediate future. Furthermore, I am persuaded that advance in this exceedingly difficult field must be made by specialists in psychology, in insanity, and in sociology. In the meantime, while waiting for definite knowledge, principles, and rules for guidance from the hands of experts, lay members of the teaching profession will more likely sustain a wholesome attitude toward the child by adhering to a cheerful optimistic philosophy.

We can yet a while afford to have our work-a-day philosophy beclouded by a bit of

mysticism and nourished by sentiment, to the end that we may believe that the child is nature's best effort to begin the human species aright.

To those of us who are observing and investigating I would suggest that we have a very special care not to confuse normal growth-processes with abnormalities; not to confound instincts with mental diseases; not to mix up unconscious cruelties, lying, and the like with chronic moral perversions. The lack of attention and concentration on the part of the child is too often labeled a fault by parent and teacher, whereas the probable truth is undevelopment. The fault is not in the child, but in the teacher who expects a faultless attention from immature minds.

My own studies on truancy indicate that it is at bottom an instinct performing a useful function, but may be perverted by incompetent parents, a deficient home, and an over-bookish schoolroom. Truancy is an evil, but the instinct which lies back of it is a wholesome force in civilization, when wisely directed.

M. P. E. GROSZMANN, director of the Groszmann School of Atypical and Nervous Children, Plainfield, N. J.-Some of the children born with some of the following signs to an abnormal degree are likely to develop criminal tendencies later in life: (1) lack of judgment and lack of self-control; (2) inability to see the wrong in untruthfulness; (3) prolonged uncleanliness; uncleanliness should be changed to unusual cleanliness about seventeen to eighteen years of age; (4) lack of purity; (5) an uncontrolable temper which will lead to erratic action. Physical characteristics, such as large ears or a high palate, are often held by experts to be signs of waywardness, but this does not generally hold true. E. G. DEXTER, Department of Pedagogy, University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.— In my opinion, truancy is nothing more or less than a natural corrective for some ailment of nature. The child goes on a truant expedition in order that nature may correct some natural limitation, which under our present school system cannot be corrected in the schoolroom. If the child who is habitually truant and wayward is naturally, physically limited, as shown by Dr. Kline, such as being small in stature or undeveloped in one line or another, it is necessary for him to get a natural development by outdoor exercises which outdoor life will give him. Truancy, then, is but a natural corrective for natural limitations.

MISS MARY R. CAMPBELL, of the Chicago Hospital Schools for Nervous Children.— External signs of degeneracy cannot be depended on as indicative of criminal tendencies, as shown by expert judgment of educators and physicians.

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

SECRETARY'S MINUTES

FIRST SESSION.-TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1904

The meeting was called to order in Physical Culture Hall of Washington University at 2:30 P. M., by E. Hermann Arnold, of New Haven, Conn., president of the department. After words of welcome to those present, the president read a paper on "The Importance of Walking in Physical Training."

The next topic was announced as "The Objects and Methods of Physical Training in Primary and Grammar Schools: (a) from the Standpoint of the General Teacher; (b) from the Standpoint of the Physical Training Teacher." The first speaker was W. W. Chalmers, superintendent of schools, Toledo, O. He was followed by William A. Stecher, director of physical training, public schools, Indianapolis, Ind. These papers were discussed by C. C. Miller, superintendent of schools, Lima, O.

Mrs. Mary H. Ludlum, instructor in physical training, Central High School, St. Louis, Mo., next read a paper on "The Objects and Methods of Physical Training in High Schools from the Standpoint of the Specialist."

She was followed by Miss Elsa Pohl, physical director of the Girls' Gymnasium, McKinley High School, St. Louis, on "Physical Training Exhibits in the Physical Training Department of the Exposition."

The meeting then adjourned until Wednesday at 2:30 P. M., at the same place, to attend an exhibition of gymnastics to be given under the direction of A. E. Kindervater, supervisor of physical training in the public schools and director of gymnastics in the St. Louis Turnverein.

ILLUSTRATIVE PROGRAMS

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A. E. KINDERVATER

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2:30 P. M.

In the World's Fair Gymnasium at the Stadium, by classes of the local gymnastic societies and the Central Y. M. C. A.

1. Dumb-bell and marching exercises, by boys of the North St. Louis Turnverein; Otto M. Koenig, instructor.

2. Bar-bells exercises and dancing steps, by girls of Concordia Turnverein; Karl H. Heckrich, instructor.

3. Class work on parallel bars, by juniors of South St. Louis Turnverein; Louis M. Kitthaus, instructor.

4. Dancing steps and posing, by ladies of Concordia Turnverein; Karl H. Heckrich, instructor.

5. Marching drill by juniors of Central Y. M. C. A.; Dr. Kennedy instructor.

6. Marching exercises with flags and fancy steps, by ladies of St. Louis Turnverein; A. E. Kindervater, instructor.

7. Individual work on apparatus, by juniors of Concordia Turnverein; Karl H. Heckrich, instructor.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 10 A. M.

In the World's Fair Gymnasium at the Stadium, by classes of the public primary, grammar, and high schools of St. Louis, showing physical culture as it is practiced daily.

1. Calisthenics and Gymnastic games for first and second grades, by pupils of the Clinton School; Miss Martha Courte, teacher.

2. Calisthenics for third and fourth grades, Lessons 1 and 11 showing the progression in the year's work, by pupils of the Charless School; Miss Ella Ryan teacher.