DISCIPLINE FOR GIRLS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 422, 3 February 1909, Page 2

DISCIPLINE FOR GIRLS.

- O ~ METHODS OF PUNISHMENT. MANAGEMENT OF A NEW. JERSEY STATE HOME. In view of the controversy that has takes plaoo in New Zealand regarding the mcthodj of punishing girls in industrial 'schools, th« following article by Ethel Lloyd Patterson m a recent American paper will be read witl interest :-r ' , Although Mrs. Elizabeth V. M. Manse! behoves m, corporal punishment for girls be. ween the ages of ten and twenty-one, eha docs not look like an ogress. Nor" do tho inmates of the New Jersey State Home for fairls at Trenton look as though an ogres* presided over them. , Dark have been the tales of the tortureg meted out by Mrs. Mansell to the unruly ones under her jurisdiction—lurid fabrications that deal with rat-run garrets., whipping chairs, and meditation oages. ' ■- And when hints of tho highly-tinted pro. cecdmgs leaked to the outside world -Mrs.; Mansell refused to dony them. She had wnippod, she had caged, she had sentenced to garret solitude—"and what then?" asked Mtb. Mansell. •> , , The- answer to her question iB not, all in yet, for although the Board of Managers h »y. e endorsed her methods, the matter V 6tiU before the governor.!

Punishmont is Needed. "Do you think that it would be 'possible to impress, without corporal, punishment,' discipline upon 240 girls who had' been placed in your charge for the reason that they were found incorrigible at homeP" Mrs. Mansell asked, in her quick, cool, even voice. v (j "I am a New York ttoman,"< she added, and I cannot say how deeply I regret tho distorted accounts of tho things I have done that have been printed by some of the New Yoik papers." -- - -t > - - -■ "I taught school in New York City before? ■ I came here to take charge of the homo," Mrs. Mansell explained, "and I believed ~in corporal punishment then. I am interested in. knowing what the New York City Board will eventually decide about it. Different In Sohools, \ t ' i ,'.,'? * n a sity publio school, wherq the children are normal joungsters -and whew the extent of their wickedness is' more truthfully nothing but mischief, corporal punuihI mont is not an actual necessity.. - - . ---, , 1,,"% watter is entirely different hera.f I Mrs. Mansell went on. "The girls that are sent to mo are admitted to be incorrigible by either their parents or their That word literally 'covers a multitude opsins, too, you know. Half Hm- time it>eana that their parents have found it practically impossible to keep them off the streets. And,they are as hard and as difficult to manage as the streets can mako tliem. What, then, is, to be dono when an appeal to. their affections .vid all other arguments t hav« failed? . . . ......_ "Everybody must realise that ii; an .institution of this character discipline must , be enforced.

, -, Defends Her Discipline. •; I "People do not stop to consider, when thev I piotost against corporal punishment, that these are not tho sensitive natures of their own children, °whoso most violent manifests* tion of evil crops out in a mild impudence. But 1 want to say right here that no one has ever been physically ■ injured . through any punishment .in this institution ia my time. , , n . - "I have, and President Fay, and the rest of tho Board of Managers, are perfect!} aware of it, had the "girls whipped when I felt that they needed, it. And when 1 was unable to do it alpne ',Gottlieb Kohler, th« engineer, has helped me,. I have also r en* forced solitary confinement on occasions when the case seemed to warrant it. But the dranwti.a and sfialp-raising details that have embroidered-tho'.real facts are purely baWifl . tl( ; ~j ' ~.,., "As the public already, know, after all the hysterica^clamour that was raised, .the State Commission,on Dependency^and Crimo.'conducted an investigation. 'Its'findings are now beforo th'e" Governor." > l}htil -it"- decision is handed down I must'refuse to discuss'the situation ariy further. My pimple" statement is that I considered whipping and confinement necessary in some cases. considered it necessary I sajv. that they" were administered. " ' v ' ' ■ "But possibly itf would be' int-eresting ta see tho girls," Mrs 1 . Mansell suggested, abruptly changing the subject, and then' reverting to it grimly withj "I fancv many of their will have their arms "and legs in splints through my cruelty.". - : Learning Christmas', Songs,

f'They;'Wß all :thof6'in'<tha.Assembly iHa1i,:.,... sitting straight, with their bands; before them ;' on,.their: : desks;- -learning. 'Chratmasihymnsf -': .Two-.hundred ; ,and-. forty>/ of.,'; : them,'"'ranging ~. frbm'ten. to twerity'ionei^all\cli)thM;"alikß,jn'''' blue and.white striped:calicosA' l 'sweet : fa'ced • woman pii r ; a;fais'6d:'platformfat'..the'indibf-'' the room.was,playing thei piano and : teaching ;; the; Christmas -carols. ■•- >i.\ ■'.■'.'■ ''Yea,; T.suppose ;one. does:igst v ihe;.imtorea-'. : Mansell : 'agreed, -.-I'butv.thak Ss; -.because '.-their. >■. bodies are stunted:'^Mosfr.;o£-these'.girlsVara' fifteen .and .'.seventeen; years; hot over' twelve or-foiarteen, fpiitheir bodies are ; but-■ <&re,extra-'.; -■' ordinarily precocious. ■'~' ■'■ ).\ -.£>.'■ ':•'<'-. .:;-'>'■(• ..,v:-"Th'ey look healthy,; though, bdotftaheypMv queried vMrs. jVXanselfj ' nal'pride that.'rhockedthe -onieJtyuchargei V against her. ; :'''W l e try," she continued,learn-.:, estly, •' 'to impress" upon the, girjs tkhai, this :ia; ■'■'.- not a 'prison...; It 'is a ,home, : nndx,a -school.;-/; Anda ( :home and a:school in fe,tjHeVb. : Behßea, ; of the word it is and it..; This .is.;just', a place-where-.jnitia'tltnisV' takes are .smoothed; out:;..; A .'sort .o£:xesting-i. l'place"where;'tnese;young! girls:msgj-;tr»lie' a ' long breath .and begin.over- again, wjfathing/. ■ ; irretrievable ; has ' been,;'conuhitted -|pi bfing; •' them here. .li'is-a home:;: If their',; b^liavaour,'; : . is.satisfactory, 'they positions are found for th'erh; and,wes : .jrcigmf. are.saved ; and presented.to:them.%l}gßy'th«j;'r i Abe institution. and receive'whivtevej-j'.-ajd -tj(|j '-. necessary. We do not keep them' after^ta'ay.,-' are twenty-one;-;U they stitt gible at'tnat age the Courtsniust-dealtwitb/i; them.'', : ; r . -,rJ t^^g^-