be assumed, that nearly all may be recovered to a life of usefulness. And of the last division, it ought to be held, that all may be saved.

The character and condition of the bad boys of this class is the most pitiable, the most deplorable, which can well be imagined. And they have strong claims upon us, because, in truth, their own is not the heaviest part of the responsibility for their characters, and for their offences. There is a greater weight of accountableness for their condition upon others. Many, and perhaps most of them, have been reared amidst the worst examples; and never knew the kindly influence of an affectionate and a religious interest in their welfare and happiness. And never can they know it, but through the sympathy of those, who will seek them out, that they may save them. Let any one, then, who is accustomed to pass them unnoticed, but who would know, as far as he may by seeing them, who, and wha they are, look about him as he passes through Sea Street, or Broad Street. Let him go upon our large wharves, especially in the northern parts of the city, or to Faneuil Hall Market, and look at those who are daily to be seen there. Let him ask the Superintendent of our market, or our wharfingers, respecting these boys, and their means of subsistence? It is not a question, whether, living as they now live, they are every day becoming more and more depraved, and more and more fitted for aggravated crime; nor, whether they are daily extending the corrupting influence of their example to others much younger than themselves, as well as to many of their own age. But it is a question, which should engage the serious consideration of all among us,

VOL. IV. NO. X.

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whether measures cannot be devised, which will be effectual for their salvation ?*

Let us then fairly meet the question, how are these evils, as far as they exist, to be remedied; and, how may we most effectually prevent a recurrence of them?

I reply, that, for the purpose both of cure and of prevention, the first thing requisite is a right apprehension, by the intelligent and moral among us, of the extent and character of these evils, and of personal obligation to supply a remedy.

In my last Report, I spoke of an enlightened public sentiment respecting the extent and true character of any evils existing in a community, as the first in order, and the most important, of the means of arresting, of remedying, and of preventing a recurrence of these evils. And grateful indeed should I be, if I could do anything to call forth this sentiment, in regard to the classes of children I have brought before you; for, far the greatest number of them would then be saved from the ruin with which they are now threatened. And is it not wonderful, that, in this community, so full of benevolent enterprise, and where such generous provision

* Some of the boys around Faneuil Hall Market are employed as porters, or carriers of the articles bought for families at the market. It is greatly to be regretted that these boys should find employment there; not only from the fact, that the small sums which they thus obtain are expended for vicious indulgences, but because their example induces others of their age to seek a share of this employment, for the sake of sharing in these vicious pleasures. There should be licensed porters for our markets, and no others should be allowed to act there in that capacity. There are many poor men in the city, whose infirmities disqualify them for hard labor; but who, as Market Porters, might obtain a comfortable support for their families.

is made for the instruction of the young; where it is so well understood that an idle, uneducated, and vicious youth is the sure presage of, and preparation for, a profligate, debased, and wretched manhood, and where there is so much solicitude among parents for the virtue, the security, and well-being of their children; is it not wonderful, that there should be among us so great a supineness, in respect to the large nuniber of those children, of whom, if left neglected, it is quite as certain that eight out of ten will become tenants of our prisons, or at least will be vagrants, or more or less dependent on charity through their life, as it is certain that they will live for a few years? I believe, indeed, that the true character and extent of this evil are not generally understood. It is not improbable, that some may even be slow to admit, that there are, in this City of Schools, more than three hundred of an age to be in these schools, and who ought to be in them, who are yet deriving no benefit from them; and that there are probably at the least two hundred more, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen or seventeen, who are without employment, are often a heavy burden upon their parents, and are already greatly vicious for their time of life; or, as the companions of the vicious, are in the way to profligacy and crime, or at best to beggary and wretchedness. I earnestly pray that a spirit of inquiry may be awakened on this subject. I beseech the intelligent and virtuous among us; I beseech the parents, who are endeavoring to train their children to virtue, and who are aware of the danger to their children of the contaminating influence of vicious examples; and I earnestly entreat all who are interested in the cause of public order, security and happiness, to look to

the condition of the children of whom I have spoken; and then to ask, and deliberately to consider, what is their own, and the true interest of all, in regard to these children? I have said, that these children may be saved. Is it asked, how? Allow me to enter into some details in answering this question.

I have already remarked, that there is a great diversity in the moral condition of these children. Some of them, also, have anxious parents, who want nothing on earth so much, as a friend to aid them in the care and discipline of their children. Many are the children of widows, who can neither keep them at home, nor follow them abroad. And many are the children of intemperate, and of heedless and reckless parents. Different provisions are therefore to be made for them, and different dispositions to be made of them. Of those, for example, between seven and fourteen years of age, who cannot read, and cannot therefore be received in our grammar schools, far the greatest number might be rescued from the degradation to which they are exposed, by the establishment of three or four private schools, in which they might be qualified for admission into our free schools. Of the truants from our schools, many, who have not yet become strongly attached to vicious associates, might be restored to their places in these schools, and might be kept there. Many, too, of the lads from twelve to fourteen, as well as of those from fourteen to sixteen years of age, might be apprenticed to farmers, and to mechanics, in the country. And great is the good that is obtained, when this disposition is made of a boy who has been, or who otherwise would have been, a vagrant in our streets. And, for those who are decidedly vicious, at an age under sixteen

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years, and not for these only, but for those also, who, as truants, and as the companions of the idle and vicious, are so averse from the discipline of a school, that they are not by any persuasions to be kept there;- for these, the wisest, the best, the most effectual of all provisions, is, the School of Reformation at South Boston. Is it said, all this may be very well, and might indeed be conducive to great good, if it could be accomplished? And why, I ask, may it not all be accomplished? The expense to be incurred in effecting all these objects will not amount to a tenth, or even to a twentieth part of that which must be incurred for the public provision, which must ultimately be made for these very children, if they shall be suffered, as they have been, to go on increasing in numbers, and in sin. Still these objects are not to be attained without some expense. Let us then deliberately count the cost, and fairly compare it with the gain which it will bring to us.

Here, then, are some hundreds of children, who are in various ways to be provided for. And, I ask, is not the supervision of these children a charge sufficiently extensive, and requiring sufficient care and labor, for any one individual, whatever may be the capacity and suitableness for the service, which he may bring to it? Let me say, then, there should be a Municipal Officer, call him by what name you will, whose special duty it should be, to look to the idle, vagrant, and vicious children of the city. This, I say, should be his specific duty; for within this limitation he could have the authority of law to support him. And if this officer should do nothing more, than, availing himself of the power which existing laws will already give him to prosecute, and thus to bring to the judgment of a court, the child