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men, is clearly a sound one. Grapple with them on the very earliest indications of their presence, and they are perfectly within control; but leave them to fix themselves in evil habit, and, whether you try punishment or the persuasiveness of forbearance, in their maturity you are powerless. And in whatever degree your machinery for the guardianship and guidance of early life approaches sufficiency and completeness, in that degree will society be relieved of the annoyance and disgrace inflicted by those who in later years live by the violation of her laws.

morals. Instead of that, it bears the simple, expressive title, “La Crèche”—The Manger: suggesting at once a thought of the cradling of a certain Babe at Bethlehem, the needs of whose infancy have thrown a halo of sanctity about the wants of all succeeding infaucy, and the utterances of whose manhood have been recognised as the warrant for the tenderest care of the little ones that men have ever shown.

The sort of character which such a name might seem to imply prevails throughout. There is a tone of gentleness perceptible through the whole management of the institution. It might have been quite otherwise; for no ordinary amount of selfcontrol and good temper are requisite in those who

These principles are followed out in some other countries of Europe even more efficiently than they are in our own. During a recent visit to one of the leading capitals of the Continent, I saw them illus-undertake the care of other people's infants. Espetrated by an institution of a kind which is almost (but, I believe, not quite) without a parallel in this country. The aim of this institution is to guard and nurture children of the tenderest age during those hours of the day in which their mothers are compelled, by the exigencies of the home, to leave their families, and earn the means of their support in some industrial occupation. It is not an educational establishment in the ordinary sense of the word; that is to say, its primary object is, not to communicate knowledge-though that also is done to some extent-but only to protect from evil, both of body and of character, those whose childish helplessness leaves them peculiarly exposed to its attacks. The doors of the house are accordingly open for the reception of any children between the ages of ten days and seven years, whose parents may find it inconvenient or impossible to extend to them that guardianship and care which falls most naturally within the province of a parent to bestow.

It must not indeed be supposed that the institution which I am about to describe is traceable to any unprecedented outburst of philanthropic feeling in any particular locality: that it is, in fact, merely one of the eccentricities of charity. On the contrary, it is but one example selected at random out of mauy similar establishments. It may therefore be fairly taken as the type of a whole class. In truth, it is but one of the members of a vast and well-considered system, adopted by the government of the country for promoting the morality and wellbeing of the people. Not that you can at all think of this when first you visit such a house, for there is such an air of tenderness surrounding the whole conception of a stranger's acceptance of the duties of a mother towards such tiny children, debarred from a natural mother's care, that it is quite impossible, in presence of it, to think much of offices, and statistics, and reports, and the routine of a Social Science Department in the government. The very name of the institution seems almost designed to dispel all such memories, for they do not call it by any grand high-sounding name, which might indicate its exact place and functions in some carefully graduated system of influencing the public

cially is this the case where they are grouped toge-
ther in considerable numbers. Take one individual
youngster of your acquaintance—say, of about four-
teen months old-a youth stout in limb and sten-
torian in lung, and think of the strain there must
be upon the patient good-humour of his nurse in
those trying moments when, in the teeth of all re-
monstrance, he persists in clamouring for something
which the very faintest sense of propriety would
show him he could on no account be allowed to
have; waxing louder and more angry as the denial
becomes more firm; and finally, on becoming con-
scious of an attempt to coax him into submission,
extending himself defiantly at full length into that
posture of perfect rigidity in which, he seems well
aware, the idea would be equally preposterous that
he should either sit, stand, or lie. Multiply this |
by about a hundred-throw in the consideration
that by the time you have pacified one, another is
morally certain to be ready for the same friendly
office at your hands-and you will have some con-
ception of the almost angelic character that should
distinguish the officials of the Crèche. In the in-
stitution under consideration, I am compelled to say
that the greatest judgment seems to have been dis-
played in their selection. The supreme authority of
the house is vested in a directress. She is a homely
sort of dame, of about fifty years of age, who is
gifted with the faculty of administration in an emi-
nent degree. During my conversations with her I
found that she was a clear-headed person, who had
a knowledge of all the minutest details of her house;
and, what is in such an establishment almost of
more importance than her aptitude, I observed as
we walked through the several apartments that
she had a soft, motherly word, and a gentle little
attention, if needed, for every child that attracted
our notice. She is assisted by a governess and an
assistant-governess, who are young women, well-
informed, of cheerful manners, and belonging to
about the same class of society as the better sort
of National schoolmistresses in this country. In
addition to these, the personnel of the establishment
consists of three nurses, for those children who are
too young to receive any instruction whatever, and
a servant to do the house-work.

The first room into which I was conducted was a very large, airy, cheerful one, devoted to the youngest of all the inmates of the house, who lay in very pretty light iron cradles, placed head to the wall all round the room. It was a singular sensation to have a door flung open and find oneself in an instant in the presence of about six-and-thirty cradles occupied by six-and-thirty tiny babies. The sight was utterly disturbing to all one's past impressions of the habits of humanity. Children, greater and smaller, who can be trusted upon their own legs, are gregarious enough. We are quite familiar with laughing, prattling assemblages of them; but the baby proper is for the most part a solitary animal, or to be seen only in groups of two or three at the most. Here, however, is really a formidable congregation of bonâ fide babies, col-wealthy, homes. But then there were many poor lected from all quarters-quite a fortuitous concourse of atoms, one of our party suggested-whose united ages would not exceed a few score months. A cheerful room, as I have said, that baby-room is meant to be. All that human brains could devise to make it so, has been done. The officials have taken care-as everybody who has to bring up children is bound to take care-that, so far as in them lies, the earliest impressions made upon the mind shall be happy and joyous ones. Accordingly there is plenty of light and air, and space, and bright cheerful colour. But notwithstanding all, that baby room was to me on the whole a very sad room. It seemed to me crowded with the saddest and most touching associations and memories that it was possible to bring together. The very fact that a room of such a nature could be open at all, reminded me instantly of men who in the midst of toiling humanity must be feeling the severity of the roke of labour to a degree that is quite exceptional. In language that could not be mistaken, such a room declared that there are men whose very hardest toil fails to yield a maintenance for their homes. It told of the struggling widow, left in poverty with little strength and many children, and driven by their necessities and her own from her legitimate sphere of occupation round her own bearth to earn a pittance away from home. Or, addest of all, it told of an anxious woman linked to a dissipated, idle husband, and forced to sell for ney the labour of her hands that she may feed the children, whom their abandoned father would eave to starve. The furniture of the room, too, full of reminiscences of anxiety and sorrow. Many of the cradles I observed were not numbered the ordinary way, but had written upon them some endearing name.

"Ninette." This cradle, I was informed, was the gift of a military officer. He had an only child, over whom he had watched through a long sickness in despair of her life. To his great comfort, the child was ultimately restored to health; and one expression of his thankfulness for this unexpected mercy was here in this pretty iron cradle.

Moreover, it was impossible to look at the infants themselves without reading a tale of misery in the appearance of some of them. True, there were some plump little creatures lying upon their backs, kicking out their little fat legs, and crowing lustily in the first enjoyment of life. Such figures were immediately suggestive of the bright side of existence-of health, and respectable, honest parents, and of well-ordered, happy, even though not

These had not been purchased by the institution in the common routine of business, but had been given by charitable people-sometimes in memory of a departed child of their own, sometimes as a sort ef thank-offering for mercies they had received in persons of their children. One in particular tracted my notice. It was occupied by a chubby Little sleeper, and was inscribed with the pet name

the

emaciated little starvelings, exhibiting thus early the seeds of inherited disease, and by their arrested growth manifesting the improbability of their ever developing into robust men and women. And this was the sad side of that infant population. One could hardly help believing that in some of these wasted forms there was the Nemesis of sin at work, One or two of them were actually pointed out to me as the offspring of profligate and shameless mothers, who brought their infants to the Crèche in the morning that their day of intoxication might be completely undisturbed. Some amongst them, again, were probably examples of that mysterious law, by which the consequences of a forefather's debauchery and vice, after slumbering through a generation or two, are said to break out afresh and be visited upon his children of the third and fourth generation. But, however, sufferers and hale alike, so long as they were in the Crèche, no effort was spared to make them comfortable and happy: indeed, it was at times almost ludicrous to

see the exertions of the attendants for this end.

One of these much-enduring young women, for example, I saw being victimised by a sturdy youngster of ten months, who was doing his best to pull her nice white cap to pieces, and would not be even moderately quiet on any other terms, while with her unoccupied hand she was extending his bottle to a refractory young gentleman in a cradle. I found it was quite superfluous to compassionate her in the trying situation, for with unflagging good humour she laughingly replied, "It does not matter: I am quite accustomed to it."

From this baby-room we passed into another, in which those children were kept who were a stage more advanced in life. Its occupants varied in age from about sixteen months to two and a half years. The most conspicuous piece of furniture in this room was an ingenious contrivance for teaching the children to stand and walk. It is a little difficult to describe it thoroughly without the assistance of a drawing, but some idea may be conveyed in this way:-Take an ordinary school-room form with a very broad seat, about twelve feet in length, having legs slightly pointing outwards, after the usual

fashion, for the sake of stability, and these all joined together by a wooden bar near the floor, to give strength to the whole construction. Then in side these legs saw out all the central part of the seat, so as to leave only a broad rim of the form standing on these legs. Into this central space the children are put, several together, with their arms over the rim, which thus supports the body just underneath the shoulders, and seems most effectual in preventing falls. The children appeared delighted with this safe method of feeling their own feet. Besides its very practical aim, this unique piece of furniture was evidently one of the most popular sources of entertainment through the long day during which these poor children had to be amused.

On the ground-floor of the house are two excellent school-rooms, in which the children who are old enough spend a portion of every day. These rooms are fitted up with everything which can render the acquisition of knowledge easy and attractive. In the rudimentary education of these children many features are adopted from the system of teaching known as Froebel's. This system, in its entirety, has been put in operation in a few cases only in this country, but in some parts of Germany it is in great repute, the establishments in which it is carried out being known by the name of Kinder-garten. This name-Children's Garden-of Froebel's own invention, sufficiently indicates the main principle upon which his system is based. Like many other things emanating from men who give their whole life to one idea, it contains no doubt some features which are fanciful and unpractical; but it is equally certain that in many respects it is the product of a genuine appreciation of child-nature and sound sense. Its aim then is, not by any hard-grinding process to cram the child's memory with facts about which it can feel no possible interest, but to induce the child to think a little in its own small way about its own small subjects. But whether such a system might be successful, or merely visionary, if applied to education at large, it clearly is the very thing wanted in an institution where the indispensable condition is that the children shall be amused.

Amongst other apparatus, the materiel of the school-room includes a large supply of thin, flexible, strips of wood, about nine inches long and a quarter of an inch in breadth. As a relaxation in the intervals of severer studies, a number of these strips are dealt out to each child, which they are taught to interlace into all sorts of geometrical figures. Their ingenuity is thus exercised in the invention of new forms. One and all, they seemed to be very intent upon the occupation, some of them displaying considerable aptitude for design, and most of them being able to name the several figures which they constructed.

Akin to this was an art which appeared to be in great request. It was the art of tearing up paper. I call it an art, for it was not the mere indolent

destruction of paper with no other aim than to litter the floor, but it was the careful, deliberate shaping of paper into all sorts of patterns and forms with no other implement than the thumb and forefinger of a child's hand. Children are always fond of tearing paper, and when done in this way it ceases to be utterly meaningless. Moreover its efficiency in preserving good humour amongst children, when wearied out with everything else, proves it to be an art which might be introduced with advantage into many an English nursery. Its extreme simplicity renders it available for the very youngest children. It may be described thus. Take a square of soft, pliant paper, a leaf of a castoff copy-book, for example; if not too thick, double it into a triangle, then double it again two or three times, and then, with the thumb and finger-nail, snip out pieces in such shapes and directions as the fancy may suggest. On unfolding the paper the child is delighted at finding that he has turned ont a little mat of paper, often of very intricate pattern, and always captivating his eye by the necessary symmetry of its form. One or two experiments cannot fail to open out new ideas to the child. I have in my possession a collection of these papers which were done very rapidly in my presence by these poor children of five and six years old, and which I afterwards purchased from them. Some of them are most elaborate and elegant in their design. The inventors of patterns for our carpets, linens, and textile fabrics of every description are in the habit of resorting to the fortuitous combinations of shape and colour in the kaleidoscope for their ideas. And of the infant art before us a somewhat similar use may evidently be made. These paper figures have the same recommendation which makes the forms of the kaleidoscope so valuable to designers. It is that they are perfectly symmetrical. By the aid of this simple device every lady may become her own designer; and especially in the days when the braiding of small table-mats is in vogue, she will find herself supplied with an endless variety of suggestions for her work by a contrivance, whose first aim was no higher than the keeping of her children out of mischief.

The greatest cleanliness prevailed throughout the establishment. It required, as the clever directress remarked, no small amount of watchfulness to maintain a strict cleanliness of person and of dress amongst a multitude of children two and three years old. But still, she went on to say, it must be done. And accordingly it was done. An important help to this end is doubtless to be found in the fact, that every item of linen and clothing in use throughout the house is the property of the Committee of Management. Immediately on its arrival in the morning, every child is stripped of its own clothes, whether clean or foul, whole or tattered, and dressed in the clothing of the institution, which is removed again before departure in the evening. This persistent determination of the managers, that every child shall be neat and wholesome while

under their charge, has worked a remarkable effect on the parents of some of the children. For the clothing which is taken off each of them on their arrival is hung up throughout the day in a room set apart for the purpose. Now, before seeing this room, I must admit that I expected to find a rather disagreeable exhibition in it. If some of the children came from careful parents and tidy homes, others, I knew, came from very low and demoralised ones; and their own proper clothing would probably be a disgusting mass of filthy and tattered garments. Such, however, had been the moral influence of this law of cleanliness in the Crèche, that not even one of the most degraded of those mothers had ventured to send her child there in discreditable clothing. They were quite at liberty to do so if they pleased. Yet I confess I was surprised to see that in all that miscellaneous collection of garments, emanating from homes of the most opposite characters, there was not one single set that was open to challenge as being dirty and neglected. So much for the silent operation of moral influence.

This indirect moral power of every circumstance is wisely kept in view by the managers in every one of their arrangements. It would not be difficult for them, if they thought it desirable to do so, slightly to enlarge their funds, and to feed, clothe, and house these poor children gratuitously. To do this, however, it is thought might have a demoralising effect both upon the parents and upon the children themselves. It would be calculated to diminish their self-respect, and to check the growth of all ideas of self-dependence. Accordingly no one is admitted into the Crèche without payment-a payment indeed sufficiently modest to be within the reach of all who really desire the benefit of the institution, yet large enough to relieve the parents of the pain of feeling that their children are being brought up by eleemosynary aid. The amount of these payments varies according to the age of the children. For the youngest of all, those who inhabit the baby-room, the amount is about twopence per day-no very extravagant remuneration for the custody, the feeding, the use and washing of linen, the bedding, and the doctoring of an infant a few weeks old, from five o'clock in the morning until half-past eight in the evening. To meet the case of those mothers who can go cut to work for only half the day, the regulations allow one-half of this amount to be paid for the deposit of a child during half the day. The average attendance per day of children, older and younger, is about 120; and the whole expense of conducting this large establishment, rent included, amounts to something less than 400l. a year. It is only fair, however, to say that there are no medical expenses included in this sum, inasmuch as one of the physicians in the neighbourhood charitably undertakes to pay a daily visit to the Crèche without remuneration.

The raising of the necessary funds is accomplished, with only one or two specialities of their

own, in much the same way as we do those things in England. In the first place, the institution has a small capital, invested in Government securities, and yielding about 20l. per annum. Then they have 300 to 400 subscribers, who give upwards of 100. a year. The children's payments, moreover, amount in the aggregate to a considerable sum; and some assistance is given from the purse of the Sovereign, as well as by the national and municipal governments. The alms-box of the house produces something, and special gifts from anonymous and other benefactors form a large item in the year's receipts. The whole is eked out, as it would be amongst ourselves, by concerts and lotteries and bazaars and dramatic performances, and all the usual machinery for raising money for charitable purposes.

The establishment is administered by a council of gentlemen, who undertake individually to visit the house with tolerable frequency. But the regular and systematic visitation of it is entrusted to a number of ladies, who take upon themselves each a week in turn. In reply to my inquiry whether these ladies had any voice in planning the arrangements of the house, the clever directress congratulated herself that no one of them had any power to issue any orders whatever during her visit, for in that case, she sagaciously observed, no business would ever be done at all; but she added, that if anyone who visited them had any complaint to make against existing conditions, or any suggestion to offer with a view to improved management, a book lay open on the table for the entry of it, which book the gentlemen of the council would have before them at their next meeting. I examined some pages of this book, and was not surprised to find that a long string of inspectors and visitors had uniformly recorded their unqualified approval in it. I say I was not surprised at this, for I paid two visits to the institution myself at different hours of the day without giving the slightest notice that I was coming. Without reserve, hesitation, or delay, I was at once admitted into the several apartments of the house; and though there had been no time for getting things into show condition, I found the most perfect order and cleanliness throughout the whole establishment.

Another important feature in the constitution of such an undertaking is this. The children are admitted without distinction of religious creed: indeed, it would have been absurd to order this otherwise; for it is obvious that they are, without exception, far too young to be able to understand any of the points at issue between rival systems of doctrine. Not, however, that religion is banished from the house. Quite the contrary: it is prominent. The children are carefully taught about God and their relationship to Him as the All-seeing Father, and about their duty in the world. They are taught, that is to say, those fundamental notions of religion which are com

mon to all modern systems alike, and which are in fact all that the infant mind is capable of grasping. Only the institution is not under the auspices of any particular denomination of religious men; nor is there any officially-appointed minister of religion authorised to direct the religious exercises of the place, and made responsible for their due conduct. The visits, however, of the ministers of religion in the neighbourhood are gladly welcomed (I thought they even seemed to be expected), and the Roman Catholic priest of the parish in which the house is situated-a benevolent old gentleman, full of kindness and sympathy-pays frequent visits, not with any professional intent, but in the ordinary way of friendly patronage and encouragement. I think it is important to notice these facts, as indications of an enlightened liberality of opinion with which Roman Catholic countries are not generally credited in England. In the country of which I am writing, the dominant party is unquestionably the Romanist; I believe that, as to their individual convictions, the majority of the people who support and direct this Crèche are Romanists; yet it is but just to them to say that they do not allow a diversity of religious profession to narrow their sympathies with temporal distress, or to cramp the freedom of their energies for succouring and bettering the condition of those in want.

Clearly, therefore, in coming to a decision upon the question, there is a disadvantage on either side to be taken into account. On the side of the opponents of the Crèche, it is admitted that some children will not be reared and taken care of at all; and this, it is also admitted, is an enormous evil. On the other side it is claimed that, supposing the Crèche system to be perfectly worked out, no child will be left to a chance nurture; but it is at the same time admitted as a disadvantage, that some mothers will be induced by the facilities offered by it to delegate their maternal duties, which they would not otherwise have done. Necessarily, it will remain a matter of opinion which of these two disadvantages is the greater. On the whole, it would seem the part of sound wisdom to deal with the facts of life as they actually are, and not as they ought to be or might be, if every one were a model of perfection in fulfilling the duties of his station. And the fact is simply this, that, protest as loudly as you will, there will always be some defaulters. There is not one of those who discountenance these infant refuges but knows that, whether they flourish or are suppressed, there will always be mothers untrue to the maternal instinct. Is it worth while then, to abandon the children of such parents to their miserable fate, for the sake of making a moral protest, which, whatever be its value or its partial influence, we are perfectly As might be expected, even so excellent an well assured can never be universally effectual? institution as the Crèche is not without its op. It cannot be worth while to do so, knowing, as we ponents. It is urged by those who do not agree do, that as a matter of fact, there are and will be with the principle of it, that one of the most young lives in jeopardy; it must be more consonant indefeasible obligations of life is the obligation of a with the duty, as well as the interest of a Christian mother personally to superintend the early growth community, to come forward and try in some of her offspring. There is an inviolable sacredness degree to mitigate the evil which parental negliabout her functions which forbids that they should gence creates. This is a branch of a subject which be delegated to another, let the apparent advan- just now is touching English feeling to the quick. tages of doing so be what they may. And, conse- The public mind of England has lately been shocked quently, every facility that is afforded her of shift- at finding how prevalent infanticide is amongst ing this responsibility from herself on to the us; and thoughtful men have been puzzling themshoulders of others, involves an error of social selves to find out the causes which lead to the policy. Very true, reply the advocates of the commission of this crime with such extraordinary Crèche system; it is admitted that the duty is as frequency. Probably it would be a mistake to imperative as you assert it to be. It is admitted, ascribe it to any single cause. But it is worth further, that that alone is a perfectly healthy con- consideration whether one of the causes does not dition of society in which the duty of the mother is lie here: that in many departments of industry universally recognised and discharged by her. Yet there is a greater opening than formerly for female our experience proves to us that under existing cir- labour, while in that eager struggle for life that is cumstances, this is not the case. Some mothers now going on in England, women find themselves are compelled by their poverty to devote their compelled to supplement the earnings of a man by labour, not to the nurture of the infant, but to the the labour of their own hands. Now if the preearning of money; others, again, are too indolent sence of an infant be, as is admitted, an impedior too infamous to give themselves any troublement to the labour of a woman, she has at once a about it. Some, that is to say, cannot, and others will not, act up to their maternal duty. And it is surely better and wiser for us to receive the children of such into a well-organised place of refuge, than to leave them uncared for, either to perish from neglect on the very threshold of life, or, if they should escape this happier fate, to become in future years the pest and the disgrace of society.

strong temptation to rid herself of the irksome burden. And on the other hand, if you can devise any legitimate organisation for sharing the burden with her, and leaving her hands, at any rate, perfectly free to minister to her necessities, you thereby diminish the temptation for her to release herself completely from the tie by violent and clandestine Now it is precisely this which the Crèche

means.

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