Clinton : or, Boy-life in the country . ofcorrection? Not much, I suppose,replied his father; boys aresent there to be reformed and instructed, rather thanpunished. I have never visited an institution of thiskind, myself, but I read quite a full description of theone in Massachusetts, not long ago, and perhaps I canfind the paper that contained it. I will look over thefiles, some day when I have leisure. One rainy afternoon, not long after this, Mr. Daven-port overhauled the -papers referred to, and succeededin finding the description of the Massachusetts ReformSchool. He gave it to Clinton, w
Clinton : or, Boy-life in the country . ofcorrection? Not much, I suppose,replied his father; boys aresent there to be reformed and instructed, rather thanpunished. I have never visited an institution of thiskind, myself, but I read quite a full description of theone in Massachusetts, not long ago, and perhaps I canfind the paper that contained it. I will look over thefiles, some day when I have leisure. One rainy afternoon, not long after this, Mr. Daven-port overhauled the -papers referred to, and succeededin finding the description of the Massachusetts ReformSchool. He gave it to Clinton, who was much inter-ested in it. The following is the substance of thedescription: — This institution is located in Westboro, thirty-twomiles from Boston, and is designed to accommodatefive or six hundred boys. Any boy under sixteenyears of age, who has been convicted of an offencepunishable by imprisonment, can be sentenced to theReform School instead of the prison, unless his crimeis a very aggravated one, such as the laws require to. THE CLASSES. 271 be punished by imprisonment for life. When a boyarrives at the School, he is first placed in the hands ofthe steward, who strips, washes, and dresses him in asuit of good clothes ; he is then assigned to the field orworkshop, and is not allowed to converse with his com-panions for two or three days, or until the superin-tendent understands his character and boys are divided into four principal classes. Thenew comers enter the first class, and by dint of goodconduct work their way up. Beyond the fourth is astill higher class, reached only by a few, and known asthe class of Truth and Honor. To become a mem-ber of this class, a boy must pass a certain number ofweeks without a demerit mark, — for a daily account ofthe merits and demerits of each boy is kept, and at theend of the week he is promoted or degraded, accordingto his deserts. It is so difficult to get info the class of• Truth and Honor, that there are s
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