It is not easy for the superintendent to make himself
acquainted with the persons and familiar with the lives of six hundred
boys; yet this knowledge is quite essential to the exercise of a
salutary influence over them. He may be aided by the subordinate
officers of the institution; and that aid, under any circumstances, he
will need: but, after all, his own influence and power for good will be
measured by the extent of his personal acquaintance with the inmates as
individuals. First, then, government is essential to this school; not a
reign of terror, but a government whose majesty, power, equality,
certainty, uniformity, and consequent justice, shall be experienced by
all alike; and, being experienced by all alike, will be respected,
reverenced, and obeyed.
And next the social, intellectual, and moral influences of the school
and the home should be combined and mingled, or else the visible forms
of government become a skeleton, merely indicating the figure,
structure, and outline, of the perfect body, but destitute of the vital
principle which alone could render it of any value to itself or to the
world.
This institution is not an end, but a means. The home itself is only a
preparatory school for life. This is a substitute for the home, but is
not, and never can be, its equal. It therefore follows that a boy should
be removed whenever a home can be secured, especially if his reformation
has been previously so far accomplished as to render the completion of
the work probable.
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