The Dangerous Classes of New York, and Twenty Years' Work Among ThemBrace, Charles Loring
History
The Dangerous Classes of New York, and Twenty Years' Work Among Them
Brace, Charles Loring
Child welfare -- New York (State) -- New York; New York (N.Y.) -- Social conditions; Poor -- New York (State) -- New York
"'She has now been with us about two and a half years, and has become a
part of our family; and we should feel very sorry to part with her. She
attended school last winter at the N. Union High School, which affords
advantages equal to any school in the country. She made much improvement
in her studies, and at the end of the winter term a public examination
was held at the school, and Mr. B., the Principal, stated, in presence
of more than three hundred persons, that Sarah G. lived in my family,
and was taken by me from the "Children's Aid Society," of New York; and
stated, also, that when she commenced to go to school, she was unable to
read a word, and wished them to notice the improvement that had been
made in her case. The audience seemed to be surprised that she had been
able to accomplish so much in so short a time.
"'She also attends Sabbath School very regularly, and gets her lessons
very perfectly, and appears to take great delight in doing so. I think
she has improved in many respects. She speaks, occasionally of the way
in which she used to live in New York, and of the manner in which she
was treated by her parents, when they were alive, and says she can never
be thankful enough to the kind friends, who, being connected with the
Children's Aid Society, sought her out, and provided her with a
comfortable home in the country, far removed from the temptations, and
vices, and miseries of a city like New York. I would say that she has
not been to school the past summer, and that she had made little
progress in penmanship during her attendance last winter, and that she
is not now able to write you herself, but I think will be able to do so
when you wish to hear from her again.
"'Respectfully yours,
"'WM. K. L.'"
----
FROM THE GUTTER TO THE COLLEGE.
"YALE COLLEGE, NEW HAVEN, OCT. 11, 1871.
"Rev. C. L. Brace, Secretary Children's Aid Society:
_"Dear Sir_--I shall endeavor in this letter to give you a brief sketch
of my life, as it is your request that I should.
"I cannot speak of my parents with any certainty at all. I recollect
having an aunt by the name of Julia B----. She had me in charge for some
time, and made known some things to me of which I have a faint
remembrance. She married a gentleman in Boston, and left me to shift for
myself in the streets of your city. I could not have been more than
seven or eight years of age at this time. She is greatly to be excused
for this act, since I was a very bad boy, having an abundance of
self-will.
"At this period I became a vagrant, roaming over all parts of the city.
I would often pick up a meal at the markets or at the docks, where they
were unloading fruit. At a late hour in the night I would find a
resting-place in some box or hogshead, or in some dark hole under a
staircase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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