If what I have said of the salutary effects of female influence in prisons carry any weight, yet more does it apply to the employment of superior women in the Reformatory schools for young criminals. Profligate boys, accustomed to see only the most coarse and depraved women (their own female relatives, are in general examples of the worst class), would be especially touched and tamed by the mere presence of a better order of women. I observe that in the last report of the school at Mettrai, mention is made of the nine Sisters of Charity who are employed to superintend the kitchen and infirmary; which last consists of a ward with about ten beds, and a corridor where the Sisters receive the out-patients; and to the constant watchfulness, medical skill, and gentle influence of these women much good is attributed.

Mr. Hill, in his work on Crime, in speaking of the officials in the reformatory prisons for

of administration, or discipline, or kind or degree of punishment; but merely for this principle, that whatever the system selected as the best, it should be carried out by a due admixture of female influence and management combined with the man's government.

boys, says expressly that some of these officials ought to be women "for the sake of female influence, and to call into action those family feelings, which Mr. Sidney Turner and Miss Carpenter think of such vital importance in the process of reformation." This is precisely the principle for which I am pleading, and in organizing the new reformatory institutions it might be advantageously kept in view.

"It should be remembered," adds Mr. Hill, "that up to the time of his commitment, a criminal has often had no one to give him counsel or sympathy, no virtuous parent or kind relative to feel for him or guide him aright, and that there is consequently in his case a void which is perhaps first filled up by a kind prison officer. This may account for the almost filial affection often shown, particularly by the younger prisoners, towards a good governor, chaplain, or matron." What we have now to do is to enlarge the application of this principle.

The extreme difficulty of finding masters at the best of all our reformatory schools, that at

Redhill, was the subject discussed in a recent meeting of benevolent and intelligent men, interested in this institution. I happened to be present. I heard the qualifications for a master to be set over these unhappy little delinquents thus described:- He must have. great tenderness and kindness of heart, great power of calling forth and sympathizing with the least manifestations of goodness or hopefulness; quick perception of character; great firmness, and judgment, and command of temper; skill in some handicraft, as carpentering and gardening; a dignified, or at least attractive, presence, and good manners, — the personal qualities and appearance being found of consequence to impress the boys with respect. Now it is just possible that all these rare and admirable qualities, some of which God has given in a larger degree to the woman and others to the man, might be found combined in one man; but such a man has not yet been met with, and many such would hardly be found for a stipend of 30l. or 407. a year. Then, in this dilemma, instead of insisting on a combination of the paternal

and the maternal qualifications in one person, might it not be possible, by associating some well educated and well trained women in the administration of these schools, to produce the required influences, the tenderness, the sympathy, the superior manners, and refined deportment on one hand, and the firmness and energy, the manly government, and skill in handicrafts and gardening, on the other? This solution was not proposed by any one of the gentlemen who spoke; it did not seem to occur to any one present; and yet is it not worth consideration? At all events I must express my conviction that, going on as they are now doing, without the combination of those influences which ought to represent in such a community the maternal and sisterly, as well as the paternal and fraternal, relations of the home, their efforts will be in vain; their admirable institution will fall to pieces sooner or later, and people will attribute such a result to every possible cause except the real one.

The reformatory schools for perverted and

criminal girls present many more difficulties than those for boys. I do not know how it is intended to meet these especial difficulties, nor what consideration has as yet been given to them, nor in whose hands the administration of these reformatory schools is to be placed; for all I have as yet heard upon the subject, and all the pamphlets and authorities I have been able to consult, have reference principally to the treatment of delinquent boys, and very little mention is made of the poor female children of the "perishing and dangerous class" (perishing and dangerous in every sense of these words they too surely are!) One thing is most certain, that in their case the supervision of pureminded, humane, intelligent, and experienced men will be as necessary as the feminine element in the reformatory schools for boys; and for similar reasons, medical knowledge will be required in addition to the moral and religious influences. This has, I think, obtained too little consideration, and it is one of great importance