By Irving Browne.
CURRENT TOPICS. THE ELMIRA REFORMATORY. — The Seventeenth Y ear- Book of this well-known institution is full of interest to those who are engaged in trying to find some rational and effectual way of dealing with young criminals. It is too late to sneer at the work here attempted; it has justified itself by its good results. It is better to begin reformatory efforts with the young at such schools than with the hardened in the State prisons. It is better yet to begin in the free Kindergarten schools, which in several of the larger cities have obtained such encouraging results. It may be that in this last institution is to be found the solution of dealing with the so-called criminal classes. It is easier to tame the cub than the grown beast. The present volume is printed by the inmates of the school, and is a very creditable piece of work. It has a chapter on the physical training department, illustrated by comparative pictures of many of the inmates before and after, showing the beneficial effect of the system. Another valuable feature is one hundred portraits of inmates. Some of these are very comely lads. Most of them however apparently belong to the so-called " criminal class." These are accompanied in every instance by a short biog raphy, showing the results of heredity and training. We wish that every lawyer and editor and legislator would read and ponder the following questions, given in this report, as to the causes of mental and moral degeneracy : " Alcoholism. — Who allows it, even grants it, a moral support by licensing the sale of intoxicating beverages? Horse-racing. - Who sanc tions it? Who favors its popularity by suffering it to be advertised daily in the columns of the press under gay and alluring colors? Gambling, in all forms. -— Who tolerates and often connives at it; at any rate, fails signally to eradicate it? Prostitution. — Who bears with it : in many cases legalizes it? Newspaper sensationalism — Who authorizes and sanctions it? Who feeds it? Obscene literature. — Who absolves it? Who indulges in it? Economic crises and irrational social conditions. — Who creates them? " These are serious inquiries, and it may be well for society to recall the parable of the mote and the beam. Another interesting feature is the account of the favorite literature of the inmates. It appears
from this that the favorite English author is Dickens, who had a circulation of 783 for the last year; Bulwer follows next with 526, and then Kingsley with 5i8(!); George Eliot has 436, Hawthorne, 404, Scott, 378, Poe only 103, and De Foe. 94; Ignatius Donnelly has 140 devotees, and Rider Haggard, 557. The disclosure of the favorite books has some surprises. "Les Misérables," "Looking Backward," '-Oliver Twist," and "Adam Bede " head the list with 104; then comes " The Scarlet Letter," with 103; then "Ivanhoe," " Tom Brown's Schooldays," and " Rob ert Elsmere," with 102; then the " Arabian Nights," with loi; then " Last Days of Pompeii " and "Marjorie Daw." with 100. Jane Austen has 28 admirers, and Thackeray, 204. Dumas comes next to Dickens with 646, and Hugo follows with 459. It is encouraging to find that " Mr. Barnes of New York " found only 52 readers, while " Middlemarch" had the same, and the " Marble Faun " had 38. By their books ye shall know them.
THE EQUINE PARADOX. — Such is the name, as probably most of our readers are aware, of a wonder ful exhibition of trained horses. Whether the horse is a sagacious or a stupid animal in the opinion of mankind seems to be doubtful, for on the one hand we frequently hear the allusion to " horse sense," and on the other, we frequently hear of a man whois " as ignorant as a horse." But this exhibition will incline the beholder's opinion in favor of the former estimate. A representation of a court-scene by these animals gives rise to the present comment. The lawyers, the prisoner, the witness, the sheriff, and the jury were all horses; but strange to say, the judge was a jackass! and very funny indeed he looked. Now. why was the judge singled out for this uncomplimentary embodiment? If it had taken place in the Bahamas, undoubtedly the chief-justice would have had the horse-tamer up for contempt. (See report in present Notes of Cases.) We must say however that we have never seen quite so great an ass on the bench in courts of men. and certainly not one who looked so wise. But we desire to call the gentlemanly tamer's attention to one inaccuracy. The prisoner was brought to the dock in chains, and wore them all through the trial; and when the jury
