ys my sincere answer.

Our discussion waxed warm, and was useful to both sides. Our weak point
was that, if a single boy or girl in a village, from a large company we
had sent, turned out bad, there was a cry raised that "every New-York
poor child," thus sent out, became "a thief or a vagabond," and for a
time people believed it.

Our antagonists seized hold of this, and we immediately dispatched
careful agents to collect statistics in the Central West, and, if
possible, disprove the charges. They, however, in the meantime,
indiscreetly published their statistics, and from these it appeared that
only too many of the Asylum graduates committed offenses, and that those
of the shortest terms did the best. The latter fact somewhat confused
their line of attack.

The effort of tabulating, or making statistics, in regard to the
children dispatched by our society, soon appeared exceedingly difficult,
mainly because these youthful wanderers shared the national
characteristic of love-of-change, and, like our own servants here, they
often left one place for another, merely for fancy or variety. This was
especially true of the lads or girls over sixteen or seventeen. The
offer of better wages, or the attraction of a new employer, or the
desire of "moving," continually stirred up these latter to migrate to
another village, county, or State.

In 1859 we made a comprehensive effort to collect some of these
statistics in regard to our children who had begun their new life in the
West. The following is an extract from our report at this time:--

"During the last spring, the Secretary made an extended journey through
the Western States, to see for himself the nature and results of this
work, carried on for the last five years through those States, under Mr.
Tracy's careful supervision. During that time we have scattered there
several thousands of poor boys and girls. In this journey he visited
personally, and heard directly of, many hundreds of these little
creatures, and appreciated, for the first time, to the full extent, the
spirit with which the West has opened its arms to them. The effort to
reform and improve these young outcasts has become a mission-work there.
Their labor, it is true, is needed. But many a time a bountiful and
Christian home is opened to the miserable little stranger, his habits
are patiently corrected, faults without number are borne with, time and
money are expended on him, solely and entirely from the hi