y of every friend of humanity to do his
little part to alleviate the evils of the world, whether he sees a
general diminution of human ills or not.

But, fortunately, we are not obliged to render these excuses.

New York is the only large city in the world where there has been a
comprehensive organization to deal with the sources of crime among
children; an organization which, though not reaching the whole of the
destitute and homeless youth, and those most exposed to temptation,
still includes a vast multitude every year of the _enfants perdus_ of
this metropolis.

This Association, during nearly twenty years, has removed to country
homes and employment about twenty-five thousand persons, the greater
part of whom have been poor and homeless children; it has founded, and
still supports, five Lodging-houses for homeless and street-wandering
boys and girls, five free Reading-rooms for boys and young men, and
twenty Industrial Schools for children too poor, ragged, and
undisciplined for the Public Schools. We have always been confident that
time would show, even in the statistics of crime in our 19 prisons and
police courts, the fruits of these very extended and earnest labors. It
required several years to properly found and organize the Children's Aid
Society, and then it must be some ten years-when the children acted upon
in all its various branches have come to young manhood and
womanhood--before the true effects are to be seen. We would not,
however, exclude, as causes of whatever results may be traced, all
similar movements in behalf of the youthful criminal classes. We may
then fairly look, in the present and the past few years, for the effects
on crime and pauperism of these widely-extended charities in behalf of
children.

CRIME CHECKED.

The most important field of the Children's Aid Society has been among
the destitute and street-wandering and tempted little girls, its labors
embracing many thousands annually of this unfortunate class. Has crime
increased with them? The great offense of this class, either as children
or as young women, comes under the heading of "Vagrancy"-this including
their arrest and punishment, either as street-walkers, or prostitutes,
or homeless persons. In this there is, during the past thirteen years, a
most remarkable decrease--a diminution of crime probably unexampled in
any criminal records through the world. The rate in the commitments to
the city pr