The first settlement in the United
States was established in New York in 1887, and soon became known as
the University Settlement. Hull House in Chicago was started two years
later; the first settlement in Boston was founded under the auspices
of the Andover Theological Seminary. Most settlements avoid church
connections, because of the danger of misunderstandings among people
of widely differing faiths.

The settlement has existed long enough to become a true social
institution. It has remained true to its original principle of
neighborliness, but it has increased its activities as occasion
demanded. It has been a useful object-lesson to churches and city
governments; some of its methods have been imitated, and in some of
the cities its efforts have become unnecessary in certain directions
because the city government itself has adopted its plans. The
settlement has its critics and its devoted supporters; it is one of
the voluntary experiments that shows the spirit of its promoters and
that helps along social progress, and it must be estimated among the
assets of a community. Here and there in the country among certain
groups, as lumbermen, miners, or construction workers, or even in a
settled town, many of the methods of the settlement are likely to find
acceptance, and the settlement idea of neighborliness is fundamental
to all happy and successful social life.

READING REFERENCES

DEVINE: _Principles of Relief_, pages 10-28, 171-181.

WARNER: _American Charities_, pages 301-393.

CONYNGTON: _How to Help_, pages 56-219.

HENDERSON: _Modern Methods of Charity_, pages 380-511.

HENDERSON: _Social Settlements._

ADDAMS: _Twenty Years at Hull House_, pages 89-153.

CHAPTER XXXVII

EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES

292. =The Schools of the City.=--An important function of city
government and of other institutions is the education of the people
who make their home in the city or come to it to broaden their
culture. The city provides for its young people as the country
community does, by locating school-buildings within convenient reach
of the people of every district, but on a much larger and usually a
more efficient scale. Better trained teachers, better grading, a more
modern equipment and well-proved methods give an advantage in
education to the city child, though there are drawbacks in overcrowded
buildings and narrow yards for play. The opportunities for social
education are broader in the city