tion, which under present disadvantages, cannot be estimated
to cost less than $50,000.

When in their judgment the proper time arrives, the work
will be commenced and pressed on to early completion.

In regard to the sanitary condition of the house, we have
many reasons for gratulation. Among so many children,
with physical antecedents predisposing to disease, it is a mat-
ter for thankfulness that for a greater portion of the year
the infirmary has been unoccupied, and scarce a serious case
of sickness has demanded prolonged attention. At the early
appearance of cholera in the country, a committee was organ-
ized who had charge of the sanitary condition of the house.
The physician in his report says, "that the precautions taken
have had much to do in preventing cholera and typhus,
which have been so prevalent in other institutions." Not a
death from any cause has occurred since 1864.

In the moral instructions of the inmates, our chief reli-
ance is the means of the Sabbath services in the chapel, and
the Sabbath schools. For these we have been indebted, as
usual, to the voluntary aid of ministers of different denonci-
tions and to a corps of teachers from the city. It is a pleas-
ure at every renewal of our Annual Reports, specially to ac-
knowledge our indebtedness to these good friends. Without
their valuable and self-sacrificing services, we should be de-
prived of the most essential means in aid of our work.

We have reason to know that their efforts for good have
not been all in vain, nor their words cast as worthless motes
upon the wind. Instructive readings are also given to the
children on the Sabbath by their teachers, in which they ex-
hibit much interest.

In this connection we may mention that within the past
year, we were the recipients of a most generous and thought-
ful gift of nearly 2,000 volumes, with well finished book-cases
to contain them from the Mechanical Fire Company, one of
the oldest and most respected of the associations of our city.
The collection embraces many valuable books, and as the
taste for reading may exhibit itself, will afford to the inmates
a rich source of entertainment and instruction.

The day schools are seven in number—six for boys and one
for girls, under the charge of three female and four male
teachers. Of course, there is a great diversity of capacity, and
a greater of acquisition among the children. There is one
notable fact deserving remark, that among the oldest and
most criminal, there is found not only a greater ignorance,
but also a greater indisposition or incapability to learn. In con-
nection with this is another fact. In our examinations, it is
found that truancy has been the very common vice among the
older and the younger delinquents. The steps in the advance
to juvenile criminality are only natural sequences.