Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/174

* DEPARTURE. 138 DEPENDENT CHILDREN. lure (in nautical milts) = iniiiulcs of lonfjitiide X cosine of the lirlitiiile in which the departure is nieasuroil. To deteriiiine the oxaet position of a ship wlicn starting ujjon a voyage and after leaving port is termed takiiifi a ilriKirliire. It is usually done bv ohseiVing the hearin-r* of two y the Indiana Conference of the Meth.idist Kpiscopal Church in IS^~. and was known until 1SS4 as the Indiana Asbury I'niver- s,ity. In recognition of the many gifts made to the university V)y Washington V. Dc Pauw. who, besides donation's during his lifetime, provided in his will for an endowment fund of about $1,000.- 000, the name of the institution was changed in that year to He Pauw University. With the ex- pected increase in the endowment fund, the uni- versitv entered upon a course of ra])id expansion. Schoois of music, law, theology, pedagogy, and the line arts were organized and graduate courses were introiluced in the School of Lil>cral Arts. Most of the De Pauw bequest has not. however, become available as yet, and the plan formulated in 1884 has not been carried out to its full ex- tent. De Pauw University at present consists of the colleges of arts, music, ami liberal arts. It offers courses, partially elective, leading to appropriate degrees in art and science. The at- tendance in 1902 was more than OOO. excluding students in the musical and preparatory depart- ments. DEPENDENT CHILDREN. A term ap- plied to normal diildrcn who must be supported l)V other tlian their natural guardians. It does not include the deaf and ilumb. blind, insane, epi- leptic, and feebleminded, who are classified as (Irfrrtircs. nor those of perverse habits, known as juvrnilc dcliniiucnts. In ancient times the Semites placed a higher value on children than did the Aryans. Among the .rvans. liowever, childless families sometimes adopted children. The father in (ireece and Rome had practically power of life and death over his children and could sell them into slav- ery. Infanticide was common. Yet the chihlren left alone were not entirely neglected, and their adoption was encouraged by decrees making them the slaves of tliosp caring for them. Not until after the introduction of Christianity do we find any special attention paid to chihl-saving. From that time to the present among Europeans and their descendants, and wherever Christian niis- sionaries have gone, we find increasing attention jiaid to dependent children. In the sixth century came the beginnings of 8])e>'ial institutions for such children in Trance, and a little later in Italy. (See ror.Mil.lxo Ho.spiTAl.s.) From these humble beginnings the great institutions now found in all civilized lands have grown. The State has come to recognize that it is responijible for the proper care of the eliildren. and is gradually extending its cfTorts for the sake of its own future welfare, as well as for that of the children. From the pmefiee of receiving young children into institutions to .oave their lives there natu rally developed the belief that such institutions were even better places for the children than any family home. Hen- children would be kept from the temptations of the world: here they would be cared for by skilled nuitrons and taught by chosen teachers: here, too, religious instruction would 1h" planted in fruitful soil. The Church, under whose inlluence these institutions arose, encouraged this belief. This is the principle underlying all institutional care for dependent children. The highest development of this prin- ciple is found in the institutions of the Catholic Church and of the Hebrews, in which it is possi- ble for a child to pass from infancy to maturity, constantly guarded from the world. Europe, except France, has largely followed this method, anais been successfully carried on in Scotland and England, but has founil its greatest development in .us- tralia and France. In France a special depart- ment of the Government, with branches in the provinces, boards out the children and supervises them until they are twenty-one years of age. No board is paid after the twelfth year, the children being then indentured. In the second form the children are placed out for adojition' or are in- dentured to persons willing to receive them and to assume all responsibility for their mainte- nance and education. After the initial expense of finding and investigating a home, this system costs the public nothing save the expense of supervision to safegviard the interests of the child. This plan has found its chief field in Canada and the Ignited States. In America dviring colonial times children wcr.-! apprenticeil in families or were consignc<l to the almshouse. It was gradually recognized that the influence of the almshouse was degrading, and the leading States now forbid the practice. It still prevails in the Southern States. Illinois is the only prominent Xorthern State permitting it. The movement for institutions began about 1800 and rapidly spread in the larger cities. Organized effort for placing children in family homes startc<I with the founding of the New- York Children's Aid Society in 18.'.;t. Similar societies are now found in most cities. The first of the children's home societies was started in Illinois in 188."}. They now exist in twenty-four States, ehielly in the West. Their work has been largely outside the big cities. The advocates of the institutional plan and those who favor the placing-out system have long been at swords' points. Each has claimed that the other system did not produce the liest results. There is taking place in .inerica. however, a gradual amalganuilion of the two systems. It is now admitted that the institution fosters a pride which tends to develop the institution at the expense of the child: that institutional life is artificial :ind cultivates dependence rather than independence. On the other hanil it is aibnitled that some chihlren need for a time the training in obedience and in res])e<'t for authority which institutional liscipline gives: that chihlren in bad physical comlition often receive better care in an institution than is possible in the average