LXV.
"BRIGHTSIDE," THE JULIA E. WORK TRAINING SCHOOL.
Brightside,
the Julia E. Work training school, was established at Plymouth, February 1,
1899, on Mrs. Work's farm, formerly owned by John Ellis, one and one-quarter
miles north of Plymouth on the Michigan road. The object of the school is the
care and training of dependent, delinquent and physically defective children.
At the time of the transfer from LaPorte to Plymouth the number of children was
seventy, and the buildings completed for their accommodation included the new
building now known as No. 1, and the farm house. The rapid increase of
patronage made it necessary in 1900 to erect a second building, and thereafter
for a period of four years a building was completed each year until the present
capacity 280 children was reached. The institution equipment now includes a 270
acre farm, five large buildings for the care of the children, and all necessary
out-buildings for the use of stock and the farm implements used on a big farm.
The
children are classified as follows: Normal dependent, defective dependent,
delinquent and difficult, and private pupils. Complete sex separation is maintained, and
the ages range from six to eighteen. A township school employing four teachers
is maintained on the place a few rods from the main building. This school is
supported by the enumeration and transfers provided by law, The industrial
training given the boys includes all kinds of farm work, the care of stock and
gardening. The equipment for teaching these fundamentals is first class in
every respect. No expense is spared in the purchase of suitable farm machinery
or the employment of a farm superintendent who is an expert in his line. The
girls are all under the supervision of ladies who understand the several branches
of housework, including laundry and dairy work, and the girls are thoroughly
grounded in the essentials for good housekeeping and good homemaking. No
attempt is made to give manual training in the general acceptance of the term,
but the aim is "foundation building" giving the boy or girl a fair
chance to start in life with a rudimentary knowledge that will enable him or
her to make a living.
As
a result of this training numerous boys and girls past the age of eighteen are
now supporting themselves along the lines taught in the institution:
"Brightside"
is maintained by the legal per diem, the amounts paid for private pupils and
the products of the farm. It has no bequests, no endowment, and solicits no
funds for current expenses. The management is vested solely in Mrs. Work as
superintendent and Annie A. Barr as assistant superintendent and secretary. The
property is owned and managed by
344 HISTORY
OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
Mrs.
Work, and the institutional work is under the supervision of the board of state
charities and the several child-saving organizations patronizing it. The legal
per diem, which is inadequate for the maintenance of a child except under very
favorable circumstances, is in this case supplemented by the products of the
farm. A sufficient supply of potatoes, cabbage, navy beans, turnips and all
kinds of garden truck is raised and used in the institution, besides all the
grain, hay, etc., consumed by the cattle, hogs, sheep and horses. A herd of
first class cows supplies all the milk and butter used. Special attention is
paid to the raising of hogs for market, and the fund from these sales and the
sales of surplus grain goes into the general maintenance fund.