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.