The society opened its first building on New Year's day, 1825, with six wretched girls and three boys. During the first fifteen years of its operations, it received and again returned to society two thousand five hundred. When it removed to Randall's Island, about six thousand had been received, and up to January, 1871, no less than 13,727. An average of three hundred per annum have thus been returned to the community since the first organization of the society, and we are told that at least seventy-five per cent. of them have lived honest and useful lives. The good accomplished for the country and humanity is incalculable. The sons of eminent merchants and lawyers, and of distinguished divines, have taken lessons here to their lasting advantage; while not a few from the haunts of infamy, who would but for this model "Bethesda" have gone frightfully down the slippery steeps of crime, have been raised to sit among the princes of the land. The sanitary interests of the Institution have always been conducted with remarkable success. During the first ten years of its history but five deaths occurred, and in 1832, out of ninety-nine cases of cholera, only two proved fatal. The report of 1869 showed, that of the seventeen hundred and seventy-five different inmates of the year, but three had died, and during the year closing 1871, but six died. But without the transforming influence of pure Christianity, all efforts for the reformation of delinquents must prove sadly abortive.

This Institution is, in its faith and practice, eminently Protestant, and most of its officers and teacher are persons of established Christian character. Rev. B. K. Pierce, D.D., the chaplain, a man of rare culture and long experience in this difficult work, with quick discernment of character, remarkable facility in remembering countenances and names, and with a heart that always bleeds at the woes of a child, is admirably fitted for his critical station. Mr. J. C. Jones, the successful superintendent, is also a man of more than ordinary culture and ability.

Sabbath at the Refuge is a day of delightful, hallowed rest. Once on that day all join in Sunday-School study and recitation, and once they crowd their beautiful chapel, when a thousand faces are turned toward the man of God, and a thousand voices join in liturgical responses. Many have been hopefully converted, and several who were once inmates of the Institution are now studying for the Christian ministry.

With the multiplication of reformatory Institutions, and some unjust disparagements, a smaller number of youth than formerly are being received from the New York courts. As the supply is undiminished, we can but regard this as a public mistake. In the matter of economy, the Refuge is conducted with remarkable ability. During the last seven years, the net cost of each child, above its own earnings, has but little exceeded seventy dollars per annum, while the gross cost has varied from $116.20 in 1867, to $131.13 in 1870, according to the number in the Institution. About twelve thousand dollars have, until recently, been annually received from the license of theaters. In addition to this, the sums contributed from the city treasury and the school fund have, united, been annually less than twenty dollars per capita, while the Catholic Protectory has been paid $110 for each child, and the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections have expended over one hundred and fifty dollars per annum on each child, in the Industrial school at Hart Island and on the school-ship. This comparison speaks volumes in favor of the Refuge, inasmuch as it greatly surpasses both the Institutions mentioned in the appliances of personal comfort, while in matters of culture discipline, building up of character, and thoroughness of skilled labor, it probably surpasses every In situation of its kind in the country.

The Managers propose, if appropriate legislation can be secured, to somewhat enlarge their Institution, and receive a class of delinquents still more advanced in crime and years. They fully believe that multitudes of young men, who have grown up without employment and are sent annually to the Penitentiary to be further confirmed in treachery, might in a well-conducted reformatory be taught the arts of skilled labor, mellowed by the appliances of Christianity, and saved for time and eternity. Who with a well-balanced head and suitably affected heart can for a moment doubt it? A society so intent on the accomplishment of its great work, and so rich in desirable fruits, deserves well of the public, and should not be crippled in any of the appliances necessary to its highest success it is the pioneer of its kind; the twenty other similar Institutions, with their many thousand inmates in this country as well as those of Europe, have grown up through its example. Its managers and friends, in molding their economy, have sought to incorporate the lessons they have industriously culled from the experience and wisdom of ages. Long may it flourish to elevate the fallen and enrich the world.