Appendix No. 13 Bis.: Regulations from Mr. Welles for the Boston House of Refuge

Abstract

The Boston House of Refuge regulations, provided by Mr. Welles, cover the rules for initiating a child into the House, the schedule for each day (including meals, school, labor, and religious services), types of punishments that can be given and how the children will be monitored, and a detailed description of the three-fold classification system that measures children according to their conduct and acts as an incentive for good behavior. Notably, the regulations give a large amount of responsibility to the individual children—the children are to form independent courts to judge their comrades’ behavior, participate in overseeing the discipline as elected monitors, and are responsible for reporting their own wrongs each day.

*“Bis.” in French means “second part.”