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Ten of the seventeen children born were illegitimate.

Some of the occupations of those admitted last year were: Laborers, 230; printers, stone masons, 8; teamsters, 52; painters, 24; cooks (women), 32; seamstresses, 13; housework, 275; laundresses, 23; no occupation (women), 30; carpenters, 5; firemen, 7; clerks, 8; plumbers, 4; book agent and variety actor, 1 each. It is a motley and shifting population at Long Island, representing every age from 20 to 90, every physical condition from robust health to all varieties of infirmity and disease, every grade of mental ability from fair intelligence to feeble mindedness mild dementia, and every type of the unfortunate, the vagrant, and the vicious.

Of the 1,020 received last year, 39 were under 20 years, 101 between 20 and 40, 280 and 30, 228 between 30 between 40 and 50, 165 between 50 and 6o, 127 between 60 and 70, 63 between 70 and 80, and 17 between 80 and 90.

A glimpse of some of the types may be had from the following "settlement histories", selected almost at random from those on which permits were granted as recently as last January. Of course the correct names are not given.

Peter Doherty. Age 78. Born in Ireland but has lived in Boston since 1842 with the exception of the period between time 1859 and 1872, when he was in California. Before 1859 he had built and owned two houses. On his return from California he was robbed of a considerable sum of money. Since 1883 he has been in the almshouse 30 times. Is intemperate occasionally.

John J. ORourke. Born in Charlestown, 1863. His father at one time paid taxes on real estate. Is a teamster, intemperate. Left his wife about eight years ago on account of her intemperate habits. Has never had to be aided before. Was at Deer Island in September, 1897. Needs medical treatment.

Edward Miller. Born in Halifax in 1866 but has been thirty years in the United States. Is a carriage smith, intemperate. Has received no public aid. Does not know his wife's present whereabouts. Has two children in the Mareella Street Home. Needs medical treatment. His father and stepmother unable to aid him on account of their own sickness.

Sarah Gallagher. Age 62. Is by occupation a domestic, intemperate. Has been, under an assumed name, at Deer Island 20 or more times. In and out of the almshouse 36 times since 1883.

William J. Downey. Age 44. Is a peddler, intemperate. At one time well-to-do but in a freak sold his business for almost nothing. On the death of his wife in the Massachusetts General Hospital of consumption, her mother took the three children. Later, a sister adopted the youngest. The man probably has a record in House of Correction. Has been in and out of the almshouse 41 times since 1885. Makes a paralyzed arm an excuse for not working. Met at Long Island a pauper woman whom he married for his second wife. The two children of this marriage are now in institutions. Two brothers of the man are at Long Island with consumption.

Mary Griffin. Age 69. Born in Scotland. Very intemperate. Has been in House of Correction 24 times for drunkenness and vagrancy. Last time in June, 1897, In and out of the almshouse 15 times in past 15 years. Extremely troublesome wherever she is.

Not only do these sample "settlement histories" give us glimpses of the variegated characters at Long Island; they suggest how many of these must have been criminal offenders at some time. Out of the 872 different individuals admitted in 1876, 244 men or 48 percent, and 184 women or 60 percent had been recent inmates of penal institutions. Long Island and Deer Island are not far apart literally or figuratively. Inmates of the latter as recently as last June and one as recently as last November are now inmates of the former.

Again these "histories" hint, in the case of Downey, whose children by his pauper wife are public charges, at what undoubtedly would be found true could the facts be got at, namely, that Boston, and presumably other cities as well, is carrying along in its various institutions, a tolerably permanent pauper and criminal class. Not a few of the present inmates at Long Island are known to have been born in some institution, and in one institution or another, pauper or penal, to have passed most of their days. One of the children born at the island this winter was the fourteenth child born of the same mother in a city institution.

This heterogeneous population is constantly changing. The aged and infirm stay on, of course, from year to year, but the younger and more active elements grow restless after a time and drop away, to return perhaps in a few weeks or even a few days. As a matter of fact, during 1896 there were admitted once, 724, twice, 175, three times, 38, four times, 18, five times, 5, nine times, 2. To put some check on this free and easy going and coming the following order was issued about a year ago: