42
 

SOUVENIR,
 

THE HEBREW FREE SCHOOL
ASSOCIATION.
 

In the spring of 1864 a movement began,
suggested by the activity of missionaries who
sought to convert to Christianity the children
of Jewish parents. Mission schools were
opened in neighborhoods where large numbers
of poor Jewish families resided, and their
children were enticed by gifts of confectionery
 

The first school was located at Avenue C,
near Fifth street. Other schools were suc¬
cessfully opened at Sixth avenue near Eighth
street, Bayard, Chrystie, Twenty-ninth and
Forty-fourth streets. The scheme of instruc¬
tion first included the English branches, as
well as religious and Hebrew tuition. This
plan was soon abandoned, and the policy
was inaugurated and has since been main¬
tained, that the work of the schools should be
 

Kindergarten (Hebrew Free School Association).
 

I
I
I
 

and clothing to attend classes supposed to be
for instruction in the Hebrew language, but
really nurseries of Christian teaching.

A meeting was held at the Clinton Street
Synagogue early in 1864, convened at the call
of Rev. S. M. Isaacs and Mr. Hezekiah Kohn.
Steps were then taken to organize and incor¬
porate the Hebrew Free School Association,
the representatives of several congregations
participated, and Mr. Barnet I^. Solomon was
elected President of the society.
 

supplementary to that of the public schools.
The classes are conducted in the evenings
and Sundays. It was made a condition that
every pupil should attend the public school,
and for those who were unable, by reason of
poverty, to make a fair appearance in the pub¬
lic school, there was provision for clothing and
home assistance.

In 1879 an industrial school for girls was
established, and this part of the work of the
Institution   was  continued until   1894, when