Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1851-01-25
THE DAILY spy.
From Burritt's Christian citiaenl
THE Rauhe Haus" of Hamburger,

In my last Family Letter, promised 10 our
readers a description of the benevolent iusti-
tutions of Hamburger for in no city that |
have visited in Europe, is human kindness
more extensively and infinitely ofganized than
in this commercial capital of Northern Europe.
In The first place, you find here Hospitals for
all ages, and all conditions of bodily affection:
Houses of Correction, Refuge, and Rescue.
Thenlhe outdoor benevolcnce is administered
after the most perfect system of order and
activity. This department of charity is man.
aged chiefly by the ladies'; and no nook of
poverty or wretchedness escapes The vigilance
and visitation of their loving Kindness. II
would be impossible to do more than name all
these institutions and operations of phiIan-
thropy in one letter; so | will occupy this
with au account of one of the nulhler, which
seems TO embody the spirit Of all the rest, in
the most interesting and striking nantes. alton
This is "Ihe Rd1the Haus," established in 1888.
The literal meaning as nearly as itcan be Civ
en- in English, of this appellation, is, g The
Rough House, or House of Refuge for the
rndest. most hopeless lilsie: E@S;;ssouds af seGs
gary and vice thai can be found in the lowest
lanes and sewers of poverty and SIM III this
institution. these young beings, whose every
day of life has been year OF wretchedGess
and crime, are brought under the action of two
cardinal principles-the law of kindness, and
the influence OF family society. As an illus
tralon of the power of these principles, in
transforming what would seem to be the very
misletoes of humanity into trees bearing the
best fruits of virtue this institution is yet I'M
equalled; although several Of the kind have
recently sprung up in different countries. A
cursory glance at its history will suffice to de-
lineate the principal features of its character
On the Is: of November, 1888, J. H. Wich-
ern, an earnest man, whose heart is a living
gospel Of Christian love TO his kind, took pos
session, with his family, Of small, one story,
straw rooted house, fronting on a narrow lane
leading out of the village of Horn, about three
miles from Hamhurgh. This little building
itself was yagabond house; having been,
what would be called in America, s'rum hole"
"a resort for the lowest and noisiest kind of
drinkers and smokers. About an acre of land
covered with sprawling bushes, bitches, hill
locks, &C., formed, with the sinutty cottage.
the foundation of the new Institution, which
was to solve another great problem in the
mysteries of humanity. No great palace or
prson-looking building had been erected by
the State for this experiment of benevoence
None was contemplated OF desired. From the
beginning TO The end, it was to be cottage
establishment; and this one by the lane side,
with lis rllm-seethed, iobacco-smoked walls,
and roof of black, Wondering straw, YVES all
the heroic founder asked, for the working out
of his scheme Of philanthropy. After the lapse
OF Il week, spent i'll purifying this little cottage
and preparing it for a home for the little un.
fortunate beings who were to be gathered 10
its hearth, three were brought in from Their
lairs on the frosty pavement or door-stone o.
the city. In the course of a few weeks, Ii Of
these young vagabonds were introduced with.
in The fold of that family circle, varying from
5 TO Is years of age, yet all old in the expert
ence Of wreichedness and vice. Each had be.
come hardened veteran in some miquious
practice or malicious disposition; and as such
had been pronounced Or regarded as incorrig.
ible. Nearly oil of them had been left and
trained TO beggary lying, Stealing and to ev.
cry vicious habit Some had the organ or dis.
position OF desiructiveness developed 10 such a
frenzy, that The first thought Of their life seem
ed to be the mutlation Of every thing they
could reach; others had acquired ferocous
force and obduracy of self will One of these
adopts II crime had been convicted hy The
Police OF SO thefts; and yet he was only IN his
twelfth year. They had been treated or re
ganied as species Of human vermin, battling
The power of the authorities 10 suppress. They
had slept under carts, in door-ways, her.linr
with swine and cattle by night, when the beg
glng or thcving hours were past. SucI, were
the boys that found themselves locking al
each other in wonder and surprise, The first
evening they gathered around the hearth sloue