New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-03
Efforts for Ouseasts.
In a notorious district Of Newy

Christian man offered himself TO his relig;oo. a.
nomination a. Missions AIRY in the Five po,,.
The ides was thosght rather chimsrca; sill :.
! opposition was made, aud the Missionary w.,
out TO his task. HIS first effort was with a..
children. In walking round the streets of 49,.
quarter, he soon found that the boys not oo,. g.,
no home and no parents but the mos. Of ,h.0,
very little to eat. so the very frs, mo,0;,. -
his ministry he gathered knot of them ,,on.s
him and told them to lead the wsy to. h,ks,,
The baker objected to FEEDING such go =
! Pckpochets and thieves. but our friend ;,,:.,.t
and bought his bread-cake and d,s.rA,,.a !,
among them. After this was over. he tolA a.,
boys he should held meeting the next S,oI.-
at the corner of Cross.st., and asked II ,h.'.
would come. They would be -ifu.y
would Mt :" they replied.
On the next Sunday he opened his ms.,;..
with very considerable crowd Of women anI
boys. But what, with the oaths and the shoat,
and the Pelting of everybody, except the prs,eA.
er, and the general row occasi,n-d, the services
did not get on very well and our Missionary Al
length told them he saw this would not do"
and he would have a meeting next Sunday ia.
room. They gave him three cheers, and he left,
not at all discouraged. For the next Sunday 4
snug grog-shop was bought out, cleaned and fur
nished with seats, and very good audieace was
collected, perhaps partly by the associations Of
the place. During the first prayer the MIS- ion.
| airy was interrupted by very singular noise, and.
| opening his eyes, he behrld the whole audi.
ence scr rambling under the seats for the door. IL
seat, and the boys thought that they were to be
trapped"
We will not continue farther the account Of Mr.
P.'s misbaps. Ii is enough to say, that by min
| gl,d system of feeding aud preaching, and by an
unceasng good nature, he gathered at last an at.
tentiye, well behaved audience of the worst char.
acters Of the district.
While distr buting his tracts one day among the
brothels, an old wthered womsn who had kept
her house there twenty years. told him she liked
them tracks, and the preaching. She Kind
o'thought it di her gals good. They alters got
more drunk Afterwards
One of the PROSTITUTES, too said 10 him. with
bitter curse, What are you giving these things
to us forl We II read EN-, and perhaps vel re-
pent day But what oft Give US something
to keep us from starring"
The missionary soon came 10 the conclusion
that preaching for such was worse than useless.
Ii aroused only to make them more reckless, as
trey saw the utter hopelessn' So before them.
Starvation or Crime Always the grim choice.
He went, accordingly, to his Society for means TO
provide work for these women They replied 10
the effect that che was sent to the Five Points to
be Minister of the Gospel, to preach and pray,
aid not to set up Workshop"
lie tried then for private subscrptons-and sue
ceeded, by means of these, in hiring quantity Of
material from one of the shirt. making establish
ments. With this, he set 20 or 80 Of the wom-n
to work, on the promise OF ultimately getting thcm
places, if they proved steady. They stitched
from early morning till late at night, the first day,
and he paid them the wages Of the best seam
stresses.
lie soon found, that if he would really gam
much influence in the district, ne must live theirs.
He accordingly indicted one of the yisst of tho
houses, elected its occupants and rented it. The
old brothsl. keeper, as she left IT, told him that
abe would soon be sick of his bargain There
were lice and vermin enough in the house, to eat
II
Mr.. z. "The work Of cleaning such house,
| none but housekeeper can appreciate, -bolIng
! water, slack lime, scrbblng soap'ng, sanding,
white washing, &C., for week, until, said Mr.
p, the bricks on the outside were running with
water" At length, he and his family moved in.-
The prostitutes were taken into the house, end
regular work and board given them, aud places
found for them. A day school for the children
was established, where they were partly clothed
and fed. A Sunday school aud religious services.
too, are carried on within the building. Mr. T..
has since indicted and rented two other houses,
and has now hundred Of those women under his
eharge-and has had, as we understood hin, Deer
eieht hundred of than in his family, since he has
been there; for the great majority Of whom he
has found honest means Of livelihood and with very
many Of whom, he has seen, as he thinks, thorough
changes of character. tie states, that he has had
over 5000 of sewing work out, IN the Five Points,
at one time and has never yet lost apenuys
worth--and though any one else might have his,
pockets picked at the Erst step, he does not be-
hcye a single article Of his would be touched,
| if he should leave his doors wide open.
His most enduring influence, in my opinion, ~
over the children who collect in considerable num-
bers to his day. school-as bright looking set oil
little vagabonds as we ever saw. We heard them
lately explain the map Of the United States, quite
as intelligenty as could the children Of our higher
classes at the same age.
| All this labor has been no easy one, it may DO
imagined, for Mr.. 2. His health Is breaking down
under that foul diseased atmosphere and he mas
hardly yet recovered from being stoned BY tno
brothel keepers-a brutal attack which lad mn
| up last year for four months. Il Will give bet
ter idea Of his work and fthe needs Of th, great
City, to describe brief visit paid in his com
pany, last Sunday, to some Of the families Of his
parish.
A dark, narrow passage in an old house, with
| LITTLE rnnms opening ON each aide OF it. We tl-