Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-07-20
Lost Children in New York.

! ~ - 81 r
From an article in tho Tribune we
gather the following In relation to an
institution in New York, Of which
little has been published, but which
has proved of great service to many an
anxious parent, AZ. -, +
The Lost Children Department " is
located in the upper story of the Police
Headquarters, No. 500 Mulberry street.
The reception room of the, department
is large wellyentilated and well-light-
ed apartment, in which there are eight
permanent beds and number ofcradles.
The beds are kept in state of scrupu-
lous cleanliness, the clothing being ar
ranged in the tidiest manner, and sub
jected to a thorough airing every day.
The same remark will apply to the era
dies, which, of course, are for the recep-
ton of the smallest specimens of hui
manity that are brought to the apart
ment. In the case of q" heavy rush of
business additional beds are nut up
and other cradles are brought in, an
extra stock of these articles Of furniture
as necessary to the apartment being
kept OH hand.
But the room is not merely used for a
sleeping apartment. The lost children
who are received there are usually in a
state of hunger on their arrival, and III
order to appease their craving appetites,
they are provided with food three
meals each day. as long as they remain
in this place of detention. ~ gE
The number of lost children found
wandering about tho city during the
past year was 2,7i2. or this number
nearly all, with the exception of about
one twelfth, were returned to their pa
| rents and friends, the remainder being
Tn Iu,ln A
being reared under the care of the Com
missioners of Charities. The number
s-babes--received at the de-
partment daily has greatly decreased
since the termination of the war. Dur
ing the war there were sometimes re-
ceiyed in the night no less than seven
or eight OF these abandoned waits. Now,
however, the monthly average is about
eight. .s.. sfag' a|Of.
"A singular fact in regard to many OF
the children brought to the department
has come to the knowledge of the mat
ron of the place. These children are
actually carried into the street-often
far from the residence of their aunnat,,-
raj parents--and there abandoned. I'm
able to find their way home, they are
discovered by the police, by whom they
are conducted to the Lost Children's
Department. Sometimes their parents
J repent of the cruel treatment they have
practiced toward their offspring, and,
with shame plainly depicted OH their
faces, come t. the department. and take
their little ones home again. Gtsst a
One evening in March bright-eyed
but dirty-faced little fellow-four years
old--was brought in and after undergo
ing complete washing, was snukiy
tucked between the sheets of one of Che
beds. The new conner was very much
troubled in mind, and fer nearly an
hour INDUCED in crying, but nature be
coming exhausted he fell asleep. Dur
ing the evening his mother called and
said she had lost her little boy. After
carefully examining the occupants OF
the beds, she said, "he isn't there, and
! IN afraid l'll never see him again. -
| The next morning the boy was up and
playing with the other Juveniles in the
room, when the woman again called,
and on entering the apartment, the lit
tie fellow ran toward her and said,
That's my mother" and so it proved
10 be. The matron stated to this writer
that the woman was unable to identify
her child on the evening previous
simply because the boy presented such
u strange appearance after being clean.
ly washed that his mother did not know
, her own child.