The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-07-20
A NOBLE CHARITY.
The New lork Founding Asyium-
From woodruff & Clafin,s Weekly

From woodruff i olanin's Weekly FL.
In Protestant England there are no legally
authorized founding asylums. The only fnstt
tuition in the kingdom, which approaches that.
character, Is one In London, whfchiwas found.
ed in the seventeenth century, and suppressed
In l760 by legal modification which convert
ed 1t into an sSsAsylum fol- Legitimate children
at the present day; What Is the consequence ?
Simply that crime Is hidden, not prevented. II.
Z. The late tEsby farming Horror,n asrevealed
in the story of Mrs. =: Margaret .Waters, alias
Wilkes. Hurley, Walters, Ellis oliver, Black
burn and Fort, now On trial for the murder OF
forty infants, before the Lambeth Police Court,
is an abundant proof Of ittis fasserS1ofli That
this same "horrorr has been extensively prac-
ticed in New York. Is a well-known fact trand
that In great measure it Is falling into desqe-
tude since the establishment Of the New York
Founding Asylum, fs also well known. In all
homogeneous society fIlegitimacy is found to
exist to a greater. or less degree :acoordingto
its age; and founding asylums have been &C.
sion for the illegihmate. Yetenlightened New
York, through Its press, its Sorosis and its Uni
versal Suffrage Society, discussed the matter,
passed resolutions concerning it, deplofed
while acknowledging the necessity for such an
institution, yet did nothing until Neither, Je-
rome Ely, the Superior Of the Sisters 6f CHAIR
w, tOUh Lu6 WaLlt( III uduu.
The frequency with which young Infants
were LEFT at the doors Of the institution OF the
Sisters, scattered all over the city, plainly n
dicated that the duty was expected OF them:
Last October, Sister Irene, then principal OF
the Academy of St. .Peter's, in Barclay street,
received the mandate from the Mother House,
at Mount st. Vincent, to commence operations
by opening house. in some central position
In the city, for the reception Of foundlings. By
the lst Of November the injunction had BEEN
obeyed to the letter, and before that day sew
eral little wailing babies were In the arms Of
the Sistera Thirty children had been received
before the expiration OF one month, and the
until now, at the end Of eight months, there
are over eight hundred In the establishment,
or rather under the direction Of the instttu-
ton. OF course, the house in Twelfth street,
four-story dwelling, could not accommodate
all the children. At first all over certain
number retained In the house were put out to
nurse under the supervision, and subject to
the constant visits, OF the Sisters and q COM
mittee Of ladies', wives Of our first citizens,
who seemed to take the deepest Interest IN the:
affairs Of the institution. .s.f.s 2.
From the day Of Its opening the intenseH
interest, curiosity and sympathy on the subject,
seemed to pervade all classes OF society. TWO
associations composed OF ladies', anothAc
of gentlemen promptly to Its aid. Hrs:
Iks ID.
wealth and influence, gave the first hundred
dollar donation to the cause. Since then she
has collected sixteen thousand dollars for It,
setting noble example to women Of society
as to one manner in which they can use their
social influence. The press has been unani-
nous in Its laudations Of the institution, one
paper actually giving weekly reports from
tThe Home of the Babies" which were eager
ly circulated by the country papers, for the
entertainment Of their readers. Government
took the matter In hand, and a grant Of city
square, bounded by Lexington and Fourth
avenues, sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth streets,
was conferred for the building OF O. suitable
"Mdison Ges Entdns Ifouy6s," and as coon as
one hundred thousand dollars are raised BY
the trustees of the institution, for the erection
of suitable building, the State Legislature Is
pledged to give one hundred thousand more.
Latterly, the children who have heretofore
been placed out to nurse, have been sent to g.
large and commodious wooden building In
Westchester County, under the charge Of COM
petent nurses, and directed by g. large corps OF
the Sisters. 1t Is needless to add that this es-
tablishment Is simply branch Of the Twelfth
street house, and both are under medical d.
rection and municipal inspection. The houses
are open to the public at all times, but certain
days have, by social etiquette, been estab-
come on those days are Of every rank in lite,
and not few of the unhappy mothers may be
detected in the throng, betraying their rela--
tionship by their ill-dlsguised emotion and
flrtive search for their own forsaken babies
The mothers of the children are far nom be
ing all of the humber classes. Scarcely q
night passes that carriage baby" does not
come In. The Sister who is on watch detects
some well known liveries at times before the
door at midnight Strange to say. these
:'carriage babiesn are very rarely accompanied
with any donation to the institution. = Unhal.
lowed passion hardens the heart and does not
dispose the hand to slms-giving These are
the babies who, perhaps, have gone tothe
ssBaby Farmer" or a quicker, surer hiding
place for shame Not unfrequently, "a sharp
vail breaks from the basket In the YestDule,
and when the feeble waif Of humanity Is
violence on it's little body, broken arm or
rib, frightfnl brulse on the head, tells, the
tale that murder had been arrested, how, none
but the actors in the terrible drama OF passion