The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-04-24

doAa FOR HOMELESS sWAI7s-ToUoH.
ING 1HgIRANTs.-EAe ,pther. day, T. was
PAAh&a Washington square. ana noHo-
ing,upon the block Of beautiful. build.
ings owned by the Seaman's Fund, the
sign Of the "Foundling Hospital" I
'moupted the white marble stoop, and
very speedily found myself In the pre-
sence OF Sister Irene, the beautiful.fac
Sister Of Charity who was the first grand
cause OF this noble institution. They
have under their charge at the present
time 400 little waits. Although it was
not the regular visiting day. and Sister
Irene said the babies didn't l0ol. at their
best.as they do on visiting Tuesday"
still was permitted to 60 over the pre-
misses. Suoh nice. jolly set OF babies
you couldn't find anywhere else in the
United States. Nicely and prettily
dressed, carefully washed and combed,
green boots and bronze boots on the
little trot-arounds. neat pink and blue
and buff chintz frocks, white aprons or
Marseilles bibs on others. Several new.
oomers on this troubled earth we're
wrapped in squares OF flannel. I asked
particularly about the small Richard the
Third, who had just come in on the occa.
sion OF visit made the Sisters nearly
year ago-a strange, red little ruffian
OF twenty-four hours existence, with
four well-cut teeth to his mouth. pre-.
dlcted for him an cventful career, evi-
IDENTIFY begun already. Sure enough,
Richard was not destined to gnash his
teeth long in 1.-The Foundling," for the
father, young Frenchman, finding the
disposition made Of his offspring BY its
unfortunate girl-mother, reconsidered
previous determinations, got properly
married. nnd applied to Sister Irene, re-
covered tho infant and set mp house.
keeping with it, and, as the fairy tales
end, hns lived happy ever since A fea-
ture of this Founding Asylum is the
shelter it affords to the mother. In
every case, when they can, the mother
is rescued with the child. If she is ply
sIcally able, she nurses another babe
with her own, and thus pays her board :;
but II she is delicate and unable to nurse
any other child but her own, she sews
and minds the growing children.
1t was only tho night before I was
there, that the sister sat on watch in tie
hall. Twelve O'Clock had sounded, and
the quiet Of the street was unbroken.
The lamps in the Washington parade
ground, opposite the asylum, winked at
the stars in the wintry sky. when up the
steps, with OIL such a heavy heart, sink
ing lower and lower as she entered the
door, came weary, betrayed, miserable
woman, bearing, rs she supposed, for
the last time on earth, the little form
which, If it was her shame, was also the
only bit of human love her wretched
life had left. Without home or frionds.
she had determined her child. at least.
should be rescued from the panos she
was even then suffering.
Within the padded wicker basket she
laid the little waif. with long lingering
mothers kiss on it's sleeping face, and
pulled the bell and fled with her wretch.
edncss, more awful in this parting, to
the shadow of tree opposite Crouch
ing there. sho waited with beating
heart to see her lone darling taken in to
comfort and care, leaving her to eternal
desolation beneath the cruel wintry sky.
Not sound breaks the stiffness of the
night but the crisp leahess branches
softly breaking in the wind. The door
OF the house she watches, through her
bllndlng tears, slowly opens Dimly
she sees the black shrouded figure lift
her child. Who shall describe the agony
OF that moment? She feels that for her
the last glimpse of the little form is
come. When, like the voice of an angel,
these words sweetly como upon the chill
night wind to her aching. straining ears,
the black-robed figure that presses her
child to her bosom thus speaks, her face
toward Heaven: 'Stay, poor mother.
why DO you desert your child? Be-
meath this roof there is shelter and food
for both. Listen; beg you not to leave
your little child-come re also; you shall
nurse and be with your little child till it
can be safely left; then come to it when
you please, and take it to yourself when
you are ablo" There's cry OF Joy on
the midnight air. as flying with trem-
bling footsteps across the street, That
poor rescued mother flings herself upon
tho baby sho thought lost to her forever,
and falls at the same sisters feet. God
bless the nngol-faced Irene-noble sister
OF God-like charityl Whom earth's work
for her is over, about her dying ears will
float music as divine as her own llest
words have been to many SHINING, sor-
rowful woman.
Cor. Missouri RepuJHcun.
A story is told of lady ut the capital.
not resident, bnt ono who had gone
there to show of her wnd,1ino Fnor,,