The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-01-16
GIRLS, HOMELESS AND FRIENDLESS.
WHAT Is DONE FOR THEM.
From the Methodist.
BY MARY GAY ROBINSON.

! Of the large five story brick houses in st.
Marks place, New York, No. q has a
special interest 1t is the Girls Lodging
House, established and supported 10y the
Children's Aid Society.
The modern improvements, making the
great house convenient for its present use,
have all all gone up skyward, as the third
story and the fourth and fifth stories in the
French roof are new, and arranged as dor
mitories filled with single beds and as many
small lockers or closets extending the length
of the rooms. In the rear, from the top
most story, the fire-escape descends to the
ground.
The spacious parlors and the usual ele-
giant apartments Of a first class New York
house here serve as reception room, with
piano, pictures, books, Brussels carpets and
face curtains, the back parlors as the SEQ
ing machine class room, where are twenty
! five machines arranged in rows and large
cutting table. Here pupils come in from
outside, and learn to operate on all the
machines that are in common use in our
factories and stores.
On the second story is the sitting room
of the house and the matron's room, and
above that the Resembling department,
opened last spring. Any young girls who
show capacity for learning this trade are
| given board and home for three, four, and
six months, and competent dress maker
has charge of them. We were shown ele-
giant dresses in process of completion, of
merino, diagonal cloth, and poplin; the
| room was well hung with the latest pat
| terms, and the most fashionable lady might
here leave her fabrics with assurance that
they would be made up in the latest style
and in perfect taste. Madam Demorest
teaches her system of cutting and gives u
chart to each girl The Domestic Machine
Company give all the patterns they can use,
Harper Brothers send the Btszdr and Mr.
Taylor the Recue de Ia Mode.
Seven young lady apprentices are now
learning their trade, and all they need is
the regular patronage of the lady friends
of the institution to keep the department
successful and remunerative.
ne "Olh VI tuc WuOle HOUSE Is uODc Oy
the inmates, with the exception of one
| hired laundress, who can show the novces
how to do their work in better style. Girls
| with no money come and work for their
board till situations are obtained for them.
and almost soon as girl is we'll trained
she is in demand for situation that is sure
to offer.
An advertisement is kept in the San that
there is such a place. policemen who find
girls wandering on the streets send them
here, and cards are distributed through all
the station-houses of the city, that all who
need a refuge may find it. The night is
cold and stormy, half snow and rain. AS
we talk with the matron the bell rings, and
woman is ushed ina hard case, drunk
ard by the look of her face and breath.
She brings note from kind-hearted gen.
tleman who knew the matron.
Where did you come from -
"From Boston; the lady died ] woik
for''
Have you any money!"
"No, marin. l sent my money home to
my sister, who is widow with four little
children"
How old are you?'
twenty-five or thirty
Well, You may go up stairs, take off
your things, and dry yourself by the fire.
We must not turn them away such a
| night as this; but she is a hard case; We
can't keep her long, she may harm the
others
The procession of Les Niserables is quite
long. The door bell, like funeral knell
keeps striking "one more unfortunate"
Time after time its summons is answered
And here come family group-a woman
forlOrn in looks like those that sit on the
sidewalks with baby in lap and the empty
hand held ont; and this one has baby,
peaked, shriveled, face all forehead, a few
stray locks Of hair on its head, pale as the
ghost of baby; but the kind matron says,
"prctty baby pretty baby ~ to please the
poor mother; and two little boys complete
the group, sent here from the society office,
while the father and an older boy are sent
to some boys lodging house.
Over fifteen hundred young women,
homeless, friendless and forlorn, passed
through this house last year. And who
are they' Mrs. Hurley, the experienced
and devoted matron, will picture a few of
them for us. One is a pretty, blue eyed
iitlle girl Of eleven, who was thrust out
upon the street. Her story was: "She
asked Tor something to eat, and they licked
her awful and put her out on the street.
She wandered into an industrial school,
and the teachers sent her to the lodging
house.
Zone night last winter We were aroused
about midnight by terrible knocking at
the door, and looking out saw girl and
man on the sfoop and a crowd on the side
walk. She was . young girl of sixteen
who had been found by the good man who
brought her, sitting on door step crying.
This was her starry: Some young man in
his visit to the country had made love to
her, and had promised to marry her if she
would come to the city. She had fallen
III lOSe Will HlHl AuOHluR
his name aud that he lived in Fourteenth
street, New York, she had slipped away
from her home and come to the city to find
him. Wandering all day long through the
streets, night overlook her, and she knew
not where to go. Happening to fall into |
good hands she had been brought here
We found she was an orphan of respecta |
BILE parentage, with an aged grandmother t
and guardian. We wrote to her friends, |
and the grandmother came and took back |
the rescued child, grateful for our care
Another in the procession:
Z" young girl and her brother came on !
from South America. Their parents and !
relatives were dead. A gentleman took |
them West, and in few years the brother !
died. The day lie WIS buiied the sorrow
stricken sister took the cars, when the con- +
ductor came and asked where she was 60