Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-12-14
Reak,y Market for babies.

THE INSTITUTION FROM WHICH LADY GOotH OBJ
TANNED HER CHILD-AN EXCHANGE FOR IN
MARRIED MOTHERS AND SEEKERS FOR SPURI-
OTIS OFFSPRING.
Ii seems that there is in London an inStiul-
ton. the conductors of which hitherto, we pre-
sumo. had considered that they were doing
''good by stealth and now, no doubt, ''bluSh to
find it fame" This establishment is situated in
Great Coram street. and is managed by Mrs.
Main. who gives it not only time. but money 1t
is refuge for infants, chapel OF ease to the
Founding hospital, with which il appears to
have kind of connection, In fact, IL discharges.
to a certain extent, the functions which the
hospital itself fulfilled down TO 1860 From that
period the children. instead of being received
with inquiry, were taken in by selection and
after strict inquiry as TO the circumstances and
previous career OF the mother. Such is the syS-
tenn maintained TO this day: but Mrs. Mains
Refuge for Infants seems TO adopt the older
plan. Children are received there few days
after birth, and thus the shame OF the mother
may be concealed in private lodgings. and her
responsibility for the child entirely removed
few days afterward. We have no reason to doubt
the charity or good intentions of this lady
but the functions she has taken upon herself
concern the public as whole. The mode in
which the place is managed may be judged by
the answer given by Mrs. Palmer, the matrOn,
and by Mrs. Main herself. Mrs. Palmer, speak
ing of the baby afterward adopted by Lady
GOoch, said: The child was brought to the
house for the purpose OF being handed over TO
somebody else. / cannot say anything about
TIT was $ private 81 case children are
this child. i do not know who-it was not its
mother" Counsel asked, "Then you say
child was brought in, and passed through the
house on certain day, and you cannot say any
thing more about ito" s. / cannot" was the re-
ply. In answer to further questions. she de-
clared that she did not know the mother, and
could not state where the child was now. - 1t
was given away she added, 3. to nurse whose
name / do not know" Mrs. Mains own evil
denCe agreed with that of the resident matron.
She declined to give the name OF the mother.
saying, :" am not bound, in my position, to tell
anything 1t would thus seem that. In ad-
dition 10 the Founding Hospital and managed
with much more secrecy. is this confidential
refuge for illcgitfmate infants.
The most ObjectiOnaOie characteristic of
Mrs. Mains establishment, however, remains
to be recognized. IT is not really. as il calls
Itself, a refuge for infants; but is in its way,
kind of exchange and mart for children, only
thai the people who come as customers pay
nothing for the infants they take away. Mrs.
Mains transactions, indeed appear to have
been really of the most loosely liberal KIND
Her manager, Mrs. Palmer admits that she did
not know anything about Lady GoochS name.
saying sit was not my business to inquire
Nothing could awaken Mrs. Pahner's suspicion:
though Lady GOOch first said the child was for
a friend, and afterward for herself. still il was
charitably supposed that all was right This
unSuSpecting matrOn even knew Of cases where
ladies wanting to adopt children "came and
said nothing; their friends talked for them;"
but these curiouSly silent applicants for babies
excited in the guileless mind of the good woman
no idea OF anything wrong. Mrs. Main is equal
~ unSuSpiciOuS. and when Lady GOoch came
giving ncr Maine DIS MIS- NI0Ocn. MIS- Main
made 20 inquiry as 10 the position of her yiSi-
tors husband or private residence. but accepted
the GrOSyenOr hotel as sufficient address, She
asked for no reference, took no receipt for the
child and made no register Of its disposal or
destination. Now. this careleSSneSS-thiS ALSO
lutte ignorance as 10 the future OF the children
is Objectionable in double sense. Mrs. Main
takes in Infants but does not keep them. Her
institutions not properly home or refuge, but
a kind of turnStlle through which children are
passed. On the one side are unmarried mothers
secretly confined getting rid OF their newborn
babes with great speed: while on the other
are unknown women who take away the chill
dren beyond all knowledge. inspection, or con-
troll; and Mrs. Main is the intermediary in the
transaction that begins and ends in the dark
1t may be said that ali is right, because IL suits
the real mother who is willing to desert. and
the new mother who is willing to adopt; but
there is a third party commemorative child
How can Mrs. Main know what may happen
afterWard? There are cases, We know, where
men and women desire TO have paternal control
over children OF both sexes. finding them useful
in some degrading or dishonest occupation.
Children have been treated Shamefully by their
own parents; they have been brought up to vile
habits Or fearfully GyerwOrked. and how did
Mrs. Main insure against such results at the
hands OF persons not even bound to the child by
ties OF blood? She practically takes from the
Poor Law Guardians a responsibility belonging
to them, and then gets rid of it with light
heart. What would be thought of wOrkhouse
officials who gave their orphans away TO un-
known applicants. asking no reference and no
address? The reason for this systematic reck-
leSSneSS is plain enough; for if Mrs. Main were
more particular SHE would receive fewer appli-
questions she gets her babies more quickly off
her hands, Yet in doing so she not only exposes
the children to unknown perils, but facilitates
and in some ca Ses may even unintentionally
suggest, fraud. Lady Gooch, baf11ed by honesty
in all other directions, found in the Coram street
refuge two essential implements Of her intend
ed ednt deeeptonEa newborn baby and eompla
malntalned?-lL Oitd0n Ieleqrdph NOc. 25.