Morning journal and courier., 1883-02-27

SO@SHs -S~~S~@OE On one side of the pulpit was ''1s33' in large gilt figures on background of myrtle, and on the other side ''1883."
 Occupying the pulpit with Rev Dr.
 Hawes were Rev Dr. Todd, Rev. Mr. Lines
 Prof. Cyrus Northrop and Prof. Packard.
 The exercises opened with an anthem by the
 choir under the direction of Organist Beach.
 This was followed by scripture reading by
 Rev. MT. Lines, and then ninety children
 from the orphan asylum, who occupied camp
 chairs about the base of the pulpit, sang very effectively, Wake a Song of Gladness''
 After prayer offered by Rev. Dr. Hawes and singing again by the orphans the children left the church. The historical sketch pre- pared by Mrs. Packard was read by Prof. Packard of Yale college. Following is an abstract of the sketch:
 HISTORICAL SKETCH.
 Our Orphan Asylum was started in pleas- ! ant, human sort of 0 way. The first public intimation of it is notice in the CO7a7aecttcot | HerGld, of February 18th, of "A meeting ! held with view to encourage the establish ment of an Orphan Asylum" Dr. Jonathan Knight and Dr. Croswell, pastor. of Trinity church, find suddenly left upon their hands | four little orphan children, the youngest | only few weeks old. The two good men, physicians, one to the body, the other to the ! soul have met at the bedside of the dying | mother the father had died of cholera a few months before. They cannot bear to | send the children to the almshouse, so | hnoactng the ladies a0ere ready to commence the work, they call 8 meeting of gentlemen to encourage them in it. Many talk there
 must have been before this, over ''those
 poor little Daniels children.'' Many moth
 erly heart must have compassionated them
 and planned for them, and now the hus-
 bands and fathers step in to pledge their
 support to the plans. At the meeting these
 resolutions were passed: ''1st That this
 meeting cordially approve of the design pro-
 posed, by several ladies of this city, to estab-
 fish an asJ lun for the protection and educa-
 tion of destitute orphans within the city, and
 will most cheerfully unite with them in any
 measures calculated to effect this desirable
 object. 2d. That Messrs. Silliman, Board
 man, Knight, Brewster and Winthrop be 8
 committee to communicate to the ladies allu-
 ded to in the preceding resolutions the sen-
 timents of this meeting with regard to their
 benevolent design, and to operate with
 them in it's prosecution"
 The ladies were so effectually encouraged
 that they met, on February 26th, to organ
 ize. They met in Franklin Hall, large
 room, frequently used for college festivities,
 on the second floor of what had been the stage house and main hotel of New Haven, a
 long, white, wooden building, with gilded
 bust of Franklin in front, on the corner of
 Church and Grown streets, nearly opposite
 the present postoffice. At this meeting so- ciety was formed under the name of ''The New Haven Female Society, for the Relief of
 Orphans, Half Orphans and Destitute Chil- dren." A constitution, that dissgreeable but
 necessary thing, WAS read, and officers
 chosen. This constitution was retained as
 originally drawn up by Henry White, Esq,
 until 1874, when it was revised, mainly by out president, Miss Foster, with great care and pains. It has been rewarding to find ha rax hos aV11xY bod well in our institution, but has been helpful to others, who have adopted many of it's provisions and have sent their thanks for it's suggestions. The charter given by the Leg islature in 1883 has been amended, or re vised, twice since. The ladies whose names appear in this charter were as follows: Mrs.
 Abram Heaton, Mrs. Jonathan Knight, Mrs. William Bristol, Mrs. Francis Winthrop, Mrs I Benjamin Silliman, Mrs. Edward Strong : Mrs. Ransom Burritt, Mrs. Daniel Whiting
 Mrs. Charles Atwater, Mrs. Henry White \ Mrs. Elias Hotchkiss Mrs. Eleazer T. Fitch
 Mrs. Abigail Hull, Miss Fanny Miller and A others. We can only wish the others had al
 been named in full. Of this number only Mrs. Henry White and Mrs. Whiting, now N Mrs. Brainard, are living. Mrs. Heaton was N the first president.
 These ladies were given a committee ot gentlemen, called ''Advisers,' J" to assist them ' in important decisions. It was not until l. 4OOO ludG Lu6 them, ID \ view of the property acquired by the institu. ton, beard of trustees. I give the names of those among these trustees who have held | the office twenty years, or nearly that time:
 William ". Roardm.n. Sidney M. Stone, William F1tchs R s. Fellowes,
 Benjamin Silliman, Abram Heaton
 Henry White, Wyllis Warner
 Of course, this by no means includes all the early friends of the asylum. Among others who ' gave to it in 1888 or 1884 we find the names: Dr. CrosweI, Colonel Tr1mbull, Noah Webster, Samuel St. John, Joel Root, John AnketeI,
 Amos Townsend, M. G. Elliot,
 Thaddeus Sherman, J. Forbes and Son, Elihu Sanford, Asa Bradley,
 Abram Bishop Dea. George Smith, ' S. B. Chittenden, Alfred Daggett
 Prof. Woolsey, Aaron Skinner,
 Titus Street, Timothy Bishop, \ James Brewster, Dr. Hunt.
 The constitution and the officers were excel. lent things for the children, but next to them must be a house. So seems Dr. Knight to | have thought, for we next find him buying 8 cottage on Grove street, near Church, the one ! occupied not long ago by the Misses Church. | ills school, and immediately renting it to the | ladies at $50 year. It did not take long to ' furnish this little Grove street house the he arts of it's friends were big and it was not. The first quilting party held in it's parlor is still remembered, and how it was laughingly moved and carried that each lady should write her name on a square of their first Asylum quilt. By the first week in May, the Daniels \ children, who had been scattered among ' friendly families, were brought together un-
 der its roof. Three new children, from the almshouse, were also brought in, but the young matron, Miss Amelia Goodyear, aged ! twenty-four, was quite able to look after them all, at the salary, as 1t was called, of $75 for the first year. The asylum has been blessed in it's matrons there have been bu t seven in all Miss Goodyear, Miss Colburn, Miss Bush, Miss Williams, Mrs Curtis, Mrs
 Bradwell and Mrs. Kingsley, who has been
 with us longest of all. They have all been women who loved the work and did it we'll
 In 1888, during Mrs James L. Kingsley's
 presidency, the asylum family had so in-
 creased that it was necessary to buy or re-
 build. So house was bought in Oak street,
 near Asylum, at an advance of $750 on the
 price for which the Grove street home was
 sold. This removal taxed all energies Not
 only does one of our present managers still remember the exciting hours she spent as child, entertaining the children at her own homo on the eventful day, but from it dates the joy of every asylum child's and mana gers heart-Donation day. It began as house-warming an innocent tea a-drinking of ladies and children, with almost unnoticed cash receipts-the first recorded being $9. co in 1S41. At the monthly meetings for a year or two before the date of this removal, 1858, and for long after, the ladies seWed on clothes for the children, who were too many to depend longer on casual supplies. For the first two years they stayed to tea, the tea being provided by the two ladies who were visitors for the month, who always took care to have enough left for the children. It ap. pears, too, that after this removal a COW had to be bought, now that Dr. Knights was so distant.
 Somewhere in these years our friend, Miss M. P. TWining, entered upon the asylum work, soon taking the post of treasurer, whose duties she discharged fer thirty,fve years with the most faithful care and with the admirable judgment which always char acterized her.
 And now came dark days in the history of the asylum There are no records for some years; but in 1S44 the secretary, Miss H. s. Foster, says: ''The receipts have not met