Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-04-19
SAN FRANCISCO LETTER.
A VISIT TO TIE HOME OF THE
GOOD SHEPHERD.
Its Inmates Oensecrated Peaitentss
-4ncurable Insanity and F'e-
male ReplIIsiveness.
So FRANnsoo, April l6, IS.

not always sticks, often goes hts1 ~ o'j-
h.e-ating the right name and occasionally
obecares legitimate activities. A case IN
illustration is the persistency with which
the Home Of the Coed Shepherd is called
the Maedalen Asylum. Nc doubt the
fallen ones are objects of interest, and no
doubt their rescue and protection are among
Charity noblest endeavors, but my visit 10
the so-called Magdalen Asylum showed 50
many different kinds Of rniseries sheltered
and alleyiated under this roof that the
name seems at once too narrow and too
harsh. The Home Of the Coed Shepherd
is on Potrero Avenue, at the end OF
Twenty-second street. The grounds are ad-
joining those of the City and County Hos
pital It is the dwelling OF the girls under
sentence Of the Court to a term In the In
dustrial School Formerly boys and girls
were both received at the Industrial School
building, on the San Jose road, and the ar
r2ngement was manifestly bad. The Sisters
ID Mercy came forward with an offer to
receive the girls at their Home, to which 3
special wing was added for the city's fe-
male candidates for the Industrial School,
towards the maintenance of each of whom
the city pays SIS month, which has been
duly eontrasted with the $50 found neces-
sS-y per month for each boy at the Indus
TRIAL School.
VARIOUS CLASSES or INMATES.
There is department at the Home for
the Magdalens as they are called, but
these have certain part of the building
allotted to them, and the Industrial School
children never meet them. The doors
opening from one corridor down which the
Sister accompanied me led into room oc-
cupied by inebriates-w omen-many of
them wives of good position, whose friends
have intrllSted them for while to the care
OF the Sisters, in the hope that seclusion
and kind watchfulness Will cure them of
their unhappy propensities. Looking down
from the covered veranda where the in
mates take exercise on rainy days, | saw
three or four dark, motionless female fig
ures sitting on the benches of the boarded
play aground. These, the Sister told me,
were the insane patients at the Home, vet
they could hardly be called patients, for
that word implies an idea of treatment and
hoped-for recovery, while these poor Great
ures are past all hope of recovery, and be-
ysnd the reach of treatment they are pen
sioners OF the Home, which, with the Sisters,
the children and each other, IS but part
Of the
FANTASTIC REALM OF Madness.
One old insane woman, "Old Sarah as
they cali her, has the mania that she has
always fresh flowers under her arm or in
her gathered up apron, into which she asks
yoa to look and admire the freshness o[ the
bouquets. The sisters humor her by asking
aftex the children of her brain, " Barney"
and Peter the Banker are two Of whom
she Is always ready to talk, my cicerone
toId me- Another of old Sarah's settled
delusions Is that all the girls in the place
are boys, and she often proposes the most
stringent measures for keeping them IN
order As the work-roOm doors are always
kept locked, the old woman cannot get in
except by strategy when the door is opened
by a4e Of the Sisters, and TINS exclusion
vexes her extremely, though she is q HIM
deTsnce TO the girls at their work. The
0tA re III al ~ sAitAk - A'L1SlA
reOra intervenes between every two, and
Siding panel Is in every dormitory door 50
that all that go@s on can be overlooked. In
the corner Of each dormitory was bed,
divided from the rest by white curtains run
Cd RODS This, the sister Told ne, vas oc-
cUpied by one Of
THE CowsDcRATEo PENITIGyTs.
.l.;off ..-.-.-..-r ;.-+..-|,o,C
formed of thoee among the Magdaleus who
fear that return to the world after their
soiourn IN the Home would only mean a
return TO the old temptations, and who
therefore conseorate themselves 20 live al
WAYS in the Home There is q novitiate
Gf nine years required, which certainly
seems time enough for the most vacillating
ts make up her mind During this proba-
ton they are called aspirants. saw some
Ot them N their uniform, Bingham head
syes4s and black ribbon badge across the
breast. The consecrated tents-tbo..e
who have completed their novitiate and
taken the vONTs-are habited entirely in
black even the close black head is unre-
GeYed hy a single touch OF white.
Fer AL the severity Of their dress,
il Is Literally true that only among
these penitents Is any approach 10 beauty
10 be seen, and among them there Is a good
Gea a beauty Of expression frmness,
Sweetuess and resignation are written upon
many Of their faces, while they are quite
capable of laughing and talking as eaily ~
pCrsiblc with the girls whom they help and
direct at their work There was some
yey Gne work bong done in this work
reom. Some blaze silk scarfs we're being
embroidered in gold for a society with, the
names of it, officers. The material used
w2s like long. flexible gold bugle, which
the worker drew adroitly into place upon
"a already outlined groundwork of span
gies Amoss all the prominent Catholic
ladies Of the city send hne needlework to
the Home TO be done, ~ the Sisters are
known 10 teach their charges the highest
proficiency IN that Kind Of accomplish
Eezt. saE
sPSciSI.Ss OF TIE OIRIS' sEILL
In the halls and waiting rooms, ore . pct
IRE OF 81. Mary Nagdalene, where the
cross and the mantle Of the figure we're put
ia IN silk with The needle, the rest of the
picture being painted another, Washing
Ton IN his study at Mount Vernon, made
in the old fashion Of "Glling-in," was 4
large, elaborate piece Of tapestry The
endless putting in and out of the needle
seeTus the only answer as vet found to the
query, What shall we DO with them -
Il seems very dreary The girls IN the
elder class ~ the Industrial School depart
ments sre mostly 80 big and robust that il
seems as if they needed heavier kind OF
work to tire their large. indoien;
muscles beautifully, I spoke of seeing
some grace in the faces Of the conseerated
pe.itents, in those Of the unoousecrated
impeni,ents, 20 70 speak, there is distinctly
none Their features are course and hard
their expression more sly and ill-tempered
than sensual, and they are genuine Cali
fornia productions in the vigorous ekpanse
Of their large-boned frames The Siste,
said she was often asked If she we're not
afraid Of violence from these lawless girls
bat syerred that she never felt = moments
apprehension about them, and spoke witt
simple faith about the good influence theii
first experience of cleanliness and methoG
and @eif-rezDect must necessarily exert oyel