The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-06-04
giving GIRLS A CHANCE
The Summer Home in En-
g1ewood of the Sis
terS of Peace.
IT DOES A DEAL OF GOOD.
Working Girls Can Go There at Lit
tie or No Expense, and They
Come Back Strong and Hearty.


Come Back Strong and Hearty.
There is beautiful spot in Englewood
just back from the Palisades.
About forty yards north of the main road
from the village two pretty houses snug
gle in among the trees in the heart Of
great rolling lawn. There, surrounded by
all the reviving influences of nature, work
ing girls go all summer and get wen.
Some of them stay only from Saturday
afternoon until early Monday morning,
while Others stay a week, ten days, a
month, even three months at time.
Nearly a hundred of them can sleep
there, and on the Fourth of July and the
half holidays they flock there for few
hours to the number of two hundred or
more.
1t is the Summer Home of the Sisters Of
| Peace.
This is its third year, and no institution
| in the State does more good than this does
in its own line. The girls go there tired
and played out, and then, after eating
fresh vegetables and fresh eggs, raised on
the place; drinking fresh, pure milk from
the cows on the place; bathing in the
great river that can be seen from the win
dows of the big house, and breathing the
pure air from the mountains or from the
sea, they come back to the city invigor-
/ ated and refreshed, ready for work.
Most of them pay for their entertain
ment, but not all--if anyone who ought
| to go cannot pay she is taken free, and
her railroad fare is paid. But most of
them pay-to preserve their self respect
and the amount is graduated according
to the means of the girl. Very few pay
the full cost of their board.
1T IS A GREAT CHARITY.
They are not all Catholics, these girls
Mother Bonayenture told me that there
are nearly as many Protestants as CathO-
lies among them-but they are all girls OF
good moral character. The first thing a
girl does when she wants to 60 to the
home is to go to the priest of the parish
or the rector of her church, and get from
him letter certifying to her character.
Then she sends this letter, together with
her application, to the Sisters of Peace at
St Joseph's Home.
She will get a certification signed by the
General Passenger Agent of the Northern
Railroad, and countersigned by Sister Mary
Frances Clare, ordering that ticket to
Englewood and back shall be sold to the
girl whose name it bears for half the reg
ular price.
1t costs between five and six thousand
dollars year to maintain the place, and
this is paid partly from the funds of the
the Sisters of Peace for some of the Sisters
have taken money with them when they
took the veil, and partly from the sub
scriptions of friends.
THE SISTERS ARE THERE IN PERSON.
Eight sisters have charge of the Summer
Home, one of them having charge of the
children who are sent up from st. Jos
eph's Home, and they see that every thing
goes on smoothly. They look out for the
cows and the pigs and the chickens; they
carefully watch over the health of their
charges, and make things pleasant for
them and for their guests.
The boarders are allowed to receive
visitors in the grounds, both male and fe-
male, and refreshments are served out
doors. The season opens on the first day
of June and closes about the middle or
October, when the closing exercises con-
sist of music. dancing and feasting
Everyone has a jolly time, and then the
croquet sets are put away the hammocks
are rolled up and laid away, and the
swings are taken down and stored in the
barn against the next season.
Every Sunday morning the whole house
hold attends divine service, either at the
churches in Englewood or in the chapel
within the grounds, and there are prayers
in the evening.
The Home is not closed entirely when
| tle ulluule Ol OClODeI HuS pttoSGtl. IL 10
open all winter for invalids, and much
good has been done to great many over
worked girls from Jersey City and deli
cate orphans from st. Joseph's Home on
Grand street.
THEY COME BACK WELL.
Sister Mary Francis Clare, the Superior
ess of St. Josephs Home, richly merits
! the thanks showered upon her by the
many hundreds of girls who have gone to
Englewood on the verge of being sick and
} have come back refreshed and braced up
} anew for hard work and long hours.
Some of them, who have left the city
with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks,
round shoulders and sharp elbows, come
: back with rosy cheeks and dresses let out
to make room for the flesh they have
gained; with bright looks and springing
steps.
They feel then that the Sisters of Peace
, will have a high place in heaven, and
they take pains that their suffering friends
shall know all about the one great sum-
mer charity of Jersey City.
J The XIII Won Kull's President Reelected.
, The Kill Won Kull Rowing Association
met in MacDonald's Riverside Hotel, at
Z Bergen Point, last evening, delegates be-
/. ing present from the several clubs which
; form the organization. President Bal
J lantyne was reelected No date for the
annual regatta was selected, and the
J delegates adjourned to Saturday evening.
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