Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-28

Ian OrphanS Home memorial 11OsplIdi, o
small, but well appointed building under
the charge of Mrs. Truax.
Soiied. ragged, miserable little waifs-six
of them, ranging in ages from 8 years up
to 13-are crossing the Ninth street bridge
with Agent Dean, Their short lives have
been full of wickedness, born and nurtured
in a home reeking with crime and brutality.
Their parents, on the complaint OF neigh
bors, were arrested and sent to the work
house, and the children are going to The
Home for the Friendless, on Washington
street, Allegheny. In this home every
friendless child, or child that is worse than
friendless, by reason of having INDECENT,
drunken or cruel parents. is admitted and
cared for temporarily or permanently, by
securing good homes for them, if custody OF
the child can be legally obtained. 1t is
Protestant home, but children of all denom-
nations are admitted and cared for until
parents or relatives claim them.
MUST NOT BE TOO OLD.
The matron is Miss NJ. NJ. Speer, and in
an interesting chat she said: I'VE have 100
little ones in the building at present, and OF
that number 20 are paying a mere trif1e for
board. We take every child in distress that
is sent to us, over year Of age and under 10
wears. In exceptional cases older children
are admitted, but we do not like to take
them in then as they have In most cases
contracted such bad habits that it is almost
impossible to control them. This work
ANYWAY is one of faith, as far as any good
we may accomplish with those given to our
care is concerned, because the average stay
in the home is six months. They are not
orphans or half-orphans that we have, but
children who have dissolute parents gener-
ally, and those of the more vicious classes.
The little ones are generally bright and
quick to learn, but we have to commence
and by our teachings undo all they may
have learned in their lives, if we hope to
effect any permanent good with them. Our
home is not a State institution, but
under the laws. If the parents
resign child entirely to our
care for full year we may become
its guardians and then find for it good
home. But the parents are selfish and
unreasonable, and after abandoning them
often for five or seven years, appears and
claim them as they reach an age when they
are able to work. There is no hospital con-
nected with the home, and everything is
free to those unable to pay. And those
who do paw are not taxed very heavily. For
instance, one poor mother has five children
in here, and pays the sum of S. month for
the care, board and clothing of them all.
Others are charged more, but according to
their earnings"
One hundred and seventy-fve little folks,
all the way from the tiny baby, Just able to
poke its own little fist into its mouth, and
thus assert its ownership of said fist, to the
youth of IA and maiden of II, are cared Tor
at present in the st. Joseph's German
Orphans Asylum, on Troy Hill. Mother
Hyppolita controls this multitudinous
family, and says that any child who is a
half or a whole orphan is
ELIGIBLE TO A HOME
in the asylum. Previous rank, condition
or religion have nothing TO do with the
case. but while in the Home we of course
teach them the Catholic religion"
Dusky little mortals-35 of them-live in
an exclusive world, all Of their very own,
and into which very little sorrow creeps to
worry the kinky heads at the Home for
Colored Children, at Greenwood avenue and
Ohio river, Allegheny. The matron, Mrs.
Barclay, gazes afectionately upon a petite
maiden who brings her a book, and the
teacher, Miss Kemp, does likewise with a
sturdy 5-year-old who is initiating Nicolini
in the hallway. "Our children" said Mrs.
Barclay, "are picked up not only here in
Allegheny and Pittsburg, but in the neigh
boring small towns. The loss of either or
both parents entities them to home with
us and insures them schooling and instruc-
tion."
Babies and children-one for ten cents.
two for Is cents, three or more for 20 cents"
is the schedule of prices charged by the
First Allegheny Day Nursery, on North
avenue, Allegheny. for the care of little
folks by the day, including the three meals
Mrs. Armstrong, the matron, says they have
cared for 800 children during this month,
and had ], 900 little ones during the time
from April to July. A second day nursery.
on Diamond street, does business on the
same basis.
'Oh, my, yesI They are baptized in the
Episcopal faith, as soon as they enter the
home. and are confirmed as soon as they are
old enough" said Miss Loomis, of the
Episcopal Church Home, on Penn avenue,
in referring TO the children who are ad-
mitted to that home. "We take them" 4"
she continued, "as young as IA months, but
seldom over II years fage We have Is in
the home at present. almost all of them
orphans or half orphans, though there are
some whose parents are living, but unable
to care for them. For instance, one mother
is in the Insane Asylum, and we have the
child here, is really worse than an orphan"
MISS DRExEL's WORK.
A pleasant-faced, gentle, refined nun,
whose face is sufused with faint ii ge of
color as she is introduced, calls to mind a
scene last winter, when, in the chapel of the
Mercy Convent, the lovely robe of white
satin was, with the name of Miss Kate
Drexel, discarded tor the black robe and the
name Sister Katherine. Sister Katherine
is now engaged in teaching some of the 300
little folks who call St. Paul's Roman Cath
olic Orphan Asylum their home Her school
is composed of the primary pupils of the
vast establishment, and tenderly and low
ingly she governs them and teaches them
the rudiments of an education. Other
rooms and departments are under con-
troll of other sisters, and the reverend
father in charge of the institution
saws that "a child of anv religion or
nationality is received and taken care of in
our home. While we are distinctly a
Roman Catholic institution yet charity
does not draw the lines very closely, and we
have a number of Protestant children in the
home now.' "Children's Temporary
Home" explains itself by its name 1t is
located on Washington street, and accepts
all friendless and homeless children, car
ing for them until more permanent accom-
modations are secured. In connection with
the home is day nursery, similar to those
in Allegheny. where mothers leave their
little ones while they perform labor by the
dav.
Said Sister Mary Philomena, of the st.
Michael's German Catholic Orphan Asy-
lum, on the Southside: 1--WE have 80 little
ones in our home at present. We take them
any age if they are full orphans, but not
under two years if they have one parent
living"
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