The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-06-15
WAITS AND STRAYS.
Work Done by the House Of
the Good Shepherd
THE LOSS or THE HOME FEARED.
Hard Times Pressing Upon . Worthy
Local Institution The Only
Refuge for Orphans.

The home of the Sisters Of the Good
Shepherd, at the corner of Ninth and JEFF
ferson streets, is an institution the merits
of which are not generally understood
both as an orphanage and reformatory.
and whose quiet and effective work IS not
sufficiently appreciated by the general
public. Its infuence tor good Is specially
exercised and felt among class of girls
and young women whose Maynard steps
are checked in time and turned into
paths of honesty and usefulness.
The institution founded in Seattle
during July. 1890. BY Mother Superior
Mary Nativity Williams. with the aid OF
four sisters, has gradually grown in i'm
portance and usefulness until today the
same mother superior has s corps Of as
sistants consisting of eight professed
sisters, four noyices, four outdoor sisters
and two candidates. These have not had
arosy time of it. but one and all have had
10 undergo all the hardships incident to
pioneer work necessary to establish such
home, dependent On public charity for
assistance, and even now, after strug-
Cling bravely for four years against
all sorts of discouraging circumstances,
they find themselves on the verge of being
turned out homeless by the foreclosure of
an overdue mortgage as the result OF the
general depression in trade and money
matters.
The mother superior, though sorely
tried, has never lost courage or faith in her
cause, nor have her subordinates relaxed
their efforts in the object for which they
jointly labor. and the result of their four
years work is found in their records,
which show list of ia young girls who
have been redeemed from lives of shame
and surroundings of vice, poverty and
degradation and brought back into chan
nels of honest toll. OF this lot of ia,
thirty-seven of them still remain in the
home. ranging in ages from to y and
averaging l5 years OF age.
The orghanage is equally Interesting in
its work fearing for, raising and educating
those unfortunate children gathered by
kindly hands from homes of misery,
neglect and hunger. Oyer 200 of these SAD
waits OF humanity have passed through
the hands of these sisters, Of which
number ffty-three still remain in the
home, ranging in age from 16 months to
10 years, but most of them under 10 years.
These little lives are being provided for
with that affectionate care that character
ICES the ministrations of these white
hooded angels of charity"
The home is dependent almost entirely
on charity for its support; the sisters and
the inmates do needlework, sewing and
washing brought to the home, but that is
not sufficient to maintain the orphanage,
which is non-supporting as a matter OF
course. hence the charity of the public is
constantly sought for By the four outside
sisters whose task il is to bring in
enough money and provisions to make up
the deficiencies and keep those 100 souls
in the home fed three times day, clothed
and housed.
The mother superior was seen at the
home by a reporter of the PosT-ISTELLI-
GESCE last evening. and in answer TO a
number of questions gave, among other
things, the facts already set forth. to-
gether with others of equal interest.
1.-The ORDER" she said, ..wss founded by
Father Hughes in Caen. France, in 1915,
and known under the name of The
Refuge The homes were all iso-
lated, and so continued until 1923,
when number of the mother superiors
thought il advisable to unite under one
head. Many refused TO do so. but those
who did banded themselves under the
title of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
with the general home of the order at
Anglers, France. In 1885 the order began
to grow rapidly. spreading in every coun-
try, until today there are 800 of such homes
in existence with record showing many
Thousand girls saved from life of shame.
Russia and China are the only countries
in which they have not been able 10 secure
foothold.
THE first home erected in this country
was in Louisville, Ky, in 1910. and today
taere are over forty of such throughout
the various states. I was sent from st.
Paul 10 found this home in Seattle, the
inducement being the donation of two
tracts of lands of forty acres each, one at
Ballard and the other south of the city at
Palmer's crossing. We belong to the
province of ST. Paul. though our general
headquarters is Anglers, France.
"It vas mistake ever 10 place the home
on this valuable ground" continued the
mother superior. "0f course when Sc
lected il was thought that the acreage
property would increase in value sufficient
to enable US TO borrow money on it
and pay for this one. AS il is We have
paid 900 on this property which, OF
course, may be q total loss if the action on
the foreclosure is carried out. IL is hard
to thinx that after pinching ourselves
so hard for four wears to
keep this home going We should
lose Ii at last. and that me
shall have 10 start the woTkall over again
in some other and poorer quarter not as
we'll off rs We were four years ago. have
faith. however. that matters will be salts
factoFily arranged, but. how, must con-
fess am ut loss TO see as yet"