The herald., 1895-10-06


are not enough beds to 60 around, good
thick comfort is placed on the floor of
the play room, and it il soon covered
with little and 5-year-olds who are ex-
pected to catch at least forty winks,
which will keep them in better heath
and nature the rest Of the day; One little
newcomer was greatly amused over this
floor arrangement, and told his mother
Her makes beds on the floor, hel does
and when shere are too many abies
for the cribs. and one Of them Is put on
the floor. the pride and happiness of that
infant knows no bounds.
We are happy in having for our leader
Mrs. Jarvis, whose unnagging energy,
untiring zeal and never-falIng patien ce
and good numor have been one great
source of the nursery's asuccess. We are
fortunate also in our matron, W no trains
the children In gentleness, courtesy and
love, who requires obedience and always
fulfilIs promise, whether of reward or
punishment. Her puniehemnts are gen.
tie, but some of them seem on the heroic
order to the children and rather droll to
us Soap suds washes out mouth that
has used naughty word, aid it does not
take many re petitions to make the little
offencer control his unruly temper. If
child is isquarrelsome or ill-natured he is
placed in chair, not allowed to talk till
he can do so pleasantly and If he shows
pugilistic tendencies his hands and feet
are tied till. he concludes to use them
only in peaceable ways. One of the most
heaTt-breaking punishments inflicted on
the little miscreants is to have night
gown put oil over the clothes-the mere
sight of the gown is usually enough to
enforce good behavior but the dreadful
punishment is to have an lnfapt!le gar
ment put on an older child who is guilty
but oh, insult added to injury, when that
fails card describing the Gffense is
PINNED on the dress to be worn the rest
of the day-words fail-but the child is
formed. lndesd, although our matron
docs not look like very terrible person,
our institution has gained quite reputa-
ton in the neigh borhood as an infantile
reform atory. Not long after the nursery
opened one mother came, begging Mrs.
Turn bull to take her 7-year. ola girl be-
cause she could do nothing with her and
she had been sent away from the kinder
gartsn because she was too great tor
ment. In the few months of her resi-
dence at the nursery she has improved so
much that she is hardly recognizable.
One frequent visitor said she considered
that one of the greatest works of the nur-
sery. And now another mother with
two tiny boys begs to have them taken,
with the same sad plea: II can do moth
ing with them and you can make them
better"
The children have had one outing at
the beach this summer-all above baby
age going. under the matron's care, with
the Bethlehem Sunday school picnc. One
little man arose at o'clock and reached
the nursery long before the time for
opening, for fear OF being left although
casionally when it Is needful for the mat
ron to go out on an errand she takes all
her little tots of walking age. besides
one in the baby buggy. with her for the
air and exercise. People gaze at her won-
dering and sometimes question if they
are all her children-evIdsntly specu] at
ing on the mum Der of triplets there must
be among them.
Every Saturday afternoon the matron
runs away for a little rest and her place
is taken by one or another of the nursery
circle. In this way the ladies become
acquainted with the mothers when they
come for their children, and with the
practical workings of the nursery. We
endeavor 20 establish friendly relations
with the women, to enter into their lives,
to help them with counsel and make
them feel that we are their sisters. We
are often asked, Are these people very
poor?" All things go by comparison2
room, one child had no change of clothes
and few days without work reduces
them to want. Then though the mother
is at home because she has no worK.
the children come to the nursery because
there is no food for them at home.
make weekly visits to the nursery, look
ing after the health OF the little ones,
which has thus tar been very good.
These ladies will also give the mothers
prescriptions without charge. and they
can get them filled at cost at Sales drug
store. During school months tho chill
dren of suitable ace attend the free KIN
dergarten at Lafayette Industrial school
every morning. 1t is three blocks distant
and they are taken back and forth Sy the
matron' s assistant.
Before the :time when Christ said,
"Suffer the children to come unto Me,
there were few orphanagcs or other insti-
tutions for the benefit Of the little ones.
Since then the spirit of charity-which
we will translate by the new version and
call love-has grown and spread abroad
its branches till it would be hard to re-
mem Der the different modes of helpful
ness in existence as We approach the end
Of the nineteenth century. Indeed, SO
has this spirit of Christ's love grown,
that the eyes of modern philanthropists
are opened. not only to see the misery
around them, but to search for Its cause
and then endeavor to root out that cause
and to set right the social conditions
which have wrought the evil. In the
olden time the idea Of charity was TO feed
the hungry ana clorhe the naked without
much thought of the starving minds and
souls, or to throw a handful OF coppers to
a beggar without inqulring into the cause
of his beggary.
1t was not yet learned that that charity
Is bad which takes from independence its
proper pride and from mendacity its
proper shame. But now, we rejoice to
say, philanthropy has become Christian
science and its strong watchword is,
Help others to help them Selves And
this we feel is what the day nursery does
in double way, helping the mothers in
the present and training the children tu
self elpfulness in the future. How
many times Christ, our Guide, and King,
charged His disciples to care for the wild
ows and fatherless, and can not we, the
Kings Daughters. feel that we are full
filling His will in doing so? The Gay
nursery enables the mother to earn
money to support themselves and their
little ones. Of course, not all the women
who send children are widows-some
deavoring to get work; others, husbands
who are i'll and a burden on the wife (;
and others yet, God help them. whose
homes are overshadowed by the curse of
strong drink. But all of these nj others
can place their children in the nursery
ana go to their labor knowing they will
be we'll cared for during the day. One
woman, widow with seven children,
the eldest only H. talks of moving into
the neigh hborhood for the sake of placing
the younger ones in the nursery. She
says: II don't mind the working-that's
nothing g-but it's thinking what all those
children are doing With. only an 11-year
old girl to look after them.