The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-16
SADLY IN WANT.
Inmates Of Greendale Or
phan House Are
Without Food.

The French-American orphanage al
Greendale, for the benefit of which the
cantata1 THE Enchanted Forest" is
to be given, in Mechanics hall, Satur-
day evening, is in need of food and
clothing for the children. There are 20
children there at present, most of them
very small, and all the support the
orphanage receives is from the personal
solicitations of Mrs. Petit, the matron
and her sister. A lawn party was given
under the auspices of the Loyal Wom-
en- society last summer which netted
about $500, an amount sufficient to pay
OFF the most pressing creditors, but
there Is much more needed If the or
phanage is to continue in its work.
The Spy man called at the home yes
terday evening to find out the exact
conditions, and found Mrs. Petit re-
Jolcing in the receipt Of some Vege-
tables and cereals which were sent In
during the day by some people of Wor-
cester and $40 which was sent by the
ponce department from the ThanksgiV-
Ing fund. Mrs. Petit told The Spy
man that the children had had to &c
hungry one evening this week, because
there was neither food nor money in the
AAONSSI anu blAC supplies WHICH CAME III
yesterday were sufficient to carry them
through couple of days. But the
need for food and clothes is pressing,
and anything which may be sent will
be welcome.
The home was started in 1895, and
last year it was incorporated under the
name Of the New England French
American home. 1t has always been
the purpose to make it purely non-sec-
tartan and children are received with
out regard to race or creed. Mrs. Petit
hrst got the idea of the work some
years ago. A neighbor died, leaving a
boy without parents, and Mrs. Petit
took him in and cared for him. He is
now a man and is a soldier in the
Philippines. He often writes his bene-
tactress, telling how much good she
has done him. This first case was fol-
lowed by another, and soon Mrs. Petit
began to look about for a house where
she could carry on the work to a
larger extent, but it was not until 1896
that the home was really started.
At present they have a two-story
house in Greendale, with sufficient
grounds for the children to play. There
are mortgages on the place for S2700,
and the interest on these takes a good
deal of any money that may be re-
cetved. 1t is expected that the pro-
ceeds Of the cantata will go a long
ways toward paying off these mort
cages
In the interests of this work, the la
dies who had charge Of the lawn party
last summer, and of whom Mrs. Helen
DeCamp was chairman, have decided
to form an advisory board, consisting
of two ladies' from each church in the
city, to look after the finances of the
institution and to act as visiting COM
mittee In this way it is thought that
Mrs. Petit will be able to devote her
entire time to the children, allowing
the members of the board to raise what
money is necessary.
What is needed at present, and need
ed right away, too, is food and cloth
ing. The ages of the children run from
to 10 years, though most of them are
very young, so some idea of the kind
of clothing needed can be inferred In
the way Of food everything counts.
Vegetables of all sorts, meats and
materials for bread making are es-
pecially desired
One way of helping these children
will be to buy tickets to the cantata,
which is to be something good. c. F.
Hanson, who has it in charge, is CIV
ing his time and everything else he can
free to the orphanage, and he is as
sisted by the Willing Workers." as
the last summer lawn party committee
calls itself now. The ladies are making
special efforts to sell seats, and Mrs
DeCamp is trying to arrange to have
some one buy enough tickets to allow
all the children in the orphanage of the
Children's Friend society Ito attend.