El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-26
A MEXICAN. HOSpICIO.
A Model Institution In the City Of
GuadaIaiara.

In view of the movement now on foot
to federate the charities of the city 8
description of the "HospiciO" the one
charita BILE institution of GuadalaJsra,
| Mexico, may be of interest. The walls
of the Hospicio include an orphans
| home, old ladies' rest, fourdling asylum
work house. rescue home and reform
school. In it is conferred all the char
| ity of the city, although the state, ia
| lisco, of which Guadalajsra Is the CAPT.
tai, bears some of the expense OF keep
| ing it I'D and sends some inmates to it.
Mrs. ]. w. Wagner, who is interested
| in the charitable work of Kansas City,
has just returned from Guadalalsra,
where she = as taken through the Hos
picio.
The building" Mrs. Wagner said,
| sis made, not an adobe as most Mex
lean building are, but of white stone.
1t covers a whole square of ground
and is built around twenty three
'patios' or courts. Each room opens
into a patio, which has to be crossed in
going from one room to another. A
certain number of rooms are built
around one patio and the different de-
partments are kept separate.
1--WE were met at the gate by gn1de
and taken first to the ward where girls
from 10 to Is stayed. They were work.
ing with lace and embroidering with
silk made in the HospiciO. The fancy
shawls and openwork doylies, which
| tourists bring away with them, are the
work of these girls. The boys are kept
| in another apartment. They wear
coarse white muslin uniforms. consist
| ing of jacket and trousers. Then there
| is baby room that makes your heart
both ache and rejoice. These inmates
| are the foundlings, some of them only
q few days old, and all of them uncon-
scious of the troubles of life before
them. Think of twenty tiny babies in
one room, cooling and crying and drop
ping off to sleep at the grooming songs
of the nurses. Although they are pa
rentless, or as good as so. they are
we'll cared for. We saw nurse take
up crying child and kiss it tenderly.
Surely that is the baby's mother one
of our party said. But the guide said
it was only one of the hired officials.
"Across the patio from the baby
room the toddlers, q trif1e older than
the babes, are kept, and around other
patios are the apartments of old men
and old women.
"There is a school at the hospicio
which begins with kindergarten for
the little people. The older boys and
girls are taught industrial work in ad-
dition to learning to read and work.
This is considered OF most Importance
to them, as they go out from the hos
picio to become farm hands and SER
wants girls. Altogether, fourteen
teachers and overseers are employed.
The work about the place, of course, |
is done by the inmates. The boys |
take turns in waiting upon their table |
and the girls do the same in their |
rooms.
The older people are served in
their rooms If they are unable to come |
out. All the food is prepared in one |
big kitchen, but it is carried across
the patos to the different rooms. On |
Sundays there is church and Sunday |
school and in the way of recreations |
there is the swimming pool for the |
men and boys. 1t may give something |
of an idea of the numbers of people |
who are inmates OF this home to know |
that in one class there are twenty-eight
boys.
1.-THE Hospicio is an excellent ex-
ample of consolidated charity work. |
There is in the first place only the one
building instead of one for every phase
of benevolent work as is necessary |
where such work is not com bined. !
Then there is the need of only one
corps of engineers and not the least of
the advantages which this form of
charitable work has over that less sys-
tented is the matter of soliciting |
funds for it's maintenance. When the
citizen gives something to the HOspicio |
he has included all the various chart |
ties and will not be bothered by anoth-
er set of solicitors for other insIitu-