The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-10
CHILDREN OF THE RED CROSS
MISS CLARA BARTON,S TEMPORi-
 RY ORPHANAGE FOR WIIFS

or the EIood-MiracuIous Escapes of
 Some Little Ones Whose Fathers Per-
 ished in the Storm-Christmas Cheer
 for Children of the ''SuTerers" to be
 Provided From New York.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
 Galveston, Texas, Oct. 5.--Unthinking people entertain the idea that after
 any great calamity in which large
 number of lives were lost, many or \ phans must be left without homes. A
 moments reflection will convince you \ that this cannot be, for would not the
 smallest and weakest naturally be first
 to go? When wild pillows, from five to 2 Twenty-Five feet high, surged over this s island, sweeping fathers and mothers to their death, what chance had the
 children? A few did escape, almost
 miraculously, while one or both their
 parents were lost and all of these are
 being well cared for by the Red Cross. 5 It is a new department, not provided for in the Treaty of Geneva, and in
 this instance is not intended to be per manent-only until suitable homes can be provided for the children, or Calves tons wrecked orphanages repaired.
 One entire floor of the big, beautiful
 white stone building which the city de- < voted to Red Cross uses, was immedi-
 Htely given up to the children, and in it
 every storm-waif was comfortably
 housed.
 Before the flood Galvcston's various
 asylums were full, and of these, all the
 children saved were immediately con- < veyed to Dallas. The largest orphan
 age was St. Mary's, (JesuiD, down on
 the beach, mile or two from town. 8Of it's ninety-two children, only three
 escaped. Of the beautiful buildings
 which had sheltered generations of lit tie ones, nothing remained after that
 awful night of September but an empty waste of wet sand, with here and there strips of black robes and blue working aprons fluttering from the
 trees. Eighty-two small babies were
 found scattered along the beach; and three living boys were perched in tree, the weakest having been tied to branch by his companions Of the ten good sisters and several servants, seven were found scattered miles apart, and buried where they lay One sister had nine of the baby orphans tied to her body with her cineture and others had one or two clasped in their arms. Sis ter Elizabeth was at market when the storm began, and might easily have saved herself, but she insisted on re- turning to her post of duty-and as it proved, to her death. The water was then rising so rapidly that she had to go home on horseback, and for the last mile or more the horse was forced to swim The herosm displayed by these spious women is a fair sample of hum Idreds of similar cases. The friends of St. Mary's find consolation in the fact that the day of the storm was the feast of Our Lady's Nativity, and all the sis ters had that morning received holy communion The Ursuline convent fared almost as badly Two hundred and twenty -six bodies have since been discovered in it's grounds, and doubt less there are many more in the debris billed around it-in some places higher than the second-story windows, Weeks after the catastrophe the corpses of two well-dressed ladies were, drawn from the convent cistern and were burned being decomposed beyond re- scognition
 Veritable storm orphans have been few, for reasons above mentioned, and most of them had one parent left-usu- ally the father, the strongest member of the family. All came to us fright ened and shy as wild birds busted from the inest-hungry, dirty and in general ly dilapidated condition; and it is good to see how wonderfully they improve under love and care. Soon as arrived the first thing administered Is square meal then warm bath, and after wards a suit of clothes. Happily the sorrows of children are easily assuaged; and when self-respect is restored, con f1dence and good manners are of rapid growth. Depend upon it, there is no missionary work in the world quite so efficient as full stomach and clean clothes.
 This odd orphanage-of course under Miss Barton's control-was first admin istered by MT. Herbert w. Lewis, of Washington, formerly superintendent | of charities in the District of Columbia, who IS one of the most distinguished workers in his line in the country. Beds and furniture were loaned by the | wrecked Protestant orphan asylum of f Galveston General Shurry provided | teams and workmen for the moving and in a days time the great gloomy | rooms of the old Bank building began | to take on an air of Home, Sweet | Home As the family increased, Miss Spratlin, of Kansas, was put in charge as matron. This young woman is the agent of the ladies of Topeka, who sent . her here with considerable sum of money and instructions to fall into line in any work Miss Barton might direct. At the beginning of the Spanish war she was a Red Cross nurse in India, and left that field to help our boys in the Philippines She came home with Funston to assist in esta blishing a re- fuge for sailors and soldiers at Manila, to be called the Clara Barton home,
 Later the force was joined by MT. Robert L. Neil of the Childrens Aid so- siety of New York, his mission being to seek out orphan children and provide them with suitable homes. His great