The Irish standard., 1900-06-16

played by the same clubs at Minnehaha
park at $500 p. m.
HOUSE 0FTHE GOOD SHEPHERD
A Noted Catholic Reformatory In ISouth
Minneapolis.
Not often is the whirl of machinery
accompanied by the united voices OF
workwomen raised in song; rarely indeed
do the subdued voices of praying wo-
men mingle with the hum of electricity.
Yet this happy phenomenon, this rare
combination Of enforced activity with
spontaneous joyousness, may be seen
daily in the big workroom of the House
of the Good Shepherd OF Minneapolis.
Some forty girls, deity operating cleo
trical sewing machines, sing in unison
the gayest carols, or, as their fingers ply
the needle in folds of sheerest linen,
join their voices in prayerful devotion.
The Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd,
one of the Oldest and most widely
known of the orders of the Catholic
nuns, has for its object the reformation
of certain classes of moral delinquents.
Only in behalf of women and children
are the efforts of these modern Sama-
ritans exercised. The work of reforma-
ton so thoroughly accomplished by the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd is ad-
mired and approved by philantl1ropists
and Christians in general, and is the
special pride of Catholics the world
over.
In some cities the municipal authori-
ties commit the morally weak of wo-
mankind coming within their jurisdic-
ton to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
for temporary care. At one time this
rule held in Minneapolis, but for many
years the order has not co-operated with
the city in the endeavor to aid its GRIM
inal women. So at the local home OF
the order is found merely hayward
girls, availing themselves OF an oppor-
tunity to regain moral fortitude, rather
than the sin-stained woman who looks
upon her enforced detention only as an
undesirable interruption in life of dis
sipation.
The House of the Good Shepherd in
Minneapolis is located at Bloomington
avenue and Twenty-seventh street S. A
quantity picturesque structure, it was
formerly known as the Wright House,
and was one of the earliest residences
showing any pretension to elegance that
was built in this city. In 1888 the Sis
tiers of the Good Shepherd purchased
the house and surrounding tract of
three acres. Many additions and
changes were made in the Wright house
before it was adequate to the require
ments of its present occupants. In max
ing these changes the nuns evinced COM
mendable taste, placing the new build
ings in the rear of the original struc-
ture, thus preserving the architectural
beauty for which the house was formerly
admired.
The location of the House of the Good
Shepherd is an ideal one for an insti-
tuition of its character. A fine old
house of colonial style, its gray stone
walls supporting many clinging tendrils,
heavy branched trees giving shade to
every nook of the smooth lawn-a
home wherein dwells peace and comfort
and quiet is suggested in everything
about the place. A wide veranda, up
held by heavy columns and shaded by a
tracery of tangled vines, old-fashioned
many-paned windows, set far back in
heavy easements, the moss-grown turret
lifting its spiral top above even the loft
lest tree, all are remindful of day and
style departed. This charming old
home, so calm, so peaceful, finds addi-
tional beauty in many rugged trees, the
fir, the oak, the apple tree and maple,
which spread protecting arms above
and about the house, which has aged
with themselves, and grown grayer as
they have grown greater. An exterior
so pleasing, so unusual in an urban
house, must arouse delightful anticipa-
ton as to the rooms within, The House
of the Good Shepherd is not disappoint-
ing. Each room is just as homelike,
just as quiet and as cool as the massive
walls and the mighty trees without
seem to predict.
In the house, as it originality stood,
the Sisters have their living rooms;
here, too, are the Offices and the recep-
ton rooms. Within the main entrance
on the west side of the house, wide
vcstibule separates the two reception
rooms. In the larger one, which is
plainly furnished, the superioress meets
those who have business with the insti-
tuition. In the smaller one to the left
visitors are received. An antique fire.
place at one end, cosy alcove at the
other make the smaller reception room
Interestingly Several fine pictures are an
adornment. Since many of the Sisters
of the order are clustered, grill or
lattice work cuts off a portion of each
reception room, and through an aper-
ture in this tracery visitors may talk
to the nuns.
In the added building, where the re-