The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-20
Deliverance for the Destitute

In the early days of Christianity the apostles found it necessary to appoint men of wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit, to look after the bodily wants of the poor and needy. It was necessity then, is now, and will be for ages to come. For ye have the poor always with you," saith the Lord.
 If the physical needs of grown per son are not supplied, there will be suf- fering. If @ litle child Is left destitute and helpless, and no one provides food and raiment for that child, then the lit tie one must and will perish. But should all the benefits and necessary comforts be furnished, the child may grow and reach the age of accountability, and be- come a responsible moral agent. It is an heir of immortality, and the soul of that child will be eternally saved, or eter- nally lost.
 Under the blessings of our Heavenly Father, the Methodists of Alabama open ed the doors of a home for homeless or phan children at Summerfieid. on the 9th day of September. 1880. Since that day we have sheltered and cared for 4T des- titute. fatherless, motherless, little chii- dren. During these thirteen years, and out of such a large number. there are only ten little mounds in the cemetery to mark the doings of death in our home; and five of these were hopelessly diseas- ed when they were admitted. The health record of our orphanage is simply mar vellous.
 These little ones have been gathered from all sections of the two Alabama Conferences. and have been. as it were, members of one family. They have had the benefit of that family order and disci- pline without which they would have Rsxy.w raA wrs0t1IA have been pests to the world.
 In the orphanage. the children not only have the comforts and accommodations of 8 home, but that good woman who has the oversight and motherly care of these little ones, uses her utmost endeavors to keep under proper restraint. their temp CTS, their dispositions. and their deport- ment. We are using those means which under Gods blessing are most likely to be efficient in obtaining the best results. They have both the benefit of domestic worship and the means of religious in- structiCn in the Sunday school and in the public services of the Sanctuary. Our aim is to bring them up in the way they should go, and to instil into their young lives the habit of reverence for divine things. This we endeavor to do. by ex- hibiting before them the practice, as well as the spirit of our Lords gospel,
 Under the smiles of that Divine One, who took little children up into his own arms and blessed them. we have brought many of these little orphan boys and girls up into the prime of young man. hood, and the bloom and beauty of young womanhood. Many of them to-day are filling their places in society and in the church: and by their upright walk and industrious habits they do credit to them selves, and honor to our noble Institution. h.ven with proper treatment and training we cannot tell what a child Is going to be- But we do know that without some guid- ing hand the Title fellow might go astray, and become a criminal to be dragged be- fore the courts. cast into prison, and may be, at last, to go from the gallows down to death and hell.
 We ought to gather in from places Of Restitution, many more of these little children, and would gladly do so if we had more means. There is no better work for any people to do than to give deiiv- erance to the destitute. and rescue the perishing little ones.
 We kindly ask our men of means, and our women of wealth, and all the chari- tably inclined to remember us during the Christmas holidays. and send us a nice contribution to aid in this great and gooo