The Republican journal., 1903-06-25
IMAM FLOTSAM IN PERU
,NtorE ASYLUM. HOW FOUND
+INcs ARE PROVIDED FOR.

'D 4es ruins of what was once the
mans hospital, which was shaken
w.. hv the great earthquake OF a
,r-4r Of century ago, is very
.snt.i looking structure, spreading
n, entire square, whose closed
-. and small heavily barred win
r. 5iye no hint of what may be
.ar AM within. My attention was
r.. 4tracted 10y its appearance of an
..ot, the utter silence that broods
~. the locality, and the numbers OF
...t. owned priests and blue-gowned
..... of Charity who are constantly
.r ,u and out its worm eaten pOr-
-. uae lay, having extended my walk
ell. lrther side of the enormous
,..5us where it faces an unfrequented
..4....- tare, | observed something
... aused my curiosity to the high
... ar.A- merely a kind of wooden
...... turnstile set in the wall, shaped
...., rcular box with two compart-
..t, which CHANGED to be slowly re-
,e n. rs passed. What could it be?
-a.HJr mystery of the Monkery'
r. .tc of Inquisition days? While
asked the box slowly turned again
pr,ented it's blank side to the
..... sci exactly like the surrounding
mails at one might pass a thousand
...,. ..d never notice it. But little
...1. remained into which fingers
~-.r - lifted; and of course the spirit
n. Aar Eve impelled me to try it.
IF I'd oae way, it refused to move;
other, the cage swung around
eumatic creaks and turned its
.nr, impairment to the view. Jour
.ts. Enterprise demanded solution
.,. idle, and forthwith l became a
sms Interrogation point until the
--.I acts were attained.
.H- ucient edifice which is now
,o.' rec hundred years old and for
H. tan two centuries served as a
..,4. tor the nuns of Santa Catarina
Of the several founding insti-
-..- which have long 1ourished in
", md the swinging box, like those
He r,4 IF in France and Italy, is set
-a. sight with its hollow side out
taI the reception of any infants
.a may be placed in it by unknown
M. perpetually open door for the
.,- If those unWelcome waits who
Il. umeasurably worse than orphans
Ill u1use acknowledgment brings
-t ON their erring parents. The
1r her emissary, stealing along
-etrted street i'll the darkness,
I5 TO put the newborn citizen
ar box, give it the slightest I'M
aud around it turns, atfording
lie protection to the tiny occu-
while no eye inside the building
who placed it there \ Sister
atty is stationed on the inner
& the wall. whose sole business it
.t1ch for new arrivals at all hours
=Et, to receive and care for
spaper column is not the place
lsslng those social questions
tse perplexed the wisest heads
best hearts ever since this SIN
4t was young-those saddest
as that seem to thwart the plans
\imighty and to almost make
e it His overriding care. | am
relate what exists i'll Arequlpa,
> many other parts of South Ameri-
wing my readers to approve or
rE according to their individual
icons. Certainly Catholic Peru
iVance of most Protestant coun-
r- having almost entirely eradi-
-f lie crime of destroying infants
RI their birth, by rendering it pos
9e ,,I unwedded mothers to dispose
IF '- proofs of their shame without
"n ting murder and possibly sui
4- In communities which are per-
al more civilized the impression ap-
pear to prevail that if provision is
Iadr Tor the tlotsam and jetsam thus
&st Jp on the sea of human wicked
ess would be an encouragement to
'tt as if the young women of the
'.i seuld flock to avail themselves of
LIRE NYllege.
4uuge time we obtained permission to
lift this unique asylum, which, like all
lle. tenevolent institutions of South
America, is conducted under the direct
'lspieS of the Church of Rome. How
-'e' yhristians of diverse sects who
4r aveling the many routes to hea-
'ef' inay differ on dogmas and doc
.4aa- points, all not blinded by bigotry
aust Weld the palm for unselfish liv
- Won" tlIelcSS pIdCIlCc VI oHoiiUy, wiz
greatest of Christian virtues, to the
mounted army of Catholic devotees,
na- nd female, who have given their
IgrS to the care of the sick, the indi-
Gent the helpless, and the so-called
Ieataen." No spot on the earth's
surface is too bleak, insalubrious or for
tjjjng, no h uman being too degraded,
and no depth of crime or misery too
iaTS to be penetrated by the ministra-
ieus of learned monks and gentle Sis