The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-23

and yet she had to be taught to smile
 Tt is a frightful thing to see a child
 who has never smiled. Whenever l spoke
 to her she frowned. She was all shadow. | She did not know anything about the
 sunshine. She had even forgotten how l to play.
 "The transformation was gradual. One [ day I saw . faint pitiful little smile, and
 l knew then that life seemed less hope l less to her. Then it was almost impos-
 sibe to get her to go to school. She had
 been poor little drudge all her life. | She could not even read and she resisted
 every effort that was made to teach her anything. This only shows what hard ! task it is how great a responsibility we ] have in these children, the many dif- l 1erent natures we have to study, the
 many obstacles to be overcome. | Some of the children who find their
 way into the Home come from such de-
 graded districts that they have never had a decent hath. They are afraid of the 1 big white tubs, and they scream at the thought of being bathed decently. When
 they are clean and fresh looking, and tucked into their little white cots they are more comfortable thaa they have
 ever been in their little lives After that first experience, it is a scramble as to the | hsrt child that shall have a bath. They would positively fight to get to the bath tub.
 The saddest cases in my experience
 at the Home are those of the little waifs
 There is no where for them to go, and
 the public send them to us. Some times
 they are left at the door. We have taken
 babies in long clothes and in some in-
 stances they are very i'll from neglect
 and exposure. All this entails extra care
 and nursing. We must guard against
 epidemics, and the babies In the nursery
 are the greatest care"
 Mrs. Ramsay related many instances
 of cruel abondment, of parental neglect
 of the absence of parental responsibility.
 Back of each child is a story of neglect
 in many cases of erimlnality, every moral law under heaven trodden under, cases
 too revolting, too sad for words.
 The worst cases are the young girls
 who have been led astray," said Mrs. Ramsay 'rhese represent the illiterate classes from the country, ignorant girls
 who come to the city and drift into bad company, because there is no safeguard thrown about them. They know nothing of work because of their lack of train ing, and are incapable of earning their own livelihood. They could not possibly hold a position of any kind. Many of them could not sweep a room, and could not do even the drudgery work about the house satisfactorily. They are perfectly ignorant about everything. Then they are led astray, and started on their sad careers that end in suicide and in the police courts.
 Whenever we can reach a case of thlS kind the Mercy Home does so. We take many young girls who are only too glad for an opportunity to lead better lives. We piVp them work tO do in tha Home and we try to find positions for them wherever 1t Is possible to do so.
 Out of my long experience I have rever known more than one or two in- stances where a woman who had once lived In the Home ever went wrong again. They are leading honest lives, their training in the Home making them self supporting.
 "The girls who are in the Home al- ways assist in the housekeeping. There Is a great deal to be done In a large insti- tuition like the Mercy Home, particular ly when there are fifty children in the family. The women are employed in the they are taught sewing and the principles of systematic housekeep- ing. Cleanliness is impressed upon them daily, the care of the body, the import ance of being neatly dressed. Some of the little girls received at the Home have Lever oWHcu d niSHl BOWH. lhey HdNe slept in their clothes. They do not know that their heads should be combed They are frightfully ignorant of even the de- Cencies.'
 These stories reveal what the Mercy Home is doing in caring for the little waifs of Birmingham, what a great task it assumed when twelve years ago a place of refuge was opened in this city. The Mercy Home is the only nonsectarian institution in the state where children are received. The churches both protest ant and Catholic have their orphanages, but the Home is the one nonsectarian house of refuge In the city and in the state for homeless and friendless chi- dren.
 There are other stories that Mrs. Ram say tells to people interested in the work of the Home. These are the sequels, and they end happily. They make life at the Home a privilege, they glorify the won- derful tasks of each day, and they prove the wisdom of the motto of the Home: Not willing that any should perish"
 The Home has so many little protogees that it is as proud of as though it were a real mother, which it is. Mamma talks about her children and recalls their clever little speeches with the same pride that mothers do of their own little ones. She takes the same in- terest in their school reports, and she has to listen every day to sheir wonder full experiences. They tell her everything.
 But what Mrs. Ramsay takes the great est pride In, are the letters she receives from the children who have been in the Home, and who have been adopted by people who have no children of their own. She constantly receives the happiest let ters from these children who regard her as their real" mamma. These letters are what might be called her love let ters. If they are only one page in length, they tell her how much they love her. bow happy they were in the Home, and if they are four pages, they tell her the same thing, only oftener. These letters always contain an invitation to Mamma to visit them in their new homes. If she were to accept all her in- vitations the other children at the Home would be jealous
 Mrs. Ramsay receives dozens of letters from people who adopt her children. These she IS intensely proud of, because in every instance they tell her what fine children they have proved to be- and how well they fit in their new environ