The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-07
ENDOWED LONDON ASYLUM
BUILT FOR FOUNDLINGS
The Emotions Stirred Up by a Sunday
 Visit.

Russell Square has now a vast mod
 ern red-brick hotel on the northeast
 side which seems out of keeping with
 the cloistered air, the age-long sleep
 of this part of London that, until re- gently; has not known the presence of the innovator, the builder, of the pro- Imoter. You turn the corner where this hostelry stands, into Gullford street, and by short and pleasant walk are brought to one of the most interesting Iplace in London, the Founding asy- lum, endowed by good old Capt. tCoram, whose benevolent image stands by the wall with such gentle, kindly
 look, as if to welcome all the unfor- tunate children of the great town to
 her protection. Blunt and big, with the kindest face, one-half stops as if it
 were his real presence, and says in-
 wardly, God bless you, Capt Coram" The large playgrounds surrounding the hospital are so pretty so full of the gentle peace and protection of Nature, that one enters the quaint chapel at tuned to a responsive Sunday mood. You are shut into litle high pew as
 into a box, and above you rises the Igreat gallery with its hundreds of chil- dren, tho boys on one side, the girls
 or tho other, below the beautiful or gan The clear high windows let in a flood . f light, and the girls white coifs and ke1chiefs shine with the purity Of
 a bed of lilies in full bloom. There are competent leaders of the music, but the hundreds of ehildren's voices pour
 cd out in the anthems and hymns were quite inde4crlbabla Involuntarily they brought the tears. It is nearer the singing of sinless souls in heaven than anything one hears elsewhere. Rows of Iyoung faces slant up and up the high gallery They are absorbed in the nys- 5tical emotions of the music Their voices thrill and soar like a chorus of i birds in blooming orchard, and are poignantly sweet.
 The service was fatiguingly long, and the sermon had no application to ! the age or understanding of the chill dren, but those parts interspaced by 1 the chorus can never be forgotten. The hospital has now between 400 and 800 inmates The infants are cared for in the country, and are not brought nere until eight years of age. There are very extensive playgrounds in the
 heart of old London shaded by old
 trees and beautifully kept.
 The hospital was open for inspec- ton after service, and the fine old rooms richly furnished and hung with valuable paintings by famous artists, among others one of Hogarth's, in no
 way resembles a charity foundation. The keyboard of Handel's instrument,
 given to the hospital is still there, But we were hurried through to the
 boys refectory, where 1t was permis- sible to see the lads file in and take their places at table. The boy monitor who led them kept the strictest order; with folded hands, before sitting down, they recited a blessing One could not help being struck by the bright, intel Iligent boy faces, some strikingly hand some, and all or nearly all of the Eng ilish type, with no intermixture of for- elgn blood It seemed as though lads
 with such faces must give a good ac- count of themselves in the future The girls are trained for domestic service,
 bt the boys mainly enter the army or
 navy Augusta Larned in Christian
 Register