The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-02
ANNIVERSARY DAY New Haven Orphan Asylum Celebrates Seventy five
 Years. HISTORICAL SKETCH READ Interesting Service Participated in by
 Children at United
 Church.

In spite of the storm last evening there was a good attendance at the seventy-fifth anniversary service or the New Haven orphan asylum at United church. Large vases of daffodils and tulips stood in the pulpit and under 1t were two beautiful Towering azaleas sent by Mrs. Lee Bradley of Fair Haven, former manager of the asy- lum After the services these were sent to two other managers who are now confined to their homes through illness.
 After removing their coats and hats in the Sunday school room at the church the children from the asylum marched up to the seats on either side of the pulpit girls on one side, boys on the other, and from there they march, ed to the platform to sing their songs, two of them, and they did sing very well, Fresh and sweet and happy their voices were, and blended beautifully, showing that care and love had been expended on the training for this oc- casion. The exercises opened with an anthem sung by the cnoir of the
 
 passages from the scriptures, the old testament story of Moses, and from the new testament the story of Christ blessing little children"
 The children then sang Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us after which prayer was saId by Rev, MT. Haynes. Then the children again sang There's a Friend for Little Children. :"
 Historical Sketch.
 In 1883 at the fiftieth anniversary of the New Haven orphan asylum, an historical sketch was written by Mrs Lewis R. Packard, one of the mana gers From this the Rev. MT. Haynes read last evening as follows:
 Tn February, 1883, New Haven was not the large and hustling city it now is. Its population numbered but little over 10000 instead of 60,000 or 10000. Everybody knew where everybody liv- ed, a city directory was not dreamed of. There was a daily mail from New York, but 1t came by stage and was not to be confidently relied upon by gentlemen eager for Webster's or Cal houn's last speech in congress Per haps this February was month of heavy snows, certainly the Connecticut Herald issued on the 26th day of 1t contains two items that look that way, viz: That the New York stage had not come through for four days and the stage for Hartford had upset a mile from New Haven. This very Connecti- cut Herald was only a weekly. In those days there were still chatty breakfast tables. master and mistress were their own autocrats, and were not silenced or dominated by the morning paper as at present.
 Our orphan asylum was started in a pleasant human sort of a way. The first intmation of it is a notice in the Connecticut Herald of February IS of "A meeting held with a view to en- courage the establishment of an orphan asylum" Dr Jonathan Knight and Dr. Croswell, pastor of Trinity church, find suddenly left upon their hands four little orphan children, the youngest only a few weeks old, The two good men, physicians, one of the body and the other of the soul, have met at the bedside of the dying mother; the father had died of cholera few months before. They cannot bear to send the children to the aims house, so, knowing the ladies are ready to commence the work, they called a meeting of men to encourage them in it. Many a talk there must have been over those poor little Daniels children" At the meeting resolutions were passed approving the plans proposd by the ladies for the establishing of the asylum for the protection and education of destitute orphans within the city, and a com mittee appointed to communicate with the ladies and cooperate with them in the plan. The next meeting was held February 26 in Franklin hall,