Evening star., 1908-01-17
ESTABLISHED MANY HOMES
Thousands of His Boys Prospering
in Canada and Australia.
REMOVED FROM LONDON sLUMs
Interesting Narrative of How he
Was Influenced to Devote His
Life to the Waits.
RY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.

/ i THINK II enCTely pIUpchDiC liAot ~ SN''N-
one human being ever did so much prae-
tical good to his fellow-men as Ihomas
7. Rarnardo. an Irish physician, who
died September 10, 1905. after forty ardu
Gus years employed exclusively In the
| rescue of waits and strays from the
| streets of London. He was called The
father of nobody's children The chill
dren's friend" The children's savior.
and by several other affectionate titles
| that were we'll deserved. His biography
| has just been published and it is book
of amazing interest. The London Ieie-
| graph in an editorial reference, says that
| the volume lis the monument OF a great
| work, and it will be in every vigorous
| mind which is alive to the needs ana
| problems of our time the incentive TO great
| efforts To DR.. Barnardo we owe 1t that
| from the name of England was removed
/ a shameful blot and reproach, and that
| several army corps of children, .as the
| years passed, were taken from the depths
| of poverty, saved from careers of suffer
| ing and crime. restored to the image or
| their Maker. filled with the inspiration
| Of true manhood and wOmannood and
sent forth beneath the flag to strengthen
| all that is best in the empire"
During his lifetime DR.. Barnardo res
| cued a quarter Of a million children. OF
W0Om OZ,3I- were at one tllIle OF dHDtHel
| inmates CT his homes. and were main
| tanned, educated and started in life under
| his influence and care. OF these 2OU0o
| were sent to Canada and several thou
| sand to Australia, and they are now pros
perinG in those countries. He established
ninetyfOur orI,hanages. homes for desti-
| tute children. free lodging houses and
| seventeen "Ever-open Doors as he cal lied
| his refugees and asylums for homeless
children, and expended more than S1S-
4 .t,oy Ill g
| which came from private subscriptions.
Everybody in London knew DR.. Bar
| narGo. whose individuality and personal
| ldloSyncrasieS were quite marked. who
dressed like a dandy and wore his mus
tache like Frenchman, with long WaXed
/ ends. as one writer has described him.
| Every neWsboy, every bootblack every
policeman can tell you where his "homes''
| are located and the easiest way to reach
| them. His headquarters were at S4eoney
CauseWay. down among the docks and
| shipping centers of the Thames Every
| child born at sea under the British flag
belongs to Stepney parish. and its birth
| must be registered there. 1t is the center
! on the SlumS of London. and it's pcpula-
| ton are the most depraved. desperate and
dangerous class in the worlds metropolis.
Among them DR.. Barnardo began his
career while he was still studying medf-
| cine. and engaged actively in mission
work.
" nat started the Homes.
Jim Jarvis" a street Arab. is re-
| sponsible for the beginning of DIR. Bar
| nardo's extraordinary philanthropy.
and the story illustrates what great
things may grow out of trif1inr Incl
dents For two or three years" said
| DR.. Barnardo, 80 far as nv medical
studies left me time. l had been CON
Quoting voluntary night school
nd rf,-Ic -
| dren of the poorest laboring class in
Stepney. / thus had necessarily re-
vealed to me much of the privation and
suHerlng which so often falls at an
early age to the lot of the children of
the very poor. | had encountered MANY
ragged. hungry and ill-used little ones.
but never as yet had a genuina Arab
| boy. utterly homeless and f-iendless,
crossed my path. | had d vague notion
| that homeless children if such< really
existed anywhere, for the most part
orphans, were eventually taken care of
by the parish or workhouse author
| tiles"
| After holding mission school one
night in donkey shed in East End
| street. having dismissed his scholars.
DIR. Barnardo noticed a little ragged
lad who showed no signs of leaving the
room. So he said:
Please. sir, let me stop. 1 won't do
no arm"
Il cannot let you stop here. my boy.
You ought to go home. Your mother
Will wonder what keeps you SO late"
Il amt got no mother"
But your father? Where is hep
Amt got no father"
Where are your friends, then?
Where do you liver
"Ain't got no friends / don't live
nowhere"
DIR. Barnardo says that he cross-ex-
amined the boy closely and learned
that he, with number of others. Tots
-'eaps on 'em-moren l could count"
were sleeping in the streets and living
upon what food they could ;,ick up
He took the lad to a coffee house. got
him something TO eat and perSuad ded
| him to lead the way to the hiding
places of his companions. The journey
ended in Il network of narrow passa ges
| leading from Petticoat to Houndsditch L.
and there DR.. Barnardo counted eleven
| boys. some coiled up, some nuddled
| together, others more apart--a con-
fused group of boys on an open roof.
| all asleep. No covering of any kind
| was upon them. The rags that most
| of them wore were mere apologies for
clothes, apparently quite as bad as if
not even worse. than Jfms. Their ages
| were. I should say, from nine to four
teen"
| ':Shall we go to another lay, sir? There's
lots MORE said Jim.
But / had seen enough" said Dr. Bar
nardo. 1T was a revelation and mes
| sage. / made up my mind that. by God S
| help. this one lad. Jim himself. who had
| been my guide, should at all costs be
| cared for and watched over. But to
| awaken those eleven other boys TO hear
| their stories-storieS doubtless of misery
of cruelty, of crime. perhaps. and of sin
| to find in every word an appeal for help
| which l could not give-was more than
| could bear even to think of. So. taking
| another hurried glance at the wretched
| and ever-to-be-forgotten group; looking
| down once more upon the eleven upturned
| faces, white with cold and hunger, a sight
| to be burned into my memory. to haunt
me until / could find no rest except in ac-
| ton on their behalf breathed a silent
prayer of compassion and hurried away
| just as one of the seepers moved un-
| easily. as if about to awake
His Life Given to the Work.
| That was the beginning of DR.. Bar
4 nardo's work. From that moment he
! gave his entire time to the rescue of that
| class of children. That was in 1876 and
| since then, until the time of his DEATH as
/ / have said. mere than quarter of a
million waits came under his care an
average of seventeen per day for a period
4 of forty-one years. In 1898. which is the
last years work recorded in the biogra-
/ ply, there were altogether 17.946 chill
dren in his homes. with an average OF
| I. .G69 throughout the year. On December
81. 1865. there were 1903 inmates under
| fourteen years of age. 40 boys and 3 f6,,
i girls. During. that year lie had 1857
more boarding outside of the home chief
/ had the advantage of an outdoor life,
plenty of wholesome food and Were taught
/ honest labor During his last year he
| sent LII boys and girls to permanent