The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-02-16
A PLEA FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL
WORK FOR ORPHAN CHILDREN
All the Care of the Orphans Cannot be Turned Over
to the Finding of Homes in Private
Families for Them


placed in desirable homes? They are
the better born children OF respecta-
bic .naretage-these usually can De
easily placed; they are the
fair and comely children; they
are the infant n the small child
tina are too yonns to receive the
stamp of the setting in which they
We're born. Homes may he fOund
for thesc-but hardly for all these II
your standard is high as to the char
come of the child that nobody VIII
take-the child that is born OF goddess
parents and hat heredity has put at
disadvantago-the child that IS al
vanced in years and has fallen into
evil habits-the nomely aud ill-favor-
ed child-the duh and backward
child? In these classes O will find
probably the majority of the children
that are left as destitute IN
the world and that need the
be sought after and saved. Nobody
wants them, nobody that you Would
commit them to. What is to become
of them? After h home-placing bus
mess has filled its legitimate mission
there will still be a larger orphan
world untouched. Nothing like the
institution can doo' with this problem
in all it's phases. Then what would
you do with the thousands Of half
orphans whose fathers are dead and
whose 11OInefS are OSeTDuTucTeu VI
invalid widows and who often pre-
sent to us the cases of greatest desti-
tuition and need? These afflicted
mothers will consent for their children
to come to the Orphanage-but they
Will not consent to placing them in
homes. And usually the homes are
net willing to take the child II either
parent is living.
The institution must continue-it is
the only effective and at all times
feasible way of dealing with all phases
of the problem.
1t is argued that the home life is
better for the child than the institu-
tion life. This is true, and no one
questions the fact if it be the child's
own natural home: but it may not be
true if it be q found home-a home
in which the child was not born ana
in which by the very nature of the case
he is an alien. There are doubtless
some Of these found homes that are
better for the child than the institu-
tion-but l do not believe that there
are enough Of these homes to answer
all the needs Of this. great work.
Let us look into this question seri-
ouSly-let us go to the bottom OF 1t
and know the truth.
In the discussion of this subject
men have seemed to me to put q dis
count upon the Institutional work for
orphan children-they tell us that the
results of such work in some Of the
States Of the Union has been disap-
pointing-not to say Il failure. I do
not know how true this is OF the work
in other sections Of u great country
but this is not rue of the work
that has been done in North Carolina
and it is unfair to make our lnstl-
tutions suffer in the esteem OF its
friends institutions elsewhere
l,ox-a ,,iccn6 tho r10I,E NAhaf. do orr
institutions do for the child? wi
answer by telling what is don for the
child at the
and wha we are doing is being done
as we'll or better TT our sister insti-
tutions in the State. when q child
comes to the Methodist Crphanage he
is put into a bath tub n thoroughly
washed. and this is done over and over
again for the average ten years that
he remains here-he is schoOled
in the habit Of cleanliness, ne
is put into the charge of
picked women h fill as nearly as
possible the office of mother and
teacher to the child, and who are do
ing their work as under the inlmedi-
ate eye of Christ. He is trained to
WOrk-he is put into school for ten
years-working half the day and III
school half the day: he is taught obed-
fence to government. heAis kept off
the street; he is under the care of
skilled physicians n specialists for
health; he is properly nGurished and
clothed; he is called morning and
evening to the worship of God: he is
taught the doctrine Of Christ and has
constantly presented to him the noblest
ideas OF truth and honor. I am per-
suaded that there are not many homes
in North Carolina that are doing bet
ter for the child than this. The chief
factor in this. problem is the child.
What is best for the child? It is not
a question of make-shift. it is not a
question Of cheapness. The discus
SION has seemed to me sometime to
turn upon finding a cheaper way than
the institutional way of serving the
child But the reheaper@w way is not