Year: 1872

The Absolute Necessity OF Founding


Asylums.


Charitable in many ways, America is singu-
Iarly regardless of large class of the COM
munity, necessarily growing with our growth,
On whose preservation from vice depends the
virtue of countless numbers of men, women
hnd children. It is time that the blind were
made to see and the deaf to hear. From the
Btatements given by some of our most eminent
physicians, it appears that between two thou
sand five hundred and three thousand births
occurred out of wedlock in New York in 1871,
the mothers only in part chargeable to the
City, large number coming from the country
for the purpose of more effectual concealment,
representing every grade of society and every
degree of intelligence The illegiti-
mate child is generally the first born of
The mother, who is almost always the
Siotim of seduction under promise
pf marriage She falls through the
strocious deception practised upon her
affections. Upon awaking to the dreadful
Fact that she is not only abandoned by one
whom she regarded as her protector, but is
hbout to become mother, and hence an out
east, her first impulse is to commit suicide;
her second, if reflection and circumstances
permit, to seek concealment under an assumed
name in a hospital, family, or in one of the
numerous private institutions kept by i'm
moral women, who little care for the life of
either mother or child. Whether born in
hospital or elsewhere, the conditions are alike
nnfavorable to the child which, from the first,
ts regarded as an intruder, and is often de-
Etroyed by the frantic mother. AS rule,
however, maternal instinct saves the child
from immediate destruction, and. it would
henceforth be secure could the mother control
events; but interested persons, desiring to
have her return unsupported to former associ-
ment of her helpless offspring Until recently
HE child was either placed in charge of
nurse in private family and well cared for, or
laken to horrible private institutions to die
bf starvation and maltreatment, or, in
Ehe majority Of cases, was left upon
to be handled by an incompetent nurse. As
b consequence the mortality of this last class
attained the frightful figure of ninety-six per
cent Within few years the condition of
koundlings on the Island has been somewhat
hmeliorated, and an institution lately estab-
many infants that would otherwise be neg
lected. It is needless to add that their
esylum is crowded to excess, yet it is cheer
ing to know that since its existence infanticide
In this city has been greatly reduced, thus
proving the mothers desire to save their of.
spring In spite, however, of this diminution
of infanticide-in spite of the broken hearts of
hapless mothers-many persons conscien-
hously believe that to attempt to save found
Iings is to sanction illegitimacy Such reason
Ing is based upon false premises. As we have
already stated, the mothers Of children born
out of wedlock are, nine times out of ten, at
heart virtuous; but if even their abandoned
children were the fruits of crime, can sincere
follower of Him, who said, 'It is not the will Of
your Father, which is in Heaven, that one Of
these little ones should perish, turn deaf
par to their imploring cry2 They regard the
mother who in the agony Of her remorse aban-
dons her child as wanting common maternal
Instinct Are not we who leave it uncared
Ior, wanting in common humanity? If she
strangles her offspring they adjudge her to be
, criminal. How much less are we criminals
who premeditatedly allow it to perish? So
Tar from encouraging crime, statistics abroad
prove that where founding institutions have
been long established infanticide is much less
frequent than where none exist. Again,
mothers are saved from falling an easy prey
30 the ever-watchful habitu<s of houses of
prostitution. It is totally erroneous to sup
pose that these mothers do not part from
their children with intense sorrow They fol-
Low them into almost any asylum affording
protection, and the attendants upon institu-
lions which have reception basket, where
The mother may deposit her child un-
known, but not unseen, relate daily instances
Of the grief manifested by her when about to
leave her babe forever. Generally these
foundlings have upon their persons some
token by which to recognize them hereafter
Such facts demonstrate that the crimes Of
abandonment and infanticide are perpetrated
under the most aggravated state Of mental and
moral disturbance.


Feeling that the rescuing Of helpless children
hessentially feminine work, benevolent women
founded and incorporated, in 1865, what is
DOW known as the New York Infant Asylum,
Che primary object of which is to care for
toundlings and other infants Of the age Of two
years and under, irrespective Of color, and to
provide for their support and education after
leaving the home. 1t also aims TO shelter and
reform the mothers Of these children, having
special regard to their restoration to self
sppsct and friendly esteem. In sQite Of small