THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 WOMAN'S WORK AMONG "THE LOWLY, 
 
 MEMORIAL VOLUME 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST FORTY YEARS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY 
 
 AND 
 
 HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS. 
 
 BY MRS. S. R. I. BENNETT, 
 
 Author of " Walks of Usefulness," " Wrought Gold," etc. 
 
 Go, bridge the open, moral chasm, 
 Whose waters, dark and deep, 
 
 Allure the steps of child and youth, 
 Anear the fearful steep. 
 
 'Tis woman's work to guard and save, 
 
 And rescue from the moral grave. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY, 
 29 East 29th Street. 
 
 1880.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 1877, 
 AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 S. AMiKLU Pi-Inter, 
 410 Fourth Av'nu<>.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks. Origin of the Society. Considerations. 
 Its Aims and Principles. A Link in the Chain. Commence- 
 ment of the Advocate and Guardian. Encouragements 
 and Obstacles. Early Efforts. Lessons of Warning. A 
 double Funeral. A Leaf from a Journal. Pp. 10 - 26. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Illustrations of published Facts and Incidents. Influence of 
 the Paper. Encouragement from the Pulpit and the Press. 
 Missionary Labors. Faithfulness rewarded. A Sister's 
 Grief. Visiting Committees in City and Country. Results 
 of early Labors. Anniversary Hymn. Pp. 27 50. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Progress. Auxiliaries increased. Appeal. Missionary Efforts. 
 Labors in City Prison. Change of Name. Petitions. First 
 Semi-Annual Meeting. The Field enlarged. A Period of 
 Trial. Grateful Memories. Appointment of Matrons 
 secured. Incidents from First Decade. Faithfulness 
 rewarded. Child rescued. Anniversary Hymn. Pp. 51 63. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Incidents from First Decade. Sinned against more than Sin- 
 ning. Child Lost. Aid Sought. Painful Suspense. No 
 alternative. Suit at Law. Judgment of $4,000. The Moral 
 of the Tale. Child without a Soul. Grief unuttered. Strange 
 Treatment. Pleasant Change. Then and Now. Pp. 64 75. 
 
 1345724
 
 4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Truth stranger than Fiction. Antecedents. Early Marriage. 
 Bright Prospects. Shadows. Life in London. Confidence 
 disturbed. Disappointment. Two Culprits. Sequel. A 
 sad Scene. The only Solace. Was Henri alone Responsi- 
 ble. Pp. 76- 86. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 A youthful Skeptic. Filial Disregard. Skepticism. That 
 
 Eye. A Trance. Reconciled. K 's Story. The dark 
 
 World. All Believe. Celestial Music. The White Throne. 
 Balancing the Question. A lasting Change. Pp. 87 96. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Half Orphans. A ruined Home. A Mother may forget. 
 The Innocent made Wretched. Childish Eloquence. A 
 Mother in Prison. An eager Questioner. Then and Now. 
 A Lesson for the Credulous. Pp. 97 118. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Second Decade. First Steps. First Idea of the Establishment 
 of a Home for the Friendless. Incentives. Preliminary 
 Measures. Advisory Committee. First Appeal. Progress. 
 Cases of Interest. First Meeting of Advisory Committee. 
 
 Pp. 119135. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Hired House. First Committee Meeting on the Hall 
 Stairway. United Faith. A good Beginning. Fconomy. 
 An excellent Leader. Providential Guidance. Special 
 Cases. A noted Landmark. The Children of the Brewery. 
 A sad Spectacle. My First Visit to the Home. Pp. 136 151. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Laying the Corner-Stone of the Home. Remarks by E. W. 
 Chester, Esq. Hymn by Mrs. Sigourney. Address by Mr. 
 Lewis Tappan. Contents of the Box deposited. Address 
 by Rev. W. W. Everts. Public Meeting in Church of the
 
 CONTENTS. 5 
 
 Puritans Extracts from Addresses by Rev. S. H. Tyng, 
 D. D., etc. Stanzas. Pp. 152 172. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Completion of the Home. Report of Advisory Committee. 
 Resolutions. Dedication of the Home. Addresses. Hymns. 
 Reports by the Press. Address by Rev. Dr. Patton. 
 Hymn by Mrs. Osgood. Charter Secured. Lines by A. C. 
 L. f Pp. 173196. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 First Home Industrial School. Extracts from First Report. 
 Lizzie B. Semi-Annual Meeting. Resolutions. An 
 Address relative to Street Children. Homes for the Friend- 
 less Organized in other Cities. Petition for Laws to Protect 
 and Educate Street Children. Favorable Action of N. Y. 
 Legislature, April, 1853. Similar Measures in other States. 
 Opening of H. I. School No. 2. Anniversary Hymn. 
 
 Pp. 197 217. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Extracts from Reports of Publishing Department. Incidents. 
 Issue of Advocate increased to 40,000. Annual Returns. 
 Items and Incidents. Matron's Journal. Physician's 
 Report. Missionary Department. Pp. 218 231. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Visiting Committees. Items and Incidents. Contrasts. Chil- 
 dren's Department. Shadows and Sunshine. The Candy 
 Girl, A. C., etc., etc. Extracts from Sundry Statements. 
 Sketch of Home School. " He shall turn the Hearts of the 
 Fathers to the Children." Pp. 232 247. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Third Decade. The Home Chapel. Measures for its Erection. 
 Report of Building Committee. Action of the Board of 
 Counselors. Dedication. Addresses. Testimony. Home 
 Bazaar. Second Application for State Aid. Success. ' No 
 Cloud on the Home.' Uses in War Time. Pp. 248 268.
 
 6 CONTKXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Third Decade Continued. Home Industrial School No. 3. 
 The Ticket System and its Influence. A Munificent Gift. 
 H. I. School No. 4. Festival. Incidents. Kindred Enter- 
 prises. Correspondence. Grateful Memories. Semi-Annual 
 Meeting at Binghamton. Hymn. The Faithful fail. 
 
 Pp. 269 293. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 
 
 The Advocate and its Influence. Incidents by way of Example. 
 Novel Reading laid aside. A Family Saved. Reminiscences 
 of Mr. J. B. Graham, Mr. W. B. Bradbury. Little Gracie. 
 Mary Ritchie. School No. 5. Mothers' Meetings. 
 
 Pp. 294317. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Third Decade and its Work. Transfers. Home Influence. 
 Illustrations. Letters from Foster-Children, Home and 
 Industrial School Libraries. Devoted and Useful Labors of 
 Mrs. H. H. Starr. Pp. 318328. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Fourth Decade. Rose Memorial Chapel. Home Industrial 
 School No. 6. Statistics. No. 7. Items and Incidents. 
 School No. 8. Sundry Statements. No. 9. Extracts from 
 Monthly Record, No. 10. Extracts from Monthly Record, 
 School No. H . Facts and Incidents. Pp. 329 345. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Items and Incidents. From School Diaries. The Heart 
 Reached. The Good Policeman. Speak a Good Word. 
 Rum, the Cause. Special Object. Crying for a New Heart. 
 School Hymns Cherished. Better Way. Early Neglect. 
 Good Fruit. Cooper Golden Wedding Fund. Meeting for 
 Mothers. Pp. 346 362. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 School Items Continued. A Pleasant Change. Another 
 Rescue. Influence of School Hymns. Good Achieved.
 
 CONTENTS. 7 
 
 The Blessing of the Neighborhood. Anti-Tobacco Society. 
 Bread cast upon the Waters. The making of Me. Your 
 Naughty Dan. The Little Bible-Reader. " Many Hands 
 make Light Work." Pp. 363 379. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 School Items and Incidents. Emma H. The Dying Child. 
 Mar>' B. A Family Saved. Carrie F. The Mutes. Henry 
 and George. The Golden Rule. Gathered Fruit. 
 
 Pp. 380393. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Illustrations of Daily Home Work. A Dying Mother. Chil- 
 dren Surrendered to the Home as a Last Act. Appeal. 
 Another Last Parting. Trust. Ella, Child of a Mother in 
 Heaven. A Street Waif. Fraternal and Filial Love. 
 Remember Thy Mother. Solving the Mystery. Why did 
 My Mother cast Me Off? Then and Now. Blessed are the 
 Pure in Heart. The W T arning Voice. Wrecked and 
 Rescued. Pp. 394 413. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A Child of Fortune. As They were and as They are. Then 
 and Now. Bright Anniversaries. Addresses by Clergymen 
 and Others. More Beautiful than Flowers. Pp. 414 424. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Shelter and Reading-Room. Baby Nursery. Widowed and 
 Fatherless. Sent beyond the Sea. Early Sorrow. Employ- 
 ment Aid Department. A Few of Many. Letters from Fos- 
 ter-Parents. Letters from Adopted Children. Pp. 425452. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 In Memoriam. Brief Reminiscences of Officers and Managers 
 oi the Society, who rest from their Labors. Mrs. Margaret 
 Prior. Mrs. R. McComb. Mrs. S. C. Hawxhurst. Mrs. 
 Adon Smith. Mrs. Dr. B. Lord. Mrs. R. D. Lathrop. 
 
 Pp- 453475-
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Mrs. M. S. Cutter. Mrs. A. C. Loveiand. Mrs. Margaret Dye. 
 Mrs. Dr. L. Ranney. Mrs. A. B. Eaton. Mrs. Ann Curtis 
 Ranney. Mrs. M. A. Hawkins. Mrs. Dr. A. S. Ball. 
 
 Pp. 476497. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Fourth Decade and its Work Reviewed. Extracts from 
 Visitor's Journal. Foster-Parents and Children. Co-opera- 
 tion. New Agencies. Change in Public Sentiment. Legal 
 Enactments. Work and Aid of Auxiliaries. Statistics. 
 Memorial. Contrasts. Praise to the Giver. Pp.498 515.
 
 '$: [JesusJ beheld the city and wep< uvrr it." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THERE are voices that whisper, Remember the way 
 The Master has guided by night and by day, 
 'Mid the storm and the sunshine, the hopes and the fears, 
 In the dark and the light, down the vista of years. 
 
 IT was said to the children of Israel by the 
 great Lawgiver, " Thou shalt remember all the 
 way that the Lord thy God hath led thee, these 
 forty years." 
 
 In all those years His hand had marked their 
 path. He had made visible the pillar of cloud 
 and of fire, divided the Red sea for their pre- 
 servation, brought manna from the skies and 
 water from the Rock, to allay their hunger and 
 thirst. By an outstretched Arm and a Mighty 
 Hand He had delivered them from their foes 
 and thus made it their imperative duty, and un- 
 speakable privilege, ever to keep fresh in 
 memory His loving kindness and tender mercy. 
 
 Not alone for ancient Israel was this precept
 
 IO WOMAN S WORK 
 
 given. Not alone were they the recipients of 
 His peculiar care. On, down the years He has 
 ever led His own, and often, after the gloom of 
 the darkest night, given them joy and gladness, 
 and it has been whispered anew to the silent 
 heart, " Thou shalt remember all the way that 
 the Lord thy God hath led thee." 
 
 A brief review of the history of the A. F. G. 
 Society, for a period of over forty years, cannot 
 fail to suggest a similar remembrance, and it is 
 therefore proposed to preserve the more promi- 
 nent statistics, aims, records and results of its 
 work, in a memorial volume, for reference, when 
 the present participants of its labors shall have 
 passed away. 
 
 To those now upon the stage, the narrative 
 may be familiar, but to their children and their 
 children's children, it may by and by prove of 
 practical value. And surely, the many thou- 
 sands of the young, whom it has found 
 
 " Away on the mountains cold and bare, 
 Away from the Shepherd's tender care," 
 
 for whom it has bridged the moral chasm, and 
 whose -destiny for two worlds it has helped to 
 change, should have this reminder of the way in 
 which their kind Heavenly Father has led those 
 who sought to do them good.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. II 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 The American Female Guardian Society had 
 its origin in this city, in the spring of 1834. It 
 was at a period of then unprecedented interest in 
 Christian work. The Church at large had been 
 greatly revived, and aroused to the responsibility 
 of individual effort to save the perishing. Tract 
 societies, temperance societies, local benevolent 
 societies for specific objects in the churches, and 
 associated efforts in behalf of missions to the 
 heathen, had become widely extended, and at 
 length the eyes of the Christian community had 
 rested also upon the fact that, in our great metro- 
 polis, there was a hidden moral leprosy, an 
 unseen desolation, affecting the well-being of 
 thousands, blighting character and hope, and 
 blotting out all that was once lovely and of good 
 report. 
 
 The picture of this fearful moral ruin, was 
 made so vivid by facts and figures and personal 
 observation, as deeply to impress the minds of 
 the early workers in this association. The ques- 
 tion, " What can be done to save some of the 
 vast hecatomb of victims, and. prevent the young 
 and unguarded from treading in the same dark 
 path, so followed them by day, and disturbed 
 their rest by night, that they could only find re- 
 lief in prayer and work. They were mothers,
 
 12 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and these were somebody's children. They 
 loved that Saviour who had given his life alike 
 for all. But these could never know his love 
 without a radical change, and as they never 
 entered the sanctuary, how should they listen to 
 the gospel of Christ? And then the facts be- 
 came more and more clear, that as their ranks 
 were thinned by death, new victims filled the 
 void. 
 
 It was asked, may not missionary visitors be 
 sent to them with the word of life to show them 
 a way to be saved ? May not the mothers of the 
 young be warned of the dangers that surround 
 their own dear children? May they not be 
 shown the way of duty, and how they may pur- 
 sue it with fidelity and success ? May not intel- 
 ligent Christian mothers speak affectionately, 
 truthfully, wisely to their younger sister- 
 mothers through the little tract and the printed 
 sheet, and thus exert a preventive, saving influ- 
 ence? 
 
 Questions like these were prayerfully consid- 
 ered, till a small band of earnest workers were 
 found ready to act in concert and go forward. 
 At this point, after months of united prayer, \ 
 taking counsel of. their pastors and others, a 
 meeting of ladies was convened by appointment 
 in the Third Free Church, cor. of Houston and
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 13 
 
 Thompson Streets, then one of " the up-town 
 churches," and after addresses by Rev. Drs. 
 Ludlow and Lansing, a Society was organized, 
 constitution and by-laws adopted, and stated 
 meetings for prayer and consultation, etc., were 
 duly appointed. 
 
 AIMS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 
 From this time the pioneer laborers were fully 
 committed to the work above indicated. Remedy 
 if practicable, prevention by every possible Chris- 
 tian endeavor. 
 
 To human view the field entered was repul- 
 sive and forbidding, strewn with crosses far as 
 the eye could reach, but they had said in humble 
 sincerity, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" 
 and believing that in this they had been divinely 
 led, were ready for any sacrifice to which they 
 might be called. 
 
 A LINK IN THE CHAIN. 
 
 It should be stated here that an agency, pre- 
 ceding the beginning of associated effort in the 
 work was this 
 
 In the ordering of divine Providence, a ser- 
 vant of the Master, Rev. J. R. McDowall, 
 manifestly raised up to be " as the voice of one 
 crying in the wilderness," had so opened the 
 moral aceldama of evil to the public view, as to
 
 14 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 raise a sweeping tide of opposition, with which 
 he soon became physically unable to contend. 
 That he should have made no mistakes in judg- 
 ment in this untried and most difficult field, was 
 not to have been expected. That he wrought 
 honestly, earnestly, and wi'th self-sacrificing zeal, 
 exposing reputation, health and life, in order to 
 rescue the living-lost, none who knew him best, 
 could fail to affirm. No reformer had ever 
 warmer friends or more bitter foes. 
 
 He achieved the important result of so arous- 
 ing the attention of the Christian community to 
 the magnitude of the darkest moral picture in 
 our cities, that it has never slept as before ; also 
 of opening an effectual door to much that has 
 since been done " without let or hindrance." 
 We make this allusion to this antecedent link, 
 both to do justice to its influence, and prevent 
 misconstruction as to its extent and identity of 
 character. 
 
 The work of the martyr was brief. In the 
 early winter of 1837, he went to his reward, leav- 
 ing at the close of his short life, a beautiful 
 testimony of divine approval and support, and of 
 triumph over death and the grave. A very 
 large concourse attended his funeral at the old 
 Broadway Tabernacle, at which a most impres- 
 sive discourse was delivered by the late Rev.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 15 
 
 Joshua Leavitt from the words, " But he, being 
 full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly in- 
 to heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus 
 standing on the right hand of God." 
 
 From a notice of his death in the New York 
 Evangelist, we quote the following : 
 
 Rev. J. R. McDowall was born Sept. 22d, 
 1801. He pursued his literary studies at Am- 
 herst, Mass., and Union College, N. Y., and 
 labored extensively and with approbation in the 
 state of Rhode Island, as an agent for Sabbath 
 schools and tracts. He afterwards pursued 
 his theological studies at Princeton, but before 
 he had finished his course, an engagement in 
 Christian labor in this city enlisted the whole 
 power oi his benevolent heart ; in efforts to 
 rescue the daughters ol misery. ***** 
 
 During the early part of his sickness, his mind 
 was much exercised with eager desires for the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. At length he 
 gained the victory, and his soul seemed to be 
 made "like the chariots of Aminadab." He 
 wished to hear the prayers only of those who 
 had drank deeply at the fountain. His thoughts 
 ran constantly on the theme of his recent com- 
 munications in the Evangelist, " Read the Bible 
 through." He wanted all Christians to read the 
 Bible, that they might apprehend " Christ and
 
 16 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 him crucified." To the writer he left a message, 
 " Tell him to urge the importance of reading the 
 Bible through." When his wife asked him, " Are 
 you not afraid to die?" he replied, " Afraid? No. 
 Legions of angels are waiting to conduct me 
 through, and Jesus will go with me." He 
 prayed fervently for his enemies and expressed 
 only sentiments of forgiveness towards them. 
 In this frame he was seized with spasms, and 
 spake no more, till, as we trust, his tongue was 
 loosed in the upper sanctuary." 
 
 Another -writes, " He died upon the battle-field. 
 There, where he had labored and suffered, where 
 he had endured shame and obloquy for the sake 
 of his divine Master, without fainting or weari- 
 ness ; there did the soft hand of the Captain of 
 his salvation, unbind the helmet from his weary 
 brow, wipe the death-sweat from his pallid coun- 
 tenance, and gently dismiss him from his work 
 on earth, to his crown and inheritance in heaven. 
 Those who saw the bright radiance of his up- 
 ward ascent, and heard the song of victory that 
 greeted his entrance into the New Jerusalem, can 
 never forget that hallowed scene ; and they will 
 be nerved by the remembrance, to follow him, 
 even as he followed Christ, that they also may 
 have the same abundant entrance ministered to 
 them into the kingdom of their Lord.
 
 A.MOXC Tilt: LOWLY. I/ 
 
 After the formation of this Association, and 
 previous to his illness, he had discontinued the 
 publication of his Journal, and given to this 
 Society, his list of subscribers, with whatever 
 1 payments were due but with no restrictions a 
 gift that afterward proved of special service in 
 establishing a new paper, under different aus- 
 pices, and in no sense, identified with any 
 previous publication. 
 
 ADVOCATE AND GUARDIAN. 
 
 During the first decade of this Society the re- 
 sponsibility assumed of first importance was the 
 establishment of the periodical now known as the 
 " Advocate and Family Guardian," to be edited 
 and sustained by ladies devoted to the interests 
 of their work, and their special organ with the 
 public. 
 
 Its first design was to exalt the law of God, 
 and thus prevent its violation to guard the do- 
 mestic hearth from the invasion ol the Spoiler, 
 thus preventing the fall of the innocent ; and, as 
 far as practicable, to produce such a reform in 
 public sentiment, that the morally-debased should 
 be estimated according to their true character, 
 and made to feel that access to the favor of the 
 virtuous could only be secured by being pure in 
 heart.
 
 1 8 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Still young- in years, timid, unused to business 
 beyond the confines of home, the leaders in this 
 work had much to learn in a new sphere of duty, 
 where wisdom, skill, and efficiency were indis- 
 pensable. Pecuniary resources they had none, 
 and whence were to come the means to prose- 
 cute their enterprise without embarrassment, was 
 an unsolved problem. But they were encour- 
 aged by the approval ot their husbands and pas- 
 tors, and ventured forth, simply believing that 
 He who had given them this work to do, had not 
 called them to " go a warfare at their own 
 charges." 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS AND OBSTACLES. 
 
 The first few numbers ot the Advocate enlist- 
 ed sympathy and co-operation among Christian 
 women in the country, and every "mail brought 
 earnest responses and cheering words, sometimes 
 also rebukes and threats, assuring the laborers 
 that they had embarked in a conflict of serious 
 issues. 
 
 Missionaries were employed to visit in the 
 worst sections ot the city, scatter broadcast tracts 
 and religious papers, read and pray with the 
 tenants of prayerless dwellings, warn, entreat and 
 seek to s:ive some. 
 
 The stated meetings were well attended, the
 
 AMONG Till-: LOWLY. 19 
 
 Advocate was issued monthly and widely distrib- 
 uted, a vigorous correspondence carried on, and 
 many voluntary associations, with similar aims, 
 were organized in different states. 
 
 From a paper of December ist, 1835, we 
 quote the following : 
 
 " The present number of the Advocate con- 
 cludes its first year. We entered this field from 
 an impressive sense of duty. To do good, to save 
 the youth of our beloved land from crime and 
 ruin, has been our only object. All the funds 
 which the public have placed at our disposal 
 have been faithfully expended in sustaining the 
 Advocate, or in other efforts to advance the cause. 
 
 " That our paper has done good, we have the 
 most unquestionable testimony. It has drawn 
 the attention of virtuous females to hidden moral 
 evils ; it has called into existence about fifty aux- 
 iliary associations ; induced many a parent to 
 impart instruction to his children upon a subject 
 vastly important, yet hitherto neglected. Should 
 our labors in this cause end here, we feel that we 
 have done what we could to stay the progress of 
 that moral pestilence, which threatens alike the 
 morals of our children and the fair institutions of 
 our country." 
 
 As one of the chief objects of the Advocate, 
 at this early period, was to warn the exposed and
 
 20 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 the tempted of the consequences of disobedience 
 to the precepts, " Keep thyself pure," " Keep thy 
 heart with all diligence," " Go not in the way of 
 evil avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and 
 pass away ;" every number contained articles 
 designed to meet this end, spread abroad an in- 
 fluence that should deter from wrong and help to 
 guard the exposed from moral peril. 
 
 LESSONS OF WARNING. 
 
 These lessons of warning were given, drawn 
 from known facts of frequent occurrence, more 
 or less impressive, but all aiming at the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Two such may be found in the following 
 sketch'es from an early number of the Advocate, 
 and are cited by way of illustration. 
 
 DOMESTIC SORROW. 
 
 Reader did you ever make a full estimate of 
 the misery endured in a single domestic circle, 
 where the spoiler had entered? Let us give, in 
 illustration, a case with which we are intimately 
 acquainted. The family were of the highest 
 standing in society the father, for many years 
 regarded as a pillar in the church, the mother, as 
 a mother in Israel, and the children as sons and 
 daughters of uncommon promise. While pos- 
 sessed of all that, to human view, could make the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 21 
 
 Eden of domestic bliss, suddenly, they beheld a 
 cloud gathering, that increased in blackness till it 
 burst upon them with sweeping desolation. The 
 honored father, with a head blossomed for the 
 grave, became a libertine ! 
 
 The mother bore her grief in silence till her 
 heart was broken and she was removed where 
 the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
 are at rest. Scarce had the first burst of grief 
 ceased amid the circle of doating children, before 
 a woman than zuhom none zvere viler was intro- 
 duced by their once-honored father, to fill the 
 place death had vacated under such aggravating 
 circumstances. 
 
 The love of home in the hearts of these be- 
 reaved ones, was strong the associations con- 
 nected with the scene of a mother's toil, and 
 tender love and care, drew ligaments around 
 them ; but the love of virtue was stronger, and 
 before two days had passed, that cherished home 
 was voluntarily deserted by every member of 
 the grief-stricken band. Here had been two 
 funeral scenes in quick succession. The one had 
 been that of departed worth the other had 
 been the funeral of departed virtue ! Well might 
 the afflicted ones have exclaimed with Job, " Is 
 any sorrow like unto my sorrow?" It was in- 
 deed a living grief, increased and perpetuated by
 
 22 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the events of succeeding years and the present 
 generation must pass away, before the' pall of 
 oblivion can hide it from memory. That father 
 is now in " the narrow house." Those children, 
 with one exception, still live, inheriting the bless- 
 ing of a mother's prayers. That one recently 
 came to a premature death by poison, adminis 
 tered by an unknown hand. She had been some 
 time married as was supposed, happily and 
 was surrounded by much calculated to render 
 life desirable. But, as in the family of her father, 
 so in her own, the spoiler came. An intimate 
 female friend of high pretensions, became an in- 
 mate of her house for a season and by unsus- 
 pected artifice the affections of the husband were 
 ensnared at length transferred, and strongly 
 alienated from their rightful owner. Months of 
 mental agony, that almost dethroned reason, 
 was the consequence and now death has wound 
 up the sad drama for this world, and left much 
 that is mysterious and revolting, to be made 
 known when the records of human guilt are all 
 revealed. 
 
 The above brief narration, though shorn of its 
 affecting details, presents a sample of the " mourn 
 ing and woe " consequent upon a breach of the 
 laws of chastity. Responsibility in this matter 
 rests somewhere. Parents, teachers, the pulpit,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 23 
 
 the press, Christian philanthropy, have something 
 to do with it. How much ? This is the question 
 to be solved. What is the measure of their re- 
 sponsibility ? What does God require ? 
 
 WARNING TO YOUNG MEN. 
 
 A Leaf from my Journal. 
 
 " As one of our citizens was taking a morning 
 walk, passing through the public streets, he be- 
 held the body of a youth, apparently lifeless, in a 
 front yard. On a nearer examination it was 
 found that he was cold in death. Six wounds 
 had been inflicted by a dirk, and were so deep 
 that probably any one of them would have 
 caused immediate death. A coroner's inquest 
 was called verdict rendered was, " murder com- 
 mitted by the inmates of the adjoining dwelling." 
 The young man was known in the city, had ar- 
 rived from New York a few months previous, 
 and engaged in business with a partner who was 
 considered respectable, but who had introduced 
 him (and led the way) to this house of infamy and 
 death. It was said that he had respectable con- 
 nections. Amiable sisters and a widowed 
 mother, whose hopes centred in him as an only 
 son and brother, and almost their earthly all. 
 The circumstances of his untimely end, were 
 noised through the city, and a multitude were
 
 24 \VOMAN S WORK 
 
 soon collected to view the appalling spectacle. 
 The most indignant feelings were excited by the 
 rehearsal elicited on the trial of the perpetrators 
 of the deed. It seemed there were about thir!y 
 belonging to the establishment. Some had es- 
 caped, others were arrested. The statement 
 given was, that the night had been spent in 
 drunkenness, fighting, and every evil work. Five 
 or six were (by the evidence of the others) im 
 plicated in the murder of the young man, and it 
 was also stated by one of them (in view of being 
 acquitted if she should tell the whole truth) that 
 several had been murdered in the same way, and 
 secreted, during the last two months ! After the 
 criminals were imprisoned for further trial, the 
 mob proceeded to demolish the dwelling they 
 had occupied. Hundreds^had collected and the 
 work of destruction was soon done. Their splen- 
 did furniture was shivered, beds emptied in the 
 streets, etc. From this they proceeded to burn 
 and pull down near a dozen others of similar 
 character, destroying as they went every appur, 
 tenance. Incited by passion and stimulated by 
 the intoxicating draught, they continued in the 
 streets till night, by which time about three 
 hundred wretched beings had been hunted from 
 their abodes of infamy, and turned homeless and 
 friendless upon a world from whom they expect-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2$ 
 
 ed, and in one sense deserved, no pity. As I saw 
 these miserable outcasts hastening in groups 
 towards the suburbs of our city, to seek shelter 
 for the night, and considered what were their 
 present and future prospects, " the sight of the 
 eyes affected the heart." Reflections like the 
 following succeeded each other and awakened 
 emotions too big for utterance. These are fellow 
 beings, fellow immortals ! Who maketh thee to 
 differ ? Time was when they were not thus pol- 
 luted with sin and shame. Probably many of 
 them were the objects of maternal tenderness 
 and care, and excited feelings in the bosom of 
 their parents such as a parent only knows. Time 
 was when they might have been rescued. They 
 have lived in a Christian land, might and should 
 have been placed under Christian influence, but 
 who has cared for their souls ? Perhaps nothing 
 now would effect a reformation. Their case 
 indeed seems almost hopeless. This night will 
 doubtless be one of gloom and wretchedness, but 
 how faint an emblem of that eternal night just 
 before them. Towards these and others of the 
 same class, have the dear church of our Redeem- 
 er done all their duty ? My heart answered, No ! 
 and this solemn truth forced itself upon my mind, 
 ' When the Lord shall make inquisition for blood, 
 he will remember them.' I thought, too, of the
 
 26 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 deluded youth whose melancholy exit had caused 
 ' this day's uproar,' now past redemption, reaping 
 the just reward of his deeds. Is not the individ- 
 ual whose example he followed and who caused 
 him to go astray, is not he, in the eye of Omni- 
 science, guilty of the murder of his soul? Can 
 the heart-wrung widowed mother and bereaved 
 sisters think of him in any other light. He may 
 escape with impunity while on earth, but in that 
 coming day, that all must meet, he may be sure 
 his sin will find him out. * * * * * * 
 
 " A few weeks passed, the cholera came into 
 our midst, and most of these self-destroyed home- 
 less wanderers were swept away by this ' besom 
 of destruction.' They went unpitied and unwept 
 to the assembly of the dead, and their deathless 
 spirits entered unprepared the immediate pres- 
 ence of a holy God.' 
 
 "Should this detail of facts meet the eye of 
 any who are exposed to temptation by the de- 
 vices of the wicked and their own depraved 
 hearts, will they not pause and consider the truth 
 of this solemn declaration, ' The way of the trans- 
 gressor is hard,' and 'the wages of sin is death/" 
 
 St. Louis, May, 1832.
 
 " Consider J^im urba endured sur:h mntradtntiun 
 of sinners against .Himself." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ; 
 
 HUMAN sorrow, sin and woe, 
 Meet us whereso'er we go, 
 Parents, children, young and old, 
 To the tempter's power are sold ; 
 May we from the downward road, 
 Win them to the fold of God ? 
 " Now's the day and now's the hour," 
 Soon the night of death shall lower; 
 What thy hand now finds to do, 
 With thy might the work pursue. 
 
 " OUR work necessarily brings before the 
 mind, human wretchedness and its procuring 
 causes, and we wonder not at the exclamation of 
 the Prophet, ' Oh, that my head were waters and 
 mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep 
 day and night for the slain of the daughter of my 
 people.' " 
 
 A visitor writes : " In entering this field, we 
 confess we were not prepared to believe, that the 
 evils which first aroused the public mind, existed
 
 28 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 so extensively and embodied such an amount of 
 human misery and woe. The fact is, the sum of 
 it has never been told, and will not be, till ' the 
 books are opened/ and ' the dead, small and 
 great, stand before God.' It is not uncommon to 
 find indigent, virtuous families, confined under 
 the same roof with the votaries of crime. They 
 occupy different apartments and consider their 
 circumstances a great affliction but from the 
 necessity that poverty imposes, are unable to pro- 
 cure other tenements." 
 
 Of one, lost from an esteemed and most 
 worthy family, the writer says : " Her honored 
 parents and sisters reside in our immediate neigh- 
 borhood, and as we have met them and looked 
 upon their grief and agony, ' too deep for tears,' 
 we have thought they might well exclaim with 
 one of old, ' Is there any sorrow like unto my 
 sorrow.' Days and nights of weary watching 
 and soul-harrowing suspense have succeeded 
 each other, bringing no relief. There is a breach 
 in their loved circle. At the family altar, a place 
 is vacant. In the family choir a familiar voice is 
 unheard. ' One is not.' Such a solace even as 
 was given to the aged Patriarch, when he saw 
 the coat of many colors, and believed that his 
 favorite son was beyond the power of men more 
 cruel than the beasts of prey, has not been theirs.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 29 
 
 The certainty of death, however terrible, would 
 be even less agonizing, than the fears and fore- 
 bodings that ever and anon clamor in their 
 aching hearts. May the God of the afflicted sus- 
 tain them in this hour of their sorrow, and for- 
 give and bring to deep repentance those who 
 have caused it." 
 
 Words of encouragement from the Press and 
 the ministry, at this period, were not infrequent. 
 Articles sent for publication by the latter often 
 gave an impetus to the work. 
 
 One writes thus : " ' Many daughters have done 
 virtuously.' The Prophetess Deborah did thus. 
 Judges iv. She led in the liberation of feeble and 
 defenceless Israel irom their bondage to Jabin, 
 king of Canaan, wno held them with his seven 
 hundred chariots of iron. Barak, Israel's general, 
 would not lead the people against this enemy, 
 unless Deborah would accompany him. She did 
 so ; and by her counsel and the blessing of God, 
 victory was gained. 
 
 " What agency pious females may have in the 
 latter days, time will decide. 
 
 41 Deborah did virtuously in composing and 
 singing her song at the close of this signal bat- 
 tle; Judges v. a song full of rapture, pious 
 sublimity, and prophetic animation of the people 
 of God, from that day to this, and to the end
 
 3O WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 of the world. The woman who cast a stone 
 upon the head of the tyrant Abimelech, and 
 slew him, Judges ix. did virtuously in de- 
 livering her people. The females in Israel, who 
 dared to celebrate the victory of David over 
 Goliath, in the presence of the envious king, Saul, 
 did virtuously. The women in Judea, who dared 
 to espouse the hated cause of the blessed, perse- 
 cuted Saviour, and ministered to his necessities, 
 did virtuously. Mary, who anointed him, who 
 washed his feet with her tears and wiped them 
 with the hair of her head under the obloquy of 
 men, did virtuously. The blessed female band, 
 who boldly followed him to his crucifixion, and 
 with whom he went on conversing as he bore his 
 cross, calling them ' daughters of Jerusalem,' did 
 virtuously. His disciples forsook him and fled ; 
 but thus did not these daughters of Jerusalem. 
 They stood round the cross, in the tenderest 
 sympathy, while Jesus was dying upon it ; they 
 marked the place of his tomb prepared their 
 spices, and were upon the wing early in the 
 morning after their Sabbath, to embalm his body 
 at the risk of their lives. And Christ made them 
 the first witnesses of his resurrection. And the 
 females of whom Paul said, ' Help those women 
 who labored with me in the gospel,' did virtu- 
 ously. 1 '
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 31 
 
 Another says : " I am a parent. I would soon- 
 er far, see my daughter a lifeless corpse the 
 assassin's dagger plunged to her heart, with the 
 reflection that her soul had departed in peace and 
 innocence, than to see her deceived and ruined, 
 by one who called himself her friend. I go 
 further. Could I have evidence that if her life 
 were spared, such would be her fate, I would 
 pray God to spare me this anguish, by removing 
 her hence by taking her while yet pure from 
 this polluted world to himself. Trust not the 
 the man who would destroy female virtue. He 
 has a villain heart, and whatever may be his pre- 
 tensions, he will not hesitate to abuse your confi- 
 dence and destroy your hopes. In the common 
 business of life, in the social circle, at the ballot 
 box, show this man that while you pity him, you 
 detest, and from your very soul despise his con- 
 duct, and in this way if you do not reform him, 
 you may at least hope to prevent others from 
 pursuing his path of vice. Oh, when I think of 
 our country, and reflect that there is a holy God 
 when I see how his anger burns against sin, 
 and look back upon Sodom, Gomorrah, Tyre, 
 Nineveh, Babylon, Rome, and we might say 
 France, fallen by this wickedness, I tremble for 
 my country. Will not God visit for these 
 things ?"
 
 32 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE PAPER. 
 
 Several instances of recent occurrence have 
 proved, that this little sheet is a terror to evil 
 doers, and the Board have the united testimony 
 of very many, in different parts of the country, 
 that it is exerting a salutary influence. The fol- 
 lowing extract of a letter just received from a 
 student of divinity, is one of many, which might 
 be adduced in proof of this. 
 
 " I know of hundreds who feel that they have 
 been benefitted by the reading of the Advocate. 
 It certainly has been so with me, for I frankly 
 and humbly confess, that formerly my views and 
 feelings on this subject were very erroneous. 
 Your principles are calculated to affect, not 
 merely the practice of individuals, they take hold 
 of the heart of man, and make the crimes he has 
 committed there, rise up, and stare him in the 
 face." 
 
 From the Herald and Journal : " We receive, 
 among our exchanges, the Advocate and Guardian, 
 from New York, and also TJte Friend of Virtue, 
 from Boston. We read them with pleasure and 
 cordially recommend them to the patronage of 
 the community. They are conducted by ladies 
 who abide by the laws of honor and modesty. 
 The Advocate is handsomely printed and wisely 
 conducted to subserve its designs. Success to it."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 33 
 
 " If parents knew the dangers and pitfalls, 
 which were in the path of their sons who go to 
 the city for employment, they would praise God 
 for a warning voice to give premonition and 
 counsel to their beloved children. But city and 
 country are alike scenes of temptation and of cor- 
 ruption to morals ; and we ought to rejoice when- 
 ever the minds of the community are enlightened 
 upon this and kindred subjects. We never ex- 
 pect any reform to be achieved without the use 
 of Bible truths, and every truly-benevolent re- 
 former will take that book as his guide. Such, 
 we rejoice to find is the course pursued by those 
 enlisted in this cause of Reform. God speed 
 them." 
 
 A letter, received from a subscriber, contains 
 the following paragraph. " My father's family 
 all read the Advocate. We have taken it for 
 years, and would sooner part with any other 
 paper, than with this. Blessed have been its 
 effects upon our training. My heart ever rises in 
 gratitude to God when I think of the purity and 
 virtue of my beloved brothers, exposed to the 
 same evils that other young men are, but saved 
 from them by the grace of God. I attribute 
 their salvation, in no small degree, to the sacred 
 influence of this paper upon their youth and in- 
 experience. Its value to me, has been inestima-
 
 34 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ble. When I left my childhood's home for the 
 far south-west utterly ignorant of the world and 
 its snares having been brought up in the 
 strictest seclusion supposing everybody my 
 friend, that professed to be unsuspecting and 
 confiding often when in the greatest danger, 
 would something come to mind that I had read 
 in the Advocate, and I was saved." 
 
 In the progress of the early efforts, cases were 
 numerous where those awakened to their dan- 
 ger, would come tearfully to some member of 
 our band and ask counsel, desire aid or protec- 
 tion, and the Board were greatly surprised to 
 find the amount of Christian work to be. done in 
 this direction. Of course it must be done quiet- 
 ly, and with great prudence and discretion. But 
 existing developments tended none the less to 
 stimulate to effort, and urge home the precept, 
 " What thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might." The paper continued to be an agency 
 of the first importance. The contents of every 
 number were collated carefully, and sent on their 
 mission with prayerful solicitude, while the re- 
 sults expected were usually soon apparent. 
 
 MISSIONARY LABORS. 
 
 The Missionary and Visiting Committees ap- 
 Vointed, continued to labor faithfully among the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 35 
 
 poor and the lost, and the manifest good fruits of 
 these labors were most encouraging. 
 
 From the Portfolio of a Visitor. 
 FAITHFULNESS REWARDED. 
 
 On returning from a weekly lecture one 
 evening, through one of our great thoroughfares, 
 we felt drawn to speak to a young woman, who 
 was walking the street, manifestly for no good 
 purpose. We followed her footsteps, watching 
 for a favorable opportunity to address her. 
 
 It was not long before we discerned among 
 the youths who were passing to and fro, "a 
 young man void of understanding." We saw, 
 too, that he was likely to be taken in her toils. 
 Our hearts ached for them both. One had been 
 tempted, and was now the tempter, the other 
 was being tempted, and in time would be the 
 tempter, and how many souls might be drawn 
 to perdition, through these depraved, moral 
 agencies! Might not each have come from some 
 quiet country home, leaving behind a praying 
 mother. Suppose either of them were our 
 child, how earnestly should we desire, that the 
 stranger Christian should endeavor to win them 
 to the path of purity and peace. As these 
 thoughts passed rapidly through our minds, the 
 girl turned a corner and the desired opportunity
 
 36 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 was presented for conversation in a retired place. 
 But to our surprise she seemed hardened and 
 immovable, showing not the least sign ol tender- 
 ness, till almost in desperation, we put the ques- 
 tion. 
 
 " Have you a mother?" 
 
 That brought the tears and she replied 
 tremblingly, 
 
 " Yes, and she is a good Christian woman." 
 
 " And her heart is breaking over you," we 
 added. 
 
 " Yes," was the answer, " she is praying for 
 me night and day." 
 
 " And will you go on in your dreadful course 
 in spite of the prayers of such a mother? Oh, 
 if you do, what a condemnation will be yours !" 
 
 She sobbed out, " Well, I can't help it, I have 
 got where I can't go back." 
 
 " No, poor child," we said, " no sinner is 
 ever where he can't go back, if he will only re- 
 pent and forsake sin. Would you go to your 
 mother, if you could ?" 
 
 " Yes, but she is a poor woman and has to 
 work for her living." 
 
 " Perhaps you could help her." 
 
 " No, I should only be looked down upon 
 there." 
 
 " Well, what better off are you here ? You
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 37 
 
 are looked down upon here, even by your com- 
 panions in vice. But, if you were to change 
 your course, there would be those that would 
 pity and help you, just as we are willing to do. 
 Would you object to giving us your mother's 
 address, and allowing us to write her?" 
 
 The address was given, the letter written and 
 the next mail brought a reply that would have 
 moved a heart of stone. Some difficulty was 
 experienced in getting the letter before the 
 daughter. The vile harpy, in whose net she had 
 been taken, finding that she was likely to escape, 
 had removed her to another place, where she 
 was kept in seclusion, and we were denied ad- 
 mittance. By a little strategy, however, the 
 thing was accomplished, and as soon as the ne- 
 cessary arrangements could be made, she was 
 again safely sheltered in the maternal fold. 
 
 Some two years after, being providentially in 
 that vicinity, we called upon the mother. Her 
 home was humble, but neat and cosy, and there 
 sat the daughter, " clothed and in her right 
 mind," but evidently sinking in consumption. 
 
 The gratitude of that mother, was beyond the 
 power of language to express, and the meek, 
 satisfied expression on the face of the daughter, 
 was ample reward for all the labor bestowed up- 
 on her. She spoke with diffidence of her hope
 
 38 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 in Christ, but her modest and simple manner 
 such a contrast to that which characterized her 
 at our first meeting showed that she was sitting 
 at the feet of the Master. 
 
 The filling up of this outline would occupy 
 too much space ; the efforts required to bring 
 about the desired result ran along through 
 several months. 
 
 A SISTER'S GRIEF. 
 
 - A Christian woman called to request that we 
 would make an effort in behalf of her sister, who 
 had been enticed into a suspicious house, and 
 would not listen to the remonstrances of friends. 
 After uniting in prayer for God's blessing, 
 we took the sister for a guide, and proceeded to 
 the house. It was a long way off, across one of 
 the city ferries. The sister, after designating the 
 place, went back and waited near the ferry for 
 our return. On arriving at the house, and in- 
 quiring for the person in question, we were 
 shown into the parlor and almost immediately 
 confronted by the mistress of the establishment. 
 She demanded to know what business we had 
 with the girl, saying that she was in her care and 
 it was her duty to know who called upon her 
 and why. In reply, we stated that we could 
 deliver our errand to no one, but to the young
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 39 
 
 woman herself, that if she chose, she might re- 
 main in the room, but it was only with the young 
 girl that we had to do. Finding us resolute, she 
 sent the girl in, and followed herself almost 
 immediately. We determined that her presence 
 should be no interruption to our conversation, 
 and no barrier to our faithfulness. We labored 
 earnestly to put before this young woman the 
 injury she was doing to herself by remaining un- 
 der such influences, and the imperative need 
 there was to withdraw herself at once, before a 
 stain should be attached to her reputation and 
 perhaps her character really suffer. 
 
 We plied her with persuasion and arguments 
 utterly unmindful of the derisive remarks and 
 the scornful laugh of the woman, who sat as a 
 listener. We reminded her that there were 
 those who laughed now, who when it was too 
 late, would mourn and weep, and begged her not 
 to let the revilings of that misguided woman, 
 drive her from the path of virtue, away from 
 peace and God. She gave respectful attention, 
 but we could see that she did not wish to com- 
 mit herself in the presence of one whose tongue 
 was a sharp sword. 
 
 Before we left, we made a strong appeal to 
 the poor woman herself, urging her to retrace 
 her steps and choose the better way. She
 
 4o WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 seemed softened and we were convinced that at 
 least she would throw no obstacles in the way of 
 her whose soul we came to seek. Not many 
 days after, we had the satisfaction of hearing 
 that the effort had been blessed, and that the 
 young woman was safe ; n the house of her 
 friends. 
 
 A CHILD RESCUED. 
 
 
 
 A Christian mother, living at service in a 
 Christian family, heard that her daughter, a 
 thoughtless girl of sixteen, who was also at 
 service, had left her place and gone into the 
 house of her whose feet go down to death. 
 Word was sent to the Society's rooms, with an 
 earnest request that the ladies would take up the 
 matter. No time was to be lost, and the writer 
 was appointed to the duty. Prayer was offered, 
 and taking with us a Christian friend, we started 
 upon our mission, strong in Him, who said, " If 
 ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed," &c. 
 
 Our first call was upon the mother, to ascer- 
 tain all the facts in the case. These she gave us 
 amid many tears and sobs. The girl had always 
 been headstrong. The mother had yielded too 
 much, perhaps, but she had been afraid that too 
 great restraint would drive the child farther 
 from her. Fondness for dress, display and com-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 4! 
 
 pany had lured her step by step, into the way of 
 the wicked. She was dazzled with the glare and 
 tinsel at the entrance of the path, she did not see 
 the end. " Oh," said the mother, " if you could 
 only save her ! I cannot reward you, I have no 
 means of doing it, but my heart will thank you 
 forever." 
 
 Time was precious. We said to the mother, 
 " Go to the corner store at - , and wait till you 
 hear from us, lifting up your heart in prayer to 
 God." We then proceeded to the house indica- 
 ted and asked for the woman who kept it. We 
 were shown into the back parlor and in a few 
 moments, the woman smiling and bland, entered. 
 We made known our errand. She allowed that 
 the girl was there, and she was very glad we had 
 come for her, because it was against her princi- 
 ples to permit any young girl to take her first 
 wrong steps in her house ! We asked to see her, 
 and after a short conversation, she expressed her- 
 self quite willing to go with us. While she was 
 making herself ready, we conversed with the 
 woman, and were amazed to find that she justi- 
 fied her business by much the same arguments 
 that the liquor dealer uses, in support of his in- 
 iquitous traffic. If she did not do it, some one 
 else would ; she had a family to support, &c. 
 We spoke some very plain truths from the Word
 
 42 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 of God. But judge of our farther astonisnment, 
 when she said, in the blandest manner, " You 
 misunderstand me, ladies, I am a respectable 
 woman. I simply keep a boarding house. I 
 have two daughters at boarding school in the 
 country, and I intend to close up my business 
 here, before they are old enough to go into 
 society, and give my whole attention to them, as 
 every good mother should do." Much more she 
 said in the same strain. It really seemed as if 
 the arch adversary had outdone himself in her 
 case. She ended with, " I do the best I can 
 for my girls. I am always glad to have Chris- 
 tians visit them and try to do them good." 
 
 " TOO LATE ! " 
 
 " There is a young woman sick upstairs and 
 near her end, will you walk up and see her." 
 
 We did so, and there, in a room where every- 
 thing was pleasantly and tastefully arranged, lay 
 a young woman of apparently about twenty-five 
 years of age, the lamp of life just glimmering in 
 its socket. 
 
 Some half dozen of her companions stood 
 around silent and thoughtful. We spoke of Him 
 Avho gave His life a ransom for us, but, oh, the 
 despairing expression on the wan countenance of 
 the poor sufferer, as she replied with a voice
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 43 
 
 husky in death, " Too late ! too late !" We 
 spoke of the eleventh hour, of the thief on the 
 cross, but despair had settled upon the soul and 
 we painfully realized the truth 
 
 "Those holy gates forever bar 
 Pollution, sin and shame." 
 
 After prayer at her bedside, we uttered some 
 words of warning to the sorrowful group who 
 stood around, but with what effect we shall never 
 know until the books are opened. 
 
 On going down, we found the young girl 
 waiting for us, and we felt that the recital of the 
 scene we had just witnessed had stripped such a 
 life of its attractions and opened up to her the 
 bitter end. 
 
 With great joy we handed her over to her 
 mother and in less than a year had the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that she was respectably mar- 
 ried and settled. 
 
 Mrs. Margaret Prior, our first Missionary in 
 this forbidding field, was peculiary fitted to do 
 good. As her memoir and " Walks of Useful- 
 ness," have been published by the Society and 
 widely circulated, reaching nineteen editions, the 
 reader is referred to that work for a full record 
 of her labors of love. Others followed in her 
 steps, partaking largely of her spirit. 
 
 Committees were also sent abroad during
 
 44 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 successive seasons. From their reports of visits 
 to auxiliaries, etc., we extract the following. 
 
 Sept., 1836. 
 
 " Since leaving New York, the I2th of July, 
 we have visited a portion of five of the New Eng- 
 land states ; have met with ladies of fifteen differ- 
 ent associations. We have witnessed the zeal of 
 many of our sisters in this field of Christian enter- 
 prise and the success that has attended their 
 efforts. They have had to contend with the 
 same obstacles as the Parent Board, only on a 
 smaller scale, in many cases not less trying or 
 difficult to be surmounted. 
 
 " We have obtained in subscriptions and dona- 
 tions, between $100 and $200, have engaged a 
 number of ladies of talent, to send us articles 
 occasionally for our paper. Have been present 
 and aided at the formation of eight new auxiliary 
 societies ; have also left constitutions, written or 
 printed, for more than twice that number, with 
 encouragement from ladies to whom they were 
 given, that they would go forward and en- 
 deavor to accomplish what we had left undone." 
 
 Again : 
 To the 'Board of the N. Y. F. M. R. Society. 
 
 NEW YORK, Nov. ist, 1837. 
 " Dear Sisters, In compliance with your
 
 AMOX(; THE LOWLY. 45 
 
 wishes, we present a written report of our late 
 visits to Auxiliaries. 
 
 " A cordial reception and much kindness have 
 met us at almost every step. We have been ab- 
 sent sixty-six days, instead of five or six weeks, as 
 at first intended, and during that time have met 
 with thirty-six Auxiliaries, and assisted in organ- 
 izing eight. 
 
 " Friends have essentially aided us in different 
 places, by providing means of conveyance, and 
 accompanying us in our visits, or in some way 
 laying out our work for us, so as to facilitate our 
 plans. 
 
 " The places visited are chiefly in the counties 
 of Herkimer, Oneida, Lewis, Jefferson, Oswego, 
 Onondaga and Otsego. We visited a number of 
 small villages where Societies are organized, 
 more with a view to encourage the few whose 
 hearts are enlisted, than with the expectation of 
 deriving aid for the Parent Society ; and in 
 every such instance were amply repaid. The 
 depth of feeling that was manifested, the fervent 
 prayers, the hearty and united ' vote of thanks,' 
 returned to the Parent Board, and in some in- 
 stances the special effort, that was made to raise 
 funds, left an impression that will not soon be 
 effaced." 
 
 The faithful appeals of the Advocate to
 
 46 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 parents and teachers continued to arrest atten- 
 tion and inquiry far and wide, and heart-breathed 
 responses were returned from friends near and 
 distant, showing that this labor was not in vain 
 in the Lord. 
 
 HOUSE OF RECEPTION. 
 
 For some length of time, at an early period of 
 the work, the Society sustained a hired house in 
 Waverly Place, where those professing a purpose 
 to reform were received, and inducements offered 
 for future well-doing. 
 
 Truth impels us to say that in this effort the 
 results were not satisfactory, and the impression 
 became general that from ten to fifty of the ex- 
 posed might be prevented from falling by the 
 same amount of labor often required in the 
 permanent rescue of even one from the moral 
 depths. 
 
 The organized measures for a. work of pre- 
 vention were successful and promising. And, as 
 the Ladies' Benevolent Society had opened an 
 Asylum for this class it was soon decided to 
 leave this portion of the field to their care, send- 
 ing to them and to similar institutions opened in 
 other cities, such hopeful cases as might come to 
 our knowledge. 
 
 From this time onward the labors of this So-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 47 
 
 ciety were directed mainly to the rescue of the 
 children, and those of larger growth, who might 
 be shielded from temptation and wrong by ma- 
 ternal and Christian influence. And here the 
 work steadily increased upon their hands. 
 
 In the Annual Statement of the third year, we 
 find there were connected with the Society, 226 
 Auxiliaries, and of this number 108 had been 
 formed within the last year. About 15,000 ladies 
 were connected with these Societies, all pledged 
 to the great principles advocated. The import- 
 ance of associations like these, bound to this 
 Society and to each other, by the strongest of all 
 ties, the love of Christ, cannot easily be estimat- 
 ed. They afforded pecuniary aid, which was 
 greatly needed to carry forward the plans of the 
 Society, and which could not be relied on, if left 
 to individual, unorganized effort. The moral in- 
 fluence, too, which they exerted, was highly sal- 
 utary and indispensable to the success of the en- 
 terprise. 
 
 LIFE MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 The report states further, since the adoption 
 of the plan of life-memberships by the Board 
 a few months since, ten have been received, most 
 of them bv their own contributions, and one or
 
 48 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 two by the liberality of others. Two female 
 Missionaries are now employed by the Board, 
 instead of those of the other sex, as at first, who> 
 go out singly or together, distribute papers and 
 tracts in the poor families where they visit, and 
 converse and pray with their inmates as oppor- 
 tunity may be offered. This change seemed 
 called for, by the exigencies of the case, and the 
 experiment has thus far succeeded beyond our 
 most sanguine expectations. These ladies can 
 gain access where other missionaries would be 
 entirely shut out, and their influence, like the 
 dew on the thirsty earth, is not the less beneficial 
 because unseen and unnoticed by the world. * * 
 
 The acknowledged object of this Society is 
 prevention. One means recently adopted to 
 secure this end, is the attempt to assist the virtu- 
 ous and deserving, in their efforts at self-support 
 and moral elevation. It is well known that 
 hundreds who may be denominated the " father- 
 less and the orphan," are in the midst of us, with- 
 out friends to protect them from the havoc that 
 is made by those who " lie in wait to destroy." 
 To extend the hand of kindness and Christian 
 friendship to such, is an object that must com- 
 mend itself to all. The Society have, therefore, 
 opened a Registry, for the purpose of recording 
 the names of those who merit the patronage of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 49 
 
 the good, and adopted measures that will enable 
 them to render assistance in cases of need. The 
 Board feel that this effort is an appropriate part 
 of their work, and one that promises much good. 
 
 RESULTS OF EARLY LABORS. 
 
 Again, referring to the missionary work of the 
 year following, it is stated that among those 
 visited eighteen impenitent sinners have, as we 
 trust, been brought from darkness into light, a 
 new song put into their mouths, in consequence 
 of these visits, and many more cases of good done 
 have come under the observation of the visitors, 
 the results of which will not be known in this 
 world. More than two hundred children have 
 been gathered from the lowest haunts, most of 
 whom have been clothed and placed in the Sab- 
 bath-school, and in repeated instances, their 
 degraded parents have been induced, by the 
 voice of kindness and compassion, to go to the 
 house of God. None but those who have passed 
 through the lanes and alleys of a crowded 
 city, and witnessed the poverty, the filth, the 
 utter degradation, which the outcasts of hu- 
 manity who herd together there exhibit, can 
 appreciate the sacrifice of feeling demanded by 
 these efforts.
 
 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 ANNIVERSARY HYMN. 
 
 BY MRS. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 PARENT ! who with speechless feeling, 
 
 O'er thy cradled treasure bent, 
 Every year new claims revealing, 
 
 Yet thy wealth of love unspent 
 Hast thou seen that blossom blighted, 
 
 By a drear, untimely frost ; 
 And thy labors unrequited? 
 
 Every glorious promise lost ? 
 
 Wife ! with agony unspoken, 
 
 Shrinking from affliction's rod, 
 Is thy prop, thine idol broken 
 
 Fondly trusted next to God ? 
 Husband ! o'er thy hope a mourner, 
 
 Of thy chosen friend ashamed, 
 Hast thou to her burial borne her, 
 
 Unrelenting unreclaimed ? 
 
 Child ! in tender Weakness turning 
 
 To thy heaven-appointed guide, 
 Doth a lava-poison burning, 
 
 Tinge with gall affection's tide? 
 Still that orphan-burden bearing, 
 
 Darker than the grave can show, 
 Dost thou bow thee down despairing, 
 
 To a heritage of woe ? 
 
 Country ! on thy sons depending, 
 
 Strong in manhood, bright in bloom, 
 Hast thou seen thy pride descending 
 
 Shrouded to th' unhonored tomb? 
 Rise ! on eagle pinion soaring 
 
 Rise ! like one of God-like birth 
 And Jehovah's aid imploring, 
 
 Sweep the spoiler from the earth.
 
 CHAPTER ITT. 
 
 " Ho, all who labor, all who strive ! 
 
 Ye wield a lofty power; 
 Do with your might, do with your strength. 
 
 Fill every golden hour! 
 The glorious privilege to do 
 
 Is man's most noble dower. 
 O, to your birthright and yourselves, 
 
 To your own souls be true ! 
 A weary, wretched life is theirs 
 
 Who have no work to do. 
 
 C. F. ORNE. 
 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 At the Fourth Anniversary of the Society the 
 number of its Auxiliaries had increased to three 
 hundred and sixty-one, extending from Maine to 
 Georgia, with an aggregate membership of 
 several thousand. 
 
 An average of 19,000 copies of the Advocate 
 and Guardian were issued semi-monthly, and
 
 52 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 some 5,000 copies of An appeal to Wives, Mothers 
 and Daughters, and the same number of a tract 
 entitled The Guardian, had been issued and dis- 
 tributed. 
 
 At the Annual meeting, delegates were 
 present from thirty-three different towns and 
 cities, and from eight different states. Some nine 
 hundred ladies, in all, were present. 
 
 Those connected with the Society and its 
 Auxiliaries were pledged anew to treat the guilty 
 alike, irrespective of sex ; to labor for and guard 
 the young with Christian fidelity, to pray united- 
 ly for the suppression of vice, and the universal 
 prevalence of " whatsoever things are pure, love- 
 ly and of good report ;" also to sustain and 
 encourage all well-directed measures to this end. 
 
 During the ensuing year, the same general 
 and specific plans and efforts were continued with 
 similar results as the preceding. 
 
 The paper was well sustained, and still sent 
 forth its notes of warning and encouragement. 
 Topics of practical interest to the well-being ot 
 individuals and community at large, continued to 
 be discussed in every number. One hundred 
 and twelve new Life-Members were received, 
 and eighty-four new Societies formed, making 
 the number of* Auxiliaries four hundred and 
 fortv-five.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. ' 53 
 
 LABORS IN THE TOMBS. 
 
 It was during this year that the attention of 
 the visitors, of whom the sainted Margaret Prior 
 was specially influential, began to be directed to 
 mission-work in the House of Detention, or city 
 prison. 
 
 As their visits were encouraged, and greatly 
 needed, they were continued weekly ; and soon, 
 by permission and the gifts of friends, they were 
 enabled to place there a small library of religious 
 books for the use of the prisoners, which were 
 read with avidity. 
 
 During this year several thousand signatures 
 were obtained to a petition to the Legislature 
 and duly forwarded, praying that penal enact- 
 ments might be made for the suppression of vice, 
 and the same measure was repeated during thr 
 successive years till the prayer was granted. 
 
 CHANGE OF NAME. 
 
 At the Annual meeting held in May, 1839, in 
 the Spring-street church, a large number being 
 present,' the Constitution was amended, substitut- 
 ing American for New York in the name of the 
 Society ; as now, having Auxiliaries in most of 
 the States, it had become more a national than 
 a state Society.
 
 54 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 FIRST SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 The first Semi-Annual meeting was held in 
 Utica, on Wednesday and Thursday, the i8th and 
 i pth of September, 1839, a * the Bethel church, 
 and was largely attended. It is thus described 
 by one of its officers present: "This meeting 
 has been one of deep and thrilling interest, and 
 will not soon be forgotten by those who, though 
 long fellow-laborers in this great cause, have for 
 the first time seen each other's faces, and poured 
 out their hearts together before God. The ut- 
 most harmony and union of feeling have charac- 
 terized all the proceedings, and as we looked 
 around and saw the intelligence, and piety, and 
 moral worth that was assembled there, and 
 listened to the discussion of subjects of practical 
 importance, while every one was manifestly seek- 
 ing to know and do her duty, we could not but 
 feel that the most determined opposer of ' wo- 
 men's meetings/ would have found nothing to 
 censure had he been present. There has been no 
 frivolity, no fanaticism, no disorder. We are 
 sure that not a Avife or mother was there, who 
 was not at least as well disposed and prepared to 
 discharge her relative duties at the close of the 
 meeting, as she would have been if she had kept 
 at home.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. . 55 
 
 " We must now leave this delightful spot, and 
 go out again to our different spheres and depart- 
 ments of labor. But we go with the sweet 
 remembrance of what we have felt and enjoyed, 
 strengthening our souls, and nerving us for 
 farther effort. We go, more than ever sensible 
 of our entire dependence on the Spirit of God 
 for guidance and success, and yet realizing more 
 than ever how cheering Christian sympathy and 
 counsel are to those who are engaged in this 
 arduous warfare. We thank God for all the 
 encouragement derived from this source, and 
 trust him to guide our way amid the darkness of 
 the future. Whatever trials are in store for us, 
 we pray that we may be found faithful unto 
 death, and that neither we, nor any of the be- 
 loved band, with whom we count it an honor to 
 be associated, may ever be left to dishonor or 
 desert our principles." 
 
 Among other measures, a Saturday evening 
 concert of prayer was appointed at this meeting, 
 to be observed unitedly, in the closet, in behalf 
 of the objects of the Association. 
 
 THE FIELD ENLARGED. 
 
 At the close of the several years, from 1840 to 
 1846, the Society was still able to report pro- 
 gress. A Bethel Missionary had been employed
 
 56 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 to labor among seamen, visiting Committees of 
 women had been untiring in their efforts. The 
 publications of the Society had been increased 
 and widely disseminated. Many new Auxiliaries 
 had been formed, and several hundred Life- 
 Members added to our list. An improved 
 public sentiment all abroad was quite apparent. 
 
 More than a million pages of tracts, adapted 
 to benefit the various classes for whom they were 
 designed, had been distributed, and two hundred 
 and eighty-eight thousand copies of their semi- 
 monthly periodical put in circulation. 
 
 Changes and modifications in the field of labor 
 were in some cases found expedient. Experience 
 was gained, foundations laid, materials gathered, 
 convictions deepened, and leaven set at work. 
 The dissemination of truth, and united prayer, 
 were still regarded as the most reliable and effec- 
 tive agencies. The large correspondence sus- 
 tained with Auxiliaries and Life-Members, etc., 
 had elicited a wider interchange of views, and an 
 increase of sympathy and active co-operation, 
 and notwithstanding obstacles and embarrass- 
 ments, the work had been pursued with fidelity. 
 
 Thanks be to grace, that in the darkest days, 
 their consolations in the Lord had often abound- 
 ed, and when He permitted them to lead the 
 friendless, desolate, or homeless ones, far away
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 57 
 
 from the yawning gulf that was opening to re- 
 ceive them, and, instrumentally, to change their 
 earthly and immortal destinies, joy unspeakable 
 gladdened their hearts, and the happiness thus 
 afforded, compensated a thousand-fold for aught 
 they had done or suffered. Their work of this 
 description had more than doubled, and rendered 
 obvious the necessity of enlarged operations. 
 
 A PERIOD OF TRIAL. 
 
 An unexpected trial had twice been met, the 
 first occasioned by discharging an influential, but 
 untrustworthy individual, who in seeking em- 
 ployment in our office, furnished credentials 
 deemed reliable, but who proved destitute of 
 right principles. A second, and far more trying 
 ordeal, finally passed in safety, arose from divided 
 counsels relative to certain measures, deemed 
 wise and expedient by the large majority ot the 
 Managers, but were strongly opposed by a small 
 minority, who, in the sequel withdrew, formed a 
 new Society, started a new paper, both short- 
 lived, diverted our funds from their legitimate 
 use, created discord, to a limited extent, among 
 those long united, and occasioned for the time, 
 much annoyance, sorrow and embarrassment. 
 
 In the sequel, through agencies directed by 
 an over-ruling Providence, the right was made 
 ' 3*
 
 58 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 clear as the noon-day, and the work was not 
 seriously or permanently 'retarded. 
 
 Its true friends maintained the even tenor of 
 their way, and in the review of a long and severe 
 struggle, were able to say with humble gratitude, 
 " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 
 
 In meeting and overcoming both the trials 
 above named, and maturing new and improved 
 business arrangements, the Board were specially 
 indebted to the kind aid and wise counsels of 
 Messrs. Lewis Tappan, E. W. Chester, Esq., S. 
 W. Benedict, L. W. Gilbert and Daniel Fanshaxv, 
 each and all of whom are now gone to the better 
 land. 
 
 Gratefully remembered in life, sincerely 
 mourned in death, their memory, with that of 
 those who were afterward alike ready-helpers, 
 should be cherished by this Society till its last 
 beneficiary is aided, and its last work finished. 
 
 PRISON MATRONS SECURED. 
 
 During this period the city authorities were 
 petitioned to place matrons in the City Prison 
 and at Blackwell's Island. With commendable 
 promptness the request was granted. Two 
 women, well adapted to the office, were appointed 
 to take charge of the female prisoners, in the 
 former place, and other improvements were
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 59 
 
 made in its management. At Blackwell's Island 
 the visitors availed themselves of the advantages 
 thus afforded, and expended much time and ef- 
 fort in labors for the prisoners. A weekly 
 prayer-meeting was sustained. A meeting also 
 held on the Sabbath ; and a Sabbath-school put 
 in successful operation. By these means cases 
 requiring special attention were soon known. 
 There were committed in this department the 
 first ten months after the matrons were appoint- 
 ed, two thousand nine hundred and seventy-three. 
 By far the greater proportion of this number 
 had been wanderers from virtue, in the early or 
 more advanced stages of a downward course, 
 and then habitual intoxication or some breach of 
 law introduced them to bolts and bars. Some 
 are also sent there temporarily, through circum- 
 stances beyond their control, who have been 
 guilty of no crime. Several of this class, when 
 discharged have been boarded for a time till they 
 could be sent to their friends, and some have had 
 situations provided for them by the Society. 
 Four matrons were also appointed in the Hospi- 
 tal and Penitentiary. 
 
 In the Annual Statement at the close of the 
 first decade, we find : 
 
 " During the year sixty-three children, chiefly
 
 60 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 between the ages of one and eight years, were 
 given to the Society, and fifty-four have been 
 provided with homes in Christian families. With 
 very few exceptions they have been adopted by 
 those who have taken them, and it spared will be 
 educated for usefulness. No other door being 
 opened, in many cases members of the Society 
 received them for weeks and months into 
 their own families, and felt it a privilege to 
 gather them with their own precious flock 
 around the domestic altar. Several of these 
 desolate little ones were commended to the care 
 of the Board by the officers of the city prison. 
 They were left there, like scores of others to be 
 fed and sheltered, till transferred elsewhere, and 
 came under the observation of the visitors, at 
 their stated weekly meetings in the Female De- 
 partment. In nearly every case they have been 
 either orphans or half orphans, and in most 
 instances the former have been less objects of 
 compassion than the latter. 
 
 Some among the mothers who chose to resign 
 their children to the care of the Society, were 
 respectably connected, had once been much 
 esteemed, but having forfeited all claim to re- 
 spect, parted with their little ones, that they 
 might be saved, by right training, from a life of 
 vice. One scene witnessed, where sin had near-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 6 1 
 
 ly obliterated the bonds of nature in the parent's 
 heart, was more affecting than death. The little 
 girl, with all the simplicity and love of early 
 childhood, clung to her poor lost mother, and 
 with streaming eyes and suppressed sobs, took 
 leave of her to go with strangers, while the 
 mother coolly put her away from her forever, 
 saying she " did it for her good " she must 
 either give up her chosen course of life, or give 
 up her child, and she preferred the latter! Here 
 was an illustration of the power of sin such as 
 those mothers who beheld it would 
 
 " Hope in God, 
 They ne'er may see again." 
 
 This woman had been a member of a Chris- 
 tian church, was intelligent, and capable of being 
 an ornament to society. She had restrained 
 prayer, given her heart to the world and its 
 follies, and found herself a captive to the Prince 
 of darkness. 
 
 There has been a striking contrast between 
 mothers of this class and those who have been 
 compelled by sickness or dire necessity to make 
 a similar sacrifice. The Society would in no case 
 encourage the sundering of parental ties, unless a 
 determined course of vice or such extreme des- 
 titution as might prompt to it, is known to exist. 
 But in relation to the scores of children they are
 
 62 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 now aiding from year to year, the strong proba- 
 bility has been, that, left uncared for, their young 
 feet would have been led in the way to death, 
 that destitution, misery and crime, would have 
 attended them here, and the Christian's blessed 
 hope, have shed no light on life's last hour. The 
 Society, as such, have done for them what they 
 could, and those families who have received them 
 as their own, are doing for them far more. The 
 fact that it has been put into the hearts of so 
 many heads of families to receive these mute 
 pleaders for sympathy, with open arms, is cause 
 for the deepest gratitude. True benevolence 
 has been shown by the friends of this Association 
 in many ways, but never in a higher sense than 
 in this department. Among the many kind 
 families, who have offered to receive these little 
 ones, three might be mentioned, who have each 
 offered to adopt two instead of one. And one of 
 these, to whom two have recently been commit- 
 ted, responded to the appeal in the Advocate of 
 March ist, with the caption, 'Who will imitate 
 the departed Margaret Prior ?' and have received 
 the little cripple there alluded to, to nurse and 
 rear for heaven. Let the name of Christ be 
 magnified that He gives to any of His dear 
 people thus largely of His own Spirit."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 63 
 
 HYMN, 
 
 Written for the Anniversary of the American Female 
 Guardian Society, May ij, 1846. 
 
 BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 YE who have never wept, 
 
 To learn the lessons drear, 
 That iron-handed Penury gives, 
 
 Amid her school severe, 
 
 Remember those who bear, 
 
 Unpitied and unblest, 
 The famine paleness on their brow, 
 
 The toil-mark on their breast. 
 
 Ye who were never swept 
 
 By billows bold and high, 
 Down to those dread abysses where 
 
 Both soul and body die, 
 
 Remember those who reel 
 
 Upon the slippery verge, 
 And snatch them from temptation's power, 
 
 And from the whelming surge ; 
 
 So shall your blessed deeds 
 
 The wanderer to restore, 
 Survive and blossom, when ye tread 
 
 This clouded earth no more.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INCIDENTS FROM THE FIRST DECADE. 
 Sinned Against more than Sinning. 
 
 AT home or away in the alley or street, 
 Wherever I chance in this wide world to meet 
 A girl that is thoughtless, or boy that is wild, 
 My heart echoes softly, " 'Tis some mother's child." 
 No matter how far from the right she hath strayed, 
 No matter what inroads dishonor hath made ; 
 No matter what elements cankered the pearl 
 Though tarnished and sullied, she is some mother's girl. 
 
 FRANCIS L. KEELER. 
 
 We break our historic sketch just here to in- 
 sert a few cases among the many, noted at the 
 time of their occurrence, and now recalled by the 
 review of these far-gone years. Each has lessons 
 of its own, suggestive of the importance of ma- 
 ternal effort for the exposed and friendless, 
 specially within the age and circumstances of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 65 
 
 temptation. May each bear the plea to the 
 Christian heart, " Save one." 
 
 " Teacher, will you come to see my mother, 
 and ask her to let me live with you ?" 
 
 " Why, would you like to leave your home, 
 Minnie." 
 
 " O, ma'am, my mother gets so tight, and the 
 baby cries so, and we're hungry and cold, and I'd 
 like to go away somewhere, I would." The 
 tearful face and earnest tones followed the kind 
 teacher in the house and by the way, and within 
 a day or two she stood by little Minnie, in the 
 miscalled home, where mother and children and 
 their repulsive surroundings told of the moral 
 wreck, strong drink, had made. 
 
 Mrs. K. was at length induced to let the 
 teacher find a place for Minnie, who trusting to a 
 fair report of a family of good standing, wanting 
 such a child, made an arrangement in her behalf. 
 For months after this her face was bright and 
 hopeful. She was scarce eleven years of age, 
 naturally amiable, very efficient and pleasing in 
 looks and manners. 
 
 A CHILD LOST. 
 
 The teacher felt the responsibility of her 
 assumed guardianship, and called occasionally to 
 see her ward, and learn of her well-doing. She
 
 66 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 was always well reported, and apparently a 
 special favorite in the family. Thus the months 
 sped on, till some time after Minnie had passed 
 her thirteenth birthday. Calling again as usual, 
 requesting to see her, the teacher was told that 
 she had gone they knew not where. Different 
 members of the household were questioned, and 
 from some the answers were equivocal, indicat- 
 ing an inexcusable reserve, and awakening sus- 
 picion of existing wrong. 
 
 " I must know who has taken Minnie away, 
 and where she has gone," urged the teacher on a 
 second call. " I surely have her confidence, she 
 would not have left of her own accord without 
 my knowledge." 
 
 " Better wait till she returns, before making 
 an ado about it," said the head of the household, 
 a man nearly forty, from whom as a husband and 
 father, a different expression might have been ex- 
 pected. But reasoning or persuasion were alike 
 unavailing. Deson became offended, and not 
 only uttered angry words, but followed the 
 departure of the teacher with the sudden report 
 of a revolver, so near as to cause fear, not only 
 of a purpose to intimidate, but of real danger. 
 
 AID SOUGHT. 
 
 Conscious that she could do no more without
 
 AM<>\<; THE LOWLY. 67 
 
 aid, she appealed to the A. F. G. Society for 
 counsel and assistance. The case was made 
 known to two reliable policemen, who had given 
 us effectual assistance, at other times, and who 
 agreed to take the matter iri hand, and find 
 Minnie, if among the living. 
 
 They were soon impressed by the combina- 
 tion of circumstances developed, that Deson 
 knew the whereabouts of the poor child, and was 
 implicated in her abduction. He denied the im- 
 putation indignantly, and denounced with threats 
 a Society who should dare to place detectives on 
 his track, impugn his motives, disturb the peace 
 of his worthy family, and all because a poor 
 pauper girl had chosen to place herself among 
 the missing ! The detectives were not deterred 
 from their duty, and notwithstanding his pro- 
 testations, were more and more persuaded, that 
 he had matured a dark plot, that he was striving 
 to hide from the light. 
 
 PAINFUL SUSPENSE. 
 
 Six weeks of painful suspense had intervened 
 since Minnie had been seen. The officers of 
 the law, with plans well matured, finally deter- 
 mined to arrest the supposed culprit, and com- 
 pel disclosure. They had him brought to a 
 private room in the Tombs at evening, and then
 
 68 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and there, gave him their impressions of his 
 guilt, assuring him that he could not now leave 
 their custody, till he revealed the hiding-place 
 of Minnie, and returned her to the Society, who 
 had employed them to protect her. Seeing that 
 persistent denials were unavailing, and that the 
 purpose of the officers was fixed, at length he 
 proposed a compromise. If they would allow 
 him to go home, wait till morning, and not expose 
 him to his wife, or otherwise, he would then pro- 
 duce the girl. 
 
 NO ALTERNATIVE. 
 
 He was told this could not be. That he must 
 go at once with one of the officers and produce 
 her, and that on no other conditions, could he be 
 discharged, even for an hour. Seeing no alterna- 
 tive, he consented. A carriage was brought 
 which he entered with a detective, who directed 
 the driver where to go. Within the next two 
 hours, they had threaded the most forbidding 
 portions of the city, and in a distant, unfrequent- 
 ed section, ascended dark rear stairways to a 
 lonely attic, aroused the timid victim of Deson's 
 fatal wiles, and placed her in the carriage, which 
 was driven rapidly back to the Tombs, where, 
 in charge of the matron, she remained during the 
 small hours of the night.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 69 
 
 RESCUE REPORTED. 
 
 Her rescue had been reported, and the early 
 morning found us beside the couch of this poor, 
 stricken child of sin and sorrow. She could 
 scarce see for weeping, but was reticent and si- 
 lent. A temporary abiding place and kindly 
 care were soon provided. The facts and aims of 
 her abduction were fully elicited. She had 
 passed as the wife of Deson, under the assumed 
 name of Mrs. Brown, in the rooms he had leased 
 for her concealment, believing his assurance that 
 he would have the tie made legal so soon as the 
 expected death of his wife should permit. By 
 consummate, long-continued artifice, he had fully 
 won her affections, and helped her to build air- 
 castles for coming time that were to perish in an 
 hour. A child of fourteen, an expectant mother, 
 without friends or home, a stigma upon her 
 good name the outlook for her future was dark 
 indeed. 
 
 A SUIT COMMENCED. 
 
 Her abductor had the means to make some 
 pecuniary reparation, but refused to do so. A 
 suit for damages was therefore commenced by 
 the Society in the Supreme Court. A retired 
 place of protection found for Minnie, and Deson 
 bound over to awiit the action of the law.
 
 70 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 A few months intervened, during which two 
 infant witnesses of his guilt instead of one, saw 
 the light. A long illness meantime gave to 
 Minnie opportunity for sober thought and genu- 
 ine repentance. 
 
 Both maternal care, and faithful, Christian in- 
 struction, were carefully given, and when she 
 was returned to the city as a witness in the suit 
 pending, she had gained wisdom from her sad ex- 
 perience, and begun to appreciate, in its just 
 light, the pains taken for her rescue. 
 
 JUDGMENT GIVEN. 
 
 During the protracted trial, her deportment 
 was commendable, and when the issue was 
 reached a judgment of four thousand dollars was 
 given against Deson the abductor and bigamist. 
 
 A period of ten years has been numbered. 
 Minnie has reached womanhood and lived down 
 the past ; has listened to wise counsels, adhered 
 strictly to the path of duty, and maintained 
 a character for integrity, virtue and Christian 
 fidelity above reproach. Her surviving child, 
 bears the name of its foster-parents, and knows 
 no other. Having acquired a good education 
 with habits of industry and self-reliance, Minnie 
 is now able to be self-supporting and useful to 
 others.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 71 
 
 The years have sped on and on, and to-day 
 she presides in her own household, a worthy 
 wife and mother, filling honorably and usefully 
 the relations she is called to sustain. 
 
 THE MORAL OF THE TALE. 
 
 This true history of Minnie has its lessons. 
 First, the sorrows of neglected childhood claim 
 intervention. Second, no child should be en- 
 trusted to the care of the unprincipled. Third, 
 none should be given over and left to perish, 
 because of the first false step. Fourth, the thief 
 of virtue should be so treated by the community 
 as to arrest his influence for evil, and effect, if 
 possible, remorse and true repentance. Fifth, 
 the betrayed and the erring, should be pointed 
 to a better life, and encouraged to pursue it, 
 with the expectation that many may thus be 
 saved, for two worlds, and help to save others. 
 
 From our Daily Journal. 
 
 THE CHILD WITHOUT A SOUL. 
 
 Give us light amid our darkness ; 
 
 Let us know the good from ill ; 
 Hate us not for all our blindness ; 
 Love us, lead us, show us kindness- 
 
 You can make us what you will. 
 
 MARY HOWITT. 
 
 "Our Sabbath meeting in the Tombs this P. 
 M. brought the usual gathering of women and
 
 72 . WOMAN S WORK 
 
 children. Mrs. Hawkins read and explained to 
 them the parable of the prodigal son. All lis- 
 tened attentively, many were in tears. The sing- 
 ing of old familiar hymns, such as some of these 
 prisoners had heard in their childhood-home, 
 or the Sunday-school, seemed to bring back ten- 
 der recollections. They were reminders of the 
 days of innocence and peace, of blighted hopes, 
 of sin, and its bitter fruits. 
 
 " But all were not surely old in transgression. 
 Among the seventy-five to eighty before us, was 
 one too young to be in a group like this. She 
 had wept till her eyes were dim, and still the 
 deep-drawn sigh from her grief-wrung heart, 
 found an echo in our own. In the hour devoted 
 to personal conversation with special cases, Mrs. 
 H. was impressed, as were others, with the ap- 
 parent innocence of this weeping child, and sug- 
 gested the propriety of such immediate investi- 
 gation of the case as might be made. Her 
 counsels were followed, and on Monday first 
 steps were taken, and the officer in charge found 
 willing to release her without trial, if on inquiry, 
 no one should be found disposed to appear 
 against her." 
 
 A CHILD'S GRIEF. 
 Our first talk with the poor child ran thus.
 
 AMUN(i THE LOWLY. 73 
 
 " How came you to be here in the Tombs ?" 
 
 " The house where I lived took fire. It was 
 full of people. Some of them lost their clothing 
 and said the house must have been set on fire, 
 and they sent an officer and he took me, with 
 others, because I went down stairs after the 
 alarm was given. I knew nothing of it, or how 
 it came. Oh, I can't stay in this dreadful place." 
 
 Tears choking her utterance, further inquiries 
 were made elsewhere. It was ascertained that 
 no proof whatever existed of participation in the 
 high crime of arson, by this friendless child. 
 Her artless tale was corroborated by those who 
 had seen her daily toil and neglected condition, 
 and she was believed to be " more sinned against 
 than sinning," 
 
 After fruitless search had been made to find 
 some accuser, permission was given to take her 
 away, and a more grateful recipient of kindness 
 never left those gloomy walls, than was poor H., 
 as she walked on timidly, led by her protectors. 
 Her bare head, feet, and scanty covering, simply 
 one article, a faded blue and white striped calico 
 dress, attracted the gaze of strangers, but she 
 was soon where these wants were supplied 
 where she heard, daily, the voice of prayer 
 and praise, and where life had new aspects. 
 
 4
 
 74 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 PLEASANT CHANGE. 
 
 Her joy in going to Sunday-school beamed in 
 every feature, and she listened with mute eager- 
 ness to words of instruction that were to her, as 
 life from the dead. 
 
 Those only who have dealt with heathen 
 minds in their first grasp after knowledge, can 
 appreciate the pleasure found, in pouring the 
 light of truth upon a heart so receptive. Hith- 
 erto she had been deprived both of mental and 
 spiritual instruction. 
 
 When asked, " Do you know how to read ?" 
 her reply was, " No I've never been to school. 
 I was very small when my mother left me at 
 
 that house in E St. She said she would 
 
 come back for me, but she never did. The lady 
 always had me work very early and very late, 
 Sundays and all days." 
 
 " Did you never go to Sabbath School ?" 
 
 " Never once. When I saw other children 
 go, I wished I could go with them, but was told 
 I could not be spared." 
 
 " Did you ever hear about the Bible ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am." 
 
 " Did no one ever tell you that you have a 
 soul that must live always ? " 
 
 " No, I did not know that. I did not think I 
 had a soul."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 75 
 
 "Time passed on, and this child without a 
 soul as she once supposed herself to be came 
 to realize very fully, that she had a soul, of price- 
 less value, and it became her absorbing care how 
 she might secure its salvation. She was hope- 
 fully converted, united with the church, was 
 active in doing good, as she had opportunity, and 
 became at an early age, the chosen companion 
 and helpmeet of a fellow-convert, eminently 
 worthy of her affections, 
 
 THEN AND NOW. 
 
 The " then " and " now," in her case are in 
 striking contrast. As we look back through the 
 years, we see her then a child-prisoner, accused 
 wrongfully, alone, friendless, homeless, penniless, 
 intensely sensitive, and for ought she knew, with- 
 out a soul. 
 
 Now, this same chud of early sorrow, may be 
 seen the honored head of a large, well-ordered 
 family, esteemed and useful in the best circles of 
 society, with a happy, permanent home no 
 wants unmet while " The heart of her husband 
 doth safely trust in her, and her children rise up 
 and call ner blessed/'
 
 "The way of the transgressor is hard." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION." 
 
 4 " SOME are sowing the seeds of pain, 
 Of dire remorse and a maddened brain, 
 
 And the stars shall fall, and the sun shall wane, 
 
 Ere they root the weeds from the soil again. 
 
 Dark will the harvest be !" 
 
 AT a Sabbath meeting at the Tombs, held as 
 usual in an upper room of the woman's prison, 
 set apart as a chapel, there was one whose sighs 
 and tears attracted attention. She was clad in 
 deep mourning, and her young, sad face, express- 
 ed a grief, too deep for words. At the close of 
 the exercises, a personal interview was sought, 
 from which it was learned, that she wept the re- 
 cent terrible death of her husband, and felt that 
 she was bereaved and desolate, with earthly 
 hopes all wrecked.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 77 
 
 She was pointed to the Friend of sinners, able 
 and willing to save to the uttermost. But her 
 mind was dark, and her exclamation, " O my 
 Henri ! my Henri ! " extremely piteous. She 
 drew from her porte-monnaie, a slip of paper 
 soiled and blood-stained, on which was inscribed, 
 the last words of her " Henri," written just be- 
 fore the fatal act that severed earthly bonds. 
 His image, as she saw him a moment afterward 
 seemed to haunt and unnerve her. 
 
 Her affection for him appeared truly genuine, 
 and there was about her a degree of native re- 
 finement and womanly delicacy, that awakened 
 the impression of her innocence, and the desire 
 to remove her at once, beyond prison walls. 
 But this wish was futile until she should be 
 legally released. 
 
 She was assured of further care, and as early 
 as practicable, the proper officers were consulted 
 in relation to her case, and what might wisely be 
 done to shield and save her. 
 
 ANTECEDENTS. 
 
 The antecedents in her young life were these, 
 Left an orphan in her infant years, an aunt, so 
 called, had taken her to bring up. She was 
 not sent to school or instructed at home, but 
 early and late pursued a round of unrequited
 
 78 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 toil. Her aspirations for improvement made her 
 tasks irksome, but she saw no mode of relief in 
 prospect. At length an escort was needed to 
 take a child of the family recently bereaved of 
 her mother, to a relative in Charleston, and she 
 was placed on board the steamer, with this in- 
 fant' charge, and requisite instructions. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 She went safely, meeting with no detention. 
 On her return on the same steamer, a fellow 
 passenger, an Englishman of apparent culture, 
 intelligence and refinement, sought her acquain- 
 tance, treated her with marked attention, won 
 her confidence, esteem and regard, and on ar- 
 riving at Boston, obtained her hand in mar- 
 riage, giving her a bridal outfit, expensive and 
 elegant in its appointments. Soon after the 
 ceremony, they embarked for London, where 
 Mr. Neycourt, proposed to place his bride in 
 charge of a private governess, to pursue a course 
 of study, while he should meet sundry business 
 engagements in London and on the continent. 
 
 BRIGHT PROSPECTS. 
 
 Life does not often present brighter hopes to 
 the bride of sixteen, than were cherished by 
 Myra ; a year previous, the days had been. full of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 79 
 
 sorrow, now they were full of joy. Old ocean 
 had no terrors, all was grand and beautiful. She 
 had a strong, manly arm, on which to lean, and 
 conscious of reciprocal attachment and unwaver- 
 ing trust, she knew no fear. 
 
 Safely landed at their desired haven, she soon 
 entered upon school-life, resolved to make the 
 most of present opportunites and thus give 
 pleasure to one, who of all others she desired to 
 please. 
 
 The periods of his return were eagerly anti- 
 cipated, till her last school-term was nearly 
 finished, when he proposed to recross the 
 Atlantic, and spend a few months, alternately, in 
 New Orleans and St. Louis. 
 
 Elated at the prospect of being again his 
 traveling companion, she was soon in readiness 
 for their departure, and they were off for a dis- 
 tant port. 
 
 SHADOWS. 
 
 Myra had now borne his name almost a year, 
 her every want nad been lavishly met, and be- 
 lieving his wealth like that of a prince, she had 
 never presumed to ask whence it came, or for a 
 moment question his integrity. But while upon 
 this voyage, she observed once and again, that 
 he had very intimate associates to whom her
 
 8o WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 presence was a manifest intrusion, and learned 
 with pain, that her inquiries were limited by a 
 " thus far but no farther." Occasions for uncer- 
 tain surmises were frequent, still how should she 
 believe her " Henri " capable of wrongs, that 
 could not bear the light. " No, no," she would 
 affirm silently ; he is too good, too noble, to gen- 
 erous, not to maintain true honor and merit 
 unshaken confidence. 
 
 They were landed in the Crescent City, and 
 took first-class lodgings, with private rooms. Mr. 
 Neycourt, soon became more and more absorbed 
 in the private business, carefully kept within the 
 knowledge of himself and the small circle alone 
 familiar with each other's movements. 
 
 At one time she heard the remark aside, 
 " That wife of yours will betray us ; better have 
 left her in London." 
 
 CONFIDENCE DISTURBED. 
 
 Other incidents awakened a sense of danger, 
 and often planted thorns in her pillow. At 
 length she resolved to investigate and know the 
 worst. With a view to this end she once 
 followed, unseen, the retreating steps of her 
 " Henri," till joined by others and led on where 
 few would dare to venture. She made good her 
 retreat unobserved, but her confidence becarr
 
 AMONG THE I.OWLV. 8 1 
 
 so impaired, that Mr. Neycourt found it difficult 
 to dispel the care-worn look that often greeted 
 his daily return to their lodgings. 
 
 A sail up the Mississippi brought them to St. 
 Louis, where, after a short sojourn, he left her at 
 a boarding-house for a brief period, saying he 
 would notify her, as soon as practicable, when to 
 meet him in New York. 
 
 His letters came promptly, always breathing 
 unchanged affection, and her young, trusting 
 heart still clung to its idol. When the expected 
 message came, without an hour's delay, she was 
 eastward bound ; stopping only for rest, when 
 she had reached the point which he had desig- 
 nated as their place of meeting. 
 
 DISAPPOINTMENTS. 
 
 Here she was doomed only to disappoint 
 ment, he was not there as promised, some 
 accident must have detained him, he would come 
 soon; so hour by hour she watched and waited, a 
 stranger in a strange city, alone and unbefriend- 
 ed, he must know her embarrassment, and would 
 not suffer it to last. 
 
 Back and forth to the Post-Office, day by day 
 she made her fruitless walks, till despair began 
 to take the place of hope. 
 
 At length, when walking rapidly on this 
 4*
 
 82 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 weary errand, suddenly she espied his well- 
 known form approaching, and rushed to meet 
 him, with the exclamation, " O, my Henri ! " He 
 greeted her with his old cordiality, but gave her 
 to understand that he was in trouble, and she 
 must leave him at once or give her pledge not to 
 betray him. 
 
 She had not the firmness to choose the first 
 alternative, therefore yielded to the latter, offer- 
 ing to do his bidding whatever the danger, if he 
 would not send her away. 
 
 TWO CULPRITS. 
 
 A few moments later she stood trembling 
 beside two culprits, one her husband, in a 
 darkened room, hiding with their stolen treasure 
 from vigilant detectives, already on their track. 
 
 Her " Henri's " direction to take a fifty dollar 
 bank-note to the nearest broker's and exchange 
 it for gold, was obeyed with nervous haste, the 
 coin handed her by the broker, she did not wait 
 to count. A looker on, who had read in the 
 papers an offered reward for the recovery of ten 
 thousand dollars, lately lost between Schenectady 
 and Albany, asked to see the face of the bill left, 
 and giving it a hasty glance, at once pursued her 
 till she entered the retreat of the rotters. Then 
 leaving a guard posted, gave due information,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 83 
 
 and soon a vigilant police had the parties in 
 charge on the way to the house of detention. 
 Here a preliminary investigation was held, the 
 evidence was found conclusive, a large portion of 
 the funds recovered, and the parties were held 
 for trial. 
 
 REGRETS UNAVAILING. 
 
 Regret and anguish were unavailing, escape 
 hopeless, the violated law demanded justice, and 
 must take its course. 
 
 A few days, and the verdict against Mr. 
 Neycourt sentenced him to five years' imprison- 
 ment. The felony having been committed in 
 Albany county, he was sent there for trial, after 
 which he was lodged for a time in the jail at 
 Albany. 
 
 Myra had been fully acquitted, and her en- 
 treaties to be near her husband the few days 
 intervening before his permanent imprisonment, 
 were considerately granted. On the morning of 
 Wednesday she had been permitted to enter and 
 leave his cell with the keeper who took in his 
 breakfast. A few moments later, hearing a 
 signal of distress, the keeper re-entered, and 
 perceived instantly that the poor man had, with 
 his own hand, severed life's brittle thread, and 
 gone uncalled to his dread account.
 
 84 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 SEQUEL TO A SAD SCENE. 
 
 The grief of his young wife was beyond con- 
 trol, notwithstanding the guilt that might well 
 have forfeited her affections. It was soon after 
 this tragic event that we found her as described 
 at the commencement of this narrative. 
 
 It became necessary that she should be de- 
 tained as a witness in the case of the party she 
 had met with her husband, devising means to 
 escape with their ill-gotten gain, on the day of 
 their arrest. While awaiting his trial, and with 
 the hope of placing Myra under saving influ- 
 ences, the court permitted her removal from the 
 Tombs to the protection of a Christian family. 
 
 THE ONLY SOLACE. 
 
 For several months subsequently we saw her 
 daily, and endeavored to lead her to flee for 
 safety to the Rock of Ages. Her confidence 
 was gained, she went gladly to the place of 
 prayer, made the Bible her study, and gave some 
 evidence of having passed from death unto life. 
 At this period she was once and again heard to 
 repeat the hymn she thought most applicable to 
 her case, commencing with the lines 
 
 " Amazing grace ! how sweet the theme, 
 That saved a wretch like me."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 8$ 
 
 Omitting farther details, it is but just to add, 
 her case was one of many where facts stranger 
 than fiction t came to our knowledge, showing 
 how great the need of Christian care and counsel 
 in leading the homeless and friendless, out from 
 the tangled web of circumstances to a place of 
 moral safety. 
 
 WAS HENRI ALONE RESPONSIBLE? 
 
 The antecedents of poor Henri, whose true 
 name was unknown in the circles where he 
 moved, may give a clue to his reckless career. 
 He was said to have been allied to a noble family 
 in England, but never acknowledged by his 
 kindred. Means for a finished education were 
 furnished by his reputed father, who never 
 deigned a look or word of recognition. He 
 reached manhood with cultivated talents, 
 strong affections, yearning for human ties, but 
 finding all hopelessly severed, he failed to seek a 
 friend in Jesus, swerved gradually from the right, 
 allied himself to a band of outlaws, who had no 
 fear of God before their eyes, and in his life and 
 death furnished a fearful example of the results 
 to children, of parental wrong-doing. Also of 
 their own supreme folly in not making the Word 
 of God their guide, His precepts and promises 
 their sure refuge in every time of need.
 
 86 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 That poor Henri suffered justly is true, but 
 will not the guilt of his sire, one day, be measured 
 also by its consequences ? When the Lord shall 
 make inquisition for blood, shall He not re- 
 member?
 
 . 
 
 "The eyes of the Lord are in everg place. M 1 1 
 
 i CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A YOUTHFUL SKEPTIC. 
 
 "THE soul has flashes, 
 Intervals of light, thai; suddenly present 
 A glance of truth, as though the Heavens were rent. 
 These are the moments when the mind is sane, 
 'Tis then, a hope of Heaven, a Saviour's cross, 
 Seem what they are, and all things else but dross," 
 
 " WILL you listen to the statement of a special 
 case and advise me what may be done ?" So said 
 a stranger applicant, at an early evening hour in 
 
 the spring of . The party was desired to 
 
 relate his errand ; he then stated that a young 
 daughter of a widowed mother had formed a 
 clandestine acquaintance, and was meeting her 
 reputed friend on the street, allowing him to 
 accompany her to her home, but never asking 
 him in.
 
 88 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 FILIAL DISRESPECT. 
 
 Notes had been interchanged, some of which 
 had fallen into the hands of the mother. Com- 
 prehending at once the danger of her child, she 
 indicated to her the maternal solicitude thus 
 occasioned. She had expected filial deference 
 to her wishes, but instead of this her daughter 
 was rebellious and quite unwilling to forego- 
 further interviews with the stranger. Entreaties 
 increased restiveness. 
 
 At length she absconded, was advertised, 
 found, arrested and placed in a station-house. 
 Greatly agitated, she would not see her mother, 
 or speak with her, refused food, and seemed the 
 victim of despair and wretchedness. 
 
 Our informant stated, that both mother and 
 daughter were quite intelligent, the former a 
 member of the Church, well connected, and her 
 heart bound up in the welfare of her child. The 
 question proposed was, " Will you assume the 
 care of this refractory daughter, erring but not 
 fallen, and try to save her?" An affirmative 
 answer was given, and after an interval of an 
 hour, the weeping girl, stood beside us. She was 
 pale and wan, morbid and silent. But accepted 
 kindness, and needed care. 
 
 A few days passed, and it was apparent that 
 time was soothing the asperity of feeling, at first
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 89 
 
 so marked, and gradually her confidence was 
 partially gained. 
 
 SKEPTICISM. 
 
 She referred to her very early interest in the 
 study of the Bible, her belief of its vital truths, 
 to the mental process by which she had become 
 skeptical, and not only indifferent to religious 
 matters, but averse to thought or conversation 
 upon the subject. 
 
 When present at family worship, she would 
 rudely divert herself by reading aside, saying she 
 could not bear to hear the word of God or 
 prayer. 
 
 A more intimate acquaintance with this way- 
 ward, but affectionate girl, increased our interest, 
 and led to earnest endeavors to win her to the 
 right. The proud spirit and strong will, had 
 been only curbed for the time, not subdued. 
 She was restive under restraint, and while con- 
 scious of a wrong state of feeling, determined 
 that no earthly power should lead her to sub- 
 mission. She utterly refused to see her mother, 
 or yield again to her control. 
 
 In two instances she devised measures to 
 destroy her own life, but was thwarted in the 
 purpose. 
 
 Artistic work, which was to her a pleasant
 
 90 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 pastime, employed her leisure hours, and it was 
 hoped she might be thus diverted, till a salutary 
 change should come. 
 
 Her case was made the subject of special 
 prayer by a small circle, who had come to feel a 
 deep interest in her welfare, and to one of this 
 number she began to give her confidence, and 
 revealed some of the dark temptations that the 
 adversary had coiled around her path. It was 
 quite manifest that she was resisting the tender 
 strivings of the Holy Spirit and waging a mental 
 conflict against her own salvation, in which her 
 strongest intellectual faculties were enlisted. 
 
 THAT EYE ! . 
 
 About this period, one morning she entered 
 the door of her trusted friend, and stood back 
 against the wall, with clenched hands, pale and 
 agitated countenance, seemingly unable to ad- 
 vance or retreat. Her first audible expression 
 was, " Oh, pray for me ! I must die and am un- 
 prepared ! Oh, that Eye ! that Eye ! " Startled 
 by her tone and manner, the inquiry was made, 
 what had occurred so to alarm her. She only 
 looked upward, again exclaiming, "Oh, that 
 Eye ; don't you see it ? I see it oh, save me ! 
 save me ! " 
 
 After being supported to a seat, and partially
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 9! 
 
 quieted, she said, that while alone engaged at her 
 painting, suddenly there seemed to move before 
 her something shadowy, and looking up an eye 
 seemed scanning her closely, and a voice said 
 'low and clear, " Prepare to die, prepare to die." 
 Alarmed intensely she opened the door to come 
 to the room below, but the eye followed her till 
 strength was gone. 
 
 Again she leaned back trembling like an aspen 
 leaf, uttering faintly the entreaty, " Pray for me, 
 oh, pray for me." She was induced to lie down, 
 and soon appeared to sleep, but her labored 
 breathing and disturbed countenance indicated 
 strong mental agitation. A half hour passed, 
 and this continued so marked that it was 
 deemed best to arouse her. But the effort to do 
 so was fruitless. 
 
 A TRANCE. 
 
 Appliances, such as ammonia, the cold dash, 
 etc., had no perceptible effect. A physician was 
 then called, and giving to the case his best skill, 
 was alike unsuccessful. He said the young 
 woman was in a trance, and must be left un- 
 disturbed, and would probably come out of it in 
 a few hours. 
 
 While thus unconscious, her mother came in, 
 and watched over her with maternal tenderness.
 
 92 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 After a period of eight hours she opened her 
 eyes, and asked faintly for the writer, desiring all 
 others to leave the room. The moment we were 
 alone, her first request was again, " Pray for me. 
 I have seen heaven and hell ; I must choose now 
 for eternity. I want you to ask that I may be 
 helped to make the full surrender of myself to 
 Christ." Tearfully and with an intensity of 
 earnestness she joined in each petition offered, 
 confessing her great sinfulness, and at length 
 seemed to venture wholly upon the Saviour, 
 exclaiming, " Yes, / do, I do love Jesus I am 
 entirely His ; what a Saviour I have found ; 1 
 love every body, all the world. Let me see my 
 mother and ask her forgiveness." 
 
 RECONCILED. 
 
 The mother was called and they wept upon 
 each other's neck, with confessions and joyful 
 reconciliations. 
 
 The strain there had been upon the mental 
 energies, demanded present quiet, and although 
 the patient did not leave her bed for several days, 
 yet at the first favorable moment, she gave a 
 narration of what seemed to her too real ever to 
 be effaced. This is the substance of her story, in 
 her own words.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 93 
 
 K.'S STORY. 
 
 She said, " You know 1 had been very wicked, 
 determined to be an infidel and reject all belief 
 in the word of God. I could not bear to be 
 under Christian influence and restraint. 
 ' I was a wayward child, 
 
 I did not love the fold ; 
 I did not love my Shepherd's voice, 
 I would not be controlled.' 
 
 " Indulging in feelings strongly adverse to the 
 kind pursuasions of those who were trying to 
 save me, I seemed suddenly to see a vision, 
 that made me weak and faint ; through some- 
 thing shadowy, an eye seemed to look into my 
 inmost being, and I could not escape its search- 
 ing gaze. 
 
 " After losing consciousness of outward 
 things, a form seemed near me, who said, ' I am 
 commissioned to guide you where you may see 
 and believe ; First, let us go to the world of dark 
 ness.' Thus saying he led me on and on to the 
 entrance of the abode of the lost. Here we 
 paused, and far as the eye could reach, were 
 myriads of spiritual beings, apparently writhing 
 in despair and anguish. I could not describe 
 this feariul scene. The place seemed the black- 
 ness of darkness, and yet every form and face 
 was distinctly visible. Far in the centre was a 
 spirit-form taller and more terrible than the rest,
 
 94 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 toward whom the others were looking. But 
 what struck me most, was that here there was no 
 unbelief. Here they all believed and trembled. 
 I seemed to be a long time beholding this terrible 
 picture, and then to ask my guide to take me 
 away. 
 
 " Slowly our steps were turned toward the 
 bright world which, as we came near, was 
 more glorious than a thousand suns. Upward, 
 onward, nearer, more beautiful, till strains of 
 sweetest music from the heavenly host, warbled 
 in the distance, and a shadowy, vail seemed only 
 to break the vision of the ineffable glory that 
 enveloped the redeemed. Just beneath the great 
 White Throne we paused, and Irom behind the 
 vail there came a voice. Choose ye this day 
 whom ye will serve. Now is the accepted time, 
 behold now is the day of salvation.' It seemed 
 to be the voice of the loving Saviour to my soul, 
 and that I must choose Him now as my Saviour, 
 or go down to dwell forever with the lost. The 
 guilt of sin, the infinite love of God considera- 
 tions of unspeakable magnitude seemed placed 
 in just balances, and with this view, real beyond, 
 expression, I woke. O, the fulness of the mercy 
 of Christ, the merit of His blood. The love and 
 grace that saves to the uttermost, saves me, 
 ' even me.' "
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 95 
 
 Such was the story of this youthful skeptic : 
 as we have reason to know, such was the end of 
 her skepticism. The change produced was 
 marked and permanent. The rescue, as of a 
 brand plucked from the burning-. 
 
 The plot for her ruin, afterward fully de- 
 veloped, was utterly foiled. 
 
 An experience so unusual, is related with 
 hesitation, lest it should be discredited or tend to 
 mislead other minds. How much may have 
 been attributable to physical causes or an 
 abnormal mental state, we may not affirm. 
 
 A GREAT CHANGE. 
 
 We only know that in her case, a great and 
 desirable change was wrought, and that the word 
 of God was found to her a solace, where infidelity 
 would have been her ruin. * * * * Years 
 had passed, the subject of this sketch, then a 
 resident of another city, called to express anew, 
 her thanks lor the Christian care extended to her 
 in the long ago, in that season of peril. With a 
 voice full ot emotion, she said, "Had I five 
 hundred dollars to give your Institution in 
 token of my gratitude, it would give me greater 
 pleasure to come here to-day.'* 
 
 Suffice to say, as a Christian wife and mother, 
 she had fulfilled usefully, thus far, her mission of
 
 g6 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 life, and never, as she said, had she ceased to 
 lean confidingly upon the word of God, and its 
 precious promises. She had known much of the 
 discipline of sorrow, but had never been tempted 
 to give place to her early skepticism. Eternal 
 things had seemed realities near at hand, of 
 interest to each and all beyond the power of 
 language to express.
 
 ," Whoso recetveth one such litlle child receiueth me." ^ * 
 
 H 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HALF ORPHANS. 
 
 ELOQUENT the children's faces, 
 
 Poverty's lean look that saith, 
 Save us ! save from our undoing, 
 Save from ignorance and ruin. 
 
 Life is but a lingering death, 
 We shall be what you shall make us ; 
 
 Make us wise and make us good ; 
 Make us strong for time of trial, 
 Teach us temperance, self-denial, 
 
 Patience, kindness, fortitude. 
 
 MARY HOWITT. 
 
 A LADY manager gives us the following sketch 
 from her note-book. 
 
 " Will you tell me what to do in behalf of a 
 suffering family?" said a tract visitor, on her 
 walks of usefulness. Here is the address, giving 
 us a card with street and No. " I wish you 
 would go and see them, she continued, for some- 
 thing must be done at once, and I am sure you 
 
 5
 
 98 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 will know best how to do it." A half hour later 
 we were in the drunkard's home, conferring with 
 the lost mother about the future of her children. 
 
 There were two little sisters between three 
 and seven, a bright, pale-faced brother a year or 
 two older, with a dear baby-sister of six months, 
 all fine-looking, beautiful children. 
 
 In reply to the question, " What can be done 
 to help you?" the mother responded, "The 
 father is dead : he was long sick and we buried 
 him last week, in Greenwood. The rent is due, 
 and the landlord won't let us stay here. I have 
 no money. To-morrow we are warned out. 
 There is no where for us to go, but into the 
 street, or else to the alms-house, and I can't do 
 that. 
 
 " We have been well off, lived in a three-story 
 house, well furnished, now we have not a cent, 
 and the children cry for bread." 
 
 " Don't you cry, mamma," lisped little Susie, 
 whose large blue eyes were full of affection. 
 
 " I will tell you what you can do," said the 
 visitor, " Banish strong drink ; do not let it come 
 nigh your lips. Make yourself neat and respec- 
 table, go to work and earn food for your 
 children, and then keep them with you." 
 
 " But it is impossible ; I could not live without 
 the drink."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 99 
 
 Reasoning was futile. At length she said, 
 I will give you these children, all but the baby. 
 Will you take them ? " 
 
 Their pretty faces were bathed with tears, as 
 they expressed the wish to go with the lady and 
 bade the mother, a sad good-by. 
 
 A RUINED HOME. 
 
 It was a final parting, she never saw them 
 more. They walked silently, hand in hand to 
 our house, and when neatly dressed, with clean 
 faces and hair brushed aside from their fine fore- 
 heads, sitting together upon the sofa, they sang 
 in perfect accord, " There'll be no. more sorrow 
 there" they looked unusually attractive. They 
 all had marked talents, were uncommonly intel- 
 ligent, affectionate and lovely children. 
 
 Said the eldest, " When my papa was alive, 
 he was good to us, he didn't get tight, and 
 mamma didn't get in prison then. What will our 
 poor baby do? Won't you get her too?" 
 When the little ones were quietly sleeping, tak- 
 ing a friend for company, we went again to the 
 rooms from which we had led our three pro- 
 teges. 
 
 The halls were dark and silent, but having 
 matches and a candle at hand, we soon stood by 
 the couch of the inebriate mother. Brandy was
 
 TOO WOMAN S WORK 
 
 within her reach, from which she had drank to 
 stupefaction. The beautiful infant, apparently 
 dosed and drugged till unconscious, lay beside 
 her, and present efforts failed to disturb their 
 deep slumbers. At our next visit, mother and 
 child had been picked from the gutter into 
 which they had fallen, and taken to the alms- 
 house, and our further responsibility, rested only 
 with the three rescued children. 
 
 These were kept in our family, where they 
 found protection, for some time, until the little 
 sisters were both placed in good homes by 
 adoption. The brother, a noble boy of eight 
 years, had received a serious injury by a blow 
 from his inebriate parent, resulting at length in a 
 severe form of hip-disease. 
 
 He was therefore taken to the City Hospital 
 for treatment, placed in care of a faithful nurse, 
 visited statedly and supplied with delicacies 
 needful for the sick, till removed by the good 
 Shepherd, to that better home 
 
 "Where it is one bright summer always, 
 And storms do not come." 
 
 The separation of this family was painful. 
 There was in their case a native delicacy and re- 
 finement, and the most tender, filial, fraternal and 
 sisterly regard.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1J1 
 
 A MOTHER MAY FORGET. 
 
 " Strong drink," to which the mother had 
 fallen a victim during- the long sickness of the 
 father, had wrought the ruin; blighted woman- 
 hood, sundered maternal ties, given an affirma- 
 tive to the question, " Can a mother forget her 
 child?" 
 
 Having the sisters in charge for some time 
 after the brother was put in the hospital, we find 
 in our pen-sketches of " motherly talks," with the 
 eldest, a fe\v paragraphs that may be of interest. 
 " In referring to her early sorrows, poor Kitty- 
 said tremulously we give here her own simple 
 words 
 
 " I loved my father very much, and when he 
 was put down in the big hole I cried so, and I 
 thought I would like to jump down on the coffin 
 and be buried with him." 
 
 " Before he died, my mother was temperance, 
 and he used to bring her home plenty of money, 
 and we were rich then. Now I have got no 
 father, and my mother gets toddy, and the things 
 was gone in pawn, and sometimes we got noth- 
 ing to eat at all, at all." 
 
 Wishing to learn what the child could com- 
 muniate further of the family history, we en- 
 couraged her confidence, and by sundry ques- 
 tions drew from her the following items. She
 
 102 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 said, " My mother has drank ever since my father 
 died, and before too. Mrs. A., where I spose 
 mamma's gone, is a very wicked woman, she gets 
 toddy every day, dances and says bad words, and 
 has bad people come to see her, and she first 
 made my mother drink. Oh, she is so wicked. 
 My mamma used to say she ought to be sent to 
 prison all her life, why she would as soon kill us 
 as not, when she was toddy ! 
 
 " After my mother got to drink so much, she 
 would send me to get brandy on trust, and when 
 I could n't get a bit, she would beat me and my 
 brother too, and sometimes when we got it for 
 her, she would drink, and she could n't walk 
 straight at all, and then she would almost kill us 
 if we spoke to her. Once she struck me on my 
 head with a broom and hurt me so, I thought I 
 should have died, and I cried so, I wished I was 
 dead ; and I was thinking every day if some good 
 lady would come and take us away, I should be 
 so glad, and when you came, I said to myself, ' I 
 would like to go with you,' because I thought 
 you belonged to the Society and kept the pledge." 
 
 CHILDISH ELOQUENCE. 
 
 This was all repeated with a frequent tremor 
 of the voice, tearful eyes, and an earnest pathos 
 full of childish eloquence.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 103 
 
 " You know," she continued, " that some 
 children have to go out and beg cold victuals 
 well don't you believe, my poor little brother 
 had to take a basket, and go out, and beg ! and 
 then, when he came home, he would open his 
 basket, and we had something to eat, and was n't 
 it good, when we was so hungry! Sometimes 
 I'd get afraid when it was dark and cold, and my 
 mother was toddy, and breathed hard, and did n't 
 know anything at all, and then I'd go and fasten 
 the door, and creep in the bed, and lie still. We 
 had no sheets it was n't clean like yours is. 
 
 IN PRISON. 
 
 " When the officers came and took my mother 
 to the prison, we cried so, and then me and my 
 little brother went to see her every day, and took 
 her something to eat. Was n't it very wicked, 
 for her to do so bad ?" When asked if she loved 
 this wicked mother, she replied. " Why, one day 
 she was n't toddy at all, and she put on a clean 
 dress, and she looked very good, and then she 
 took me up in her lap, and then she laughed at 
 me, and said she loved me ; and she did love me 
 then, and I loved her very much and I loved her 
 always when she was n't toddy."
 
 104 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 AN EAGER QUESTIONER. 
 
 " Do you think that my father is in heaven ?'' 
 
 I replied, " It he was good and had a new 
 heart, he is there, but not if he was not a Chris- 
 tian." 
 
 " But," said she, " when we sing our little 
 hymn, ' Our Father in Heaven,' don't it mean 
 that my father is there?" 
 
 " No," I said, " that means your Heavenly 
 Father, God, who made you, and has taken care 
 of you, when you've been in trouble and 
 always." 
 
 " Does God see us and hear us all the time ? " 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " Does he hear what you are saying now ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Does he think you're good ? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Don't He think you good to take such 
 poor little children and take care of us ? " 
 
 " If I do it to please Him ; but He has done a 
 great deal more lor me. He has given me my 
 home, and friends, and all I have, else I could 
 not do anything for you." 
 
 " Is n't He a good God." 
 
 " Yes, He is very good and every body ought 
 to love Him."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1 05 
 
 " Will he take you to heaven, because you 
 take care of us? " 
 
 " No, not for that, or anything, only because 
 Jesus Christ has died to save sinners, and He 
 will take those #vho love Him to heaven." 
 
 " Well, I mean to love Him as long as I live 
 and forever and ever." 
 
 Being called away, here the conversation 
 ended, and I record it, before retiring, for future 
 relerence. 
 
 THEN AND NOW. 
 
 Twelve years had passed, and this little girl 
 of seven stood before us gro,wn to womanhood, 
 well-trained, intelligent, respected and beloved by 
 friends she had made by early well-doing. In 
 this long interval, we had not met her, but a stat- 
 ed correspondence with her kind guardians in the 
 country, had kept us acquainted with her record. 
 Seeing us again, revived sad memories of the 
 long ago, and she said, with deep emotion, " Oh ! 
 if 1 could only blot the memory of that fearful 
 expression from the face of my poor lost mother, 
 and those scenes in the dark prison not fit for a 
 child to know !" 
 
 " Does she yet live ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," we said, " her course was short, 
 and you may well be thankful that you and Susy 
 
 5*
 
 io6 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and William Henry, came to the care of the 
 Society, and that your Heavenly Father, while 
 He took them early to His fold above, has 
 guarded you from evil. 
 
 " Yes, I am ; more so than wo*ds can tell." 
 
 A LESSON FOR THE INNOCENT. 
 " Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird'' 
 
 " ' O, for a pencil dipt in living light,' 
 To paint the guilt depicted in her soul 
 The sorceress-demon, who for sordid -gain, 
 Would seek her victims from an orphan band, 
 Deceive, betray, and lure them far from friends, 
 Heedless of tears, crushed hopes and tortured hearts, 
 Make merchandise of VIRTUE, health, and life ! " 
 
 I have seen two orphans to-day, both young 
 ladies in their teens, (and, rendered attractive 
 by the gifts of Nature, a pleasing address, and 
 good education,) for whose ruin a plot has been 
 laid as deep as it was deadly in its purpose. It 
 is also said, that there are several others, 
 misled by a similar artifice, and marked as 
 lambs for the slaughter. With the hope that 
 some such may be warned and saved, and the 
 unwary put upon their guard, the following facts 
 are narrated : 
 
 One of the young ladies referred to above, 
 has been for years connected with a Seminary of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. IO/ 
 
 the first class in this city. Having poor health 
 and supposing that a warmer climate might be 
 serviceable, she sought an opportunity to journey 
 South, under the protection of some one who 
 might be going^thence to spend the winter. She 
 was advised by a friend to call on Mrs. - , a 
 resident of the South, who is spending a few 
 months in the city, and, as she was informed, had 
 lost a daughter, and was desirous of finding a 
 young lady who would return with her, and re- 
 side in her family as a companion. The friend 
 
 
 
 also informed her that this Southerner was but a 
 casual acquaintance ; she had only met her at a 
 place of business, and incidently learned the 
 above. The teacher called, and being pleased 
 with the appearance of the stranger, observing 
 that she had moved in good society was intelli- 
 gent and lady-like she conversed with her 
 freely, mentioning her desire to go South, the 
 object in view, &c. The Southerner expressed 
 herself much gratified to meet with one of her 
 education seeking a Southern residence, and 
 spoke of an accomplished daughter she had lost, 
 about her age, and whose society she missed so 
 much, that she had made a special effort to find a 
 young lady whom she could take into her family 
 and make a companion inquired if she was 
 acquainted with music, &c., took her address,
 
 io8 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and desired her to call again Subsequent to 
 this, several interviews occurred, and prelimina- 
 ries were finally settled. Several references 
 were given all strangers but incidentally the 
 name of a distinguished professor was mentioned 
 
 when Mrs. replied inadvertently, " O, I am 
 
 well acquainted with him he is a cousin of 
 mine ! " This professor held office in the 
 Seminary with which the young lady was con- 
 nected. She took an early opportunity to call 
 on him and state her intentions, the propositions 
 made to her, &c., not doubting that all was right. 
 
 THE VEIL WITHDRAWN. 
 
 As she repeated the name of , he uttered 
 
 an exclamation of horror, saying, " And is this 
 the person with whom you think of going ! 
 Sooner would I see you in your coffin. She is 
 known to be among the vilest of the vile, and her 
 sole business is to inveigle the young and lure 
 them off for purposes of gain. And as to her 
 daughter being dead, she is not so dead but that 
 she walks ; she had better be dead than as she is, 
 a thousand fold !" 
 
 The reader can judge with what agitation 
 such intelligence must have been received, and 
 the gratitude felt for this timely deliverance.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. lOQ 
 
 The view of the precipice escaped, the depth of 
 human depravity exhibited, and the exposure of 
 the young and unprotected to the subtle wiles of 
 the wicked, produced in the intended victim a 
 state of mind not very favorable to health. 
 
 To-day, after learning the above particulars, I 
 had an interview with this young woman, who 
 fully corroborated the statement before given, 
 and assented to the suggestion that the facts 
 should be made known for the safety of others. 
 
 Learning that Mrs. had not been apprised 
 
 of the removal of the mask, so successfully worn, 
 and wishing to give an accurate description of 
 her person, I inquired of my young friend 
 whether she would accompany me to her resi- 
 dence, and suffer me to make some inquiries. 
 After yielding for a moment to a spontaneous 
 rush of emotion, she assented, and taking a seat 
 in an omnibus, we were soon at the door of this 
 fell deceiver. We found the block where she 
 resided in a respectable and pleasant location. 
 After ringing the bell, we had waited but a 
 moment when she met us in the hall was 
 extremely courteous expressed much pleasure 
 at seeing the young lady inquired with appar- 
 ent anxiety respecting her health, preparation for 
 her journey, &c. Seizing upon the first favora- 
 ble moment, I commenced a conversation, which
 
 I 10 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 I will narrate verbatim as nearly as memory 
 serves leaving a blank in place of names. 
 
 AN INTERVIEW. 
 
 " Mrs. , I have called as a friend of Miss 
 
 . She informed me of her proposed South- 
 ern tour, and as she is an unprotected orphan, I 
 wish to inquire if you suppose she will be quite 
 safe in taking this journey ? " 
 
 " Most certainly. If she goes under my pro- 
 tection, her friends may feel perfectly at ease 
 about her." 
 
 " May I inquire on what terms she is to go 
 with you ? " 
 
 " Why, she is to reside with me for the win- 
 ter as a companion, and as my own daughter. 
 Her board during her stay will be no expense to 
 her, and I think a Southern climate will greatly 
 improve her health and beside (with an affected 
 smile,) she will be likely to find a good husband 
 there before Spring." 
 
 " Will you be accompanied by any gentle- 
 men ?" 
 
 " Capt. P., in whose vessel we are to sail, is a 
 particular friend of mine. He is a very skillful 
 captain, and we shall be quite safe in his care ; 
 ;aid beside, my son is to go on with us. He
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. Ill 
 
 always accompanies me back and forth. Would 
 you like to see his daguerreotype? Oh, yes, 
 Miss must see it." [Suiting the action to the 
 word, she went to another room for the likeness, 
 and soon returned with two in her hand. One 
 she said was a hundred dollar miniature of her 
 first husband, that she wished us also to see. 
 While speaking of the likenesses, little passed 
 save that she contrived to introduce familiarly 
 the names of several families of note in the city, 
 manifestly aiming to leave the impression that 
 shewas on terms of intimacy with these families. 
 Returning to the point, I resumed] 
 
 " Do you expect, Mrs. - , that any other 
 females will accompany you to New Orleans ?" 
 
 " Why, there is a young lady next door who 
 has thought of going, who would be a very suit- 
 able companion for - . I wish very much to 
 have her go, and think she will, if her married 
 sister with whom she resides, does not interpose 
 too many objections." 
 
 " Will you give us the names of some persons 
 with whom you are acquainted, as references ? " 
 
 " Most certainly. There is Lawyer E., and 
 Dr. P., of C Street, has been my physician 
 
 these many years ; and then Miss knows a 
 
 relation of mine, Prof. - , a gentleman of high
 
 112 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 standing, and (scanning the countenance of the 
 young lady) she is quite satisfied, I am sure." 
 
 The landlord coming in, we rose to leave. 
 Mrs. - followed us into the hall, when turning 
 and looking her full in the eye, I said, 
 
 " I wish to ask you one more question Do 
 you think you are a Christian ? " 
 
 " Why as to that, 1 can't exactly say. I have 
 a religion of my own, and there's one thing about 
 it, I'm no hypocrite, as full half the people are who 
 make a fair profession. I respect religion as much 
 as any one, and think it a good thing in its place." 
 
 " But, Mrs. - , my young friend here has 
 chosen the Saviour for her portion, is a member 
 of His Church, and her friends would be quite 
 unwilling that in going South, she should be 
 placed under any influences calculated to lead 
 her heart away from God and heaven." 
 
 " Oh, that's very well, to be sure, but you 
 need have no fear that she will not be under 
 good influences. She will have good society ; 
 and rest assured I shall lay no obstacles in her 
 way. I have thought much of serious things of 
 late, and especially since my daughter's death " 
 
 " I hope you will think more of them, and see 
 to it that you prepare to meet your God." 
 
 " I trust I shall. I know it is quite important. 
 Good morning."
 
 AMOX(; THE LOWLY. 1 13 
 
 This last remark was uttered at the door ; and 
 as it closed upon us, it was truly a relief to 
 escape the atmosphere of a house thus tenanted 
 and I could scarce avoid drawing long breaths 
 'for a moment, inwardly thanking the Lord that 
 the prey was taken from the snare of the spoiler. 
 
 ANOTHER FOREWARNED. 
 
 We entered the next house and inquired for 
 the young lady who was expecting to go South- 
 were shown tc the parlor, and soon her name 
 was announced, and she was at our side. After 
 inquiring if it was her purpose to go to New 
 Orleans, with her next neighbor learning that 
 strong inducements had been presented, and that 
 she was still balancing the question, also that she 
 too was an orphan, but seventeen years of age, 
 and though very prepossessing and intelligent, 
 was quite ignorant of the world, we acquainted 
 her with the facts in our possession. The infor- 
 mation was startling both to herself, sister and 
 family, and their heartfelt thanks were tendered 
 for the intelligence. They were unacquainted 
 with city life and habits, having removed here 
 from the country but recently, and supposing 
 their courteous neighbor to be all that she 
 assumed, they had permitted her visits, suffered 
 two young daughters to comply with her request
 
 1 14 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 to return her calls, and what might have been the 
 result had no development occurred is uncertain. 
 The sister and mother thought this would be a 
 lesson for the future. 
 
 MORE LIGHT. 
 
 We called next at the residence of two of the 
 references given by Mrs. - . The physician 
 only was found at home. That the value of his 
 testimony may be inferred, I will give the con- 
 versation as it occurred. 
 
 " Doctor , your name has been given us 
 
 as a reference this morning, by Mrs. , who 
 
 says you have been her physician for several 
 years. Will you have the kindness to give us 
 your opinion of her moral character ? " 
 
 " I have nothing to say respecting her moral 
 character. I attended her as a physician for 
 some twenty years, and she has paid my bills 
 promptly. This is all I have to say of her 
 
 " But, Doctor - , will you not inform us 
 what character she sustains in society ? " 
 
 " I know nothing of her character, or of any- 
 body's character in New York ; neither do you 
 nor any one else. There's no knowing people's 
 real characters : besides it is not the business of 
 the profession to meddle with private matters."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 115 
 
 " We understand, sir, the rules of etiquette in 
 this respect; but this is not an ordinary case 
 and will you not permit us to ask, If you 
 had a daughter desiring a safe traveling compan- 
 ion, would you suffer her to journey in the care 
 of Mrs. ? " 
 
 " No. I would not suffer her to journey in 
 your care, or anybody's care but my own." 
 
 " But suppose she were an orphan and an 
 invalid, obliged to travel for her health, would 
 you think it safe for her to place herself under 
 the protection of Mrs. - ?" 
 
 " I would not advise her to place herself 
 under anybody's protection, or to trust herself 
 with any one." 
 
 " Then all that you can say is, that you have 
 attended this woman professionally and she has 
 always paid your bills ? " 
 
 " Yes. That is all." 
 
 We bade him good morning, and need not 
 add here that our opinion of this woman, or her 
 associates, was not improved by the interview. 
 We had information from other sources, quite 
 sufficient to corroborate the testimony first 
 given by Prof. - . We have also been told 
 that she is employed by a club, possessing more 
 QT less capital ; and further, that the malice of 
 desperadoes might probably be wreaked on
 
 1 1 6 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 those who should presume to expose and thus 
 prevent these enormities. 
 
 I have been somewhat minute in detailing this 
 case that the innocent and unsuspecting may see 
 in the light of it what dangers may, even now, 
 beset their path ; also, that any who may have 
 been invited to leave the city, with such profes- 
 sions as are named above, may be led to be 
 especially upon their guard. This woman is but 
 one of many who infest our cities. * * * 
 
 A BRIEF SKETCH. 
 
 [The case of a beautiful child of some nine 
 years of age, suggested the following lines. 
 
 The family to which she belonged were from 
 a once pleasant New England home, broken up 
 by the infidelity of the unnatural mother. She 
 had brought this child to the city, where finding 
 herself abandoned by him in whom she had 
 confided, and destitute of means, she had sent 
 the poor child to beg from door to door for her 
 support. The little one was detained with a 
 stranger friend, at her own request, but the 
 case was tried in court, the law was powerless to 
 hold her, and she was returned to her cruel 
 parent.]
 
 A.MOM; TIII-: I.O\YLY. 117 
 
 Fain would \vj save thee, little stranger child. 
 
 From pitfalls spread for thine unconscious steps, 
 
 From pangs more hitter than a serpent's fang. 
 
 As on a map we see those hidden snares, 
 
 That cluster thickly in thine untrod path, 
 
 Fain would we shield thee from the thorny maze. 
 
 Thy mother ! Lost to virtue ! Lost to God ! 
 
 That God before whose altar she had bowed, 
 
 And vowed allegiance to his sacred laws. 
 
 Those laws dishonored peace, hope, honor*wrecked 
 
 And thou must share the grief, the woe, the shame ! 
 
 Nine summers only hast thou numbered yet, 
 
 And on thy bright, engaging, speaking face, 
 
 The Spoiler's seal has not been rudely set. 
 
 O, be its impress ever banished thence ! 
 
 But late thou wast in thine own rural home, 
 
 Happy, with brothers, sisters, parents, friends, 
 
 Thine infant heart as free from care or strife, 
 
 As the young lambs that gambol'd at thy side 
 
 Nor didst thou dream that home so soon would change, 
 
 To one 'mid city courts and gloomy haunts, 
 
 Where innocence and purity come not 
 
 Where Want must drive thee forth from door to door, 
 
 A beggar-child, with heart "just tit to break." 
 
 Compelled to call one " Father," whose true name 
 
 Is written in the books before the Throne, 
 
 " Seducer Ingrate Traitor Infidel .' " 
 
 Yea, worse " for his own house he careth not ;" 
 
 Wife worse than widowed lives, and children weep 
 
 Because their sire forsook and cast them off. 
 
 We hoped to change thy destiny, dear child, 
 
 To place thee where the daily sacrifice 
 
 Ascends as incense to the King of kings 
 
 Where guardian care would lure thy youthful feet 
 
 From all the ways of folly, sin, and death ; 
 
 Where right examples would illustrate truth, 
 
 " And point to brighter worlds, and lead the way." 
 
 This cherished hope was vain, and thou art gone
 
 ii8 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 To one unworthy of a Mother's name 
 Perchance to the same heritage of shame. 
 Guilt's track is downward ever down, clown, down, 
 Tp depths the human mind can scarce conceive. 
 And shall this doom be thine ? May God forbid- 
 Oh, may His mercy save thee innocent, 
 Open some door through which thou may'st escape 
 To a safe fold, beyond the Fowler's snare. 
 February %th, 1847.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "True Charity, a plant divinely nursed, 
 
 Fed by the love from which it rose at first, 
 
 Thrives against hope, and in the rudest scene, 
 
 Storms but enliven its unfading green. 
 
 Exuberant in the shadow it supplies, 
 
 Its fruit on earth, its growth above the skies." 
 
 SECOND DECADE. 
 
 To return to our narrative, the Christian 
 workers in pursuing their system of visitation 
 wherever the young, the orphaned and homeless 
 find but temporary shelter, and feel the want of 
 maternal love and care, lound the appeals to 
 their sympathies strong and constant. 
 
 Here they saw the first steps on the round of 
 the ladder leading down to the moral abyss, 
 whence few return. They saw the victims of 
 want and neglect, and witnessed much of the
 
 120 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 morbid feeling among young women which in- 
 duced recklessness. The attractive child-faces of 
 many on the verge of womanhood, marked by 
 the spoiler, and watched till his net could be 
 coiled unseen, and prove a fatal snare to unwary 
 feet. 
 
 For the few they could extend an arm to save. 
 For the few make their own homes a temporary 
 shelter for the homeless child or youth, till 
 transferred to permanent protection in the 
 country. And for several years this became 
 a steady work, enlisting the best energies of 
 sundry members of the Board. 
 
 FIRST IDEA OF A HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS. 
 
 To this labor, with its promptings and results, 
 may be traced the inception of the first idea of 
 the establishment of a Home for the Friendless, 
 where the child of want and sorrow, and the 
 youthful daughter of stern poverty, within the 
 age and circumstances of temptation, might find 
 shelter, friends and care. 
 
 This idea once conceived, with its possibilities 
 of realization, came like a ray of light over a dark 
 sky, and made a week of anxious days and rest- 
 less nights seem long in passing. At the end of 
 this week, came the stated meeting of the Execu- 
 tive Committee, where the question might take
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 121 
 
 shape, and command action, or be laid aside as 
 impracticable. At this meeting the subject was 
 made the prominent topic, and the considerations 
 named to inspire confidence, relative to the suc- 
 cess of such an enterprise, were these 
 
 First. The Board have a medium of corre- 
 spondence that gives them access to many 
 thousand families in different sections of the 
 country and through this medium homes may be 
 found for large numbers, both of adults and 
 children. 
 
 Second. Through their friends abroad much 
 aid may be expected, by way of provisions, 
 clothing, &c. 
 
 Tliird. Humanity presents the same argu- 
 ments why such an enterprise should be under- 
 taken and continued as it has in behalf of the 
 erection of Sailors' Homes, Prisoners' Homes, or 
 any other much-needed charity. 
 
 PRELIMINARY MEASURES. 
 
 After full and long discussion a conditional 
 affirmative was reached, and a committee of two 
 appointed to ascertain whether a committee of 
 gentlemen could be obtained as had been here 
 proposed by one of our number, who would so 
 far endorse the new enterprise, as to permit 
 their names to stand as our advisory committee 
 
 6
 
 122 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 in the application of any funds that might be 
 collected for the contemplated object. 
 
 Mrs. Genl. A. B. Eaton, with the writer, were 
 honored with this first Home-mission, and no 
 time was lost in the glad service. The first 
 gentleman whose name was sought, Francis P. 
 Schoals, Esq., very promptly responded favora- 
 bly, handing also a ten-dollar bill unsolicited, 
 bidding us use it as a first offering, and come 
 again for more. 
 
 The desired list of names was soon secured, 
 and the next number of the Advocate, Jan. ist, 
 1846, contained the first appeal issued to its 
 patrons, endorsed by the following gentlemen : 
 
 ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 
 
 Rev. Stephen H.Tyng, D. D., Rev. N. Bangs, 
 D. D., Rev. G. T. Bedell, Rev. John Bowling, D. 
 D., Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., Rev. George Potts, 
 D. D., Rev. Geo. B. Cheever, D. D., Hon. Moses 
 G. Leonard, Ex-Mayor Harper, E. W. Chester, 
 Esq., Lewis Tappan, Esq., S. W. Benedict, Esq., 
 Joseph, B. Collins, Lewis Hallock, M. D., Rev. 
 W. W. Everts, Rev. J. M. Krebs, D. D., Rev. 
 Thos. H. Skinner, D. D., John H. Griscom, M. D., 
 J. B. Graham, Esq., Francis P Schoals. Esq., J. 
 S. Taylor, Esq., E. E. Miles, Esq., E. Ludlam, 
 Esq.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 
 
 And now, we had reached another way-mark. 
 Hitherto this had been a work confined to nar- 
 row limits. The paper had been self-sustaining. 
 The agencies employed comparatively inexpen- 
 sive. Now, should we go forward, a large 
 pecuniary responsibility must be assumed. How 
 should this be met ? Would funds for the pur- 
 chase of lots and the erection of necessary build- 
 ings be contributed? Should we succeed or 
 fail ? We knew well it was to be henceforth, as 
 from the first, " a work of faith, and labor of 
 love." The hearts of those to whom the Lord 
 had given the silver and the gold, were in His 
 hands. Our trust was in Him. Here were the 
 lambs of His fold, helpless and innocent, cast out 
 and ready to perish. Agencies to destroy were 
 abundant. Should not an agency to save like 
 that contemplated, have a local habitation and a 
 name ? Mi^ht it not be made to honor the 
 Master, by reaching and rescuing those who had 
 cause to say, " No man careth for my soul ?" 
 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 Misgivings on the part of the timid and the 
 do ibtful, soon gave place to abiding trust and 
 united faith. In answer to believing prayer.
 
 124 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 there came a spirit of consecration to the work 
 indispensable to success. 
 
 APPEAL FOR AID. 
 
 Our appeal for aid was sent broadcast, not 
 only through the Advocate, but other city jour- 
 nals, secular and religious, to which we could 
 gain access. 
 
 The following is an extract from the first 
 editorial in the Advocate and Guardian accompany- 
 ing this appeal. See Vol. I2th, page 6, 1846. 
 
 HOUSE OF INDUSTRY AND HOME 
 FOR THE FRIENDLESS. 
 
 * # * The object of this appeal has long 
 rested with weight upon our minds. A strong 
 conviction, that the establishment of the Institu- 
 tion proposed is a much-needed charity, that it 
 would tend in a high degree to carry out the 
 great object of the Society, viz. : the prevention 
 of crime, and that, when this object is once un- 
 derstood, it will not only be appreciated, but 
 secure efficient co-operation has alone induced 
 us to resolve on such an undertaking. 
 
 " Among the monuments sacred to benevo- 
 lence in this city, are various asylums erected, at 
 great expense and toil. Their benefits are ex- 
 tended to the orphan, half-orphan, colored orphan 
 and penitent Magdalen ; to the deaf and dumb,
 
 I AMONG THE LOWLY. 1 25 
 
 and blind ; the sick, and the aged. But where is 
 there an ayslum for the virtuous poor, who ask 
 only " the charity of wages ?" Where shall the 
 destitute, homeless young woman and deserted 
 child in our city find a refuge, save in the 
 purlieus of vice, or the home of the pauper? 
 Echo answers, where ! 
 
 " We need not go far to prove that there are, 
 and will continue to be, hundreds of the uncared- 
 for class among the three hundred and fifty 
 thousand, the present population of this metropo- 
 lis. If by giving them employment and a home, 
 while misfortune, innocence and. helplessness 
 renders them worthy of both, they can be saved 
 from the guilt and the doom of the lost, if 
 Christian hands and Christian hearts can thus 
 save them, is not the object worthy all the 
 labor and self-sacrifice it may cost? 
 
 " Are we told that ten thousand dollars is a 
 large sum, and will require much labor ere it can 
 be collected? Admit it. The object to be 
 secured is much larger, and immensely import- 
 ant. True, it looks large in the aggregate, but 
 drops form oceans, and are there not among our 
 thirty thousand readers, as many as ten thousand 
 who could give at least one dollar each, and 
 deny themselves little or nothing by the sacrifice ? 
 Would they hesitate to do this if assured it might,
 
 126 WOMAN'S \VORK 
 
 one day, be the means of snatching a daughter 
 or a sister from present and eternal ruin? Who 
 would not rather dispense with some real want 
 'to the amount of a single dollar, than to think an 
 appeal of humanity had been disregarded, and 
 real suffering left unmitigated. How many ten 
 thousand dollars are spent in sustaining missions 
 and schools on heathen ground (a work ever to 
 be commended) when the immediate good to be 
 anticipated will not compare with that which 
 may accrue to hundreds through this effort. 
 Would there were no heathen, and none verging 
 toward heathenism, among the neglected poor of 
 New York ! 
 
 " How many ' ten thousand dollars ' are spent 
 by the children of this world (without a moment's 
 regret) in sustaining the theatre and charnel- 
 house ! The silver and the gold that are the 
 Lord's, used to mar and blight His work for time 
 and for eternity ! And, shall those who are ' not 
 their own,' who ' count nothing they possess as 
 their own,' who have a mansion purchased, and 
 1 treasures laid up above, whither their steps are 
 fast tending, be slow to use the talents God has 
 lent them to bless and save those for whom 
 Christ died? Christian reader, thine individual 
 aid is needed for the above-named object, and 
 needed now. If the question of personal duty or
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1 27 
 
 ability arises, wilt thou not take it to thy closet, 
 and there inquire, ' Lord, what wilt thou have me 
 to do? But we would say, let none give who 
 do not feel it a duty and a privilege, tor ' the 
 Lord loveth a cheerful giver.' ' He that giveth 
 to the poor, lendeth to the Lord,' and ' that 
 which he hath given will He pay him again.' 
 
 "f^lP Any funds contributed for the object 
 here proposed, will be duly acknowledged, and 
 appropriated only in accordance with the 
 counsel and direction of the committee of 
 gentlemen whose names are given on our first 
 page." 
 
 After the issue of this appeal, gifts, large or 
 small, came, from time to time, from the patrons 
 of this Society, but the months sped on, the 
 homeless received as proteges were multiplied, 
 and the necessity for the completion of the work 
 seemed more and more imperative. How could 
 we wait for the sum solicited to be raised before 
 providing a shelter so much desired ? 
 
 Among the daily cases prompting the earnest 
 wish that a Home might soon be opened, were 
 these, with many others of the same type. 
 
 CASES OF INTEREST. 
 
 " It is near evening, a visitor calls, leading a 
 bright little girl of some four years, that she has
 
 128 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 taken away by request of a destitute, widowed 
 mother, sick unto death. The means of the 
 invalid are all expended, she has no relatives or 
 friends on this side the ocean. She is a Christian 
 mother, refined and sensitive, and entreats the 
 Society to protect her child, and secure for it a 
 home in some Christian family. The visitor has 
 given the promise, and though the Home is yet 
 to be, the dear child must have needed care. 
 
 " A promising girl of eleven years, deserted 
 and homeless, next claims our attention. She 
 has wept till sick and feverish, and tells her story 
 with a heart full of trouble. It is so manifestly 
 truthful and her escape from danger so marked 
 that we are glad to protect her. 
 
 " Another comes, brought by another visitor, 
 tall and mature for a girl of twelve, but worse 
 than orphaned. She has seen too much of city 
 life in its dark aspects, is without a home, wants 
 care, and promises well doing. Duty seems 
 plain, and she is not sent away." 
 
 A dozen similar cases since our last meeting, 
 require the decision of the Committee in relation 
 to their future, and so the work keeps enlarging. 
 
 Another is, " Two orphan girls, fifteen and 
 seventeen years of age, with pleasing and intelli- 
 gent countenances, plain and neat apparel, 
 approach with diffidence, and solicit charity.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 129 
 
 ' This is the first time in our lives,' said the 
 youngest, 'we have ever asked a cent. .It 
 seemsd as if we could not do it, but want com- 
 pels us. We have had work in N - Street, at 
 book-folding, ever since our parents died, till this 
 winter. Since the work stopped we have parted 
 with whatever we could spare to pay our board; 
 now we can pay it no longer, and are some in 
 debt. Mrs. C. M. is kind to us, but is poor, and 
 cannot let us stay for nothing ; and we have no 
 friends to go to in the city.' The deep emotion 
 exhibited as they told their tale of sorrow, the 
 native modesty and self-respect apparent, and the 
 reliable reference given, etc., led us to look upon 
 them with maternal sympathy. They had not 
 broken their fast to-day before coming to us , did 
 not know their danger in going from door to 
 door among strangers : and seemed truly grate- 
 ful to be counselled and directed to a safe shelter. 
 44 As they left we could but think ol the 
 hundreds like them m the great city as lambs 
 in the midst of wolves bewildered travelers in 
 the midst of pitfalls, weary, fearful, half despond- 
 ing. What but the grace of God shall protect 
 them ? Parents, who have loved and cared tor 
 them in infancy and childhood, are beneath the 
 clods of the valley. An unseen foe is about their 
 path lurking for his prey. In their ignorance, 
 
 6*
 
 I3O WOMAN S WORK 
 
 inexperience and destitution, will they shun the 
 breakers, and escape unscathed?" 
 
 " A mother enters, who has onc*e and again 
 sought counsel in behalf of her worse than father- 
 less little ones. Respectably connected, efficient 
 and duly self-reliant, she has had reason to 
 believe her children unsafe in their early home, 
 from the evil influence of a profligate father, who 
 has basely forsaken his own, and allied himself to 
 another. Much that is painful has come to her 
 knowledge, and now she needs grace to bear the 
 trial, and counsel what to do, that the highest 
 good of her household may be secured. Here is 
 a ' living trouble,' and she, too, is not alone." 
 
 " An aged woman comes to speak of want. 
 We had known her for many years as a trust- 
 worthy and kind nurse of the sick. Now, ability 
 has failed. A youthful, widowed daughter, her 
 only earthly dependence, has of late, like hun- 
 dreds of others, been deprived of employment, 
 and, left thus with no resource, cannot sustain her 
 mother and her helpless babes. This poor 
 woman has come ' with feeble steps and slow,' a 
 long distance, and must not be sent away unaid- 
 ed. The words of Jesus, ' Behold thy mother,' 
 are repeated when age seeks relief." 
 
 " Human want and sorrow among the poor of 
 the city are at present so wide spread and
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 13! 
 
 diversified, that " none but a power divinely 
 strong," can adequately scan its depths and meet 
 its necessities." 
 
 FIRST MEETING OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 
 
 It was at length proposed at our next Com- 
 mittee meeting to call a meeting of our Advisory 
 Committee, and seek their counsel. We had 
 been permitted to use their names as reference, 
 but hitherto they had not met or organized. 
 Invitations were sent out, and the proposed 
 meeting convened at our hired rooms in the old 
 Brick Church Chapel. 
 
 Let us describe this meeting. Our beloved 
 President, Mrs. Hawkins, is in the chair as usual, 
 quiet, dignified, earnest, hopeful ; and no emer 
 gency will be likely to disturb her equanimity. 
 [That chair, by the way, is said to be the identi- 
 cal old arm-chair used so long ago by the dairy- 
 man's daughter, After her death, we are told, it 
 came across the sea as a remembrance and a gift 
 to some Society, and found its abiding place in 
 this upper room. The thought now of its two 
 once honored occupants in the better land, is 
 very pleasant.] 
 
 Our Secretaries are each at their posts, and 
 other well-remembered faces ranged on either 
 hand.
 
 132 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 The gentlemen begin to assemble and present- 
 ly the room is well-filled [Then and. there, (now 
 thirty years ago) the esteemed chairman oi our 
 Board of Counsellors, Rev. S. H. Tyng, D. D.. 
 was appointed to preside, and none have done 
 the work more lasting service.') Prayer is 
 offered for divine guidance, and the inquiry is 
 made, "Wherefore are we called together." It is 
 answered by a written statement of facts, etc., 
 presented by the ladies, showing what progress 
 has been made, what amount collected, and what 
 are the present aspects of the enterprise. 
 
 But before this was read, a clergyman pres- 
 ent, whose name we supposed had been freely 
 given, as one of this Committee, remarked, that 
 he wished to ask whether the Society proposing 
 to erect an Institution for the homeless, repre- 
 sented the early Advocates of Moral Reform ? 
 He was answered affirmatively, and then 
 abruptly withdrew his name, saying he must 
 have given it, it at all, under a misapprehension, 
 and that unless the Society would change its 
 title and principles, re-organize and start on a 
 new basis, he forbade the use of it under any cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 This announcement, with the manner and 
 spirit of the speaker, came upon us like a thun- 
 derbolt from a clear sky. The silence was unbro-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 133 
 
 ken for a moment, and the ladies knew not how 
 many might follow an example of so much 
 weight. Instead of this result, a well-known 
 city pastor, present only by request of a friend, 
 at once volunteered his services in place of those 
 just withdrawn, and the business proceeded with- 
 out farther interruption. The good man whose 
 ill-founded prejudice thus gave needless pain, is 
 now where they make no mistakes, and would 
 doubtless wish this, with every other human 
 error blotted out. 
 
 In answer to several important inquiries, due 
 explanations were given and light elicited. 
 
 The more prominent questions were, first, 
 Might it not be expedient to make some of the 
 changes suggested, as to name, etc. Second, 
 What reliable guarantee has the Society that it 
 could meet the current expenses of an Institution, 
 if once erected ? Third, What proof that chil- 
 dren and young women would continue its bene- 
 ficiaries in sufficient numbers to justify this large 
 undertaking. Fourth, How were country homes 
 to be secured, beyond a limited number? What 
 are the plans devised and their feasibility ? 
 
 Such were the points to be made clear to the 
 minds of business men, ere they were ready to 
 advise action. 
 
 The reply to the first suggestion was that the
 
 134 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Society could not ignore its principles, and hav- 
 ing been organized twelve years under its 
 present name, working diligently in city and 
 country till it had a list of several hundred Auxil- 
 iary Associations, who were nobly sustaining 
 the cause, and had already made the larger 
 contribution to the funds in hand toward the 
 proposed Home ; therefore a change of name 
 without adequate reasons, might do more harm 
 than good. Should the edifice be erected, it 
 would be a child of the Society, but must have 
 a fitting name of its own. 
 
 With regard to current expenses, and the suc- 
 cessive numbers needing its aid, we had no 
 misgivings. Our periodical, and organ with the 
 public, was a reliable, permanent agency. Our 
 many patrons were scattered far and wide 
 through the rural districts, and would not only 
 help us in finding homes for the children, but in 
 providing for their daily wants. Our plans of 
 course were not fully matured, but sufficiently so 
 to create the trustful purpose to go forward, pro- 
 vided we might still look to the respected gentle 
 men present, as an Advisory Committee, to coun- 
 sel us in the application of funds now in hand, 
 and funds which we hoped to receive for estab- 
 lishing the enterprise. 
 
 To the ladies, this was truly " an anxious
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 135 
 
 meeting " of the olden time, and eyes were tear- 
 ful, and voices tremulous, that are now where 
 " there are no more tears ;" but ere its close, 
 needed words of cheer were most cordial and 
 encouraging. 
 
 All admitted the necessity of securing tempo- 
 rary premises that should relieve the long-con- 
 tinued press upon the families of the managers, 
 and the following resolution was passed unani- 
 mously by the Committee of gentlemen present : 
 
 "Resolved, That in the opinion of this Com- 
 mittee, it is advisable, as soon as it can con- 
 veniently be done, to take some suitable house 
 within the city, until arrangements can be made 
 for purchasing or building,"
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Go bridge the chasm 'tis deep and wide 
 Where thousands gather side by side, 
 Avert the crowd, withdraw young feet, 
 And lead them to a safe retreat. 
 
 THUS encouraged, the Executive Committee 
 proposed at once to hire a house to be occupied 
 by their beneficiaries, till means should be 
 furnished to erect the edifice they had asked the 
 Lord to give them. 
 
 By common consent they now became a 
 Committee of the whole, to seek desirable 
 premises and report at the next meeting. All 
 were anxious to find the right place, and various 
 sections of the city were eagerly explored.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 137 
 
 Wednesday came, and when the stated meet- 
 ing had been opened, and reports were in order, 
 it soon appeared that sundry places had been 
 offered, possessing some advantages, but a house 
 reported on Second St., and First Avenue, 
 seemed more eligible than others. Two of their 
 number had found this house unoccupied, large 
 and commodious. They said, " In going through 
 its vacant rooms, in one on the second floor in 
 which was a pile of straw and a ladder against 
 the wall, they had paused involuntarily and 
 knelt in earnest aspirations for Divine guidance, 
 and felt assured that this was the spot for the 
 beginning of their enterprise, and that the Lord 
 their God would go before them and give them 
 success." 
 
 THE HIRED HOUSE. 
 
 At the close of their statement the ladies at 
 once adjourned in a body to the house in ques- 
 tion, taking stages going directly to the avenue. 
 Some arrived sooner than others, and all passed 
 alternately through the rooms from cellar to 
 attic; then, at the call of their President, they 
 gathered in a group upon the hall stairway, 
 and on motion, voted unanimously, to take the 
 refusal of the building, subject to the approval 
 of their Advisory Committee.
 
 138 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 A week later and they held their first stated 
 meeting for prayer and business, in the upper 
 room, where the straw and the ladder had given 
 place to a straw carpet, a few chairs, and a plain 
 table. The house had been cleansed, and 
 furnished grotesquely with what we could get 
 without buying, and made ready for occupance. 
 
 Every dollar of the funds in hand, must be 
 husbanded and reserved for building purposes, 
 and it was understood that, for the present, the 
 House Committee would be expected to obtain 
 the needful supplies from friends and otherwise, 
 as they went along. This might have seemed 
 almost like " making brick without straw," but 
 they were so thoroughly in earnest, that seeming 
 obstacles dwindled. 
 
 A matron and needed helpers were soon 
 secured, and little groups of Home children 
 brought in from our scattered families, where 
 they had been gathered for shelter and 
 temporary care. Here our monthly, weekly and 
 sub-committee meetings were now appointed. 
 
 Appeals through the Advocate for means to 
 feed and clothe, this newly-constituted Home- 
 family, met a ready and often liberal response 
 Written expressions of sympathy and promises 
 of co-operation came with every mail The 
 children of homelessness and sorrow gathered at
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 139 
 
 our table, and sang their touching songs, 
 " around the altar and the hearth," and new 
 cases of special interest, from week to week, so 
 enlisted the feelings of fellow-helpers that to 
 'work for the success of the enterprise, became 
 with them an irrepressible purpose. 
 
 AN EXCELLENT LEADER. 
 
 Never were a band of Christian women more 
 unitedly devoted to the accomplishment of a 
 great and good end. Never had such a band a 
 more judicious and efficient leader, than was the 
 President of the Society, the departed Mrs. 
 Hawkins. Calm, self-recollected, far-seeing, 
 what was done under her supervision was sure 
 to be well done. If she had been slow to decide 
 on embarking in this large undertaking, it was 
 only because she must " first count the cost," and 
 have us all do likewise." But once committed, 
 there was no turning back. The lions in the way 
 were bravely met, and her quiet, lovely example, 
 was ever inspiring to others. 
 
 The stated gatherings of the Ex. Committee 
 had now been held on Wednesday of each week 
 for twelve successive years, with scarce an in- 
 terruption. First in a small dark basement in 
 the rear of a rented office, 149 Nassau St., under 
 the old Tract House; then in other locations,
 
 140 WOMAN S WORK , 
 
 and for the last few years in hired rooms in the 
 Brick Church Chapel rooms taken when women 
 instead of men were first employed by the Com- 
 mittee to keep their books, fold, write wrappers, 
 etc. But now as the weeks returned, they met 
 in their own hired house, where their beneficia- 
 ries were gathered, and the glad and sad faces 
 of their rescued children, made the sight of the 
 eye affect the heart. 
 
 SPECIAL CASES. 
 
 As the special cases occurring within the 
 week were reported, the little ones were often 
 called in, and such details given concerning 
 them, as had become known. The following 
 extracts from our notes of these cases will illus- 
 trate. 
 
 " Here are two little sisters from two to four 
 years old. Their fair, timid faces wear a look of 
 sadness. They are children of a worthy mother, 
 who recently lost her life by the blows of an 
 inebriate husband. He had fled from justice, 
 leaving his poor babes sole watchers by the side 
 of the lifeless corpse of their poor mother. The 
 eldest was found leaning over the silent form, 
 and lisped in broken accents, to the party who 
 first entered the room, ' Mamma as'eep/ ' 
 
 The mother was the daughter of a clergyman,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 14! 
 
 beyond the sea, well educated, delicately reared, 
 but misled by her affections, she formed an alli- 
 ance that proved fatal to her peace, and cut short 
 her life. Must her innocent, lovely children 
 wear the brand of the pauper ? surely not. Our 
 
 new Home shall open to them a brighter future." 
 ***** 
 
 Here is a group of four bright little children, 
 two brothers and two sisters. They have just 
 been led here from the dying bed of a devoted 
 mother. Her death is the result of starvation. 
 She would deny herself to feed her babes, had 
 not enough for both. The family antecedents 
 are good. 
 
 A NOTED LANDMARK. 
 
 Here, too, are some cases from The Old 
 Brewery of Five Points Memory, " little Annie 
 and her sister," rescued from physical and moral 
 surroundings of the worst type. " The Old 
 Brewery," a noted land-mark of a noted section, 
 but long since razed to its foundations, and on its 
 site, and directly opposite are placed two edifices 
 sacred to charity. Could the evil witnessed in 
 the former and the good done in the latter be 
 written in sunbeams, it would present a picture 
 with a moral, in strange contrast. 
 
 One of our helpers of the " long ago," thus
 
 142 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 describes a visit within the walls of this old 
 prison house. 
 
 THE OLD BREWERY. 
 
 "Men of God, to you we cry, 
 Rests on you our tearful eye, 
 Help us, Christians, or we die." 
 
 This wretched-looking edifice, more revolting 
 externally than any " Deacon Giles' Distillery," 
 ever dreamed of, stands just in the heart of our 
 New York Sodom. Prompted by the wish to 
 know what there might be there to do, or that 
 could be done with good resufts, we yesterday 
 improved an opportunity to accompany a few 
 friends to this place on a tour of observation. 
 We were prepared for sad sights and unwelcome 
 scenes but not at all for what our eyes beheld. 
 Truly the half had not been told nor can lan- 
 guage tell it. To be understood at all, it should 
 be witnessed, and by those possessing iron nerves 
 and strong hearts otherwise the effort to behold 
 it would prove a failure. 
 
 We were met at the entrance, which leads 
 through an alley to the rear building, with a note 
 of warning from several voices " Don't go 
 there !" " Better not go in there !" and as we 
 pressed our way through, horrid oaths, from 
 stentorian voices, maniac ravings, and the swag-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 143 
 
 ger of the drunkard, greeted the eye and ear. 
 Amid the herd that lined the passage way, 
 several sturdy dogs stood sentinel, and though 
 we knew why they were there, they excited less 
 fear than our own degraded species. Tracts 
 were handed as we passed, to those who would 
 receive them and guided by several children 
 who were at home in this earthly Aceldama, we 
 found our way from room to room, till prudence 
 bade us desist and retrace our steps. 
 
 The atmosphere was anything but breathable 
 and all the extremes of human wretchedness 
 seemed here impersonated in their most revolting 
 forms. In one room, upon a filthy, narrow bed, 
 lay a husband and wife, suffering with burning 
 fever. They had not room apparently even to 
 change their position, and nothing in the room 
 indicated the possession of a single article 
 necessary to the comfort of the invalids. On the 
 floor, at their leet, a child was lying upon a bed 
 of rags, with parched lips and breath half putrid 
 and a few feet distant, was another human 
 form, too weak apparently to remove the vermin 
 manifestly more alive than their poor victim. A 
 number of persons, old and young, gathered in 
 this room, to seek our compassion. Mothers 
 with babes in their arms, or young children at 
 their side, looked eagerly for some relief. In
 
 144 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 another room lay a corpse, shroudless and coffin- 
 less in another still we saw a very sick child, 
 lying on a chest against an open window 
 through which a burning sun poured a measure 
 of light and heat most undesirable to the invalid ; 
 there was no bed at hand on which she could be 
 laid no relief of any sort and her meek look of 
 anguish seemed to utter the prayer, " Come, 
 Death, and release me." 
 
 The jargon of human voices upon the prem- 
 ises was almost deafening the un ventilated 
 rooms nauseating to the sight and sense, and the 
 whole scene, without and within, was better cal- 
 culated to remind one of the great Prison House 
 where lost spirits writhe in hopeless anguish, than 
 any thing earthly that we have ever witnessed. 
 
 But the most touching part of the spectacle is 
 not yet depicted. We had heard of the " inno- 
 cent children," the " laughter-loving children of 
 the Brewery." But what was our surprise to 
 find here half a score of them in a single group ! 
 bright-eyed little girls from six to twelve years 
 of age, appealing to their wretched mothers with 
 touching eloquence, to let them go with us, and 
 " get some good place to live." Some twenty or 
 thirty women and children of this class sur- 
 rounded us like so many hungry bears, and 
 followed us a distance of a block or two, despite
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 145 
 
 our efforts to escape them, every step appealing 
 to our sympathies ready apparently to go any 
 where, or do any thing for relief. Judging from 
 what we saw, had our Home for the Friendless 
 been in operation, we might have taken with us 
 from this place ten or a dozen, and perhaps twice 
 the number, of little girls, under twelve years of 
 age, whose poor, half-starved, dissolute or degrad- 
 ed mothers, would have showered blessings upon 
 us for the favor. 
 
 Shall these children perish ? In a Christian 
 city within a stone's throw of our splendid 
 churches, where wealth and fashion bow, and 
 offer their incense at God's altar? Where a 
 Missionary meeting would call together as it 
 should do thousands of " the upper ten," to lis- 
 ten to the story of heathenism afar off, to be so 
 moved with pity at descriptions of Hindoo deg- 
 radation, that they are constrained to contribute 
 of their substance, ' to give the burder :cl con- 
 science ease." Has truth such force when urged 
 in behalf of the perishing on the other side of the 
 globe and shall the same class at our own doors 
 lift their imploring hands in vain ? Christians of 
 New York would that we could reach your eye 
 and ear and appeal to you in the name of 
 humanity we would ask you respectfully but 
 earnestly, not to take the word of another but 
 
 7
 
 146 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 go, behold for yourselves look on those young 
 immortals and answer to your own hearts the 
 solemn inquiry, " How much more is a man bet- 
 ter than a beast ? " 
 
 The summer and autumn of this year were 
 filled with real work. What with meeting cur- 
 rent expenses, securing homes for the homeless, 
 collecting funds for the Home yet to be 
 deciding on the most eligible site, arranging pre- 
 liminaries, ^md sustaining departments already 
 established, all were weary in the work,but not of it. 
 
 There was felt cause for thanksgiving that 
 entire unanimity of purpose existed among the 
 workers. 
 
 The spirit of the following sketch, penned by 
 a hand long since mouldered back to cust, exhib 
 its the prevailing feeling in the earliest stages o. 
 this enterprise. 
 
 MY FIRST VISIT TO THE " HOME FOR 
 THE FRIENDLESS." 
 
 Great was my surprise, on my return from a 
 short voyage, to be informed that already an 
 Institution bearing this name, was opened 
 Gladly did I devote my first leisure day to its 
 inspection, and thankfully did I listen to the 
 many interesting incidents connected with its 
 consecration to this holv cause.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 147 
 
 To narrate the varied emotions that mingled 
 in my grateful breast, would doubtless weary the 
 reader; but I must ask the privilege of trans- 
 mitting some of my experience on that eventful 
 day because I have not had the privilege, by 
 donation or especial labor, to aid in this greatly- 
 needed enterprise. 
 
 In the immediate neighborhood ol the Institu- 
 tion, I was somewhat a stranger, and having had 
 no description of its outward appearance, I was 
 not in the least prepared to enter a building of its 
 size, and stood for a while dubiously gazing at its 
 spacious front, until the familiar tace of one who 
 long since pledged herself by word and deed, to 
 accomplish this object, appeared at the portal : 
 and with an expression of joy and hope, bade me 
 enter. My heart leaped at the sound of her 
 voice, and half-bewildered, I walked as one in a 
 dream through the spacious hall of the dwelling, 
 and into the various rooms now dedicated to 
 God and the virtuous poor ! In the first room I 
 entered, one of the Executive Com Tiittee was 
 standing with an infant prattler in her arms, 
 whose gentle smile, in answer to h?r caresses, 
 sweetly impressed me with the remembrance 
 that our Saviour had said, "Of such is the king- 
 dom of heaven ;" and I lingered by her side to 
 ask its history. I learned that the babe's father
 
 i;8 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 is in prison, probably to remain for a term of 
 years, for several offenses against the law. Ah ' 
 thought I, thank God, baby, for your sake, that 
 this domicile is so occupied that the child of the 
 prisoner here finds shelter. From the beautiful 
 centre-piece, intended for the magnificent chaa 
 delier, depended a baby jumper, the gift of a 
 kind heart, for the young of the fold and instead 
 ot the other gorgeous equipage once doubtless 
 garnishing the ample parlor, 1 observed a number 
 ot tiny chairs less, however, 1 soon perceived, 
 than were needed. Passing through the French 
 window to the back piazza, the voice of childish 
 laughter broke upon my ear and peering 
 through the shrubbery, several groups ot little 
 ones, merrily enjoying their harmless pastime, 
 met my eye. 1 was not surprised at their num- 
 ber nor their joyousness; familiar by many 
 years' occasional visits to those quarters, 
 " where the city's poor hide their deformities," I 
 could readily account for their presence, and 
 the contrast between their play-ground at the 
 Home, and the cramped and gloomy places they 
 had inhabited, gave a valid reason for the " ring- 
 ing laugh of childhood," that fell in its pleasant 
 melody on my listening ear. 
 
 One face, that of a dear little boy of about 
 five years, whose black eyes had attracted my
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 149 
 
 notice at our Anniversary, was the only one I 
 had ever seen before. I would have asked their 
 several histories, but the time for our Committee 
 meeting was too near to admit of that, and I 
 could only ascertain particulars with regard to a 
 few, from the friend who accompanied me. 
 
 Three were there, whose mother, an American 
 woman, had died from starvation but a few days 
 previously. Some were there, whose natural 
 protectors had given for strong drink all they 
 possessed, and would without a shudder have 
 consigned them to the Farms, the Prison, or vag- 
 rancy. Some were there, who had been bereft 
 ot maternal care by that tearful malady, the 
 alienation of reason ; and of these, one, a girl ol 
 but eight years, had during the past spring and 
 summer, done most of the work for her father, 
 brother and sister, one an infant under two years. 
 
 VV r hen asked if she had a regular wash-day 
 in her family, she answered, 
 
 " Yes Friday." 
 
 ' Why did you wash on Friday ?" 
 
 " Because 1 could iron on Saturday, and then 
 our clothes were clean for Sunday.'' 
 
 " Did you mend too ?" 
 
 " Yes, but I have not learned to use a thimble 
 yet, but I could do very well with a thread and 
 needle."
 
 150 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ***** 
 
 Our session that day will long live in my 
 memory, and doubtless also, in the minds of all 
 who were present. Some of our number were 
 burdened with cares and anxieties of a domestic 
 nature, so great that one might wonder how 
 they could farther extend their sympathies. One 
 wept a relative who on his return from a post to 
 which his office in the service of his country had 
 assigned him, enfeebled by disease, closed his 
 eyes in Lousville, Ky., amid strangers, leaving a 
 bereaved widow, and a fatherless trio of helpless 
 little ones, to mourn their country's folly in 
 choosing the sword to settle national differences, 
 and the father's profession, that so early con- 
 signed him to the tornb. Another came with a 
 request from a Tract Distributor, that some ot 
 our most experienced members would visit a 
 women in her district, whose position was 
 peculiarly critical, who was convinced of her sin, 
 and on whose mind the inquiry was preying, 
 " What can I do. to support myself and my three 
 children, if I abandon the home provided for me 
 by my destroyer and their father?" Others had 
 requests to present of special and common 
 interest. 
 
 To God alone could we go with our burdens 
 and necessities, feeling that with him is power
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 151 
 
 adequate to the redress of every grievance and 
 the support of every afflicted or betrayed one 
 upon his footstool ! As one after another 
 narrated how God in his goodness had inclined 
 many to give to their solicitations not only the 
 attentive ear, but the helping hand and who, 
 when additional and increasing wants were 
 spoken of in connection with this enterprise, 
 could say, " Let us trust God, and the Christian 
 community," the writer felt keenly rebuked for 
 her want of that child-like confidence that could 
 give all into God's hand, and patiently wait on 
 Him who feedeth the sparrow, and clotheth the 
 lily. 
 
 After my departure, my mind was filled with 
 pleasure in contemplating what I had heard and 
 seen ; and I feel like urging all who can, to go 
 to the spot so consecrated, and witness for them- 
 selves the contrast between it and the Prison, the 
 Alms House, and ' The Farms,' once the only 
 resorts of the destitute virtuous female, or the 
 helpless, innocent child of poverty and sorrow. 
 * * * * * 
 
 A. C. L.
 
 "Except the Lord build the house they labor 
 in uain that build it." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ONE more link is weaving now, 
 O'er which angels deign to bow, 
 What a chain from first to last, 
 Holds the link these moments cast! 
 "Joy and sorrow, hope and fear, 
 Human destinies are here." 
 
 THE hired house of the Society was occupied 
 from July, 1847, to December of the year follow- 
 ing, and well filled and sustained. 
 
 Lessons of experience were acquired, friends 
 enlisted, funds collected, and faith encouraged. 
 By advice of the Committee of gentlemen, a site 
 was selected on East 3Oth Street, and on May 5th 
 the corner-stone was laid with appropriate cere- 
 monies. In the centre of an almost vacant block, 
 well shaded with trees and shrubbery, the voice
 
 AMOXCJ THE LOWLY. 153 
 
 of prayer and praise broke the stillness, and the 
 united aspirations of many warm hearts con- 
 secrated the ground on which they stood, to the 
 Infinite Friend of the friendless, the children of 
 the needy, and the lambs of the fold, unsheltered 
 and helpless. 
 
 The day was fine, and a kind Providence 
 seemed to smile upon all the arrangements. 
 Among the first upon the ground, were a large 
 portion of the band of women, who had so long 
 toiled together, " hand to hand, and heart to 
 heart," and several of the benevolent gentlemen 
 who had stood by them in darker hours than 
 these. Other friends, a goodly number, were 
 soon present and at the hour appointed for the 
 services, those who were to aid in the exercises 
 ascended the platform erected. E. W. Chester, 
 Esq., took the Chair by request, and announced 
 the object for which the assembly had convened. 
 He said : 
 
 " We are met for no idle ceremony. Here is 
 the ground, extending seventy-five feet on 3oth 
 Street, and running through to 29th Street, with 
 a front there of fifty feet, where the building 
 is to go up. Here is to be a shelter for the 
 friendless, and here the destitute and the worthy 
 are to find a home. We assemble here to-day, in 
 the name of the women constituting the Ameri- 
 
 i O 
 
 7*
 
 154 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 can Female Guardian Society, wherever scattered 
 through the length and breadth of this land, to 
 lay the corner-stone of a building which will 
 stand a monument of their charity, their per- 
 severance, and their warm-hearted philanthropy. 
 The buildings and grounds will cost some twenty- 
 two thousand dollars, of which more than one- 
 half has been already contributed. It has come 
 mostly in little rivulets flowing into this centre, 
 the contributions not of the wealthy, but of the 
 earnest and self-denying women who have taken 
 this business in hand. It is to go up by the free- 
 will offerings of those who contribute their 
 dollar, their half or their quarter dollar, to afford 
 a shelter for the virtuous of their sex from the 
 arts of the destroyer, and the little children 
 written " homeless and friendless." 
 
 " He had long known the managers of this 
 Society, in prosperity and adversity had known 
 them. When darkness seemed to brood over 
 them they had prayed and labored. When per- 
 plexity and difficulty and trials had beset them 
 they had still prayed and labored on. And 
 when, as now, the sun of prosperity was shining 
 upon them they had still prayed and labored on. 
 And they will labor on, and by their persever- 
 ance and labors, and the blessings of Heaven, this 
 building will go u and will stand a monument
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1 5 5 
 
 of woman's charity, and love, and perseverance, 
 when those who erect it and we who stand here 
 shall all slumber in the dust." 
 
 A select choir present sang the following 
 hymn, composed for the occasion. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 God of the helpless, to whose ear 
 
 The wandering ravens cry; 
 Friend of the friendless Saviour dear! 
 Who tasted, while a dweller here, 
 
 Of lowliest poverty. 
 
 Eternal Spirit Guide Divine ! 
 
 Who stricken hearts doth cheer; 
 We ask a blessing on the shrine, 
 The HOME for those who homeless pine, 
 
 That thus in faith we rear. 
 
 The orphan's tears that ceaseless flow, 
 
 Grant us the power to dry ; 
 To save from guilt to succor woe 
 O'er sinking forms a shelter throw, 
 
 And soothe the suppliant's sigh. 
 
 Grant us the gifts of hope to strew 
 
 O'er misery's darkest shade ; 
 And with warm zeal, with purpose true, 
 What holy pity prompts, to do, 
 
 Ere fleeting life shall fade. 
 
 Rev. J. Dowling, D. D., offered prayer, after 
 which the attention of the audience was called to 
 the service of
 
 156 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 LAYING THE CORNER-STONE. 
 
 Mr. Lewis Tappan, who had been invited to 
 perform this ceremony, made some preliminary 
 remarks and stated briefly the circumstances 
 that led to the undertaking and the necessity 
 under which the managers seemed to be placed 
 to erect such a house. " In their walks of useful- 
 ness and deeds of benevolence in this city, they 
 found so many homeless children, and were 
 applied to at their office and otherwise by so 
 many destitute young women, that they were 
 often urged by considerations of humanity to 
 make their own dwellings temporary asylums." 
 At length, he said, the idea occurred, suggested 
 doubtless by the Holy Spirit, that, in addition to 
 their other labors, it would be well to establish 
 an Institution for the temporary use of the 
 virtuous poor, who were seeking employment. 
 It seemed a great undertaking, and would 
 require a large sum to carry it into effect. The 
 ladies were already borne down by philanthropic 
 labors and responsibilities, they were compara- 
 tively few in number. Yet, at the imperious call 
 of duty, and with humble faith in God, they 
 resolved on making the attempt. They issued 
 appeals to the members of the Society and to the 
 humane throughout the country. They were 
 generously responded to, and at length a suf-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 157 
 
 ficient sum was given or secured to justify the 
 Managers in purchasing lots, and making a con- 
 tract for a large and commodious edifice, the 
 corner-stone of which is to be laid to-day. 
 
 Mr. T. said that although no public building 
 for precisely such a purpose had ever been 
 erected in this country or any other, so far as we 
 learn, yet here, as well as elsewhere, benevolent 
 individuals had practised on a small scale what it 
 is proposed to do here by this public Institution. 
 
 The object of the ladies is, said Mr. T., a 
 work of prevention. " An ounce of prevention is 
 worth a pound of cure." As it is in the case of 
 our bodies, so it is in a moral point of view, pre- 
 vention is easier than remedy. 
 
 Mr. T. then spoke of the benefit such an 
 Institution, properly conducted, would be to this 
 city, amidst its abounding iniquity, and the favor 
 with which it would be viewed by that great 
 Being who surveys the conduct of his creatures. 
 The celebrated Edmund Burke, while contemplat- 
 ing the numerous public charities in London 
 the hospitals, asylums, and charity schools 
 exclaimed, " These are the moral lightning-rods 
 that avert from this guilty city the wrath of 
 Heaven." So, said Mr. T., may the Institution 
 now to be reared, prove a moral lightning-rod 
 that may save many from destruction in this city,
 
 158 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 which in so many respects outstrips .London in 
 profligacy and vice. 
 
 Finally, said Mr. T., works of this nature are 
 the offshoots of Christianity. Before its intro- 
 duction there were no asylums or eleemosynary 
 charities. The most exalted notions of antiquity 
 never imagined such things, and it is the glory of 
 the Christian religion that institutions are found- 
 ed to prevent and alleviate human misery. 
 
 Mr. T. then held up to the view of the 
 assembly the plans of the proposed edifice, 
 describing its style of architecture, size, etc. He 
 then said, We have now assembled to lay the 
 corner-stone of this new edifice, The House of 
 Industry and Home for the Friendless, and I 
 invite you, on behalf of the Managers, to attend 
 to this interesting service. He then took up the 
 leaden box containing the articles to be deposited 
 in a cavity of the corner-stone, and read the list 
 of them, as follows : 
 
 i st. A Bible with the name of the Institution 
 stamped upon the cover. 
 
 2d. The several appeals issued in behalf of 
 the enterprise, with the names of the Advisory 
 Committee Rules of the Institution, etc., etc. 
 
 3d. Reports of the Association, containing 
 the names of the Managers, and an account of 
 the preliminary steps toward the enterprise. 
 
 4th. A copy of the various publications of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 159 
 
 the Society, and the secular and religious papers 
 of the day. 
 
 5th. Sundry documents and the " Great 
 Metropolis" for 1848. 
 
 The box was then deposited in its place, after 
 which Mr. T. said : 
 
 " In the name of the Redeemer of a lost 
 world of Him, who, when on earth, had not 
 where to lay His head I lay this corner-stone 
 of a house here to be erected, not as a place of 
 amusement or dissipation not for any purpose ot 
 gain not to encourage vagrancy or vice but to 
 afford shelter to the houseless to guard and 
 save the tempted to prevent crime, in which 
 the ignorant shall be enlightened and the 
 wandering guided to the Lamb of God ; and 
 may His favor and blessing be upon the projec- 
 tors, the builders, the inmates, the friends, upon 
 this city and the world." 
 
 Rev. W. W. Everts was then introduced to 
 the audience, and made an address in behalf of 
 the object, full of touching interest. He spoke 
 of " Home," the tender associations ever cluster- 
 ing around those two words, " our home," their 
 deep meaning to the human mind in almost every 
 nation and tongue and clime. He alluded to the 
 endearments of family and social ties, and to the 
 desolateness better felt than expressed that
 
 160 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the heart knows when these ties are all sundered, 
 and one goes forth alone. He described feeling- 
 ly the condition, the 'exposures and the sorrows 
 of the friendless and destitute in the great city, 
 especially the adult female and helpless child, 
 and the necessity existing for the establishment 
 of an Institution that should throw a shield 
 around them. * * * * 
 
 This occasion was one peculiarly hallowed 
 and solemn. We have often been where the 
 dead were congregrated beneath our feet, and 
 felt that the ground was consecrated, but we felt 
 here during the exercises, that we stood on 
 ground consecrated in a higher sense the one 
 was for the ashes of the dead the other for 
 beings uncounted in number, each animated with 
 a spark of Divinity, with immortal interests to be 
 secured or lost. The responsibility gathering 
 around the few who had stepped aside, at the 
 call coming from these immortals and from Him 
 who died for their rescue, and assumed the 
 burden of this great work was indeed weighty. 
 But it was enough to know that they had not 
 assumed it "at their own charges," that the 
 Master of the Vineyard, who had bid them " go 
 work to-day," had also enjoined, " casting all 
 care upon Him." 
 
 The thought occurred This stone may proba-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. l6l 
 
 bly be unsealed bv those of another age. The 
 simple records it contains perhaps be perused by 
 the descendants of some who now surround it, 
 while they, one and all, shall be in the Spirit- 
 land, engrossed with other themes and the 
 reflection thrilled the heart, that even then, there 
 might be numbers living in the enjoyment of 
 temporal, and the hopes of eternal good, whose 
 history might be traced back to the point, where 
 the agency of this Institution changed the tide, 
 whose current in its many windings had other- 
 wise swept them downward. 
 
 PUBLIC MEETING. 
 
 On the evening of the same day, a large 
 public meeting was held in the Church of the 
 Puritans, on Union Square, Rev. Isaac Ferris, 
 D. D., presided. Spirited addresses were 
 delivered by clergymen of different denomina- 
 tions. 
 
 We quote but the following, as furnished to 
 the city press, by a reporter present. 
 
 " Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D., said, that 
 during the three years he had walked the streets 
 of New York, the condition of the poor and the 
 friendless had formed with him a subject of daily 
 thought and daily concern. He had long been 
 considering what he could do in their behalf,
 
 1 62 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 when this association of ladies had presented to 
 his inspection a plan of the Home. He had 
 gladly become one of their Advisory Committee, 
 and felt that their undertaking was one of the 
 most important and precious in this Christian 
 metropolis. 
 
 "They had gone on, he added, under the 
 most propitious circumstances, until they had 
 actually felt encouraged to dare great things, 
 and to contemplate achievements, which even he 
 himself had been disposed to regard with dif- 
 fidence. They had succeeded in raising no less 
 than eleven thousand dollars for the purpose of 
 building a ' Home ' to provide a shelter, a tem- 
 porary shelter, for those who stand on the 
 dividing line, where the next step may be ruin, 
 or the next step security; and it was at that 
 point when, unprotected, unguarded, seeking to 
 find a mode of supporting themselves, and 
 desiring to find a home and protection by 
 industry of their own, it was at that point that 
 these Angels of mercy (he was no flatterer, and 
 felt he did not use too strong a term) came down ; 
 messengers of glad tidings, to take by the hand 
 the lone one, the one who, it might be, had been 
 neglected, or forgotten, and to lead this object of 
 tenderness and sympathy to a resting place, and 
 a home free from anxiety and danger. Dr. Tyng
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 163 
 
 here proceeded to speak of the trials which these 
 ladies had so far endured, and then went on to 
 declare that he was prepared to pledge whatever 
 credit and character and reputation he might 
 have at stake m the community, as a guarantee 
 of the excellent motives of these ladies, and of 
 their fidelity to the interests committed to their 
 charge. He had not been, he said, an uninterest- 
 ed observer of the progress of this cause. He 
 had often said to those of his own household 
 that if no one opened a ' Home ' they would have 
 to do it themselves. But it was now a simple, 
 practical, business question. These ladies had 
 expended five thousand dollars in the purchase 
 of lots, and for the current expenses of the Insti- 
 tution ; they were in need of from six to eight 
 thousand dollars more, and they had come to ask 
 aid of the churches and of their fellow-Christians. 
 And now permit me, said Dr. Tyng, to say for 
 them, that they are fully worthy of sympathy 
 and respect and confidence. They have acted 
 under the advice of a Committee throughout; 
 every dollar laid out has been judiciously 
 expended ; and each one of them is giving more 
 now, in her personal zeal and efforts, than thou- 
 sands from the wealthy could purchase. What 
 a sublime spectacle is that of the mother of a 
 family giving her own time and exertions to this
 
 164 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 * 
 
 cause, taking up a cross which even masculine 
 strength is unable to bear. I say she is, in thir,, 
 giving what mere wealth has no power to 
 measure. When, then, there is such a going 
 forth in the beginning of this enterprise, let not 
 the wealthy stand back in rendering their aid, 
 but contribute freely of their substance towards 
 a cause which will be so certainly effectual for 
 lasting good. Let us one and all take hold of 
 this work in a spirit of cordial encouragement 
 and support. Give these ladies a wide margin 
 in your manifestations of sympathy and approval, 
 and their cause will go onward, ever brightening 
 in its career, and there will henceforward be no 
 cloud resting upon the roof." 
 
 STANZAS, 
 
 Written after witnessing the laying of the Corner Stone of 
 the Home for the Friendless, May 5th, 1848. 
 
 P,Y MRS. A. C. LOVKLAND. 
 
 Deep, wide and wild, the tide of life rolls in 
 Its breathing surges through our city's gate ; 
 On 'mid our scenes of pride, and shame, and sin, 
 On, though for most, danger and crime await ! 
 On, past our doors, bright living crystals glide, 
 Clear as the dew that decks the fields at morn; 
 Returning at the ebb a turbid tide, 
 To lave our hearts, and make our homes forlorn ! 
 
 Where, 'mid our public charities may we 
 Place the poor friendless woman for a night?
 
 Tin: LOWLY. 165 
 
 Where the young children ? That kind hearts may be 
 Engaged to gild their opening paths with light ? 
 We have our prisons and the paupers bread 
 But where employment for the stranger girl? 
 Where is the shelter for the houseless head 
 That aches and throbs, amid the city's whirl? 
 
 We have our churches ! 'Neath their arches dim 
 
 Despairing hearts have broken ! Virtue died ; 
 
 E'en while with solemn melody, the hymn 
 
 Of praise went up to Jesus glorified ! 
 
 One stone alone ! points out the place where yet 
 Broad walls and high, shall tower o'er the sod, 
 One signet ! on the green earth's bosom set ; 
 That bids the Homeless still " Have faith in God ! " 
 
 Here see the earnest of His love to thee 
 Who shared your burden ! He the crucified ! 
 " Home for the Friendless ! " 'Tis for such as ye 
 Ere lured or driven from Virtue's paths aside! 
 Down the dark vista of the coming years 
 Methinks I see pale forms advancing slow. 
 Childhood without its smile ! Women in tears, 
 Crushed 'neath the weight of misery's stunning blow: 
 
 They enter here ! Sweet sympathy binds up 
 Their spirit wounds and healed they soon depart. 
 Hope fills for them again life's golden cup, 
 And cheering Mercy wins the suff' rer's heart. 
 Ye who are striving these results to see, 
 Toil on in faith ! Strength shall to each be given, 
 "As ye have done it to the least!" so He 
 Still saith, who gives the crown and robe in heaven! 
 
 From the report of the first year of Home- 
 work, as presented at this meeting, we have room 
 only for the following brief extract :
 
 1 66 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " During its first experiment, in a period ot 
 less than one year, it numbers over two hundred 
 children plucked from want and vice, from mental 
 and moral degradation, now found on the ascend- 
 ing scale, enjoying the genial influence of the 
 Christian's home, with lighter hearts, and 
 brightened hopes. 
 
 '* But for this enterprise, the dwelling-place 
 of very many of these might now have been the 
 prison, the alms-house, the hearth made desolate 
 by intemperance, the Old Brewery, or the city 
 street. Could they stand before its patrons as 
 they were and as they are, and their future 
 history be traced through time and beyond it, 
 their silent appeal in behalf of this Institution 
 would be more forcible than words. 
 
 " The special cases, where the good resulting 
 is already apparent, are too numerous to be cited. 
 
 " H J - is an adopted child of five 
 
 years of age. Her foster parents are worthy, 
 Christian people, in affluent circumstances. The 
 child has a fine countenance, pleasing manners, 
 and brilliant talents. She is much beloved, and 
 will, if spared, doubtless be well-trained and 
 educated. Six months since a vagrant woman 
 led her daily from kennel to kennel, and none 
 cared for her soul. She passed from the Tombs 
 to the Home, and from thence, after a short
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 167 
 
 sojourn, to those who will fill a parent's place. 
 May not the Home be to her and others like her 
 a white link in life's history ? 
 
 "B , L , and S , three other adopt- 
 ed children, in families equally desirable as the 
 above, were, five months since, on their way to 
 ,the alms-house; they were each bright and 
 promising, but hunger, want and neglect had 
 been their early heritage. Their complainings 
 were unheard, save by the God of the fatherless, 
 till by His kind providence they were sheltered, 
 for a time, in the Home, and transferred . thence 
 to a brighter destiny. 
 
 " M - and T , two sisters of ten and 
 
 twelve, affectionate, amiable and prepossessing, 
 but destitute of earthly guardianship, were 
 marked by the agents of the Spoiler. Bribes 
 were offered the eldest to frequent the theatre, 
 its charms extolled, and in her simplicity and 
 desolateness, she listened and believed. Just 
 then a friendly hand led both the sisters to the 
 Home, arrangements were made for them to 
 reside in good families in the country, where 
 they now are under judicious care, saved from 
 the snares laid for them by those whose feet go 
 down to death." 
 
 These cases illustrate the work and its aims.
 
 i68 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 In the first year in connection with the hired 
 house, the record of statistics says 
 
 From May ist, 1847, to April 3Oth, 1848, the 
 whole number received under the care of the 
 Managers, has been six hundred and five. 
 
 Of this number, three hundred and thirty-four 
 have been adults, and two hundred and seventy- 
 one children. The larger portion of the former 
 have been provided with good situations. Of the 
 latter, twenty-nine have had either a father or 
 a mother living, to whom they have been 
 restored on their furnishing evidence that they 
 were in a condition to support them. Special 
 efforts have been made to secure good homes for 
 those apprenticed or adopted, and with scarce an 
 exception, they have been placed in Christian 
 families, satisfactory reference being in all cases 
 required. 
 
 From the period of laying the corner-stone, 
 to the completion of the edifice there was united 
 toil. The progress of the rising walls was 
 watched with an intensity of interest, better felt 
 than expressed. 
 
 Every dollar received towards the payment 
 for materials and labor, seemed to be heaven-sent. 
 Every issue of the Advocate brought additions to 
 the material aid required.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 169 
 
 The Second Appeal was printed as a leaflet, 
 and used effectively. It closed with the state- 
 ment. 
 
 " The Association who thus solicit aid, have submitted their 
 views to various individuals, competent to judge of the 
 expediency of the proposed measure, who have expressed their 
 full conviction that the plan is feasible, and the work impera- 
 tively demanded. Several influential gentlemen have kindly 
 consented to aid by their counsel in carrying forward the 
 project in question, also to act as a Committee of Reference. 
 See page 122. 
 
 The following resolution is an extract from the Minutes of 
 a meeting of the above named Committee, held November 18, 
 1846: 
 
 Resolved, That the object proposed to this meeting, of 
 erecting a temporary home for friendless and destitute females 
 and children of good character, meets with our cordial appro- 
 bation, and commends itself to the sympathy, and aid ot the 
 philanthropic and Christian public. 
 
 E. W. CHESTER, Chairman. 
 JOHN H. GRISCOM, Secretary. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " A Home for Destitute Women. This is one of most 
 noble enterprises of Christian benevolence to which even our 
 age has given birth. We most ardently hope that the good 
 who are able will promptly come forward and aid to carry it 
 into successful execution." Tribune. 
 
 "A Noble Enterprise. * * * * There are at this 
 moment many hundred females in this city, from the ages of 
 fourteen to twenty-five, who are utterly destitute of food and 
 lodging except as supplied by charity. * * * Alas, what 
 powerful temptations are thrown before such unfortunate 
 females ? What can be done for them ? Why, if benevolent 
 men will give heed to this Appeal, and help the object with 
 
 8
 
 i/o WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 their money, a vast deal can be done for them. * * * * 
 Those whom it would aid would in many cases be saved 
 from almost inevitable want, degradation, ruin and crime. 
 It is an object that commends itself powerfully to the kind- 
 hearted of all sects and denominations. It appears to us that 
 the object needs only to be presented, in order to command 
 the contributions of all who have any benevolence in their 
 natures. 
 
 " The committee of reference and counsel in the matter are 
 of such a character that the public may have the utmost con- 
 fidence that what is given will be most faithfully applied to this 
 excellent object. We sincerely hope there will be no difficulty 
 or delay either in procuring the funds necessary for under- 
 taking the enterprise, or in putting it into i.nmediate execution." 
 New York Evangelist. 
 
 " Let us say a word for that excellent and humane Institu- 
 tion, the " House of Industry and Home for the Friendless." 
 Who will not contribute something from his or her means to 
 afford a temporary Home for friendless and destitute females 
 and children of good character? The object of the Institution, 
 which has already accomplished much good, is, to meet the 
 wants of the virtuous, helpless poor, whom according to our 
 Saviour, we have always with us." Knickerbocker for 
 September. 
 
 Tokens of sympathy and ready co-operation 
 were received from unlooked-for sources, and 
 not unfrequently in the form of substantial aid. 
 
 An instance of this occurred in the voluntary 
 proffer of the New York Sacred Music Society 
 to give the avails of a grand concert for the 
 benefit of the object. Several eminent artists 
 gave their valuable services, and the occasion 
 proved a success and encouragement, not to be 
 forgotten. Among other free-will offerings was a
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. I/I 
 
 HYMN OF CHARITY, 
 
 Composed for the occasion, by MRS. H. F. GOULD, and sung 
 to the Marseilles Hymn, by D. B. BELL. 
 
 To Thee, O Lord, whose treasures, endless. 
 
 And love, eternal, must endure, 
 We cry for help to help the Friendless 
 
 For home to give the homeless poor! 
 Pale Misery, with tresses hoary 
 
 Ere life's midsummer, haunts the street; 
 And woe, on tender iifant feet, 
 
 By tears and shiv'ring, tells its story : 
 Unshelter'd youth is toled 
 
 Anear the tempter's snare! 
 For these poor lambs a shepherd's fold 
 
 God help us to prepare! 
 
 Thou, in whose Father-house, a mansion 
 
 We hope our final home to be, 
 A mantle here of wide expansion 
 
 Oh, give thine angel Charity! 
 Thy children no abiding city 
 
 May claim or seek 'mid scenes below ; 
 With love each bosom fire, to glow 
 
 Till every heart dissolve in pity. 
 While Faith the seed may sow, 
 
 To Thee the plant she leaves ; 
 Let her, though weeping forth she go. 
 
 Return with precious sheaves ! 
 
 O Thou, who once for man's salvation 
 
 Didst lay Thy heavenly glory by, 
 And, ere the mighty consummation. 
 
 An Infant, in a manger lie : 
 When near the Cross, with sorrow bending, 
 
 (For us to purchase life and rest!) 
 
 The Heirs of Want were Thy bequest, 
 To all Thy friends, through time, descending.
 
 \J2 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 In power, when Thou return, 
 
 The waking dead shall see 
 And they who help'd the poor, shall learn 
 What then they did for Thee! 
 
 HYMN, 
 
 Composed for the occasion, by ANNA BLACKWELL. Sung 
 by Members of the Sacred Music Society. 
 
 The golden day, the starry night, 
 The air, the sunbeams, and the dew, 
 
 Give life, and beauty, and delight, 
 To all that dwell beneath the blue, 
 
 God's glorious gifts to all are free; 
 
 And broad like His our love should be? 
 
 Yet, while His boundless love enfolds 
 
 The Universe in its embrace, 
 The humblest flower upon the wolds 
 
 He blesses in its lowly place ; 
 And we His love would emulate 
 Would bless the lone, the desolate ! 
 
 The orphand child the widowed wife 
 The poor the friendless and the weak 
 
 Those whom the Juggernaut of life 
 
 Would crush beneath its wheels, we seek, 
 
 To save from crime and from distress 
 
 To help protect and teach and bless! 
 
 Then aid us, that our " House " may raise 
 Its fair proportions broad and high ; 
 
 And many a song of hope and praise 
 Shall rise, rejoicing, to the sky, 
 
 F*-orn those who 'neath its ample dome, 
 
 Bless God that they have found a " Home ! "
 
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 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 BUILD to the name of a glorious life, 
 Build to prepare for the coming strife, 
 Build in memory of sighs and tears, 
 Pains and sicknesses, toils and fears ; 
 Build in faith of a coming clay, 
 Something to catch its distant ray, 
 ****** 
 
 Build a prophesy, build a prayer 
 Build a temple strong and fair, 
 Where many a warm young life shall be 
 Rescued and offered, O God, to Thee." 
 
 From" Tribute to Livingstone." Am. Miss., April, 1877. 
 
 THE engraving of the Home on the last 
 page, so familiar to its many patrons, may seem 
 to represent in its foreground only a fancy pic- 
 ture. But, the artist had before him living 
 objects. 
 
 The white horse and the single carriage, 
 behind which its owner is distinctly seen, call to
 
 i/4 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 mind the daily coming and going 1 of our faithful, 
 devoted friend, Mr. J. B. Graham, chairman of 
 the building committee, and from the foundation 
 to the top-stone, daily at his post, allowing noth- 
 ing to be left undone, that he regarded as essen- 
 tial to the best ends to be secured in the edifice. 
 Others, now with him in the spirit-land, were 
 standing at the open door when the picture was 
 taken. 
 
 Personal appeals and the visits of strangers to 
 the hired house, enlisted many, .friends. Food 
 and raiment for our beneficiaries came from un- 
 looked for sources, and the work went steadily 
 forward. 
 
 Early in December the building was so nearly 
 completed, that arrangements were made for its 
 dedication and occupance. Preliminaries were 
 settled and the day announced. 
 
 The Advisory Committee had appointed a 
 building committee at the outset, who had 
 labored with great efficiency and disinterested- 
 ness. The following is an extract from their 
 minutes. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 
 
 At a meeting of the Advisory Committee for 
 the House of Industry and Home for the Friend-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1/5 
 
 less, held at the Home on Thirtieth Street, 
 December I2th, 1848. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Tyng in the chair. 
 
 The Report ot the building Committee, con- 
 taining a statement in detail of the expenses 
 attending the erection of the Home was 
 received, read and considered. 
 
 On motion the report was approved and 
 referred to E. VV. Chester and Dr. J. H. 
 Griscom, for publication. 
 
 Resolved, That this Committee are highly 
 gratified with their examination of the building 
 erected as a " House of Industry and Home for 
 the Friendless ;" that they fully approve its plan 
 and construction, and the economy and wisdom 
 of the expenditures of the Society in relation to 
 this worthy enterprise. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Committee 
 be presented to the Building Committee for 
 their faithful accomplishment of the undertaking, 
 and especially to Mr. J. B. Graham, the Chair- 
 man, for his assiduous and very successful atten- 
 tion to the work, and for his very liberal contri- 
 bution of funds for its completion. 
 
 Resolved, That this Committee tender to the 
 ladies of the Society their hearty congratula- 
 tions on the completion of the Home, and in 
 behalf, as well ot the community as of humanity, 
 render them richly-deserved thanks for under.
 
 i;6 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 taking and prosecuting with such distinguished 
 perseverance, this enterprise of benevolence. 
 And while approving the expenditures incurred, 
 i the Committee earnestly commend the ladies to 
 a generous public for funds to cancel all their 
 obligations within the coming year. 
 
 STEPHEN H. TYNG, Chairman. 
 JOHN H. GRISCOM, Secretary. 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE HOME. 
 
 Wednesday, December I3th, 1849, was a day 
 of days to the friends of this enterprise. It was 
 a day of gladness and thanksgiving a day when 
 a thousand hearts, beating in warm sympathy, 
 were ready to exclaim, " What hath God 
 wrought ! " " The ' top-stone,' had been laid 
 upon ' our new and beautiful House.' The time 
 of its public consecration had arrived a bril- 
 liant sun and balmy air left nothing to desire 
 respecting the weather." Long before the 
 appointed hour, crowds were gathering in the 
 various rooms and dormitories, to examine the 
 premises, express their mutual congratulations, 
 and unite in the services of the occasion. 
 
 Hundreds of donors, friends from neighboring 
 towns and cities, and a multitude of strangers 
 were present. But among them all perhaps none 
 were happier than a band of the children of the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 1 77 
 
 Home, who had come with their teacher to sing 
 their hymn of praise and prayer. 
 
 The crowd convened, soon became so large 
 that hundreds left, unable to gain access to a 
 standing place within hearing of the speakers. 
 
 The reports given in various city papers, 
 extracts from which we insert below, give a briet 
 synopsis of the several addresses. 
 
 FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE. 
 
 The building was crowded with visitors, and 
 a great number were excluded from a participa- 
 tion in the exercises. It was next to impossible 
 to effect an entrance, and it was some time before 
 we could obtain admittance. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Tyng, who presided, had almost 
 concluded his discourse when we entered. We 
 give his closing remarks as follows : 
 
 Little do many of you know the toil and 
 anxiety of mind and spirit through which this 
 great work has been carried on. We have seen 
 Christian ladies willing to encounter every 
 difficulty, and even contumely, in pursuit of the 
 means wherewith to erect an institution for the 
 reception of the poor and friendless, and with a 
 spirit that nothing could discourage or repress. 
 They have endured their burdens and toils with 
 an inextinguishable ardor, and if a cruel and 
 
 8*
 
 178 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 careless world shall undervalue them, hundreds 
 of souls which they will have redeemed from 
 misery and destitution, will invoke upon them a 
 blessing. Too much praise cannot be accorded 
 to those who in the midst of every discourage- 
 ment, were determined to prosecute with every 
 energy, the work in which they had so 
 generously engaged. Some have been the sym- 
 pathizing witnesses of the perils through which 
 they have passed and the amount of suffering 
 which they have relieved. They have not been 
 actuated by a proselyting spirit, but rather by a 
 true and sincere desire of doing good to their 
 (ellow-mortals whose fortune has not been so 
 favorable and who have been subjected to 
 privations and hardship. Their deeds are 
 recorded in heaven, and the sighs of the miser- 
 able to whom they have extended the hand of 
 charity, are written in the book of the Eternal, 
 and those sighs will be changed to a chorus of 
 thanksgiving before the throne of the Creator. 
 These ladies have been permitted, under the 
 favoring influence of Divine sanction, to erect a 
 building which will stand as a monument of the 
 Christian love that labored so perseveringly and 
 ' successfully in its erection. 
 
 We meet here to congratulate those ladies, 
 and while we speak in the language of congratu-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 179 
 
 lation, let us not forget that there is still more 
 to be done for those who are to be the recipients 
 of their charity. The road the)' have traveled 
 has indeed been a via dolorosa, but it is a path 
 that has been cheered by bright and precious 
 beams. 
 
 Multitudes of friendless creatures will here 
 find a home. The mother who, on her death- 
 bed, leaves her helpless children to the care of a 
 heartless world, will rejoice as she reflects on the 
 home where they will be sheltered from the 
 storms of life. Here is a building which has 
 cost some $18,000, built in the most substantial 
 manner, examined by the committee and com- 
 mended in the highest terms, and capable 
 of containing a family of from one to two 
 hundred persons, giving them protection and 
 instilling into their minds Christian principles 
 for their future life. Adult females are to be 
 received here and afforded temporary protection. 
 Children will also find a refuge here until the 
 Christian's God has provided them with parents 
 until families will come forward and say, 
 
 " We will adopt them as our own." 
 
 # * # # * 
 
 The following hymn, prepared for the occa- 
 sion, was sung by the Choir of the Laight Street 
 Church.
 
 i8o WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 When God, to shield from cold and storm. 
 Gave trees to build and fire to warm, 
 He did not mark for each his part, 
 But gave to each a human heart. 
 
 Each heart is told the poor to aid 
 Not told as thunder makes afraid 
 But, by a small voice, whisp'ring there: 
 Find thou, for God, the sufferer's share! 
 
 Oh, prompting faint, to careless view, 
 For work that angels well might do! 
 But wisely, thus, is taught below 
 Quick pity for another's woe. 
 
 The world is stored enough for all 
 Is scatter'd wide, 'twixt hut and hall ; 
 And those who feast, or friendless roam, 
 Alike from God received a home. 
 
 For child for woman's fragile form, 
 More harsh the cold more wild the storm ; 
 But most they bless a shelt'ring door, 
 Whom dark temptations reach no more ! 
 
 A Home for these, O God, to-day, 
 For blessing at thy feet we lay ! 
 And, may its shelter, humbly given, 
 Be but a far-off door to heaven, 
 
 The report of the Building Committee, in 
 which was specified every kind of work and 
 material used in the construction of the house, 
 was then read. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Patton commended very highly 
 those who had persevered with such undaunted
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. l8l 
 
 energy, and hoped they would go on in this 
 good work. Dr. Tyng had said there was still 
 an indebtedness of $4000, meaning that there 
 were reliable pledges for $2000, which would 
 make up the sum total. But apart from that, he 
 never saw a cage but there was a little globe for 
 water, and a trough for seeds. Here they had a 
 cage, but it was necessary to have something 
 upon which the birds could subsist ; and in a 
 cage he always saw little sticks put up for the 
 birds to rest at night upon. He thought there 
 were some beds necessary, and hair-mattresses 
 were far better than feather-beds. He would 
 not care if some of the humane friends would 
 order a cart-load, or two or three cart-loads, of 
 such things as would be necessary for the com- 
 fort of the friendless. That would, however, be 
 a fitter theme for another meeting, which 
 could be held in a more capacious room, and he 
 had no doubt but the necessary sum could be 
 easily raised. * 
 
 HYMN SUNG BY THE HOME CHILDREN. 
 TUNE. " Grateful Memory." 
 
 Tather in Heaven ! Thou'st deigned to bless, 
 
 And give this goodly Home 
 Our hearts their gratitude confess, 
 
 Beneath its finished dome.
 
 1 82 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 To thee we consecrate its walls 
 And on Thine Altar place, 
 
 Its grounds, its rooms, its ample halls- 
 All, all, the gift of grace ! 
 
 May homeless childhood here be taught 
 
 A Father's guardian care, 
 Has their young footsteps hither brought 
 
 To shield from every snare. 
 
 May hapless, inexperienced youth 
 
 By want and sorrow pressed 
 With scarce a friend upon the earth, 
 
 Here find their ills redressed. 
 
 Bless Thou the laborers, each and all. 
 
 And give the willing mind 
 Through life to pray, through life to toil, 
 
 To succor human kind. 
 
 Bless Thou each donor, gracious Lord, 
 From Thine own store-house free ; 
 
 May each receive the rich reward, 
 "Ye've done it unto me." 
 
 A sacred monument for aye 
 
 To Virtue, Want, and Worth, 
 We consecrate this House to Thee, 
 
 Thou Lord of Heaven and earth ! 
 
 FROM THE BROOKLYN STAR. 
 
 The Home for the Friendless. This 
 unequalled institution, designed to afford a 
 shelter to the fatherless, and an asylum to young 
 females destitute of employment until they can 
 find it, was dedicated yesterday, in the presence
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 183 
 
 of a large concourse. There is about it every 
 requisite convenience, and it will be regarded as 
 one of the most beautiful monuments of blossom- 
 ing and effective Christianity. 
 
 The idea of such an institution originated 
 with some ladies. " How many of the most 
 blessed works of good-will to man, spring from 
 the same source !" This idea has since been 
 fostered into its full development, and we have a 
 noble refuge from the infallible calamities of life, 
 which will save virtue from sacrifice in the hour 
 of its helplessness. 
 
 In the exercises, the Rev. Dr. Tyng took the 
 chair at ten o'clock. Rev. Dr. Dowling offered 
 a prayer, after which, an original hymn was 
 sung. Rev. W. W. Everts then read appropriate 
 selections from the Scriptures. 
 
 The dedicating prayer was offered by Rev. 
 Mr. Stewart, and the benediction by Rev. Mr. 
 Johnson, of Jersey City. 
 
 The following very beautiful hymn, composed 
 for the occasion by Mrs. F. S. Osgood, was also 
 sung 
 
 Thou, whose love is always o'er us, 
 
 Wheresoe'er our wanderings be 
 Thou, whose angels float before us, 
 
 Viewless, luring all to Thee ! 
 
 Gazing through the clouds of sorrow, 
 With a pitying smile, whose ray
 
 184 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Paints thy promise for the morrow, 
 In the glowing rainbow's play ! 
 
 Thou, who speakest worlds to being, 
 
 Deign our humble Home to bless, 
 Where the lone and friendless fleeing, 
 
 Shall thy guiding hand confess. 
 
 Unto thee, thus consecrating 
 
 Our glad work, in happy bands, 
 Here may we abide, awaiting 
 
 Thine own "House not made with hands." 
 
 Our Home and its work was now a fixed fact. 
 To us it represented responsibilties high as 
 heaven, broad as earth, lasting- as time. The 
 house was the Lord's. He had given its use to 
 the workers, in answer to united prayer. They 
 had learned to prize it beyond its cost, because 
 of the necessity it had become, for the protection 
 and shelter of the increasing numbers who were 
 their beneficiaries and dependants. They had 
 assumed the care of the enlarged work it must 
 bring, not knowing its issues, and conscious of 
 utter weakness, except divinely aided, but ready 
 to do and trust. 
 
 In sending forth their first appeal, they had 
 asked but for $10,000, supposing at the time that 
 in all probability, if this sum were secured, the 
 ground required on which to build would be 
 donated by the city, or otherwise.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 185 
 
 This gift was indeed offered, but in an 
 undesirable location. In referring the matter to 
 their advisory committee, they were assured that 
 for the purposes intended, a much larger outlay 
 -than was at first contemplated, would be indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 Being pledged to be guided by the counsels 
 of this Committee, they had pursued the course 
 thus advised, and were happy to know that in so 
 doing, they had the full approval of their many 
 patrons. 
 
 And now, with their new edifice to be fur- 
 nished, filled with beneficiaries, its current 
 expenses met, and the existing debt extinguished, 
 they well knew if there were any failure in 
 prompt payments, as they were then unincor- 
 porated, the husbands of the managers would be 
 held responsible ; yet they were kept from 
 undue anxiety, encouraged to do with their 
 might what their hands found to do ; and often 
 when the weight upon their spirits seemed 
 heaviest, they were enabled to 
 
 " Cast their burdens on the Lord, 
 " And bear a song away." 
 
 The anniversary of the Society, the May fol- 
 lowing, was again held in the Church of the 
 Puritans, on Union Square, which was filled at an 
 early hour, with one of the best audiences of the
 
 1 86 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 week. The singing of the choir, also of the lit- 
 tle children of the Home, brought forward thus 
 publicly for the first time the reports and 
 eloquent addresses, held the fixed attention of the 
 crowded house, to a late hour. 
 
 The closing remarks by the chairman of the 
 Board of Counselors, were timely and impres- 
 sive. Among other things he said, " A year ago 
 in this same house it was spoken of to build a 
 Home, and I thank God that house for the pro- 
 tection of the friendless has been erected.* * * 
 
 " From the first I have had no misgiving as to 
 the result, in relation to the edifice. I knew it 
 would cost a struggle to accomplish it, but I am 
 perfectly certain that it will not cause any sor- 
 row on a dying bed, to reflect that I have 
 engaged in a cause relieving so many sufferers, 
 and succoring so many tempted. Nay, as I have 
 walked around the walls of our spacious and 
 commodious Home, I have asked myself, ' What 
 am I ?' A creature of a moment. To-morrow I 
 may die, and in a year after I am gone, it will be 
 almost forgotten that I once trod these streets. 
 And how do I know but while engaged in rear- 
 ing these walls, I am building an asylum to pro- 
 tect my children or my children's children. 
 Without any hesitation I declare it to be, so far 
 as I am a capable judge, one of the best arranged
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. l8/ 
 
 and one of the safest benevolences I ever knew. 
 I have the most implicit confidence in the capa- 
 city and intentions of the managers of the Institu- 
 tion. Their energy, their prudence and their 
 benevolence, are worthy of all praise. One year 
 ago I pledged myself to sustain them to the best 
 of my power, and I am now prepared to give the 
 same pledge for the coming year. We may not 
 live to see it, and yet when this enterprise has 
 fulfilled its mission, then we will glorify, not our 
 own efforts, or our own names, but will ascribe 
 all glory to God. 'Not unto us, not unto us, 
 but unto thy name be all the glory.' " 
 
 This year, from the beginning to the close, 
 marked an era of progress. 
 
 Success was not only achieved in the com- 
 pletion of the Home, but in the adoption and 
 practical application of judicious rules for its 
 internal management. 
 
 During this year, the Legislature of the State 
 passed a special Act providing a Charter for the 
 Institution, liberal in its provisions and well 
 suited to its wants. [See Apendix.] 
 
 The publications of the Society were 
 increased, the Office, Register, and Missionary 
 departments enlarged their operations, and the 
 results of the enterprise, thus far, had proved 
 even more satisfactory than had been anticipated.
 
 1 88 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 The following lines by a member cf the 
 Board, now in Heaven, brought a response of 
 $500, and gave special cheer to the laborers. 
 
 We insert them as a pleasant memento of the 
 dear departed. 
 
 STANZAS, 
 
 Addressed to Mad'lle JENNY LlND, accompanying a Litho- 
 graph of the " House of Industry and Home for the Friend- 
 less." 
 
 I welcome thee, sweet songstress, to my native city now, 
 With the throb of rapture in my heart its light upon my 
 
 brow, 
 
 I welcome, oh, I welcome thee ; but thou can'st not divine 
 Why one should greet thee joyously, who may not seek thy 
 
 shrine. 
 I'll tell thee why I welcome thee. Thy noble woman's 
 
 heart, 
 
 Hast given to humanity of thy riches won, a part 
 And 'midst our City's Charities, I'd point thee to the Dome 
 Where friendless youth and childhood find a shelter and a 
 
 Home. 
 
 The little ones are asking there, " Oh, give us daily bread." 
 And our fainting souls are tasking, " How so many may be 
 
 fed." 
 For them, I pray thee, Songstress, scorn not the humble 
 
 plea, 
 But win and take their blessing with thee o'er the billowy 
 
 sea. 
 
 Shall I tell thee why I dare to thee, these little ones pre- 
 sent, 
 
 And ask that gift of gold or song may to their aid be lent? 
 
 It is because one dear to me once reached a helping hand, 
 
 To scores of Sweden's noble sons, far from their native 
 land.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 189 
 
 "Twas years ago ; when thou wast but thy lonely mother's 
 
 pnde. 
 A Swedish barque* lay idly moored on the broad Hudson's 
 
 tide. 
 Years, years ago ! ere thou hadst power a Nation's heart to 
 
 move. 
 
 And countedst highest in thy dower, that lonely mother's love. 
 That barque ! From southern seasf she came, but faint the 
 
 hearts she bore, 
 For guile had led their wandering feet to tread a stranger's 
 
 shore. 
 These youth and men, from lowly cot from fisher's hut, 
 
 and hall ; 
 From mountain hamlet cities thronged Carlscrona, Lund, 
 
 Upsal, 
 From Stockholm, Bergen, Gottenberg, the lowly and the 
 
 high, 
 Doubtless the loved of many hearts, remembered with a 
 
 sigh. 
 
 All paced her deck m mute despair nor funds, nor friends 
 had they ; 
 
 And though around were pitying eyes and hearts, they 
 naught could say. 
 
 Their black and bitter bread ran low to them no succor 
 came ; 
 
 Their Consul would no pity show the leaders knew no 
 shame , 
 
 And hope died out of manly breasts, and errant youth 
 turned pale, 
 
 As they shivered in the cutting blasts of keen November's 
 gale. 
 
 At length my sire approached he spake their soft, melliflu- 
 ous tongue. 
 
 Oh, how they pressed around, and smiled, and on his ac- 
 cents hung : 
 
 * Frigate Taperheiten, or " True Bravery."! S. America.
 
 190 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Some wept for joy, some leaped, some prayed, Oh, well he 
 
 knew their care, 
 
 For he had stood a stranger here, with none his woe to share. 
 Oh, I can see, as then I saw, half-blinded by my tears, 
 The groups that gathered at our door, bewildered by their fears, 
 I hear again that manly voice cheering the strangers then. 
 Ah, me, that I no more on earth may hear that voice again ! 
 Though poor, his earnest sympathies awakened not in vain - 
 He led them forth where shelter, food and work they might 
 
 obtain. 
 And when assured of this, their joy burst forth in grateful 
 
 song, 
 And my soul would know that melody, a thousand tones 
 
 among. 
 
 'Twas Swedish music ! Swedish words yet all could under- 
 stand, 
 What meant each melting cadence, what each gesture of the 
 
 hand ; 
 Oh, Songstress, thou e'en thou could'st not from memory 
 
 tear away. 
 
 Remembrance of that melody, heard thus in childhood's day. 
 * + *** 
 
 Forgive me, though I trespass thus, I could not silent bide, 
 
 Lest charities of older growth, our precious Home should hide. 
 
 So I have told thee all my heart, and if I judge thee right, 
 
 Thou'lt gaze upon this Lithograph, before thou sleep' st to- 
 night ; 
 
 And mayhap in thy dreams thou'lt hear, what I have often 
 heard, 
 
 Notes of that grateful melody which erst my bosom stirred. 
 
 Oh, love thou, Songstress, those I love, and thus to thee 
 commend ; 
 
 Be to them what thy soul would crave, if here without a 
 friend. 
 
 And, oh, for thee the World Renowned ! I'll pray the God 
 who gave, 
 
 Thy glorious voice its melody, thy deathless soul to save. 
 
 A. C. LOVELAND.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. IQI 
 
 The current expenses of the Institution were 
 met by donations and bequests, and the balance 
 of the debt upon the building on 3Oth Street, was 
 soon fully cancelled, and now, the question ot 
 work, on a still wider scale, began to be seriously 
 contemplated. 
 
 From the minutes of the Annual Meeting of 
 1852, we quote as follows. 
 
 ADDRESS BY REV. T. L. CUYLER. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Tyng presided, and led in prayer. 
 A company of children from the Home, occupy- 
 ing the front seats sang a hymn. The Treas- 
 urer's Report and Annual Report were read, 
 after which Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, addressed 
 the assembly. " He remarked that after the 
 statistics of so much work, he felt some embar- 
 rassment in coming forward merely with talk. In 
 strolling through Westminster Abbey, sajd he, 
 looking here and there at a royal monument, 
 here and there at a princely tomb, 1 came to a 
 slate-colored slab, which bore the name ol Wil- 
 liam Wilberforce. Here I gazed with admira- 
 tion. I thought of the man whom not only 
 statesmen of Europe delighted to honor, but 
 whose death thousands of blacks in the island oi 
 Jamaica lamented as that of a near friend. I 
 thought, how do the Napoleons of war, the
 
 1 92 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Byrons and Bulwers of literature, dwindle into 
 insignificance in comparison with the Howards, 
 the Wilberforces, the Father Mathews, the Neal 
 Dows. 
 
 I am a firm believer in Woman's Rights ! In 
 their right to guard us, to sustain us, to do us 
 good. I look at Elizabeth Fry, 1 .see Mary 
 Lyon, I meet Isabella Graham, and each con- 
 vinces me that woman has a right to elevate her 
 race, to enter on the work of doing good to man. 
 
 Have you ever thought of the names of this 
 Society, and the asylum they have opened, the 
 Guardian Society and its Home for the Friend- 
 less. Guardian ! Home ! what dearer associa- 
 tions can be awakened, than these words arouse? 
 I trust I shall not be deemed irreverent in say. 
 mg that my idea of heaven is that it is God's 
 Home for the Friendless. 
 
 I thought, as the letters from the children 
 which closed the Annual Report were read, of 
 how those boys which but for this Home would 
 have been forever ruined, are soon to become 
 your merchant-princes, to bless this Home with 
 their contributions. One great difficulty in 
 ex-pending money tor religious purposes is that 
 people don't go down deep enough. They erect 
 churches on handsome squares and furnish them 
 luxuriously. I say nothing of this. But I do
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 193 
 
 say that Religion must be considered as some- 
 thing more than a luxury. Imagine the Saviour 
 as in this world and in this very city. Would he 
 be found at the tables of the rich ? Would he be 
 met in the libraries of the learned? I fancy that 
 he would rather be found on this inclement night 
 in the depths of poverty, aiding the friendless, 
 befriending those bunches of rags which we call 
 children by courtesy, and endeavoring to reclaim 
 the fallen. It is in such a work that this Society 
 is now engaged." 
 
 He referred to the condition, moral and phy- 
 sical, of the class of children who were cared for 
 by this association the impossibility of bringing 
 Christian and saving influences to bear upon 
 them beneficially, till they were taken from the 
 street and the kennel, the place of filth and want, 
 the sound of cursing and blasphemy, and the 
 whole vocabulary of vice ; contrasted thsir 
 appearance and prospects, and comforts when 
 once in the Home, or removed thence to the 
 worthy family, with what they might be, left 
 uncared for, and portrayed the happiness that 
 must result from being consciously the humble 
 agents of their salvation. This point was illus- 
 trated by thTe case of the pleasure-seeker, stroll- 
 ing upon the banks of the Hudson, plucking 
 flowers by the wayside, admiring the fields and 
 
 9
 
 194 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the foliage, the rocks, and hills, and flowing river 
 
 % 
 
 bent on being intensely happy, and yet feeling 
 the disappointment of unsatisfied desire. Pres- 
 ently he hears a wail of anguish a little 
 child is struggling with the waves and seems just 
 ready to sink beneath them. He springs to the 
 rescue, in time to prevent the fatal plunge, and 
 returning to the shore, places the precious little 
 one in the arms of its terrified mother. Now he 
 feels what it is to be truly happy he has per- 
 formed a right action he has conferred unspeak- 
 able happiness on another and he finds in this 
 reflection a rich reward. Are not the souls of 
 these little ones, that are still among the perish- 
 ing, as worthy to be cared for as the body of the 
 drowning babe? And is not here a field where 
 happiness may be sought and found in large 
 measure? Where will the lives of these chil- 
 dren be spent, where will their future be spent, it 
 they are not taken up by some such chanty as 
 the Home for the Friendless? He Said, what is 
 done by this Institution for the many, was done 
 a long time ago for a little wanderer who after- 
 ward found his home upon the sea. A night 
 like this, but far more stormy, a vessel off Cape 
 Horn was buffeting with the storm/ The Cap- 
 tain ordered down some of the canvas, and the 
 mate called a little boy from the cabin and sent
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. IQ5 
 
 him up, saying that " they had often lost a man 
 from the rigging, but never a boy." The boy 
 soon went up and effected what he was ordered. 
 On being asked why he went into the forecastle 
 before he ascended, he said he " went to pray." 
 Beinsf asked " what was that he had under his 
 
 o 
 
 jacket ?" he replied, " that it \vas a Bible which 
 had been given to him by his teacher,' and if he 
 had fallen into the ocean, when aloft there, and 
 gone to the bottom, he meant to have taken it 
 with him. 
 
 Impress religious truth upon the minds of the 
 young, and thev will feel its influence in the hour 
 of danger, and, like the orphan sailor-boy, cling 
 to the Bible, and to the God of the Bible. 
 
 " You have heard of the traveler in the Alps, 
 almost buried in snow, and just yielding to that 
 freezing stupor which at such times is fatal, who 
 heard the cries of some fellow-sufferer. He 
 roused himself and went to relieve the other, and 
 in the exertion thus put forth to save another, he 
 really saved himself. Thus we shall always find 
 it true, that in blessing others, we ourselves are 
 blessed. We must pray for the destitute, but as 
 we pray we must love to give material aid. 
 
 The following hymn, written for this occa- 
 sion, bv Mrs. Sigourney, was then sung by the 
 children ot the Home.
 
 196 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 For the Anniversary of the " Home for the Friendless.' 
 
 I heard a voice, that to the heart 
 
 Of Christian kindness said, 
 Oh ! he not weary in the way 
 
 Where the dear Saviour led, 
 
 For thanks froin homeless ones shall bless 
 Your hearth where kindred meet, 
 
 And smiles of grateful orphans, make 
 Your household joys more sweet. 
 
 And if your garnered gold should fleet, 
 
 As fleet full soon it may, 
 Your alms and prayers a wealth shall win ; 
 
 That may not fade away. 
 
 Yea, when this world, with all its pomp, 
 The dooms-day flame shall feed, 
 
 They live, recorded in the Book, 
 That Heaven's Pure Eye shall read. 
 
 Then be not weary of the path, 
 
 Where your Redeemer trod, 
 But love to seek and save the lost, 
 
 And lead them home to God. 
 
 L. H. S.
 
 "What thy hand findeth in da, do it with 
 thy might." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WORK to-day ; the days are few, 
 
 Swiftly is the seed-time flying; 
 Work ; for there is much to do, 
 
 Still wide regions waste are lying, 
 Which all sown with precious seed 
 
 Yet for God must fruit be bearing ; 
 Blessed is the laborers' meed 
 
 When the joy of vintage sharing. 
 
 Words of Cheer 
 
 FIRST HOME INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 
 
 EVERY successive step in the work of the 
 Society deepened the conviction that the great 
 multitude of little ones, known familiarly as 
 "street-children," seen in tatters, begging from 
 door to door, with faces w.an and haggard, sent 
 to no school, because too repulsive and neglected 
 to be admitted with a better class, were the
 
 198 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 young heathen of our city, who, by hundreds 
 and thousands, must be reached by Christian 
 ^influence, or lost for both worlds. 
 
 Many victims of neglect and want were here 
 and there rescued, and the Home proved a most 
 valuable agency in their behalf. But the vast 
 multitude remaining in the purlieus of vice, the 
 overcrowded tenements, with none to point them 
 to a better life, appealed strongly to our sympa- 
 thies, and suggested Christian effort on a broad 
 scale. 
 
 How much, and what can we do, and how 
 may we do it, without neglecting duties already 
 assumed, was long an absorbing question. The 
 knowledge of the good-begun work of the 
 Ragged Schools of London, and incipient steps 
 in the same direction in our own city, came as a 
 stimulus in which we rejoiced and took courage. 
 
 At a stated meeting held at the Home in 
 February, 1854, it was resolved to try the experi- 
 ment of establishing one such school in a locality, 
 then specially adapted to the object. Commit- 
 tees were appointed, rooms taken, visits made in 
 courts, by-ways, attics and cellars, and on the 
 morning of the opening, thirteen little girls, some 
 half-clad, hatless and shoeless, were gathered at 
 the door of one of the Managers on 29th Street, 
 and accompanied by her to rooms in the Town-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 199 
 
 send buildings, West 35th Street and Broadway, 
 over whose door was placed 
 
 " Home Industrial School. 
 Open from 9 A. M. fo 3 P. M." 
 
 " Come learn to sing, come learn to read, 
 Come learn to work for what you need." 
 
 A few others joined the little group, and 
 while waiting outside for the teacher to bring 
 the key, a trio began to sing, for our entertain- 
 ment, a familiar stanza picked up somewhere ; 
 and when the door was opened, several were 
 quite ready to tell how and what they could 
 do, evidently greatly interested in the thought 
 that they were cared for kindly, by those whose 
 appearance commanded their respect. 
 
 Thus commenced, over twenty-three years 
 ago, our first Industrial School, an organization 
 that has brought under Christian nurture, to 
 some extent, and for a longer or shorter period, 
 over nine thousand different children in this 
 single school, many of whom have, through this 
 agency, been led to a truer life and higher 
 hopes than had else been theirs. 
 
 The First Report of this School extracts from 
 which we give below, exhibits the spirit with
 
 2oo WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 which the work was undertaken and has since 
 been prosecuted even to the present time. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM FIRST REPORT OF 
 FIRST HOME INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 
 
 From the opening of the School, February, 
 1854, to the present time, about four hundred 
 vagrant girls have come within the circle of its 
 influence A number have been removed to 
 permanent homes, in either "city or country ; and 
 several to the care and shelter of the " Home for 
 the Friendless " 
 
 An efficient teacher is employed, and in 
 addition to her labors, about sixty ladies volunta- 
 rily render their services ; each lady having her 
 own class and hour, one or more days in the 
 week. The morning is devoted to moral and 
 mental instruction ; a plain lunch is provided for 
 the scholars, and the afternoon is employed in 
 sewing. The improvement which has been 
 made during the year by many of the children, 
 has been very satisfactory, and in many instances, 
 remarkable. About forty scholars are now able 
 to>read intelligibly, many of whom did not know 
 even the alphabet a few months since. 
 
 During the year upward of six hundred gar- 
 ments have been made by the children, and 
 about one thousand have been distributed among 
 them and the poor families to which they belong.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2OI 
 
 A system of merit-marks has been adopted, and 
 doubtless does much to secure the interest and 
 prompt attendance of the children. They seem 
 ambitious to earn their own clothing by the two- 
 pence per day marks of approval. At the end of 
 each week these marks are reckoned up, and 
 tickets ot the nominal value of from one to ten 
 cents each, are distributed among the deserving 
 children, to be redeemed in clothing. 
 
 The success of the work has amply repaid the 
 self-denying labors of those who have been 
 engaged in it. The task of instructing these 
 children requires no small degree of patience 
 and perseverance. The children gathered in 
 from the streets and from destitute homes, are 
 ignorant and depraved, having been reared from 
 infancy among the lowest abodes of poverty, 
 misery and crime. The instruction of such chil- 
 dren, wholly unaccustomed to restraint, seemed 
 at first almost a hopeless task ; but unlooked-for 
 success in the effort, encourages us to believe, 
 that the future will reveal wonderful improve- 
 ment in the moral and intellectual condition of 
 the extreme poor of our city. 
 
 Instances attesting the usefulness and practi- 
 cability of this work, are of every-day occurrence. 
 Already the whole appearance of the school has 
 changed. Contusion das given place to order, 
 
 9*
 
 202 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 and the children, quick to perceive the motives 
 of those with whom they associate, many of them 
 having a keenness of perception and aptitude for 
 learning quite beyond their years, have become 
 as bright, well-behaved and intelligent scholars, 
 as may be found in any of our schools. 
 
 Other instances serve to illustrate the happy 
 influence of reformed children upon dissolute and 
 drunken parents. This is certainly one of the 
 most encouraging features of the work. The 
 pure principles taught these little ones at school, 
 and the ambition aroused in their minds for a 
 higher and better mode of life, are carried into 
 their wretched homes ; and who can tell what a 
 harvest shall be reaped in the future, when this 
 seed, blessed of God, as it will be, shall have 
 taken root? 
 
 The case of Lizzie B., six years of age, affords, 
 perhaps, the most remarkable instance of the 
 saving influence which even a child may exert 
 upon the most degraded parents. It would have 
 been difficult to find two more thoroughly- 
 debased persons than the father and mother of 
 Lizzie, at the time of her introduction to our 
 school. The child was bright and quick to learn, 
 and her progress was rapid. Before we knew 
 her, she had learned, from a sad experience, 
 though so young, to hate the cup, and now it
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY 2C 3 
 
 was her delight to learn, and then sing at home, 
 little temperance songs, which her sweet, pathetic 
 voice would render doubly effective. At one 
 time, when bidden by her father to take the last 
 shilling from the house to purchase liquor, she 
 hesitated a little, and then said, " First let me 
 sing you a little song." 
 
 At the conclusion she went on her errand, 
 and the father made no outward exhibition of 
 the tumult of feeling that little song had aroused 
 within his breast ; but from that day it became 
 apparent that the shillings were saved for home 
 comforts. Subsequently both parents signed the 
 pledge upon their knees, with the most solemn 
 resolve to adhere to it. Five months have now 
 elapsed, and Lizzie's father is a sober, industrious 
 workman, and the besotted and filthy mother, 
 whose daily visits in a state of intoxication to 
 the school, were a source of much annoyance, is 
 scarcely recognizable in the decently-clad and 
 respectable-looking woman, who now frequently 
 comes to shower her thanks upon the ladies, for 
 what the school has done for Lizzie. 
 
 A distant reader of the Advocate, Miss Mary 
 B. Todd, daughter of Rev. Dr. Todd of blessed 
 memory, learning the above facts, sent to little 
 L. an entire outfit of clothing. 
 
 The ladies engaged in this work, devote
 
 204 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 much time to visiting, in the vicinity of the 
 school, both to gather in new scholars and to 
 become acquainted with the condition and cir- 
 cumstances of those already members. In. this 
 way they meet with cases of extreme destitution, 
 which it becomes their privilege to assist. 
 
 Mrs. J. B. 
 
 SEMI-ANNUAL MEETINGS. 
 
 The Semi-Annual Meetings of the Society, 
 held in the autumn for the last few years, had 
 brought together many of kindred spirit from 
 various sections of the country, and gave an 
 impetus to the work felt through the succeeding 
 interval between these pleasant occasions. 
 
 Previous to the specific period, to which we 
 are now giving simply a glance of the mind, 
 several -Home Associations, the outgrowth from 
 our own, had been organized in this and other 
 states with similar aims and principles. They 
 were partially represented at these meetings by 
 their leading officers, especially at the last, and 
 the occasion afforded opportunity for valued 
 counsel and suggestions, also for mutual encour- 
 agement. 
 
 The reported records of the " Rosine," and of 
 the temporary Home Association, of Philadel- 
 phia, also of the Homes for the Friendless recent- 
 ly undertaken in Poughkeepsie, Rochester and
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2O$ 
 
 Syracuse, were full of interest. After citing 
 various impressive details of labors among the 
 poor and the suffering during the past year, the 
 Report from the latter very beautifully 
 remarked : " This association has bridged the 
 amazing chasm which separates the extremes of 
 society, by the tricolored arch of Faith, Hope 
 and Charity. Those who have crossed the 
 bridge have learned lessons in the abode of 
 penury, beside the maniac's couch, and at the 
 pauper's death-bed, that cannot be forgotten 
 amid the comforts and enjoyments of home." 
 The same is emphatically true of each and all 
 these sister Associations, who have put their 
 hand to the work in the spirit of Him who went 
 about doing good, who " came not to be min- 
 istered unto, but to minister." 
 
 The " bridge " across this chasm needs to be 
 made of larger dimensions, and more efficient 
 agencies need everywhere to be devised, to bring 
 more from these extremes of society into such 
 special contact, that the one class may be- elevat- 
 ed in the scale of moral and physical well-being, 
 the other taught to prize their higher blessings, 
 and duly to appreciate the bliss of doing good. 
 Especially should the rescue of the young chil- 
 dren from the dark side of this chasm be made a 
 common cause. To bring these little ones each
 
 206 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and all safely over the bridge while there is hope, 
 while they may be taken in their innocence and 
 helplessness, and trained by Christian care " in 
 the way they should go," so as to become a 
 blessing and not a curse to our cities and nation, 
 is the great work that yet remains to be done. 
 Contemplated in all its bearings, is it not a work 
 of more practical importance to the, present and 
 coming generations than the construction of a 
 railway or telegraph across the continent or 
 around the globe ? 
 
 Prevention begun here, and continued, will 
 obviate the necessity so long existing for the 
 reformation of the hardened offender, will cut off 
 the supplies for the moral charnel-house, the 
 police-court, the prison and the gallows ; dry up 
 unnumbered streams of misery, and originate 
 fountains of happiness to flow on forever. 
 
 So our hearts reasoned then, reaching con- 
 clusions that have only been strengthened by 
 time. 
 
 On the minutes of the Semi-Annual Meeting, 
 held at Madison, N. Y., September 6th, 1849, we 
 find recorded the adoption of the following 
 resolutions, accompanied by an Address to the 
 Auxiliaries of the country at large : 
 
 " Resolved, That we will petition the proper 
 authorities to pass such Legislative acts as will
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY 2O/ 
 
 secure, as far as may be, the proper education 
 and moral training of every neglected and desti- 
 tute child in our common country. 
 
 " Resolved, That we will petition our Rulers 
 to pass an act, whereby dissipated and vic- 
 ious parents, by habitually neglecting due 
 care and provision for their offspring, shall thus 
 forfeit their natural claim to them, and whereby 
 such children shall be removed from them, and 
 placed under better influences, till the claim of 
 the parent shall be re-established by continued 
 sobriety, industry and general good conduct." 
 
 From the Address we extract the following : 
 " The oracles of divine truth have foretold a 
 time when the moral wilderness and th solitary 
 place shall rejoice, and the desert shall bud and 
 blossom as the rose. This surely can never be, 
 while the vast masses of the young, because of 
 poverty and destitution, for which they are not 
 amenable, are left in a Christian land, to be 
 trained as heathen, to live and die as heathen. 
 
 " The inquiries we would propose are these : 
 Are not the resources of our favored countrv 
 sufficient, if rightly directed, to provide the 
 means of education and training physical, men- 
 tal, and moral for all her destitute children? 
 Has she not funds, nurses, teachers, philanthro- 
 pists, Christian men and women, willing to be 
 home missionaries, that might be enlisted in such
 
 208 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 a work ? Has she not among her honored states- 
 men the comprehensive intellect and long experi- 
 ence necessary to devise a practical plan for such 
 an undertaking? Should she once form the 
 noble decision, that the masses of the destitute 
 among the rising generation shall be properly 
 trained and educated, and enter at once upon the 
 work, might it not prove, in less than fifty years, 
 to have been the wisest measure of political 
 economy ever undertaken ? Let it be done, and 
 those whose existence had otherwise been a tax 
 on our country's resources, from the cradle to 
 the grave, will promote her honor, add to her 
 wealth, and bring their willing offerings to her 
 treasury. Let it be neglected, and the number 
 of paupers and vagrants continue to multiply in 
 the same ratio as at present, and the time may 
 not be distant when the division of classes the 
 poor arrayed against the rich may give us a 
 revised edition of such scenes as have been once 
 and again enacted in the streets ot Paris. 
 
 " Christian sisters and fellow-laborers, here is 
 a long-neglected work calling imperatively for 
 action but a work that our own feeble arm is 
 too short to compass except by faith and prayer, 
 It done, it must be done by our rulers. The 
 power, the resources are theirs , but the right of 
 petition, this is ours. By this means we may
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2OO. 
 
 come before them as their mothers, their com- 
 panions, their sisters as the friends of fallen 
 humanity, and make our respectful but long and 
 strong appeal. We may cite in our memorial 
 statistical facts, representing the thousands of 
 wretched children in our cities, who are attend-* 
 ants of no school upon the week-day or the 
 Sabbath, and who, if spared, will inevitably grow 
 up in utter ignorance and vice, unless reached 
 by more efficient legislation than the mere per- 
 mission to attend a free school if they will. We 
 may present the cruelty of the doom that allies 
 so many in our cities to the sad inheritance of 
 the drunkard's child with no adequate redress 
 provided, though sufferers from cold, and hunger, 
 and nakedness and peril. We can depict what 
 our eyes have seen, and our hearts have felt in 
 relation to the moral renovation effected' in cases 
 quite similar, and by all that is deplorable in 
 vice, and lovely in* virtue, we can intreat them to 
 act on this question for God and humanity. 
 
 " Do you fear to move in this matter because 
 the work seems so great too great, perhaps, 
 ever to be accomplished? There was once a 
 time when the proposal to build a steamboat and 
 a canal was deemed a folly. The first movement 
 in the construction of railroads and telegraphic 
 wires occasioned a smile among the incredulous.
 
 210 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 We need not expect such a work will be brought 
 about suddenly, but it can be agitated. It is 
 surely a fitting theme to enlist the energies of a 
 Christian Female Guardian Society worthy all 
 the attention it can receive from a Christian 
 nation. Let us again resolve and act in this 
 matter ; and while doing all we can for the few 
 hundreds we may reach through our Home 
 agencies and otherwise, keep our prayer before 
 our rulers, and especially before the Infinite 
 Ruler, and it may be that He will bless our 
 example and reward our faith, by turning not 
 only the hearts of the fathers to the children in 
 the sense implied in His gracious promise, but 
 that He will also turn the hearts of the fathers 
 and guardians of the nation to the children of the 
 nation, and thus avert the fearful alternative of 
 4 smiting the earth with a curse.' ' 
 
 " No act falls fruitless ; none can tell 
 
 How vast its powers may be, 
 Nor what results enfolded dwell 
 
 Within it silently. 
 "Work and despair not, give thy mite, 
 
 However small it be, 
 God is with all that serve the right, 
 
 Trust then, and toil and pray." 
 
 During the autumn of 1849, the following 
 petition was prepared and circulated by the 
 women of this Society and its Auxiliaries, 
 through the State, and was forwarded to the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 211 
 
 New York Legislature numerously signed, for 
 several successive Sessions : 
 
 " To tlic Honorable the Legislature of the State of 
 New York: 
 
 " Whereas, there are many children in the 
 large towns and cities of our State, familiarly 
 known as ' street-children,' whose parents being 
 intemperate, or idle and profligate, permit them 
 to run at large, receiving only such education 
 and training as will fit them to become a curse 
 to society, and, in the result, fill our prisons and 
 houses of correction. And whereas, no adequate 
 provision can be made for such children legally, 
 except a law shall be enacted to meet their case, 
 we, the undersigned citizens of - , there- 
 
 fore petition your honorable body to. pass an 
 Act, at this Session of the Legislature, making 
 it binding upon city and town officers to ascer- 
 tain and duly report to a Committee chosen for 
 that purpose, the number of neglected and desti- 
 tute children, in their respective bounds, not 
 receiving annually the benefits of the educational 
 provision of the State, or not otherwise provided 
 for; and also extending to such authorities the 
 legal power to provide for the mental, moral and 
 physical education of such children, in such 
 manner and way as to your honorable body 
 may seem best."
 
 212 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 In April, 1853, the Select Committee to whom 
 these petitions were referred, presented an 
 excellent bill, that, during the same month, 
 became a Imv of the State, accompanied by a 
 lengthy and well-timed report, from which we 
 quote here but a single paragraph, viz. : 
 
 " Numerous petitions, praying the State to 
 assume this position, and provide by law for this, 
 class of children, were presented to our prede- 
 cessors and have been renewed to us. A 
 favorable and decisive public sentiment on the 
 subject everywhere prevails." 
 
 The results of this law, thus far, wherever it 
 has been executed, have been the most gratifying. 
 The example of our State has already been fol- 
 lowed in Massachusetts, and we trust may soon 
 be throughout the Union. A writer in the Inde- 
 pendent of March gth, very justly remarks : 
 
 " The Legislatures of New York and Massa- 
 chusetts have lately passed laws which form a 
 most valuable basis on which these voluntary 
 associations can work. We do not believe that 
 the citizens of these States themselves are fully 
 aware of the uncommon and noble character of 
 these enactments. Heretofore a great obstacle 
 has existed in the inability to get hold of the idle, 
 vagabond boys and girls, unless they were 
 detected in crime ; but now the law provides for
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 213 
 
 their arrest and commitment. Even those chil- 
 dren who are simply neglected by their parents, 
 and who do not attend school regularly, or are 
 not regularly employed in some proper way, 
 come under these legal provisions, which, how- 
 ever, are not so much penal in their character as 
 reformatory. It is by the aid of these laws 
 passed in this State only a year ago, that 
 Rochester has been able to do so much good. 
 The working of their city organization has been 
 so excellent that scores of parents whose children 
 were wayward, have come to the visitors, as the 
 working officers are called, and besought them to 
 take in charge their own sons and daughters. 
 Such cases have occurred here." 
 
 Since 1850, the friends and patrons of this 
 Society have been privileged to welcome to this 
 department of their field of labor several well- 
 known organizations, whose " distinctive effort " 
 for the neglected children of the city promise 
 great good. 
 
 AGENCIES INCREASED. 
 
 At this period, May, 1854, a paragraph, culled 
 from the Annual statement, says : 
 
 " This association has now increased in 
 strength and numbers, till it has enrolled some 
 five hundred auxiliaries, and over 1600 life-mem-
 
 214 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 bers. Its issues from the , press for twenty 
 years, we find to be over 1 50,000 quarto pages. 
 We have seen it seeking fathers, mothers, 
 and guardians for children, till it has trans- 
 ferred many hundreds from the abodes of 
 want, sorrow and sin, to the shelter of the Chris- 
 tian's happier and safer home. We have seen its 
 aid extended to twice this number of exposed 
 and friendless youth, and we find it at the close 
 of its twentieth year, possessing facilities for ac- 
 complishing still greater good in the future. Its 
 institution is free from debt, no longer deemed 
 an experiment, but, in relation to its necessity 
 and usefulness, a ' fixed fact/ and though depen- 
 dent upon Christian charity from day to day for 
 means to provide for the needy and helpless, yet 
 its hold upon the sympathies, confidence and 
 prayers of the benevolent affords cheering 
 ground for trust. 
 
 We have seen it encouraged by the sacred 
 right of petition in coming before Rulers, once 
 and again until its prayer was heard, and a way- 
 mark inscribed upon her history, for which kin- 
 dred enterprises and th'e common cause cf 
 humanity may thank God and take courage. 
 Surely these, and many similar tokens ot the 
 Divine favor, demand the most iervent grati- 
 tude."
 
 AMOXC THE I.OWI.Y. 215 
 
 As time sped on, the number of beneficiaries 
 steadily increased, and the conviction, too, gained 
 strength that the time was not distant when an 
 enlargement of the Home premises must become 
 a necessity. 
 
 OPENING OF II. S. NO 2. 
 
 Meantime the Industrial school work, under- 
 taken for the poor children, whom we could not 
 reach otherwise, being thus far a success, had 
 gained upon our sympathies, and Home School 
 No. 2, had also been put in successful progress, 
 with a devoted teacher, supervised by an 
 excellent committee of voluntary laborers. 
 
 From an early report we insert the following 
 paragraph. 
 
 " Home Industrial School No. 2, was organized 
 some seventeen months since, it has registered 
 three hundred and seventy-five names ; present 
 average, eighty. One thousand four hundred 
 garments have been given to the children to fit 
 them to attend the day and Sabbath-school. 
 Eight children have " been committed to the 
 Home, and eight have been sent to homes in the 
 country. Ol those thus rescued in this Home 
 Industrial School, details of most painful interest 
 might be cited, respecting their antecedents."
 
 216 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " Hard their destiny who creep 
 Through a childhood full of gloom, 
 Sad awake, and sad asleep, 
 Buried in a living tomb, 
 Old before their spring is sped, 
 Grey at heart ere morn has fled." 
 
 " The continued and increased well-doing of 
 this department is mainly attributable to the 
 devoted labors of its truly-missionary teachers, 
 and its excellent school committees, who with 
 their fellow-helpers, have devoted much time 
 and personal effort to the work." 
 
 ANNIVERSARY HYMN. 
 BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 Sung by the children of the Home Schools, at the 22d 
 Annual Meeting of the Society. 
 
 We'll not forget to thank you, 
 
 Oh, Friends and Patrons dear, 
 Who love the famished child to feed, 
 
 And dry the orphan's tear. 
 
 Through the highways and hedges, 
 
 With pitying eye you sought 
 And found us in our low estate, 
 
 And to your Refuge brought. 
 
 We'll not forget to bless you 
 
 The memory of your care 
 Shall mingle with our morning praise, 
 
 And with our nightly prayer. 
 
 Yes, whereso'er we wander, 
 
 O'er life's uncertain way, 
 You, like the sunbeam and the star, 
 
 Shall guide us, lest we stray.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2 1/ 
 
 If to our glorious Saviour 
 
 We by your hand are led, 
 And taught to give our hearts to Him 
 
 Who here for sinners bled; 
 
 We'll meet you where He dwelleth, 
 
 We'll hail you in the sky, 
 And our sweet gratitude shall live, 
 
 When these frail bodies die. 
 
 10
 
 ; Jn flue season ye shall reap tf ye faint not." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "FROM the far-off fields of earthly toil, 
 
 A goodly host they'll come 
 And sounds of music be on the air, 
 
 * * The song of the Harvest-home. 
 Ah ! well will the heart remember, 
 
 As those notes of praise sweep by, 
 The yearning, plaintive music, 
 
 Of earth's sadder minstrelsy." 
 
 As extracts from the monthly and yearly 
 statements, made by those in charge of the dif- 
 ferent departments, may best serve to illustrate 
 the practical workings of the Institution, we 
 devote this and the next Chapter to a few para- 
 graphs from these several statements, penned by 
 different parties, and at different periods. 
 
 Among our corps of helpers, changes occur 
 witli the passing years, but, in the careful review
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 219 
 
 of the labors of many now no longer with us 
 we are reminded of much faithful, loving service, 
 we trust, so approved by the Master, that it will 
 meet an abundant recompense at the resurrec- 
 tion of the just. 
 
 The Home had been occupied some eight 
 years at the date of the following, but the Chapel 
 not being completed, the office of the Advocate 
 and Guardian was then in the Bible House. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF PUBLISHING 
 DEPARTMENT. 
 
 From this department have been issued dur- 
 ing the year, 168,000 folio pages of our periodi- 
 cal 10,000 Annual Reports I,OOD copies of 
 Letters to a Young Christian 1,000 copies of 
 Walks of Usefulness 500 copies of Saw Up and 
 Saw Down, c. 
 
 The number of letters registered, received 
 through this Department, is 3,100 letters writ- 
 ten, 1,500. The number of new subscribers 
 received since last Report, over 3,000. 
 
 The number of tracts, papers, &c., distributed 
 gratuitously the past year, about as in former 
 years. The number of Life-members received, 
 126, in full ; part-payment, 50 ; whole number on 
 file, 1,823.
 
 22O WOMAN S WORK 
 
 The 23d Report says, " It will be seen by 
 comparing the statistics of the last six years, that 
 the issue of the Advocate has more than doubled. 
 40,000 copies are now issued, semi-monthly, 6,000 
 of which have been added the past year. The 
 net avails of the paper, accruing to the Institu- 
 tion, after meeting all expenses of the depart- 
 ment, was over $2,000. The pecuniary income 
 may seem small, but it should be remembered 
 that the large gratuitous distribution adds large- 
 ly to the returns, in food, clothing, " permanent 
 homes," etc., not estimated by dollars and cents. 
 
 Since the removal of the registry of applica- 
 tion to the Home, the number of applicants call- 
 ing at the office, though not so numerous, has 
 yet been many ; also the calls for assistance, 
 through the charities of the Home. The tale of 
 sorrow has been listened to from time to time, 
 the name and number of the applicant taken, and 
 where they could not be aided by personal effort, 
 they have been referred to the Society's visitors, 
 or to some one of the many well-known channels 
 of benevolence. In some cases, those thus 
 referred and relieved, have returned with heart- 
 felt expressions of thanks. In other cases, 
 the effort has seemed to be labor lost. But, 
 while' we have felt it a duty to be faithful and 
 diligent in business, we have also felt it a priv-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 221 
 
 ilege to sow beside all waters, not knowing 
 whether this or that should prosper. 
 
 From memoranda taken we insert a few 
 items. 
 
 Two little girls present themselves. We 
 saw them an hour since, two miles from here, 
 begging. They are almost perishing with the 
 cold hard cases, however ought to be in some 
 Industrial School. 
 
 " What do you want, little girls ?" 
 
 " Me fader is sick, and me moder can git no 
 work, and we Have not'ing to eat, and would you 
 give us a lew pennies?" 
 
 " Where do you live ?" 
 
 " In G street, No. ." 
 
 " Very well, we will send a lady to see your 
 father and mother, and find out what can be done 
 for them, but we can't give pennies this way. 
 Go right home, and tell your father and mother 
 not to send you out any more, for you are liable 
 to be taken up as vagrants." 
 
 The visitor goes to see them, and there is no 
 such family at the number given. 
 
 A lady calls to bespeak our sympathy and 
 advice in the case of a young girl, not far in her 
 teens, who seems just ready to become a prey to 
 the destroyer of virtue. We listen, the case is 
 one within the provisions of the Guardian Socie-
 
 222 WOMAN S WORK. 
 
 ty, and we take the particulars and lay the 
 matter before the Board. A sheltering arm is 
 thrown around her, she is withdrawn from the 
 brink of the precipice, and is saved. God be 
 thanked, f6r our heart's quick pulsations had 
 become tremulous, in view of her perilous con- 
 dition. 
 
 Interesting visits of friends from abroad, 
 deserve notice in this connection. A gentleman 
 from - came in to renew his subscription. 
 He had expended five dollars annually in this 
 way, for several years past, for* the gratuitous 
 distribution of the paper, and felt that an interest 
 had been awakened, the result of which had been 
 realized to the Home, through various mediums, 
 as the sending of clothing, opening homes for 
 children, &c. 
 
 Another, whose practice it was to distribute 
 our various publications in his journeyings, came 
 in to supply himself. He remarked that they 
 were everywhere acceptable, and he took much 
 pleasure in scattering them broadcast over the 
 land. Several others, whose practice has been 
 similar, have at different times called and given 
 very satisfactory accounts of their efforts.* * * 
 
 Office Agent.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 223 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM MATRON'S JOURNAL. 
 
 One specific duty in this department is the 
 daily charge of the homeless and friendless 
 young women received by the Managers giving 
 such aid and counsel as their circumstances may 
 require. 
 
 Beneficiaries of this class are generally from 
 fourteen to twenty years of age ; their usual time 
 of remaining at the Home is from two weeks and 
 upwards, as may be deemed necessary to ascer- 
 tain to what they are best adapted, and to pro- 
 cure situations accordingly. If found deserving, 
 no pains are spared to provide them with a per- 
 manent home, where they may escape the 
 temptations of city life, and be benefitted by 
 salutary influences. Often are our hearts glad- 
 dened by receiving favorable reports of their 
 well-doing. 
 
 A recent statement says, " In the moving 
 panorama of life, we see here the meeting of the 
 high and low, those surrounded with every 
 luxury that wealth can procure, and those over 
 whom poverty has spread its pall of dark de- 
 spair ; without shelter, without food, and almost 
 without clothing ; the intellectual, refined, fas- 
 tidious, and the ignorant and debased in body 
 and soul ; the employers and employees in the 
 daily routine of life's domestic duties, each
 
 224 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 dependent upon the other to fill the "sphere in 
 which Providence has placed them. 
 
 In .some cases the beaming countenance, and 
 expressive language, tell us the fitness of the per- 
 son to the place, but in others the sorrowful tale 
 is told of unfitness, ingratitude, trust betrayed, 
 and even vice and crime." 
 
 " Another turn of the wheel presents a 
 mother of middle age, of luxurious surroundings, 
 rarely surpassed, seeking advice in regard to a 
 daughter of nineteen, an only child, beautiful, 
 accomplished, and as the world says, aristocratic. 
 The influence of mother and friends over her is 
 gone, she heeds not the love that would reclaim, 
 would fain reinstate, nor fears the finger of the 
 world's scorn, is bent only upon her downward 
 course, and will pursue it, she says, until death. 
 The mother remarked, ' Oh, how gladly would I 
 have buried her, innocent.' ' 
 
 Within two days, three cases similar to the 
 above, came to us for counsel. 
 
 Again, a girl of seventeen is brought to us 
 from a distant State, from the cherished care of 
 loving parents and brothers, from the seminary 
 class of which she was an honored member, 
 from the circle of friends of which she was an 
 ornament and leader. She came with one who 
 promised marriage, but after months' delay she
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 22$ 
 
 learned a wife and children here called him hus- 
 band and father ; she feared the ignominy atten- 
 dant upon her return to her home, and, though a 
 child of wealth, prefers, and has accepted, a 
 future life as a common domestic. 
 
 " Another narrates to us a sad case in the 
 family of a banker, of a trusted servant, un- 
 usually esteemed, and seeming worthy of the 
 confidence reposed in her. She was of good 
 family, enjoyed early religious influences, but, 
 unfortunately for her, possessed a gift of rare 
 beauty. After a year of unalloyed reciprocal 
 regard, a change came. Late hours abroad, the 
 flushed cheek, the sparkling eye, the flask of 
 rarest wine, sent by an unknown hand, indicated 
 the downward course. But though her delin- 
 quencies, which became frequent, were passed 
 over, kind admonitions given, and an almost 
 motherly love and watch kept over her, restraint 
 became useless, and she made her fatal choice, 
 and, strange but true, the one who wrecked her 
 happiness still occupies a high position, with a 
 most lovely wife and children ! 
 
 " These and like instances have their lessons, 
 but we may add no more. It will be apparent to 
 all that the necessary attention given to nearly 
 seven thousand persons who have entered and 
 left the Home during the year, must have 
 
 10*
 
 226 Vv'OMAX's WORK 
 
 elicited many phases of ' life as it is,' showing 
 the imperative necessity of earnest Christian 
 work." 
 
 FROM PHYSICIAN'S REPORT. 
 
 There have been among the beneficiaries of 
 the House ot Industry and Home for the Friend- 
 less, during the past year, three hundred and 
 twentyTfive cases of disease, and but five deaths. 
 One of these cases was a little child who was 
 beyond the reach of aid when brought to the 
 Institution. It had evidently been drugged with 
 opium to still its cries, and permit the mother to 
 attend to her daily pursuits. Two other deaths 
 were from marasmus, or infantile consumption, 
 and the others, infants at board, not in our care. 
 Of course, in an Institution like the Home, where 
 the children are gathered from the destitute 
 classes of society, diseases incident to their con- 
 dition, must prevail to a greater or less extent. 
 These we have had in the form of diarrhoeas, 
 eruptive diseases, and affections of the eyes ; 
 many of them of a serious character. They have 
 all, however, promptly yielded to the treatment, 
 and the children, on leaving the Institution for 
 their future homes, have gone, to all appearance, 
 in perfect health. 
 
 The change which a few weeks in the Institu-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 
 
 tion produces on these little ones, often seems 
 almost miraculous. Many of them are orphans, 
 and not a few worse than orphans, nursed in the 
 midst of poverty and vice, the fountains of their 
 young life tainted with the result of their 
 parents' vices, or produced from the lack of 
 proper nourishment in the first months of their 
 existence. Here they find large and well-ventila- 
 ted rooms, warm clothing, sweet and nourishing 
 food in abundance ; and some of them listen for 
 the first time in their life to words of kindness 
 and love, falling, not from a mother's lips, but 
 from those of strangers. From this Institution 
 they go forth to their homes in the country, well 
 in bodily health, and surrounded by those influ- 
 ences which will enable them, as they grow up, 
 to become good and virtuous citizens. 
 
 Institutions like this, do an immense amount 
 towards the regeneration of society. Children 
 are gathered from the haunts of poverty and 
 crime, from among the weary and destitute, 
 from the morally-tainted and sin-polluted atmos- 
 phere of the dark places of our city, and placed 
 in country homes, where they are surrounded by 
 healthy and Christian influences. Thus are 
 those broad streams of vice and crime, which 
 desolate our land, checked at their fountain. 
 
 I cannot close this report without speaking in
 
 228 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the strongest terms of commendation of those 
 ladies with whom, in the discharge of my pro- 
 fessional duties, I have been brought in contact, 
 who have charge of the invalids, the nursery, 
 and the general supervision of the house, I 
 have found them at their post, at all hours of the 
 day and night, watching over the sick with the 
 care and kindness of mothers. They have nobly 
 and faithfully fulfilled their duty, a duty at times 
 arduous and painful, and their full reward must 
 flow from the approval of that great Physician, 
 whose life was a labor of love, and from the 
 prayers and blessings of these little ones, which in 
 after life, will ascend to heaven for those who so 
 patiently watched over them in the helpless 
 period of childhood. 
 
 EGBERT GUERNSEY, M. D., 
 
 Physician to the Home. 
 
 MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The missionary has made over 4,000 visits 
 among the poor and destitute, 227 visits to the 
 sick, attended 269 meetings, (in the services of 
 which he has assisted,) placed three children in 
 the House of Refuge, six in the Juvenile 
 Asylum, and thirty-one in the Home. 
 
 He says : " In accomplishing this I have
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 229 
 
 traveled in city and country some eight thou- 
 sand miles, many hundreds of which have been 
 on foot ; exclusive of the great distance passed 
 over in going up and down stairs in search of the 
 poor in our tenant-houses." 
 
 " The statistics of the year can give but a very 
 vague idea of the facts and scenes which have 
 been met in the labors of almost every day. 
 During the summer months, the services among 
 the female prisoners at the Tombs were con- 
 tinued each Sabbath, with the same apparent 
 effect as during the winter previous. The meet- 
 ings were uniformly solemn, and most present 
 would seem interested, while the falling tear 
 from many an eye, showed that the fountains 
 were unsealed. 
 
 " During the summer, regular Sabbath ser- 
 vices were conducted for the children, (and 
 others who were disposed to attend,) at the Home 
 Chapel. In these services, I was uniformly 
 assisted by two or three brethren, viz. : Dr. 
 White, Dr. Ranney, and Mr. J. O. Bennett the 
 latter of whom had charge of the Home Sabbath 
 School for some three years previous, who con- 
 tinued to sustain these services with other occa- 
 sional aid after my Sabbath work commenced 
 in the country. For some of the last Sabbaths 
 and during one afternoon of the week the mis-
 
 230 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 sionary has held a religious service for the 
 Home children. There has been for some time 
 past an unusual interest in spiritual things, which 
 there is reason to hope has resulted in the con- 
 version of some precious souls to Christ. 
 
 " Many of the children taken to the Home 
 during the year, have been found in the most sad 
 and wretched circumstances conceivable. Such 
 are the surroundings of many that no one could 
 expect less from them than developments of the 
 deepest depravity, and yet, strange to say, this 
 is the exception rather than the rule, even in the 
 most unpropitious cases. 
 
 " The provision, so kindly made by the friends 
 of the Society, in clothing and food, has enabled 
 us to gladden many a heavy heart during the 
 unusual distresses of the winter. Our warmest 
 thanks are due to those who so bountifully 
 responded to our cry for bread for the hungry ; 
 and we may offer also the thanks of many fathers 
 and mothers, and of many widows, who had 
 neither bread nor raiment, for themselves and 
 children, till they received them, from supplies 
 sent to the Home." 
 
 Home Missionary. 
 
 A large number of suffering families have also 
 been visited and relieved by the Managers who
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 231 
 
 frequently devoted entire days to the service, 
 and for a period of three months, when the pecu- 
 niary distress among the unemployed was great- 
 est, an average of one hundred families per week 
 received provisions statedly from the Home 
 store-room ; and many were thus kept from per- 
 ishing. The testimony has been given openly, 
 as we learn -by official canvassers among the 
 poor that the Home has saved hundreds from 
 starvation the past winter.
 
 Thou shalt opfln thy hand wide unto thy 
 poor hrother." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GRANT, Lord, to us, thy children 
 
 A soul of zeal and faith. 
 With holy Love's prevailing power, 
 
 To labor unto death ; 
 To soften human sorrow, 
 
 To calm the trembler's fear, 
 To point a holier morrow 
 
 In thy celestial sphere. 
 
 BULFINCH. 
 VISITING COMMITTEES. 
 
 THE following sketch simply illustrates a 
 
 department of the work, continued for forty 
 
 years, the record of which, as also that of the 
 
 " House Committee," similar in type, would fill 
 
 volumes. 
 
 A Visitor writes, " One of the coldest days 
 of the season, the snow deep, and cross streets
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 233 
 
 almost impassable, finding the names of several 
 families noted, as requiring attention and aid, 
 prepared with some necessaries for the sick, my 
 first call was made where a husband and father 
 was lying upon a bed of pain, beyond the hope 
 o( restoration. 
 
 His hard couch was almost destitute of cover- 
 ing, the room cold and cheerless, shivering little 
 ones, and a sick mother, without needed provi- 
 sions of scarce any sort, filled up the sad picture. 
 An hour later, and the scene was partially 
 changed, for the store-rooms of the Home had 
 furnished bedding and clothing, etc., sufficient to 
 render them comfortable for the present, and 
 their gratitude welled up from full hearts." 
 
 " Oh," said the dying man, " the Home 
 friends have relieved me in my extremity, and 
 they will take care of my poor children when I 
 am gone I can die the easier lor this." 
 
 " In another family, visited to-day, was a desti- 
 tute, widowed mother, helpless from disease, 
 known to be worthy, with four little children 
 clinging to her side. As with streaming tears 
 she pressed the Bible to her heart, as her only 
 trust, it was touching to see the eldest daughters 
 weep with her, from mere sympathy, and try to 
 comfort her. This woman was without even a 
 single quilt, but was supplied from the Home
 
 234 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 before evening. Should she be taken to her rest, 
 her fatherless babes will also be protected." 
 
 " Another worthy case relieved to-day from 
 the same source as above, was an intelligent 
 American widow, once a member of the same 
 church with the sainted Margaret Prior, and 
 inexpressibly earnest in her praises. This 
 widow had become reduced to want by sickness 
 and adverse circumstances, and now, bowed with 
 the infirmities of age, she was trying to support 
 life by making shirts at five cents a piece ; 
 crouched the while in a poorly-covered bed, to 
 avoid freezing, as she was entirely destitue of 
 fuel." 
 
 Before nightfall, over twenty cases of special 
 interest had been benefitted by the labors of the 
 day, and sixty pieces distributed from the store- 
 room. Though wearied and chilled, the com- 
 forts of our own pleasant home seemed that 
 evening a new theme for gratitude to the Infinite 
 Giver." 
 
 " Not more than others I deserve, 
 But God has given me more." 
 
 A visitor, whose arduous and long-continued 
 labors had quite impaired her own health, refer- 
 ring to a bright little girl, so injured by neglect 
 that she was in an unsafe condition to be placed 
 with others, thus writes :
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 235 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 " This orphan child was found in a dreary 
 basement in the lower part of the city, living 
 with a woman who was sick, lying- upon the floor, 
 her two small children in bed with her, to keep 
 from perishing, without fuel or food. The 
 Missionary ot the Ward and others have labored 
 long to prevail upon her to surrender her chil- 
 dren a fine little boy and girl and go to the 
 hospital ; but she absolutely refuses to be separa- 
 ted from them ; assuring us it would break her 
 heart would rather have them die with her 
 than to be parted from them. But to poor M. 
 she had no legal claim, and a more wretched- 
 looking child the eye seldom rests upon. We 
 wished to save her, realizing it was perhaps 
 ' now or never ; ' but where to take her, what to 
 do with her, was a question that was solved with 
 difficulty." 
 
 This poor girl is now doing well, appears 
 intelligent, amiable and prepossessing, and a good 
 home is waiting to receive her, as soon as she 
 shall be quite restored. 
 
 Much visiting is accomplished by different 
 members of the Board, as well as by the Visiting 
 Committee. Much of the visitor's time is neces- 
 sarily spent in investigating the claims of those, 
 who prove to be unworthy and whom, for this and
 
 236 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 other reasons, it is eventually thought best not 
 to aid. Such labors are an indispensable, but 
 most painful part of the work. 
 
 A record is kept of such cases as we may 
 hope to benefit, and of such we endeavor to keep 
 an oversight. 
 
 CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT. 
 
 [The brief extracts that follow, are from the 
 stated reports of those who were employed suc- 
 cessively in the children's department, under the 
 supervision of the Executive Committee, the 
 keeping of the records, execution of legal papers, 
 locating and vsiting chiidren, etc., being their 
 special duties. 
 
 Our first assistant in this department writes: 
 " One peculiarly interesting and encouraging 
 feature of the Home work is, the steadily 
 increasing interest excited by the little ones 
 wherever they go, in behalf of the same class of 
 children who are now enduring what they have 
 been removed from, by the hand of charity. In 
 a large proportion of the cases thus provided for, 
 favorable reports are received by letter or ver- 
 bal messages. 
 
 From among these children of want and sor- 
 row, many cases might be cited, which, like that 
 of " Maria Cheeseman, the Candy Girl," a 
 thrilling sketch, issued by the S. S. Union
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 237 
 
 would exhibit, all too truly, the almost Heaven- 
 wide contrast in their present and former con- 
 dition and prospects, but one only must suffice : 
 A. C., one of the number located in an excel- 
 lent Christian home the past year, where she is 
 now doing well, first came to us, at the age ot 
 nine, looking forlorn and wretched to the last 
 degree. The child said she had parents, but her 
 father was sick and poor, and had told her she 
 must look for a home for herself, and earn her 
 own living. She had found one place, but the peo- 
 ple did not want her, because she was too small 
 "to do their work." This case, like others, must 
 be investigated, and so, following the directions, 
 given by A., the place she called " home " was 
 soon found. Passing over heaps of coal-ashes 
 and offensive street-sweepings to the rear of a 
 vacant lot, we entered a building which had 
 been occupied as a blacksmith's shop. At first 
 sight it appeared vacated, but the desolate still- 
 ness was soon broken by the faint cry of a child, 
 issuing from a distant corner, separated from the 
 shop only by a curtain ot unbleached muslin. 
 We passed in without rapping the only door 
 was a corner of the curtain pinned up. The 
 recollection of the spectacle presented behind 
 that curtain, can only be erased by the beating 
 waves of eternity.
 
 238 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 There sat in that blackened pen an American 
 mother with a little one upon her lap, and other 
 children standing- about her. When asked it she 
 
 was Mrs. , she arose from her seat, which 
 
 was the ground, the tenement being without a 
 floor, and replied, despairingly, " Yes !" 
 
 " Is your husband at home ?" 
 
 " Yes, there he is," pointing to a low pallet 
 with a mechanical indifference, that is only wit- 
 nessed where the lamp of hope is extinct. 
 
 As we looked, there lay the corpse of the 
 husband and father! The little group seemed to 
 be waiting silently the arrival ot the conveyance 
 to bear the remains to their last resting place 
 the Pottersfield. On being asked if she wished 
 to have a home found for A., she replied, " Yes," 
 with the earnestness o( a drowning man grasping 
 at a straw. When her husband was gone, she 
 said she must leave that place, and knew not 
 where to find shelter for herself and children. 
 She expressed thankfulness that one child might 
 be thus cared lor. From such privations as 
 these, poor little A. was rescued, and from sim- 
 ilar conditions many of our Home-household 
 have been transferred, where they now see " the 
 cloud with the silver lining." 
 
 Another says, " During the past year, one 
 hundred and forty-seven children have been
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 239 
 
 visited in their foster-homes. The contrast 
 observed between their present and former con- 
 dition is striking as that between light and dark- 
 ness, joy and sorrow, a well-ordered Christian 
 nome, and the home of the profligate. * * * 
 
 Once, to these dear children, all of earth was 
 dark and cheerless ; now, they may anticipate as 
 bright a future as children of better fortune. 
 
 Forty-eight former inmates of the Home have 
 visited the Institution since our last report ; 
 among them several who have attained their 
 majority, and are entering upon maturer years 
 with the benefit of a correct early training a 
 life-inheritance of priceless value." 
 
 In connection with these labors, one thousand 
 and forty-eight letters have been written the past 
 year, making an aggregate of between two and 
 three thousand pages. 
 
 A third writes, " The distance traversed in 
 connection with our work, has been some seven 
 thousand miles. 
 
 Since August last, we have taken out and 
 located forty-eight children, from the age of 
 four months to sixteen years, besides adults. 
 This includes but a portion of those that have 
 left the Home. Have visited also one hundred 
 and fifty-five Home children and seven^adults in 
 New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and
 
 240 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Illinois: removed and re-located eight, for vari- 
 ous reasons. 
 
 The precious babes located a year or tvvo 
 since, have grown beyond our recollection. In 
 this department of the Home work, one may wit- 
 ness with unmingled satisfaction the good results 
 of its labors. In almost every case the improve- 
 ment, physical, mental and moral, is manifest. 
 
 One, who years since was taken by the 
 managers from the basement of the Old 
 Brewery, has now grown to womanhood, and is 
 indulging the hope that her sins are all forgiven. 
 Another, who has been untruthful and very way- 
 ward, is now doing well : and the family with 
 whom she resides feel that she will yet become 
 a useful, Christian woman. 
 
 The Advocate has been introduced into several 
 towns where it has not heretofore been taken, 
 and we hope that several more clubs will be 
 formed, as the result of our winter's labors. In 
 one town, documents were sent for distribution, 
 which has resulted in a package of Advocates 
 being sent for, and the same letter reports the 
 seven children left there as " doing very well 
 indeed." This more than pays for our prairie 
 rides at the temperature of twelve degrees below 
 zero. - 
 
 A little girl, whom nobody would have, has,
 
 . AMONG THE LOWLY. 24! 
 
 at last, found her right place. Twice since we 
 left her have we heard that she is a " good girl," 
 and that they "could not do without her." It is 
 not always the fault of the child, nor yet of the 
 
 guardian, that changes occur. 
 
 ***** 
 
 In reviewing our records we find that during 
 the year, three of the adopted children have 
 died, and that their loss has been keenly felt by 
 the bereaved parents. Twenty-one girls and 
 four boys have reached their majority, most of 
 whom are doing well. Four children have been 
 removed from their places on account of ill-treat- 
 ment or neglect. 
 
 Three of the Home girls have married respec- 
 tably, are pleasantly located, and are trying to do 
 good to others, one of them having taken charge 
 of a homeless little sister. Forty-three Home 
 children have re-visited the Institution and 
 seemed much gratified as they passed through 
 the different departments. Some were uncon- 
 scious of ever having been within its walls, while 
 others recognized every room and hall. Sixty- 
 seven letters have been received from absent 
 ones, showing marked improvement in their 
 studies. 
 
 The children have been usually reported as 
 doing well and some as being all that could be 
 
 ii
 
 242 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 desired, affectionate and obedient. One fond 
 mother writes, "Be assured that we love our 
 child as if she were indeed our own, and we 
 shall do all that we can to make her good and 
 useful." 
 
 A mother writes of one who is of age, " She 
 is a well-disposed girl, has always sustained a 
 good character and has improved in every way, 
 since her union with the church." 
 
 Another says, " This month K. is eighteen 
 years old, and her time of indenture expires. I 
 am happy to say to you that her last years with 
 me have been useful and pleasant ; her deport- 
 ment in every relation is such as I could desire, 
 perfectly correct in all her habits. 
 
 A long-time devoted laborer in behalf of the 
 Home, and chairman of its School Committee, 
 writes: 
 
 " In giving a slight sketch of the work of our 
 Home School, it may not be superfluous to say a 
 few words, as to its peculiar character. Other 
 schools under the care of the Home, claim a 
 large share in the interest and efforts of its Man- 
 agers. They all form a legitimate part of the 
 Home work that of gathering the poor and out- 
 cast children from their surrounding influences 
 of evil and ignorance, and bringing them, as far 
 as human instrumentality mav, into the fold of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY/ 243 
 
 the Good Shepherd and the blessedness of the 
 kingdom. Yet in most of the schools the chil- 
 dren are but partially under our care and influ- 
 ence. But in this, our Home school, the children 
 consist largely of those given up to our care, and 
 who are the objects of our daily and nightly 
 guardianship, after the hours of school are over. 
 " We often think, as visitors passing through 
 the Home, look at them with interest, or listen 
 with emotion to their childish songs, how that 
 interest would be 'increased and that emotion 
 deepened, could we but lead them to realize 
 the antecedents of each individual child. Here, 
 perhaps, is one rescued from the deepest degra- 
 dation and wretchedness another, perchance, is 
 the orphan child of some Christian mother, who, 
 in her last sickness, has been cared for and 
 watched over by the Home, and who, with her 
 dying blessing, commits her little one to its 
 guardianship and there again, are others, from 
 whom God has taken the mother, while the 
 father, himself sinking to the grave, gives up 
 the little ones to that Institution in whose 
 schools they have already been hearing of 
 Christ and His gospel. The Home accepts 
 the sacred trusts, and becomes the guardian 
 of these little ones ; undertaking to watch 
 over and train them, till they are fitted to
 
 244 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 enter some Christian family, and become the 
 child of their love and parental care. 
 
 " Of this training 1 and watchfulness the Home 
 school forms an important feature. No effort is 
 spared to secure faithful, efficient, Christian 
 teachers, who love the scholars for Christ's sake, 
 and feel that whatever they do for one of these 
 little ones, they are doing it unto Him. In every 
 respect they need the stimulus of this motive, for 
 their work is to polish the rough gem, and just 
 when it begins to glisten and its rays brighten 
 their toils, it is perhaps selected for adoption and 
 transferred to another sphere ; while some 
 untaught, untrained little one is brought into its 
 place, to receive the same care, and when fitted 
 for the family circle, to be again withdrawn from 
 the teachers' influence. It is cheering, under 
 these circumstances, to note the unwearied 
 fidelity with which Christian principle can 
 inspire the heart, and the success which, by 
 God's blessing, can crown its efforts. 
 
 " During the past year 191 children have been 
 admitted into the school, 102 dismissed, and 89 
 are still recipients of its instructions. They are 
 taught to read and write, instructed in spelling, 
 arithmetic and geography, as far as may be dur- 
 ing their stay ; while constant effort is made to 
 teach them to govern themselves, in obedience
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 245 
 
 to the claims of right and duty. A regular 
 course of Scripture reading has been adopted 
 which has greatly interested the children, while 
 the hymns they are taught to sing have a value 
 and an influence, it is hoped and believed, far 
 beyond the mere pleasure or excitement of the 
 passing moment. We strive to individualize the 
 child to make each one feel, that he or she 
 individually are distinctively watched and loved 
 that their interest is regarded, their progress 
 desired, as though they alone were the objects of 
 the teachers' care and the Home guardianship, 
 and greatly have we been cheered in our work 
 by seeing one and another, at first lawless and 
 indifferent, become obedient, earnest and suc- 
 cessful in their efforts to be good. 
 
 " The evening school for larger girls retained 
 in the Home, the past season, is one of deep 
 interest. No greater want is felt in our city 
 than some moral influence to reach young girls 
 between thirteen and sixteen years of age. 
 
 The above statement though reviewing but a 
 single year, would fitly represent this depart- 
 ment during the thirty years of its existence.
 
 246 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " HE SHALL TURN THE HEARTS OF THE 
 FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN." 
 
 The Seer was looking far away, adown the tide of time, 
 Viewing the moral ruin wrought, the folly and the crime, 
 The wrecks that Sin's dire progeny upon Time's sea had 
 
 cast, 
 And wishing for the day to come when wrong should 
 
 breathe its last. 
 For moral light athwart the heavens, with rainbow hues to 
 
 shine, 
 More brilliant than the diamonds rare, found in Golconda's 
 
 mine, 
 
 For agencies to reconstruct, and all of good restore, 
 Foreshadowed in the garden once, ere Adam sinned of 
 
 yore. 
 
 One promise met his eager gaze, 'twas given in words that 
 
 burn, 
 
 It said that in the latter days hearts shall to children turn,. 
 " The hearts of fathers," good and wise, with purpose 
 
 strong and true, 
 Shall turn and yearn and think and plan, how these may 
 
 right pursue. 
 How children, rich and poor, as one, of every class and 
 
 name. 
 May have their pliant minds full stored, with truths from 
 
 heaven that came. 
 
 A wall of principle well-reared, around them night and day, 
 To shield them in the devious path, and guard them in the 
 
 way 
 That leads to righteousness and peace, and makes earth's 
 
 darkness bright 
 Let this be done, an hour will come, dispelling moral night. 
 
 No ' curse,' will smite the earth again, the army of the 
 
 Lord 
 Will find the children in the van, to righteousness restored
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 247 
 
 Oh, glorious change, delightful hope, that this is yet to be. 
 That earth from wrong shall be redeemed, from sin and 
 
 sorrow free ! 
 Friends of the children, speed the time, be agents while ye 
 
 may, 
 And know the gracious Promiser, marks, those who work 
 
 and pray. 
 
 S. R. I. B.
 
 " Thfi liberal dfifisnlh libr-.nil things." 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "THE useful not the great, 
 
 The thing that never dies; 
 The silent toil that is not lost, 
 
 Set these before thine eyes ! 
 The seed whose leaf and flower, 
 
 Though poor in human sijrht, 
 Bring forth at last th' eternal fruit. 
 
 Sow thou both clay and night." 
 
 " Words of Cheer" 
 
 THIRD DECADE. 
 
 DURING the early winter of 1856, the begin- 
 ning of our Third Decade, the press of labor and 
 care upon the Managers was unremitting. By 
 advice of their Board of Counselors, the decision 
 had been made to purchase an adjoining lot, and 
 a contract signed for the erection of an added 
 building on 2Qth Street, to comprise convenient
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 249 
 
 rooms for publishing office, Chapel, school-rooms, 
 Dorcas rooms, work-rooms, and other necessary 
 uses of the Institution; the whole to be so 
 arranged that a larger number than formerly 
 might be accommodated, and a larger amount of 
 labor performed, with an outlay of less time and 
 expense. 
 
 This enlargement had become a necessity. 
 During the eight years previous, hundreds of 
 homeless children were surrendered to the Soci- 
 ety annually, for whom, by virtue of its charter, 
 it was bound to provide, and the same must be 
 true tor years to come. And while it was our 
 practice to transfer these children as early as 
 practicable to good homes in the country, still it 
 was found necessary to have an established rule, 
 that they go first on trial ; consequently, if 
 returned, the Home must be their home, till per- 
 manently located. 
 
 Independent of these cases, tor which the 
 Society was held morally and legally responsible, 
 the work in its varied departments was constant- 
 ly increasing, and facilities needful to its accom- 
 plishment, in the best way and upon the largest 
 scale, were indispensable. 
 
 It being now well known, that this work was 
 diminishing the number of those who would 
 otherwise become a public charge, it was deemed 
 
 11*
 
 250 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 expedient to apply to the Legislature for special 
 aid toward the proposed enlargement. A 
 memorial and petition were therefore prepared, 
 a large list ot signatures obtained, and a commit- 
 tee appoined to place the same in charge of those 
 who would do what might be done to secure the 
 desired result. 
 
 Subsequently, an appropriation of $10,000 was 
 placed upon the Supply Bill, considered favor- 
 ably in both branches ot the Legislature, and at 
 length an Act was passed giving to the Society 
 the sum requested toward the erection ot their 
 new building. 
 
 AN EXTRACT FROM MINUTES OF BOARD 
 OF COUNSELORS. 
 
 At a stated meeting of the Board of Counsel- 
 ors of the American Female Guardian Society, 
 held at the Home, E. 3oth Street, June ist, 1857, 
 the Report of the Building Committee appointed 
 to superintend the erection of the new edifice on 
 29th Street, known as the " Home Chapel," was 
 presented by Adon Smith, Esq., Chairman of 
 said Committee, as follows : 
 
 To the Board of Counselors of the American 
 Female Guardian Society: Your Committee, 
 appointed to superintend the erection of the 
 Home Chapel, beg leave to report that they
 
 HOME CHAPKL
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2$ I 
 
 have discharged the duty assigned them, and 
 feel a gratification in being able to present to the 
 Board an edifice worthy ot the Society of ladies 
 who have devised it, worthy of the use to which 
 it is about to be dedicated, worthy of you gentle- 
 men who have counseled it and cheered it 
 forward, and worthy of the accomplished 
 architect who has planned and beautified it. * * 
 
 Here follows the expense ot the building, 
 paid and unpaid, names ot architect, builders, 
 etc., which the reader will find in detail in the 
 June No. ot the Advocate of 1857. 
 
 The Home Chapel is a substantially-built 
 brick edifice, with brown stone trimmings. It is 
 seventy-five feet front, by forty-six feet rear, with 
 three extensions, two ot twenty feet, and one of 
 twenty-six feet, for stair-ways. It is four stories 
 high above the basement, containing thirty rooms 
 and dormitories, including the Chapel and Gym- 
 nasium ; three bath and wash-rooms, besides 
 numerous closets. The Committee regard the 
 building as well adapted, in all respects, to the 
 uses for which it was designed. 
 
 ADON SMITH, Chairman. 
 
 The dedicatory services connected with the 
 opening of our new edifice, took place on Wed-
 
 252 WOMAN S WORK. 
 
 nesday P. M., June 3d, 1857, Rev. Dr. Ferris, 
 Chancellor of the N. Y. University, in the chair. 
 
 At an early hour the Chapel and halls were 
 filled by a crowded audience, whose speaking 
 countenances indicated their deep interest in the 
 occasion. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Bangs ; 
 and, after singing by the children, the " state- 
 ment of facts in the history of the Society," and 
 " Report of Building Committee," resolutions, 
 etc., were read. * * * * 
 
 Rev. Mr. Montgomery, from Philadelphia, of 
 the Episcopal Church, occupied some ten min- 
 utes in an eloquent and forcible appeal, carrying 
 with him the sympathies of the entire audience. 
 
 He alluded to his own personal interest and 
 labors in a similar work in the city from which 
 he came, and closed with a fervent benediction 
 on the Society and its benevolent labors. 
 
 Rev. A. D. Gillette, D. D., and Rev. Dr. 
 Dowling, of the Baptist Church, followed in 
 turn, congratulating the Christian women present 
 upon the achievement of a noble end. 
 
 Dr. Dowling alluded very happily to the 
 varied reminiscences of other years, and the 
 obstacles that the Society had encountered in its 
 early efforts. He had known and approved them 
 from the first. He said there were some present i 
 who would recollect that twelve years since, at a
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 253 
 
 public meeting of the Society, when the Home 
 and its results were yet to be, one ot the speak- 
 ers, a sainted brother now in glory, cited for 
 their encouragement the following beautiful lines 
 by the poet Andross. 
 
 A swallow in the spring 
 
 Came to our granery, and 'neath the eaves 
 Essayed to make a nest, and there did bring 
 
 Wet earth and at taw, and leaves. 
 
 Day after day she toiled 
 
 With patient heart; but, ere her work was crowned, 
 Some sad mishap the t'.ny fabric spoiled, 
 
 And dashed it to the ground. 
 
 She found the rum wrought, 
 
 But, not cast down, forth from the place she flew ; 
 And with her mate fresh earth and grasses brought, 
 
 And built her i:est anew. 
 
 But scarcely had she placed 
 
 The last soft feather on its ample floor, 
 
 When wicked hand, or chance again laid waste, 
 And wrought the ruin o'er. 
 
 But still her heart she kept, 
 
 And toiled again : and last night hearing calls, 
 I looked, and lo ! three little swallows slept 
 
 Within the earth-made walls. 
 
 What truth is here, O man ! 
 
 Hath Hope been smitten in its early dawn. 
 Hath cloud o'ercast thy purpose, trust or plan, 
 
 Have Faith and struggle on. 
 
 The swallow, the nest, and the fledglings, 
 " within the earth-made walls," presented a
 
 254 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 happy illustration of the Society, its Home, and 
 the many little nurselings who, like the swallows, 
 have slept within its "brick-made walls," and 
 gone from thence to more permanent care. If at 
 that period the vail had been withdrawn from 
 the Future of this enterprise, solicitude and 
 doubts would have vanished, but then the work 
 of the past twelve years would have been less a 
 work of faith. 
 
 Passing from this theme, he said : "We have 
 met to dedicate" He liked the idea of a dedica- 
 tion, of offering up to the service of God. His 
 concluding remarks were upon this theme, and 
 most happily expressed. 
 
 Rev. Marcus Smith, of Syracuse, said he 
 represented several counties of the State; had 
 heard of this dedication, and his interest in the 
 Society had prompted him to come to the city 
 expressly to attend it. He had been surprised 
 and delighted in passing over this Institution, 
 and looking at the several aspects the work 
 presented. His sympathies had been enlisted 
 from the first, and he was most happy to be 
 present on this occasion. 
 
 Rev. R. M. Hatfield, of the Forsyth-street M. 
 E. Church, made a most eloquent and spirit- 
 stirring address, describing " in thoughts that 
 breathe, and words that burn," the condition ol
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2$$ 
 
 the neglected youth and children of this city, the 
 class (or whose benefit this Chapel was erected. 
 He believed that the city was increasing in 
 wickedness, as rapidly as in population. Noth- 
 ing, comparatively, can be done for adults, but 
 the children may be gathered from the moral 
 rubbish, and fitted to become polished stones in 
 the temple of the Lord. He was sure that God, 
 and the angels, and all holy beings were smiling 
 upon this work. In walking these streets, he 
 had often asked of his own heart the question, 
 " Who hath sinned, these children, or their 
 parents ?" that they should be thus doomed, the 
 man's grief pressing down their cheeks. No, it 
 is not their fault. The sin for which they suffer 
 belongs to others. What more commendable, 
 more Christ-like, than to seek and save them. 
 Those who have engaged in this labor, and seen 
 its blessed fruits, cannot afford to abandon it. 
 They are twice blessed in the service. Blessed 
 by the recipients, blessed in their own souls. 
 " Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
 reap." Christians need a work that shall fill 
 their heart and hands, and here they have it. 
 They need its encouragement can better per- 
 form their duty to Ihcir own households. 
 
 Christianity is not an effete system. Its prac- 
 tical developments, in labors like these, are an
 
 256 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 irresistible argument against all the aspersions 
 of infidelity. 
 
 Rev. T. L. Cuyler had been referred to by 
 the Chairman as the man of all present who 
 would unloose the purse-strings. Referring to 
 this, as he was called forward, he said he was 
 certainly the modestest man in all New York. 
 He need to beg in a place like this ! Here, 
 spreading his hands to the walls of the Chapel 
 Here's the beggar ! speaking to you more 
 eloquently than words. It costs less to save a 
 child than to destroy it. How much is the cost 
 of the one and of the other?" A description, full 
 of pathos, was given, of the saved one,' contrast- 
 ing the then and now of her history. " Here," 
 he said, " is your dividend No bank in Wall- 
 street, as good as this." Several fine illustrations 
 and incidents were introduced with effect. Mr. 
 C. said that Dorothy Dix had conquered a half 
 dozen legislatures. What woman had done, and 
 might still do for suffering humanity, was 
 beautifully portrayed, and motives brought 
 directly to the heart to " have faith, and struggle 
 on." 
 
 After Mr. Cuyler's address, the children sang 
 a hymn, and the services were closed with the 
 benediction. 
 
 The Home, being the first Institution of its
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 257 
 
 kind, was for some time regarded in the light of 
 an experiment : but this period was so far past 
 that there were now some six or eight similar 
 Homes in our country, several of which, located 
 in this State, were visited last season by a select 
 Committee from the Senate, appointed to visit 
 the charitable Institutions aided by the State. 
 The following testimony may be found in the 
 printed Report of that Committee, transmitted 
 to the Legislature by Hon. Mark Spencer, Jan. 
 9th, 1857. 
 
 " Homes for the Friendless. These Institu- 
 tions, of which there are three in the State, are 
 designed principally to furnish homes and pro- 
 tection for destitute females, and are under the 
 care and management of benevolent women. 
 
 ' The destitute are received until suitable 
 places or employment are found. The institu- 
 tion in Syracuse, and the one in New York, have 
 also established industrial Schools, finding 
 employment lor and instructing children, who 
 have no other instruction, in needle-work, and 
 furnishing them clothing. It is believed that 
 they are among the most useful of charitable 
 Institutions, and that they are entitled, equally 
 with orphan Asylums to the fostering care of the 
 State. ' 
 
 During the first half of the forty-two years of
 
 258 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the existence of this Society, it was often a mar- 
 vel to its friends in what way its current expenses 
 could be met. Stated supplies by way of legisla- 
 tive aid were then unthought of. The little rills 
 from the hidden springs of charity kept the oil 
 and the meal from waste ; and when new work 
 was proposed, the assurance that, if it ought to 
 be assumed, the means would be forthcoming, 
 seemed to settle the grave question. 
 
 It was in no spirit of recklessness that these 
 responsibilities were undertaken. The cost was 
 carefully and prayerfully counted, and then the 
 motto was found safe, " No such word as fail." 
 Thus the years and their work went on. 
 
 The closest place, financially, in all our histo- 
 ry, was in removing the debt after the erection 
 of the Home Chapel. The building had been 
 more expensive than had been anticipated, real 
 estate had risen in value, and the single lot, 
 purchased just before building the Chapel, had 
 cost more than three of the others. 
 
 A HOME IJA/AAR 
 
 was proposed by way of raising funds, and 
 approved, on condition that it be shorn of all 
 that could be deemed objectionable in such an 
 enterprise. It was held with success, and no 
 drawbacks, in the autumn of 1859, an< ^ helped to
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 259 
 
 meet current expenses, but did not begin to 
 liquidate the debt. 
 
 Near the close a gentleman present proposed 
 to the Editress of the Advocate and Guardian that 
 this Bazaar be repeated at the end of the next 
 year, saying he had also a special suggestion to 
 make. As the incumbrance was now about 
 $20,000, he would contribute personally $1,000 of 
 the amount, provided the Society would raise 
 the balance within the year. It might be raised, 
 he said, through personal friends by appeals 
 through the Advocate or by application to the 
 Legislature, any right way, so that the debt 
 should be canceled. 
 
 The offer was named to the Managers, grate- 
 fully accepted, and plans at once devised to 
 achieve success. This was a year of unusual 
 toil. It was suggested that, perhaps, half the 
 sum might be obtained from the Legislature, and 
 if so, the remainder might be reached bv appeals 
 through the paper, by small contributions, and 
 the avails of another " Home Bazaar." 
 
 These agencies were put in motion, and at 
 the opening of the Legislature a petition, 
 numerously signed, accompanied by a memorial 
 was presented, and duly referred. 
 
 After the memorial and petition were sent in, 
 the report soon reached the Home Managers
 
 260 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 that several members, both of the House and 
 Senate, were found ready to favor the object by 
 their influence and their votes, but there were 
 others, holding prominent official positions, who 
 seemed to have ends to serve of still higher 
 moment to themselves or their party, and the 
 two being in conflict, the question of our success 
 was quite doubtful. 
 
 A Committee of two ladies of the Board, 
 furnished with reliable credentials, and many 
 strong letters from parties well-known, were 
 then duly commissioned to go to Albany, repre- 
 sent their work and wants, and secure the end 
 sought, if practicable. Accompanied and intro- 
 duced by their husbands, quietly and favorably 
 located, after learning the great obstacles to be 
 surmounted, and what they might do appropri- 
 ately, with scrupulous regard to woman's sphere, 
 they were enabled to form plans and pursue 
 them discreetly, for a period of several weeks, 
 and in the sequel, were able, at the right time, to 
 present their roll of petitions to the Committee 
 of Ways and Means; the " formidable document" 
 being also accompanied with signatures they had 
 quietly obtained, to an added clause, of over two- 
 thirds of the members of the Senate, and three- 
 fourths of the House ! The clause read thus, 
 " We the undersigned, members of the Senate
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 261 
 
 and House of Assembly, request that the A. F. 
 G. Society and Home for the Friendless, may be 
 placed upon the Supply Bill in the sum of 
 $10,000." 
 
 This document was returned to us after due 
 action had been taken, and is still preserved 
 among the archives of the Society. 
 
 SUCCESS. 
 
 This assured the result. When the matter of 
 the appropriation came up in the House, some of 
 the strongest members upon the floor were ready 
 to give most telling speeches in its favor, and it 
 was found, when the final vote was taken, there 
 was not one dissenting voice. Thus secure in 
 the vote of the House, they had only to await 
 the action of the Senate, and as reliable friends 
 agreed to protect it there, the Committee 
 returned to their friends and fellow-helpers to 
 report, gratefully, the good hand of our God 
 toward us. 
 
 Their feelings, " when homeward bound," 
 were well expressed in the stanza, 
 
 " Never man was truly blest, 
 But it composed and gave him such a cast. 
 As folly might mistake for want of joy, 
 A cast unlike the triumph of the proud. 
 A modest aspect, and a smile at heart."
 
 262 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 The vote of the Senate, and signature of the 
 Executive, were watched with solicitude, for 
 much labor had been expended, and large inter- 
 ests were involved. But in the interim, they 
 were encouraged by missives like the follow- 
 ing, a brief extract from which we copy as 
 indicative of the spirit cherished by members, 
 who had become earnest friends. 
 
 Senate Chamber, Albany, April \4th, 1860. 
 
 * * * " Yours of the I2th is just received. 
 * * * The Bill has passed through several 
 severe ordeals, but in all its mutations, the 
 $10,000 appropriation to your Home remained 
 unharmed. No power in Albany could take it out 
 of the Bill. The sojourn of your Committee at 
 the Capital, has not only secured a portion of the 
 means of relieving your Institution of the encum- 
 brance which would cripple its usefulness, but it 
 has gained for your noble enterprise a host of 
 warm friends whom the adjournment of the 
 Legislature will locate in every county in the 
 State. 
 
 " Thus it frequently occurs that the faithful 
 performance of those duties which at first 
 seemed painful and even repulsive, results in 
 the greatest good to ourselves, and the cause for 
 which we are called to labor." * * J. B.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 263 
 
 A member of the Assembly writes thus 
 (same date as above) : 
 
 " Your appropriation has passed the ordeal 
 of the ' Conference Committee ' unharmed, 
 although many others were stricken out. 
 
 . * * * There is not the least fear that the 
 $10,000 for the Home will be disturbed. Your 
 friends in the House are firm and unyielding, and 
 I verily believe they would defeat the whole Bill 
 rather than have it pass without the sum desig- 
 nated for the Home. * * 
 
 " 1 shall remember the few beneficent acts that 
 are scattered here and there through the mass of 
 selfish and useless legislation of this Session, and 
 thus strive to mitigate the grief I feel that the 
 claims of the poor fugitive, and the wretched 
 victims of rum, have been coldly repudiated. 
 
 " The prohibitory law did not pass, and 1 am 
 happy that we defeated the license bill, drawn 
 up and lobbied into the House by the N. Y. 
 Liquor-dealers' Association. 
 
 " I will inform you if anything unlooked for 
 occurs in relation to your appropriation and I 
 need not assure you I shall watch its progress 
 with intense interest ; and, for the sake of the 
 poor, the homeless and friendless, and their faith- 
 ful guardians at the Home, I shall thank God, 
 the God of the fatherless, and take courage to
 
 264 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 labor on in the good work to which I have trust- 
 ingly devoted the energies of my life. 
 
 " You refer to my efforts in your behalf. I 
 only regret that I could not do more. What I 
 did was but in accordance with my ordinary 
 habit of feeling and acting. When I cease to live 
 and act for the poor and friendless, may I cease 
 to live and act at all." * M. 
 
 Several months were yet to intervene in 
 which to collect the $9,000, and busy hands were 
 now ready to push the Bazaar work, for the 
 autumn, from which much was expected. 
 Returns came in slowly day by day, but so far 
 exceeding the current expenses, as to encourage 
 hope, and at length, the Bazaar was again opened 
 in the chapel, the supplies furnished were large, 
 and the sales promising. 
 
 The count of receipts on the third evening 
 exceeded expectation, and on the fourth, the 
 needed sum was reached, and the generous 
 friend, who had set the ball in motion a twelve- 
 month since, was to be taken at his word. 
 
 The following lines welled up unbidden, and 
 by request find a place here among the remi- 
 niscences of the occasion.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 265 
 
 NO CLOUD ON THE HOME. 
 
 No cloud resteth now. on our beautiful Home ! 
 The shadows are passing away from its dome, 
 Although they loomed darkly when '60 begun, 
 They pass from our sight as its last moments run. 
 
 That pledge of "one thousand" stands nobly redeemed, 
 For the ones, fives and fifties have after it gleamed, 
 Like rills from the mountain uniting in one, 
 They've mingled and swelled till the work has been 
 done. 
 
 A jubilant tone have our greetings to-day, 
 
 As the year with its mission is passing away. 
 
 We have toiled like the fishers, nor labored in vain. 
 
 For the Master has smiled, and our purpose we gain. 
 
 From the North and the South, the East and the West, 
 Investments united of friendship the test 
 Prove a union of hearts in the cause of the poor, 
 A tie to be sacred when Time is no more. 
 
 All praise to the Giver, be offered by all 
 
 Whose prayers and responses have answered the call, 
 
 Going silently forth near a twelvemonth ago, 
 
 For faith is made sight, as the record will show. 
 
 Our beautiful Home, with no cloud on its roof, 
 A shelter from want, ever standing aloof 
 From discord and strife ; may it drive away fears, 
 And banish from childhood affliction and tears. 
 
 May its mission extend till earth's sorrows are o'er, 
 The orphaned and needy are friendless no more. 
 Its precincts be guarded by Infinite Love, 
 As a link between earth and the mansions above. 
 
 S. R. I. B. 
 
 12
 
 266 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 December ist, 1860, was an era in the history 
 of the Society marked by pleasant memories. 
 
 The union of benevolent purpose manifested 
 in achieving the special financial labor of the 
 year, the unanimity with which the State Legis- 
 lature contributed one-half the sum required to 
 cancel the debt, and the wide-spread interest 
 thus elicited, gave increased encouragement and 
 strength to every department. 
 
 USES IN WAR TIME.. 
 
 Very clearly did we see the Hand of a loving 
 Father in the relief thus afforded, just on the eve 
 of the loud call by our beloved country for the 
 immediate concentration of all its resources, to 
 protect its homes and hearths, and all most dear 
 to us in life. 
 
 This Home debt being removed, the shadow 
 of the great grief, so felt and feared, found the 
 Institution much better prepared than otherwise 
 to continue its work. 
 
 From allusions to its uses penned in May, 
 1 86 1, we quote here a few paragraphs. 
 
 " Within the past month it has been proffered 
 for unlooked-for uses. Within its walls have 
 been gathered hundreds of beating hearts, lilted 
 in unison, to the Hearer of prayer, for sons, 
 husbands and brothers the light of home, now
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 267 
 
 
 far away, where anarchy and giant wrong have 
 
 joined hands. Not a few, who have a life-interest 
 in this Society, were of the number whose tear- 
 dimmed eyes bespoke a sorrow too deep for 
 words. 
 
 " Such a mother's prayer-meeting as the 
 world never saw, filled our Home Chapsl on the 
 Monday following the departure of the first 
 regiment that went from this city. 
 
 " A brief announcement had been given that 
 mothers having sons in the /th Regiment would 
 meet here for prayer at 3.30 P. M. 
 
 " This Regiment, consisting of near a thousand 
 men, mostly youth, and justly regarded as the 
 flower of our city, had left for the Capital on the 
 Friday evening previous, and this circumstance, 
 together with the state of our country, suggested 
 the propriety of special and united prayer in 
 their behalf. At the hour appointed the Chapel 
 was filled to overflowing, some five hundred 
 ladies being present. It was a scene of deep 
 and tearful interest to many mothers who had 
 sons or husbands, from whom they had been 
 suddenly called to part, for a season, perhaps 
 forever. The sister who presided had four sons, 
 that she had thus laid upon the altar of God and 
 their country. Earnest, heart-felt, united prayer, 
 was breathed at the mercy-seat for these precious
 
 268 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 
 
 children and kindred, exposed to imminent 
 danger, not forgetting all others in like circum- 
 stances, nor our beloved, imperilled country. A 
 stated union prayer-meeting was appointed at 
 the same hour and place on Wednesday of each 
 week, to which all ladies were cordially invited." 
 
 This Home was never more useful than 
 during war-time, and every successive year, even 
 to the present, it has numbered among its 
 beneficiaries, the orphan children and bereaved 
 youthful companions of the soldier from both 
 sections of our common country. 
 
 In the fearful riots of 1863, it was a place of 
 shelter and refuge to the hunted fugitive, its 
 demolition threatened in return, but not accom- 
 plished. 
 
 During those sad, weary years, when the cry 
 of the widow and the fatherless was never 
 hushed, its mission toward all classes of the suf- 
 fering was far better accomplished than it could 
 have been, had the incubus of debt still depressed 
 the spirits of Managers and helpers. Not in 
 vain were they led by a way that they knew not, 
 and divinely aided to roll off this burden, ere the 
 moral clouds began to loom so darkly over our 
 broad land.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " No one is there among us but some warm heart may win ; 
 No home, how small soever, but love can enter in. 
 But if this be denied thee, some home, some heart to share, 
 Go forth among the needy, and seek it everywhere. 
 There's more heroic action, more deeds of honor done, 
 In quiet humble walks of life, than ever battles won. 
 
 Words of Cheer. 
 
 THIRD DECADE, CONTINUED. 
 
 The shadows hanging over our beloved 
 country, were everywhere seen and felt. Great 
 interests, even the life of the nation were imper- 
 illed. The moral upheavings all abroad made 
 desolate the hearts and homes of many very dear 
 to us and our work, who had hitherto given 
 without stint, anticipating personally no sad 
 reverses. 
 
 Who would be able to stand? who continue 
 the service that the heart prompted? was a
 
 270 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 question for Time to solve. Double duties and 
 large heart-burdens came to many, but our 
 Home friends remained steadfast, and while 
 nobly doing their part, through the eventful 
 crisis, in aid of the soldiers and their families, 
 true in the best sense, to their afflicted country, 
 still the work of the Institution was not left to 
 retrograde. 
 
 Indeed, the most \vatchful care of their kind 
 Heavenly Father was so marked, that they felt 
 impelled to enlarge their borders do and trust. 
 In 1858 they had opened Home Industrial School 
 No. 3, and its success, like Nos. i and 2, had 
 become so assured, that when a pressing call 
 came to organise No. 4, this also was accepted, 
 so that at the close of 1861, the Society had four 
 Industrial Schools in successful operation in 
 addition to their other Home departments. 
 
 H. I. S. No. 3. 
 
 No. 3 was commenced and continued for some 
 three years, as a school exclusively for boys, and 
 brought in many little waifs from the streets and 
 byways, who were savingly benefitted. The 
 added labor involved was met without embar- 
 rassment, except on special occasions. 
 
 Our annual Thanksgiving, from the opening 
 of the Home and onward, had been marked by a
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2/1 
 
 children's Festival, embracing both the Home 
 and schools. Each new school increased the 
 labors of the Committees in charge, and this of 
 course was not an exception. 
 
 How shall we provide for so many? was the 
 grave, anxious question at a special, preliminary 
 meeting. A beloved sister present, now in 
 Heaven, whose heart was as large as her purse, 
 at once proposed to make the needed provision 
 personally, for the new school, No. 3. 
 
 The day came. Eager groups of rough boys 
 were promptly and quietly in their places, antici- 
 pating they scarce knew what, for of the luxury 
 of a really-good dinner, their dark life had had 
 no experience. But the good things were there, 
 poultry, pies, cake and fruit, and kind friends 
 were ready to speak to them of the Giver of 
 every good, and make the occasion one of profit. 
 They enjoyed the repast exceedingly, and listened 
 attentively to good counsel, as do all our once- 
 neglected, hungry protegees, when they are the 
 objects of Christian care. 
 
 Most of the street waifs assembled then and 
 there are now grown to manhood, many we 
 believe are better citizens for the teachings there 
 commenced. No. 3 has now reached its i/th 
 year, and, there is ample proof, is still an agency 
 for good.
 
 272 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 We find the following satisfactory testimony 
 on record respecting its early labors, and believe 
 its teachers, committees, and helpers have ever 
 proved faithful to their trust. 
 
 THE TICKET SYSTEM. 
 
 " The committee state, with the blessing of the 
 great Father and Friend, this school has thus far 
 been successful to so good a degree that we feel 
 impelled to entreat churches and Christian com- 
 munities everywhere, to stretch forth the hand 
 of mercy towards this neglected class of children 
 and see that they have instruction upon the 
 secular days of the week as well as upon the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 " The marked improvement in manners and 
 truthfulness, is cause for great encouragement. 
 At first we were often pained with rude and vile 
 words, with which many seemed familiar; this, 
 is almost laid aside ; we rarely hear an improper 
 expression. The system of paying tickets each 
 day for good behavior, which at the end of the 
 month are returned to pay for shoes and other 
 apparel, works admirably. The tickets are in the 
 boys' own keeping, and are carefully returned, 
 usually the number of pennies due is named to 
 us by the creditor, as he hands in his package of 
 tickets on the day designated. Every confidence
 
 AMONT; THE LOWLY. 273 
 
 is manifested in our honesty, and thus far, thanks 
 to our many donors, we have been able to pay 
 promptly all that has been thus earned. Shoes 
 are the cash article; we have supplied 126 pairs, 
 only to those who have earned them as specified ; 
 also 1261 garments, nearly all second-hand, some 
 much worn, but clean and mended, no ragged 
 article has been given. Although this large 
 company of children, as might be expected, have 
 required great care, and collectively, have many 
 tim~s manifested such a spirit of turbulence as to 
 give much anxiety, yet we are grateful that we 
 may record, that with few exceptions, the boys 
 have, when labored with individually, expressed 
 their conviction that they ought to do right ; 
 tears have been shed by them, and these words 
 spoken earnestly, ' I do want to be a good boy,* 
 ' I do mean to try to be good,' and afterward 
 some have whispered to their teacher, ' Don't 
 you think I am growing better?' Often, on 
 receiving the tickets, one and another will say, 
 ' I have tried to be real good to-day.' ' 
 
 MUNIFICENT GIFT. 
 
 While the cloud of war still hung darkly over 
 our beloved land, paralyzing, to some extent, the 
 energies of the benevolent, the Society received
 
 274 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 most unexpectedly the munificient gift of $20,000, 
 from Messrs. Chauncey and Henry Rose, with 
 the request that it be used in sustaining and 
 extending the work at the present time. This 
 seemed truly heaven-sent. 
 
 There had been placed in the hands of Mr. 
 Chauncey Rose, the noble executor of the large 
 estate o( Mr. John Rose, soon after the decease 
 of his brother, several printed Home documents, 
 also a written request that he would visit the 
 Institution, and examine its working, claims, etc., 
 and judge of its merits; but a long time had 
 passed, and we had almost ceased to hope to be 
 remembered in the distribution of the large 
 bequest placed in his charge. 
 
 Nothing could have seemed more opportune, 
 and truly we were prompted anew with full 
 hearts to thank God and take courage. 
 
 Not only the gift, but the very cordial manner 
 of its bestowal; with the proffer of further aid as 
 needed in the future, rebuked every misgiving, 
 and not only was the Home-work enlarged in 
 sundry departments, but some of the new schools 
 needed, were now undertaken with a cheerful 
 faith. Teachers were found with both tact, tal- 
 ent and heart for the service, and a voice seemed 
 continually to whisper, " This is the way, walk 
 ye in it."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2/5 
 
 SCHOOL NO. 4, 
 
 H. I. School No. 4, was first organized in a 
 neglected section, in the vicinity of Grand St., 
 and the East River. The first written statement 
 presented by its Committee reads thus : 
 
 " We have much to encourage us. We find 
 on the school-register, that since our commence- 
 ment, Oct. 2 ist, the names of one hundred and 
 seventy scholars have been recorded. The 
 average attendance is from eighty-five to one 
 hundred daily. Great improvement is manifest 
 in the conduct and personal appearance of the 
 scholars generally. 
 
 Several of our older pupils, both boys and 
 girls, have become interested in their soul's sal- 
 vation, and several, we think, give good evidence 
 of a change of heart. 
 
 M. S., the " ragged street-girl," mentioned in 
 a former verbal report, appears to have become 
 a very lovely Christian child, winning the confi- 
 dence and affections of all who knew her. 
 
 Not long since, we visited Mrs. T., in a rick- 
 ety old attic, where she, with two daughters, 
 eight and twelve years old, slept upon the floor, 
 without even straw for a bed, and but part of an 
 old counterpane for a covering ; one broken 
 chair, a three-legged table, a broken stove and a 
 few bits of old crockery, constituted all the fur-
 
 276 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 niture of this miserable home. A home ! what an 
 abuse of words to apply it to such a place. Mrs. 
 T. belongs to a Christian family, who have long 
 since become discouraged in their attempts to 
 reform her. Disappointed ambition and pride 
 are too hard for any but God to overcome, but 
 with Him all things are possible. We led the 
 two daughters to the school, and our female 
 visitors, nothing daunted by the hopelessness 
 of the case, persevered until the. appearance 
 of the mother at our tea-meeting crowned the 
 effort with success. She soon came to the prayer- 
 meeting for mothers and children, was convicted 
 of her sinfulness and in a few weeks was, as we 
 trust, hopefully converted. Her home has been 
 made comfortable and now she lives as a Chris- 
 tian mother should live. 
 
 Many of the children of the school are in the 
 habit of attending the prayer-meetings regularly, 
 and we have reason to believe from their 
 improved behavior and general good conduct, 
 that lasting impressions have been made. Many 
 of them have urged their parents to come with 
 them, and through the invitation of the children, 
 they, too, have become interested in their soul's 
 salvation. 
 
 One young woman of twenty, who could not 
 read, was induced, by a neighbor's child, to come
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2/7 
 
 to the meetings and was subsequently converted. 
 She so much desired to read the Word o( God, 
 that she has become a regular day-scholar until 
 she can attain that end, and learn her duty 
 directly from God's Word. 
 
 From a report of a Strawberry Festival given 
 to this School, we quote : 
 
 On entering the school-room, we saw the chil- 
 dren to the number of 170. Their clean hands 
 and faces, and well-combed hair the girls' white 
 aprons, and the boys' clean blouses and shirt 
 sleeves for some had no jackets or aprons all 
 bore evidence that to them it was a holiday 
 indeed. The teacher told us of one boy who 
 came with dirty hands, and was sent home to 
 make them look more tidy. He lives in Mon- 
 roe St., in a house which holds seventy-five fam- 
 ilies, and in these are one hundred and fifty chil- 
 dren. We did not wonder the poor child had 
 soiled hands. 
 
 At two o'clock, a number o( friends and visi- 
 tors having assembled, the children entertained 
 them with some pleasant songs and hymns. 
 Short addresses were then made to the school by 
 Rev. Drs. Anderson and Hodges, Messrs. Hill- 
 man, M:ison and others; after which, the children 
 marched very quietly and orderly down-stairs, 
 where two long tables were prepared, on which
 
 278 WOMAN'S \VOLK 
 
 were saucers of berries and ice-cream, and a bun 
 and a cake for each child. They ranged them- 
 selves on each side of the tables, and stood still 
 till all were in their places, when in concert, they 
 asked in simple words a blessing on their feast ; 
 and how intensely they enjoyed it ! 
 
 Five months since we became interested in 
 Mary S. ; she was bare-headed, bare-footed, had 
 on but a single garment. Her father had aban- 
 doned the family and no one knows where he is. 
 The mother had just served six months on Black- 
 well's island, and is now there for the same 
 period. Mary was living with one of her 
 motlier's dissipated associates, learning the les- 
 sons of the street during the day, and living with 
 the vicious at night, a terrible school for a girl of 
 twelve years. We took her into our school, 
 clothed and in other ways cared for her, She has 
 now a good place, as an inmate of a Christian 
 family, and has recently become interested in her 
 soul's salvation, and requested an interest in the 
 prayers of the teachers. 
 
 KINDRED ENTERPRISES, 
 
 Auxiliary associations, new and old, far and 
 wide, were ready helpers during this period of 
 unusual care and solicitude, and it was gratifying 
 to learn that several who had founded Homes
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 2/9 
 
 similar to our own, since this had proved a suc- 
 cess, were also encouraged in their common 
 work by public approval and generous support. 
 
 From one, The Northern Home for Friendless 
 Children in Philadelphia, we received the cheer- 
 ing intelligence, that a gentleman of wealth had 
 appropriated for its support, a farm of 200 acres 
 and the sum of $200,000 as an endowment fund ! 
 
 From several others, not blessed with encoura- 
 gement so ample, came words of cheer. 
 
 Our Semi- Annual Meeting in 1863, held at 
 Binghamton, was one of excellent influence. 
 
 Friends and helpers were present from New- 
 burgh, Southport, Utica, Syracuse, Stockbridge, 
 Madison, Harpersville, Maine, Union, Havana, 
 Almond, Wellsburg, Randolph Centre, Newark 
 Valley, Auburn, Groton, Cortlandville, Apa- 
 lachin, Berkshire, Norwich, Chenango Forks, 
 Coventry, Windsor, Castle Creek, Marathon, Wil- 
 ton, Vestal, Candor, Brooklyn, New York, Mil- 
 ton, Ct., Camden, N. J., Great Bend, Athens, Pa., 
 and Washington, D. C. 
 
 The following hymn, written for this occa- 
 sion, was among the last offerings to our work of 
 " A. C. L." And this was the last social gather- 
 ing in which her voice was heard in earnest, 
 womanly testimony, in behalf of our mission, ere 
 she was called to a higher service.
 
 280 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 God of our fathers, who hast led 
 
 Our trembling' steps along. 
 And when we halted, faint with dread, 
 
 Hast bid our hearts be strong. 
 
 We praise Thee for the love untold, 
 
 That in the cloudy day, 
 Has aided us such strife to hold, 
 
 And kept our foes at bay. 
 
 Thou, who among the lowliest toiled, 
 
 'Mid want, disease, and sin, 
 Who hast for us the tempter foiled; 
 
 Thine be the gems we win. 
 
 And by-and-by, from lane and cell, 
 
 From battle-field and sea. 
 From pauper-graves, and shaded dell, 
 
 They at thy feet shall be. 
 
 Spirit of Love and Pity Thou 
 
 Who madest our bosoms feel 
 For griefs that clouded childhood's brow, 
 
 And seek their wounds to heal; 
 
 Who gavest the sympathy we've known 
 
 With woman's nameless woe ; 
 An ear for the sad monotone 
 
 With which life's currents flow; 
 
 The praise be Thine ! Melt other hearts, 
 
 As ours in death grow chill, 
 Let not our life-work die with us, 
 
 May many do Thy will. 
 
 A. C. L.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 28 1 
 
 Statements by ladies present, representing the 
 Homes for the Friendless in Newburgh and 
 Syracuse, were especially interesting. The 
 interchange of views, words of testimony, letters 
 from friends, and seasons of prayer tended to 
 give a new impulse to the work, and all felt it 
 good to be there. We add a few paragraphs 
 from the. correspondence addressed to the 
 meeting. 
 
 A foster mother writes : " Coomer, N. Y. 
 
 " It is not the time now to dry up the streams 
 of benevolence, when the late riots and this cruel 
 war, have added so much to your demands and 
 cares. May God in mercy give the people 
 enlarg'ed hearts ! The Lord loveth a cheerful 
 giver. I have the pleasure to tell you 1 know of 
 some barrels that are being prepared, and that 
 will soon be at the Home. But I would say to 
 the friends now assembled, probably from many 
 points, there is another way to help the cause, 
 which I trust we all love, and that is to listen to 
 the Saviour's command, ' Feed My lambs.' 
 
 " Are there none present who could take to 
 their hearts and homes one of those friendless 
 ones, who need a mother's care ? Depend upon 
 it, my friends, it will pay. It is a good invest- 
 ment, and our Father pays good interest for all 
 that is done for Him oh, that I had eloquence
 
 282 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 to plead their cause ! the pen of a ready writer 
 to lay before you., in their true light, the needs of 
 these little ones, the claims they have upon 
 Christians in general, and Home friends in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 " It will give you pleasure to know that the 
 many Home children in this vicinity are doing 
 well. Those girls who came out here ten years 
 ago, are now verging on womanhood, promise 
 fair to be quite equal to many own children, the 
 boys are all in the army, with one exception, 
 thus doing their country service instead of being 
 inmates of jails, and a burden to society. 
 
 "If to 'raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal 
 the sick, and lead the blind,' is Christ-like, then 
 does your work resemble His, who went about 
 doing good, and who has said, ' Inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of these, ye have done it 
 unto Me.' In concluding, 1 would say, ' Oh ! do 
 not be discouraged, for Jesus is your Friend,' and 
 He who hath hitherto sustained you in number- 
 less trials, has promised never to forsake or leave 
 those who trust in Him. May you and I, and all 
 we love, double our diligence, and work while 
 the lamp of life continues to burn. This is the 
 sincere prayer of your very affectionate friend, 
 
 MARY WILLIAMS."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 283 
 
 A member of the Executive Committe writes: 
 * * * " How glorious Christ has rendered 
 woman's sphere in this our sorrowing world ! 
 Daily is the conviction deepening on our minds 
 that it is one peculiar to her sex, and distinct 
 from that of man's. In saying this we do not 
 mean to censure any woman for doing faithfully 
 4 whatever God has given her power to do well ;' 
 whether it be as reader or lecturer, to attract the 
 listening audience ; with the painter's skill to bid 
 the canvas glow with forms of beauty ; to wake 
 the poet's lyre ; or to hold thousands entranced 
 by the spell of her witching harmony. All this, if 
 so endowed, woman may do, and in doing all, be 
 the true-hearted woman still. But these powers 
 are individual gifts, peculiar and rare, not the 
 work of the sex, the sphere in which all are to 
 move, exerting that influence which woman, 
 (moving in her God-appointed orbit) can alone 
 exert, and without which, humanity would 
 become cold, and hard and drear, as would the 
 physical world, were some fell power to blight at 
 once each blooming flower, and darken all its sun- 
 shine. Precisely because her sphere is not that 
 of man's, can she exert the influence peculiar to 
 
 herself. 
 
 ***** 
 
 " The fearful riots of the past summer tell too
 
 284 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 sadly, what interest, and party spirit, and politi- 
 cal ambition may do to deaden the noblest 
 impulses of man's nature, and call, in tones not to 
 be misunderstood, for the influence of earnest, 
 true-hearted womanhood ! Not triflers, who feel 
 a deeper interest in the passing frivolities of the 
 moment, than in the strife, upon which, per- 
 chance, their country's fate is pending ; not the 
 ignorant or thoughtless, unconscious of the great 
 questions of the day, unacquainted with their 
 moral tendencies, and incapable of deep convic- 
 tions, because uninformed as to the reasons 
 which should guide their views ; but woman as 
 she should be, enlightened, pure, loving ; in a 
 word, Christian woman, free from all contro- 
 versial zeal, seeking only to guide the young to 
 the saving knowledge of a loving Redeemer: 
 freed from all greed of gain, or love of power ; 
 praying only with unwearied prayer, that God 
 will bless and prosper the right, striving to do 
 good to all, and finding ever, in such blessed 
 duties, her highest joys, her richest privileges. 
 Deeply does our country need such women, in 
 this its hour of trial ! We owe much to man, for 
 in America, woman is truly loved, and honored 
 and trusted, with a sincerity of feeling, unrivalled 
 in its earnestness and extent. Let us repay this 
 debt, not by striving to show them how well we
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 285 
 
 can perform their duties, but how sacred we 
 esteem our own. Let us not be the slaves of 
 fashion, nor the votaries of pleasure, nor the 
 worshipers of wealth; but let each word and 
 deed bear witness that we reverence only that 
 which is worthy of our homage, and love only 
 that which is truly good. May our own spirit 
 drink in its life from a Divine source, ever draw- 
 ing near to the Redeemer, that ' He may abide 
 in us, and we in Him,' so shall our woman's work 
 become more and more glorious, and our 
 woman's influence be welcome and blessed, as it 
 will be powerful and lasting. I would that I 
 could commune personally, with the true-hearted 
 Christian women assembled at our semi-annual 
 gathering, to encourage and aid us, but I am 
 sure that, though unknown, they will not reject 
 my cordial greeting, nor withhold their united 
 prayers for a blessing upon our sex, that here- 
 after, we may all rightly estimate our woman's 
 mission, and ' walk worthy of our high calling.' 
 " Yours, affectionately, j. w." 
 
 A public meeting in the evening, addressed 
 by Rev. Mr. Boardman, of the Pres. church, 
 Rev. Mr. Westlake, of the M. E. church, and 
 Judge Balcom, of Binghamton, was largely 
 attended, and left a lasting impression for good. 
 
 Near a score of similar gatherings, held in
 
 286 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 towns and cities more or less remote, in the 
 autumn of successive years, had been placed 
 upon the Society's records up to this date. 
 
 This brief statement, however, will sufficient- 
 ly illustrate, and our Memorial requires no more. 
 
 At this gathering, as at others, several little 
 children from the Institution found excellent 
 homes by adoption, and there were other 
 pleasant results promising future good. 
 
 From meetings like this, and from "outside 
 work," here and there enlisting Christian 
 sympathy, the favored participants met again in 
 the Home Committee room, as the Wednesdays 
 returned, with feelings less strong, but quite 
 akin to those that well up in the maternal heart, 
 when at the call of duty, a mother has been 
 absent for a little from her own precious flock, 
 where affection clings strongest, and love never 
 wearies. 
 
 The faces of the many motherless ones, that 
 always seem to look up for a word and a smile, 
 the sorrow-stricken, friendless girls, the faithful 
 corps of long-loved associates in the work, and 
 then the quiet gatherings in the place of prayer, 
 the upper room, consecrated by so many precious 
 memories of the living and the dead, these move 
 the better feelings of the heart, and hide unseen 
 within its silent cells. To-day a faithful laborer
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 287 
 
 in School No. 2, referring to their recent loss, 
 says : 
 
 " The most pleasant event of the month has 
 been a jaunt to Greenwood. The teachers and 
 eighteen scholars went, on the fifteenth, to visit 
 the grave of their beloved teacher, Miss Stubes. 
 Nearly every child carried a plant or flower to 
 place there. Their anxiety to reach her grave 
 immediately on entering the Cemetery, was very 
 great We heard one girl say, ' she would read 
 every stone to find her name.' Standing by the 
 grave of one so loved recalled her vividly to 
 mind, and many a moistened eye testified of their 
 aflcction for her memory. We suggested cing- 
 ing, ' Softly she faded,' but their saddened feelings 
 completely overcame their voices. May the 
 memory of the dead be impressed on the living, 
 and as they think 
 
 She taught us how to live arid how to die 
 To gain a happy home beyond the sky.' 
 
 may they strive for that home." 
 
 GRATEFUL MEMORIES. 
 
 In the early spring-time these dear children 
 led a group of youthful mourners, who felt as 
 never before that they had lost a friend. T!i, 
 Advocate gave a record of the occasion and its 
 incidents, which, being so marked and impres-
 
 288 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 sive, we insert here by way of encouragement to 
 faithful workers. 
 
 " On Thursday, March 28th, there was a 
 gathering at the Home Chapel of unusual 
 interest. Miss Abigail Rose Stubes, one of our 
 devoted teachers, for nine years past the princi- 
 pal of Home Industrial School No. 2, had 
 finished her course, and entered into rest. The 
 arrangements for her funeral had been made in 
 accordance with her own request, and here, upon 
 the platform, where she had so often guided the 
 exercises of the children on anniversaries, lay her 
 mortal remains. Within and upon the coffin 
 choicest flowers shed sweet fragrance, beautiful 
 reminders of the home where flowers are fadeless. 
 
 A large company of youth and children, with 
 simple badge of crape, indicating that they were 
 chief mourners, sat nearest the dead. Her pas- 
 tor, Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, D. D., read 
 appropriate selections of Scripture, after which 
 the children sang the following hymn. 
 
 "The voice is hushed the gentle voice 
 
 That told us of a Saviour's love, 
 And made our youthful hearts rejoice, 
 
 In hope of heaven, our home above. 
 
 The eye is dim the loving eye, 
 
 That beamed so fondly on us here ; 
 
 Scaled up in death, the anxious sigh 
 No more bedews it with a tear.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 289 
 
 That brow shall wear its glittering crown. 
 
 When sun and stars no more shall shine; 
 When death shall lay his sceptre down 
 
 The grave her empire nhall resign. 
 
 Then let us weep as Jesus wept 
 Hallowed by love each gentle sigh; 
 
 Since in the grave our Saviour slept. 
 The Christian need not fear to die." 
 
 Dr. Thompson said, " It would be hard to 
 find a hie with so few elements of happi less in it, 
 and equally hard to find a life more happy than 
 that just closed. The departed loved one, whose 
 remains lie before us, was early left an orphan, 
 tossed about without a home, not a relative liv- 
 ing" with whom she could sympathize, or on 
 whom she could lean in hours of trial or sickness 
 truly she was alone, and yet not alone, for the 
 Father was with her. Early in life she had con- 
 secrated herself to her Saviour, and set her heart 
 on doing good. This was the secret of her hap- 
 piness. This, together with the prompting of 
 her own early experience, led her to work for the 
 children. She was habitually cheerful. Love to 
 Jesus, and the work He gave her to do, made her 
 so. He spoke of her intense devotion to her 
 chosen field of labor, alluded to repeated inter- 
 views he had had with her during her illness, and
 
 290 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the assurance thus obtained that while she was 
 willing to live and labor, she was readj' at any 
 moment to depart and be with Christ. 
 
 " His kind remarks to the children and youth, 
 who appeared as mourners, were listened to with 
 tearful emotion. ' You know,' he said, ' how 
 much she loved you ; some of you, who, through 
 her influence, have been led to come to Jesus, 
 will have occasion, I trust, to remember her 
 gratefully, to endless ages. Could those mute 
 lips speak, they would tell you how earnestly she 
 hoped to meet you all in heaven. You will not, 
 must not disappoint her.' ' 
 
 In his closing remarks, Dr. T. alluded to the 
 results of her labors as among the best testi- 
 monies of the blessing of God upon the Home 
 and its mission. The best seals of Divine 
 approval- the best encouragements to weary not 
 in the work yet to be accomplished. 
 
 The group representing the large school she 
 had so long called her children, sang the chant 
 in which the others joined commencing, " Then 
 shall the King say to them on His right hand, 
 Come, ye blessed of my Father," after which they 
 were called to take their last look at the pale 
 face still lovely in death. First in order came 
 her Bible class dropping each a rose-bud or 
 orange blossom upon the coffin as they passed
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 29! 
 
 followed by the pupils of her school, many of 
 whom grieved as for the loss of a mother. Next 
 
 came the other schools present, followed by 
 
 
 
 teachers, Home managers and other friends ; and 
 then, slowly with measured tread, the cortege 
 moved toward Greenwood the city of the. 
 dead. 
 
 The occasion was regarded by all present as 
 specially impressive. A stranger was heard to 
 say, " I shall remember this while I live ; I never 
 witnessed a funeral so affecting." Said another, 
 " Just to look at the faces of those dear children, 
 so expressive of love and grief, was more than a 
 sermon," Another remarked, " It seemed to me 
 a sublime spectacle I shall never forget it." 
 
 The testimony given by Dr. Thompson 
 respecting the marked excellence of character of 
 our departed friend, will meet a full response 
 from those who knew her best. Her unremitting 
 efforts for the good of her school and the many 
 poor embraced in the mission-field in its locality, 
 gave her such a place both in the affections of the 
 children and of those who prize " a friend in 
 need," as cannot fail to perpetuate her Chris- 
 tian influence. Her fixed purpose to remain at 
 her post as long as possible, when so manifestly 
 the prey to a fatal disease, occasioned the appre- 
 hension that death might overtake her in the
 
 292 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 school-room ; but her Heavenly Father ordered 
 otherwise. 
 
 Through weary weeks of suffering, as for 
 twenty years previous, she' said to us, her faith in 
 her Saviour never wavered. During all these 
 years His promises had been yea and amen to 
 her soul. A few hours before her departure we 
 entered her room and saw at a glance that amid 
 mortal anguish she was passing over Jordan. A 
 grasp of the hand and a look upward, indicated 
 consciousness, and as the words were repeated, 
 " Jesus can make a dying bed," &c., she respond- 
 ed, " Yes, yes Jesus, Jesus O, what would I 
 do without Him now ! Almost home, home. My 
 mansion is all ready." These and similar expres- 
 sions were among her last audible words, till she 
 sweetly slept in Jesus. 
 
 May the orphaned and utterly bereaved, learn 
 to know and truly feel as she did, that 
 
 " One there is above all others, 
 Well deserves the name of Friend." 
 
 That for them, as for her, He can raise up friends 
 and helpers, assign to them such work as angels 
 love, and cause their path to shine brighter and 
 brighter unto the perfect day. 
 
 Within this decade many highly valued 
 friends and earnest Christian workers in this 
 Association, have exchanged earthly work lor
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY.' 293 
 
 the employments of the glorified, leaving a void 
 that must long be felt. 
 
 Among this number were several Home 
 managers, and three specially influential Vice- 
 Presidents, viz. : Mrs. Almira Barnes, of Troy, N. 
 Y., Mrs. Pres. Mahan, of Oberlin, and Mrs. 
 Josiah Bissell, of Rochester, N. Y. While greatly 
 missing their presence and wise counsels, we 
 rejoice in their joy, assured that their weary 
 feet have safely reached that peaceful shore, 
 
 " Where rests no shadow, falls no stain."
 
 To do goad and communicate forget not." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. - 
 
 " THERE be those who sow beside 
 The waters that in silence glide, 
 Trusting no echo will declare 
 Whose footsteps ever wandered there. 
 Yet think not that the seed is dead 
 Which in the lonely place is spread ; 
 It lives, it lives ; the spring is nigh, 
 And soon its life shall testify." 
 
 THE ADVOCATE AND ITS INFLUENCE. 
 
 To the continued circulation of the Advocate, 
 reaching every State in the Union, the Society 
 were largely indebted for the Christian sympathy 
 and aid that constantly encouraged effort and 
 furnished needed supplies. That wisdom was 
 given so to conduct it, that its influence should 
 increase with the years, was surely owing to 
 answered prayer, and was often regarded with sur-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 295 
 
 prise by its publishers and friends, who could but 
 see that it was made the means of doing good, 
 beyond the returns it brought in substantial aid. 
 Silently it made known from year to year their 
 work and its results, and impressed upon mind, 
 in its forming stage and otherwise, the great 
 principles of virtue, benevolence and truth and 
 when it was remembered that " no word of truth 
 is lost," that every reader is embarked upon a tide 
 of memory and consciousness that is to flow on 
 for ever, the influence upon human character, for 
 good or for evil, exerted by these large annu- 
 al issues, could not be deemed of small moment. 
 
 As an expression of the appreciation of the 
 paper and its influence, by its numerous readers, 
 we insert the following items of testimony, a dup- 
 licate in spirit of hundreds on file. 
 
 A Mother writes : " I have a positive affec- 
 tion for the Advocate, which I feel for no other 
 paper, and always want to introduce this dear 
 friend to all my acquaintance, that they too may 
 
 learn to love it most truly. 
 
 T." 
 
 Another says : " I am written a widow, and 
 my children fatherless ; but I am constrained to 
 say, that among the sweetest blessings that 
 remain to my desolate home is your dear paper. 
 
 Yours, A. c. i."
 
 296 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 M. P. C. says : " 1 have been a constant reader 
 of your highly-valuable periodical for more than 
 twenty years past. Nothing could induce me to 
 be deprived of its perusal. I regard it as among 
 the best of my family journals ; and would suffer 
 no other paper to occupy its place upon my 
 table. I shall deem the time well improved 
 which I spend in securing subscribers for it." 
 
 Another writes : " One of the subscribers to 
 the Guardian, a lady of intelligence and deep 
 piety, who is an invalid, said to me, a few days 
 since, ' that she valued the Guardian more than 
 any periodical that came to her house. I am 
 keeping them,' said she, ' for my daughter to 
 read after I am dead. I consider their influence 
 on the mind for good, second to none, except the 
 Bible.' If I were called to add my feeble testi- 
 mony, it would be the same. 
 
 M. A. B." 
 
 M. W. T. " Accept the assurance of the 
 interest of our ladies in your enterprise, and their 
 high appreciation of the Advocate. We deem it 
 among the most precious, moulding influences of 
 the family, and bless God for giving it to us as a 
 help to our maternal responsibilities. God speed 
 you, dear friends, in your arduous work. 
 
 Yours, truly."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 297 
 
 " Dear Friends, As we sit by our warm fire- 
 side this inclement weather, paper in hand, we 
 are led to exclaim, ' What a blessing is a free 
 Christian press ! Oh ! that it might be extended 
 to all.' Contributors to the Advocate, we are 
 your debtors ; we thank you each and all for the 
 feast spread before us. There is something in 
 every paper applicable to each of its many read- 
 ers ; the invalid, the mourner, the erring, the 
 heart-worn and weary ; youth and age there find 
 sympathy and counsel, and lay it down with 
 more cheerful hearts and higher resolves. We 
 almost covet the power to gladden other hearts 
 as our own are made glad. 
 
 Yours, truly, L. c." 
 
 A western mother, who has a family of daugh- 
 ters, all active Christians, and doing what they 
 can in a western city, writes : " I owe much of 
 my success in the training of my children, to the 
 Advocate and Guardian. It has helped to make 
 them sympathizing and benevolent, and has 
 taught them to care and labor for others." 
 
 AN INCIDENT. 
 
 I have recently met with a little incident, 
 which may encourage you and those engaged 
 with you in the circulation of this little messen- 
 ger of gospel truth, and cause you to see that 
 
 13*
 
 298 WOMAN S WORK. 
 
 some wayside seed is springing up and bearing 
 fruit to the glory of God. I would also have it 
 stimulate some of your subscribers, who can do 
 so, to present the Advocate to some who would 
 gladly read it, but are unable to pay for it. 
 
 Some years since a plain, pious young man, 
 who was in the habit of consulting me occa- 
 sionally regarding the interests of his family, 
 came to me with a troubled face, and told me he 
 was going to the far West to the very outskirts 
 of civilization. He was the father of an interest- 
 ing group of little girls, and seemed to feel 
 deeply in view of the necessity of taking them 
 and his young wife so far from all the privileges 
 of life and society. But the hand of poverty was 
 hard upon them, and he must go where land was 
 cheap and plenty. I tried to direct his mind to 
 the brightest aspect of his lot that I could per- 
 ceive, but he seemed to be weighed down with 
 some unexpressed trouble. Upon pressing him 
 for its cause, he replied, " You know my wife is 
 not a Christian, though she is a good wife, and 
 moral and upright in all her deportment. She 
 has been religiously trained, and feels the impor- 
 tance of being a Christian, but I am afraid she 
 never will be one, for she diverts and dissipates 
 her mind so much with novel reading. She 
 borrov.-s every story-book she can hear of, and
 
 AMo.\(.; Tin: I.OXVLV. 299 
 
 spends all the leisure time she can get in reading 
 them. She is a woman of plain education, but 
 has a great love of reading. Her plea is that she 
 works hard, has no amusements, is too tired 
 when she sits down for a few moments to read 
 anything dry, and novel-reading is all the diver- 
 sion she ever has. Now we are going where she 
 will not be able probably to borrow any kind of 
 reading ; I am too poor to buy books or take 
 papers if I was able I should supply myself, for 
 she is such a reader she would read substantial 
 reading if no other could be found. She will 
 miss her only amusement, will be homesick and 
 discontented, and my little girls will have no 
 education and nothing to read." A manly tear 
 came unbidden to his eye, which brushing away, 
 he added, " Bread and butter is the first necessity 
 of life I suppose the poor should not murmur if 
 they can get that. If my wife was only a Chris- 
 tian, and could be happy with her children and 
 her Bible there would be a great load off my 
 mind." I counseled and comforted him to the 
 best of mv ability, and when he left with his 
 family for the far West, I sent the Advocate 
 after him as a little token of remembrance and 
 regard. Year after year, when I paid my own 
 subscription, did I pay for a copy for him also, 
 not knowing aught of its mission in those distant
 
 300 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 wilds, and often tempted to appropriate my dol- 
 lar otherwise. 
 
 A few months since I unexpectedly met that 
 man. Upon recognizing me he almost imme- 
 diately burst into expressions of gratitude for the 
 Advocate^ and with a beaming face told me the 
 history of its influence upon his family. 
 
 SAVING INFLUENCE. 
 
 His wife had become a Christian, he trusted, 
 through its teachings, and so had his oldest 
 daughter, an interesting girl of sixteen. 
 
 Shut up to this paper and her Bible for read- 
 ing, his wife had read and re-read them. In the 
 solitude of her isolated home, they had spoken 
 with emphatic voice, and she had heeded their 
 teachings. An editorial upon the closing year 
 had arrested her attention, and her mind had 
 only found peace when the great question for 
 eternity was settled, and she sat at Jesus' feet. 
 
 She had enjoyed no other ministry for years, 
 and her Bible and the Advocate had been her only 
 guide in the development of her Christian char^ 
 acter. Her daughters, fast verging towards 
 womanhood, studied it as an oracle, and shaped 
 their deportment and views much after its teach- 
 ings. It was a household word, and valued there 
 next to the Bible. As the country about them
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 3OI 
 
 increased in population the paper was loaned to 
 their neighbors, till it was generally well nigh 
 worn out before it " got around." Many an 
 emigrant who had never heard of the Advocate in 
 the land of his birth, made its acquaintance and 
 heeded its teachings on those distant Prairies of 
 the West. He said, " Our single copy of the 
 paper one year made a regular circuit of twenty- 
 five miles, visiting over fifty families twice each 
 month, and would at length come back to us (for 
 we kept all the numbers) pasted and sewed 
 together, and almost worn out." 
 
 " My children will never form their mother's 
 habit of novel-reading," said the happy father. 
 
 " Their mother says she is sure they will 
 never waste their time and derange their minds 
 as she did, thanks to God's teachings through 
 the Advocate" 
 
 He finished his narration by thanking me for 
 the paper again, assuring me no other " present " 
 could have been so valuable, and telling me I 
 need send it no longer, for he was " able and 
 more than willing to pay for it now." 
 
 I am sure I felt that I had never invested 
 seven dollars with better returns than in this 
 seven years' subscription for your paper, and I 
 trust, my dear Mrs. B., that you and the dear 
 sisters who work with you, may find some weary
 
 302 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 and discouraged moment lightened and bright- 
 ened by this little sheaf, which has been gleaned 
 and sent home to you from the broad field of 
 your labors. 
 
 A COUNTRY SUBSCRIBER. 
 December ist, 1859. 
 
 ANOTHER INCIDENT. 
 
 " A. B. - - was born in western New York, 
 and at the early age of five years was left moth- 
 erless. She was placed in a respectable family, 
 w r here she labored to obtain a livelihood. When 
 quite young she expressed a strong desire to 
 obtain an education, but owing to adverse cir- 
 cumstances, this privilege was for a time denied 
 her. 
 
 Still she improved every opportunity within 
 her reach to gain knowledge, and thus obtained 
 a small fund, that was afterwards of great use. 
 So great was her desire to take the Advocate, 
 that she saved what pocket-money she received, 
 till she had enough to pay for a copy, and then 
 urged a friend to subscribe for it, and permit her 
 to receive it in her name. It was supposed by 
 the family, that she read a borrowed paper ; had 
 it been otherwise it would have been destroyed. 
 She perused it constantly, and was led by so 
 doing, to reflect upon her condition as a sinner.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 303 
 
 As we were conversing some time since with her 
 concerning the Advocate, she said, " That was the 
 first thing that awakened my attention to the 
 subject of religion." She is now an active Chris- 
 tian, and expects to spend her life in the service 
 of her Redeemer on heathen shores. She feels 
 it a precious privilege to leave her aged father 
 and friends, to labor for injured, degraded Africa. 
 Had she listened to the advice, or yielded to the 
 wishes of those who were her guardians, she 
 would never have been so highly favored as to 
 carry the message of salvation to the perishing. 
 Soon after her conversion she remarked that she 
 meant to be a missionary ; for this she was 
 ridiculed, but was enabled to remain true to her 
 purpose. She has since obtained an education, 
 chiefly by her own unaided efforts, and will in a 
 few days, if spared, embark for a heathen land, to 
 tell the story of the cross, and consecrate her 
 improved talents to the good of others. 
 
 V. c. 
 
 MR. J. B. GRAHAM. 
 
 Among the many early friends whose minds 
 seemed turned to the Home enterprise by some 
 unseen agency, was Mr. J. B. Graham, of 
 Brooklyn. Shortly after we had entered our 
 unfurnished hired house, he first called as a
 
 304 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 stranger to look at our little ones, make inqui- 
 ries, &c. On leaving he seemed heartily enlist- 
 ted, and immediately ordered for the House a 
 present supply of iron bedsteads, and proffered 
 personal aid that seemed most opportune. 
 
 From that time till his death, which occurred 
 a few years later, he was a most efficient vol- 
 unteer helper. He was made chairman of the 
 building committee of the Home, and his assis- 
 tance, both in funds and individual exertions, 
 was most timely. Without it the erection of the 
 Institution would have been much longer 
 delayed, and when completed would have been 
 much less substantial and valuable than now. 
 
 His death was sudden. During the day on 
 the Friday previous, he had been planning an 
 endowment for the Institution, had his papers 
 partly prepared, and had designated the follow- 
 ing Tuesday to meet, his lawyer for their execu- 
 tion. He retired as usual, and in the morning 
 was found sleeping the sleep that knows no wak- 
 ing. 
 
 Previous to his death he had been largely 
 instrumental in the establishment of the Brook-' 
 lyn Orphan Asylum, Mariner's Family Asylum, 
 on Staten Island, and was also the Founder of 
 the Graham Institute, an asylum for the 
 aged and destitute in Brooklyn.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 305 
 
 LINES. 
 
 And art thou gone so suddenly from earth, 
 Thy mission finished and thy labors o'er? 
 Friend of the poor, the desolate and lone, 
 
 Of homeless childhood and forsaken age ! 
 
 ********** 
 
 Who shall befriend them in the time to come, 
 Amid their sorrows, penury and want, 
 With kindness and compassion such as thine? 
 There needs no storied urn to bear thy name, 
 To tell the passing stranger thou hast been ; 
 For monuments that shared thy living aid, 
 Even from the corner to the topmost stone, 
 Stand in three counties, known and read of all, 
 Four sacred temples, Homes of charity 
 Reared for the needy in their utmost need, 
 A shelter from earth's storms that wildly beat 
 On the unsheltered head of youth and age, 
 From elements more fierce than wintry winds. 
 Homes for the friendless are they each and all, 
 Though known by various names, as classes rise 
 To claim the charity now theirs to give. 
 ********** 
 
 'Twas fitting that thy mission should begin 
 With childhood's claims, and be so well fulfilled ; 
 'Twas beantiful that it should end with age, 
 And then, 'twas beautiful to sink in sleep, 
 And wake, without a pang, 'mid seraph's songs ! 
 
 Who can behold the good thy hands have wrought, 
 
 Then hide the talents given him to improve, 
 
 Nor feel the bitter stingings of remorse ? 
 
 Who can consent to garner up his gold 
 
 Not his, but lent him for specific ends 
 
 And use it to aggrandize but himself, 
 
 When to bestow it wisely might afford 
 
 Relief to thousands, and best please his Lord.
 
 336 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Another of the warm friends of the Institu- 
 tion, was the writer of the following, a lover of 
 ' children of world-wide fame. 
 
 Dear Friend, A beautiful hymn in the Dec. 
 ist Advocate and Guardian, has struck me very 
 pleasantly, and I have had it set to music. A 
 copy of one of the melodies I enclose. Would 
 come up and teach it to your children some day, 
 if agreeable. 
 
 Yours very truly, W. B. BRADBURY." 
 
 OH! SAVE THE LITTLE CHILDREN! 
 
 Oh, save the little children 
 
 Of poverty and crime, 
 Whose bitter wail is sounding 
 
 Through the dim aisles of time, 
 Ye may not cleanse the torrent, 
 
 Whose course is strong and sure, 
 But, ah ! it needs but little skill 
 
 To make the fountain pure. 
 
 Oh, childhood, dark and sunless, 
 
 Beset with many snares, 
 O'ershadowed by life's sorrows, 
 
 O'erburdened with life's cares ; 
 If ye can add one pleasure, 
 
 Or take away one pain, 
 Or sow one seed of virtue, 
 
 Ye have not lived in vain ! 
 
 The homeless little children. 
 
 Who have in joy no part ; 
 Pity their desolation, 
 
 And take them to vour heart.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 307 
 
 Deal gently with their errors, 
 
 And lead them kindly on, 
 Until at length the guerdon 
 
 Of truth and peace is won. 
 
 And think with what thanksgiving, 
 
 By God's grace we may stand 
 Beside those little children 
 
 In heaven's sinless land, 
 Rescued from many trials, -*" 
 
 From want, and woe, and sin ; 
 "Of such is heaven's kingdom, " 
 
 Oh ! bid them enter in ! 
 
 " Some five years since a notice appeared in 
 the Advocate of the sudden death of a good man, 
 who when visiting the Home just previously had 
 said, " Put me down on your books for $25 per 
 annum, so long as I live." The question was 
 also asked, if some one, still spared, would not 
 perform this intended service. Soon after, a 
 note was received from Mr. Bradbury, inclosing 
 the sum named, proposing while he should live, 
 to redeem the pledge made by the departed. 
 
 " The last note received from Mr. B. was 
 dated Nov. 26, 1866, and closes with the follow- 
 ing paragraph : 
 
 " ' I am now a permanent invalid. The fatal 
 disease has got me in his grasp, and will not let 
 me go. I send you a copy of my last work, Fresh 
 Laurels. 1 think it will be the last. Inclosed
 
 308 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 please find my check for $25 for your little ones' 
 Thanksgiving. God bless you and them. 
 
 " Yours, fraternally, W. B. B.' " 
 
 From other parties came similar voluntary 
 pledges, and these incidents are cited as examples 
 of the many tokens of encouragement received 
 from unlooked-for sources time after time, when 
 threatened with pecuniary embarrassment. 
 
 Friends were raised up as most needed, and 
 voluntary helpers often came forward to fill the 
 void made by death and removals, and continued 
 to labor for an indefinite period, prompted by 
 love to the work, the satisfactory results appar- 
 ent, and, more than all, by love to Him who 
 came to earth to save the perishing. 
 
 With such waymarks filling the background, 
 should not this Association " remember all the 
 way that the Lord hath led them ?" 
 
 Among the many thousand children legally 
 surrendered to the Institution, there have been a 
 .few beautiful instances of early piety, pleasant in 
 their developments, and bright treasures in the 
 store-house of memory. We quote by way oi 
 example. 
 
 LITTLE GRACIE. 
 
 Life and death, in varied guises, often arrest 
 the attention of the visitor at the Home. To-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 309 
 
 a 
 
 day we are here at a funeral. Upon the platform 
 in the Chapel a narrow coffin holds the frail form 
 of a dear girl of eleven years, lovely in her life, 
 and beautiful in death. Winter flowers and 
 broken buds, full of fragrance, are strewn around 
 her, and clasped in white hands folded upon her 
 bosom. Her companions and school-mates, and 
 the care-takers, who loved her to the last, are 
 the gathered mourners. Those with whom her 
 voice had been often joined in the same words, 
 sing very sweetly 
 
 " There is rest for the weary." 
 
 The reading of the Scriptures and prayer, 
 the brief address from the words of David, " I 
 shall go to him, but he shall not return to me," 
 are well adapted to the youthful auditory. 
 They sing again, and the general expression 
 seems to say, they sing " with the spirit and the 
 understanding," 
 
 " There is a beautiful world. 
 
 Where saints and angels sing; 
 A world where peace and pleasure reign, 
 
 And heavenly praises ring." etc. 
 
 And now they come with measured tread, 
 class by class, to take a last look at dear Gracie. 
 Weeping eyes gaze _ tenderly upon the little 
 sleeper, while half-suppressed sobs, in some cases, 
 mark the retreating footsteps. Now the lid is 
 closed, and we shall see her face no more, till,
 
 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 with others of the dear Home flock, we stand with 
 that great company that no man can number. 
 All seem to feel that Gracie has gone to be with 
 Jesus. She was a child of praying ancestors, 
 and though early left an orphan, inheriting 
 physical infirmities that made her brief life one 
 of much suffering, yet she evinced a degree of 
 patience and fortitude beyond her years, and an 
 early and intelligent trust in Him who took little 
 children in His arms and blessed them. Gracie 
 loved to pray alone and with others. Some of 
 her school-mates remember seasons when, of her 
 own accord, she proposed " a little prayer-meet- 
 ing by themselves," and where her infant voice 
 was heard in asking blessings for them all. 
 
 BENIGN INFLUENCE. 
 
 At the funeral services of the little ones that 
 are taken to the " better land," their home in 
 heaven there is always much seriousness, and 
 we trust, lasting impressions are made that tend 
 to prepare the hearers, both adult and juvenile, 
 for living duties and the dying hour. Morning 
 and evening worship, also held in the Chapel, 
 and conducted by the matron and her assistants 
 in the different departments, is evidently not 
 without its usual benign influences, being par- 
 ticipated in Avith such fervor as frequently to
 
 AMONG THE LO\VLY. 31 I 
 
 make it a delightful duty. Several wno have 
 manifested most interest in these exercises have 
 recently expressed hope in Christ. The Sabbath 
 afternoon is occupied, as it has been for so many 
 years, very acceptably to the children, in general 
 instruction by their beloved friend, Mr. Alfred 
 Edwards, a most worthy descendant of his 
 world-renowned ancestor, President Edwards. 
 His kind acts and earnest labors will never be 
 forgotten by the Home beneficiaries. In such 
 an Institution, of course, the work is mainly con- 
 fined to sowing the seed for others to water, but 
 this is done in the confident hope that God will 
 give the increase. 
 
 Of one who long loved to welcome his kindly 
 face, we have the following record. 
 
 MARY RICHIE. 
 
 " Asleep in Jesus ! Blessed sleep ! 
 From which none ever wake to weep." 
 
 Nineteen years ago a little babe of ten 
 months the only child of a worthy, departed 
 father while borne in the arms of a poor, 
 inebriate mother, veering to and fro upon the 
 sidewalk, was precipitated suddenly into a deep 
 area. Death did not follow, as might have been 
 expected, but there was a broken spine and other 
 injuries causing great anguish. Proper appli- 
 ances in time might 'have mitigated the trouble,
 
 312 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 but all mother-love was blighted by strong drink- 
 and there was none at hand to act the mother's 
 part. 
 
 Pain and neglect soon traced on the meek, 
 young face the lineaments of age, and until 
 searched out by a Christian sister of the father, 
 who had long supposed her dead, poor Mary 
 realized the pang of utter friendlessness. This 
 kind aunt, though herself in the vale of poverty, 
 acted a truly-noble part toward the afflicted 
 child. For a long period she supported her by 
 her own hard earnings, and ten years since, 
 finding the Home a better refuge than she could 
 else secure, at her earnest request little Mary, 
 the cripple, was made an exception to our rules, 
 and became one of its inmates. 
 
 From that time onward, the meek, marred, 
 patient face of the poor child, enlisted the sym- 
 pathy of all who came to know her. She was 
 often able to attend church and Sabbath-school. 
 Her kind teacher, Miss S., won a large place in 
 her affections, and well deserved the grateful 
 love ever returned by her appreciative pupil. 
 The faithful instructions of her pastor, Rev. Mr. 
 Sabine who held a Sabbath service in our 
 Chapel while his church was building led her 
 to give her heart early to Jesus. Her consistent 
 example ever honored her Christian profession,
 
 AMOXC; THE LOWLY. 313 
 
 and bore a beautiful testimony to the sustaining 
 grace of the Saviour whom unseen she truly 
 loved. 
 
 Owing to her injuries and consequent mala- 
 dies beyond healing, she attained but the altitude 
 of a little girl, but evinced the early mental 
 maturity of womanhood, and her influence was 
 ever felt for good throughout the Home house- 
 hold. 
 
 Among the little sick ones, in her thoughtful, 
 tender attentions, she seemed to move around 
 like an angel of mercy, However much she 
 might suffer herself, no murmur escaped her lips, 
 but frequent expressions of thankfulness that 
 God had provided such a kind home for her, 
 when she had no other. She had no fear of 
 death, but felt happy in thinking of her heavenly 
 home, where she should see Jesus and love and 
 praise Him without sin or sorrow. * * * 
 
 Her funeral services were beautifully con- 
 ducted by her pastor, in his own church, paying 
 a sweet tribute to her lovelv character and sin- 
 cere piety. Members of the Sabbath-school and 
 Home school were present, with a few friends 
 by whom her memory will long be cherished. 
 
 " We laid her in the grave to rest, 
 
 And felt when all was o'er, 
 Our Home contained one angel less, 
 
 And heaven one angel more." 
 
 14
 
 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 HOME INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL NO. 5. 
 
 Our Home School No. 5 also had its birth in 
 war time. It is now in its fifteenth year, and 
 from the first has a record of usefulness. A 
 band of excellent, devoted, Christian workers, 
 have given a helping hand to this School from 
 year to year, provided and supervised its daily 
 work and annual festivals, and their unwearied 
 labors of love in this relation have borne rich 
 fruit. 
 
 A true missionary teacher, now a beloved 
 missionary in distant India, labored in this 
 School till she left for her present field, with the 
 same devotion as since evinced in her great work 
 in heathen lands. The following items are from 
 the School journal. 
 
 " There is marked improvement in many of 
 the .children. Over one thousand visits have 
 been made during the year to bring in and keep 
 together those who go no where else ; but now 
 they seem to come gladly. They manifest a 
 deep interest when Bible stories are read to 
 them. Little notes addressed by one and another 
 to their teacher, indicate the feelings of those 
 most impressed by the truth, and are often 
 quite touching. Here is a sample. Charlie 
 writes, ' I do love Jesus, and mean to be a mis- 
 sionarv.' J. writes, ' I feel that I need a new
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 315 
 
 heart, I love to go to prayer- meeting, and love to 
 hear about Jesus.' Joseph says, ' I would not be 
 afraid to die, for Jesus loves me, and I love Him, 
 and He'll take care of me.' Little Willie speaks 
 thus of his mother. ' The other night she was 
 picked up in the street, and carried to the station- 
 house. I wish they would keep her always, for 
 she beats me and makes me drink gin ; once I 
 was drunk.' Poor little one, he is only about six 
 years of age, a sweet-looking. child, with a very 
 sad face ; it makes my heart ache to look at him. 
 I have often seen and spoken to the mother 
 about her evil ways. She listens, but does not 
 reform. This is one case of many. Several chil- 
 dren have left the school for good places, one is 
 provided for by the Home. 
 
 " A ' mothers' meeting ' is held every Friday 
 afternoon at 3 o'clock. At one meeting sixteen 
 poor mothers were present, two came just as 
 we were closing, and expressed much sorrow at 
 being too late. At one of the meetings a mother 
 said, ' I felt so tired for hard working, I thought 
 I would not come, but I'm glad I did, for now I 
 feel stronger to work to-morrow.' 
 
 " Another said, ' I did not mean to come, but 
 mine boy say, " Go, moder, do go, I take you." 
 He bring me to de door, I like the meetin', and 
 will come agin '
 
 316 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 To become familiar and get in sympathy with 
 industrial school work, one must lay aside ail 
 thoughts of comfort, and regardless of the 
 impure atmosphere of the school-room, must 
 spend hours with these neglected ones, specimens 
 of whom may be found in every street of our 
 great city. Simply seeing them seated in school 
 is not enough ; their stories touch the heart, and 
 when the stories fail, only look at the face, and 
 scarred back of some little sufferer, " whose 
 father and mother drink," and then we are sure 
 you will say with us, that industrial schools are 
 great blessings. 
 
 A few instances cited will show what has 
 been done, and what yet can be done, toward 
 saving these children. Three years ago a girl 
 was picked up in the street, and invited to No. 5. 
 For the " sake of fun," Mary L. consented to 
 come. Satan found in her a willing servant. 
 Having no disposition to study, she had been 
 turned out of the ward school, and as she had no 
 comfort at home, she cared very little what 
 became of her. Any teacher who taught in our 
 sewing school will remember what a trial Mary 
 was ; vcrv often has it been said, " She really is 
 too bad to remain ;" but by patiently enduring 
 her waywardness, a hold upon her affections was 
 at last gained, and to-day she is one of the best
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 317 
 
 behaved girls in the work-room where she is 
 learning a trade. She has a grateful, loving 
 spirit, and only needed kind words, and a sincere 
 interest taken in her to develope the good. We 
 rejoice in her temporal improvement, and hope 
 soon to sav that she is on the Lord's side. 
 
 " Thirty-one of our pupils have left the school 
 for places, two to learn trades, one of whom, 
 previous to leaving, always attended the mothers' 
 prayer-meeting. Several of the poor mothers 
 who attend this meeting have requested special 
 prayer for themselves and their children. Ten 
 of these mothers are enrolled in a class who ard 
 learning to read, and come as regularly as their 
 circumstances permit. Seventy-six of our pupils 
 have gone to the public school. 
 
 " Several hundred visits have been made 
 among the pupils during the year. One of our 
 dear boys went to be with Jesus the past week. 
 Almost the last expression he made was, ' Jesus 
 loves me.'"
 
 
 H'' Stablish your hearts, for tbn coming of tbfi 
 Lord draunHh nigb." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 WE are coming, we are coming, 
 Out of homes where shadows fall, 
 Out of sorrow, want and danger, 
 Hasting at love's gentle call ; 
 Gathering where God's chosen workers 
 Fain would turn the feet that stray, 
 Back from sin and dark temptation, 
 Into wisdom's pleasant way. 
 
 H. E. B 
 THIRD DECADE CONTINUED. 
 
 WHILE the daily work of the Schools, visit- 
 ing Committees, etc., commanded due atten- 
 tion still the care of the large, ever-changing 
 family at the Home held the first place. 
 
 Here are children of all ages for whose wel- 
 fare, in sickness and health, the Managers are 
 largely responsible. Thus it has been from the 
 first. Deprived of their natural protectors,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 319 
 
 placed fully in our care at the most important 
 period in life's history, every week calling for 
 decisions in behalf of some that must measurably 
 shape their destiny, the work has most certainly 
 claimed from those in charge faithful, un- 
 tiring Christian vigilance. 
 
 For example, A., B. and C. have been with us 
 till their moral and physical developments are 
 well understood. Such knowledge as could be 
 gained of their antecedents has been sought and 
 recorded. They are eligible for foster homes, 
 correspondence with applicants has opened a 
 door for their transfer, and now they are to pass 
 from the protection of the Home to more per- 
 manent care, in case the proposed arrangement 
 shall prove satisfactory. 
 
 The time is set for their departure. Comfort- 
 ably clothed, kindly counselled, and confided to a 
 safe escort, they leave us, as thousands have left 
 before, perhaps to return in after months or 
 years, and perhaps not to be met again by Home 
 friends, unless by the stated visitor, till all meet 
 where every one " must give account." 
 
 QUERIES. 
 
 We ask mentally in such cases, have we done 
 all for these dear children that was practicable ? 
 Are we sufficiently assured that those to whom
 
 32O WOMAN S WORK 
 
 they are to be entrusted are families of the right 
 type ? True, they are well recommended, as 
 this is always a pre-requisite, but, as the years 
 pass on, will they prove faithful in the sight of 
 Him, who they believe has said to them by the 
 voice of His providence, " Take this child and 
 train it for Me!" Have they been so prompted 
 by truly-benevolent motives, that, should trials 
 and disappointments, instead of the full fruition 
 of pleasant hopes, come to them in connection 
 with this generous act, they will have no regrets 
 for the step taken, but count it among the " all 
 things," feeling satisfied that having done what 
 they could, the service is accepted by Him, who 
 is no respecter of persons. 
 
 We may be thankful for the proof existing 
 that very many do thus discharge a Christian du- 
 ty, in taking these friendless children, and in the 
 result, confer and receive lasting blessings. 
 
 We have before us a letter just received from 
 a foster-mother, in which she says : " 1 regard it 
 as a great responsibility, to train an immortal 
 soul, and I also feel it a great privilege. Pray 
 for us that we may be guided aright. 
 
 HOME INFLUENCE. 
 
 " I well know what home influence means. To 
 Christian parents and a Home wherein dwelt no
 
 AM<)\<; Tin-: LOWLY. 321 
 
 discord, I owe my salvation, under God, and I 
 have witnessed the sad effects of a discordant 
 home upon others. 
 
 " 1 would not have obliterated from my mem- 
 ory, the voice of my dear father in family prayer, 
 for all that earth could give, of its most valued 
 treasures. It is ever like melody to my soul amid 
 the echoes of the far, dark past." 
 
 Another who has reared Home children, and 
 has them still in her care, writes : " The eldest is 
 a great comfort, now and always. * * A. will 
 be twenty-one next autumn. Dear boy, we hope 
 he will carrv away into his life the principles he 
 has been taught rather than the lack which his 
 natural tendencies make easier. He has been a 
 pretty good boy. Never drinks, smokes nor 
 chews. Is regular at Church and Sabbath-school, 
 exemplary in social life, not in any way wild, or 
 fast." 
 
 " R. J. is a slow scholar, as in everything 
 but still improves in almost all ways. The dear 
 child had so little to begin with ! Had I known at 
 first how little, 1 fear my heart would have 
 shrank from the task; but it came, providential- 
 ly, 1 believe, and in that consideration, I accept it 
 cheerily, and hopefully, as my work, and leave 
 the results to Him who loves all human crea- 
 
 H*
 
 322 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 tures. The comfort comes in the belief that He 
 can find access to these souls that He has made, 
 and will hear prayer, and overlook any mistakes 
 made with endeavor to guide them to His feet. 
 There is no way sure, but to commit them to 
 Him, and love them all through. We are glad to 
 have helped these dear ones along so far, and 
 would like to take another. If a ' paragon' oi 
 goodness comes along, will you please make note 
 of it, and let us know. 
 
 '' What a work the Home is doing for poor 
 humanity ! We thank God lor the steadfast 
 hearts that ' Hold the fort,' ' through thick and 
 thin. ' May He hold them in the ' hollow of His 
 hand.' ' 
 
 These extracts indicate the spirit that is mani- 
 festly becoming more and more prevalent in 
 relation to the orphaned and homeless, and the 
 matter of Christian duty in their behalf. The 
 proof is abundant that among the great company 
 who have become foster-parents, there are some 
 of the noblest specimens of parental Christian 
 love, and heaven-born philanthropy. Many, too, 
 are abundantly rewarded by the well-doing of 
 the children. The following brief extract from a 
 few letters expresses the sentiments of many 
 others. 
 
 From a Home boy, " I was adopted from the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 323 
 
 Home for the Friendless, at the age of four. * * 
 
 " There is not one of a hundred children, 
 bereft of parents at an early age, that falls into as 
 good hands as I have done. Always brought up 
 to attend church and Sabbath-school, with noth- 
 ing to prevent constant attention to my studies. 
 My parents are now over seventy years of age, 
 while I am in my 2ist year. 
 
 " My object in writing this, is to thank those 
 whose noble and self-sacrificing labors have been 
 instrumental of so much good, not only in my 
 case, but in thousands of others. It is over six- 
 teen years since I left the Home. Doubtless it 
 has changed care-takers many times since then, 
 but I suppose all the records have been pre- 
 served since its organization. If convenient, will 
 you please inform me if I had either parent or 
 any relatives living, at the time of my entering 
 the Institution, also my precise age, &c. 
 
 " It is not strange that my thoughts often cen- 
 tre upon that place where disinterested friends 
 snatched me from the cold charities of the world. 
 The first opportunity that offers, I will visit the 
 Home. I would like to subscribe for the paper 
 published at the Institution. Please send a copy. 
 
 " Hoping that blessings may ever rest upon 
 the Institution that saved me from an early 
 death, I remain, your true friend, J. W."
 
 324 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Another writes : " I have been attending 
 school this winter and enjoyed it very much. 
 My chief studies were Latin, practical and men- 
 tal arithmetic. I think I have learned a good 
 deal since I came here. I have some expecta- 
 tion of graduating some day, if I live. I am 
 looking forward with the hope of being prepared 
 to do some good in the world. I wish I could 
 visit the Home now, before I grow any older. I 
 hope I shall grow better as I grow older; I 
 think I truly love the Saviour. When I think 
 how much my friends have done for me and how 
 much my Saviour has suffered for me, I think I 
 should be very ungrateful not to be a good girl 
 and try to serve God. 
 
 " Please give my love to all the ladies of the 
 Home and all the little children who remember 
 me. 
 
 " Yours, in much love." 
 
 Another writes : " It is now nearly ten years 
 since I left the Home. And to look back it seems 
 scarcely more than two. I am now nearly a 
 man grown. I am also enjoying full health, for 
 which I am very thankful. I attend the high 
 school at present. I know it was always your 
 wish and hope that all the boys and girls that left 
 your Institution for foster-homes might become 
 good Christian men and women. I do not know
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 325 
 
 how many have come up to those wishes, but 
 this I know, I pray, that my life hereafter, may 
 be that of a good Christian man, and with God's 
 help I mean it shall. Pray for me, that I may 
 not fail. Tell my brother that W. prays for him, 
 that he also may become one of Christ's disci- 
 ples. 
 
 " May God bless and prosper you in your 
 good work. 
 
 " I am ever your grateful boy, 
 
 * # * *" 
 
 A dear child early bereaved, transferred to 
 foster-parents, and we trust, early saved, writes 
 thus: "It is with pleasure that I answer your 
 kind letter. I am well, and cannot be any other 
 than happy, for I have such a good home, such 
 kind, good, Christian parents and friends to 
 watch over me ! I attend church every Sabbath, 
 sing in the chior, and attend the Bible-class, and 
 prayer-meetings. There has been a revival near 
 here, and God has been in our midst, and that to 
 bless. Very many have been converted to Christ. 
 "I am going out this afternoon to 'visit the 
 poor, and try to induce them to permit their chil- 
 dren to come to the Sabbath-school. I am going 
 to spend an hour every day with a poor blind 
 lady and read the Bible to her. 
 
 " I do not take music-lessons now, but am try-
 
 326 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 to fit myself for a teacher ; and in that way trying 
 to become self-reliant, and pay back to my more 
 than father, some of the money he has laid out 
 for me. 
 
 " How thankful I ought to be to my Heavenly 
 Father for his goodness in giving me such a kind 
 home, and in casting my lot in a land of Christians ! 
 I thank you, too, dear friends, for your kindness in 
 my helpless infancy. No one can tell where I 
 might have been now, had it not been for your 
 care. I can never repay the debt of gratitude 
 which I owe. May Heaven's richest blessings be 
 yours. May your good work ever prosper, and 
 when the Saviour comes to make up His jewels, 
 may you shine brightly, is the prayer of your 
 grateful friend." 
 
 SCHOOL LIBRARIES. 
 
 Through the untiring efforts of Mrs. Harriet 
 H. Starr, a Vice President of the Society, and 
 long an active member of the Board a library 
 of useful books was provided for each of the 
 Home schools, and loaned to the children as a 
 reward for well-doing. They were also found 
 useful and gratifying in families where the poor 
 mothers were unable to read. 
 
 This work for the Schools was among the last
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 327 
 
 active labors of their devoted friend. She was 
 called hence in the winter of 1874, at an advanced 
 age. The following extract from one of her let- 
 ters when absent from an anniversary, gives a 
 few results of her many self-prompted, voluntary 
 efforts, continued through the years. 
 
 " Dear sisters : It gives me pleasure to-day 
 that 107 books are in readiness for Home School 
 No. 2, and 158 for circulation in the Schools at 
 the Home. I am grateful to our Heavenly 
 Father for the opportunity and ability to work 
 for his little ones in a field so full of pleasant as- 
 sociations and cheering hopes. 
 
 " My work for the children of the Home began 
 in the nursery; fifty yards of carpet came in 
 answer to my appeal from our Danbury friends, 
 cribs, cradles, rocking-chairs, pictures, soap and 
 toys, combs and brushes, tin cups and pans, were 
 cheerfully given and thankfully received. The 
 wants of the School were as cheerfully supplied ; 
 books, slates and pencils, caps, shoes, and confec 
 tionery, and toys for the holidays, were asked 
 for and obtained. 
 
 " Truly I am indebted to the dealers in toys 
 and books, for the ability which they have given 
 me to minister to the happiness of our Home 
 children. The mass of books received for our 
 schools, and as tokens of reward and remem-
 
 328 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 brance for children leaving- the Home, and for 
 two libraries in prison, and the one now forming, 
 is quite astonishing. 
 
 " When our petition for the truant law was in 
 circulation, aided by my son, 1 obtained live 
 thousand signatures. It was hard work, that 
 walking and talking and mounting stairs, that 
 effort to pour my thoughts and feelings into 
 minds and hearts that seemed full of opposition ; 
 my body was enfeebled by the effort, but thanks 
 to our Heavenly Father, my work for the " little 
 ones," has kept my heart young through years of 
 pain and sorrow. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to call myself the 
 founder of the Children's Circulating Library, 
 thinking that when I have done my work, some 
 humble reader may think, ' Mrs. Starr loved me.' 
 
 " Dear sisters, let us ' rejoice in the Lord 
 always,' and humbly follow the Captain of our 
 Salvation in all the battle of life. 
 
 " With sentiments of deep respect and love, 
 
 H. H. STARR."
 
 Go ije out into the highways and bftogea 
 ana I'owpin them tn rame tn. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DOWN in deep waters of turbulent ocean, 
 Labors an insect amid the commotion ; 
 What it is doing it never knows. 
 But from day to day, its good work grows. 
 And by and by an island appears. 
 Revealing the hidden work of years. 
 So while in our weakness the good seed we sow 
 For what we have builded the future will show, 
 
 BUILDING JU-:TTKR THAN wfc KNOW. 
 
 PASSING over unnumbered items of interest, 
 too numerous to mention, we come now to our 
 Fourth Decade, its work and results. 
 
 During this period an enlarged field has been 
 occupied, both in the several departments con- 
 nected more directly with the institution, and its 
 outside labors. 
 
 Six new schools have been organized, and 
 continued in successful operation. [For present 
 location, names of respective Committees and 
 Teachers, see Appendix.] 
 
 Meantime facilities for their permanent 
 accommodation, have been provided when exist-
 
 330 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ing exigencies seemed to demand the outlay. 
 
 The earliest efforts of our H. I. School No. I, 
 organized twenty-three years since, are men- 
 tioned on page 199, with extracts from its first 
 report. This school has never lost its firm hold 
 upon the heart-interest of the Managers and 
 especially the faithful committees, to whose 
 untiring labors for all these years, it owes its 
 continued success. Two only remain at their 
 post who began the work as members of the 
 School Committee of No. i. 
 
 It has had upon its register the names of over 
 nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-five 
 different pupils, very many of whom it has 
 savingly benefited. 
 
 Beside the stated weekly service of its com- 
 mittees on the days designated, always a free- 
 will offering there has been an aggregate of 
 missionary work performed during these many 
 years, in behalf of these thousands of children, 
 that words may not compute. 
 
 The same is true of very many of the laborers 
 and labors in the respective schpols, the spirit and 
 aims of the work being ever one and the same, 
 the amount differing only in point of time and 
 ability. 
 
 Our limits allow but brief reference to each, 
 and the few pages of gathered items and inci-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 331 
 
 dents, must be regarded as simply illustrative of 
 the work and its results as a whole, applying 
 equally to every portion of the broad field. 
 
 HOME SCHOOL NO. 2. 
 
 Home Industrial School No. 2, organized in 
 1857, became greatly enlarged, both in numbers 
 and usefulness. Meantime the hired rooms so 
 long occupied in the rear of a German Church, 
 in West 4Oth Street, had become extremely dilap- 
 idated and unhealthy, and every effort to secure 
 a better location seemed to prove abortive. 
 
 Our generous friends, Messrs. Chauncey and 
 Henry Rose, hearing of our dilemma, gave to 
 the Society a special donation of $10,000 toward 
 the erection of a new building. They also sub- 
 sequently added $5,000 more for this object. 
 
 Thus encouraged, two lots of ground, 25 by 
 loo feet each, were purchased, and a goodly 
 edifice erected, with special reference to the 
 wants of the school, present and prospective. 
 The expense -incurred lor the lots was $5,000, the 
 cost of the building some $22,000. 
 
 Besides the large audience room, which seats 
 some four hundred and serves also for a Chapel 
 on the Sabbath there are two large class-rooms, 
 infant school-room with gallery, two large 
 play and clothes-rooms, janitor's rooms, closets 
 and bath-rooms, etc.
 
 332 
 
 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 The school had at this time, June, 1869, upon 
 its register 736, with an average attendance of 
 312 pupils. 
 
 The blocks of shanties in the immediate 
 vicinity, with their miserable inmates, fitly 
 represented the worst type of heathenism in this 
 Christian City, and here visitors, teachers and 
 school are still putting forth effective agencies to 
 save the poor children. Here they may " Gather 
 them in from the paths of sin," and win them to 
 the love of truth and right. 
 
 The edifice is named, Rose Memorial Chapel, 
 in honor of the esteemed patrons to whom we 
 are so largely indebted. 
 
 ROSE MEMORIAL CHAPEL.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 333 
 
 Thus one of our most promising schools was 
 provided with the accommodation long and 
 greatly needed, and the dying prayer of its 
 lamented teacher, Miss Rose Stubes, was also 
 fulfilled. With her latest breath she desired that 
 a chapel might be erected in the neighborhood 
 where her labor for many years had been faith- 
 fully given, that the gospel might be brought to 
 the multitudes who would never seek it for 
 themselves. The striking coincidence between 
 the names of our generous friends and of the 
 devoted teacher alluded to, makes the chosen 
 designation of the chapel a fitting memorial of 
 both. 
 
 The number of different children attending 
 Rose Chapel, from 1866 to Dec., 1876, has been 
 10,283 in all, each year showing a steady increase. 
 HOME SCHOOL NO. 6. 
 
 Home Industrial School No. 6, was organized 
 in 1866, in the vicinity of West 54th Street, 
 where its noble and beneficient mission was con- 
 tinued for several years, literally among the 
 rocks, and where its early visitors might have 
 counted some five hundred shanties in their 
 walks of usefulness. The changes incident to 
 the growth of a large city, have made innova- 
 tions in this locality, calling for the removal of 
 the school to some of. the many sections, now
 
 334 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 more entirely adapted to its work. The ten 
 years of labor expended in this school, have 
 brought most satisfactory returns. It has had 
 on register 1,437 different pupils. 
 
 Home Industrial School No. 7, organized in 
 1867, now located in East 76th Street, has had 
 repeated changes, but seems at present to be 
 permanently established, provided with premises 
 every way desirable, faithful and deeply inter- 
 ested committees and teachers, and a wide field 
 where Christian labor will bring a sure reward. 
 
 The register of No. 7, has numbered 3441 
 different pupils in all, during the nine years of 
 its work, its locality having been thrice changed. 
 Its official report for 1876 states : " Its registered 
 number is $47 ', the last daily average being 216. 
 
 Several large boys, turned out of the public 
 schools for bad conduct, have been retained in 
 this school during the year, and under the influ- 
 ence of kindness have been tamed, interested, 
 and with one exception, have become well- 
 behaved, and we trust permanently changed. 
 
 More than 600 visits have been made by the 
 teachers among the suffering families represented 
 in the school. The sick have been comforted, the 
 dying pointed to Jesus, and many a famish- 
 ing household has been saved from starvation. 
 
 No. 7 has dismissed 155 pupils this year, 75
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 335 
 
 girls and 80 boys to the ward schools, a fact 
 which in itself speaks loudly of the improvement 
 in mental and physical condition of these chil- 
 dren ; as those are not retained, who are fitted 
 to make a suitable appearance and attend 
 regularly at the public schools. The children 
 have made 319 garments, and 4 quilts, which, 
 with 6 barrels of second-hand clothing, 9 more 
 quilts, and 50 pairs of shoes, have been distribut- 
 ed among them. Tw r o barrels of oat-rneal and 
 3,750 loaves of bread have also been given. 
 
 School No. 8, organized in 1869, has had on 
 register 1,500 pupils since its opening, and 
 though one of our smaller schools, has ever a 
 pleasant record of usefulness. 
 
 A recent Annual statement says : 
 
 " Our School opened in September, with 
 about sixty scholars, which number gradually 
 increased umil our daily average was 105. 
 This increase was mainly due to the diligent 
 labors of our visitor, who has made 883 visits the 
 past season, combined with the untiring efforts 
 of our teachers, who, ever at the post of duty, 
 have spared no labor in promoting the best 
 interests of the school. We never had so large 
 a school as the past winter, nor so many large 
 boys and girls of the most troublesome class; 
 some of them very rough and difficult to manage,
 
 336 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 taxing to the utmost, the patience and skill of 
 our excellent principal. Miss B., was very 
 anxious, if possible, to retain them in school and 
 do them good. In one instance only, after 
 repeated trials, was it necessary to resort to 
 expulsion. 
 
 " In the winter an unusual degree of religious 
 interest was shown by some of the older scholars, 
 who also attended the Mothers' Prayer-Meeting, 
 held in our school-room. Two of our largest 
 girls were hopefully converted and united with 
 the Church of Christ. 
 
 " In case of sickness, or trouble of any kind in 
 a family, the teacher is immediately notified and 
 expected in some way to afford relief. This 
 hope is never disappointed, if the subject is 
 worthy, and sometimes when unworthy, for the 
 children's sake. Thanks to the Home for the 
 barrels of half-worn garments, the quilts and 
 other aid furnished us, by which we were ena- 
 bled, through our teachers and visitors, to give 
 timely relief to the most destitute. 
 
 " Employment has been found for a large 
 number of those who have left us, and good 
 homes secured for several of our girls, from some 
 of whom we hear encouraging reports from time 
 to time. 
 
 " A case of special interest has given' us much
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 337 
 
 anxiety. Mary B., eleven years old, has an 
 intemperate mother, a home of poverty and de- 
 gradation, with a sick and dying father ; exposed 
 to all the ills of such surroundings, her future was 
 dark indeed. Several months since, through the 
 untiring efforts of Miss B., an excellent home in 
 the country was found for her, where she would 
 have every comfort, and be educated and trained 
 for future usefulness. With the hearty approval 
 of the dving father, and the consent of the 
 mother, M. was transferred to the home provid- 
 ed. Letters received, as well as visits made to 
 the family, prove that she is in a good home, is 
 contented and doing well. A few days ago, our 
 attention was called to a letter written by M. her- 
 self. ' Is not this encouraging ?' said her teacher; 
 'for when she left us, she could not write a 
 word.' " 
 
 School No. 9, 335 East 6oth Street, was 
 opened in 1869, and has been steadily increasing 
 in numbers and influence. It has enrolled upon 
 its register since its beginning 2,066 different 
 pupils, 1,211 boys, and 855 girls, many of whom 
 have been instructed, elevated morally, and 
 savingly benefited. 
 
 An extract from its last monthly report reads 
 thus: 
 
 "Sad and dark as the past winter has been, 
 15
 
 338 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 with its utter stagnation of business, its great 
 financial depression in all directions, with all the 
 train of sorrow which follows in the wake of lack 
 of employment among the laboring classes, and 
 those who have not prepared for a time of need, 
 it has yet been God's way of showing us more of 
 the families represented in our schools, especially 
 of their home-life, than we have ever known 
 before ; and now we are acquainted not only 
 with the children, but with all belonging to them, 
 covering in some instances, three generations. 
 And if you should look over that sea of up- 
 turned faces which greets us as we enter the 
 newly-enlarged, well-ventilated and cheerful 
 school-rooms, and see a pair of bright black eyes 
 just over a short, up-turned, saucy nose ; there a 
 round, laughing, sunny face with blue eyes and 
 flaxen hair; here again a ruddy countenance with 
 a stolid never-awake expression, and there a go- 
 ahead, always-awake individual, you would 
 conclude at once that our acquaintance embraced 
 the Knights of St. Patrick, the subjects of Kaiser 
 William and ' our most gracious queen,' with a 
 small sprinkling of natives. And among these 
 people there has been the wedding and the 
 funeral, the sick-room and the death-bed, hunger, 
 cold and nakedness. Weary, tired women who 
 could truly say, ' All thy waves and billows have
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 339 
 
 gone over me,' men discouraged and saddened at 
 sight of their loved ones suffering, yet powerless 
 to help them, children growing old before their 
 time and learning the bitter lessons of poverty in 
 the hard school of experience, the dissipated and 
 unprofitable, the worthy and honest, all, all have 
 come to us asking for the means to sustain that 
 life which is such a burden, such a tax, yet which 
 they must bear. And our hearts beat faster as 
 we remember that through the kindness of 
 friends, (in one instance at least, entire strangers 
 to us), yet nevertheless friends, we have been 
 able to do very much to make comfortable many 
 
 of these left to us by the Master." 
 
 #**#*# 
 
 " Our work during February was much inter- 
 rupted by needed changes and repairs in our 
 school-rooms. But all things are once more in 
 order, and with our very pleasant quarters, nice- 
 ly fitted up, well-warmed, ventilated and lighted, 
 and with four of the best teachers on the roll, 
 and some of the worst scholars, we have taken up 
 our line of march again, and hope, God's grace 
 helping us, to carry the war into the enemies' 
 own country, and reduce to law and order the 
 children, at least, of the drunkard, the idle and 
 vicious. 
 
 School No. 10, organized in 1871, 438 East
 
 340 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Houston Street, has had on register 1,800 differ- 
 ent scholars, and during its five years' work has 
 accomplished much good. 
 
 A statement by the School Committee is as 
 follows : 
 
 " School No. 10 commenced at 21 Avenue D., 
 in rooms occupied by a Mission established by 
 Rev. S. H. Tyng's church. When the school had 
 been in operation for some time the church 
 thought it advisable to discontinue their mission 
 in that locality, and, as the school was considered 
 a part of the mission, when it was given up, the 
 existence of the school for a time was seriously 
 threatened. Soon after that shock, the Building 
 Department pronounced the building in which 
 we met unsafe, which caused some alarm, and 
 several children were withdrawn. The place 
 was given up, and school closed for vacation 
 prematurely, with the expectation of better 
 rooms in September. After some unavoidable 
 delay, we secured a building, 438 East Houston 
 Street, in a healthly locality, and are now 
 occupying light, airy and well-furnished rooms. 
 
 The " house-warming," was given on Easter 
 Monday, and was a very pleasant occasion, and 
 one which the children will never forget. Thev 
 say, " I liked that party." There were present 
 130 school children, quite a number who were 

 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 34! 
 
 visitors, and several of the parents. All were 
 delighted. The children spoke and sung a few 
 simple pieces, after which all enjoyed a simple 
 entertainment. One mother, who has four chil- 
 dren at school, came with her babe in her arms. 
 Another, evidently proud of her son, pointed him 
 out, saying, " That is my boy ; he learns fast in 
 this school." 
 
 The improvement in useful appliances has 
 produced an improvement in the deportment of 
 the children. They are not only pleased and 
 happy with their new desks, but are careful to 
 keep them nice. And often at school-closing, 
 the -quietly expressed " Oh, let us stay," " We 
 don't want to go home," shows how much they 
 like to be there. 
 
 Rewards given to the children for bringing 
 in new scholars prove successful in adding to our 
 numbers. The visitor employed by the Home 
 has also good success. 
 
 One family of three children recently entered, 
 presents a case of unusual interest. The eldest, 
 a boy of about twelve years, was at first fearfully 
 insubordinate, would kick or strike, and throw 
 book or slate at scholar or teacher. Now he 
 gives no trouble and is persistent in his endeavors 
 to learn. One morning all three were absent ; 
 and we were told they were all in the Station-
 
 342 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 house. On enquiring there after school, we 
 ascertained that the children had gone home ; 
 but the mother had been retained to answer to 
 the charge of drunkenness and disorderly con- 
 duct. Our heart went out for those children. 
 How could that boy be blamed for his bad 
 conduct. He has now learned that his teacher is 
 not like his drunken mother, and he is a good 
 boy in school. 
 
 Two boys, brothers, have found employment 
 under the supervision of a Christian man, where 
 they are doing well for themselves and employer. 
 The eldest trusts he has found the Saviour. The 
 younger, not yet a Christian, is looking upward, 
 and is rapidly improving in self-respect and 
 manliness. 
 
 The girl mentioned in last year's report of 
 No. 10, whose intemperate mother turned her 
 out of doors at 10 o'clock one Sunday night, and 
 told her never to return, because she refused to 
 purchase liquor for her, and for whom a home 
 was secured with respectable relatives in Phila- 
 delphia is doing well. She is progressing rapidly 
 in her studies, is a favorite with her teachers, and 
 gives her guardian no trouble. A visit to her 
 last, summer, at the urgent invitation of her guar- 
 dian, confirmed all favorable reports. 
 
 Three of our boys, belonging to one family,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 343 
 
 were absent. After repeatedly sending for them 
 we called, and found them very, very destitute ; 
 the father out of work, and a large family of 
 children to feed, and no money for clothing. 
 Only two of the boys had shoes. The next 
 morning was bitter cold, with snow on the 
 ground. The two boys with shoes came ; one 
 sat down and took off his shoes, and the brother 
 took them home for the barefooted one, and he 
 came, and thus they have regularly attended 
 since. 
 
 School No. n, was organized in 1874, 
 in the rooms of the Good Will Mission, 
 cor. of 52d Street and 2d Avenue. Its whole 
 number on register has been 532, fewer changes 
 having as yet occurred than may be expected as 
 its years increase. It is in a good locality, for 
 such a school, and thus far has been an entire 
 success. Its last monthly report says : " Every 
 thing in regard to School No. 1 1 seems to be 
 growing better and better ; and the influence of 
 the teachers is strengthening every day. 
 
 "As sewing is a prominent part of the system 
 of instruction, we would refer to the great 
 improvement in that department, the result of 
 great faithfulness and commendable patience on 
 the part of the committee from the Presbyte- 
 rian Memorial church. Each day brings the
 
 344 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 faithful instructors, and hour by hour, they 
 receive their reward. Often have we heard them 
 say, ' It's a pleasure to teach these children.' 
 
 " The larger girls have commenced making 
 button holes. This may seem a trifle to mention 
 but the youthful struggle to accomplish the art, 
 is fresh in the memory of many. 
 
 " The other classes are also progressing, and 
 those who could scarcely thread a needle a few 
 months since, can now over-hand quite well. 
 
 " Mrs. H. brought a handkerchief to each of 
 her scholars, as a reward, if neatly hemmed. She 
 has provided five dozen in all. 
 
 " After school hours, Feb. 2d, we held the 
 regular monthly temperance meeting. It was 
 gratifying to have so many remain, as it is 
 optional with the children. Only two had 
 broken the pledge. We would mention in 
 extenuation, that a man gave lemonade to these 
 children, as they supposed, and afterwards told 
 them it contained liquor. 
 
 "In her diary the teacher says, ' Called at a 
 home where the father has heen helpless for two 
 years, and there are two children. As is often 
 the case, mother is the main-stay, a patient, 
 industrious, hard-working woman.' Calling to 
 look after absentees in another family, the 
 mother said to me, ' The children must pick
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 345 
 
 cinders. 1 have no coal.' A new experience for 
 two frail little girls. 
 
 " We missed Lizzie Irom school, and found on 
 going to her home, that her lather, mentioned in 
 last report as having one leg, had the rheuma- 
 tism, and Lizzie, only eight years old. had to be 
 nurse and housekeeper, while her mother was 
 out working. 
 
 " It was noticed that Nellie B. put her slice of 
 bread in her pocket, not eating one crumb. 
 When asked if she was not hungry, she replied, 
 ' On, yes, bat I take it to the baby one day, and 
 Dan takes it the next.' She was told to eat it, and 
 we would send a piece for baby. 
 
 " The truant officer called to enlist our sym- 
 pathy for a poor street Arab, he thought might 
 be induced to enter school. Only once during 
 the past six months have we reported a case of 
 truancy to him. 
 
 " A barrel of oat-meal was rolled into the 
 school to-day. It \\aas greeted with a universal 
 smile. Received also a barrel of half-worn cloth- 
 ing, a number of illustrated papers and books. 
 All these good and useful things are Irom the 
 Home, the never-failing fountain of all our com- 
 fort, and shall ever be. for the Lord hath said, 
 ' the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall 
 the cruse of oil fail.' ' * * * * 
 
 15*
 
 According to thy faith be it unto thee." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " THE kindly plans devised for others' good, 
 So seldom guessed, so little understood ; 
 The quiet, steadfast love, that strives to win 
 Some wanderer from the woful paths of sin, 
 These are not lost." 
 
 ITEMS AND INCIDENTS FROM SCHOOL DIARIES. 
 
 IN reviewing the school incidents of twenty 
 years, we recall many that are exceedingly pleas- 
 ant. The following occurring in the various 
 schools from time to time, are cited by way of 
 example : 
 
 " An hour since we were greeted by the smil- 
 ing face of a young married lady, whose attain- 
 ments and Christian character would be an 
 honor to any family. The Industrial School and 
 Home awakened her first aspirations after the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 347 
 
 good and the true. The history of her child-life 
 in the school, is full of beauty. In youth, as a 
 daughter and teacher, and in her church relations, 
 she has won golden opinions, and the good done 
 by the school in her single case alone, would 
 compensate for all the outlay of the years. 
 
 " The Home Managers not unfrequently meet 
 in their daily walks with some of the first 
 pupils of their schools, grown to womanhood, 
 living honestly by the work of their hands, so 
 changed from what they were, that the sight of 
 the eyes affects the heart, and silent aspirations 
 of praise to their kind Preserver well up 
 unbidden." 
 
 THE HEART REACHED. 
 
 A bright boy, who seemed utterly lost to all 
 good influence save that of his teachers in the 
 Sabbath and Industrial Schools, knew that their 
 care for his soul led them to entreat him, often 
 with prayers and tears, to break off his wrong 
 habits, and at times indicated an awakened 
 conscience. 
 
 When first brought to the notice of the 
 teachers, he had been long a street-boy, exposed 
 to the worst influences, and on the broad road 
 to ruin. Still, he was naturally affectionate and 
 confiding, and the fact that he had become an
 
 34<S WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 object of interest with those whom he could 
 respect, and who had no object but his good, in 
 leading him to the place of instruction, seemed 
 to touch a chord in his heart not before reached. 
 At times, he listened to persuasions to a better 
 life, with attention and some tenderness ; then 
 again, former street-associations, and the power 
 of habit, led him far astray, and, young as lie was, 
 he stood before his teachers the reeling inebriate, 
 the unyielding offender. 
 
 He entered the Industrial School, one day, 
 apparently bent only on mischief and disobe- 
 dience. Kindness or severity were alike futile, 
 and there seemed no alternative but to dismiss 
 him from the school. He was detained till all 
 had gone, for one more season of faithful admo- 
 nition and earnest prayer. At first, he resisted, 
 refusing utterly to kneel, and seemed desperate ; 
 but at length, yielded, became subdued, wept 
 freely, asked to be forgiven and allowed to 
 continue in school, making fair promises, etc.- 
 He was told he could be at the mission-school on 
 Sabbath, and would be remembered prayerfully, 
 but his conduct had been such there, as to 
 require, now, a season of probation. 
 
 After the riots, the teacher was pained to 
 learn that this boy had been seen once with the 
 rabble, and feared the worst. Soon, he came to
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 3 ]-9 
 
 her, and confessed that bad boys took him on 
 with them ; but, said he, " I did not kill or strike 
 any one." " What kept you from doing- so ?" 
 " The thought of that prayer in the school-room ; 
 I couldn't forget that," he answered. 
 
 At length he ran away and enlisted in the 
 army. Several encouraging letters were 
 received from him, in one of which, speaking of 
 being present at a prayer-meeting, he says, " I 
 came forward for prayer, and prayed myself that 
 my sins might be forgiven, I tried to give myself 
 up to God. 1 have thought much about my sins, 
 for I have been a great sinner ; but now I think 
 of God, and how wrong it is to offend Him." 
 
 " A little street-girl, so reckless and untamed, 
 that if required to desist from wrong-doing, could 
 only be forcibly restrained from violence toward 
 her teacher, seems now so docile and obedient, so 
 changed in temper and manners, that she would 
 scarce be recognized as the same child. When 
 she entered the school she seemed utterly 
 depraved, now she appears really to be choosing 
 the good part, which shall not be taken away." 
 
 THE GOOD POLICEMAN. 
 
 " One known and loved by all connected with 
 our schools, has gone home, and we gladly render 
 an humble tribute to his memory. No one who
 
 330 
 
 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 knew him, will ever forget Officer Lyon, of the 
 Metropolitan Police, much less those who in our 
 School saw his simple trust, and earnest Chris- 
 tian character, and heard his glowing appeals to 
 our children to live for Jesus. 
 
 We owe much to his forethought and sagacity, 
 and his assistance was cheerfully rendered at all 
 times. How often, during seasons of local dis- 
 turbance, has he gladdened our hearts by 
 appearing among us, and, by his determined 
 bearing and quiet bravery, proving a terror to 
 all evil-doers." 
 
 A teacher writes : 
 
 A former pupil in our school, now merging 
 into womanhood, has just returned from the 
 home provided for her when she left us, with a 
 certificate from the high school of the place 
 where she resided, which entitles her to teach in 
 any district school. A little girl named Louisa, 
 taken from a home of extreme poverty, is living 
 with a Christian lady who speaks highly of her. 
 An older sister is living with a family in Brooklyn 
 on trial. 
 
 A boy under ten, who has been turned out of 
 three ward schools as incorrigible, and has a 
 number of times been carried home intoxicated, 
 is now with us, and of late has been doing better. 
 A few days ago he said to his teacher, " My sister
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 351 
 
 is coming around here to find out about me." 
 " What shall I say to her?" replied the teacher; 
 " your attendance has been good of late, but how 
 about the deportment?" " You can't say much, 
 teacher, but say as good as you can. Oh, speak 
 a good word for a feller." 
 
 The above shows a yearning in that boy's 
 heart common to us all, to be kindly spoken of. 
 We are apt to look with disgust at the depravity 
 of such little ones; and think them past redemp- 
 tion, but have we ever followed them to their 
 homes, and learned from personal observation 
 how they are treated there ? 
 
 Two of our children from one family, are 
 often turned out of their beds at night by a 
 drunken father, and left to wander the streets 
 until daylight. Oh, ye, who under the pretence 
 of asking more rights for your fellowmen, give 
 to them the right of making themselves brutes, 
 see to it that you are not planting thorns in your 
 own pillows ; for is it not written, " Woe unto 
 him that giveth his neighbor drink." 
 
 RUM, THE CAUSE. 
 
 " Teacher, Jimmy is badder than he was ; 
 can't eat," said one of the scholars recently. 
 Jimmy was one of the unmanageable boys, and 
 although only five or six years old, was very
 
 352 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 profane. All that was forgotten when it was 
 known he was suffering. Miss T. went to see 
 him, at the top floor of a crowded tenement- 
 house. The room was perfectly bare of furniture 
 save a small table. There was not a chair or 
 be,nch to sit upon. A few shavings were burning 
 in an open fireplace to warm the room on a chilly 
 March day. Poor Jimmy was lying on a box in one 
 corner, too sick to speak, but not to give a smile 
 of recognition. Miss T. had long been familiar 
 with misery and poverty, but that desolate room, 
 sick child, and mother crushed with sorrow and 
 neglect, made a scene painful to witnesss. The 
 cause of all rum. Jimmy was made comfortable 
 the few days he lived, and decently buried. 
 Was it not in mercy he was taken from such a 
 wretched home? 
 
 More recently the teacher met one of our 
 oldest scholars, who was always a very trouble- 
 some boy, and often discouraged his teachers in 
 their efforts to do him good. He told the good 
 news of his conversion. He had joined the 
 church and was trying to live a Christian life. 
 This chance meeting occurred on a day when 
 the wearied teacher felt almost discouraged, and 
 wondered if she was doing any permanent good 
 A chance meeting, we said. Was it not rather 
 providential, and designed to comfort, not only
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 35.3 
 
 the teacher, but all of us, to cast our bread upon 
 the waters, hoping to see it after many days ? 
 
 SPECIAL OBJECT. 
 
 As the girls become useful and of sufficient 
 age, it has ever been a special object to place 
 them in good families, for in this way permanent 
 good is effected. Thus, these children, instead of 
 sinking to yet lower depths, are elevated, and 
 prepared for a comparatively useful and happy 
 life. Some, within the past year, have given 
 evidence of a change of heart. 
 
 The preparation of work for these schools, 
 from week to week, is not a small item. With 
 the constant changes in city-life, we can hardly 
 expect the same ladies, from year to year, to 
 give a day, or part of a day, every week, to the 
 ever-to-be-done work. Ne.w volunteers are 
 constantly needed to supply these oft-occurring 
 vacancies. 
 
 " CRYING FOR A NEW HEART." 
 
 "A mother came to request the teacher to 
 converse with her boy, who came home weeping. 
 After much inquiry as to the cause, G. said, " I 
 am crying because I want God to give me a new 
 heart." His teacher talked with him, and he
 
 3T4 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 said he prayed every night and morning that 
 God would give him a new heart. We hope it 
 is the work of the Spirit. 
 
 A very interesting child is " foolish Maggie." 
 Two or three years ago she was sent to the 
 Asylum at Syracuse, where she learned to read. 
 We never saw a child more anxious to do right. 
 She often asks, "Be I a good child ? Do you 
 love me ? Do you think God loves me ? I want 
 God to love me." If ever any one was sincere 
 in that wish, she is. When she does wrong, 
 as pulling and sometimes tearing the chil- 
 dren's clothes, she will cry, cover her face 
 with her hands, and pray that God will give 
 her a new heart. It is quite touching to hear 
 her say audibly, " Lord, I are so bad ; help me 
 not to pull or slap any one. Lord, bless my 
 teacher ; bless me, and make me a good girl with 
 a new heart, for Jesus' sake. Amen." Immedi- 
 ately after her prayer, she will go to the child 
 she has hurt, and ask to be forgiven. The other 
 day, she told us that when a baby she was the 
 lovingest, sweetest child that ever was ; " But," 
 said she, " my father once hit me with a dumb- 
 bell, just here," pointing to her forehead, " and I 
 aint been good ever since." 
 
 A touching case is that of the R. family, 
 found by one of our teachers on a bitter cold
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. ^5- 
 
 day, without any food, and having had no fire for 
 forty-eight hours. The father, an industrious 
 mechanic, has been out of work for three months; 
 one little girl, the eldest of five children, sick 
 with measles, laid by the side of her mother and 
 baby-sister, three days old, in the same bed, and 
 which was occupied by the entire family of 
 seven at night. This, too, with the thermometer 
 ranging all the time below zero ! We were very 
 glad to give them food and coal, and to procure 
 some dainties for the sick ones from our " fair " 
 money. Two of the children were temporarily 
 sheltered at the Home, until their father could 
 again find employment. 
 
 SCHOOL-HYMNS CHERISHED. 
 
 "A little girl of five years, a member of the 
 school, died a few months since. She was often 
 so restless while with us that it seemed as if she 
 did not learn anything, but her mother told the 
 teacher that during her sickness she was con- 
 stantly singing the hymns and repeating the 
 prayers she had learned in school. The parents 
 often speak of their children repeating at home 
 the verses they have learned here. May not 
 some of these parents be saved through the 
 teaching of their children ?"
 
 356 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 THE BETTER WAY. 
 
 " One of our girls, whose mother is a widow, 
 has been in the habit of stealing. Her mother 
 came to the teacher in great distress and said 
 she did not know what to do, her friends told 
 her to " lick the child to death ;" the mother 
 thought this would do no good. So she came to 
 school to see what could be done for her. The 
 girl was kept after school, conversed with very 
 faithfully and shown the sin she had committed. 
 The child wept bitterly, acknowledged her fault, 
 and promised never to do so again. It is now 
 six months since this occurrence. A few days 
 ago her mother thanked the teacher with tears 
 for what had been done for her child, and said 
 she had not known her to take the smallest thing 
 since." 
 
 " Among our bright little girls, is one seven 
 years of age, who has, since Thanksgiving day, 
 been in the habit, before taking a single meal, of 
 folding her hands, closing her eyes reverently 
 and repeating slowly the following little prayer: 
 
 " Heavenly Father, please to hear, 
 Help us thank Thee for Thy care, 
 For our food and clothes and friends, 
 All the blessings Jesus sends. 
 May our love for Thee be given 
 Free, as mercies flow from Heaven, 
 From us sin and sorrow take, 
 This we ask for Jesus' sake."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 357 
 
 These words were written for the children to be 
 repeated in concert by the three hundred who 
 were gathered around the long tables spread at 
 the Home on Thanksgiving, and this dear little 
 girl has, of her own accord, since used them as a 
 chosen form of prayer for herself and little 
 brothers and sisters, five fatherless ones, whose 
 poor, but worthy mother often toils while others 
 sleep, to meet their daily wants. In expressing 
 her thanks to the teacher for what the children 
 learned in the school, she mentioned this little 
 incident.'" 
 
 " Prizes were offered in four classes, to the 
 scholars who should receive the highest number 
 of marks for perfect lessons during the month. 
 Many worked hard to obtain them ; one little 
 girl telling us that she learned tier lessons while 
 she was helping her mother, who is an invalid, 
 do the work. Four scholars were not absent a 
 day, and did not miss a lesson." 
 
 EARLY NEGLECT. 
 
 " In one of the classes examined, a girl of six- 
 teen, conscious of the deficiencies arising from 
 early neglect, cried aloud because she could not 
 read better. Poor child, she was soothed and 
 encouraged by the story of aunt Dinah, who 
 
 learned to read after she was forty years of age, 
 
 16
 
 358 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and before she died, learned most of the Bible by 
 heart." 
 
 " Some of the most doubtful and unmanageable 
 cases at their first attendance, are now always 
 seen in church and several have even gone out 
 voluntarily with tracts, from house to house in 
 the suburbs of the city, among the rocks and 
 shanties, trying to induce children to attend the 
 Sabbath-school. 
 
 " One of the older girls who was, for a time, so 
 wild and vicious that the teacher was about to 
 expel her, lest her example should corrupt others, 
 is now so correct in her deportment, that she is 
 regarded as one of the best girls in the school. 
 
 " Many items on record are full of encourage- 
 ment to those who have long toiled to overcome 
 the obstacles that oppose the moral rescue of this 
 class of children items that prove very clearly 
 the softening and tender influence of religious 
 truth upon the heart of the child, also the good 
 that may be done directly and indirectly to the 
 miserable parents, who, but for this agency 
 might never hear of the gospel." 
 
 GOOD FRUIT. 
 
 " Perhaps the most gratifying fact of the last 
 year, has been the establishing of a Sunday- 
 school in connection with our day school. It was
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 359 
 
 inaugurated under the leadership of a con- 
 secrated life desiring some definite labor for the 
 Master, aided and strengthened by a small but 
 resolute band of teachers, who " with hearts all 
 melted in one at the cross," have watched and 
 prayed that here some soul might be born again, 
 some disciple raised up to fill the places made 
 vacant, as one after another crosses the Jordan. 
 And so tenderly and lovingly has He who took 
 little children in His arms and blessed them, 
 cared for this school, that it has to-day an 
 average of more than one hundred scholars, 
 many of them anxious inquirers after the truth, 
 and all interested and earnest. A weekly meet- 
 ing for prayer and praise has also been held in 
 our school-rooms during the past three months, 
 and we wish that it might prove the nucleus of 
 another church for the worship of the Living 
 God." 
 
 " We are more than ever impressed with the 
 fact that Industrial School work is missionary 
 work, and that the faithful teacher is truly a 
 missionary, and entitled to our warmest sympathy 
 and earnest prayers. Her work is by no means 
 confined to the school-room or school-hours. She 
 must be the sympathizing friend and helper in 
 every trial and need ; in sickness must visit the 
 wretched homes of her scholars, find a physician
 
 360 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 if needed, procure a clean garment for the child, 
 perhaps a pillow or sheet for the bed, also 
 suitable nourishment. Many hours are thus 
 spent, many weary miles walked, known only 
 to the Master and those thus befriended. No 
 wonder our teachers wear out." 
 
 COOPER GOLDEN WEDDING FUND. 
 
 " The warm shoes purchased with money from 
 the Cooper Golden Wedding Fund, gave great 
 comfort. This noble charity comes to the little 
 ones year after year like a holy benediction, and 
 the names of the generous donors will ever be 
 borne upon the hearts of the recipients with 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 Through the agency of the school a number of 
 families have been sent out of this over-crowded 
 city to places where work is more plentiful, and 
 the expense of living less. In some cases a 
 portion of the expenses of their journey was 
 given, in others, the entire amount. 
 
 Want of work has been the great trouble with 
 the poor represented in School No. i. In one 
 instance a large family was found out of employ- 
 ment and nearly starved. Their immediate 
 wants were supplied, and then their case was 
 made known to a kind-hearted lady, who gave 
 money enough to defray the expenses of their
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 361 
 
 journey to the far West, where they were 
 anxious to go, but had not the means. Cloth- 
 ing was provided for them, their tickets pur- 
 chased, they were attended to the cars, and 
 arrived safely at their destination. A letter 
 received afterward from the mother gave the 
 gratifying news that they found plenty of work, 
 and a cosy little cottage, for which they pay less 
 rent than they paid here for two or three rooms in 
 a miserable tenement house, and are living 
 comfortably and happily by themselves, 
 " which is such a relief from the impure air of 
 a crowded tenement house, and narrow, filthy 
 street in this city." Satisfactory accounts have 
 been received from other families, all thankful 
 for the aid received from us, and glad to be 
 away from the city. 
 
 In another case, a widow with her little 
 ones was found destitute of everything which 
 gives home comfort, and nearly famished. 
 After their wonts had been supplied, the poor 
 mother said, " I am sure God sent you, if you 
 had not come just at this time, we must have 
 all perished." 
 
 The meeting .for mothers, held weekly in 
 
 the Chapel, and which is composed entirely 
 
 of the mothers of our pupils has been very 
 
 interesting and well-attended all winter, the 
 
 16
 
 362 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 number often reaching to seventy-five ; cold 
 and storm, and snow did not keep them away. 
 God grant that the good received there, may 
 radiate in every household, until each family 
 shall say and feel, that home is the happiest 
 place on earth. 
 
 A late report of a kindred enterprise, remarks 
 truly, " Many a tear has been wiped away, 
 many a heart-ache spared, many a dark life 
 brightened, many a noble young girl saved trom 
 crime, ruin and despair, by these faithful Chris- 
 tian labors, whose results the laborers never 
 knew or saw."
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 "COME, labor on : 
 
 Away with gloomy doubt and faithless fear! 
 No arm so weak but may do service here; 
 By feeblest agents can our God fulfill 
 His righteous will. 
 
 " Come, labor on : 
 No time for rest, till glows the western sky, 
 
 While the long shadows o'er our pathway lie, 
 And a glad sound comes with the setting sun, 
 
 ' Servant, well done.' " 
 
 A PLEASANT CHANGE. 
 
 A TEACHER says, " I call to mind an item of 
 interest, respecting a German boy, long a mem- 
 ber of the school. His father was in consump- 
 tion, his mother could not control him, and 
 hearing he was troublesome, she begged me not 
 to expel him, as I was the only person he would 
 mind, and he had a regard for me. She wished
 
 364 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 me to punish him severely if disobedient. But 
 thinking he might have plenty of that discipline 
 at home, I tried kindness and firmness. After a 
 while his deportment was much improved in 
 school, but after his father's death, he became so 
 hard to manage at home, that his mother sent 
 him to her father in Germany. He writes, 
 ' Jacob is now a good boy and always sends his 
 regards to his teacher.' " 
 
 We have had several very hard cases, some of 
 them in a little while becoming hopeful. Many 
 times the expression has been made to us, 
 " were it not for your school my children would 
 suffer for food and clothing " and many a " God 
 bless you," from the poor has been uttered in our 
 hearing. This cold winter many a child has been 
 fed who had nothing or next to nothing at home. 
 Of course our visiting reveals much misery, with 
 special opportunities to give relief to the most 
 worthy. 
 
 ANOTHER RESCUE. 
 
 Another writes : " Some months since, as the 
 principal of No. 7 was visiting among her pupils, 
 she noticed a boy of twelve or fourteen years, 
 standing on the corner of the street, and saw that 
 in spite of his ragged, forlorn appearance, hr had 
 a bright face. She stopped and spoke kindly to
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 365 
 
 him, asking where he attended school, receiving 
 no reply she asked again, he then said that he 
 did not go to school at all. After further con- 
 versation, she invited him persuasively, to come 
 to her school, gave him the direction and houi 
 for opening, and the next morning awaited 
 anxiously the appearance of her street Arab." 
 At nine o'clock he came. The teacher kept him 
 after school-hours, and learned more of his his- 
 tory. He had been turned out of every school in 
 the vicinity, for bad conduct, and had just been 
 liberated from the Island, where he had been 
 sent for some crime, and was again ready for 
 anything wicked. For a time he continued to 
 come, but behaved very badly. The teacher 
 often became discouraged and almost ready to 
 give him up, but conscience whispered, "Try him 
 a little longer." She kept him after school-hours, 
 prayed and talked with him alone, telling him 
 the consequences of such a life of sin, if persisted 
 in, and what the end would be. 
 
 At last his feelings were touched, and he 
 began trying to break off from evil habits, 
 helped and encouraged constantly by his teacher. 
 She took him to the Church and Sabbath-school, 
 which he now attends regularly, he also attends 
 the weekly prayer-meeting, and is now as good a 
 boy as any one could desire. He has improved 
 
 1 6*
 
 366 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 rapidly in his studies, and recently received the 
 highest prize in school for good conduct and per- 
 fect lessons. This is but one of many cases, 
 where the Industrial School has rescued a precious 
 soul, young in years, but old in wickedness, from 
 the snares of Satan. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL HYMNS. 
 
 Mrs. S. says: ' We have recently been called 
 to part with two pupils, a brother and sister, to 
 whom we had become greatly attached, having 
 been regular attendants of School No. 2, the 
 past three years. It was our privilege to visit 
 the mother in health, and often during her last 
 illness. While sitting by her bed-side, one after- 
 noon, the children coming in from school, 
 looking up with a smile she said, " Oh, they 
 are young to be left with no mother to 
 lead them, but I am not afraid to trust 
 them to the Father of the fatherless, when 
 I hear them singing and repeating those 
 sweet words that they have learned in 
 school ; I can trust them, for they will never for- 
 get them. I am glad I sent them to that school, 
 and my precious child Mary, (referring to an 
 older child who was formerly a pupil in No. 2, 
 who died just two years previously), she sang the 
 same beautiful hymns, and through her four
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 367 
 
 days' illness she would keep singing them. At 
 one time she said, ' Oh, mother, I would love to 
 get well, just to go to school again, to learn more 
 of those sweet hymns, we sing them every day 
 in school.' The last words on the lips of both 
 mother and child, although two years difference 
 in their deaths, were, ' Come to Jesus.' Mary 
 sang those precious words the mother said, 
 ' Don't you hear my child sing, she is singing the 
 same sweet song, ' Come to Jesus,' that she 
 learned in her school.' " 
 
 GOOD ACHIEVED. 
 
 Soon after the B children, (three little 
 
 girls) entered school, their father was taken ill. 
 That which was thought to be "only a cold," 
 settled in consumption. He was a great sufferer 
 and almost helpless, for nearly a year. 
 
 The mother had him and her four children to 
 support by her daily toil. Through the teach- 
 er's account of this case, ladies of the Memo- 
 rial Church became interested, and thus a strug- 
 gling mother was upheld, and a home sustained. 
 After the father's death, the Home sheltered two 
 of the little ones, three months, while the mother 
 was resting from her over-work. 
 
 T. S , a boy nine years of age, whose mother 
 is very intemperate, would be an outcast but for
 
 568 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the school. When his mother is under the in- 
 fluence of liquor, he is left to go his own way, 
 and but for our watch-care, would spend his 
 time among those who would teach him nothing 
 but evil. 
 
 "THE BLESSING OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD." 
 
 The C.s, an American family, greatly reduced 
 in circumstances, have been returned to their 
 country home through the agency of Miss B , 
 and others. If the children had not entered our 
 school, their parents might yet have been in the 
 " slough of despond." 
 
 The teacher says : " Three boys, about four- 
 teen years of age, presented themselves to us last 
 October for admittance. Upon inquiry I learned 
 thit they had been expelled from the public 
 school of the ward, of which they appeared to be 
 ashamed, and each made such fair promises, that 
 I offered to try them. They did very well for a 
 while, but soon seemed to feel that they would 
 rather be in the streets, and one afternoon during 
 recitations, two of them deliberately walked out, 
 saying, ' Guess we've had enough of the soup- 
 school.' Shortly after the third one left. Before 
 Christmas, one came back and begged us to try 
 him again, but I refused, saying, I did not think it 
 would be well for the school to have a boy walk
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 369 
 
 in and out as he pleased. He hung around the 
 door nearly every day, annoying' both scholars 
 and teachers, until reported to a police-officer, 
 who lectured him sharply, after which he did 
 better, but still took his old stand about the door. 
 After our school-room was enlarged, he again 
 begged so hard to come, that I decided to give 
 him another trial. He has done quite well ever 
 since, but occasionally seems to forget himself 
 and cause some annoyance. If we 'let patience 
 have its perfect work,' perhaps we may yet do 
 him good. When we had no janitor, he was 
 equal to a man to help, and several mornings 
 met one of the teachers at the school and made 
 the fires. Last week he said, ' Miss V. I 
 both smoke and chew, if I don't use any tobacco 
 for one month, may I sign the Tobacco Pledge.' 
 I said, you may do so ; and hope you may have 
 strength to resist that temptation. 
 
 When the other two found he remained so 
 quietly, they came, and promised to do as well 
 as he had done, and they too were given a trial, 
 and thus far have done very well. 
 
 Thinking, perhaps, it would encourage them if 
 I called upon their mothers, I did so last week, 
 and was myself the one who received encourage- 
 ment. Almost the first words of one mother 
 were, ' Miss , what have you done with our
 
 370 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 boys? they are so much better both in the house 
 and street, anxious to attend school every day, 
 and doing so well in their studies, when they 
 speak of you it is almost with reverence. Surely 
 you must be a happy woman, when you are able 
 to do so much for the bad boys.' I certainly felt 
 very happy then, and realized that I had not 
 labored with, nor borne their many failings in 
 vain. The mother said, ' There is not a greater 
 blessing in the neighborhood than No. 9 School, 
 may it ever prosper.' And this seems to be the 
 verdict of scores of mothers who call it the 
 'blessing of the neighborhood.' ' 
 
 A large class of rough boys, almost men in 
 size, were received with many misgivings in the 
 winter, but although often unruly, we found they 
 had a great desire to learn. They have now 
 left us to obtain work, with many a useful lesson 
 stored in their minds. 
 
 ANTI-TOBACCO SOCIETY. 
 
 An anti-tobacco society has been formed 
 among the boys, which includes sixteen members. 
 One who frankly told us, when visiting the 
 school some weeks since, that he spent from five 
 to ten cents weekly for tobacco, has lately 
 pointed out to us with evident pride, his name on 
 the roll of honor. He was long one of the most
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 3/1 
 
 troublesome boys, but has greatly changed. 
 We asked him what bad habit he would next try 
 to break off. "Speaking bad words;" was the 
 answer; "I'm not going to be a street-boy any 
 more." 
 
 The class of people whose children fill our 
 schools, change their place of abode very often ; 
 consequently, many of the children remain with 
 us but a short time. But while with us we try 
 to do them good, and trust that, with the blessing 
 of God, impressions are made upon their young 
 minds which will lead them in the right way, 
 both for time and for eternity. 
 
 The deportment of our pupils has been 
 uniformly good, and the improvement in their 
 studies very commendable. Of course there is a 
 difference some are careless and idle others 
 very attentive and earnest, showing a determina- 
 tion to learn their lessons thoroughly and 
 remember them. We noticed one bright little 
 boy, working very hard at his lessons in arith- 
 metic, and on speaking a few words of encour- 
 agement to him, he looked up with a smile and 
 said, " When I grow to be a man, I mean to be a 
 merchant, and I know I can't do business unless I 
 understand figures well, so I am learning just as 
 fast as I can, while I can come to school." Other 
 boys try to excel in writing, feeling that to be
 
 372 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 business men, they must write a good hand. The 
 girls too are ambitious to write well. 
 
 "BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS." 
 
 A little girl, four years of age, on being 
 reproved for swearing, replied that she did not 
 know it was wrong, for " mother says so every 
 morning." It is sad to know that in many 
 families, one or both parents are drunkards, and 
 that the child is often sent to the corner grocery 
 for liquor, before coming to school. Have we 
 not reason to feel that legislators and their con- 
 stituents, who, under the plea of equal rights, 
 thus multiply the means of destruction, and are 
 " deceived thereby, are not wise ?" 
 
 There are now sixty children in this school, 
 who read the Word of God intelligibly, and 
 twenty who write well, most of whom but for 
 this agency would have passed through life in 
 utter ignorance of the alphabet. Most of the 
 older children have been taught to sew quite 
 neatly, also to engage satisfactorily in domestic 
 avocations. 
 
 About twenty have been induced to go to 
 service for wages, mostly in the country. 
 
 "THE MAKING OF ME." 
 
 Not long since, some of the managers of the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 373 
 
 Home were invited to a tea-meeting, given to the 
 mothers in one of the City Mission Sunday- 
 schools. Among those assembled was one of 
 especially pleasing appearance, young and seem- 
 ingly above the condition of those around her. 
 In a brief conversation, she related with great 
 satisfaction that she was for many years an 
 attendant of No. i school. After she left she 
 learned a trade, by which she supported herself 
 well, and now was the wife of a young mechanic 
 in good business, and both were members of a 
 mission church. " I have reason to remember 
 my school," she remarked, " for it was the mak- 
 ing of me." 
 
 Truly our scholars are children of want and 
 sorrow. Said poor little Tommy one day, " I 
 wish I could die." When kind words were 
 spoken, his tears flowed freely, and again came 
 the sorrowful cry, " I want to die. My father 
 loved me, but he's dead ; he ain't in heaven 
 neither, for he used to drink, and mother won't 
 go there either, 'cause she curses me." And 
 again the poor little head was bowed, and the 
 tears rained down on the bench. Mine flowed in 
 sympathy. How could I help loving him ? 
 How could I help saying gentle words, and 
 caressing that poor, forsaken one, who had no 
 one to care for or love him ?
 
 374 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Two other sad faces are before me to-night. 
 What causes that famished look? Hunger, cold 
 a drunken mother's work. God pity the little 
 ones, when mother drinks. Often when they 
 come, they are restless and cross, and our pa- 
 tience is sorely tried, but the Good Spirit directs 
 us to be gentle, and ask what the trouble is. 
 
 " I'm so hungry." 
 
 " Didn't you have your breakfast?" 
 
 " No, ma'am, I had nothing since yesterday, 
 when I ate the bread in school." 
 
 As soon as something is eaten, they are quiet 
 and attentive. This is no isolated case, but 
 repeated again and again, and even grown up 
 people come into school in the same condition. 
 
 " YOUR NAUGHTY DAN." 
 
 " Not long since, a boy was met by us on 
 Sixth Avenue. His hearty greeting arrested 
 our attention, but for a moment memory was 
 unfaithful. Smiling at our puzzled look, he said, 
 'Don't you remember your naughty Dan?' At 
 the mention of the name, remembrances of the 
 trials of other days came crowding into mind. In 
 reply to the question, ' What are you doing in 
 these days ?' he said, ' I'm learning the painter's 
 trade, and am doing first-rate.' 
 
 " When we first met our Dan he was quarrel-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 375 
 
 ing with some street boys. We found out where 
 he lived, and went to see his mother. As we 
 knocked she screamed out, ' What's wanting ?' 
 When told we had come to ask if the Dan we 
 had met in the street was her boy, she answered, 
 ' Yes, and what's he been doin' now, the villain ?' 
 She was so firey, we meekly answered, ' Oh, 
 nothing ; we only want you to let him come to 
 our school.' ' Take him and welcome, and it's 
 much joy ye'll have with him, for go to school he 
 won't, the villain.' He had only been to school 
 with us one day, when we learned to our sorrow, 
 that Dan was a villain indeed. Others of like 
 disposition tried us sorely from day to day, but 
 even then we caught some glimpses of the light 
 beyond. Now we seem to be nearer to it. 
 
 " Annie, one of our earlier scholars, was 
 received into the Twenty-ninth Street Church, at 
 the last communion." 
 
 A. C., who used to be such a thorn in the 
 flesh, is now a happy inmate of a Christian 
 family, and is thought by them, to have found 
 Jesus. 
 
 Many facts might be given to show that the 
 good seed sown is taking root in these young 
 hearts. It is a solemn, yet pleasing thought, 
 that of the hundreds that have entered the school 
 since its commencement, each one, if only for a
 
 376 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 day, has heard the words of eternal life, and 
 listened to the voice of prayer and singing. 
 
 Often our words have fallen on careless ears, 
 but in the great day ^of account, perhaps it will 
 be found that the words of life have lodged in 
 more hearts than we even dared hope for. 
 " Even so it is not the will of your Father which 
 is in heaven, that one of these little ones should 
 perish." 
 
 " The ' Margaret Prior ' weekly prayer-meet- 
 ing," for poor mothers, has been well attended, 
 from thirty to forty often being present. If we 
 judge correctly, no mission field can be found 
 where faithful Christian efforts promise more 
 salutary and lasting results. 
 
 "An aged German has lately passed from earth. 
 Bowed by the weight of years, half-paralyzed, 
 helpless and penniless, he was wholly dependent 
 upon an inebriate son and his almost blind wife, 
 whose miserable shanty seemed a most repul- 
 sive place in which to live, or to die. But in 
 such abodes as this the children live. * * * 
 Care for the children prompted the visitor to seek 
 the abode of this benighted pilgrim, and lead 
 him to the Saviour of the lost. Now we trust he 
 
 " Has gone from poverty to wealth, 
 From rags to raiment angel fair, 
 From wasting pain to perfect health, 
 And beauty such as saints shall wear."
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 377 
 
 THE LITTLE BIBLE-READER. 
 
 One day during recess, we entered the 
 school-room. The children were playing and 
 making a grand uproar. Curled up on a bench 
 in one corner sat a little girl, a large book lay 
 open upon her lap, and her gaze upon it was as 
 eager and intense as though she were devouring 
 some fairy tale. Asking what book it was which 
 could thus charm her from her play, we learned 
 it was the Word of God, guide alike to the little 
 child and the hoary pilgrim. Her teacher says 
 this is with her a common occurrence. Her 
 desire to understand what she read was evinced 
 by the thoughtful questions she would ask, and 
 that she understood and received the spirit of its 
 teachings, was proved and manifested in her 
 daily walk and conversation. Having felt the 
 preciousness of the Saviour's love for her 
 own young soul, she could not rest until she had 
 done all she could to win others to love Him 
 too. She was one of the little Bible-readers who 
 carry the Word of life to those who cannot or 
 will not read it for themselves. Angels must 
 love to look with eager gaze upon such Christ- 
 like ones. " Out of the mouths of babes and 
 sucklings God has perfected praise." We miss 
 her sadly in the school, for she is no longer with 
 us, having removed with her family to P. Her
 
 378 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 influence over the larger boys was really beautiful. 
 She would take them aside during recess and 
 after school, and in her sweet, loving way, urge 
 them to love Jesus. Her departure made a sad 
 day in the school, for she was beloved by 
 teacher and scholars." 
 
 " A. C. is giving her teacher a great deal of 
 comfort by her improved behavior. It is the 
 more notable, because it is so very hard for her 
 to be good. She is so accustomed to the broad 
 road, that she is apt to lose her way in the new 
 path and to wander off until some kindly hand 
 brings her back again. But we trust she is seek- 
 ing that Guide who can keep her, that she may 
 go no more astray." 
 
 [Bands of ladies connected with the Fifth 
 Avenue and 29th St. Collegiate Church, the 
 23d Street Presbyterian Church, 34th Street 
 Reformed Church, i6th Street Baptist Church, 
 Madison Avenue and 57th Street Reformed 
 Church, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Memorial 
 Church, Broadway Tabernacle, and Reformed 
 Church, 48th Street and 5th Avenue, also several 
 of their pastors, have from time to time aided 
 largely in school-work, also in sundry festivals. 
 
 We name a single instance illustrating how 
 truly " Many hands make light work." A 
 thanksgiving-dinner was to be provided for two
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 379 
 
 hundred or more children of a single school. 
 On the preceding- Sabbath the pastor gave the 
 notice of the festival, inviting the families of the 
 congregation willing to contribute, to send 
 cooked provisions at a given hour, to a commit- 
 tee in attendance; quoting meantime very happily 
 the Bible precepts about "calling in the poor," 
 and " sending portions to them for whom noth- 
 ing is prepared." 
 
 The thanksgiving came, the long tables were 
 bountifully supplied, the children enjoyed their 
 feast to the full, and from the gathered frag- 
 mentSj liberal portions were sent to the sick and 
 destitute, and in many a warm heart, thanks to 
 the good pastor for his timely words, and to his 
 kind people for their ready response, welled up 
 unbidden. 
 
 The ease with which this was accomplished, 
 certainly commends the measure adopted, as 
 among the best conceivable for any similar 
 charity. Blessings on the blessed Church of 
 Christ, in all its branches, and all its world-wide 
 means for doing good. 
 
 " If e'er my heart forget, her welfare or her woe, 
 
 Let every joy this heart forsake, and every grief o'erflow."
 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
 also to them lihewise." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "!F the warp be love and duty, 
 And we throw the shuttle right, 
 
 We may weave a web of beauty, 
 
 Filled with cheerful hues and bright.". 
 
 SCHOOL ITEMS AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 EMMA H. was an only child of German 
 parentage, bright and precocious beyond her 
 years. Her mother, marrying in opposition to 
 her parent's wishes, realized, when too late, that 
 they understood better than she, the character of 
 the man to whom she had given her heart's 
 wealth. U.ider pretence of battering their 
 fortune, but really to hide her own sorrow and 
 cover his short-comings, they left Bremen and 
 came to America. 
 
 A swift course of dissipation, short as it was
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 381 
 
 swift, hurried the husband and father into an 
 early grave, and the mother and little Emma 
 were penniless and alone, " Strangers in a strange 
 land." They struggled on, moving into smaller 
 and still smaller apartments, until they had but 
 one room in a rear tenement in - Street. 
 Katie S lived in the same wretched building, 
 and was a regular attendant of the Industrial 
 School. It was an easy matter to induce Mrs. 
 H to let Emma attend, for Katie was a very 
 proper child, neat, truthful and industrious, 
 could read and sing well, and then it was so nice 
 and warm at school, and they had such nice 
 bread for their lunch. Emma's teacher was 
 interested in her from the first, and she, being 
 absent one cold day, Miss J. felt that she could 
 not go home until she had seen her. She found 
 the mother sick and without food or fuel, but 
 asking for nothing but work, and it was only by 
 close questioning that the truth was obtained. 
 She was trying to support herself and child by 
 her needle, but could not of course compete with 
 the sewing machine, and in consequence was on 
 the verge of despair. 
 
 " If I only had one machine," was her cry in 
 her imperfect speech. Miss J went home 
 worried and saddened. What could she do ? 
 Not able to furnish the sewing machine herself,
 
 382 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 she could but pray, and she did so. " Lord, 
 open the way to meet this want." 
 
 She entered her home, laid off her wrappings, 
 and seating herself mechanically, picked up the 
 newspaper, and tearing off its envelop, opened 
 it, and the first thing which met her eye was, " A 
 Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine, as a 
 premium, to any one sending us the names of 
 twenty-five new subscribers." In less than one 
 week the names and money were in the news- 
 paper office, and the sewing machine in the 
 widow's room. 
 
 Having a natural talent for dress-making, 
 through the kindness of a friend, she received 
 needed instructions, and with her machine, soon 
 placed herself and child beyond want. To-day 
 the mother and child are successful " modistes," 
 in a fashionable quarter of the city, and honored 
 and consistent members of a protestant church ; 
 and all, says the good woman, through that 
 Industrial School. 
 
 THE DYING CHILD. 
 
 In a shanty on First Avenue, Mary B was 
 dying. In a room separated from hers by only 
 the thinnest and most open of partitions, lay the 
 father sleeping off the last night's debauch. The 
 mother, heart-broken, keot her watch alone by
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 383 
 
 the bed of her dying child. Everything was 
 clean and neat in these most miserable rooms, 
 but there was little there. Occasional mutter- 
 ings from the adjoining room revealed to the 
 Another that her husband was arousing from his 
 stupor, and as an oath louder than other reached 
 Mary's ears, she opened her eyes glistening and 
 bright with fever, and looking earnestly at her 
 poor, weary mother said, " Mother, I am dying, 
 but I am not afraid. I would willingly die .a 
 hundred times if it would save father." The 
 mother, who was not a Christian, said, " Not 
 afraid to die? O Mary, it's awful to die." 
 
 " Not when you ha^e Jesus with you. 
 mother ! 
 
 ' Jesus loves me, He who died, 
 Heaven's gate to open wide, 
 He will wash away my sin, 
 Let his little child come in.' 
 
 "Oh, mother! you must love my Saviour," 
 pleaded the dying girl. 
 
 " Who is talking about dying here ; who's 
 dying!" shouted the half-drunken husband and 
 father, as he came stumbling through the open- 
 ing. 
 
 " I, father, your little Mary ; I'm going to 
 leave you, and if I could only know that you 
 would not drink any more and abuse my mother, 
 I could die, oh, so happ} r ."
 
 384 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " Die, Mary, ar'n't you afraid," said he ; and 
 as he neared the bed and saw the pallid face, the 
 death-damp on the forehead, and heard thei 
 labored breathing, he sank to his knees by the 
 bed, apparently sobered in the moment. 
 
 The dying girl laid her hand upon his head, 
 and said, " Jesus, have mercy on father." 
 
 " Don't do that," he sobbed, " don't Mary, you 
 ain't going to die ; chirk up, little girl." 
 
 " Jesus, have mercy on father," again came 
 from the child's lips. 
 
 " Don't, don't," sobbed the poor man ; " Oh, 
 Mary, you dying, and care enough about your old, 
 drunken father, to pray for him ! But there's no 
 chance for me." 
 
 " Jesus, have mercy on father," gasped the 
 dying girl. 
 
 The father could withstand no longer. The 
 Holy Spirit, in answer to the child's plea, was 
 doing its work. 
 
 " Mercy, mercy," gasped the wretched man. 
 
 " Oh, mother, send for my teacher. She can 
 tell him better than I. Do send for Miss S ." 
 
 " But, my child, it is midnight, and I have no 
 one to send," 
 
 " God have mercy," came again from the 
 father's lips, as Mary gasped and labored for the 
 fast failing breath.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 385 
 
 "Mother, call Bridget McLean," (a neighbor,) 
 "and ask her to let Jimmie go for Mr. H , the 
 minister that comes to our Sunday-school. He 
 will come, if it is late." 
 
 The messenger went, the child prayed, and 
 the minister came. The father was in agony. 
 The fact that his child did not dread the King of 
 terrors as much as leaving him a drunkard, had 
 made a terrible impression upon him. Mr. H 
 talked and prayed, and ere the day dawned, the 
 poor inebriate, by the side of his dying child's 
 bed promised his Saviour that, by His grace, he 
 would live a different life. Mary lingered until 
 noon of the next day, but being unconscious 
 when her father's decision was made, did not 
 know it until she entered heaven and saw there 
 the joy over a sinner repentant. Mary was 
 buried by her Sunday-school, and less than three 
 months after, her father and mother stood up in 
 the house of the Lord and confessed Christ. 
 
 Mary B was a street-girl in this great city. 
 She was induced to enter one of the Industrial 
 Schools of the Home, was taught to read, write 
 and sew, taught to be cleanly, truthful and hon- 
 est. From this day-school she was led to the 
 mission-school. She was teachable and mild, 
 carried her daily lessons home, and made 
 
 practical use of them. She was the instrument 
 
 17
 
 386 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 in God's hands of leading her parents to the 
 Saviour, and died a gloriously-triumphant death. 
 Would that Industrial schools might be multi- 
 plied by the dozens, and if such results as these 
 are not always manifest, a higher moral standard 
 will, at least, be attained among those whom they 
 are intended to benefit. 
 
 A MESSENGER OF GOOD. 
 
 One family of nine children, who have been in 
 the school since its opening, (over nine years ago) 
 have been greatly benefitted by it ; the eldest one, 
 who first attended, is now engaged as monitress, 
 at a fair salary ; the second one, through what 
 she learned in the school sewing days, is able to 
 take her departed rrother's place, and do the 
 sewing for a large family ; the third has a good 
 place in the family of a lady who is interested in 
 the school. Since their mother's death, the 
 ladies connected with the school, and the 
 teachers, have exercised a genuine motherly care 
 over them, and they really look upon the school 
 as their second mother. 
 
 CARRIE F. 
 
 One day, as we were closing school, a message 
 was brought that a person at the door wished to 
 speak with Miss B. On going, she was met by a 
 young girl about sixteen, very nicely dressed,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 387 
 
 who at once exclaimed, " How do you do, Miss 
 B. ?" Although the face seemed familiar, the 
 name we could not recall, and told her so. 
 
 " Have you forgotten Carrie F.," was the 
 reply. Then, O how quickly we remembered 
 the girl we had not seen for six years. Could it 
 be possible, that this was the same child grown 
 to be a woman, and rescued from the lowest 
 poverty through the efforts of Industrial School 
 No. 8. How many anxious hours were spent in 
 behalf of this family. The mother, who was sick, 
 removed to the Hospital where she died, com- 
 mitting her two boys to the care of the Home, 
 from where they were placed in good homes 
 where they are doing well, and only a 
 short time ago, a letter was received from the 
 youngest boy thanking the ladies, for what had 
 been done for him. The girl spoken of above, 
 was placed with some relatives who were willing 
 and able to take care of her. 
 
 MUTES. 
 
 Two little German children, mutes r a brother 
 and sister of six and eight, were in the school for 
 some months. There was nothing of special 
 interest about them except their apparently 
 destitute and forlorn condition, yet it was evident 
 they loved to come to school, and appreciated
 
 388 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 the lunch of bread, if nothing else. The teacher 
 suggested several times, that it would be better 
 if they could be placed in the Institution for deaf 
 mutes, but we did not see how it could be done, 
 as there was no probability of gaining the con- 
 sent of the parents, neither of whom could speak 
 English. Yet in the providence of God, a way 
 was opened for the accomplishment of this 
 desired end, and these poor children were taken 
 from their wretched home, where they had not 
 even a floor, but only bare ground, to live upon. 
 They were placed in the Asylum for Deaf and 
 Dumb, in January, 1870, and are still there. The 
 boy is considered the best scholar in a class of- 
 twenty, and the girl also stands at the head of her 
 class. They will probably remain there until of 
 age. But for the school, how dark and cheer- 
 less had been their hard lot. 
 
 Henry S and George C , who were pupils 
 of No. 4, left and went to work ; one day on my 
 way to school a young man stepped up to me, 
 calling me by name ; at once I remembered 
 George C . He said, " Miss , I am very 
 glad to meet you, I will never forget the instruc- 
 tion you gave me : I often regret I was so trou- 
 blesome ; however, I always try to remember 
 one lesson, that is fastened on my heart, and he 
 repeated the Golden Rule.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 389 
 
 Henry S called at the school, had grown to 
 manhood, is now a husband and father, and tells 
 us, " I still remember how you used to talk to 
 us about not using bad language nor tobacco, 
 and told us never to be tempted to drink liquor 
 of any kind. I try to keep God's holy day, and 
 follow your good counsel. 
 
 Lydia H , another pupil, is now a member of 
 a baptist Mission, and teaches a class of little 
 girls every Sabbath day. 
 
 The foregoing incidents are gathered from the 
 journals of committees and teachers connected 
 with the different schools, and given simply to 
 illustrate the salutary influence of the good 
 instruction and example of those who seek here 
 a field of Christian labor. The many items on 
 file, similar in kind, would fill a volume.
 
 3QO WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 GATHERED FRUIT 
 
 The following' is from a former teacher in one 
 ol our Industrial Schools, and gives a fair illus- 
 tration of the benefits of our school-work, when 
 looked at after the lapse of years. It seems but 
 a little while since the writer was plodding day 
 by day through the routine of self-denying and 
 difficult duties which devolve upon all our 
 teachers, yet ever with hope and faith. And 
 now she returns from another field of labor for a 
 visit to the scene of her former labors to find the 
 seed, sown with prayers and tears, springing up 
 with great promise, and even already bearing 
 good fruit, fruit indeed to the praise and glory 
 of God. For who can fail to rejoice and praise 
 the Lord, who is pleased to give such pleasant 
 returns for the work He permits and enables His 
 children to do? It is a privilege and honor to 
 work for and with the dear Saviour, to whom we 
 personally owe so much, but when we can look 
 out upon such a reward as this, how our hearts 
 swell with love and praise. This letter brings to 
 mind, and seems an apt comment on the words of 
 the Evangelist, as with striking simplicity he 
 records the labors and rewards of the first 
 disciples ; " They went forth and preached every- 
 where, the Lord working with them, and con- 
 firming the word with signs following." Adv.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 39! 
 
 November 3Oth, 1876. 
 
 Dear Christian friends, I feel that I must 
 address you on this Thanksgiving day, as I have 
 long desired to do, but a constant pressure ol 
 Christian work, from day to day and week to 
 week, has left me no leisure to write. 
 
 There are, however, milestones on life's 
 journey when we, as Christians, feel impelled to 
 pause and review what is past. Strength is 
 gathered thereby for future service ; faith is 
 strengthened, and afterwards we' go forward 
 better able to battle with discouragements; and 
 to overcome them. Permit me a brief review of 
 work in one branch of your extended field of 
 labor, that of the School No. 6, to which you 
 eight years since called me as teacher, and in 
 which I spent so many of joyful service. Let it 
 strengthen your hearts as it has mine, as I bring 
 before you facts recently gathered. 
 
 I find that eighteen of the older boys and 
 girls are members of churches, most of them in 
 one. Twenty more express a hope in Christ and 
 will soon unite with the Church. One, a young 
 man of seventeen, died last year in the triumph 
 of faith. Seven whole families and parts of many 
 more are in comfort and happiness to-day, and 
 in the church, who were entirely outside of 
 Christian'influences.
 
 392 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 The most of these mentioned, it was my joy 
 to meet or hear from last Tuesday evening ; as 
 also from many ot your present pupils and their 
 faithful teacher. I need not tell you my joy 
 that evening, as I saw them before me in the 
 house of God. Memory brought so vividly 
 before me many a trial of faith and sinking of 
 hope as we used to urge them to a different life ; 
 so often shut up to prayer in our many hin- 
 drances. You ladies will recall many of these ; 
 others are only known to Him who seeth all. 
 For your encouragement let me say, the once 
 desperate cases are the hopeful ones to-day. 
 The boy who broke the most windows, is the 
 young man ready to aid us in any emergency 
 to-day, and whom we oftenest meet in church ; 
 the girls who once defied our earnest efforts to 
 save them are young women of promise. The 
 Catholic girl who was whipped by the priest and 
 persecuted at home and elsewhere, is doing well 
 and says, " I can never be a Catholic." We wish 
 you might have seen the group of these young 
 people as we saw them that evening. Who 
 would think they were ever in want? Very 
 lovingly did they speak of No. 6, inquiring for 
 the ladies of the Committee, whose names they 
 well remembered, and the teachers they loved so 
 well.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 393 
 
 It is to me, as to yourselves, I am sure, a 
 matter of rejoicing that the cause of education is 
 to be advanced from the spot in 54th Street, 
 where by faith and prayer and effort you sowed 
 for so many years the good seed of the kingdom. 
 In the new and large building erected on the 
 site of -our former labors as a ward school, I 
 suppose there is not a department where there 
 are not to-day some of the former pupils of No. 6. 
 
 By your efforts these children have been 
 elevated, and their families helped to help them- 
 selves, in dark hours of their history ; and I learn 
 with pleasure that those who have entered there, 
 take good rank in scholarship. 
 
 I presume the picture I have brought before 
 you is one repeated in the history of your other 
 schools. Thus God rewards your efforts, hears 
 your prayers. So He ever will do, for He has 
 promised it. " They that sow in tears shall 
 reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
 bearing precious seed, shall ^doubtless come 
 again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with 
 him." If it be so blessed to see and know on 
 earth, such precious results of labor ; what will 
 it be when all the sheaves are gathered in at the 
 great reaping day ? Then, smallest deeds, forgot- 
 ten here, or apparently fruitless, shall be found, 
 many of them, no doubt, to yield blessed reward. 
 
 17*
 
 JST^L'2^ 
 i i " Tbetj that sour in tears shall reap in jog." 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 "THE hapless, friendless children! 
 
 Uncounted as they rise, 
 To be redeemed from sorrow, 
 
 And nurtured for the skies, 
 Who will not help to rescue, 
 
 And lead them in the way 
 Where, from the path of safety, 
 
 They may not go astray. 
 
 ANON. 
 
 THE following chapters of " Home items and 
 incidents " very fairly illustrate our present 
 work and its results, and might be extended to 
 volumes, instead of a few pages. 
 
 A DYING MOTHER. 
 
 Aug. 5th, 1876. 
 
 "Can I see you a moment?" asks a well- 
 known Bible-Reader from M Street.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 395 
 
 " Yes, certainly." 
 
 " My errand is about a distressed mother, 
 who is very ill, too destitute to give her children 
 food, and in case of her death, they will be 
 friendless orphans, with no one to care for them. 
 She is respectable and worthy, but since her hus- 
 band's death, has by sickness and otherwise, 
 become utterly reduced, as to any earthly means, 
 but seems to possess ' the true riches.' 
 
 " She is anxious to commit her three chil- 
 dren to the Home Managers. Can you not send 
 a visitor this P. M., to No. M Street, with 
 the proper papers for her to sign ?" 
 
 The matter is arranged further, the applicant 
 goes her way, and very soon a messenger 
 brings a note from the same sick mother, reading 
 thus, 
 
 " To the Christian ladies of the Home for 
 friendless children." 
 
 " Dear ladies : I find myself very sick, and, I 
 think, nigh unto death. I write to you to ask a 
 great favor. I ask it for the sake of our dear 
 Saviour, Jesus, who says, ' If you ask anything in 
 my name, I will do it.' 
 
 " As I draw near to Him, with a true heart, 1 
 feel a full assurance of faith, that you will, for 
 His sake, do as I ask. I ask you to look after my
 
 396 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 poor children, who have no one in this world, 
 after I am gone, to take care of them, but you, 
 kind friends of the friendless and the poor. 
 
 " In faith and love, I am your dying friend, 
 through Jesus. 
 
 M. E. w." 
 
 This double request is promptly met, and the 
 visitor is at once by the bedside of the invalid, 
 and communicates the object of her call. Glad- 
 ness beams from the face of the sufferer, and with 
 h jr tremulous hand, she grasps the pen, and 
 places her name upon the Surrender-book, con- 
 signing her beloved children to the care of the 
 society. 
 
 The effort seems too great, but a smile over- 
 spreads her pallid features, and with uplifted 
 hands she murmurs, scarce audibly, " I am now 
 all ready to go. My last work is done, and I am 
 happy. Come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 The dear ones are soon safe in the Home ; no 
 more crying for wants -unmet. If they shall see 
 their mother no more on this side heaven, may 
 they, like her, be also ready, when their time 
 shall come. 
 
 [A few weeks have gone, and the two sisters 
 are both adopted in most worthy Christian fam- 
 ilies. Henceforth perhaps a mother's guardian 
 Spirit may watch over them unseen.]
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 397 
 
 ANOTHER LAST PARTING. 
 
 A visitor, from the City Mission, had brought 
 two children here last week, that their only 
 remaining parent, a worthy Christian woman, 
 might have nothing to detain her from the hos- 
 pital and the medical treatment indispensable to 
 relief, and now calls to fulfil a promise to their 
 mother, that she would bring them this week to 
 see her. 
 
 They go, full of hope and eager expectation. 
 At the door of the ward for consumptives, the 
 physician hesitates. He does not wish to disap- 
 point the children, or their poor parent, but says 
 to the visitor, she is very low, had a severe hem- 
 orrhage last evening, will permit them to go in 
 for a few moments, but they must not talk, she is 
 too weak. 
 
 They enter with hushed step, silently and 
 tearfully she presses them once more to her 
 heart. The excitement is too much. The fearful 
 hemorrhage returns, and they must away. 
 Lonely, friendless little children ! They have 
 probably seen the love-look of their dearest 
 earthly friend for the last time. How well that 
 a Home for the Friendless opens its doors for 
 their protection ! 
 
 [A/ew months have passed, and this orphan 
 brother and sister have each a pleasant home by
 
 398 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 adoption in worthy Christian families, where w~ 
 trust a mother's prayers will be fully answered. ] 
 
 Sundry cases disposed of, we turn to Ella, a 
 waiting child in black, mature beyond her years. 
 She, too, has been well-trained by a loving 
 mother, " passed into the skies," who earnestly 
 desired this child of her love, reared for a home 
 in heaven. Her poor father is one of those who 
 fear not God nor regard man, and has put her 
 from him for reasons of his own, perhaps unwit- 
 tingly, that the prayers laid up in her behalf may 
 be more fully answered. 
 
 " Could you get me a place in that minister's 
 family ?" asks the timid child of early sorrow. 
 " I think I would like that best." 
 
 " Perhaps so ; we will know very soon, Ella," 
 and promising a call on this outside case, as soon 
 as the expected letter comes, she gives place to 
 another protege. 
 
 A STREET WAIF. 
 
 A bright girl in her teens, long a street-waif, 
 rescued from moral ruin, and yet tempted to go 
 her own wild way, stands waiting to tell her 
 story. She is returned from the care of those 
 whom she has failed to please, admits her folly 
 and promises amendment, and this same phase of 
 her young life may be repeated, who can say
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 399 
 
 how often. But shall we give her up ? Surely 
 not. She is friendless and homeless. With long 
 patience, Christian care and counsel, at some 
 turn in her pathway, the grace of God that 
 bringeth salvation may come to her soul, and her 
 name be written among the saved. Such are the 
 suggestions that prompt to further effort. 
 
 These are a few of the incidents and items of 
 record within the past few hours and such is the 
 type of work to be done, or left undone, over 
 and again day by day. Who is sufficient for 
 these things ? 
 
 FRATERNAL AND FILIAL LOVE. 
 
 Aug. Qth. A manly youth of sixteen asks,- 
 "Can I see my sisters and little brother? They 
 were sent here when our mother was taken to 
 the hospital." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you are the soldier-brother that 
 they so love to talk of." 
 
 The children are called, and soon have each 
 an arm around him, while the baby- girl of two 
 clasps him with tears of joy. He has just been 
 to see the mother referred to Aug. 5th, who has 
 revived a little, and the brother narrates to the 
 sister of ten, what he has agreed to do to meet 
 his mother's wishes. He says she desired to be 
 laid by her kindred, having the last offices
 
 4OO WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 properly performed. He has arranged to meet 
 this expense from his own small earnings, pledg 
 ing his services to his employer, who becomes 
 his security, for a given time within the year. 
 
 Would that all children of better fortune 
 might cherish the same spirit. 
 
 Life is made brighter and happier by the 
 assurance that there are not only many such own 
 sons and daughters, but many too, the children 
 of adoption, to whom loving parents are yet 
 spared, whose inmost hearts respond filially to 
 the following. 
 
 " REMEMBER THY MOTHER. 
 
 "Lead thy mother tenderly 
 
 Down life's steep decline ; 
 Once her arm was thy support, 
 
 Now she leans on thine. 
 
 See upon her loving' face, 
 
 Those deep lines of care ; 
 Think it was her toil for thee 
 
 Left that record there. 
 
 Ne'er forget her tireless watch, 
 
 Kept by day and night, 
 Taking from her step the grace, 
 
 From her. eye the light. 
 
 Cherish well her faithful heart, 
 
 Which, through weary years, 
 Echoed with its sympathy 
 
 All thy smiles and tears.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 40! 
 
 Thank God for thy mother's love, 
 
 Guard the priceless boon ; 
 For the bitter parting hour, 
 
 Cometh all too soon. 
 
 When thy grateful tenderness 
 
 Loses poxver to save, 
 Earth will hold no dearer spot 
 
 Than thy mother's grave." 
 
 SOLVING THE MYSTERY. 
 
 Miss Ethel enters with a courteous salutation^ 
 " I am Miss - . Did you receive my letter 
 last week, post-marked ?" 
 
 " O yes and read it with interest am glad 
 to see you." 
 
 " When I left my distant home, to go East, it 
 was my first wish to come here, and learn all 
 about myself. The name that I am told was 
 mine in infancy, I find is borne by families of 
 high repute, and I have long thought if I could 
 fully trace my origin, I might find those who 
 would love to claim kindred, and welcome me to 
 a home that I should highly prize." 
 
 While she is discoursing thus, we turn to the 
 page of history, where her name, as a tiny 
 infant, "was first written, and are reminded of the 
 adage, " What we ardently wish, we readily 
 believe."
 
 402 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ''WHY DID MY MOTHER CAST ME OFF?" 
 
 Sh3 continued, " Tell mj, please, all you know 
 about myself, goad or bad ; yes, I can bear it, bs 
 \t as it may. Why did my mother cast me off in 
 helpless infancy, and leave me to be cared for by 
 strangers?" She was well educated and lady- 
 like, but her intense persistency elicited the 
 simple facts as recorded, facts not in our power 
 to change. 
 
 Poor girl, her face was crimson, while the hot 
 tears flowed freely and long. At length she 
 said, " And who was my father? You will admit 
 that the name he bore was one commanding 
 respect. If I could but find him, would he dis- 
 card me now ?" 
 
 " Do you think, when he could leave you 
 helpless in infancy, and discard your mother,. 
 that he would receive you, at this age, as a 
 daughter?" 
 
 "Well, perhaps not, I will try to dismiss the 
 thought ; all hope in this direction seems now 
 blasted forever, and yet I am gla,d that I know 
 the worst. Bad as it is, I believe of the two, I 
 had rather think of my father as a scoundrel, 
 than a low-lived, heartless drunkard. If life is 
 spared, I will seek to mike a record of my own, 
 that shall be free from shame." 
 
 Words of sympathy and Christian counsel,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 403 
 
 for which thanks were expressed, closed his 
 painful interview, not the only case, where the 
 irrepressible desire to solve a mystery, and the 
 false assurance that imaginary claims upon rela- 
 tives unknown, might be revealed, were being 
 vainly cherished. 
 
 Would there not be a fearful array of silent 
 witnesses of hidden human wrong, could all such 
 be gathered and confront the guilty ? Would not 
 the true tale of sorrow and suffering inflicted 
 upon the innocent, make strong forms quail, 
 bright faces gather paleness, and inscribe the les- 
 son as with pen of iron, only in a conscience void 
 of offence, unswerving obedience to the Divine 
 Law, can there be found lasting peace and safety. 
 
 THEN AND NOW. 
 
 A kind father, aged and bent with years, 
 enters with smiling face and a warm greeting. 
 He says, " I could not pass by without calling to 
 tell you what comfort I have in my adopted son. 
 He is the staff of my age, a worthy, Christian 
 youth, filial and affectionate." This is pleasant 
 testimony, and, thanks to our Heavenly Father, 
 it is but one of many all abroad. 
 
 Silently the power of association at once 
 places that son to our mind's eye, with loving 
 sisters in the hour of their early sorrow. Father-
 
 404 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 less worse than motherless for the mother has 
 listened to the tempter the wine-cup, the mid- 
 night revel the fascinations of the vile have so 
 far withdrawn natural affection, that she stands 
 there vacillating-, till at length the latter prevail ; 
 she gives her weeping children a last look, with 
 open eyes rushes toward ruin, and they see her 
 no more. Strangers lead them away, and they 
 find shelter in the Home. 
 
 Twenty years are now gone these dear chil- 
 dren still live have each had a good record 
 down the years, each trust in the Saviour, and 
 all are well settled in life. The children were 
 saved. 
 
 " BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART." 
 
 If the children of the untrained poor often 
 seem almost hopeless in their ignorance and 
 immoral surroundings, there is one phase of 
 encouragement connected with the very fact that 
 no influences for good have been met and 
 resisted. 
 
 Their hearts have not been hardened by 
 receiving the grace of God in vain. 
 
 Among a group of poor children assembled in 
 the Committee-room, a girl of about fourteen 
 attracts our attention. She is older than those
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 405 
 
 generally committed to us, and there is nothing 
 in her appearance to render her interesting. 
 Uncouth in dress, face and manner, she gives, at 
 first glance, indication of no higher moral culture 
 than the greenest Irish girl might do, just landed, 
 'homeless and friendless in our streets. But, to 
 our surprise, fuller inquiry elicits tokens of a 
 soul not wholly without some traits of moral life. 
 She stated on further questioning that for a short 
 time she had been in an Industrial school, and 
 one day, when there, a lady called and con- 
 versed with some of the older girls, aside, about 
 certain Bible precepts and their bearing upon 
 the pure and modest habits, so difficult to form 
 in the exposed life of those living in overcrowded 
 tenements. She had never forgotten, she said, 
 the counsel given, nor the verse from the Bible, 
 with which it had been enforced. Bein: asked, 
 
 o 
 
 "Do you remember the verse?" she replied, 
 " Yes, ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God.' ' 
 
 Tears came to the eyes of some who knew 
 that these blessed words had been taught her bv 
 one of our Home-workers. They seemed to 
 have been seed sown in good soil, and this inci- 
 dent bade each present be of good cheer, inas- 
 much as their labor was not in vain.
 
 406 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 THE WARNING VOICE. 
 
 A sad-looking woman, about 27, sat in the 
 shelter of the Home, answering in few words and 
 depressed tones, the questions asked by those 
 interested in her case. The child of a Christian 
 mother, but early deprived by death of that 
 mother's training, and not kindly treated by an 
 irreligious father, she sought at last a city home , 
 nominally she sought for work, with the hope 
 of self-support. But the baneful habit of sensa- 
 tional novel-reading had weakened the mind and 
 excited the imagination, till the promises of 
 indulgence in dress and vain pleasures led her to 
 fall. 
 
 The barrier once broken down, a life of vice 
 ensued, though memories of childhood and a 
 mother's teachings came from time to time, 
 awakening passing remorse and regret. 
 
 The spirit of prayer, which prevailed at that 
 time in our city, and especially at the Fulton 
 Street prayer-meeting, awakened much interest 
 among the working classes, and the washer- 
 woman who brought her clothing, told one tale 
 after another of souls converted to God. The 
 poor fallen one was roused from her sleep of sin. 
 Night after night, she said, it appeared to her 
 that her mother's spirit stood by her bedside, 
 bidding her flee for her life, from the dreadful
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 407 
 
 place she now occupied, and the course she was 
 now pursuing. 
 
 Unable at last to resist the warning tone the 
 pleading look, she arose in the night, and with 
 such scanty attire as she could procure, went out 
 alone into the deserted streets. Here she was 
 found by a city watchman, who after question- 
 ing her, brought her to the shelter of the Home. 
 After the needful preliminaries, she was sent 
 from this Institution to the Rosine House in 
 Philadelphia, and we trust, numbered among the 
 saved. 
 
 WRECKED AND RESCUED. 
 
 "Why not, my erring sister, from evil turn away? 
 You have no mother near you, then, sister, hear me pray ! 
 Your way is dark and dreary, and dark its end must be 
 For you my heart is breaking, oh, sister ! turn and flee ! " 
 
 " Saved from the moral chasm." So we 
 thought as our mind's eye followed the good 
 ship just leaving port a few days since, bearing 
 hence a friendless youth, in whose behalf the 
 Home managers had felt a special interest. 
 
 L. was the daughter of a very beautiful 
 mother across the sea. An elder sister, equally 
 attractive, and more cultivated, also in her teens, 
 joined her here some two years since, a hopeful 
 adventurer in the new world. 
 
 Both were entrusted to the care of an uncle,
 
 408 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 an only brother of the mother, in whom the 
 parents felt implicit confidence. The father had 
 become insolvent, and this measure was adopted 
 to lessen the expenses of a large family. 
 
 The sisters were devotedly attached, indus- 
 trious and self-reliant, and for a time, both were 
 pursuing- a course equally creditable. But by 
 and by the spoiler came. Maud, the eldest, fell 
 a victim to his wiles, and was led on and on, till 
 she became an inmate where " their feet go 
 down to death ;" giving bitter grief to her kin- 
 dred, especially to the young sister, who wept 
 in secret places for her fall, and sought without 
 avail to win her back to the right. She would 
 not cross the threshold of the vile dwelling-place, 
 but once and again made appointments by note 
 to meet her misguided sister without, go with 
 her to the Park, and thus find an opportunity 
 unobserved, to admonish and persuade. She 
 said, on these occasions they both wept more 
 than they talked. 
 
 At a late interview, Maud had given the 
 promise that she would listen to her counsel ; 
 but they were not to meet again. Early in 
 December last, Maud was shot in her room by 
 her guardian and uncle, Robert Bleakley, and 
 sent, all unprepared, to the world beyond the 
 grave !
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 409 
 
 The next morning the city papers announced 
 the murder, the arrest, the inquest, etc., and 
 referred to the anguish evinced by the young 
 sister, left alone and friendless, the sole mourner 
 at the coffin. 
 
 A lady of middle age, whose heart was 
 touched by the narration, resolved to go to the 
 rooms of the undertaker at the hour named for 
 the interment, learn where she could meet the 
 poor girl, and devise some means to aid her. 
 Here, though unattended, she was readily des- 
 ignated by her apparent innocence and irrepres- 
 sible grief. The vile denizens of the house 
 where the murder was committed, were also 
 there with carriages to accompany the remains 
 to Greenwood, and were heard with persuasive 
 blandness, to invite L. to ride, and return for the 
 night, etc. Just then the lady gave the weeping 
 girl her hand, with words of maternal sympathy, 
 and learning that she had no place at which to 
 stop, proposed to seek one for her at the Home 
 for the Friendless, meet her on her return from 
 the cemetery, and accompany her there. 
 Though personally a stranger to the Institution, 
 she came at once, stated the case, and asked if L. 
 could be received. 
 
 The moral peril was apparent, and an assistant 
 was promptly dispatched with the ladv to the 
 
 18
 
 4 1Q \v OMAN'S WORK 
 
 place appointed, where L. was found waiting- 
 with trembling solicitude, for that protection so 
 vital to all she yet held dear. 
 
 Arriving at the Home, 32 East 3Oth Street, 
 and meeting a kind reception, she breathed more 
 freely, expressed tearfully her thanks, and felt, as 
 she has since said, that God had provided a 
 refuge for her, when she might otherwise have 
 been lost. Indeed, when she came to realize 
 more fully the danger from which she had been 
 rescued, she could not speak of it without a 
 shudder. 
 
 A reputable and pleasant home had been hers 
 till this sad ordeal, when its doors were closed 
 against her, for fear of the public notoriety 
 impending. 
 
 Her commendable deportment at the Home 
 soon enlisted sympathy and maternal interest. 
 It was known that she would be required to 
 attend the courts as a witness, and detained 
 till the close of the trial, however protracted. 
 It became apparent too, that harpies were on her 
 track they were seen to watch her steps, and 
 came in vain to seek an interview also that any 
 seeming indiscretion might yet expose her to 
 their machinations. She was therefore sedulous- 
 ly guarded, in the house and by the way. Her 
 antecedents were traced by careful inquiry, and
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 411 
 
 the testimony was found unquestioned as to her 
 integrity and virtue. 
 
 After the first shock was over, caused by the 
 trying events here narrated, she indicated her 
 strong desire to return to her father's house, and 
 wished to earn the funds required for her passage 
 over the sea. Letters received had apprised her 
 of the recent death of her mother, insanity and 
 suicide being in her case the bitter fruit of the 
 fall of poor Maud, and that the protracted illness 
 of a younger sister, now made her aid seem 
 indispensable to the welfare of the family. But 
 opportunities for remunerative employment were 
 lost, owing to the interruption by subpoenas, etc. 
 She was therefore sheltered quietly at the Home, 
 and guarded by salutary influences, till the final 
 decision of the courts was made, assigning the 
 murderer to imprisonment for life, the just 
 award of his crimes. 
 
 And now her heart still yearned toward her 
 kindred, but the outlay for the passage was 
 wholly beyond her means. 
 
 For some five months she had been kept at 
 the Home, gratis, and other wants met, quite as 
 needful as daily bread. A written statement of 
 the facts was addressed to the district attorney, 
 personal calls made in her behalf, and kindly 
 responded to in due time. It is but just to say
 
 412 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 that the officers of the court, whenever L. was 
 present, treated both herself and her attendant 
 with every consideration desired, and now, when 
 her wants were understood, promptly advanced 
 the funds requisite for her passage. A member 
 of the Home Board, by unwearied pains secured 
 for her the care of a Christian mother, going 
 with her own children in the same ship, saw her 
 well prepared for the voyage, and placed on board 
 the vessel. The lady who kindly permitted her 
 to share her state-room, also proposed after land- 
 ing, to accompany her directly to her early 
 home. 
 
 Thus closes a brief chapter from two young 
 lives, the one wrecked, the other rescued. 
 Details might be cited showing more fully the 
 despair, hope, restiveness, etc., in the case of the 
 saved one, who has yet seen less than eighteen 
 years ; the care and effort necessary to her per- 
 manent protection, her grateful memories in the 
 review, when about to leave the Home, her 
 expressions of thankfulness to her Heavenly 
 Father, that He had heard her prayer, placed 
 her with His people, and led her to look to 
 Him daily in her great sorrow. 
 
 But enough. The stranger who acted the 
 part of the good Samaritan when the need was 
 greatest, will surely have her reward. So also,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 413 
 
 may all who will " go and do likewise " in the 
 great work of prevention. 
 
 What might have been the present record of 
 L. had there been no " Home for the Friendless," 
 we may not know ; but there is cause for grati- 
 tude and gladness that its doors are ever open, 
 not only to guard the children, but also to 
 shelter " those within the age and the circum- 
 stances of temptation."
 
 able tn mahe all grace abound toward you." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 LET it be graven on my tomb, 
 
 " He came and left more smiles behind ; 
 
 One ray he shot athwart the gloom, 
 He helped one fetter to unbind." 
 
 LOWELL. 
 
 HOME ITEMS AND INCIDENTS. 
 From our Journal. 
 
 " WE have just closed a pleasant interview 
 with a very lovely, cultivated young lady ; a 
 favored child of fortune, the world might say, 
 though she was counted in infancy one of our 
 Home nursery group, bereft of all earthly ties. 
 The dark lines in her young life were early 
 reversed, and no want left unmet. 
 
 " A home of affluence, appliances of wealth, 
 circles of gayety and fashion, for a time so filled 
 her youthful vision that earth seemed to present
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 415 
 
 a satisfying portion ; but gradually she found its 
 roseate hues had faded, denying utterly the soul- 
 rest for which her spirit yearned. 
 
 " She came to-day to tell us she had found 
 the true riches. Modestly, tearfully, lovingh 
 she testified to the goodness of God, in leading 
 her to make the full surrender of herself to Him. 
 She said, ' I felt that you ought to know this, for 
 I have never forgotten that I am a child of the 
 Home. A child of your prayers.' In dwelling 
 upon her present feelings, the language of her 
 heart seemed fully expressed in the lines, 
 
 " ' I'm happy in the lowly path where once my Saviour 
 
 trod, 
 Where He in humble human guise went onward doing 
 
 good ; 
 
 I'm happy in the gladsome smile of poverty relieved, 
 Happy to utter words of cheer to soothe the spirit grieved ; 
 Happy to leave the heartless throng, whose hopes all centre 
 
 here, 
 And rest the heart on fadeless joys in yonder glorious 
 
 sphere ; 
 Happy to spend life's fleeting years where duty points the 
 
 way, 
 Within the moral fields of toil where pride seeks no 
 
 display, 
 
 To do what duty bids be done, whate'er the sacrifice, 
 With cheerful faith and holy hope, till called from earth to 
 
 rise ; 
 Happy, when heart and strength shall fail, to lay life's work 
 
 aside, 
 And yield the trusting soul to Him who for its ransom 
 
 died.' "
 
 416 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 THEN AND NOW. 
 
 Three worse than orphan children were 
 brought to the Home, between the ages of three 
 and ten years; unwashed, uncombed, half-clad, 
 utterly forlorn and wretched. Soap, water, and 
 other appliances, with clean clothing, soon made 
 a wondrous transformation. The little sisters 
 exchanged looks of gladness, and the prattling 
 brother, who was seen a day or two since, reeling 
 near broken mahogany, and lisping in the ear of 
 his unconscious mother, " I'se drunk, too,"- 
 looked now as though he might soon be taught 
 to sing, 
 
 " Oh, save the little children of poverty and crime." 
 
 Poor children! once and again when the 
 mother had become stupefied from the intoxicat- 
 ing cup, it was left within their reach, and 
 hungry, thirsty and ignorant of consequences, 
 what was there to keep it from their lips ? We 
 learned that the eldest had often been seen upon 
 the streets late in the evening, sent to pawn the 
 clothing indispensable to their comfort, for the 
 " fire-water." 
 
 The foregoing reminiscence from the present 
 post of observation, must look to these dear 
 children like a frightful dream of the night.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 417 
 
 The sisters have now grown to womanhood, 
 respected and beloved, and have before them, 
 with continued well-doing, a bright future. 
 They, like many others, may see in the agency 
 of the Home, their early rescue from a doom far 
 worse than death. 
 
 " AS THEY WERE AND AS THEY ARE." 
 
 We were gladdened this morning by a pleas- 
 ant call from a visitor who looks like one of 
 " nature's noblemen." A few words passed, and 
 we recognized in the manly form, the orphan 
 prattler of the long ago, whose tearful, broken 
 utterance, " Teacher, I want a muzzer," suggest- 
 ed the little song that seemed to open heart-doors 
 *for more waifs than one. 
 
 Mr. N. is the youngest of four, whose attrac- 
 tive faces, the first weeks of Home-work in the 
 old hired house, won " love at first sight." Now 
 he has passed even the early years of manhood, 
 is doing well, and while he scarce remembers his 
 kindred, is glad to ask again after their welfare. 
 
 The interview recalls memories both painful 
 and pleasant, the details of which present phases 
 of special interest. But we may only say These 
 children of a starved, American mother of 
 
 respectable antecedents, each attained their 
 
 1 8*
 
 4i 8 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 majority with a good record, nurtured and 
 trained by excellent Christian families. The two 
 sisters have gone from loved circles hereto "a 
 home in Heaven," leaving traces of usefulness, 
 and a beautiful example of early piety ; and it is 
 hoped that those who remain, may also so live 
 and die that the impress of the Home upon their 
 infant years, may be remembered joyfully, in 
 other worlds than this. 
 
 Within the past month we have had corres- 
 pondence, or personal interviews with several, 
 who are now men and women, whom we well 
 remember as the little singers and declaimers of 
 ten, fJtf^en, or twenty years ago, receiving in the 
 Hctnc their first lessons of love and duty. 
 
 Of the girls, some are teachers, some respect- 
 ed heads of families, one the wife of a Senator, 
 twj the wives of Christian merchants. 
 
 Of the boys, one has chosen the law, another 
 mercantile life, another the medical profession, 
 another the ministry, and is said to be " a very 
 acceptable preacher of the gospel." 
 
 The present record of some of these would 
 have been reversed who can tell how much? 
 had there been no Home for the Friendless to 
 bridge the moral chasm, and withdraw their 
 young feet from the wrong to the right path.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 419 
 
 ANNIVERSARIES. 
 
 At forty annual gatherings of this association, 
 the managers have been under large obligation 
 to clergymen and laymen, for the cheerful aid 
 they have given by way of addresses and other- 
 wise. They have spared no pains to say the 
 right things at the right time, and their words 
 have been potent for good. They have helped 
 us verily and their debtors we are. 
 
 A few paragraphs on this wise will serve to 
 illustrate this phase of the work on the return of 
 these stated seasons 
 
 It is May, 1869 the usual business meetings 
 have been attended in the Home Chapel, and 
 now a pleasant company of friends and patrons 
 are quietly seated in the large commodious Hall 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association, on 
 23d Street and Fourth Avenue. 
 
 Before us is a representation from the Home, 
 and all our schools, with their tasteful, bright 
 banners of red, white, and blue, filling the large 
 gallery and a portion of the platform, while the 
 auditorium is occupied with interested spec- 
 tators. 
 
 Abstracts of Reports are read by C. C. North, 
 Esq., long one of our Counsellors, and our more 
 than friend, back through the years, and then 
 the children give one grand chorus, guided by
 
 420 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 their talented musical leader, Prof. T. E. 
 Perkins. 
 
 Rev. E. P. Rogers, D.D., Mr. C. C. North, 
 Mr. L. E. Jackson and others plead eloquently 
 for the work, and the sweet songs of the chil- 
 dren inspire deep emotion, especially in the 
 hearts of those who have children in Heaven. 
 A FLOWER GARDEN. 
 
 We quote a few sentences from a single 
 address : " Rev. H. D. Northrup remarked that 
 he had come into a flower 'garden to-day, but to 
 behold something more beautiful than flowers. 
 Talk of these children being waifs ! and ask 
 whose they are ! They are your children, they 
 are ours, they belong to the Christian public. 
 How many of these before long will be taking 
 their places as Christian men and women, carry- 
 ing forward the enterprises which we now have 
 in hand. He pursued the inquiry started by 
 the former speaker, What are boys and girls 
 worth? and alluding to the care and anxiety 
 which they always occasioned to the parent, 
 spoke of their worth as the educators of those 
 parents in the sweet graces of patience, gentle- 
 ness and love. The parent in every well-ordered 
 household is as much under the influence of the 
 children, as the children are under the influence 
 of the parents. It is a mutual work of teaching
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 42! 
 
 and training, won'derfully blest, when well done, 
 to both. The church and community are als;; 
 educated by their care of these friendless ones. 
 They need these children, not more to do good 
 by and by, than now to be the recipients of their 
 love and care. The heart of humanity would 
 freeze without these children to soften and warm 
 it. We must train them to be what we want 
 them to become. There is so little hope com- 
 paratively for one grown up in sin; w-e must 
 take the children, and prevent the formation of 
 evil habits." 
 
 " MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN FLOWERS." 
 
 Again at successive anniversaries, as in other 
 decades, no special effort is made to bring 
 together the same large company of the older 
 children, but in 1875 and 1876 we find them 
 again massed on Wednesday of Anniversary 
 week, the first occasion in the Church of the 
 Disciples, and the second in the Memorial 
 Church, Madison Avenue. 
 
 At the former gathering the central portion 
 of the large beautiful edifice was filled with our 
 little people, some sixteen hundred being present 
 from the schools, and all so orderly and quiet 
 as to win the approval of the audience by their 
 exemplary conduct. 
 
 The exercises were introduced by the organ,
 
 422 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 which never gave out more delightful music 
 than under the artistic touch of Prof. O. M. 
 Newell, who kindly offered his services for the 
 occasion. 
 
 Dr. Hepworth, the pastor of the church, pre- 
 sided. Prayer followed, after which the chil- 
 dren poured forth their jubilant anthem, " Praise 
 ye the Lord." They sang with spirit and per- 
 fect accord, greatly to the surprise of those who 
 feared there might be difficulty in harmonizing 
 tone and time in so great a company. The 
 singing was indeed remarkable, when we con- 
 sider that there was not a single rehearsal in 
 mass, the large number of children, and their 
 distance from one another, rendering it imprac- 
 ticable. 
 
 Great credit is due to the respective teachers, 
 and their admirable leader, Prof. T. E. Perkins, 
 for the excellent training of each school by itself, 
 and the skillful management of this large 
 juvenile choir. 
 
 The singing was interspersed with addresses, 
 every one of which had its peculiarity, Rev. 
 Wm. M. Taylor, Dr. T. D. Anderson, Rev. F. T. 
 Schauffler and Mr. E. P. Herrick spoke words of 
 warm interest and good counsel to the little 
 ones, and of encouragement to those who are 
 laboring for their good.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 423 
 
 The exercises were closed with a ringing 
 doxology sung by the children, which was pro- 
 nounced, by those who understand church 
 music, a fine piece finely executed. 
 
 In May, 1876, the gathering of the children 
 filled the entire body of the Memorial Presby- 
 terian Church, Madison Avenue and 53d Street. 
 The pastor of the Church, Rev. Dr. Robinson, 
 presiding in his usual happy manner. After a 
 voluntary on the organ, the exercises were 
 opened by a " Welcome," sung in chorus by the 
 children, their voices blending very harmoni- 
 ously, and keeping time admirably with the 
 piano and organ. 
 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. J. M. King, 
 D. D., after which Dr. Robinson presented the 
 Abstract of Annual Report, with brief com- 
 ments. Every beneficiary of the Institution, 
 
 every one of the children present, he remarked, 
 
 
 
 had a history, a want and a destiny. All 
 claimed our sympathy and practical aid, to efface 
 the sorrows of the past, supplv present need, 
 and helpfully anticipate the future well-being. 
 
 The addresses of the afternoon were excel- 
 lent. Dr. John Hall gave his lofty powers of 
 eloquence to instruct and interest the little ones, 
 giving them counsel for their physical advan- 
 tage, and pointing them to Jesus, the Saviour of
 
 424 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 their souls. He prefaced his remarks by saying 
 that he had never seen in the list of donations to 
 a benevolent object, 
 
 "A NIGHT'S SLEEP," 
 
 but he could offer that as his contribution to this 
 Society; as, having been called to lecture the day 
 previous at some distance from the city, he 
 could only return to fill this engagement by the 
 sacrifice of his night's rest, which he cheerfully 
 gave for the furtherance of so good a cause, 
 
 Rev. Dr. Armitage and Rev. C. S. Harrower, 
 also gave spirited addresses, and the singing 
 drew all hearts in sympathy toward the youthful 
 performers. 
 
 These gala days, and sundry festivals that 
 notch the years, make an impress upon the 
 juvenile participants, to be remembered for good 
 in coming time. 
 
 .We would gladly insert interesting extracts 
 from addresses, given at different periods by 
 many of our kind friends of the ministry, always 
 representing every denomination of Christians, 
 also from our Board of Counselors and others to 
 whom we are largely indebted for voluntary 
 free-will offerings, at the Annual Holiday gath- 
 erings at the Home Chapel, and otherwise. 
 But a few items, yet unnoticed, claim the 
 remaining pages.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 IF we knew what forms were fainting 
 
 For the shade that we should fling, 
 If we knew what lips were parching, 
 
 For the water we should bring, 
 We would haste with eager footsteps, 
 
 We would work with willing hands, 
 Bearing cups of cooling water, 
 
 Planting rows of shading palms. 
 
 Words of Cheer. 
 
 SHELTER AND READING ROOM. 
 
 WITHIN the last four years there have been 
 opened in the Home Chapel, and added to the 
 Home work, a " Shelter and Reading Room for 
 young \vomen," and an " Employment Aid 
 Department," both of which reach a large class 
 specially requiring care and guardianship, and to 
 whom " friends in need, are truly friends indeed." 
 
 That the specific work of these departments
 
 426 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 may be rightly understood, we give here a brief 
 sketch from the annual report of the respective 
 committees in charge. 
 
 The first is from a veteran worker, from 
 whom, after a day of earnest toil some thirty 
 years ago, we remember while walking home- 
 ward to have heard the expression, " If 1 could 
 only see the ground broken, and the first spade 
 of earth removed, where our Home is yet to 
 stand, how great would be the joy ! " 
 
 Over thirty years of consecutive Home-work 
 the veil was then drawn, through all of which 
 her energies have not only never flagged, but 
 are still enlisted as vigorous as ever. She writes : 
 
 " There have been received into our Shelter 
 during the year, one hundred and eighty-eight 
 women and children. About two-thirds of this 
 number were Americans, the remainder English, 
 German, Scotch, Irish and Swiss. 
 
 " A large proportion were widows, others 
 wives whose husbands had deserted them, or 
 were obliged to leave them in order to seek 
 work elsewhere. Many of those received have 
 gone to situations in the country at low wages. 
 Some of the women, however, are not sufficient- 
 ly strong to perform the heavy work in families, 
 and for such, employment is found in our 
 Nursery.
 
 AMONG Till-: LOWLY. 427 
 
 "During the year, a regular Sabbath after- 
 noon service has been held in the Shelter parlor, 
 and thanks are due to several of the younger 
 members of our Board, who have been devoted 
 in their efforts to make the lesson for the day 
 interesting and profitable to the inmates. 
 
 " A blessing from on high has crowned their 
 efforts, and eight members of the Shelter family 
 have openly professed themselves the followers 
 of Him who died that they might receive eternal 
 life. One of this number is engaged in a large 
 Sunday School, where we have faith to believe 
 the seed sown will bring forth fruit a hundred 
 fold to the Master's glory. 
 
 " Many interesting facts could be given con- 
 cerning some of our inmates, were it expedient 
 so to do. 
 
 BABY-NURSERY. 
 
 " For our Baby Nursery that very interest- 
 ing part of the Home familv a large, sunny, up- 
 per room has been fitted up. Hitherto, as a 
 rule, we have boarded these little ones with 
 poor, respectable women, to whom we are very 
 grateful for the patient, untiring care they have 
 bestowed upon them ; but, during the warm 
 weather, the atmosphere and surroundings of 
 our Institution are better fitted for this purpose,
 
 428 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 and will tend towards improving and preserving 
 the health of the infants, who remain with us for 
 a few weeks or months, until permanent homes 
 are provided for them. It is also a matter of 
 great convenience to have them accessible, so 
 that parties wishing to select infants for adoption 
 may have an opportunity of choosing from 
 among a large number. About fifty babies, 
 from one month to two years of age, have been 
 here cared for ; some for a few days, others for a 
 longer time. 
 
 " The constant changes in this family of little 
 ones, very much increases the labor and respon- 
 sibility of those having charge of it. The 
 results, so far, have been very satisfactory, and 
 we hope the coming year to receive and care for 
 hundreds of such, till they shall be transplanted 
 to permanent homes, where, with faithful paren- 
 tal training, accompanied with God's blessing, 
 they may become useful members of society, and 
 faithful followers of Him who took the little ones 
 of olden time in his arm and blessed them. 
 
 " More than 200 letters have been received 
 and answered in this department, and a constant 
 and diligent supervision of every case involves 
 the ladies of the Shelter Committee in a variety 
 of work, which taxes time, strength, and ingenu- 
 ity to the utmost."
 
 AMONG THK LOWLY. 429 
 
 WIDOWED AND FATHERLESS. 
 " Another statement says, " It is an easy mat 
 ter for us to say that one hundred young, unpro- 
 tected mothers with infants have been received, 
 fed, clothed and provided with homes ; but how 
 shall we begin to sum up the sobs, the tears, the 
 groans and heart-aches of those who have 
 claimed our care and protection ? ' A Father of 
 the fatherless, and a Judge of the widow is God 
 in his holy habitation,' and earnestly do we 
 desire that these widowed and deserted ones 
 may find that peace and rest in the Lord Jesus 
 which he has promised to the weary and heavy- 
 laden. 
 
 " Most of our women have gone into farmers' 
 families at low wages, where they can support 
 themselves and children much more comfortably 
 than in any other way. The accounts from them 
 have been, almost without exception, favorable. 
 Women of this class are more likely to appre- 
 ciate good homes, and strive to give satisfaction 
 to their employers. 
 
 Mrs. H., an extremely sad-faced woman, with 
 an infant of a few weeks, applied for admission. 
 Hers was a sad tale ; she had struggled to keep 
 her family together, but could do it no longer; 
 their home must be broken up. Her sick hus- 
 band had been removed to th3 Hospital, two ot
 
 430 WOMAN S WORK 
 
 her children had been received at the Five 
 Points' Mission, and she sought a home with her 
 babe. We welcomed her to our Shelter. 
 After a few days, her anxiety to see her husband 
 was so great, that she started with her little one 
 to visit him. It would be in vain for us to tell 
 of the deep sorrow that filled the poor mother's 
 heart, when she learned that the husband of her 
 youth, the father of her children, was dead and 
 buried. Friends would have sent her word, 
 but knew not where to find her, and so this deso- 
 late one returned to us, a widow. Her babe 
 was very feeble, but after a time it began to 
 thrive. She is now in a comfortable country 
 home, where, with her infant and little boy, she 
 is doing well ; her eldest child having been pro- 
 vided for elsewhere. 
 
 A note was handed us on entering the Home, 
 a few weeks since, asking us to receive a young 
 woman with her child. She was accompanied 
 by her sister, who with tears told us that the 
 husband of this youthful mother was killed sud- 
 denly on the rail-road, some weeks previous to 
 the birth of her child. The sister was living 
 out at service, and had paid all the expense 
 incurred so far, but could do it no longer. They 
 were very respectable, and exceedinglv affec 
 tionate. We gladly received the \vidow
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 431 
 
 with her babe, but soon the little one drooped 
 and died. Both sisters are now in good situa- 
 tions. 
 
 SENT BEYOND THE SEA. 
 
 Three women and five children have been, 
 during the past year, sent to their friends beyond 
 the sea. One of them came to us several months 
 since, with an infant, a few weeks old, and a 
 little girl of four years. Her husband had lost 
 his situation, and gone to England, feeling sure 
 he could obtain means to return and take his 
 wife and children home to her mother, where 
 she could be well provided for. She kept, her 
 rooms until her money was gone, then she was 
 directed to the Home. Her husband was dis- 
 appointed in receiving the necessary funds, and 
 although his letters were affectionate and hope- 
 ful, yet as " hope deferred makes the heart sick," 
 so this poor mother began to be discouraged. 
 An effort was made, and the funds collected to 
 pay her expenses home. She and her children 
 were supplied with the needful clothing and 
 food, and as we accompanied her to the ship, she 
 sent many expressions of gratitude to the Mana- 
 gers of the Home, for all the kindness shown to 
 her.
 
 432 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Another case : 
 
 As we enter the room where applicants ^or 
 aid are in waiting, there is near us a child-face 
 full of bitter grief. The tale told and corrobor- 
 ated, is one to make the heart ache. The sorrows 
 of age instead of childhood have been hers. Just 
 in her teens, homeless and destitute, she is taken 
 in the Shelter, brought from week to week under 
 saving moral influence, is hopefully led to the 
 Saviour of the lost, and finally restored to her 
 afflicted parent. Weeks intervene, and at length 
 she writes from a safe abiding place. " I am try- 
 ing to lead a Christian life, and feel that, with 
 help from above, I may do so. My mother sends 
 her thanks for the kindness shown me at the 
 Home." 
 
 EARLY SORROW. 
 
 About eight months since we were requested 
 to receive a young mother and baby. She was 
 refined and modest in her appearance, about 
 seventeen years of age. It was a long time 
 before we could win her confidence ; at last, how- 
 ever, she began to look upon us as her friends, 
 and then she told us how she had been persuaded 
 by a false friend to leave her parents' home. He 
 paid her passage, put her on board ship, and 
 gave her five pounds. She landed on our shore,
 
 AMON<; THK I.OWI.Y. 433 
 
 and in a short time found herself with an infant 
 in her arms, without means, friends or home. 
 She was brought to our doors, received and 
 cared for. We felt she had been duped by a 
 heartless villain, and that she needed our sym- 
 pathy and protection. She was persuaded to 
 write to her parents, and the replv that came 
 from them was exceedingly affecting. The kind- 
 hearted father earnestly invited her to come 
 
 J 
 
 back and again take her place in the family. We 
 also wrote to them, stating that their daughter 
 had conducted herself always with perfect pro- 
 priety while under our care, and we should be 
 glad to do all we could to restore her to them. 
 A letter came in reply containing the means to 
 pay her passage. We placed her on board the 
 steamer, made our way to the captain's office, 
 haying a note of introduction to him, that we 
 might request his protection for this unprotected 
 one across the mighty deep, her father having 
 been informed when she would leave New York, 
 that he might meet her on her arrival. A great 
 deal of extra care seemed to be necessary in her 
 case, for we knew her betrayer had persons in 
 the city seeking to prevent her returning home, 
 as he knew full well the danger if she, with her 
 child, should appear against him. A letter was 
 received saying she had reached home safely, 
 
 '9
 
 434 WOMAN s WORK 
 
 and we are anxiously waiting- to hear the result ol 
 the proceedings instituted by her father against 
 the guilty author of all the sorrow and trouble 
 through which this erring but deeply-wronged 
 child, and her Christian father and mother have 
 been called to pass. 
 
 The cases stated are sufficient to show the 
 nature of the work in our Shelter department, 
 and although we felt in its commencement con- 
 siderable misgiving, yet we are more than 
 satisfied with its results. It will be remembered 
 that the Shelter was opened with the expectation 
 of receiving young women to board, such as 
 were learning trades or working at low wages. 
 We found, however, that a much smaller number 
 than we anticipated, applied. It was, therefore, 
 decided to receive women with infants ; though 
 we still continue to receive the class above 
 named. 
 
 We are entirely averse to the separation of 
 mothers from their young children. Exceptions 
 of course must occur. But then the inquiry is 
 made, " How is it, so many babies are sent out by 
 your Institution for adoption?" Such a question 
 is readily answered. Apart from these, a large 
 number of motherless, deserted and orphan 
 infants are brought to us, for whom the foster- 
 homes are provided.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 435 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF COMMITTEE 
 
 OF EMPLOYMENT AID DEPARTMENT. 
 
 FOR IS/5 & '76. 
 
 When the House Committee for November, 
 1875, commenced their labors,, they found the 
 shelves in the Dorcas-room nearly bare, while 
 the calls for aid were most pressing. 
 
 Many, well-known to us as industrious 
 women, saying, " What will become of us and 
 our children, if we can find no work?" This 
 was brought to the notice of the Executive Com- 
 mittee, who authorized the purchase of materials 
 to a limited amount, and the employment of a 
 few worthy women in making garments suited 
 to the wants of the Institution. From that time 
 till the present, the work-room has been thronged 
 by those who in many cases, were glad to walk 
 two or three miles to obtain the small amount 
 which we are able to pay weekly for sewing. 
 
 As one and another returned with her com- 
 pleted work, it was often said by them that they 
 only needed a sewing machine to obtain constant 
 employment. But the utmost limit of our faith 
 did not extend to the supply of those. How 
 could we have so distrusted Infinite Love and 
 Power?
 
 436 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Almost at the same date, a letter was received 
 from a gentleman but little known to us previous- 
 ly, asking if a few sewing-machines could be 
 made useful, by loaning them to worthy, industri- 
 ous women, to whom they might become a 
 means of support. The offer was gratefully 
 accepted, and now, after one year, forty-four 
 machines have been received from this generous 
 benefactor, and distributed in that way, or sold 
 to similar parties, who wished to own them, but 
 can only pay in very small installments. 
 
 We give herewith some account of the 
 amount expended, and what has been accom- 
 plished with it. An increasing sale has been 
 found for plain garments for women and chil- 
 dren, and frequent orders are given us for coarse 
 and fine sewing, both of which help to muks the 
 department partly self-sustaining. We do not 
 the less gratefully recognize the loving hand of 
 the Master, because human agency seemed to 
 supply what was needed, but on the contrary, we 
 still look to Him to open the wav, so that a work 
 which helps so much 'at comparatively a small 
 outlay may be still carried on and increased. 
 
 We should state that a large part of the sew- 
 ing required in our Home family is now done by 
 this Department.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 437 
 
 Statistics from Nov., 1875, to Nov., 1876. 
 Expended for material, $262.90 
 
 Received for articles sold, 70.00 
 Paid for making garments, 400.99 
 
 Garments made 1,780. Sewing given to 100 
 poor women. 
 
 A FEW OF MANY. 
 
 The following cases from a later statement 
 are but a few of many, equally needing the 
 charity of work and wages. 
 
 Mrs. G., a woman well advanced in life, and 
 one of our neatest sewers, says she should have 
 had no fire the last two winters but for the work 
 procured here. 
 
 Miss S., a woman sixty-nine years old, goes 
 out for all the hard work she can find to do, and 
 comes here for sewing for a crippled sister, with 
 whom she makes her home. 
 
 One day, when visited and given three dollars 
 toward their rent, she said, " I have just stopped 
 a lady in the street to ask aid for another poor 
 woman, and now the Lord has sent you with this 
 to me." Their breakfast that morning had been 
 a hard crust of bread, and at first they thought 
 they could not eat it, when one of them recalled 
 having heard a sermon the previous morning on 
 " Be thankful for small things," and they were
 
 438 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 enabled to eat their crust with thankfulness. 
 They say they would not be able to live but for 
 the bread and oat-meal given them at the Homa. 
 
 The women have the privilege of buying the 
 garments at the cost of the material. 
 
 Orders for sewing have been received, and 
 satisfactorily filled, and it is desired to increase 
 the work in this direction, as it enables us to give 
 out a class of garments superior to those ordinari- 
 ly furnished, for the making of which we can 
 give a larger price. 
 
 Goods to the amount of $151.54 have been 
 sold, and this sum might have been greatly 
 increased, by having on hand at all times desir- 
 able garments for sale. 
 
 A larger expenditure will be required in this 
 department, to increase and carry on the true 
 benevolence of helping the poor to help them- 
 selves. 
 
 A LIFE-WORK WELL DONE. 
 
 In January, 1876, Mrs. Meginley, our eldest 
 missionary visitor, rested from her long period 
 of labor, and her works of love and mercy 
 among the poor and the suffering of the great 
 city, were devolved upon others. 
 
 She had found in this work a field of useful- 
 ness to which she was specially adapted, both by
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 439 
 
 age, intelligence, strong sympathy with the class 
 for whom she labored, and love to Him who 
 went about doing good. 
 
 Among the last written statements from her 
 own pen, respecting her work, we find the fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 " Again and again have we been solicited to 
 visit the sick husbands, wives and children, 
 miles from the Home, where we have witnessed 
 scenes of sorrow and suffering which beggar all 
 description. Clothes, food and fuel have been in 
 constant demand, and, as far as possible, have 
 been provided. The dread of death has been 
 sometimes so painfully displayed that it has, in a 
 measure unfitted us for duty. What should we 
 do if we could not point to the blessed Saviour 
 in these fearful extremities? 
 
 " To see our tenement-houses so stocked and 
 crowded with fresh daily arrivals from abroad 
 overcomes our courage for the moment. But 
 our trust is alone in One who is able to help to 
 the uttermost. They are all his creatures, 
 thrown upon our sympathy and strength, and we 
 will do all we know how for their good. 
 
 " Our hard-working American widows, whose 
 husbands fell in defence of our liberties, strug- 
 gling to rear their little ones, have been a sacred 
 trust to us. We have been able to make ninety-
 
 440 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 four of this class comfortable. When clad in 
 clean, warm garments, the joy of the little ones 
 has in some cases been very touching-. 
 
 " We have met with many sad cases of suffer- 
 ing in families reduced from affluence, and who 
 feel more keenly by contrast, the want of daily 
 comforts. Some of these have been reduced by 
 failures in business, some by intemperance, 
 others by injustice. We have 'visited one and 
 another, where nourishing food has not been 
 taken for two days. With what thanks the 
 assistance rendered has been received. The 
 warm quilts have been particularly acceptable in 
 many instances. 
 
 " Many heart-broken mothers have confided 
 to us their grievous sorrows concerning daugh- 
 ters, who scorn to be advised, and associate at 
 improper times with improper persons. What 
 sighs and tears have we witnessed, caused by 
 these erring children, and what terrible evils to 
 themselves will surely resul* from their way- 
 wardness. If this should meet the eye of any 
 wilful daughters we would entreat them to pause 
 and consider the terrible pit of woe which is 
 yawning to receive them. To cause a mother's 
 heart shame and sorrow is a sin little thought of 
 at the time, but which will bring certain and 
 fearful retribution.
 
 AMONC; THE LOWLY. 441 
 
 " It has been a pleasure to us to witness the 
 great love for reading among the children of the 
 poor. We have tried to supply that which shall 
 profit. We have distributed more than five 
 thousand leaflets among them, and it has been 
 our privilege to leave in these households from 
 tims to time, since last report, fifty-one Bibles, 
 ninety-eight Testaments, seventy-one other good 
 bopks, with papers and tracts uncounted. Some 
 of the little ones we have good reason to believe, 
 have been taught of God. 
 
 " Nine of our beneficiaries have died, con- 
 cerning whose meetness for heaven not a shadow 
 
 o 
 
 of doubt crosses our mind. Five of these were 
 young persons. Washed in the blood of the 
 Lamb, their earthly conflicts have ended in vic- 
 tory, and they are now at rest. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM FOSTER-PARENTS, 
 
 UNSEAL our eyes to see how rife 
 
 With bloom life's thorny path may be ; 
 
 And how it leads to heights of life, 
 Which only Thou canst see. 
 
 SPENCER. 
 
 Two facts seem to show very clearly the 
 overruling Hand in the records of our Fourth 
 Decade. One is the large and increasing num- 
 ber of applicants for children. The other the 
 
 19*
 
 442 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 parental love so fully exhibited by those who 
 become foster-parents. 
 
 A few brief extracts from recent letters, may 
 have place here by way of example. 
 
 "Prayed to be guided." A foster-mother 
 writes : " Before going to the Home to seek a 
 child, I prayed most earnestly to be guided 
 aright, and my faith is firm that I was thus 
 guided. And now, our daily prayer is that we 
 may be spared to train this child for the service 
 of the Master. We already love her very dear- 
 ly. My heart has been so hungry for this little 
 one, and now is so full and satisfied. * * May 
 God in His mercy direct you to good homes for 
 all His friendless little ones placed in your keep- 
 
 " A thousand times, No! " Another writes of 
 one adopted years since :**.*_" You ask, 
 do we regret taking her? I answer, 'a thousand 
 times, No.' She has ever been a great comfort 
 to us. She is very fond of her home and friends, 
 always affectionate and obedient ; not more fault- 
 less than other children, but loved just as tender- 
 ly as our own, and has as much to make her 
 happy. She loves her music. We, too, prize 
 the talent, and shall spare no pains for her 
 improvement." 
 
 " Ample compensation." A foster-father writes :
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 443 
 
 " I wish you could see the transformation made 
 in that little one, who not long ago faintly 
 whispered, ' Mamma's baby, papa's baby,' timid 
 and frightened by aught that reminded her of 
 former cruel treatment. But, oh, how quickly 
 kindness conquered and dissipated fear. I need 
 not say she is very dear to us. To have so 
 changed the outlook for one little sufferer, upon 
 whose prospects six months ago dark shadows 
 rested, and to confer so much pleasure as now 
 shines in that radiant face, that happy look, is 
 ample compensation for all the care and outlay 
 expended hitherto ; and that merry laugh which 
 reaches my ear as I write this line, has in it, I 
 trust, a prophecy of joyous days to come. So 
 may it be for her, and for those she now loves 
 and trusts as a child trusts her parents." * * 
 
 " Leave the result." A foster-mother writes : 
 " We wish you to send us adoption papers. Our 
 own darlings could not love us more, and we 
 become more and more attached to the dear 
 child every day. She has brought a great deal 
 of brightness into our shadowed home. We 
 hope to do our duty in her training, in the name 
 of the Master, and leave the result with Him." * 
 
 " The light of our home" " Our Home child is 
 the light of our house, and the comfort of our old 
 age, having attained our three-score years and
 
 444 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ten, and she the only one of our three adopted 
 children left with us. I only wish that when I 
 had health and strength we had made a home 
 for others. That God may prosper you in your 
 work of mercy, is the prayer of your friend." * * 
 " Better than all" " Dear ladies of the Home, 
 it is time you should receive our annual letter. 
 How rapidly the years pass; I can hardly realize 
 that our daughter is nearly fifteen years old, but 
 a little time ago I received her a babe of eighteen 
 months, from the arms of one of your laborers, 
 (now at rest). It is needless to say we have had 
 trials and care, these we expected. It has been 
 our constant aim and anxiety from the first, that 
 we might train her in the path of virtue, good- 
 ness and true womanhood. I have the fullest 
 co-operation of my husband at this trying age, to 
 shield her from the many temptations in life ; 
 meet them she must. She is intelligent and 
 active, -we have sent her to school nearly every 
 term since she was of sufficient age, and she is 
 well advanced in her education. Her standing 
 in deportment is good, and she has improved her 
 musical advantages. She has a piano, and sings 
 quite well. She is also capable of doing nearly 
 all kinds of housework, makes and repairs much 
 of her own clothing. But better than all, this is 
 blended and balanced by the grace of God in her
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 445 
 
 heart. She is an active, working Christian, a 
 faithful Sabbath-school scholar, and zealous for 
 the Master. My heart goes out in gratitude for 
 the many blessings thus bestowed." 
 
 "Brings cheer to our home" A foster-parent, 
 who took to her arms one of three orphan chil- 
 dren, whose only inheritance was a mother's 
 prayers, writes thus : " We purpose to train and 
 educate her as our own ; she is such a lovable 
 child that she finds many friends. She fills a 
 vacant chair, and brings cheer to our home and 
 hearts moment by moment ; she learns rapidly, 
 and has a good memory." 
 
 Another writes : "L. is one of the dearest 
 children that ever lived, and as nearly faultless 
 as any child ever known ; best of all, has been a 
 Christian for three years." 
 
 " The nurture and admonition of the Lord'' A 
 foster-father writes : " Dear Madam, yours of 
 the 8th is at hand, also the adoption papers, 
 which we were very glad to receive. Our 
 little darling is very healthy and happy. She 
 grows nicely and is very precious to us. We 
 are very thankful to God for the blessing of 
 such a dear child, and to your Christian Institu- 
 tion for its instrumentality in sending her to us. 
 I trust that we may bring her up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord." * *
 
 446 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " The light and joy of our home" A mother 
 writes : " Our two foster-children are dear to us 
 as ever. The eldest has reached her majority, 
 but remains with us, and we would not know 
 how to part^with her. She is indeed the light 
 and joy of our home. She came to us frail and 
 sickly, and many wondered how we could 
 assume such a burden, but we feel thankful to 
 our Heavenly Father that he led us to do so. 
 She is now a well-developed, pure-minded, 
 Christian young lady, and highly esteemed by 
 all who know her." * * 
 
 FROM ADOPTED CHILDREN. 
 
 The following paragraphs from letters from 
 adopted children, are but specimens of many on 
 file of the same type. Names and dates in all 
 cases are omitted for local reasons. 
 
 An adopted daughter writes: " I often think 
 of the Home and of once being there myself. I 
 wish that each and all who are in the Home 
 might get as good a place as I have. I attend 
 school regularly, also Church and Sabbath- 
 school. I think I found the Saviour two years 
 ago this winter ; last March I joined the Congre- 
 gational Church. The Saviour gives me happi-
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 447 
 
 ness in following Him, and I desire to follow 
 Him still more closely." 
 
 " Have not been forgotten" Another writes : 
 " I am greatly pleased to think I have not been 
 forgotten during the long time that has passed 
 since I was taken from the Home. My memory 
 has served me well, as there is no part of my life 
 but of which I have a distinct recollection. I 
 am truly thankful to God for all the blessings I 
 have received. It has of late been my constant 
 effort to do His will, but I often fail. I have 
 had many hard, hard lessons. I have had every 
 worldly comfort, and many luxuries. I have 
 never felt able to forget for a day the obligation 
 I am under. I have many true friends, which 
 is my greatest happiness. Hoping God will 
 bless you and all others interested in such noble 
 work, I am thankfully yours." 
 
 " Hope to be a great comfort." Perhaps you 
 will be surprised to hear from me again, and 
 wonder why I intrude upon you so much. But 
 I cannot resist the temptation to write again, and 
 tell you how thankful I was to receive your 
 letter. I can never forget it, I assure you. I 
 am getting along finely. I am all that father 
 and mother have, I hope to stay with them a 
 long time yet, and be a great comfort to them. 
 * One of your ' little ones.' "
 
 448 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 "Have a very pleasant home." " Dear Friend, I 
 will, answer your kind letter. I have a very 
 pleasant home, and am very happy. 1 have 
 attended Church and Sabbath-school every Sab- 
 bath day since I was three years old. I sing in 
 the choir. I have taken music lessons ever 
 since I was eight years old until last spring. I 
 attend select school and study the common 
 branches. I thank God for his goodness, in 
 giving me such a good home, and such good 
 parents. They are just as good to me as can 
 be. I have every thing I need. I have tried 
 to be a Christian, but do not always do right. 
 I thank you for your kind letter." * * * 
 
 " Thanks for care in early childhood." " I 
 received yours of the inst., Please let me 
 express my thanks to you and the managers of 
 the Home for the care they have taken of me in 
 my early childhood, and I thank God also for 
 giving me earthly parents, when I was bereaved 
 of my own. 
 
 " I have been to school ever since J left the 
 Home, and I am in the Grammar Department at 
 present. I attend the Sunday-school regularly 
 and Church as often as circumstances will per- 
 mit. . I am taught daily not to forget God, and 
 ask Him to protect me night and morning, to, 
 guide and instruct me for the future. Let me
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 449 
 
 thank you once more for your kindness. Give 
 my love to all the children, and to all the Home 
 Managers. Your loving friend." * * * 
 
 " Kindness many years ago." Another writes : 
 " I have not forgotten you nor your kindness so 
 many years ago. ' I have a good home and kind 
 parents and a great many good friends, and, oh, 
 how thankful I am to my Heavenly Father and 
 to you. My father and mother are very kind to 
 me, as good and kind as own parents could be. 
 I wish you much success at the Home. With 
 love to you all. Yours, very truly." * * * 
 
 " A kind Providence directed" A letter from 
 one of our children, who left us when very 
 young, says: " I owe you a debt of love and 
 gratitude which can never by me be repaid. It 
 was a kind Providence that directed my foot- 
 steps to my present home. I feel that a home 
 better suited to my wants and needs could not 
 possibly have been selected. All that the most 
 tender love of a father's and mother's heart 
 could suggest has been done for me. To a 
 Heavenly Father's love and care are thanks due 
 for all." * * * 
 
 " From one early bereaved" " My health has 
 been very good since I have been here. I have 
 attended school, and always every Sabbath have 
 attended Church and Sabbath-school, and I
 
 450 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 rejoice and thank God that my lot has fallen to 
 me in such pleasant places. My friends are 
 very kind to me and treat me as a daughter. 
 There is nothing that I want, in reason, but what 
 is provided for me, and while my temporal 
 wants have been so amply provided for, my 
 spiritual wants have not been neglected. 
 
 " I feel in my soul to-day that I have found the 
 Pearl of great price, the Saviour of sinners, 
 precious to my soul and precious to all who 
 believe. Let me assure you that I shall never 
 forget the care and attention bestowed upon me 
 by my kind friends, in whose care you placed 
 me when I left the Home, so long ago. May 
 you, they and the writer all meet in heaven." 
 
 "A good girl" Dear Mrs. B. : "I will send 
 you a few words for your kindness to me. I 
 will be a good girl. I go every Sunday to 
 English and German Sunday-school. I go 
 every Saturday to sewing-school and learn differ- 
 ent kinds of hand-work. Please send me back 
 a few words." * * * 
 
 " Makes me study." " I will write you a few 
 lines to let you know that I am well, and go to 
 school every day. I have the same teacher 
 that I had last year. I like her very much, but 
 sometimes she makes me study pretty hard. 
 We have had good sleighing this winter and I
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 451 
 
 have had many nice rides. I go to Sunday- 
 school and church too, unless it storms. I 
 don't know as 1 have any more to say, so good 
 by. L." 
 
 " Duty and pleasure to repay." " My dear 
 Friend, Your kind letter was received Saturday 
 last. It affords me great pleasure to hear from 
 you again, and know that I am not forgotten by 
 those who have been so kind to me. I thank 
 you for the interest you take in my welfare, and 
 am glad I have such true friends. 
 
 " You will be glad to know I still trust in the 
 Saviour and my daily prayer is that I may love 
 Him more and serve Him better. Pray for me 
 that I may shun evil and ever cling to the right 
 way. 
 
 " I love dearly to go to our Sunday-school, 
 for the lessons are very interesting. I am attend- 
 ing school yet, and am studying Latin, geom- 
 etry, geology and chemistry. Every week we 
 have debates and compositions. During this 
 summer-vacation I should like to try a teacher's 
 examination, and if successful, I hope by-and-by 
 to try teaching. I think 1 shall like it, for it 
 has been my desire for a long time. I wish now 
 to try to help my dear parents a little. They 
 have given me every advantage in their power, 
 and have made me very happy, and it is now
 
 452 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 both my duty and pleasure, to repay them what 
 little I can. Write to me again, please, I like 
 very much to hear from you. Affectionately 
 yours." 
 
 " All I have in my Gothic Bank." "I thank 
 you for taking care of me when I was in the 
 Home. I have a nice home here, and I have a 
 good time. I go to school, and I think I learn 
 very fast and I try to be a good boy. I am 
 nine years old. I go to Sunday-school, and am 
 in mamma's class. 1 am in the Fourth Reader. 
 I send all the money that I have in my Gothic 
 
 bank, for the Home. I send my love to you." 
 * * * 
 
 One pleasantly settled says, " I am one of 
 four children, brought to the Home after the 
 death of our loved mother, and the moral wreck 
 made of our father, by intemperance. Three of 
 us were adopted, all cf whom have done well, 
 and are now happily settled in life. Two, 
 through the influence of foster-parents, early 
 became converted, and are useful in the Church 
 and the world."
 
 " Blessed are the dead, who die to the Lord." |j} 
 
 H 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 WHAT will it be when these again shall meet, 
 
 With those yet waiting for the Master's call, 
 
 And ail earth's parted, saved ones shall sit down 
 
 Together, in a day that yet shall come, 
 
 And welcoming each other shall recount 
 
 The annals of their age > * * * * 
 
 What will that feast-board be, and what that hall 
 
 Where they who have obtained the good report 
 
 Shall meet together in one holy band ? 
 
 * * * * * HONAR. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 IN the preceding Chapters, the record of 
 Christian work and its results, represents both 
 those who are gone, and those still spared in the 
 same service. Of the latter it may be but just to 
 say of very many, that, inspired by love to 
 humanity, and love to its Redeemer, and guided 
 and upheld by His grace "they seem to be living 
 lives of energy and usefulness, quietly, untiring-
 
 454 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ly, without ostentation, or an idea that they are 
 doing more than their simple duty." If they, 
 too, may finish their earthly course, leaving sim- 
 ilar testimony at its close, as that of many of 
 their fellow-laborers now at rest, they will have 
 cause for praise down the ages, that they have 
 not lived in vain. 
 
 While the Association has ever been nobly 
 sustained by needful material aid, received in 
 free-will offerings from the garners of the 
 wealthy, the widows' mites, the dimes of the 
 children, bequests of the dying, etc., we may well 
 count its largest and best endowments, the faith 
 and love, the devoted services, Christian example 
 and united prayers of its many departed friends, 
 whose life-work has been well done. 
 
 The reminiscences of several of the most 
 efficient officers and managers of the Institution, 
 were written for our periodical immediately after 
 their decease. A few extracts only are inserted 
 here as being due to their memory, also to 
 illustrate the spirit of the work, and the type of 
 feeling cherished, in life and in death, by those 
 longest familiar with its interests. 
 
 MRS. MARGARET PRIOR. 
 
 Mrs. Prior, an early Manager of the A. F. G. 
 Society, was peculiarly fitted to exert a salutary
 
 AMONG TIIK I.ONVI.V. 455 
 
 influence wherever she moved, and from her 
 youth up was actively engaged in the cause of 
 benevolence. In the first New York Orphan 
 Asylum and the House of Refuge, her early and 
 efficient labors as an officer and visitor, gave her 
 valuable phases of experience for her later work, 
 in the Association to which her last years were 
 devoted. * * * 
 
 In referring to her attendance of the earliest 
 stated meetings of this Society, Mrs. Hawkins 
 wrote, among other reminiscences, " During the 
 time devoted to business on these occasions, she 
 seldom spoke much, but her countenance indicat- 
 ed that her heart was lifted in prayer. This 
 attracted notice, and one sister remarked aside, 
 that she felt reproved by her appearance, and 
 believed her prayers would accomplish more 
 than all our plans. * * As a missionary she 
 was remarkably successful. * * Daily denying 
 self, taking up her cross, following whithersoever 
 her Saviour led, nightly spreading her work 
 before the Mercy-seat, and inquiring wherein she 
 might have offended in thought, word or deed, 
 and receiving comfort from the blessed assurance 
 ' If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to 
 forgive, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness.' Naturally ol an ardent temperament, she 
 was liable sometimes to speak from the impulse
 
 456 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 of the moment ; but if she retired to rest before 
 asking forgiveness, where she might have erred, 
 she was sure on the morrow to seek the earliest 
 opportunity to do so. Thus self was abased, 
 and God honored ; the power of grace 
 triumphed, and the Christian conquered." 
 
 Mrs. Prior was the foster-mother of seven 
 adopted children ; in character, a model of excel- 
 lence in every relation she sustained in life, ever 
 an example of whatsoever things are pure, love- 
 ly, and of good report. For a more extended 
 account of her life and labors, see " Walks of 
 Usefulness," published by A. F. G. Society. 
 
 MRS. ADON SMITH. 
 
 Mrs. Adon Smith, another of our beloved 
 band, on the morning of Thursday, January igth, 
 passed peacefully to her rest. For the last eight 
 years, her place in the committee-room was sel- 
 dom vacant except from illness or absence from 
 the city, and testimonials are abundant, that she 
 gave her heart to this work more fully than to 
 any other disconnected with her own beloved 
 household. Her associates can never forget how 
 often she entered the Home, unable for some 
 time to speak audibly, and yet preferring to 
 come there, even though suffering. They can- 
 not forget how cheerfully she gave substantial
 
 AMOXCi THK LOWLY. 457 
 
 aid to, every department ol the work, as occasion 
 required, how oiten, in the service of the Society 
 her commodious carriage became, at her bid- 
 ding, as " feet to the lame," a shelter from the 
 storm, or the bearer of comlorts to the sick and 
 destitute, the conveyancer of little ones from the 
 garret or the cellar to the Home, where she 
 could see them protected and relieved. But 
 her mission is accomplished, and while we sor- 
 row that we shall see her face no more, we 
 recognize the goodness of our Heavenly Father 
 in making her so. long thus instrumental of good 
 to the perishing. 
 
 When told that her physician thought her 
 dying, she received the intelligence with perfect 
 composure and remarked soon after, " I am 
 happy, very happy." 
 
 Being dead she yet speaketh. " Be ye also 
 ready," "work while the day lasts, for the night 
 cometh." 
 
 Her funeral was attended on the 2ist by a 
 large concourse of relatives, friends, and Chris- 
 tian associates, who listened with tearful interest 
 to the very excellent and timely remarks of her 
 pastor, Rev. J. P. Thompson. The services 
 throughout w r ere impressive, and as we looked 
 our last upon the peaceful countenance, \ve 
 seemed to feel that, could those mute lips speak, 
 
 20
 
 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 they would say to us in the beautiful language of 
 " the voice from Heaven." 
 
 "I shine in the light of God, 
 
 His image stamps my brow, 
 Through the shadows of death my feet have trod, 
 
 I reign in glory now ; 
 No breaking heart is here, 
 
 No keen and thrilling pain, 
 No wasted cheek where the frequent tear 
 
 Hath rolled and left its stain. 
 
 I have found the joys of heaven. 
 
 I am one of the angel band, 
 To my head a crown of gold is given, 
 
 And a harp is in my hand ; 
 I have learned the song they sing, 
 
 Whom Jesus hath set free, 
 And the glorious walls of heaven still ring, 
 
 With my new-born melody." 
 ******* 
 
 MRS. MARY SANFORD CUTTER. 
 
 " Death drew the curtain, and she slept in peace, 
 But tears are flowing 'mid those pleasant halls 
 Where her affections rested- shedding forth 
 Their brilliance like some never-setting sun : 
 Yes. there are lingering sighs of mournful thought 
 Where poverty its naked hearth would trim, 
 And frequent lispings of her name from babes 
 Who by the robes that shield them from the storm, 
 And by the holy lessons she had taught 
 In all her walks of love remember her." 
 
 " Death loves a shining mark " and " That 
 life is long, that answers life's great end" are 
 sentiments especially applicable in the case ol
 
 AMONG TIIK LOWLY. 459 
 
 the beloved sister whose death we mourn. * * * 
 Mrs. C was conscientious, unselfish, pure- 
 minded, generous, efficient ; and her heart 
 seemed ever overflowing with love and sym- 
 pathy for others " On her tongue was the law 
 of kindness " and of fe\v that have lived, could 
 it be said with more truth, " None knew her but 
 .to love her. " 
 
 Her interest in behalf of the poor and friend- 
 less was early developed. As memory turns 
 Time's dial back, we find her even in her 
 thirteenth year, cheerfully devoting the after- 
 noon of every Sabbath during the summer and 
 autumn, as an assistant in the Sabbath-school 
 that she had helped to gather from the outskirts 
 of her native town, and which was composed 
 mostly of children whose parents attended no 
 place of worship, many of whom could not read, 
 and were extremely ignorant of the claims of the 
 gospel. Her tender interest in these neglected 
 little ones, won for her an influence over them 
 for good, that in some cases she will doubtless 
 review with joy and praise from the courts 
 above. 
 
 An only daughter, in a home of affluence, sur- 
 rounded by fruits and flowers and groves and 
 gentle streams, inviting to the eye and charming 
 to the sense, it was pleasant to behold her
 
 460 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 renouncing the vain pleasures >f earth, seeing* 
 God in all his works, acknowledging Him in all 
 her ways, and feeling that earthly blessings were 
 only lent as tokens of His love, and as passing 
 earnests of those joys where sin casts no blight. 
 
 In early womanhood the scene is changed; 
 we find her in the midst of the great city, the 
 exemplary wife and mother, the active Christian 
 laborer, neglecting no home duties, but often 
 wending her way silently amid the abodes of 
 want, by the couch of the sick .and the dying, 
 and ministering with her own hands to their 
 necessities, " not forgetful to entertain strangers," 
 " showing hospitality without grudging," sus- 
 taining the female prayer-meeting, the maternal 
 meeting, and the stated meetings of the Church, 
 as far as possible, by her presence. * * * In 
 May, 1843, her name was enrolled with oar band, 
 and she was gladly welcomed to a share in the 
 joys and sorrows of the work. 
 
 When the foundations of the Home were 
 being reared, the top-stone laid, and the edifice 
 was dedicated, her grateful tears bespoke a joy 
 too deep for utterance a sympathy of soul in 
 the objects of the work that like her many 
 instinctive offerings, were to the Hearer of 
 Prayer, an accepted sacrifice. We have reason 
 to believe there are some already in glory, whom
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY/, 461 
 
 she was instrumental of saving, through this 
 channel, and some yet among the living, who 
 may have equal occasion to remember her acts 
 of beneficence in their behalf. Believing the 
 circulation of the Advocate a benefit to the 
 cause, she suffered no opportunity to pass, with- 
 out introducing it to the favorable notice of 
 visitors and others and from year to year, sub- 
 scribed and paid for it personally in behalf of 
 various individuals. 
 
 On one occasion during a pleasant interview, 
 Mrs. C - mentioned incidentally some results 
 connected with a gold piece, that having been 
 first used for charity, and returned unexpectedly, 
 had been since kept in circulation and regarded 
 as the Lord's money His special blessing being 
 sought when.it was sent away, and watched for 
 subsequently. This account seemed so full of 
 interest that the little record was published in 
 the Advocate of August 1st, 1849, under the 
 caption, " The Lord's half-eagle or a history of 
 a gold piece." Those who may re-peruse this 
 instructive reminiscence will find in it a simple 
 illustration of her habitual labors to confer 
 needed benefits, and lessen human suffering. 
 
 In the noonday of life and usefulness, in the 
 midst of a rising family needing the guidance 
 and watch-care of a mother's loving eve her
 
 462 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Heavenly Father called her to a higher service ; 
 and after distinctly hearing the summons, she 
 had only time to utter faintly a few words of 
 love and comfort to those dearest to her heart, 
 and then calmly commending her spirit to her 
 Redeemer, she slept in Jesus. 
 
 Not in vain, Sainted one ! hast thou toiled here below, 
 Where floods of dark waters unceasingly flow ; 
 Not in vain, borne the trials of labor and love, 
 Thy reward is unceasing in mansions above ! 
 
 We will think of thee, Sister ! for yet we are one, 
 But a thin veil divides us that soon will be gone ; 
 We will clasp the new cord that our Saviour has given, 
 By calling thee first to the kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 MRS. SARAH C. HAWXHURST. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah C. Hawxhurst, long a beloved 
 member of the Board of Managers of the Ameri- 
 can Female Guardian Society, departed this life 
 on the' 23d of April, in the 8ist year of her age. 
 She had long anticipated and waited patiently 
 her change, feeling that " to live was Christ, and 
 to die gain." She was a member of the 
 Society of Friends, and often with great meek- 
 ness, modesty, simplicity, and sweetness of spirit, 
 bore testimony to the praise of her Redeemer. 
 
 She possessed a cultivated mind, well-stored
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 463 
 
 memory, symmetry of character, and a spirit of 
 active Christian benevolence, that induced a con- 
 stant watchfulness for opportunities to do good. 
 To this end she always kept by her a supply of 
 good books and tracts for gratuitous distribu- 
 tion in her walks of usefulness. Few that have 
 met with her for years past have not received 
 from her hand some of these, accompanied by 
 some word of counsel, prompted by Christian 
 faithfulness. 
 
 She was for many years a member of the 
 Ladies' Board connected with the House of 
 Refuge, and a faithful visitor and laborer in the 
 Female Department, and both this Institution 
 and the Ladies' Bible Society, and various other 
 charities will long feel the void occasioned by 
 her removal. 
 
 She was present at our last donation visit at 
 the Home, with an offering consisting of fifty- 
 four needful articles, for our nursery children, 
 chiefly the work of her own hands, and seemed 
 much gratified in witnessing the liberality mani- 
 fested by the friends of the Institution. 
 
 A large concourse were gathered at her 
 funeral, whose hearts responded to the precious 
 words, " Blessed are the dead, who die in the 
 Lord, for they rest from their labors and their 
 works do follow them."
 
 464 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 " There is no death ! what seems so is transition ; 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but a suburb of the Life elysian, 
 
 Whose portal we call Death. 
 In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
 
 By guardian angels led 
 Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 
 
 She lives, whom we call dead." 
 
 MRS. BENJAMIN LORD. 
 " NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE." 
 
 " God calls our loved ones, but we lose not wholly 
 
 What He hath given ; 
 They live on earth, ii> thought and deed as truly 
 
 As in His heaven." 
 
 ***** 
 
 " Mrs. Lord had been a member of the church 
 for thirty-five years. It may be said that her 
 profession and piety were without pretension, 
 but her life was one of great purity of motive, 
 and her heart and hand were ever open to 
 administer to the needy. Self-denial was a 
 pleasure to her if in the way of what she con- 
 sidered duty. 
 
 " Her connection with the Home for the 
 Friendless was one of great interest and pleasure 
 to her. She often regretted that she was not 
 doing more, or could not do more of the great 
 amount of work 'that is required to be done there, 
 and among its various Schools and outside poor.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 465 
 
 Her illness was long and painful, but her faith 
 never faltered, and this enabled her to be patient 
 and resigned, and even to rejoice and give 
 thanks in the midst of great bodily suffering. 
 Always timid and distrustful of herself, she 
 triumphed over all by her unwavering trust in 
 the compassion and love of God in Christ, and 
 through the manifested grace and presence of 
 the Saviour she could say that all fear and all 
 dread were gone. 
 
 " That she was going to her Heavenly home 
 and rest was clear to her. 
 
 " Her last words and injunctions to her family 
 and attendants cannot be forgotten as long as 
 memory holds her place." 
 
 The Committee of Home School No. 4, in 
 whose faithful labors Mrs. L. had shared for so 
 many years, very keenly felt her loss. The dear 
 children, too, both there and at the Home, would 
 gladly strew flowers upon her grave in token of 
 their grateful love. When her death was 
 announced in School No. 4, the teacher inquired 
 if they were not sorry to lose so kind a friend ? 
 All responded affirmatively. She continued, 
 " For what are you most sorry, that she will 
 never more prepare clothing for you ? " No 
 answer. " That she will never more give money 
 for your pleasure and comfort?" Still no 
 
 20*
 
 466 WOMAN'S WO*:K 
 
 response. "Why then are you sorry?" Those 
 who remembered her best at once replied, 
 "Because she will not pray for us any more." 
 Because she will not pray for us any more, was 
 uttered audibly from seat to seat, with subdued 
 emotions, indicating that the expression was 
 truly heartfelt. 
 
 May each and all praise the Infinite Giver 
 that we have left us the legacy of her prayers, 
 and beautiful example,' be enabled so to follow 
 her as she followed Christ, and find as she found 
 in the last conflict that death is swallowed up in 
 victory. 
 
 "WHOSO BELIEVETH IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE." 
 
 It is not death to die 
 
 To leave this weary road, 
 And 'mid the brotherhood on high. 
 
 To be at home with God. 
 
 It is not death to close 
 
 The eye long dimmed by tears, 
 And wake, in glorious repose, 
 
 To spend eternal years. 
 
 BETHUNE. 
 A LIFE-WORK WELL DONE. 
 
 The last day of the closing year [1863] termin- 
 ated the earthly labors of our beloved associate, 
 Mrs. R. D. Lathrop. To human view our work 
 could ill afford to lose her efficient services, so
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 467 
 
 long and freely given, and when we think of her 
 removal, in the light of our conscious loss, 
 we sorrow, unspeakably, that we shall see her 
 face no more. 
 
 She had been afflicted for some time with 
 heart-disease, but it was hoped that a fatal ter- 
 mination might be postponed, at least for months 
 to come. Such was not to be the result. He 
 who said, " If I go away, I will come again and 
 receive you unto myself," has fulfilled His 
 gracious promise. After causing His grace to 
 be manifested abundantly in sustaining the soul 
 under great physical suffering, He permitted it 
 almost literally, to 
 
 " Sing itself away, 
 To everlasting bliss." 
 
 For more than a week it was supposed that 
 each passing hour might end the dying strife, 
 but still the spirit lingered. Farewells had 
 been spoken. Last messages communicated, 
 parting counsels uttered, special tokens of 
 remembrance sent to absent loved ones, with the 
 assurance that " to her there was no darkness in 
 the tomb, and beyond it a present Saviour made 
 the vision bright and glorious." At length the 
 last day came, and for some hours she seemed 
 wrapped in the stupor of exhausted nature, from 
 which a revival was scarcely to be expected.
 
 468 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 But again the love-light beamed from her dying 
 eyes, a mother's kiss was once and again imprint- 
 ed on a daughter's lips, and the request whis- 
 pered, " Sing for me " Once and again filial 
 voices joined in singing to the dying listener, 
 just ready to join the carol of seraph bands, till 
 all present felt that they could almost see heaven 
 opened. At intervals she uttered the most 
 rapturous expressions of her views of the New 
 Jerusalem and the love of Christ, and again 
 joined mentally in singing such words as-, " Rock 
 of Ages," " Jesus ! Lover of my soul," etc. 
 Such was the last precious scene of earthly inter- 
 course, such the close of a life-work whose 
 record is on high. 
 
 An accurate statement of the amount of 
 benevolent effort accomplished by this beloved 
 sister, especially within the past three years, 
 would seem almost incredible to those not per- 
 sonally familiar with her walks of usefulness and 
 her indomitable energy of purpose. In her 
 numerous letters to our patrons, in the bound 
 volumes of the Advocate, she yet speaks. In 
 our Committee and Dorcas room, she speaks in 
 expressive silence. To the broken circle of her 
 associates, as they, pursue their chosen work, she 
 will often speak, not of labors self-wrought, or 
 free from weakness and human imperfection, but
 
 AMONG THE 1,0 WLY. 469 
 
 of having " done what she could," as she had 
 opportunity, heartily and earnestly, till per- 
 mitted to be no longer steward. * * * 
 
 MRS. MARGARET DYE. 
 
 " Don't weep for me." These were the last 
 words of our beloved sister, Mrs. Margaret Dye, 
 who left us for the land of the blest, Feb. 26th, 
 1867. 
 
 It would be difficult to .express the sense of 
 deep bereavement which the early laborers in 
 this Society experience in view of this event. 
 As she was among the earliest, so she was among 
 the many dearly-loved laborers. But she has 
 entered into rest, and we doubt not an abundant 
 entrance was ministered unto her. 
 
 She gave herself to the Saviour in the fresh- 
 ness of her youth, and entered at once upon 
 active Christian duty. In view of discourage- 
 ments and obstacles which to many would have 
 been insurmountable, she steadily pursued her 
 upward course, her eye of faith ever resting 
 upon the crown and the mansion prepared. 
 The death angel found her with armor bright, 
 ready for duty, ready to go, or ready to stay. 
 Up to the last week of her life, notwithstanding 
 her failing strength, she was met by other Chris- 
 tian sisters in her walks of love and mercy,
 
 470 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ministering to the comfort of the Lord's hidden 
 ones. She was eminently a happy Christian. 
 Life was not without its discipline to her. Oft- 
 times her path was rugged and severe, but she 
 felt that a Father's hand was over it all, and did 
 not allow it to mar her peace. Hers were 
 among the afflictions that " bear the weary more 
 quickly home to rest." 
 
 At eighteen years of age she became a mem- 
 ber of the Board, and from that time till her 
 death labored for its advancement either in a 
 public or private capacity, the cares of a large 
 family she being the mother of thirteen chil- 
 dren, whose interests were never made second- 
 ary often impeding, but never entirely prevent- 
 ing her personal efforts, for the needy and out- 
 cast of every age and condition. But it was not 
 the poor alone who were the subjects of these 
 ministrations. When thrown among' the rich, 
 she was still the same diligent seed-sower. 
 
 She lived to see the earnest desire of her 
 heart fulfilled in the salvation of her nearest 
 kindred, and to enjoy the unspeakable privilege 
 of sitting at the Lord's table with most of her 
 family, a few weeks before her death, in the 
 same church where she professed her Christian 
 faith some forty years previous. Truly her life 
 of half a century has been well spent, and in her
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 471 
 
 death was evinced the faithfulness of a covenant- 
 keeping God. 
 
 The numerous company assembled in the 
 church showed the deep hold she had of the 
 heart, but the most touching tribute of affec- 
 tionate remembrance was shown by the presence 
 of twelve children from the Home for the 
 Friendless, wearing the badge of mourning and 
 of the Institution, who reverently came forward 
 at the proper time and deposited each a boquet 
 of fragrant flowers upon the coffin. 
 
 A friend, who was much with her, and who 
 had seen death in many forms, speaks of hers as 
 the most triumphant she ever witnessed. Her 
 prayerful intercessions in our frequent meetings 
 were indeed felt to be a tower of strength. 
 May her mantle fall upon many who will follow 
 Christ as she did, and at last join her in the ever- 
 lasting song of praise to our glorious Redeemer. 
 
 M. I. H. 
 
 OUR DEPARTED SISTER. 
 MRS. M. DYE. 
 
 Gone from a world of toil and care, 
 
 A troubled life below ; 
 From heart-aches, struggles, secret tears, 
 
 Which He alone could know. 
 Who understands our thoughts afar, 
 
 And feels each hidden woe.
 
 472 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Gone from our side, where long she stood 
 Battling with sin and wrong; 
 
 Ah, we shall miss her cheerful word, 
 Her smile, her tuneful song; 
 
 We follow her across the flood, 
 With wistful gaze and long. 
 
 We see her on that other shore. 
 
 Clad in her robes of white ; 
 Walking with loved ones gone before, 
 
 In the unfading light ; 
 A victor, crowned forevermore, 
 
 From out this earthly fight. 
 
 No more perplexity or strife, 
 
 No more disease or pain, 
 No rude inharmonies of life, 
 
 Shall mar her peace again ; 
 No more shall sighs her bosom heave, 
 
 Nor tears her eye-lids stain. 
 
 And happy spirits thronging haste 
 
 Along the heavenly street, 
 With joyful welcome and reward, 
 
 Her risen soul to greet; 
 Ah, not a starless crown has she, 
 
 To cast at Jesus' feet. 
 
 Our sister loved ! with many a tear, 
 We yield thee up to Heaven ! 
 
 The tie that bound our spirits here, 
 Cannot by death be riven ; 
 
 And in thy victory, a share 
 To us will soon be given ! 
 
 H. E. B.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 4/3 
 
 AN EARLY LABORER REMOVED. 
 
 The recent sudden death of Mrs. A. C. Love- 
 land, leaves another void in our Home circle o'f 
 earl}' helpers. Her name was first recorded 
 upon our Board of Managers, June, 1839, an ^ 
 through all the early struggles of the Society, 
 she was ever firm at the post of duty, ready to 
 toil, in season and out of season, for the promo- 
 tion of the work. At that period few stated con- 
 tributors furnished more frequent or more accep- 
 table articles for our columns. In the Mariners' 
 Family Industrial Society, she was also for many 
 years equally active and ardent. 
 
 Having made frequent voyages over the 
 ocean in company with her esteemed companion, 
 she early became familiar with the perils of sea- 
 men, and the wants and exposures of their 
 bereaved and often destitute families. 
 
 The Sabbath previous to her departure, Aug. 
 16, 1865, she was in her accustomed place in the 
 sanctuary, and enjoyed with peculiar interest, a 
 sermon by her pastor upon death and heaven. 
 A few hours only, of severe illness loosed the sil- 
 ver cord, and she " was not, for God took her.' " 
 
 In accordance with the wish expressed in her 
 lines "To the Living," (See Advocate, April ist, 
 1851,) she was attired for the tomb in her " ordin- 
 ary dress," and looked so placid and lile-liks,
 
 474 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 that she seemed truly like one resting " in sleep's 
 sweet embrace." 
 
 Her beloved adopted son and only child, was 
 taken from her in the dew of his youth. A 
 devoted companion and large circle of friends, 
 will miss her genial smile and loving words. 
 May they be comforted by Him who wept at the 
 grave of Lazarus. 
 
 LINES ON THE DEATH OK MRS. ALMIRA 
 C. LOVELAND. 
 
 An angel voice has summoned yet another 
 
 From our loved band : 
 Sisters, behold how rapidly they gather 
 
 In " Spirit-land." 
 
 Hers was a life-work worthy a recital ; 
 
 For not in vain 
 She wrought in youth, expecting no requital, 
 
 With hand and brain. 
 
 The cause of Temperance shared her earnest pleading, 
 
 With gifted pen, 
 Her burning words e'en yet are interceding 
 
 With careless men.* 
 
 The poor and friendless, homeless child of sorrow 
 
 Found her a friend. 
 Ne'er waiting, listless, some uncertain morrow, 
 
 Her aid to lend. 
 
 * The appeal in which she personates the drunkard's child, 
 commencing 
 
 " Go feel what I have felt, 
 Go bear what I have borne," 
 has had a world-wide mission.
 
 NC; THE LOWLY. 475 
 
 Our Home, and one o'erlooking yonder ocean, 
 
 Were e'er her care ; 
 For them full oft she touched with fresh emotion, 
 
 The poet's lyre. 
 
 Humanity she loved, however lowly, 
 
 Its good she sought ; 
 On land and sea, its cause to her was holy, 
 
 For it she wrought. 
 
 We weep, but not because we would recall her 
 
 From that bright shore ; 
 We would not have earth's clogs again enthrall her ; 
 
 She weeps no more. 
 
 Her sudden summons shall it not admonish, 
 
 " Go watch and pray ; 
 Be ready also, lamps trimmed, free from tarnish ; 
 
 Work while 'tis day ! "
 
 Tlu'.ir works do fullour them." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 * * * "LOOK full into the future; it is thine. 
 
 Live in it now, and it will mould thy being ; 
 
 Seek to be now what thou shall be hereafter. 
 
 There .is a holy city for the holy ; 
 
 Live as its citizens, and learn its ways, 
 
 Its laws, its customs, its companionships. 
 
 Put on its raiment of unearthly white, 
 
 And learn the love that has its fountain there." 
 
 BONAR. 
 
 MRS. DR. L. RANNEY. 
 
 * * * By the removal of this dear sister a 
 breach is made in our Home circle, of which all 
 who knew her intimately are tearfully conscious. 
 During the past ten years she has been an 
 efficient co-laborer, doing cheerfully what her 
 hands found to do, "as unto the Lord." 
 
 A devoted wife and mother, she first met the 
 claims of her endeared family, and then the same
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 477 
 
 loving heart poured its wealth of affection 
 upon the homeless and friendless. All that was 
 attractive, elevated, refined, and all that was 
 lovely seemed enshrined in that frail casket. A 
 true and noble woman, with a heart in sympathy 
 with suffering humanity in all its phases, and a 
 quiet energy of purpose for the accomplishment 
 of its noble aspirations, she seemed the embodi- 
 ment of as perfect a character as is permitted to 
 mortals. When that slow, but insidious disease, 
 that tore her from the loving embrace of family 
 and friends in the prime of her matured loveli- 
 ness and usefulness, first marked her for its 
 victim, with a sweet and gentle spirit she yielded 
 to its stern behest, and prepared to welcome the 
 messenger whose conquering sway none may 
 avert. Often have we looked upon her sweet, 
 sad face with tearful eyes, conscious that a 
 vacancy in our uidst must ere long be painfully 
 realized. But her own calm spirit seemed ever 
 sustained by an unfaltering trust, and though 
 to all observers it was apparent that her days 
 were numbered, yet with cheertul resignation 
 she pursued the even tenor of her way, discharg- 
 ing the duties of her position, cheering by her 
 presence, and aiding by her counsel those with 
 whom for years she had been associated. 
 
 Some four weeks previous to her decease, she
 
 478 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 was with us at a stated meeting, for the last time. 
 At a subsequent interview in her sick-room, she 
 said, " If I am able to be again at our Committee 
 meeting, I want to be in time for the season of 
 prayer. Those seasons have been so blessed to 
 me that I can never forget them. My nights of 
 late are very wearisome, and these lines often 
 pass through my mind while watching for the 
 morning 
 
 ' One sweetly solemn thought 
 
 Comes to me o'er and o'er. 
 I'm nearer home to-day 
 
 Than I ever have been before. 
 
 ' Nearer my Father's house, 
 
 Where the many mansions be, 
 Nearer the great white Throne, 
 
 Nearer the jasper sea.' " 
 
 ***** 
 
 The above stanzas were repeated with much 
 emotion, and the remark added, " I feel a 
 precious peace and confiding trust, but still the 
 way often looks very dark over ' the unknown 
 stream.' " " Yes, it may now," was responded, 
 " but are you not assured that when you come to 
 it, the Saviour can make it all light?" "My 
 faith rests there," she replied, and then we talked 
 of the blessedness beyond the river, till smiles 
 chased away tears.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 479 
 
 Our last sweetly-solemn converse was when 
 she stood, with mind clear and unclouded, " on 
 the rock of the shore of death," and, though 
 heart and flesh were failing, she said, with 
 animated cheerfulness, " It is all light now. The 
 dread of suffering is gone. My blessed Saviour 
 has given me the victory ; I am ready, and wait- 
 ing to go. I love you all. I -love our work. 
 This labor of love has been blessed to me personal- 
 ly, more than I can express. It brings pleasant 
 memories in these last days of life. Since know- 
 ing my work was so near done, I have tried to 
 enlist others to fill my place. I want you to 
 give for me a parting kiss to the loved ones of 
 our band. Tell them we part only for a little 
 time, soon we shall meet where all is love." 
 
 When next we saw this dear sister she was 
 sleeping sweetly in Jesus, with flowers of snowy 
 whiteness encircling her calm brow, and 
 wreathed upon her casket, and the thought was 
 impressed forcibly, " It is not death ; what, seems 
 so. is transition." 
 
 Her pastor, Rev. J. P. Thompson, who 
 officiated at the funeral, after reading several 
 beautifully-appropriate selections of Scripture, 
 portrayed impressively her Christian lite and 
 character, as exhibited in her family, in the 
 church, in her relations to the Home, etc., fjhow-
 
 480 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 ing that from childhood up, " by the grace of 
 
 God, she was what she was." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The following note was presented at our 
 meeting, January nth, written at Mrs. R.'s 
 request, by an amanuensis. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Hawkins, The Master whom I 
 have so feebly served, has laid me aside from 
 earthly cares, and will soon call me to ' Come up 
 higher.' 
 
 " My co-laborers at the Home are very dear 
 to me, and our scheme of doing good seems very 
 precious. I only regret that I have done so 
 little for the unfortunate class committed to our 
 charge. 
 
 " Bid the ladies for me an affectionate adieu, 
 and tell them to be very faithful unto the end. 
 
 " Enclosed you will find a check for two 
 hundred dollars, to aid you in the good work, 
 and to show my dying interest in the noble cause 
 in which we have been engaged. 
 
 " Very affectionately yours, 
 
 " ADELINE E. RANNEY. 
 "New York, Jan. ist, 1865." 
 
 ENTERED INTO REST. 
 Communings angels never knew, 
 When soul met soul, and quick as light, 
 Earth's tendi-ivst scenes passed in review, 
 While Heaven's own glories filled her sight :
 
 AMONG THE LO\VL\. 481 
 
 But, ah, we may not pierce the veil ! 
 'Mid shadows still 'tis ours to roam, 
 Of want and woe to hear the wail ; 
 And yet we are not far from home. 
 
 Her finished course, her glorious rest, 
 May they a sweet reminder prove, 
 That, while the day lasts, 'tis most blest 
 To work in fields of Christian love. 
 
 Departed this life, at Plainfield, N. J., Mrs. 
 Rebecca McComb, March 3ist, 1870, in the 95th 
 year of her age. A sudden attack of pneumonia 
 closed her eyes upon earthly scenes. Three 
 days before her death her last Sabbath she 
 was able to take her meals as usual with her 
 children and grand-children, exhibiting her 
 accustomed cheerfulness. The next Sabbath 
 was her first in heaven. Her last hours were 
 peaceful, evincing perfect resignation and calm 
 trust in Jesus. Her dying message to several of 
 her absent loved ones, was, " Meet me in heaven." 
 
 She was the first-named in the list of our 
 Vice-Presidents, the most advanced in age of our 
 number, and the last survivor but one of the 
 little company who organized the A. F. G. 
 Society in 1834, the "dear eldest sister of our 
 band." It was ever a delight to see her sweet, 
 placid face at our meetings, and to hear her voice 
 in prayer and well-timed counsels ; and though 
 
 21
 
 482 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 her removal from the city, and increasing age, 
 have for years deprived us of her personal 
 presence, the memory of her earnest, loving 
 spirit will never cease to linger about the Com- 
 mittee-room and the Chapel at the Home. She 
 was one of the few who command involuntarily 
 the veneration and love of all. She lived to an 
 advanced age with unimpaired faculties, blessing 
 her home with her gentle and affectionate 
 disposition to the very hour of her departure. 
 We listen with a sacred joy beside her newly- 
 opened grave to the voice from heaven, " Father, 
 I will that they also whom Thou hast given me 
 be with me where I am ; that they may behold 
 my glory." 
 
 Her remains are laid in Greenwood, with 
 those of several members of our Executive Com- 
 mittee, whom she has doubtless joined in the 
 employments and praises of ' that city, whose 
 builder and Maker is God." 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Not "the valley and the shadow," but "the victory, "- 
 Last words of MRS. E. S. EATON. 
 
 We rejoice in thy joy that earth's conflicts are o'er, 
 Thy bark safely moored on the ever-green shore ; 
 That " the valley and shadow " from fear were made free. 
 While Jesus our Lord, gave "the victory" to thee.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 483 
 
 Those meetings and greetings beyond the dark stream ! 
 What praises ! what rapture ! how blest must they seem, 
 And then, to see Jesus, and with Him abide, 
 And never, no never, depart from His side ! 
 
 Ever lovely in life, and still lovely in death, 
 Not long are we severed for life is a breath 
 May a. spirit like thine be with us who stay, 
 Till the voice of the Saviour shall call us away. 
 
 THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED. 
 
 Died, at Washington, D. C., May 8th, 1868, 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Selden Eaton, wife of Brevet 
 Major-General Amos B. Eaton, Commissary 
 General of Subsistence, U. S. Army. The 
 funeral services took place at the house of her 
 son, Prof. Daniel C. Eaton, of Yale College, at 
 New Haven, Conn., on Sunday, the roth, con- 
 ducted by Rev. Dr. L. Bacon. 
 
 Mrs. Eaton was born at Lyme, in the State of 
 Conn., April i8th, 1796, and was the third of the 
 six children of Calvin and Phebe Selden. In her 
 youth she was very sober-minded, thoughtful 
 and studious, and early m life became convinced 
 of the truth of the Christian religion. In 1818 
 she was married to Joseph Spencer, a young 
 man of rare talent, a graduate of Yale College, 
 of the Class of 1811. He resided at Rochester, 
 and died in Albany, in 1823, a State Senator,
 
 484 WOMAN'S WORK. 
 
 leaving one daughter, bearing her mother's 
 name, who is still living. Mrs. Spencer, soon 
 after this bereavement, made a public profession 
 of her faith, and since then, for more than forty 
 years, has been a faithful follower of the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 She was married to General (then lyieut.) 
 Eaton, at Rochester, in 1831. Mrs. Eaton's 
 position in life gave her unusual opportunities to 
 do good, and testimony is abundant that where- 
 ever located for a season, there she sought and 
 found a field ot Christian usefulness. When 
 mingling in society the most fashionable, exalted 
 or worldly, she was always known as the trulv 
 Christian woman ; meekly yet firmly standing 
 up for Jesus, and by all the force of a consistent 
 example, recommending Him to others. 
 
 In the great revivals of more than thirty 
 years ago, and subsequently, she learned how to 
 bear up the burden of souls by believing prayer, 
 and gained the assurance of hope by so abiding 
 in Christ as the branch abides in the vine. She 
 shrank from no duty however self-denying, if by 
 its performance she might benefit the needy or 
 the perishing. Since having passed her three- 
 score years and ten, many have been made glad 
 by her active labors in the prison and hospitals 
 of Washington and elsewhere, and her pen, too,
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 485 
 
 has indicated that her moral and spiritual 
 strength were unabated. 
 
 While residing in New York, more than 
 twenty years since, she became a member of the 
 Board of Managers of the A. F. G. Society, also 
 of its Ex. Committee. Her whole heart became 
 enlisted in the work, and she gave to it her 
 counsels, prayers and efficient services, both in 
 its seasons of prosperity, and also its severest 
 trials and darkest days. We shall never forget 
 an incident that occurred in 1845, when a severe 
 ordeal was to be met by the Society. A large 
 number of Auxiliaries and friends had been 
 called to meet in the old Brick Church chapel. 
 Delegations from kindred societies were also 
 expected. It was known that a strong effort 
 would be made to sustain the right on the one 
 side, and the wrong on the other. 
 
 Some time before the audience had convened, 
 Mrs. E. was present, comprehending very fully 
 that on the decisions of the day might rest the 
 whole future of the Society, its continued suc- 
 cess or utter defeat. On learning of certain 
 developments, she remarked to a friend, " I feel 
 that nothing but prayer will save us to-day. Is 
 there no place where I can go and be alone? my 
 heart is so burdened." A closet was improvised 
 in a corner of the chapel, and kneeling there,
 
 486 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 unseen, for a long hour, she wrestled as did 
 Jacob, and prevailed as did Israel. When the 
 exercises were about to commence, she left this 
 place of hallowed communion for her seat upon 
 the platform, her tearful face radiant with hope 
 and trust. The day decided for the right, and 
 proved a way-mark where more than one had 
 occasion to raise anew their Ebenezer. 
 
 This instance is but one of many, and is 
 named simply to illustrate the strong faith 
 exercised by this dear sister in cases of 
 emergency. 
 
 In founding the Home for the Friendless, 
 Mrs. E. was one of the most efficient helpers. 
 Her name stands in its charter on the list of 
 incorporators, and in all the important gather- 
 ings of the Society for many years, she bore an 
 important part. 
 
 After going from New York to San Francis- 
 co she was enabled there to aid in organizing a 
 similar enterprise, and one of the best institu- 
 tions now in that growing city, ascribes its 
 origin mainly to her agency. A Christian friend 
 from that section, recently remarked to us, that 
 so long as the city should exist, Mrs. E.'s name 
 would be gratefully associated with the " House 
 of Protection." 
 
 The later years of her life have left traces of
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 487 
 
 usefulness down to the period that severe illness 
 precluded further effort, and, when she could 
 only serve by patient waiting, her quiet, filial 
 trust, was very beautiful. 
 
 On Sunday, May 3d, being convinced that 
 her time was short, she wrote farewell letters to 
 her two absent children. She contemplated the 
 closing scene with perfect cheerfulness, and 
 when it was manifestly very near, expressed a 
 wish to hear some passages of scripture. The 
 23d Psalm was read as far as, " Though I walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death," 
 when she exclaimed " Not that, read about the 
 victory." The reading was changed to " Thanks 
 be to God who giveth us the victory," etc., 
 when she said with a smile full of heaven " Yes, 
 that is it, Thanks be to God who giveth the 
 victory!" A little later her husband inquired, 
 " Are you in any pain ? " " No." " Is it all 
 peace with you ? " " Yes." She spoke no more, 
 but was evidently perfectly conscious, and full 
 of joy in the Lord, till she fell sweetly asleep in 
 
 Jesus. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 MRS. ANN CURTIS RANNEY. 
 
 The subject of this brief notice, passed away 
 serenely to her Heavenly home, in the most
 
 488 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 intelligent and confident assurance of spirit, on 
 Thursday, the 23d of February, 1871. Few such 
 scenes of Christian dying are vouchsafed to 
 mortals. All her life long she had been a slave 
 to the fear of death, but when the time of her 
 departure came, she chided herself for submit- 
 ting to this bondage at all, and felt that death 
 was as the coming of a friend to convey her 
 home to her Lord. 
 
 Mrs. Ranney was born in the state of Ver- 
 mont, and in her youth, received that nervous, 
 earnest and thorough training, peculiar to the 
 schools and social life of New England. Indeed, 
 thoroughness in whatever she undertook, was one 
 of the most marked characteristics of her nature 
 and habits. The writer of these lines, has seen 
 and mingled with thousands of Christ's servants 
 in the various fields of benevolent, humanitarian 
 and Christian toil, but has never seen or known 
 one in whom such quickness of thought and 
 movement, such transparency of motive and act, 
 such self-sacrificing and constant zeal in the work 
 of God, blended, and all these qualities were 
 governed by a practical intelligence that was as 
 natural and prompt as instinct. 
 
 The secret of her great success in her benev- 
 olent work, may be found in a very tender heart 
 and a marked nearness to God in private
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 489 
 
 devotion. So that in domestic life, in her 
 church relations, in the responsible positions 
 which she assumed in our public charities, she 
 was perpetually planning and executing some 
 beneficial enterprise, some movement to secure 
 the glory of God, and the making of those about 
 her happy. 
 
 The Home for the Friendless has suffered a 
 great loss in her removal from its active mem- 
 bership. As a manager she was ever found at 
 her post of duty, filling all the responsible 
 positions to which her compeers assigned her, 
 with wonderful alacrity and success. The poor 
 and the lowly found in her, at all times, a friend 
 full of sympathy, with a willing hand of help. 
 The wealthy were among her tenderest friends 
 and coadjutors in all her schemes of love, and 
 because kindness was the law of her being, all 
 who came within the circle of her influence, rich 
 or poor, young or old, all loved her. 
 
 Her last illness was contracted in her efforts 
 to relieve a sick widow and her fatherless ones. 
 It was most severe and distressing, but she 
 endured it with perfect resignation to her 
 Saviour's will, and when it became apparent to 
 herself that her work was done on earth, her last 
 moments were spent in sending the most lucid 
 and loving greetings and assurances of oneness 
 
 21*
 
 490 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 to and with those, in whose company she had 
 toiled so long and so successfully, both in her 
 own church-fellowship and in the bonds ot holy 
 labor elsewhere. 
 
 In the prime of her life, in the tide of her 
 influence and blessing, she has been taken from 
 her glorious harvest-field, to her more glorious 
 reward. Her work was well done. Throngs of 
 
 O 
 
 mourners followed her to the tomb, and among 
 them, not a few of the children of the poor. 
 The scene was very touching. Her funeral 
 reminded the writer of the words of the" Scrip- 
 tures, concerning Dorcas, " This woman was full 
 of good works, and of alms which she did. And 
 it came to pass in those days that she was sick 
 and died. * * And all the widows stood by 
 weeping, and showing coats and garments which 
 Dorcas made while she was with them." 
 
 Mrs. Ranney was a member of the Fifth 
 Avenue Baptist Church, and at her funeral, her 
 pastor, Rev. Dr. Armitage, to whose ministry 
 she was deeply devoted, paid a loving and truth- 
 ful tribute of pastoral affection to her memory, 
 and of affliction in her loss. She leaves a most 
 stricken home, but her idolized husband and chii 
 dren are firmly sustained by the same reigning 
 grace which carried this |: elect lady " through 
 the death-shade in triumph. May our gentle
 
 AMONG THE LO\VLV. 491 
 
 Lord shield the broken home, and heal their 
 broken hearts in the day of their bitter chastise- 
 ment. 
 
 IN MEMORY OF MRS. A. C. RANNEY. 
 
 She heard the Master's call 
 
 To that chill couch of pain. 
 The widow and the fatherless 
 
 Made not their plea in vain. 
 
 She braved the blinding storm, 
 
 And from that room, so cold 
 Removed the inmates each and all 
 
 To a safe sheltering fold. 
 
 Then in her own dear home. 
 
 With sunny face she stood, 
 And felt the sweet, unuttered bliss, 
 
 The joy of doing good. 
 
 No human skill could save. 
 
 Nor tenderest human love, 
 For Christ had come to take His own, 
 
 To brighter realms above. 
 
 We mourn, but murmur not ; 
 
 She lives to die no more; 
 And ministries of love will bear, 
 
 From that far Shining Shore.
 
 492 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 MRS. M. A. HAWKINS. 
 
 Mrs. M. A. Hawkins, for some thirty-five 
 years President of the American Female Guar- 
 dian Society, and five years honorary President, 
 departed this life March ist, 1874. 
 
 While to her it was infinite " gain to die," to 
 her kindred, friends and this Society her removal 
 hence was an irreparable loss. Very dear is her 
 memory to survivors, very precious and salutary 
 her excellent counsels, and very lovely Christian 
 example, living and dying. 
 
 Her husband preceded her to the spirit-world 
 just one week, having been ill with pneumonia 
 but a brief, period. * * * Some twenty- 
 two years she was a sufferer from inflammatory 
 rheumatism and its complications, a disease that 
 was nearing its last stage when her faithful com- 
 panion was suddenly removed. 
 
 During this last week her mind was not only 
 tranquil, but joyful in God her Saviour. All 
 His dealings were just right, she would not have 
 had anything changed. The filial utterance of 
 her soul was, " Thy will be done ! " 
 
 When a friend present referred to her late 
 severe bereavement, she said, " Yes. but it was bet- 
 ter that he should go first, for I could meet the 
 trial best, so many kind, dear friends are still 
 around me ; and then, when my husband was
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 493 
 
 taken away, I seemed to fall right into the 
 arms of Jesus, and he is bearing me on gently 
 and safely through the dark waters." 
 
 Amid the severest sufferings there was appar- 
 ent only the sweetest submission. Her faith 
 did not waver for an instant, and her peace was 
 indeed like a river. On Saturday it was sup- 
 posed she would not survive through the night, 
 but when the Sabbath dawned she revived again, 
 and though death was doing its work, she was 
 able to converse at intervals, with perceptions 
 still clear and strong. 
 
 Looking up, she said, " This is my husband's 
 first Sabbath in Heaven. Will I spend a part 
 of it with him? I hope so." 
 
 Several nephews and nieces, tenderly 
 beloved, were standing near, she desired them to 
 come around her bed " This blessed death-bed" 
 she once and again called it. Then addressing 
 them all as her children, she gave, in broken 
 accents, the most touching farewell words. 
 
 After an interval, she expressed the wish to 
 be left alone with the writer and now came our 
 last interview this side the river. Near forty 
 years had passed of cordial Christian fellowship, 
 in sorrow and in joy, in a common work. The 
 silent review was made here, close on the verge 
 of Heaven. " To grace alone, be the praise,"
 
 494 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 she said, " for anything accomplished you know 
 how to say for me what I feel. I want you in 
 doing so, to thank every fellow-helper I love 
 them all." 
 
 Other loving, broken utterances were made, 
 as strength allowed, while it was manifest the 
 soul was reposing in the arms of Infinite Love. 
 
 Such was the'sweetly-closing scene of earthly 
 intercourse. When night came she slept in 
 Jesus and who can doubt it awoke in his like- 
 ness. A wide circle weep her loss, while they 
 rejoice in her joy. Precious sister ! When 
 shall we see her like again. 
 
 A brief account of her life and labors, having 
 been recently published by the A. F. G. Society 
 in a small volume, entitled " Wrought Gold," 
 the reader is referred to that record, for further 
 statements respecting one eminently worthy to 
 be held in lasting and most grateful remembrance. 
 Her face, so life-like, will also be found there, 
 having been engraved for that volume. It seems 
 fitting that it should appear too with this me- 
 morial, as this work has been prepared at her 
 own special request, made near the close of life, 
 and records no important achievement in which, 
 by counsel or otherwise, she did not bear a part. 
 
 The likeness of Mrs. Prior (see page 453) was 
 also in hand, having long had its place in
 
 .JL. 
 
 LsV& Jr.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY 495 
 
 " Walks of Usefulness." With that of Mrs. 
 
 H , it is used here thus to represent to 
 
 stranger readers, two ot the first founders 
 of the work. The desire to place other faces, 
 with the respective reminiscences, was cherished 
 for a time, but as a correct likeness of each 
 and all could not now be obtained, this purpose 
 was relinquished. 
 
 "What is death? To sleep in Jesus, 
 
 When this weary strife is o'er ; 
 And to sorrows, sins, diseases, 
 
 Never to awaken more ! 
 
 Safe from every care and anguish, 
 Leaning on the Saviour's breast, 
 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, 
 And the weary are at rest. 
 
 Parish Musings. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Again we have occasion to record the depar- 
 ture, from our ranks, of a tried, faithful and 
 beloved sister. Mrs. Dr. A. S. Ball, of New 
 York city, is the happy name just added to the 
 company " beyond the flood." On the 22d of 
 April, she left us, and " was not, for God took 
 her." Ready for her departure she received 
 the summons with a smile, and rose to meet 
 her Lord.
 
 A96 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 Mrs. Ball came into the Society in its second 
 year, young, not remarkably vigorous, but full 
 of energy and Christian devotion. She early 
 became one of the Executive Committee, where 
 she served the cause faithfully for fifteen ye'ars, 
 when her name was transferred to the list of 
 Vice Presidents, leaving her free for extra and 
 special service. For a long period she was one 
 of the most efficient of the Nursery Committee, 
 bringing to that department of the work all the 
 wisdom and practical assistance, which, as a 
 physician's wife, a mother, and one experienced 
 with invalid children, she could command. 
 Her invaluable aid in that branch of the work is 
 often spoken of as a delightful memory among 
 us. 
 
 Until within a few years, Mrs. Ball has been 
 an active helper at the Home, and when at 
 length laid aside by ill health, still maintained a 
 lively interest in all the details of the work. 
 
 ler sick-room, to which she was confined for 
 several months, is said by one of her associates, 
 who was a frequent visitor, to have been a most 
 cheerful spot. But for the manifest illness of the 
 principal occupant, no one would have suspected 
 it of being the place of suffering. She never 
 talked of herself or her ailments, but when asked 
 concerning her health, answered as briefly as
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 497 
 
 possible, and turned the conversation to the wel- 
 fare of others. 
 
 Her funeral was like the entrance way to 
 Heaven. It seemed as if the gate of pearl stood 
 open, and the out-beaming glory irradiated the 
 house. There lay the mortal remains of the 
 affectionate wife, the devoted mother, the sweet 
 friend, the faithful Christian, asleep in Jesus. 
 The words that were spoken by her pastor, the 
 prayers and hymns were but as praise to God for 
 a lovely life, a triumphant death, and a crown of 
 glory won, all through the merits of a loved and 
 trusted Saviour. 
 
 Such a life to live, such a death to die, and 
 such a portion to inherit as our sister's, each and 
 all of us may well desire. 
 
 " Loved ones are gone before, 
 
 Whose pilgrim days are done ; 
 \Ve soon shall greet them on that shore 
 Where partings are unknown."
 
 _ **^ 3 
 
 "Tell ye your children, and let your children Ml '- "? 
 
 their children, and their children another generation ? | 
 
 * that they may trust in the. Lord." ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LEAVE God to order all thy ways. 
 
 And hope in Him whate'er betide; 
 Thou'lt find Him in the evil days 
 
 An all-sufficient strength and guide. 
 Who trusts in God's unchanging love. 
 
 Builds on the rock that naught can move. 
 
 Lyra Gcrmanica. 
 
 DURING the Fourth decade of the Society, a 
 Board of some fifty Managers, an Executive 
 Committee of eleven, a dozen School Commit- 
 tees of three to eight, Visiting, Dorcas, House, 
 Shelter, and Employment Aid Committees, etc, 
 many of whom have given large voluntary 
 service, and free will offerings, have from week 
 to week, and year to year engaged in this 
 Christian labor, devoting to its interests an 
 amount of time, and self-denying effort that may 
 not be computed.
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 499 
 
 The reference made in the following para- 
 graph, to a single year of similar work, by one 
 familiar with its details, would apply equally to 
 our review of the decade under consideration. 
 
 " As we look back, we seem to have brought 
 before us day by day the most ghastly wounds 
 and diseases of society. Intemperance, Poverty, 
 and Crime in all its protean forms, women 
 abandoning their children, children fleeing from 
 cruelty and vice in their parents; parents with- 
 out work, heartless and heart-broken, giving up 
 to strangers their little ones ; Christian parents 
 about to die, committing their babes trustingly 
 to Christian care; children houseless, children 
 forsaken, cold and hungry, and ill clad ; chil- 
 dren the offspring of crime, of drunkenness, of 
 beggary, and shame ; children who live on the 
 streets, who peddle, or beg, who sell themselves 
 for a living, and who plunder the public ; chil- 
 dren desperate, unhappy, outcast, scarred with 
 sufferings, without friends, without God in the 
 world. These are the sad processions that come 
 up to us as we think over the labors of any 
 single year." 
 
 But the record is not all dark. Changes full 
 of hope and promise for lust such cases, and just 
 such children, are scattered through the weeks, 
 days and years.
 
 5co WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 "As they are, and as they were," are strongly 
 in contrast, and the review and the outlook 
 bring a present reward for all the toil and care. 
 
 A phase of our work that has ever been of 
 special interest, is that of the personal visitation 
 of homes where our children are placed, either 
 before or after they are permanently located. 
 They go to foster-parents or guardians, always 
 on trial, and remain on conditions pre-arranged 
 and deemed mutually satisfactory. It is of vital 
 importance that these conditions be met. If 
 domestic changes occur, so conflicting with the 
 welfare of the child as to require removal, the 
 transfer must be made, through the stated visitor 
 or otherwise. 
 
 A few extracts only may be given from 
 recent reports from this department. Facts of 
 special interest, as in other details cited, are 
 withheld for local reasons. 
 
 FOSTER-PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 
 
 A large majority of our children are happi- 
 ly located ; hundreds, indeed, of lonely, orphaned, 
 and worse than orphaned little ones, have been 
 transplanted to loving hearts and homes, form- 
 ing new ties which are a continuous joy in the 
 household. 
 
 " Nor is the advantage wholly on one side.
 
 AMOXr, THK I.ONVLV. JOI 
 
 Higher and nobler feelings are developed in the 
 hearts of foster-parents than they would ever 
 have shown, if they had not taken upon them- 
 selves the care of a friendless little one. 
 
 " ' Why did you want to add to your cares 
 by taking a little child?' we asked a gentle 
 woman, who is honoring her aged parents by 
 caring for them in old age. ' Why ? Because I 
 wanted to do some good, and thought God 
 required it of me. When M. first came, she was 
 sick, and needed constant care for many weeks, 
 but we never for a moment regretted taking her, 
 and would not part with her now for all we 
 are worth.' 
 
 " 'We never knew what true happiness was, 
 until we adopted A.,' said a father, as he 
 gathered his little three-year-old daughter in his 
 arms. 
 
 " ' When I first saw C. at the Home,' said 
 another, ' she was sick and unattractive ; and 
 when the lady in charge asked me if I did not 
 want to take her to my country home, and save 
 her life, I shrank from the task. I had gone for 
 a pretty, healthy little one, but that night I 
 could not sleep. Something seemed to say I 
 must take that sick child. I rose from my bed, 
 and on my knees asked God for direction, and 
 promised, if it was His will, to take her. I slept
 
 502 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 sweetly then till morning, when, gaining a 
 reluctant consent from my husband, I took C. 
 home. She was sick many months, and owing 
 to some weakness of her limbs, did not walk 
 until near four years old ; but now look at her ! ' 
 It was difficult to believe that the bright, healthy 
 girl of thirteen years, and the sickly little child, 
 were one and the same. ' But come, hear her 
 sing, and play on the piano,' interrupted the 
 father, to whom the singing of a Jenny Lincl 
 would not be half so sweet. 
 
 " ' No ; M. has never caused me a moment's 
 needless anxiety. She is always as gentle as you 
 see her now, has high principles, is a good 
 student, always content with what she has.' * * 
 
 " It was a pleasant, sunshiny day when we 
 called on Mrs. H., who had recently taken L., a 
 poor, neglected child, but bright withal, now 
 happy in this country home, with ' all of us to 
 love her ;' said her mother. ' I could not have 
 had one to suit me better. L. has a strong 
 religious feeling, remarkable in a child of her 
 years.' In answer to a question, the child said, 
 ' I prayed to God to send me a good home, and 
 He did. My grandmother said 1 must take 
 everything to God in prayer, and so I do.' 
 
 " Many of our boys are also making homes 
 happy, and are the pride and comfort of their
 
 AMONG THK LOWLY. 503 
 
 parents. We recall one whose educational 
 advantages have been limited, but who is spend- 
 ing every spare hour after farm-work is done, 
 educating himself, reading history, ancient and 
 modern, looking forward to his majority, when 
 he is determined in some way to study la\v. 
 We have no fears for his future." 
 
 An average of more than five thousand miles 
 per annum, are traveled in summer's heat and 
 winter's cold, in visiting, locating and transfer- 
 ring the Home children, for whose welfare the 
 Managers ever feel measurably responsible. 
 Thus, in some cases, the sympathy and good 
 counsel, needed and appreciated, are given both 
 to parents, guardians and children, in others 
 errors are corrected, and known duty more 
 faithfully performed. 
 
 FEARS DISPELLED. 
 
 It had been suggested, early in the Third 
 Decade, as our Schools began to increase, that 
 the claims of the outside schools might tend to 
 withdraw the attention of managers from the 
 daily pressing needs of the Institution and its 
 many beneficiaries, and thus a serious loss be 
 incurred. 
 
 So it seemed to some in the beginning, and 
 every new enlargement was commenced with a
 
 504 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 degree of solicitude better felt than expressed. 
 But the result feared has not occurred. True, 
 all who have had a mind to the work, have 
 found much to do, but most valuable assistance 
 has been often rendered, school-wise, and other- 
 wise, by outside voluntary helpers. Many not 
 connected with the Society have devoted time, 
 and influence and heart to this service, that in 
 several instances has been instrumental in 
 making these labors a large success. 
 
 The Home-work, meantime, being carefully 
 appointed and supervised, has moved on 
 unembarrassed. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 Very great encouragemnt has been afforded 
 by the new and effective agencies, that have 
 from time to time entered some portion of this 
 wide field. 
 
 [A few bogus charities, borrowing the name 
 of the true so much as to mislead and do injury, 
 have sometimes found a place before the public, 
 for a brief period ; but they have been as one to 
 many, and, like the counterfeit bill, soon detected 
 and put aside.] Some, -too, may have seemed ill 
 advised, but in all good enterprises, and they have 
 been many, we have recognized the hand of 
 divine Providence, and the love of the Good
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 50$ 
 
 Shepherd for the lambs of the fold. Among 
 these, none have been regarded by us as more 
 opportune than the recent organization of the 
 Society for the Suppression of Cruelty to Chil- 
 dren, now located on Fourth Avenue, corner of 
 1 7th Street. Its leading officers being gentlemen 
 of commanding influence, have already secured 
 laws for the protection of the helpless, that are 
 saving many little ones from wrong and outrage, 
 and proving a terror to evil-doers. 
 
 The change in public sentiment a change for 
 which we have so long labored through the 
 press and otherwise, relative to the early care 
 and training of neglected childhood, as being the 
 best possible measure for the prevention of vice 
 and crime has prepared the way for the modifi- 
 cation of existing laws, and the enactment of 
 others necessary for the effectual prosecution of 
 the good work. And, to the honor of our 
 Legislators, be it said, their recent action in this 
 regard, has made it much more practicable than 
 formerly to seek and save the lost, to bridge the 
 moral chasm between peril and safety, danger 
 and protection, rescue and ruin. 
 
 By this timely aid, a door of hope has been 
 opened to thousands who had else groped 
 onward in darkness and despair. 
 
 22
 
 506 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 IMPROVED LEGISLATION. 
 
 The new law in our State, removing children, 
 between the ages of three and fifteen years, from 
 Alms-house supervision, and its immoral 
 influence, also removing the brand of the pau- 
 per from the innocent and helpless, will correct 
 evils for which humanity had vainly sought 
 redress. While we rejoice in this moral 
 advance, we also recognize the fact that, pro- 
 spectively, the work of those who are placing 
 the homeless in worthy families for right, Chris- 
 tian nurture, will be largely increased. May the 
 many in our wide land, who are called of God to 
 receive and train these children for Him, be 
 divinely prepared for this service, its arduous 
 duties, and lasting rewards. 
 
 WORK AND AID OF AUXILIARIES, ETC. 
 
 " Life-Members," " Auxiliary Societies," 
 " Juvenile Circles of Industry," " Busy Bees," 
 " I'll try Bands," and benevolent associations 
 variously designated, have been the constant, 
 untiring helpers of this charity, through the 
 long period since its beginning. Every child or 
 adult, every faithful Christian worker, who has 
 invested little or much in funds, toil or influence 
 in this enterprise, with right motives, mav read
 
 AMOX<; THL: i.owt.v. 507 
 
 in the divine record, " God is not unrighteous to 
 forget your labor of love ;" also, " Blessed is he 
 th it considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver 
 him in time of trouble." 
 
 These kind helpers have been scattered from 
 Maine to California, from Canada to the Pacific 
 Isles, but moved by the same spirit, constrained 
 by the love of Christ and His poor, their offer- 
 ings have flowed together to one common 
 centre, and from thence have accomplished their 
 mission. 
 
 The aggregate of parcels, large and small, 
 containing clothing, provision and sundry sup- 
 plies, received from this source since the Home 
 v.-as established, has averaged some seven hun- 
 dred and twentv-five packages per annum. The 
 yearly increase has been very large, and yet har, 
 not exceeded the demand. Thus the dailv 
 wants of the Home family, and the pressing 
 needs of the Schools, and worthy poor in (he 
 families they represent, in all sections of the city, 
 have been largely met. 
 
 The stated Visitors, who investigate before 
 giving, have also been enabled to relieve many 
 thousands of tl^sick and destitute in their hour 
 of extreme need. 
 
 The correspondence held with these fellow- 
 helpers all abroad, has extended the circulation
 
 5oS WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 of the Advocate, opened doors ror the children, 
 enlisted new friends, and strengthened the bond 
 of Christian union between those belonging- to 
 the household of faith, irrespective of denomina- 
 tional differences. 
 
 FINANCES. 
 
 After the financial crisis of 1871, the Board 
 were again compelled to resort to a loan upon 
 the Home premises, in order to keep up the 
 different agencies in progress, and avoid the 
 alternative of disbanding some of its Schools, or 
 otherwise curtailing- the work. Urged by the 
 serious aspects of retrogression, and the assur- 
 ance that relief would come in the future as in 
 the past, they were led to appeal to the Legisla- 
 ture, not for temporary aid, as at first, but lor a 
 small annual appropriation, which with the 
 usual donations, and occasional bequests to be 
 expected it was believed, would prevent the 
 pressure so often felt during certain seasons of 
 the year. 
 
 The fact that the City is in receipt of a large 
 annual revenue, known as " The Excise Fund," 
 received for permitting the sale of spirituous 
 liquors that 7,000 drinking saloons are licensed, 
 and so encouraged in their vile traffic that some 
 $40,000,000 annually are spent in their support,
 
 AMONG Till-: l.oWLV. 509 
 
 suggested the simple justice of soliciting an 
 appropriation from this fund, or otherwise, to 
 feed and clothe the neglected, hungry children 
 of the drunkard, each of whom adds his quota to 
 the $40.000,000 above named, leaving his own 
 innocent little ones to beg or starve. 
 
 A memorial and petition were sent to the 
 Legislature of 1872, fully endorsed by the Board 
 of Counselors of the Society and other well- 
 known gentlemen of influence, asking the 
 proposed annuity. (See Appendix.) 
 
 Before the close of the Session an Act secur- 
 ing the appropriation solicited, was passed by the 
 Legislature, signed by the Executive, and 
 became a law. 
 
 By the passage ol this Act the Society was 
 enabled to cancel its indebtedness, and has since 
 that period now over five years been able to 
 continue and extend its work without embarras- 
 Oient. 
 
 LIFE-MEMBERS. 
 
 The whole number of Life-Members enrolled 
 in the Society, has been five thousand, two 
 hundred and two. 
 
 The business department of the Society r:, 
 mainlv self-sustaining.
 
 510 .WOMAN S WORK 
 
 Donations only are needed for its benevolent 
 work. 
 
 The aggregate receipts paid into the treasury 
 from the business department, at one period 
 extending to near a quarter of a century- 
 were sufficient to pay the expenses of the same, 
 also of one or two other departments, indispensa- 
 ble to the work. 
 
 The whole number of children and adults 
 received at the Home, up to December 3ist, 
 1876, has been twenty-two thousand, eight hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight. 
 
 Of this number it is but just to say, that most 
 of those legally surrendered to the Society, who 
 have attained their majority, have proved a cred- 
 it to the Institution, to themselves, and their 
 foster-parents and guardians. For a large 
 proportion of these, the Home has originated 
 moral transformations of inestimable value. 
 
 The whole number of children who have 
 shared the benefits of its Industrial Schools, dur- 
 ing the last ten years alone, has been as 
 registered thirty-nine thousand, four hundred 
 and forty-one. The earlier statistics would 
 doubtless increase the number to over fifty 
 thousand but being incomplete are omitted. 
 
 The number of children in our Schools the 
 past year, has been six thousand and seventy-six.
 
 AMON(; THE I.OWLV. 51! 
 
 The physical and moral instruction given 
 them, would never have been received in their 
 prayerless homes, and there is good reason to 
 believe, that very many among these thousands 
 have been thus kept from sin and suffering, and 
 led to choose the path of safety. 
 
 The whole number of beneficiaries aided the 
 past year, as shown bv the daily records, has 
 been twenty-seven thousand, nine hundred and 
 five. 
 
 As we compare the aspects of the work, and 
 its outlook during its first and last Decade, the 
 difference is, indeed, marvelous. 
 
 THEN AND NOW. 
 
 
 
 Then the brand of the pauper marred the 
 brow of innocent childhood, bereft and friend- 
 less, and the immoral training of the city-street, 
 or pauper's home, was its early heritage. 
 
 NOT.V uncounted numbers unite in grateful 
 thanks for the Christian love, that through many 
 combined agencies, has changed this sad moral 
 picture. 
 
 Then a small band of Christian women were 
 laboring unitedly to reach and save a few of the 
 perishing. Means were limited, obstacles many, 
 and deeply discouraging. Often they might 
 have been seen wending their way to the
 
 512 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 stated weekly meeting, feeling that the very 
 houses frowned upon them, in the streets 
 through which they passed. 
 
 Now, those whom death has not taken of this 
 little band, with a large company of younger 
 co-laborers, have been privileged once and again 
 at their recent Anniversaries, to stand in the 
 house of God, and listen to the glad songs of a 
 thousand child-beneficiaries, while smiles of glad- 
 ness on every hand, have made their work 
 joyous. 
 
 Tlicn they were without a charter, and so 
 crippled in resources that the way indeed 
 looked dark. 
 
 Now, the silver and the gold which are the 
 Lord's -have been so directed by the unseen 
 Hand, that the Society have been set in a large 
 place, enabled to plan and execute, and, as a 
 rule, " owe no man anything." 
 
 Then they were without any safe place for the 
 many orphaned and homeless coming to their 
 notice, save their own dwellings. 
 
 Now they have a Home and Schools for such, 
 where hundreds find food; shelter, care, counsel 
 and protection. 
 
 Then the two classes foster-parents, and 
 adopted children, were comparatively unknown. 
 
 Now, were it possible to bring together the
 
 AMONG THE LOWLY. 513 
 
 entire number of these two classes entered 
 upon our records, the largest audience hall to 
 be found, would scarce contain them. 
 
 Then Homes for the Friendless were wholly un- 
 known in this land, or any other. 
 
 Now they have a place among the prominent 
 charities of all our principal cities, also in the 
 hearts of those most ready to respond to the pre- 
 cept, '- Feed my lambs." 
 
 The Societv now own its Home (or the 
 Friendless on 3Oth Street, its Home Chapel on 
 2Qth Street, its Rose Memorial School building 
 on 41 st Street, also two dwellings on 33d Street, 
 and Tompkins Street, appropriated to school 
 purposes all of which are free from debt. 
 
 NO ENDOWMENT. 
 
 Meantime the Institution has no endowment 
 from which to draw supplies for an average 
 Home-family of one hundred to one hundred and 
 fifty for its Schools, numbering eleven, and its 
 outside beneficiaries, numbering the last year 
 twenty-seven thousand, nine hundred and five. 
 
 But, thanks to the Infinite Giver, that it has 
 a resting place for faith, in the bright memories 
 of the past, in the prayers of its rescued children, 
 and the confidence and sympathy of its many 
 friends ; and more than all, for the assurance that 
 
 2 ">*
 
 514 WOMAN'S WORK 
 
 He, whose servants are " only stewards," and 
 who hath the hearts of all in His hands, will still 
 bless and prosper the work " For the love that is 
 in it," so long as it shall be laid upon His altar, 
 and its mission performed alone as unto Him. 
 
 With the eye of faith turned lovingly to this 
 Infinite Friend of the friendless, in the review of 
 " all the way that He hath led us," may not the 
 heart of every worker utter with humble 
 gratitude " Not unto us, but to thy name be 
 praise." 
 
 REMEMBER THE WAY. 
 
 Not ours but Thine, this Mission to the lowly; 
 Not sought and chosen with an earth-born aim, 
 But with a purpose sacred, true and holy ; 
 And Thine the inspiration whence it came. 
 Weak and unskilled, they saw not the dim " morrows," 
 Those early laborers which for them must come, 
 Their hearts were touched with sight of human sorrows, 
 And moral blight, where childhood had no home. 
 Through shadowed days, when scarce the " silver lining " 
 Could be perceived, skirting the clouds afar, 
 They wrought, as woman may, till the clear shining 
 Beamed in the distance, like the morning star. 
 There was an unseen Hand, they felt its guiding, 
 Felt they were nothing, and His grace was all, 
 That they, all weakness, in this grace confiding, 
 Might plan, achieve and reach the distant goal. 
 f 'Twas grace upheld, when " faint," but " yet pursuing," 
 Grace in life's morning, grace in its decline, 
 'Tis only grace has crowned the work with blessing, 
 May all give praise alone to grace divine.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 OFFICERS AND M A N AG E R S. I 877-* 
 
 PRESIDENT. -MRS. CHARLES C. NORTH. 
 
 VICE PRESIDENTS. 
 Mrs. H. E. Brown, N. Y. Mrs. Dr. Duffield, Pa. 
 
 J. M. Huhhard, N. J. 
 Rev. J. Dowling, N. Y. 
 S. J. Goodenough. N*.Y. 
 H. T. Sedgwick. N. V. 
 John D. Willard, N. Y. 
 E. J. Newbery, Mass. 
 W. C. Gildersleeve, Pa. 
 
 Henry Mather, N. Y. 
 Henry Rose, N. Y. 
 Amherst Wight, N. Y. 
 T. C. Fanning, N. Y. 
 Douglass Putnam, Ohio. 
 Rebecca Collins, N. Y. 
 E. C. Benedict. N. Y. 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 Mrs. S. R. I. Bennett. Cor. Sec. Mrs. Harris Wilson, Rec. Sec. 
 Mr?. S. M. Ambler, Visiting Sec. 
 
 TREASURER. MRS. S. A. Stone. 
 
 AUDITORS. 
 
 A. Merwin, Alfred Edwards. 
 
 BOARD OF COUNSELORS. 
 
 Rev. S. H. Tyng, D. D., Rev. J. Dowling. D. D., 
 
 " Dr. Ormiston, Mr. C. C. North, 
 
 Stephen Smith, M. D. " Francis P. Schoals, 
 
 Hon. Edgar Ketcham, " Albon P. Man, 
 
 Stephen Cutter, " Joseph F. Joy. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Mrs. C. C. North, Mrs. G. P. Brush, 
 
 " R. M. Buchanan, " W. A. Harris, 
 
 " Harris Wilson, " Wm. Dunning. 
 
 " James Bayles, " B. Brown, 
 
 " J. F. Joy, " D. P. Ingraham, 
 
 Mrs. J. A. Bennett.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BOARD OF MANAGERS. 
 
 Mrs. J. C. Angell, 
 " G. P. Brush, 
 " James Bayles, 
 " R. M. Buchanan, 
 " J. W. Baker, 
 " G. H. Irwin, 
 " Dr. Stephen Smith, 
 " J. Holmes Maghee, 
 " J. Wiser, 
 " Wm. F. Runk, 
 " Thomas Veitch, 
 " J.F.Joy, 
 
 J. Journeay, 
 " W. H. Dunning, 
 " Peter Donald, 
 
 Miss E. Burling, 
 
 Mrs. Rev. W. S. Mikels, 
 " Bart. Brown, 
 " Stephen Cutter, 
 " Dr. H. C. Houghton, 
 " G. B. Watts, 
 
 Mrs. J. A. Bennett, 
 " Wm. Hubby, 
 " S. M. Hyde. 
 " Wm. A. Harris, 
 " J. C. Sproul, 
 " D. P. Ingraham, 
 " John Romer, 
 " Richard Stout, 
 " S. P. White, 
 
 Miss Louisa Weed, 
 " C. Brett, 
 
 Mrs. J. P. Cummings, 
 " Eugene Chauvet, 
 " Lewis E. Jackson, 
 
 Miss Julia Van Voorst, 
 " C. Lynes, 
 
 Mrs. Dr. Barlow, 
 " E. H. Bennett, 
 " ' C. E. White, 
 " H. I. Bookstaver, 
 " Allan Hay. 
 
 ADVOCATE AND GUARDIAN, 
 
 Edited by Mrs. S. R. I. Bennett, from 1842 to 1867, inclusive 
 twenty-five years. From 1867 to 1877, by Mrs. Helen E. 
 Brown present Editor. 
 See page Vl of Appendix. 
 
 STANDING COMMITTEES. 
 
 HOME SCHOOL, 29 E. 2pth St. Principal, Mrs. L. B. Ely. 
 
 Com. Mrs. H. Wilson, Mrs. R. Collins, 
 
 Mrs. Dr. S. Smith. 
 
 INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, No. i, Home Chapel, 29 E. zgthSt. 
 
 Principal, Mrs. L. B. Ely. 
 
 Com Mrs. J. Bayles, Mrs. G. R. Watts, 
 
 " R. M. Buchanan, " J. A. Bennett, 
 
 " E. Chauvet, Miss C. Lynes, 
 
 " T, W. Runk, Mrs. E. H. Bennett,
 
 APPENDIX. Ill 
 
 H. I. S. No. 2, (Rose Memorial,) 418 W. 4ist St., near gth Av. 
 Principal,, Mrs. E. A. Smith. 
 
 Com, Mrs. J. P. Cummings. Mrs. Samuel Hyde, 
 
 " B. Brown, Miss C. Brett, 
 
 " T. Veitch, Mrs. Henry Rose, 
 
 " Marion C. Lawson, " Knapp, 
 
 " G. H. Irwin, Miss H. Bement, 
 
 H. I. S. No. 3, 165 W. 26th St., near ;th Av. 
 
 Principal, Miss M. B. Hardcastle. 
 
 Com. Mrs. E. Chauvet, Mrs. VV. H. Dunning, 
 
 ' J. W, Baker, - Wm. Hubby, 
 
 H. 1. S. No. 4, 15 Tompkins St., near Broome. 
 
 Principal, Miss M. Keyser, 
 Com. Mrs. S. M. Ambler, Mrs. John Wiser, 
 
 " Dr. H. C. Houghton, " Stephen Cutter, 
 
 Miss Julia Van Voorst. 
 
 H. I. S. No. 5, 244 W. 33d St. 
 
 Principal, Miss L. Gaylord. 
 Com. Mrs. P. Donald, Mrs. H. S. Bookstaver, 
 
 " D. P. Ingraham t " Alex. McLean, 
 
 Miss E. Burling, " C. Van Wagenen, 
 
 Mrs. Wm. Hubby, " M. Montgomery, 
 
 Mrs. C. Suydam. 
 
 H. I. S., No. 6, comer of Broadway and 5$th St. 
 
 Principal, Miss E. Wells, 
 
 Com. Mrs. J. Romer, Mrs. J. Holmes Maghee, 
 
 " W. A. Harris, " J. Journeay, 
 
 Mrs. J. F. Joy. 
 
 H. I. S. No. 7. ;6th St., between 2(1 and 3d Avs. 
 
 Principal, Miss I. Sprunt. 
 
 Com. Mrs. R. M. Buchanan, Mrs. Allan Hay, 
 
 J. Bayles, " W. T. Runk, 
 
 " Edwin H. Bennett, " W. S. Lyon, 
 
 Mrs. D. P. Ingraham. 
 
 H. I. S. No. 8, 161 Tenth Avenue. 
 
 Principal, Miss. M. S. Bowron, 
 
 Com. Mrs. G. P. Brush, Mrs. W. H. Dunning, 
 
 " J. W. Baker. " S. P. White, 
 
 " Rev. W. S. Mikels, - F. Wiley. 
 
 H. I. S. No. 9, 335 E. 6oth St. 
 Principal, Miss J. A. Van Nostrand. 
 Com. Mrs. J. C. Sproul, Mrs. C. E. White. 
 
 R. Stout, " Daniel Hoffman.
 
 IV APPENDIX. 
 
 H. I. S. No. io, 125 Lewis St. 
 Principal, Mrs. E. A. Powers. 
 
 Com. Mrs. J. C. Angell, Mrs. J. Journeay, 
 
 Miss L. M. Weed. S. L. Cutter, 
 
 Mrs. S. N. Hyde. 
 H. I, S. No. ii, corner 52d Street and Second Avenue. 
 
 Principal, Miss E. Sparks. 
 
 Com. Mrs. J. F. Joy. Mrs. W. H. Dunning, 
 
 " S. R. I. Bennett, " L. E. Jackson, 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Bennett. 
 
 FINANCE. 
 Mrs. C. C. North, Mrs. S. A. Stone. Mrs. J. A. Bennett, 
 
 Mrs. W. H. Dunning, 
 NURSERIES AND SHELTER. 
 
 Mrs. J. C. Angell, Mrs. W. A. Harris, Miss M. L. Weed, 
 Mrs. J. A. Bennett. 
 
 DORCAS. 
 Mrs. S. A. Stone, Mrs. J. Romer, Mrs. G. P. Brush. 
 
 REPAIRS. 
 Mrs. J. Bayles, Mrs. S. A. Stone. Mrs. H. Wilson. 
 
 SCHOOL SUPPLIES. 
 Mrs. W. H. Dunning, Mrs. R. M. Buchanan. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE. 
 
 Mrs. W. A. Harris, Mrs. J. A. Bennett. 
 
 " H. C. Houghton, " J. Journeay. 
 
 PUBLISHING AND PRINTING. 
 Mrs. S. R. I. Bennett, Mrs. J. Bayles. 
 
 " S. A Stone, " H. E. Brown, 
 
 Mrs. B. Brown. 
 
 LOCATING COMMITTEE. 
 Mrs. H. Wilson, Mrs. C. C. North, Mrs. W. A. Harris, 
 
 HOUSE COMMITTEES. 
 
 June Mrs. Brush, Mrs. T. Veitch, 
 July Mrs. Stout, Mrs. Sproul, 
 August Mrs. Chauvet, Mrs. Baylis. 
 
 September Mrs. R. M. Buchanan, Mrs. Hyde, Mrs. Runk. 
 October Mrs. Smith, Miss Burling, Mrs. Cutter. 
 Ncnwnber Mrs. Maghee, Mrs. Journeay, Mrs. Hay. 
 December Mrs. Mikels, Mrs. Baker, Miss Van Voorst. 
 January Mrs. Houghton, Mrs. Watts, Mrs. C. E. White. 
 February Mrs. Romer, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. E. H. Bennett. 
 March Mrs. Donald, Mrs. Cutter, Mrs. Bookstaver. 
 April Mrs. Wiser, Mrs. S. P. White, Miss Lynes. 
 May Mrs. Hubby, Miss Brett, Mrs. Irwin.
 
 APPENDIX. V 
 
 AIMS OF THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 1st The Society aims to rescue from degradation, physical 
 and moral the children of want, homelessness and sorrow, 
 wherever found who may be committed to the Society in ac- . 
 cordance with its Charter and after a suitable probation in 
 their Institution, to learn to what they are best adapted, &.C., 
 to secure for them permanent country homes in Christian 
 families. 
 
 2d To reach as many as possible of this same exposed 
 class of children, who, though prevented, by surrounding cir- 
 cumstances, from becoming Home beneficiaries as inmates, 
 may, nevertheless, be withdrawn from the education of the city 
 street, taught habits oi industry and propriety of conduct, the 
 knoweldge of the Bible, &c., and surrounded by influences that 
 may be protective and saving. 
 
 (Several hundred of this class receive food, raiment, instruc- 
 tion <tnd watch-care through the agency of the Society.) 
 
 3d To afford a place and means of protection lor destitute, 
 respectable young women, without employment, friends or 
 home, and within the age and circumstances of temptation. 
 
 4th To aid and encourage destitute American widows with 
 small children, to avoid a separation as long as practicable, by 
 furnishing apparel, bedding, etc., at discretion ; securing 
 remunerative employment, as far as it may be obtained ; and 
 also to admonish the unwary of the moral pitfalls that often 
 abound in the pathway of the lowly. 
 
 TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 The American Female Guardian Society are too well known, 
 as individual ladies and in their associate relation, to require par- 
 ticular commendation. They have pursued, for many years, a 
 most effectual system of true and permanent benevolence to the 
 poor and neglected, especially of their own sex. They have 
 erected buildings of a very substantial, though economical 
 character, as a " Home for the Friendless," hundreds of whom 
 have found there a blessed Christian and saving home. The 
 place has proved to many, " None other than the house of God, 
 and the gate of heaven." The work grows in prosperity and 
 in influence. Unlimited opportunities of usefulness are open 
 before it. No association has higher claims of merit or 
 practical success. * * 
 
 STEPHEN H. TYNG, Rector of St. George's Church. 
 
 We fully concur in the above : 
 
 THEOD. L. CUYLER, Pastor of Park Church, Brooklyn. 
 JOHN" POWLING, Pastor of South Baptist Church, Newark,N. J. 
 W. R. WILLIAMS, Pastor of Amity Church, New York. 
 ISAAC FERRIS, Chancellor of New York University.
 
 VI APPENDIX. 
 
 As members of the Board of Counselors, appointed the by 
 Legislature, for the. American Female Guardian Society, we have 
 had much opportunity to observe its operations, and fully ap- 
 prove the wisdom and usefulness of its schemes and its efforts. 
 REV. S. H. TYNG, D. D., J. O. BENNETT,* 
 
 " BISHOP JANES,* FRANCIS P. SCHOALS. 
 
 " G. B. CHEEVEK, D. I)., ALBON P. MAN, ESQ., 
 J. A. H. BELL. REV. J. DOWLING, D.D., 
 
 ADON SMITH,* C. C. NORTH. 
 
 May, 1860. * Deceased. 
 
 ADVOCATE AND GUARDIAN. 
 
 THE Advocate and Guardian is the organ of the American 
 Female Guardian Society, and Home for the Friendless, and is 
 published under the supervision of a Committee, selected from 
 its Officers. It is issued on the first and fifteenth of each 
 month, and has a circulation of twenty-three thousand. 
 
 The object of the Society and of the Paper is to aid parents 
 in the discharge of parental obligations to guard the young 
 from the snares that often lie concealed in life's pathway -to 
 befriend the friendless- to protect and guard the neglected 
 children of our cities, and train them to virtue and usefulness 
 in a word to advocate " whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and 
 of good report." The avails of the paper, after meeting its 
 current expenses, are devoted solely to objects of benevolence. 
 
 TERMS $i per annum, in advance; $7.50 for ten copies, 
 enclosed in one wrapper, and sent to one address. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 I have been accustomed to read The Advocate and Guar- 
 diad for several years, and with constant pleasure and appro- 
 bation. The Home for the Friendless, whose interests it' is 
 intended to promote, is an institution of pure benevolence, and 
 worthy the utmost confidence and the most liberal aid. This 
 I say, from a continued observation of its character and opera- 
 tions, from its foundation. STEPHEN H. TYNG, 
 
 Rector of St. George's Church, N. Y. 
 We cordially concur in this recommendation. 
 
 GEORGE B. CHF.EVER. 
 JOSHUA LEAVITT. 
 Jos. P. THOMPSON. 
 JOHN DOWLING, D. D.
 
 AIM'KNDIX. Vll 
 
 WROUGHT GOLD, A MODEL LIFE FOR CHRISTIAN 
 WORKERS. 
 
 From the Parish Visitor. This volume is a memorial of 
 the late Mrs. M. A. Hawkins, who was one of the founders of 
 the Female Guardian Society, in 1834. In connection with 
 this Society, and other kindred work, the life of Mrs. Hawkins, 
 up to its close, presents an illustrious example of self-consecra- 
 tion. She gave all she had to her Lord and Saviour, and he, 
 in turn, gave her the blessings of his love and presence, and 
 honored her by a degree of influence and usefulness seldom 
 attained by a Christian worker. We commend this book to 
 our readers, that they may the better understand the origin, 
 struggles, progress, and success of that most excellent institu- 
 tion the Female Guardian Society. The work is well pre- 
 pared, and its pages are enlivened by many facts and inci- 
 dents of peculiar and touching interest. 
 
 From the Christian Intelligencer. In this volume we 
 have an affectionate memorial of Mrs. M. A. Hawkins, 
 who was for more than forty years an active, patient, 
 and successful worker among the poor, degraded, and 
 friendless classes in this city. It is full of encouragement for 
 the noble and honorable women who are everywhere carry- 
 ing the life of practical Christianity into the homes and 
 hearts of the needy, Letters from Drs. Cuyler, Budington, 
 and others, are given in testimony of the fruitful work of Mrs. 
 Hawkins, and the sermon on her career, preached by the ven- 
 erable Dr. Tyng, enriches the volume. 
 
 From the Christian at Work. The volume before us is 
 a record of her unshrinking devotion to duty, and of her unspar- 
 ing and most successful efforts for the physical, social, mental, 
 and spiritual elevation of her sex ; and the example which it sets 
 forth is one that will strengthen the hands and encourage the 
 hearts of all who are engaged in a like labor of love. The 
 story of the life and labors and death of this godly woman is a 
 very salutary one, and besides that it is exceedingly interesting. 
 
 From the Baptist Weekly. A wortny tribute to a most love- 
 ly character, and will be read with interest by all who have the 
 good of their fellow-men at heart. 
 
 Price $7.00 plain binding, $'.25 gilt. For Sale at 29 
 East 2Qth street, and at Bookstores generally.
 
 Vlll APPENDIX. 
 
 WALKS OF USEFULNESS, OR REMINISCENCES 
 OF MRS. PRIOR. 
 
 From the New York Evangelist. This is a very neatly- 
 printed volume, containing in several brief narratives, the life 
 and labors of a Christian Woman in private life, whose 
 whole heart was filled with the noble purpose of doing- good. 
 The Memoir is prepared in a very interesting and readable form, 
 by the editor of the Advocate, and will favorably compare, 
 both in respect of subject and style, with the well-known life 
 of Harlan Page. 
 
 From the New York Tribune. This work is eminently- 
 needed at present, when our city is filled with cheap trans- 
 lations of the vilest French novels works directly calculated 
 to sap the foundations of all moral purity, and plunge the 
 young especially into the aepths of sensuality and pollution. It 
 is a simple record of the labors and trials of a pure-minded 
 woman, who, loving her Maker and her fellow beings, devoted 
 many of the later years of her life to reclaiming the wandering, 
 reproving the godless, visiting the afflicted and despairing, and 
 commending to the hovels of wretchedness and vice, the re- 
 quirements and consolations of the Gospel of Christ. This 
 little work should be placed in every steamboat and school 
 library. 
 
 From the Philadelphia Christian Obsewer. This volume 
 contains a record of the Christian labors and character of a 
 mother in Israel. During the last few years of her life, it is 
 believed that she was instrumental in the conversion of more 
 than one hundred souls. This sketch of her active life exhibits 
 an example of usefulness which commends itself to the consid- 
 eration of Christians in every branch of the Church of Christ. 
 
 Price 75 cents. For Sale at 29 East 2f)th street, and at 
 bookstores generally.
 
 APPENDIX. IX 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 To the Honorable, the Legislature of the State of New York. 
 
 The Managers of the American Female Guardian Society 
 and Home for the Friendless, 32 East 3Oth Street, New York, 
 respectfully represent to your Honorable body, that this Institu- 
 tion has been in active operation for thirty-seven years, It 
 embraces, at the present time a Home for the Friendless, with 
 accommodations for the retention and care of 150 to 200 chil- 
 dren and adults, eleven outside Home Industrial Schools, 
 employing 22 teachers, with a yearly attendance of over 5,000 
 children from a class below the level of the public schools. 
 
 A large portion of the beneficiaries of the Society, both in its 
 Home and Schools, are permanently rescued, by this agency, 
 from pauperism and crime, and taught to live honestly by the 
 work of their hands. 619,000 meals were given the last year 
 to those connected with its schools and otherwise. Over 
 17,000 inmates have been received and sheltered in the Institu- 
 tion, since its erection, and more than 3,500 children provided 
 with permanent homes.' During an entire generation this Insti- 
 tution, having no endowment, has received an amount of self- 
 sacrificing labor and benevolent aid second to no other. 
 Toward the erection of, and removal of debt from its well- 
 appointed buildings, the New York Legislature appropriated, in 
 1857 and 1860, the sum of $20,000. 
 
 The Home has also shared in the usual provision for 
 corporate schools. Its managers also acknowledge gratefully, 
 that for several years, by recommendation of the com- 
 missioners of the State Board of Charities, who have visited 
 and reported it favorably, the Home has received a portion of 
 the legislative Charity fund, also an occasional appropriation 
 from the tax levy or otherwise, the entire amount of which, for 
 the last five years, has averaged $6,856 per annum. 
 
 Meanwhile the average current expenses of the Institution 
 for the same period, have been $68,128 per annum, leaving 
 aside from school-money secured by charter, over $^o,ooo per 
 annum to be supplied mainly by charitable contributions. 
 This has been accomplished and the Institution kept free from 
 incumbrance, until the present season. Owing to the dis- 
 turbed condition of the city finances, the large diversion of 
 gifts of the charitable to sufferers by Western Conflagrations 
 etc., the Society has of late become so much embarrassed as to 
 find it necessary to place a mortgage on its real estate, and in 
 order to continue its usefulness, present and prospective, the 
 need of further immediate aid seems imperative. 
 
 By reference to the State Laws of 1865, 1867 and 1871, 
 Chapter 70, page 95, Chapter 163, page 248, and Chapter 130,
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 it may be seen that permanent appropriations are made to the 
 Children's Aid Society, amounting in all to $70,000 per annum. 
 An act of the legislature has also long provided that $i 10 per 
 capita be appropriated to the New York Juvenile Asylum etc. 
 The Home for the Friendless being unsectarian, and having 
 been doing effectively, and for a longer time, a work similar in 
 kind and equally important, never asking State aid, except as a 
 last resort, the friends of the enterprise to whom it has been 
 ever most indebted, now feel that it is eminently worthy a 
 similar Legis^tive provision per annum, as that awarded to the 
 excellent institutions above named. And therefore the Board 
 of Managers, Board of Counselors and other friends of the 
 Society, do respectfully and earnestly, 
 
 PETITION. 
 
 your Honorable Body to pass an act in form as herewith sub- 
 mitted, to take effect immediately, whereby the sum of $25,000 
 per annum shall be appropriated to this Institution for the 
 furtherance of its work, and the general purposes prescribed by 
 its charter. 
 
 February, 1872. 
 
 LEGACIES. 
 
 Important Legacies have been lost to the Home through 
 informality. Also by postponing the duty of making a will. 
 By a law of this State a will is not valid in regard to charitable 
 bequests, unless made two months previous to the death of the 
 testator. It is therefore earnestly requested of those who 
 design to benefit the Institution by giving it a place in their 
 last Will and Testament, that they would bear in mind the 
 above restriction and also use the following 
 
 FORM OF A BEQUEST. 
 
 I give and bequeath to the American Female Guardian 
 Society, incorporated by the Legislature of New York, in the 
 Year 1849, the sum of $ , to be applied for the benefit of 
 the Home for the Friendless, or to other charitable uses of said 
 Society. 
 
 The Will should be attested by three witnesses, who should 
 write against their names, their places of residence, and state 
 that they signed the instrument at the request of the testator 
 and in the presence of the testator and each other, and that the 
 traitor declared to them that it was his or her last Will and 
 Testament.
 
 APPENDIX. XI 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To Incorporate the American Female Guardian Society, 
 Passed April 6, 1849. 
 
 The People of the State of New York, , eyresente in Senate and Assembly, 
 do en. el asfoltwe: 
 
 SECTION 1. From and after the passage of this act, the Association he;-e- 
 1 of, >ro known as the American Female Moral Keform and Guardian So- 
 ciety," may take and .shall bo known by the name of the "American Female 
 Uuaratakn Society," and sliall oonttnne to enjoy ;,11 the rights, and shall tic: 
 subject to all toe obligations of said Association as fully as though tho 
 mine thereof had not been changed. 
 
 Mary Ann.- Hawkins. Sarah H. I. Bennett, Rebecca McComb, Mary 
 i, nr.i iluhbard. Marsraret Dye, Phoebe, ].. usltorn, Kli/.ahcth Katon, Alminv 
 ('. l.oveland, Jnlinia c. Angell, Sarah ('. Ilawxlim-wt. Helen K. Brown, 
 Catharine <;. Thorne, and all such persons as are now members of the As- 
 s K-iation called the 'American Female Moral Reform and (inardiau So- 
 oie'y.' and all who sliall become members of the corporation hereby created, 
 shall !);, and are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the" name of 
 tin- "Ami-Mean Femalu (iiianlian Society:" whose- :>hj--et and business shall 
 be, liv t!i publication and diffusion of Ixxiks, papers, am', tracts, and by other 
 moral and reUgtmu means, to prevent vice and morai (i -irra lation. and to 
 establish and maintain Houses of Industry and Homes for the ivliei <>f friend- 
 les.;. destitute, or unprotected females, and for friendless or unprotected 
 children. 
 
 5 3. Ther.' sliall be a Boanl of Female Managers of tho said Society, who 
 snail select from their number an .Executive Committee, consisting of eleven, 
 to conduct the business of the Society, in ;i manner prescribed by the ( 'onsti- 
 tution and By-Laws of tiie aforesaid Ass iciati in. as th same now'exists, or as 
 the same sliall be adopted or altered bv tile c .1 -porat.- bodv thereby c. insti- 
 tuted but the same shall b in accordant' with the laws of this State ami 
 such Managers shall be elected annually or otherwise as U or may be pre- 
 scribed bj- such Constitution and By-Laws. 
 
 -I. Said pTirporation shall have power to purchase and hold real estate 
 sufficient for the actual occupation and necessary uses of the Societv. and re- 
 ceive by jflft or devise, in the same manner, and subject to the same restric- 
 tions as pnivided in the general law for the incorporation of Keliirious and 
 Benevolent associations, and to hold and convey such real estate ; and shall be 
 deemed to be ixissessed of the riirhtsand b.; subject to the liabilitiesof corpora- 
 tions, according to the provisions of titlo third, chapter eighteenth, ]>art first, 
 of the Revised Statutes, so far as the same may lie applicable : provided, how- 
 ever, that the annual income of any real estate belonging to said corporation 
 shall not exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars. 
 
 5 5. The Boanl of Manairers shall have power to apixiint Matrons, and such 
 othpr a<Mi staiita as tlit-y may deem necessary in eoiiduetini; the domestic Mid 
 internal concerns of their "House or Houses of Industry and Hour.' for the 
 Friendless;" Mniake any Hy Laws and regulations for" the government of 
 their own proceedings and those of the persons so appointed, and of other in- 
 rnatc.s of their Mouses; to govern the children under their care, and prescribe 
 their e iiirse -i instruction and man luv.nont to the same extent and with the 
 same rights as "xist i:i the case of natural guardians. 
 
 6. In ali cases where a child shall have been surrendered by its natural 
 or other legal guardians to the care and management of the Society, by any 
 instriinient Or leclaration in writing, it shall be lawful for the said 'Board of 
 Managers at their discretion to place such child, by adopton, oral service, in 
 some suitable employment, and with some proper person or persons, con- 
 formable to the laws of this state in reirard to the Binding out of indigent 
 childrt-n, provided that in all such cases th;- terms of the indenture shall be 
 approved by the (iovernor of tho Alins-Hoiise. or by the Surrogate of the < 'ity 
 and County, which approval sliall be signified on such indenture, by tho 
 signature iif such Covenior or Surrogate; but in every such case the re- 
 quisite provisions shall be inserted iu I lie indenture or contract of bindin ' to 
 si-cure the child so bound such treatment, education or instruction as shall In- 
 suitable and useful to its situation and circumstances in life. 
 
 57. The children instructed in the schools ( m-cted with the "Houses" 
 
 aforesaid, shall bo entitled todrawan annual apportionment from the conimou- 
 sohool fund of the city, under the direction , of the Boanl of Education, accord 
 ing to the average numlier In attendance, in fir.- same manner as do the chil- 
 dren of other benevolent asylums and the common ur public schools of this 
 city and state.
 
 Xll APPENDIX. 
 
 8. In case of the death or legal incapacity of a father, or of his imprison- 
 ment for crime, or of his abandoning and neglecting to provide for his family, 
 tho mother shall bo deemed the legal puardian of her children, for the purpose 
 of making such surrender as aforesaid. And if in any such ease tho inothcr 
 bo also dead, or legally incapable of acting, or imprisoned for crime, or shall 
 havo abandoned or neglected to provide for her child or children, the Mayor, 
 or a Governor of tho Alnis-House, or Surrogate of Now York, shall be, by 
 virtue of Ills office, tho legal guardian for tho like purpose; and so, in aft 
 cases where it can not by diligent inquiry bo ascertained that there is -within 
 tho State any parent or other person legally authorized to act in tho premises, 
 the said Mayor, Alms-IIouso Governor, or Surrogate, shall bo cx-omcio sr.cli 
 guardians for tho same purpose ; and such guardianship shall extend as well 
 to children already in the Homo of tho said Society, aa to those who may 
 hereafter bo offered for admission or received therein ; and in cither case, 
 whether such surrender bo made by the mother, or by tho Mayor, Alms- 
 House Governor, or Surrogate of said city, and whether before or after art- 
 mission into said Home, it shall bo deemed a legal mil-render for the purposes 
 and within the true intent and meaning of tho ti:;1!i : cation of thin act; but 
 no surrender by a mother, as provided by this section, shall be valid without 
 consent of tho Mayor of tho city, or Surrogate of tho City and County of New 
 York, or a Governor of tho Alms-Houso. 
 
 9. There shall ho a Board of Counselors, consisting of eleven male mem- 
 bers, whoso duty it shall be to advise tho Board of Managers of said Society, 
 from time to time, in regard to tho br.h-inoss of the Association. Five Coun- 
 selors shall bo a quorum for tho transaction of business. No purchase, or 
 sale, or lease, or mortgage cf real estate shall bo taken by said corporation 
 without tho approval of a majority of tho Board of Counselors, duly certified 
 in writing by the Secretary of said Board. 
 
 10. Stephen H. Tyng, William W. Everts, Edmund 8. Jaynes, George B. 
 Cheever, Joseph B. Collins, John 15. Graham, Lewis Tappan, Amos B. Eaton, 
 Albon P. Man, Francis Schoals, Charles W. Hawkins, shall compose tho first 
 Board of Counselors, and sliall act until the next annual meeting of said asso- 
 ciation or corporate body, and until their successors shall be elected. Such 
 Board of Counselors shall be elected annually, at the annual meeting of 
 said Society or in such other manner as Khali bo prescribed by tho associa- 
 tion. Conveyances of real estate shall bo executed by a majority of the 
 Board of Counselors. 
 
 5 11. The Legislature may at any time alter or repeal this act 
 
 12. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
 AN ACT 
 
 To Amend an Act entitled " An Act to Incorporate the 
 
 American Female Guardian Society," passed April 
 
 6, 1849. Passed April 3, 1857. 
 
 The People of thy State oj New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, 
 enact as follows: 
 
 criminal courts of said city," passed January ":i, 1SIS3, audit Bh'allDe Droved 
 to the satisfaction of such magistrate, l:y competent testimony, th.-.t. socl) 
 child is embraced within thosaiil section, and it shall further appear to tho 
 satisfaction o! sueli magistrate, by competent testimony, or by tho examina- 
 tion < f the child, that by reason of the neglect, habiti:;:! d'riinke:in< si; <>; 
 other \ieious habits of the parents <r lawful guardian oi' such child, it i 
 a proper object for the care, and instruction of this society, such magistrate, 
 instead of committing such child to tho alms-houso of said cit.\, i.r'lo such 
 other place, il' any, ::s may have be< n provided by tho Common Council there- 
 of, in his discretion, by wan-anl in writing, under his hand, may commit, c.uch 
 child to this society, to bo and remain t;i:<lcr tho guardianship of its mana- 
 gers, until therefrom discharged in manner prescribed bylaw; such commit- 
 ment shall be by warrant, in substance as lollows :
 
 APPENDIX. Xlll 
 
 To J D , OTIP of the policemen of the City of New York : Yon 
 
 are hereby commanded t<> take charge of (' K , a cliilcl uiidorthe, 
 
 age of fourteen, who has been proved to me, by competent evidence, to lie cm- 
 braced within the eighteenth section of tin- Act entitled " An Act relative to 
 the Powers of the Common Council of the citv of New York and tip- I'oliee, 
 and Criminal Conrts of said City, approved January .:!, l*:t:i," and wlio also UT>- 
 pears to my satisfaction to be, a proper object for the care ami Instruction Of 
 tin- managers ol 'the "American Female (Jnardian Society," and shall deliver 
 tlie said child without tlelaj- to the same Society, in Thirtieth street, l>-t '\eeii 
 Madison and Fourth Avenues, and for so doing this shall be your sufficient 
 warrant. 
 
 Dated this day of 18 
 
 But no variance from the preceding form shall be deemed material, provided 
 it sufficiently appear upon the face of the warrant that the child is committed 
 by the magistrate in the exercise of the powers given him by this Act. 
 
 5 2. Any order so made by any such magistrate, shall be executed by any 
 policeman" to whom it shall be delivered by the magistrate, by conveying the 
 child then-ill named to the Home for the Friendless, and such child shall be 
 detained in said home until discharged or removed therefrom in the manner 
 hereinafter provided. 
 
 5 3. Immediately upon the making of any snch order, the magistrate mak' 
 ing the same shall deliver to a policeman of the city a notice, in writing, 
 addressed to the lather of such child, if its father be living and resident within 
 the city, and if not, then to its mother, if she be living and so residen f ; and if 
 there be no father or mother of such child resident within the city, then 
 addressed to the lawful guardian of such child, if any, or to the person with 
 wboni, according to the examination of the child, aiid the testimony, if any, 
 received by such magistrate, such child shall reside; in which notice the party 
 to whom the same is addressed shall be Informed of the commitment of such 
 child to the said Society, and shall be notified that unless taken therefrom in 
 the manner prescribed by law, within ten days after the service of such notice, 
 the child therein named shall be deemed lei/ally surrendered to this Society, fir 
 the purposes and within the true intent and 'meaning of the sixth ecGOD of 
 its Act of Incorporation, passed April (i, 1849. 
 
 4. Snch notice shall In- s -rved by the policeman to whom it sha":! be de- 
 livered, by delivering the same, to the party to whom it shall have been ad- 
 dressed, personally, or by leaving it with some person of sullicieiit age, at tlri 
 place of residence' 01- business of such party; and it shall be the duty of such 
 policeman immediately ti> report the fact, and the time and manner of such 
 service, to the magistrate. 
 
 5. If the party to whom snch notice shall have been addressed, or any 
 other person, shall, within the time specified therein, prove to the satisfaction 
 of the magistrate issuing the same that the circumstances of want and suffer- 
 ing, or other circumstances described in the eighteenth section of the before- 
 named Act, passed January :f. I*:i3, under which such child shall have he -n 
 found, have not been occasioned by the habitual neglect or misconduct of 
 the parents, or lawful guardian, of such child, then it shall be the d'ltyof 
 such magistrate, by order in writing, addressed to the managers of the said 
 Society, to direct snch managers to deliver such child to the custody of tlio 
 party named in such order, who shall thereupon be entitled to take such child 
 away from the said Society. 
 
 } 6. If such proof shall not be produced within the time above prescribed, 
 it shall be the duty of the magistrate by whom the child shall ha', 
 committed to the said Society to make and traus.nit to the manners thereof a 
 notice, in writing, to that effect. 
 
 5 7. If any child who has been previously arrested, and delivered to the 
 parent or guardian, as hereinbefore provided, shall a_ r ain be found in 
 of the conditions described in the eighteenth secti m of the Act iif.i:vsaid. rho 
 magistrate before whom such child is brought, upon proof thereof, may lor.h- 
 with make a final order for committing such child to the can 1 and instruc- 
 tion of this Societv, without giving the notice provided for in s ciion third of 
 this Act. 
 
 5 8. If. at any time after a child shall have been committed to the said 
 Society, as above provided for in this Act, it shall he mad- to appe.i: 
 satisfaction of the Hoard of Managers of the said Society tir 
 was. on insnlhcieiit cause, false or deficient tcsti ii-iny, or otherwise, \vr >n .' 
 fnllv or improvidently so committed, the said Hoard of Managers shall. <>;i the 
 application of the parents, guardian, or protect >r. a:id also, if after a child 
 shall have been properly committed to the said Soci.-ty. by virtue and 1.1 
 pursuance of the provisions of this Act. any circumstances should occur 
 that, in the Judgment of the Hoard of Managers .>! siid Home, would render 
 expedient and proper the discharge of such child Imiu the guardianship of
 
 K1V APPENDIX. 
 
 said Board, having a due regard for the welfare of such child, anil the 
 purposes of tliis Society, the said Board of Manager^, on the application of 
 the parents, guai'dian, or protector of such cliild, may, in their discrctio.i, 
 deliver up the Child to its parents, guardian, or protector, on such reasonable 
 conditions as the said Hoard of Managers may deem right and proper. 
 
 9. The said managers shall have power, and it shall be their duty, 
 whenever any child intrusted or committed to their charge shall, by tho 
 commission of any infamous crime, or by continued habits of vagrancy, 
 have become so degraded and debased as to bean improper subject, for their 
 care and management, to return such child to the committing magistrate, or 
 other proper authorities, to be disposed of in due. course of law. 
 
 5 10. If any party to whom the said Guardian Society shall have intrusted 
 a child shall be guilty of any cruelty, misnaagB, refusal or neglect to furnish 
 necessary provisions or clothing, or any other violation of the terms of in- 
 denture or contract, toward any such child so indentured, such child may 
 make complaint thereof to the Board of Managers of this society, or to any 
 justice of the peace of the county in which such child is so indentured, or 
 to the Mayor, Kecorder, or Alderman of any city in which si'ch child is 
 bound to service, or to any such officer, who shall summon the parties be- 
 fore him and examine into, hear and determine the siiid complaint ; and if, 
 upon such examination, the said complaint shall appear well founded, such 
 otticer shall, by ecrtilicate under his hand, discharge such child from his ob- 
 ligation of service, and restore him or her to the charge and management of 
 this Society, in the same manner and with like powers as before the indenture 
 of such child. 
 
 11. Where children nre indentured, the guardian may be required, after 
 said children shall have attained the age of twelve years, to place annually in the 
 treasury of the American Female (iuardian Society the sum of ten dollars, 
 which shall be the legal property of such children. If a girl, the aggregate, 
 leaking sixty dollars, shall be pftld to her when she has attained the age. of 
 eighteen years, and it a. boy, the annual payment, making ninety dollars, shall 
 be paid to him when twenty-one years of age; these respective sums shall 
 be dul3 - credited to said children, upon the books of the Society, anil receipts 
 of the respective payments placed in the hands of the guardian lor safe 
 keeping. 
 
 12. The Board of Managers of this Society shall be the guardians of 
 every child indentured by virtue and in pursuance of the provisions of this Act. 
 They shall take care that the terms of the contract be faithfully fulfilled, and 
 that such ward be properly treated; and it is hereby made their special duty 
 to inquire into the treatment of every such child, and redre>-s any grievance 
 in manner prescribed by law; and it si all be the duty of the guardi:iu to 
 whom any such child shall be Indentured, and he shall, by the terms of the 
 indenture, be required, as often as once in six months, to report to the said 
 Board of Managers the conduct and behavior of the said apprentice, and 
 any thing of special interest pertaining to his welfare.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-Series 444
 
 HV 
 99 
 
 i860