    |
Chapter V
Institutions of Manhattan Island and Westchester Co.
The Sheltering Arms, page 2 of 2
Their new building was completed, and the children removed to it on the 5th of February, 1870. It is a two-story brick, with basement and attic, in the Gothic order, with slated French roof, and is composed of five sections. The central portion, rising a little above the rest, is thirty-six by forty seven feet, and contains office, parlor, kitchen, linen and work rooms, infirmary, and all necessary sleeping apartments for adults. The two wings are each fifty by forty feet; each contains two cottages, with accommodations for thirty children each, affording space for one hundred and twenty in all. Each cottage contains its separate dining-room, play-room, wash-room, and dormitory. An appeal was made for $5,000 donations, the amount necessary to erect a cottage, the name of the donor to be given to the building. Mrs. Peter Cooper generously furnished the sum to erect a cottage for girls; Mr. John D. Wolfe, one for boys; another friend gave the amount for the third, and the Ladies' Association have undertaken to pay for the fourth. The school-house is a separate building. The ground and buildings have thus far cost about $75,000, and the trustees purpose to duplicate these buildings, as soon as their finances will admit, and increase the number of inmates to about three hundred. A small Episcopal church stands in the rear of the Institution on the adjoining street, where the children attend service. The president of the society is an Episcopal clergyman; representatives of other denominations are, however, in its board of management. Children are received without regard to creed or nationality, and the managers acknowledge donations from Jews, Gentiles, and all denominations of Christians. The internal management of the Institution was, from its commencement until the spring of 1870, committed to the Sisterhood of St. Mary, of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Six of them took charge of the four families of children, and found time to write articles for their monthly paper, conduct fairs, collect subscriptions, and attend to sundry other matters. Their habit strikingly resembled that worn by the orders of the Romish faith, and, as they were believed by many to be too closely allied to them in many points of faith and practice, it was considered best by the board of management to remove them from the Institution. Miss Sarah S. Richmond, an estimable lady of piety and culture, has at present the charge of its internal management, and is assisted by hired help. These lady managers are deserving of great credit for the sacrifice and toil bestowed on these homeless children, many of whom are "rough casts of uncultivated humanity," but are soon subdued by gentle treatment and faithful instruction. The Institution has, at this writing, one hundred and twenty-five children, ten of whom are incurable invalids who could gain access to no other institution. Children are received at any age, from infancy to fourteenyears, subject to the call of their parents or relatives ; but if left to the managers, are retained until farther advanced in years than in most institutions, that their habits of virtue may be more thoroughly confirmed. In addition to an English education, they are to be taught trades as far as possible. Board is charged of such as are able to pay, but all received from this source has not exceeded one-sixth of the current expenses of the Institution in any year. The State has contributed some small sums to the Institution; but the city authorities, giving unnumbered thousands to others, have not been importuned* by the Sheltering Arms to impose heavy burdens on the public for its support. Their president and managers have taken the wise, Christian, and statesman-like view, that private charitable corporations should be supported by those especially interested, and that public officials should not be invoked to compulsorily draw supplies from those who might disapprove of their principles or practices. All honor to the Sheltering Arms for this most wholesome example, so eminently worthy of imitation. They have wisely sought, by the dissemination of knowledge relating to their work, to, develop a charity in their friends, affording abundant supplies not easily affected by the caprices of legislation. The undertaking of the society has thus far proved a magnificent success. * The policy has been somewhat changed since writing the above.
|
|
141
:: Previous Page :: Next Page ::
:: Table of Contents :: :: New York State :: :: History Readings :: Books & articles appearing here are modified adaptations
from a private collection of vintage books & magazines. Reproduction of these pages is prohibited without written permission. © Laurel O’Donnell, 1996-2006.
|
|
