In 1856 the society erected another fine building on Twenty-ninth street, immediately opposite the Home, connecting the two with a bridge. This edifice has a front of seventy-five feet, is four stories high, constructed of brick in the Romanesque order, and contains the chapel, the Home School (for the instruction of the children while remaining in the Institution), an Industrial School, the publication, and other offices of the society. The six lots on which these buildings stand cost originally less than $12,000, but are no* valued, exclusive of buildings, at $75,000. The property of the society at present, including the four buildings purchased for industrial schools, is probably worth $150,000, and is free from debt.

The society began the publication of the "Advocate and Guardian" in 1835, which has been a valuable medium of communication with the benevolent public, bringing hundreds of friends to select children or confer donations, besides blessing many with the valuable religious matter with which it has always been filled. Its circulation amounts to about 33,000 at present, bringing a small revenue above its expenses.

The society conducts its business through a president, vice-president, two secretaries, a treasurer, and thirty-five or more managers, annually elected, representing the different Evangelical denominations. These are divided into the necessary committees, and give much time to the Institution. Seventeen years ago the society opened its first industrial school, Mrs. Wilson having previously established the feasibility of such an undertaking. It has now eleven of these schools securely founded in different parts of the city, with an average daily attendance of about 1,500 children, while the names of several thousand are on register. These are emphatically mission movements, as they are established among and gather in the most ignorant and degraded of the population. Thousands of ragged, neglected girls treading the slippery glaciers of time, and certain to plunge after a short career of vice into the darkest ruin, are thus annually reached, instructed in letters, and trained to useful industry. But the influence extends beyond the children. The parents are reached, and soon a mothers' meeting is established. Women who have not seen the inside of a church in thirty years, perhaps never, are drawn out to a mothers' meeting composed of women as ignorant and poor as themselves, where the Scriptures are read, prayer offered, and exhortations given by earnest women who go out to seek and save the lost. Many are awakened, some converted, nearly all are improved. Rum and other evils are partially or entirely abandoned, industry and its attendant blessings follow. The amount of good accomplished in this single branch is incalculable.

Another branch is the Dorcas Department. This contains the garments, bedding, etc., sent in barrels and boxes from hundreds of churches in various parts of the country, and what is prepared by the benevolent in the city. From these shelves supplies are drawn to cover the half-naked children admitted to the Home, and to fit them for a long journey to a country home with their newly-appointed guardians. Poor widows and deserted women, with children, are also assisted to enable them to keep their families together. The demands on these shelves are enormous, From 1847 to 1863, over 12,000 beneficiaries were admitted to the Home; an average per annum, including readmissions, of 2,000. During the year closing in 1869 the report shows that 5,811 persons had received aid from the society, 1,000 adults had been provided with situations, and 452 children had been in the Home. During the same period 1,650 loaves of bread had been given to the poor, and 42,000 loaves furnished for the children of the industrial schools. During the year closing in 1870, 619,000 meals were given away, and nearly as many furnished with situations as during the previous year.

The society now carries forward its work at an expense of about $80,000 per annum. It has as yet no endowment, and has received but little from either city or State. It is eminently worthy of the contributions and sympathy of the public.