Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

(Jtm CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS.
NO. I.—THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE,
EMERALD HILL.
(Continued.)
HAVING dealt with the united Orphanages
Hp to the time that the Christian Brothers
assumed the charge of the Boys' branch, we
oow proceed to furnish the latest information
concerning the Girls' Orphanage. In
the Girls' Orphanage, on the 1st July, 1874,
when the Sisters of Mercy were relieved of
the Boys' Orphanage, there were, a» we
learn from the last report of the former insttttttioil,
130 children. During the next
twelve months, 37 were admitted, 37 apprenticed
out or claimed by relatives, and six deceased,
leaving in the House, on the 1st
July, 1875, 134 children. We learn, from
the same source, that three paid servants
have been, generally employed, viz., a married
couple, who live on the premises, in a
detached cottage; the man acts as gardener
and generally useful person, the woman as
nurse. She- superintends the lanndry and
kitchen departments; in both, the work is
done by the little girls, as is also the house
work, scrubbing &c. In each department,
the little workers are changed at stated
times, that all may acquire a good knowledge
of household duties. The third paid servant
assisted where required. The elder children
are trained to make and repair the clothing,
and to do all the sewing of the establishment.
No child is allotted to join the industrial
class until she knows how to read well, and
has a fair knowledge of writing and arithmetic.
The orphan girls are apprenticed
out after tbey have been confirmed, have received
their first Holy Communion, and are
considered fit to leave the institution, generally
about the age of fourteen years; and so
great is the demand for them, that it is
found impossible to keep pace with it. The
health of the children is attended to with
special care, and is, in general, good.
Measles prevailed during several months,
from December, 1874, and of the 110 children
who were attacked, six very young and
weakly little ones succumbed to the disease.
All will heartily concur in the sentiment of
the Sisters of Meroy—"Happy children,
taken -to the home of their Heavenly Father
while unacquainted with the sinfulness and
sorrows of this world." It is needless to say
that the orphan girls are treated with the
greatest kindness, and are regarded by the
Sisters.of Mercy as a precious charge confided
to them by Almighty God. A latge
plavground, with shelter shed, has been provided
for them, of whioh they are encouraged
to make ample use. They are also,; when
the weather permits, sent on a country walk
once or twice weekly, and enjoy this indul
gecce very much.
The portion of the parliamentary vote
allotted to the Grils' Orphanage for the year
1874-5 amounted to £1723 19s. 8d.; private
eontribntions to £622 IBs. 4d. The expendL
tnre was as follows:—Food, clothing, fuel
light, medicines, infirmary expenses, salBriest
wages, and outdoor relief, all included under
the head, maintenance—JB1803 2s. 6d.; build
iiigand repair?, fittings, furniture, insurance
books, printing, stationery, and miscellaneous
expenses, £66119s. 8}d. Total expenditure,
£216412s. Sid. Receipts from all souroeB
£2346 6s.; average cost per head for maintenance,
£13 19s. 2d; average oost, including
til expenditure, £18 7s. lOd. The financial
year dosed with a debt of £118 6s. did: We
are told that if the managers badsupplied all
the wants of theinstitution, the liability should
have been much greater. The Sisters of
Mercy state that a small hospital, apart from
the main building, is urgently needed, for if
the first child who was attacked by measles
c'onld have been isolated, much siekness and
suffering might : have been averted, and life
perhaps saved; but' as the oase stood, the
children could not be separated, and the
whole home became, lor the time being, ah
hospital. DUrihg that period of epidemic,
one of the sisters at the Orphanage was attacked
with measleB and died a martyr to ber
devotion andself-sacrifice in the cause of the'
orphans. The children are how in good
health and all danger of infection has passed
away. It may he useful; here'to state that
it is desirable that subscHbbrs, in sending in
their contributions, should specify that they
a^etobe divided between the two branches of
ihoOrpbanage. It would be'still more satisfactory
if the donors would make the division
themselves.
How many persons in this community
labour a whole lifetime in amassing means;
denying themselves, in numerous instances,"
allowable luxuries, not to 'say tiecesjBaries of
lite.. And when they are spoken to seribusly
en the follyof wasting; all their energies in
pursuit of ithe things 'ill: jthis, woijtf, they
Pn.aa'ag'an excuse that tbey have children to
proride fof , ahct that it Is ft* those ohfldreir,
njrtlorthsnfcetosp that they are labouring.
Tbu( i%nb<donbt,*o a certain extent :a*alid
•seMe; aad, B«ide, it may he asked—do all
the ohildies who me thus tbeobjeCUbf years
of> solioitdcta^Bd toil to their parents, in after
life.wheu those parents are gone to '-the
great majority,'! appreciate; the provision'
made, for,them, and;make that .use of'the
means placed at their disposal which those
who laboured to, amass it intended and expected
? But if there be vanity in the excessive
anxiety and labour of those persons who
possess children, how, -much moreis there in
those who have none ? And, what more
meritorious aot could childless persons, or
others possessed of superfluous means do, at
least at the hour of death, than give something
towards the maintenance of fatherless
and motherless ohildren ? Many people are
constantly dying in the bush and other places,
where a lawyer is not at hand, and it may be
useful here to transcribe, for the benefit of
persons livingin " uncivilised parts," a form of.
bequest to the Orphanage whioh is famished
by the- Sisters ot Meroy in their annual report,-
and may. be introduced into a will:—
"Ibequeath to the treasurer for the time
being of St. Vincent de Paul's Girls' Orphanage,
Emerald Hill, Victoria, in aid of that
institution, the sum of £ •, for whioh the
reoeipt of such treasurer shall be a sufficient
ditoharge; and I direot tbat the aforesaid
legaoy shall be paid exclusively out ;of such
part of my personal estate aB may be lawfully
appropriated to such purpose, and preferably
to any other payment thereout."
A word may be said here about the income
of the Girls' Orphanage during last year, its
nature and sources. The Parliamentary vote
was £1723 9s. 8d; reoeiptfl from obarity
sermons, £99 10s. lOd.; bequests (the late
Messrs. if. Pender, M. Stamp, Donovan, and
Ryan), £134 3s. 6d.; concerts and Catholic
sports, £106 lis. 8d.; annual subscriptions,
£126 17s.; donations, £165 lis. 9d. The
total receipts from all Bources amounted to
£2346 6s.; and the total expenditure to
£2464 12s. ; leaving a balance, " on tbe
wrong side," of £118 6s. 3Jd.
In our next issue we shall conclude our
notice of the Girls' Orphanage by an account
of our reporter's personal visit to the institution.
$