than the most studied efforts, were not invariably fruitful of immediate results, and when there was delay in ascertaining where children belonged, they were cared for at his house. This involving expenses not reimbursed by the parents, these were allowed him by the Overseers of the Poor.

The nature of his office rendering such a course eminently appropriate, when unnatural mothers abandon their offspring upon doorsteps or in less public places, they are generally committed to his keeping. If all efforts prove unavailing to discover their parentage, these poor foundlings remain frequently several weeks under his charge, every care being taken for their well-being until some suitable provision can be made for them by the Overseers. Many of them are brought up by hand, but mothers whose children have perished in the earlier stages of infancy, are often glad, for their own comfort, to suckle these little strangers in their place. This proving of frequent occurrence, and many excellent wet nurses thus becoming known to Mr. Hill, and through him to the faculty, those who are in want know where to apply for this often indispensable family comfort.

His house serves yet another purpose. Wives in all parts of the Commonwealth, sorrowing over disappointed maternity, mothers bereaved of children born only to die, find frequent solace for their grief in happy selections from this nursery of castaways. The children adopted, instead of growing up amid the hardships of pauper institutions to a life of penury and hardship, perhaps in many cases aggravated by a sense of disgrace, secure homes in respectable families, and become not only useful but ornamental to society. No one who visits this portion of the establishment on Portland Street, and observes how many of the children are healthy and apparently in the perfect enjoyment of existence, but must be convinced that it supplies an important want in the noble system of our public charities. The statute which provides for the adoption of children secures them from the caprice of those who take them, holding the parties adopting responsible for their suitable nur

ture.

When from illness, deformity, or other cause they remain unclaimed and unadopted for several weeks, they are made over to the care of the Directors of the House of Industry at Deer Island, or sent to the State Almshouses.

Another class of children deprived of their natural protectors by death, impoverishment, or sentence to penal institutions, need a temporary shelter while search is made for relatives disposed to receive them into their families. Sent to the Island they would be soon forgotten, but their nearest kindred and natural guardians are much more likely to make an effort or a sacrifice, indeed often find it impossible to resist the dictates of their conscience or their sympathy, while they remain within reach of a personal appeal.

It being observed that females after serving out sentences at the Island or at South Boston, returning at once to their former haunts, which alone perhaps are open to them, soon lose all the benefit which they have derived from the salutary restraints of the institutions, and fall back among their old associates and into their ancient courses. To afford them at this critical moment opportunity to embrace not only a more reputable, but a happier life, was the natural suggestion of an enlightened humanity; and the Board of Directors provide for them a temporary asylum under the roof of Mr. Hill, until places can be found for them at work or at service, or they can be returned to their friends in the way most likely to secure their future welfare.

When individuals are found in the House of Industry quite helpless from illness or infirmities, having settlements elsewhere in the Commonwealth, notice is given to the towns to which they belong. If the overseers of such towns prefer to support them within their own limits, and send for them, as the boat comes from Deer Island too late in the day for the trains, they are obliged to pass the night in Boston, and go to Portland Street.

Among the vast multitudes that crowd a busy metropolis, distress in its various forms is the subject of daily observation.

We know too well the social organizations about us not to be aware how many drag out a miserable existence on the verge of destitution, or are occasionally steeped in its very dregs. Frequently they have been reared in affluence, and have fallen from the faults of others, or from their own vices or imprudence, into want. Too proud to beg, and having sought in vain remunerating labor, of which from inexperience or infirmity they are quite incapable, no place seems left for them at Nature's table, and they wander famished through our streets in effortless despair.

If these unfortunates belonged exclusively to the hardier sex, it would be generally good policy, though in some instances perhaps of questionable humanity, to consign them for the night to such accommodations as are afforded by the station house. But it is frequent matter of experience that females delicately nurtured, occasionally of refined associations and respectable parentage, from some unfortunate propensity for intoxicating beverages or drugs, or perhaps with minds diseased, stray from their families in other places, and wander homeless at night about the city. Were our almshouse within the city limits, there would be found for them a fitting shelter. To send them to the station exposes them to a needless publicity, and they especially require the friendly offices of persons of their own sex. In the upper apartments of the Crier's house are iron bedsteads and bed furniture of scrupulous neatness, and his family are ever ready to supply their immediate wants, and arrange with the utmost delicacy and kindness, for their restoration to their friends.

It has happened that sorrow and trouble having hastened the period of labor, women who have been imprudent, or whose own wretched abodes furnish no suitable comfort, possibly who are without any at all, have found refuge here, and received a care which has saved them from unseasonable death. Young women coming from the country in search of work, sent here by the Overseers and the Directors, have escaped dangers, not the less fatal that they come in the guise of temptation. From his

familiarity with these cases, from long experience, and from his thorough knowledge of all our charitable instrumentalities for giving relief, or procuring employment, Mr. Hill is able to provide many such persons with good homes, permanent work and wages. Occasionally what is needed is the means of going home to distant places, or where occupation can be found on farms, or in mechanical or manufacturing labor. Where such expense is justified by the circumstances, upon application to the right source, the necessary means are obtained.

Let us not forget that the chief aim of Christian charity, both public and private, is to place the recipient in an independent position no longer to need it. If individuals are deprived of subsistence from illness, society should provide the most effective and expeditious means of cure; if from ignorance and want of expertness in any useful art or labor, what is required is instruction; if from vice, those wholesome restraints are to be imposed that will insure reform. True benevolence, and that most consistent with public economy, will find such employment for those who are destitute as they are best able to perform. Age, insanity, or other helpless infirmity should be the only claims to government support. Our various institutions and associations afford relief for every form of distress, and such an establishment as this, at the public charge, well known to the whole community, and accessible to the police, overseers, and directors, is of great utility as a distributing centre, where unfortunates find a temporary asylum, and are thence sent where they can carn their livelihood, or else be cared for at the least expense compatible with a reasonable degree of comfort. It serves, in fine, as a vestibule to all other charitable institutions, alike of the State, the City, and of a private nature, affording a resting-place in the downward course, and inducing a more vigorous effort to escape the humiliation of public dependence, from which all naturally shrink. Hundreds who, but for this chance to breathe, would sink helplessly into the abyss of hopeless pauperism, recover strength to struggle more energetically with their misfortunes, discover some previously

unthought-of mode of extricating themselves from their entanglements, become self-reliant, self-dependent, and eventually useful and happy members of society.

Enough has been stated to convince us that some such establishment as that of the Crier cannot be dispensed with, but it is equally clear that its management should be economical, under the supervision and control of the city government, or some responsible board, who will recognize it, as a part of their duty, to prevent the introduction of abuses. This inquiry originated in the fact that the expenses were increasing, and has already induced a reform, by which they promise to be kept within reasonable limits for the future. It has led to much discussion as to what changes were advisable, and having occupied the attention of both Boards and our Committee for some time, it it may not be amiss to present some opinions that were found exist among us as to the future course to be pursued.

The establishment owes its existence neither to law nor ordinance, has never been recognized by either, but gradually developed out of wants not elsewhere as adequately supplied. It has been under the charge of the Overseers, provided for by a specific amount in their appropriation, and thus sanctioned by the City Council from a profound sense of its usefulness. It would not perhaps have been practicable, but for the character of Mr. Hill, in which good sense, conscientiousness, and humanity are happily blended, the energetic benevolence of his daughter, Mrs. Allen, and the devotion of Mr. Casey, who has long and faithfully subserved the multifarious purposes of the establishment. When a year since Mr. Hill, from illness, was incapac itated from performing his part in the charge, some want of economy in the details evinced the judicious carefulness that had marked his management.

This indisposition of Mr. Hill, and the expiration on the first of August of the lease of the house in Portland Street, of which the rent is very high, and which neither in size, arrangement, or location is well suited to the purpose, led many to the opinion that the whole establishment should be abandoned, and especially after