USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 29
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Several causes conspire to fill great centers of population with fallen women. 1. Many grow up without the opportu- nities of refinement, crowded together in a miserable tene- ment-house where six or twelve persons sleep in the same apartment. The proprieties of life, if ever known, are soon forgotten. 2. The demoralizing tendencies of public amuse- ments, and the desire for greater display than common in- dustry can support. 3. Destitution. The methods by which their recovery is sought are: 1. Kindness. 2. Toil. 3. Wise and unwearied religious effort. Industry is one of the best appliances for reformation. At the Home, sewing, paper-box making, and other species of toil are prosecuted, and each girl, to stimulate her energies, receives half her earnings. The religious services have been crowned with most gra- cious results. Under the appeals of the man of God, troop- ing memories of that land of early innocency have come rushing through the soul, and many have broken down ont- right and wept convulsively. Many have professed religion,
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and several after obtaining situations have united with the church.
The financial affairs of the society are under the control of a board of gentlemen managers, while the internal and domestic management is conducted by ladies. The Home is maintained without any charge to the inmates, at an expense of about ten thousand dollars per annumn. It is Protestant, but not denominational.
WOMEN'S PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK.
" THE ISAAC T. HOPPER HOME."
(No. 213 Tenth avenue.)
This Institution was founded in 1845, by the distinguished gentleman whose name it bears, as the "Female Department of the New York Prison Association." It is managed by a board of thirty ladies, who are elected annually by the mem- bers of the society.
Mr. Hopper belonged to the Society of Friends, was for many years inspector of prisons in Philadelphia, and finally entered into the work of reforming criminals with a love and zeal only less than that of a Howard. IIe continued the agent of the society up to the period of his death, in 1S52, performing an incredible amount of service for the trifling salary of $300 per annum. Known to be in moderate cir- cumstances, the society repeatedly proposed to increase his salary, which he as persistently refused, though his successor's was immediately fixed at $2,500.
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His excellent daughter, Mrs. J. S. Gibbons, the correspond- ing secretary of the society, who partakes so largely of the spirit of her father, is the only surviving member of the orig- inal organization.
Mr. Hopper's long familiarity with prison life led to the profound conviction that nothing could be done for the refor- mation of female convicts without entirely separating them from the opposite sex, and placing them under the exclusive control of suitable persons of their own sex. Hence the or- ganization of " The Women's Prison Association."
The work undertaken by this society is the most difficult in the world, requiring a mingled wisdom and tenderness, connected with a moral heroism found nowhere but in culti- vated and sanctified woman. The objects of the society are, " the improvement of the condition of prisoners, whether de- tained on trial or finally convicted, and the support and encouragement of reformed convicts after their discharge, by affording them opportunity of obtaining an honest livelihood and sustaining them in their efforts to reform." It is a death grapple with sin in its strongest dominion-the heart of a disgraced and ruined woman. The sympathy the society received from the public, during the earlier years of its his- tory, was not flattering. The habit of regarding and treating the convict as the irreclaimable enemy of society was too common even with good people, and a holy horror seemed to fill the ininds of others that a society to benefit such creatures had been forined, as if humanity and sympathy for criminals were an endorsement of crime. Its principal encouragement came from its fruits. Sometimes the helpless victims of wrong suspicion and unjust commitments were found. Here was an easy victory for the right, accompanied with the in- describable joy of lifting up a crushed and despairing soul. Many were found who from childhood had been utterly per- verted by example and instruction, so that all the springs of motive and action needed purifying. But having never known the path of life, or felt the full power of sacred truth, they soon melted under the softening appliances of reclaiming mercy.
Others, after years of grossest error and shame, gave evi- dence that the moral sense was not entirely obliterated, that there remained still a spring that responded to the touch of human kindness. In the melting atmosphere of Christian tenderness, nourished by saintly example, and encouraged by
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the voice of religious instruction, in many instances the lat- ent seeds of early culture have budded into a life of blessed fruit and promise. In some instances melancholy victims of drunkenness, bloated, loathsome, friendless, and apparently hopeless, after spending a " term" in the cell, have returned to this "Home" for amendment. The kind appeal has brought the irrepressible tear, the encouraging smile, the blush of animated hope; reproof and caution have been responded to with confession and promise of amendment. The boisterous tone is subdued to mildness, the defiant eye quails before sympathy and interest, a tide of pent-up emo- tion and affection bursts out to gladden the deliverer, who feels it infinitely " more blessed to give than receive."
But there have been also many lamentable failures. Some. ran well for a time and then relapsed into old habits, to pass. through the same processes of arrest, trial, and commitment, and then to plead successfully again at the " Home " for oppor- tunity of amendment. Some have been so positive in evil courses that more restraint was necessary to preserve the order of the Home than the managers were willing to exer- cise, and so have been dismissed. It is confidently believed, however, by those longest connected with the Institution, that over sixty per cent. of all sent out from it have done well. Many have married and now fill respectable stations in society, sending frequent and grateful communications, and some- times donations of money, to the Home.
For several years after organizing, the society carried on its operations in a hired house, trying to raise the means to build. Failing in this, it finally purchased the house it had occupied at No. 191, now No. 213 Tenth avenue, for $8,000, paying down only one-fourth of the amount. The building was sadly out of repair, and about $8,000 more have been expended in improvements. It is now a commodious, four- story brick, with brown-stone basement, with accommodations for fifty persons. The Common Council has made them a few small appropriations, but the society claims, and we think justly, that these have been most meager, since their whole labor and expenditures have been for those who would other- wise have been a permanent pest and expense to the city. There are no special tests for admission. All are received on trial, and if sincere in the matter of reformation receive every encouragement. If faithful and contented for one month, the society pledges to provide them a situation and
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furnish them with comfortable apparel. If refractory they are dismissed, but taken at the next application, for another trial. Scores are sent away to service every month, and as many more received from the prisons. Many remain con- nected with the Home, and go out as seamstresses by the week or month. These spend their Sabbaths at the Institution, where their washing is done for them, and pay fifty cents per week to the society, and retain the residue of their wages.
Those in the Institution are employed at sewing and laun- dry work, which always gives the best satisfaction to cus- tomers, and which the managers make renumerative. In 1852, when 154 were received, the receipts from labor amount- ed to $1,090. In 1866, when 286 were received, the receipts from labor amounted to $1,155.47, and in 1869, when 408 were admitted, the receipts from labor amounted to $1,996.77.
Since the organization of the Home, in 1845, the society has received 4,897 persons, an annual average of 187, the larger number of whom, notwithstanding all their discour- agements, have gone out to lead virtuous and useful lives.
The expenditures of the Institution now amount to from six to eight thousand dollars per annum, and the income is about able to balance them. Prudent management has. enabled the managers to cancel all their indebtedness. In 1865 the Home received a legacy of $50,000 from Charles Burrell, Esq., of IIoboken, New Jersey ; and during 1869 a bequest of $500 was received from Miss Louise C. Parmly of this city, daughter of Dr. E. Parmly, one of the originators of the Men's Prison Association. The interest only on these sums is used. The Institution is preeminently Protestant, though the largest number by far who have shared its benefits have been Roman Catholics. One evening in each week is devoted to a general prayer-meeting, and two public services are conducted every Sabbath by the city missionaries, . the pastors of the vicinity, or by theological students from one of the seminaries. The managers, physicians, and clergy- men, have always served gratuitously. An evening school is also conducted in the Institution by a competent instructor, with very good results.
ROMAN CATHOLIC HOME FOR THE AGED POOR.
(No. 447 West Thirty-second street.)
NOR many years the young have been industriously sought out and carefully educated by American Catholics, but, until recently, their aged poor of both sexes have been almost wholly neglected in all schemes of denominational charity. Their convents, institu- tions of learning, and cathedrals have risen rapidly in every part of the country, but not an institution for the infirm and indigent, who had given all their savings through life to the Church, was undertaken until about three years ago. About that time several members of the community known as the "Little Sisters of the Poor," organized in France in the year 1840, came to this country and established the first institution of their order in the city of Brooklyn. Eleven have now been organized in different parts of the country, and others are in contemplation.
The Sisters hold and manage their institutions, collecting and begging the means for their maintenance from door to door. The Institution in New York was opened at No. 443. West Thirty-fourth street, in a hired building, on the 27th of September, 1870, and removed to No. 447 West Thirty-second street on the 15th of the following December. There are twelve sisters connected with the enterprise, four of whom go ont almost constantly gathering money and supplies from any and all available sources. The superioress, Mother Sidonie Joseph, is one of the group that came from France as before stated. The Sisters began without a chair or table, and with no money, we are told, but so pressing have been their im- portunities that the public has been compelled to heed their demands, and they now occupy three fine brick buildings adjoining each other, which they have leased for two and one-half years for the yearly rental of $1,700 each. Besides paying the rent of over $400 per month, they have managed to plainly furnish their buildings, and are now providing for a family of nearly one hundred aged and afflicted persons. Besides providing accommodations for the Sisters, the build- ings contain space for about one hundred and ten persons, which will doubtless soon be filled. The Sisters occupy the
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
central building, No. 447, the second floor of which has been converted into a chapel, where mass is said regularly by a priest. No. 445 is devoted to the aged men, and No. 449 to the aged women. Persons of good moral character in indi- gent circumstances are taken for life without money or goods, and without regard to sex or nationality. Several of the inmates are not active Roman Catholics, though they are not Protestants. We gladly chronicle this auspicious begin- ning of denominational charity for the relief of the aged and destitute of this sect, so populous in all our great cities, and hope these enterprises may be still more widely ex- tended. Every society should, if possible, provide for the relief of the unfortunate and destitute of its own faith.
CHAPIN HOME FOR THE AGED AND INFIRM.
VERY denomination of Christians and Jews in New. York city has found it necessary to make provision for the poor and unfortunate of its own pale, and the march of benevolent enterprise in this direction for the last few years has been exceedingly gratifying. Some- thing more than two years since, a society, composed prin- cipally of members of the Fifth Avenue Universalist church (Rev. E. II. Chapin, pastor), was organized, for the purpose of founding and maintaining a home for the aged indigent of their society and acquaintance. The society encountered such discouragements as usually attend enterprises of this kind. During the last year several lots were purchased by the managers, situated on Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh streets, between Lexington and Third avenues. A fair to aid in the accomplishment of the enterprise was held in the armory of the Twenty-second Regiment, for a number of days, beginning April 10th, 1871, which netted the society about $10,000. Subscriptions have been vigorously circulated, and about fifty thousand have at this writing been thus realized. The Legislature has also recently favored the Institution with a donation of $10,000. With these sums the managers are
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now erecting the "Chapin Home," which will probably be furnished and opened for the reception of inmates some time. during the present year.
THE BAPTIST HOME FOR AGED AND INFIRM PERSONS.
HE " Ladies' Home Society of the Baptist churches of the City of New York" was duly organized, and in- corporated, March 19, 1869, with the design of provid- ing aged, infirm, and destitute members of their de- nomination with a comfortable home in which to spend the last years of life. The payment of three dollars or more con- stitutes a person an annual member of the society ; fifty dol- lars constitutes a life member, and one thousand, a life patron. The constitution provides that eighty female managers, mem- bers of Baptist churches or congregations in the city of New York, shall control the Institution, and shall hold their offices three years respectively, one-third retiring each year. Appli- cants as beneficiaries must be recommended by their pastor, and the deacons of the church to which they belong, as in good standing, and without the means of support. An en- trance fee of $100 is required.
The first anniversary of the society was held in the Madi- son Avenue Baptist church, March 31, 1870, when a vigorous and successful effort was made to complete the subscription of $100,000, which had been asked for at the commencement of the enterprise, for the purpose of purchasing grounds and erecting buildings. Noble responses were not only made to this permanent fund, but liberal subscriptions also toward the annual support of the Home. Encouraged by these expres- sions of interest, the managers leased for two years the building No. 41 Grove street, at an annual rent of $1,800, which they furnished, and on the 30th of June formally opened with thirteen inmates and a temporary matron. . As no part of the permanent fund, or its interest, could be ap- plied for current expenses, the ladies planned a fair which was held in the following November, in Apollo Hall, corner of Twenty-eighth street and Broadway, and which netted the society $10,689.
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
The Legislature, during a late session, passed an act direct- ing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of the city of New York to lease to the society ten lots of ground, situated on Lexington avenue, between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth streets, for the nominal rent of one dollar per annum. The title to this ground was promptly accepted by the trustees of the society, though the wisdom of the measure was seriously ques- tioned by many friends of the enterprise. Several public meetings, to discuss the matter, were held by the subscribers, and other members of the denomination, in which strong men were arrayed on either side, but at the final vote of the members of the Home Society a majority sanctioned the ac- tion of the trustees. This unfortunate measure has, however, greatly disturbed the harmony of the society and unsettled its plans of building, some of the subscribers refusing to pay their subscriptions. This deliberate and emphatic protest against State and municipal endowments of denominational en terprises, entered into by so many earnest and thoughtful men, is an earnest of the sentiment rapidly developing in all the Protestant denominations, and certain to, sooner or later, con- trol the Legislation of this country. While we can but regret that this false step has been taken in the early history of this society, we still wish it great prosperity, with many and lib eral supporters.
There are now in the Home twenty-three inmates, several of whom are very aged, and one is in her ninety-fifth year. In this home of refinement, Christian influence, and comfort, relieved from toil and anxiety, they pleasantly spend the evening twilight of time, and serenely await the coming of their Lord.
HOME FOR AGED HEBREWS.
IN the autumn of 1848, Mrs. Henry Leo, a devoted Jewess of New York, was called to visit an afflicted woman of her own faith. She not only found her a great sufferer, but enshrouded in deepest poverty and destitution. While affording relief in this case, her mind was impressed that some general movement should beinaugurated for the relief of aged indigent Hebrews. Attending service
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at the synagogue soon after, she laid the matter with great earnestness before a number of the ladies of the congrega- tion, and on the 21st of November, 1848, the " B'nai Jeshu- run Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society," for the relief of indigent females, was formed, and rules for its government adopted. Mrs. A. II. Lissak, and Mrs. David Samson, de- ceased, were among its presiding officers, and the Rev. Ansel Leo acted for many years as honorary secretary. On March 20, 1870, at a meeting of the board of directresses held in the Thirty-fourth Street synagogue, the President, Mrs. Henry Leo, the chief foundress of the society, presented a report calling attention to the number of destitute aged and infirm Hebrews in the city, who were constantly making application for relief which the society was unable to confer ; also urging the ladies to devise some practical measure which, when adop- ted, might furnish permanent relief to these distressed and suffering co-religionists, without interfering with the original objects of the organization.
After a full discussion, it was determined to call a general meeting of the society, which was held on the 13th day of March at the B'nai Jeshurun synagogue, a large attendance of lady members attesting the interest they felt in the cause and the subject which had brought them together. The object of the meeting having been fully stated and explained to them, the following resolutions were offered :
Whereas, It is quite evident that we must provide some means to care for the aged and infirm of our persuasion who are increasing in numbers, and are destitute of the common necessaries of life, many without friends and any visible means of support ; therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is incumbent upon us, bearing in mind the sacred tenets of our holy faith, to care for all such ; and, viewing also the misery now endured by Hebrew women, unable to earn' a livelihood, unacquainted with any trade, or when able to sew, etc., refused work ; therefore, be it
Resolved, That we hereby authorize our board of direc- tresses to provide for all such destitute co-religionists ; open, establish, and maintain a Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, and adopt all rules and regulations for the government of the same; also a school of industry, where sewing and the like may be taught to those unskilled, and where work obtained shall be given out to such poor women as need it to manufac- ture, the profits arising from same, after deducting certain ex-
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penses, to be given to them for their benefit. And, be it also
Resolved, That we authorize our president and board of directresses to make expenditures from the treasury of our. society, and adopt any measure they think proper for carry- ing out the objects and purposes expressed in the foregoing resolutions.
A quorum being present, the resolutions on motion were. unanimously adopted.
In compliance with the foregoing, a committee was ap- pointed from the board of directresses, who after much trouble succeeded in obtaining a lease of the building No. 215 West Seventeenth street for one year, and on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1870, the house was declared formally opened and dedicated as a Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, it being the first and only Institution of the kind in the State of New York.
The industrial school formed has given remunerative em- ployment to hundreds of IIebrew women, and to some of the Christian faith also. The Home in Seventeenth street is a brick cottage, capable of accommodating about fifteen per- sons." A building fund has been established, and besides dis- bursing $5,000 during the year in support of the Home, and on other charities, several thousand dollars have accumu- lated toward the purchase of permanent buildings. The soci- ety is composed of several hundred ladies who pay an annual subscription of five dollars each. As the adherents of this faith in New York are not lacking in wealth, enterprise, or liberality, we presume it will not be long ere a large and well-ordered home for the aged shall have been provided.
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THE LADIES CHRISTIAN UNION, OR YOUNG WOMEN'S HOME.
(Nos. 27 and 28 Washington square.)
THE benevolent of New York have been much en- gaged during the last fifty years providing asylums and homes for orphans, half-orphans, the aged, blind, deaf, and for many otherwise afflicted. The morally fallen have received recently such attentions as were hitherto unknown. But amid these multiplied charities a numerous and interesting class of virtuous persons, much in need of care and help, was long overlooked-that class of girls and young women, who, by the death of parents, the reverses of fortune, the loss of a situation, or of health, are either thrown suddenly upon their own resources or the uncertain charities .of a calculating world. In large cities, where fortunes are suddenly lost, and where most of the casualties of society oc- cur, this class of persons is always unpleasantly large. In November, 1858, a number of Christian women, representing several different denominations, convened for the purpose of forming the "Ladies Christian Association of the City of New York," their special object being "the temporal, moral, and religious welfare of women, particularly of young women dependent upon their own exertions for support."
In May, 1860, the first " Home" in America for virtuous " Young Women" was opened by this society in a hired dwell- ing at No. 21 Amity place. Here it continued two years, when it was removed to No. 160 East Fourteenth street, where three more years were spent, when it was removed to Nos. 174 and 176 of the same street.
The act of incorporation passed the Legislature April 5, 1866, under the name of "The Ladies Christian Union of the City of New York." The need of a permanent building. larger and better arranged than any hitherto occupied, had been long felt. The importance of the undertaking had been demonstrated from the first; more had thronged the doors than could be admitted. During the first four years one hundred and sixty-one had been admitted. During the fifth year seventy-five persons were admitted. An earnest appeal for funds to purchase or build a suitable edifice, published in the report for 1866, brought the noble response of $1,000
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
from an unknown friend, with a pledge for $4,000 more, afterwards increased to $9,000 more, on condition that $50,000 should be procured within a given time. The amount was finally subscribed, though owing to some reverses it has never all been collected. On the first of May, 1868, the Home was removed to its present location, on the north- east corner of Macdougal street and Washington square. The managers purchased two four-story brick houses, with a front of fifty-five and one-half feet, the lots being one hun- dred and twenty-five feet deep (containing brick stables in the rear), for the sum of $50,000. The buildings front on Washington Square park; they are substantially built, with high ceilings, are well arranged and ventilated, and for con- venience of access, purity of air, and pleasant surroundings, could scarcely be excelled on this portion of the island. The basement furnishes a fine kitchen and laundry, a dining, and a sewing room. The first floor contains two fine parlors, a committee room, the apartments for the superintendent, and others for transient boarders. The upper stories are devoted to lodging-rooms, with baths on each floor. The carpeting, bed- ding, and furniture all display neatness and taste ; the walls are ornamented with pictures and various specimens of art wrought by the inmates. The ladies contemplate adding another story, with Mausard roof, as soon as their funds will admit of it. A small debt still remains on the property .. The Home at this writing contains eighty-seven inmates, and is always, except in the extreme heat of the season, full.
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