Some of these are for friendless girls, for the time without occupation
and without roof to shelter them; some of them are for those who have
strayed from the paths of virtue, and who require the special care of
those who have the courage and the Christian faith to deal with this
phase of human wretchedness.
Of the first class we may mention: “The Western Temporary Home,” which
is a shelter for those too weak to go to work, “The Boarding Home for
Young Women,” and a “Home for the Homeless;” and of the second, “The
Howard Institution,” under the care of an association of women Friends,
for furnishing shelter, food and clothing to poor outcast women, and “The
Midnight Mission,” which has for its object the rescue and salvation
of fallen women. Here might be included the Inebriate Asylums, such as
“The Franklin Reformatory,” whose object is the recovery of drunkards
to decent society. A peculiar charity of this kind is a “Temporary Home
for Children,” which is designed to lighten the burden of parents whose
circumstances are such as to prevent the proper care of their offspring.
The number of children in this home is at present sixty-one; and the
institution seems to be accomplishing a good work.
Allegheny City has a “Home for the Friendless,” somewhat similar to the
one just described. In this home one hundred and twenty-five children
are receiving care and support at the present time. It is impossible to
do justice to the charities of Pennsylvania, in an article of limited
extent; many of them can not be enumerated at all; some of them can only
be mentioned; and hence I shall make no attempt to estimate either the
cost of these charities or the value of their results. And much, in any
event, would of necessity remain untold. No record is possible—at least,
no earthly record—of the prayers, the anxieties, the thoughtfulness, the
patient persistence of the men, and especially of the women, who sustain
these charities with their energies and their love. Whilst others are
helplessly bemoaning the evils of large cities, these faithful servants
of him who went about doing good are quietly, but efficiently, working
to rescue and save a soul from darkness, and a body from pollution.
Every large city has its devouring eddies into which drift hundreds of
thoughtless and ignorant creatures every year. Every large city in this
state, let us thank God, has also its brave and earnest Christian souls
who are ready to run no small risks, and to make no small sacrifices, if,
peradventure, they may save a soul.