The style of architecture is Scottish baronial, to which

the limestone of Montreal is well suited. The facade of the

administration block is after the style of F’yvie Castle,

in Aberdeenshire. Over the main arch of the doorway are the

monograms of Lord Mount Stephen and Sir Donald Smith. On the

western gable of the central block appear the coat of arms of

Lord Mount Stephen with his motto “Lippen,” an old Scotch word,

meaning to attend. Sir Donald’s coat of arms is on the eastern

gable, and bears the motto “Perseverance.” Both of these mottoes

are admirable motives to inspire service in the cause of the

sick. The building, begun in 1891, has employed 600 workmen and

cost nearly eight hundred thousand dollars. To construction,

furnishing and maintenance, the founders have devoted nearly

one million five hundred thousand dollars. Designed by H. Saxon

Snell, an English architect of eminence, whose specialty is

hospitals, the structure combines, with peculiarities of its own,

the best characteristics of Mr. Snell’s previous efforts.

The act of incorporation, passed in 1890, provides for fifteen

governors, of whom seven shall be the mayor of Montreal,

president of the Board of Trade, president of the Canadian

Pacific Railway, president of the Bank of Montreal, the chief

officer of the Grand Trunk Railway resident at Montreal, and the

principal and dean of the faculty of McGill College.

The other governors, expressly named in the act, were Sir Donald

Smith (afterwards Lord Strathcona), Lord Mount Stephen, Alexander

G. Patterson, W.J. Buchanan, Andrew Robertson and Thomas

Davidson, Esquires.

The act provided for branch convalescent hospitals at Banff, N.W.

Territories, and at Caledonia Springs.

Associates are constituted by paying $1,000 and $20, or more

annually, or $5,000 in all.

In an address read by R.B. Angus, chairman of the board, to

His Excellency, the Governor General was informed that he was

ex-officio a visitor of the institution, and would always be

welcome.

Replying, His Excellency declared that, out of consideration for

Sir Donald Smith, whom he had with difficulty induced to attend,

he would substitute, for praise of the founders, congratulations

of all concerned upon the happy conclusion of this magnificent

act of practical philanthropy and of Christian benevolence.

He announced that R.B. Angus, Esq., successor of the late Sir

John Abbott as chairman of the board, had promised $25,000

towards the support of the institution, and hoped that the

example would be followed in sums large and small.

Wishing the founders long life, to witness the happiness which

they have prepared, the Governor General called for and lead

three cheers for the founders and three for Her Majesty.

The Hospital consists of three really separate buildings,

connected together by stone bridges. Viewed from the front on

Pine Avenue, the hospital appears to form three sides of a

square, but it is in reality H-shaped. The central part is the

administration block, while the two wings contain the wards and

accessory rooms, the theatres and chemical laboratory, etc.

Regardless of expense, the best surgical inventions and

appliances have been collected from the chief seats of medical

science on two continents. Not only are the physicians, surgeons

and nurses elegantly housed, but even the servants are to be

envied their comfortable quarters. A training school for nurses

is attached to the hospital.

A fine bust of Her Majesty, in prominent position, reminds

visitors that the inception of this admirable institution

celebrates, in the name, and with the approval, of Her Majesty,

the fiftieth anniversary of her coming to the throne.

THE HOMŒOPATHIC HOSPITAL

The first records of Homœopathy in this city are contained in

a pamphlet by Dr. John Wanless, published in 1864, giving the

substance of a series of letters which had appeared in attempted

refutation of Homœopathy, and the doctor’s replies thereto as

they were printed in the Montreal “Transcript” of the time.

In his pamphlet the author mentions Doctor Rosenstein as one

of our first Homœopaths, and relates in detail the treatment

which that practitioner received while trying to conduct an

experimental case in the Montreal General Hospital. Dr. Arthur

Fisher was a contemporary.

On the 28th of June, 1863, Messrs. Thomas McGinn, F.E. Grafton,

James Baylis, James A. Mathewson, James Muir, E.L. Ransom, D.A.

Ansell, Fleck, and McCready, met in the Mechanics’ Hall and made

the first attempt to organize Homœopathy in Montreal.

A dispensary was established, which from unexplained causes was

discontinued after two years of apparent prosperity.

New names of adherents appear from time to time, among them

Hon. James Ferrier, G.A. Holland, Hon. L.S. Huntingdon, George

Washington Stephens, James Stewart, John S. McLachlan, Charles

Alexander, D. Drysdale, E. Lusher and Henry Lyman.

[Illustration: ROYAL VICTORIA HOSPITAL]

[Illustration: MONTREAL GENERAL HOSPITAL]

On March 18, 1865, Messrs. James A. Mathewson, James Baylis,

George A. Holland, James Muir, Thomas McGinn, John Wanless, M.D.,

and Francis E. Grafton, obtained from the Legislative Council and

Assembly of Canada a charter incorporating themselves and their

successors under the name and title of “The Montreal Homœopathic

Association,” with power to establish in Montreal a Dispensary

and a Hospital, to establish a College and appoint professors

to teach the principles and practice of medicine according to

the doctrines of Homœopathy, and to grant licenses to practice

medicine according to these doctrines within the Province of

Lower Canada. This charter was further amended, and the powers

amplified by the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada,

September 14, 1865, and the Quebec Legislature on March 30, 1883.

Owing to a limited clientéle and paucity of resources, little was

done for many years beyond the _pro forma_ requirements of the

charter, and the very important powers granted thereunder lay

dormant, though carefully nursed and guarded by the old stalwarts

of those pioneer days. In 1893 the Association took a new lease

of life, and from that day on the story of Homœopathy has been

one of brilliant achievement and ever-widening influence. The

Association has recently established a public free dispensary

at the corner of St. Antoine and Inspector streets, and its

hoped-for career of usefulness will be watched with interest.

In March, 1893, a petition to the Governors of the newly

inaugurated Royal Victoria Hospital, asking for a Homœopathic

ward, was circulated, and within two months thirteen feet of

names of prominent citizens favouring Homœopathy were obtained.

On May 18, 1893, a deputation consisting of Doctor Wanless,

Reverend Dr. Barbour, Reverend Dr. Ross, Dr. H.M. Patton, Messrs.

Samuel Bell, James Baylis, John Torrance, James A. Gillespie,

James Ferrier, F.E. Grafton, Charles Alexander and E.G. O’Connor

met the Governors of the Royal Victoria Hospital in the board

room of the Bank of Montreal, and presented the petition. It

was courteously received, and compliance therewith promised,

if possible. On January 5, 1894, a formal reply was received,

stating that the petition could not be granted. On November 13,

1893, a similar request to the Montreal General Hospital was also

refused.

In 1893 negotiations for special accommodation in existing

hospitals having failed, and the demand for Homœopathic Hospital

facilities having become urgent, the board decided to take

the important step permitted in its charter, and to acquire a

hospital under its own control.

The property, No. 44 McGill College Avenue, consisting of a

four-story brick building and 3,300 square feet of land, was

purchased for $8,000, and in July, 1894, the deeds were signed

for the Association by Mr. Charles Alexander, president, and Dr.

H.M. Patton, the secretary. During the summer of 1894 the repairs

committee, with energy and excellent taste, transformed the old

residence into one of the most attractive and complete of small

hospitals.

On October 2, 1894, the Hospital was formally opened, the Lord

Bishop of Montreal and other representative clergymen conducting

an imposing inaugural ceremony in the presence of a large number

of prominent citizens; thus was launched into benevolent

activity the first Homœopathic Hospital in the Province of

Quebec, under the following management:

The first hospital officials, 1894, were: President, Samuel Bell;

vice president, Mr. Charles Morton; treasurer, Joseph Gould;

secretary, Dr. W.G. Nichol.

The committee of management was composed of Lady Van Horne, Mrs.

Hector Mackenzie, Mrs. W.B. Lindsay, Mrs. Henry Thomas, Mrs. T.

(Dr.) Nichol, Mrs. Roswell Fisher, Miss Ames, Dr. John Wanless,

Dr. H.M. Patton, James Baylis; Miss M.E. Baylis, secretary of

committee.

The medical superintendent was Dr. H.M. Patton and the lady

superintendent, Miss Thompson.

The consulting staff consisted of Dr. Arthur Fisher, Dr. George

Logan, Doctor McLaren, and Dr. George Gale, while the attending

physicians were Doctors Wanless, W.G. Nichol, Griffith, and T.

Scott Nichol.

The attending surgeon was Dr. H.M. Patton.

The first year’s work showed 158 patients occupying its beds, 135

of whom were public, and twenty-three private patients. The death

rate for the year is given as 2.5.

A new wing was soon required, while the maternity annex and

nurses’ home was next added by the Woman’s Auxiliary.

Once more the devoted ladies of the Woman’s Auxiliary nobly

responded to the growing demands of pressing hospital needs,

which included provision for laundry work under their own

supervision, better accommodation for their admirable little band

of pupil nurses, and the inauguration of a much-needed maternity

for ladies desiring private hospital accommodation. The adjoining

house, No. 46 McGill College Avenue, was leased from Mr. W.L.

Maltby on a long term, Miss Annie Moodie becoming personally

responsible for the rent. The basement was fitted up as a

laundry. The first floor given over to the nurses as a dormitory,

with sitting-room and locker accommodation. The bath-room was

remodelled and refitted, and four dainty, private wards equipped

and furnished for maternity patients. The whole Annex was handed

over complete to the Hospital management, practically free of

debt, on August 6, 1899.

The year 1900 is noteworthy from the fact of the Woman’s

Auxiliary relinquishing all share and responsibility for Hospital

_management_, which hitherto had been jointly controlled by the

committee and the auxiliary. The Committee of Management was

recast and consolidated, and large responsibility put upon the

chairman, Mr. S.M. Baylis being the incumbent of the office at

that time.

In 1904, after careful deliberation, the Homœopathic Association,

under whose charter of 1865 and amending acts the Hospital

had been instituted and maintained, formally authorized the

application for a special charter, and agreed to transfer all

real property, equipment, securities and effects hitherto held

under its title, and acquired for the use and benefit of the

Hospital, to the new corporation, on consideration of the latter

assuming all annuity and other obligations attaching thereto. In

May, 1904, the Quebec Legislature passed an act incorporating

“The Homœopathic Hospital of Montreal,” the following gentlemen

and their successors being constituted a body politic under that

name and title: James A. Mathewson, Francis E. Grafton, Charles

Alexander, Samuel Bell, John T. Hagar, Louis Barbeau, Roswell

C. Fisher, Edward G. O’Connor, Samuel M. Baylis, Thomas J.

Dawson, Edward M. Morgan, M.D., Hugh M. Patton, M.D., Arthur D.

Patton, M.D., Alexander R. Griffith, M.D., Arthur Fisher, M.D.,

John W. Hughes and George Durnford.

[Illustration: INSANE ASYLUM AT LONGUE POINT]

[Illustration: HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL]

[Illustration: WESTERN HOSPITAL]

[Illustration: PROTESTANT INSANE ASYLUM AT VERDUN]

The Jubilee Endowment was inaugurated in 1897, in commemoration

of the jubilee of beloved Queen Victoria, by the donation of

$10,000 by the late Alexander Clerk, and since augmented by

bequests from the late James Baylis, and other sources, to the

capital sum of $10,871.61.

The Phillips’ Training School for Nurses was founded

contemporaneously with the establishment of the Hospital, and

so named in honour of the first benefactress, Mrs. Georgina D.

Phillips; the school has done good work in training and launching

in professional careers so many graduates.

The College of Homœopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Montreal is

operated under the charter granted to the Homœopathic Association

in the Act of 1865, and amending acts. Since the relinquishment

to the new incorporation of its hospital work, the College is

now the main care of the Association. Applicants for its valued

license must be graduates of an approved Medical College, and

must pass the critical examination of its licensing board in the

special field of Homœopathic therapeutics.

HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE

St. Jean de Dieu, Longue Pointe

The care of the insane was first entrusted as a special

department in this city to the Grey Nuns in 1793. The work was

relinquished by them in 1844.

The modern work is now undertaken for the Montreal district and

the Province of Quebec by the Sisters of Providence at Longue

Pointe and the Protestant Insane Asylum at Verdun. The history of

each is interesting.

The care of the insane was undertaken by the Providence Nuns

on the proposition of the Quebec government to them in 1873.

In 1889, Mother Theresa of Jesus visited the principal insane

asylums of Europe and America. She declared that the method of

dividing the asylum into annexed pavilions should be adopted

in the classification of various cerebral diseases, which was

accordingly done. At present, two rows of pavilions cover five

acres of land. Nine acres will be required to complete the Asylum

and the other detached dwellings which have been erected on

the 500-acre farm. On the first storey is an electric tramway

which operates over its 3,000-foot corridor, and is for the use

of the personnel of the Asylum. A railroad, 15,000 feet long,

owned by the Community, is used for transportation of goods,

coal, wood, lumber, etc., from the quays on the St. Lawrence to

the main building. The institution was visited by a disastrous

fire in 1890. Nevertheless, the Asylum prospered, and today it

compares favorably with similar asylums, either in America or

Europe. Twelve thousand seven hundred and eighty patients have

been admitted from the day it was formally opened. The medical

staff is composed of three house and three visiting physicians,

three inspectors, appointed by the Government, and a medical

superintendent.

VERDUN

The movement for a separate Protestant Insane Asylum originated

with Mr. Alfred Perry in 1880, who called a public meeting for

the purpose of promoting it. It was not upheld that year but,

having called a second meeting on February 21, 1881, a resolution

proposed by Mr. Henry Lyman and seconded by the Reverend Dr.

Sullivan was carried unanimously after considerable discussion:

“That it is expedient and extremely requisite that steps should

now be taken looking to the establishment of a Protestant Insane

Asylum in the Province of Quebec.”

On June 30, 1881, there was passed a bill entitled “An Act to

Incorporate the Protestant Hospital for the Insane.” Mr. Morrice

generously defrayed all expenses connected with the securing of

this charter.

The Rt. Rev. William B. Bond, LL. D., Lord Bishop of the Diocese

of Montreal; John Jenkins, D.D., LL. D.; Gavin Lang; George

Douglas, LL. D.; George H. Wells; Henry Wilkes, D.D.; A.H. Munro;

W.S. Barnes; William A. Hall, M.D.; Sir Hugh Allan; Andrew Allan;

George Macrae, Q.C.; Charles Alexander; Henry Lyman; M.H. Gault,

M.P.; Thomas White, M.P.; Peter Redpath; Adam Darling; Hugh

McLellan; James Coristine; S.H. May; T. James Claxton; James

Johnston; Alex McGibbon; Alfred Perry; Leo H. Davidson, and such

other persons, donors or subscribers, as might be or become

associated with them and their successors, by this act were

constituted a body corporate to found a Protestant institution

for the care, maintenance and cure of the insane of the several

Protestant denominations in the Province of Quebec.

In accordance with the provision of the act, and pursuant to

a notice published in the “Herald” and “Gazette,” as required

by law, a meeting of those interested was held in the Y.M.C.A.

rooms, on December 20, 1881, Mr. Morrice presiding. At the

request of the chairman, Doctor Davidson explained the act

of incorporation, and advised that a board of twenty-four

governors should be elected by subscribers of $10 each, who thus

constituted themselves members of the corporation, this step

being necessary to preserve the charter. The majority of those

present having paid the required sum, a vote was taken by ballot,

and the following gentlemen elected to the Board of Governors:

Mr. D. Morrice; Mr. M.H. Gault, M.P.; Rev. Gavin Lang; Dr. F.W.

Campbell; Dr. J.C. Cameron; Mr. Charles Alexander; Mr. Henry

Lyman; Reverend Dr. Sullivan; Dr. William Osler; Mr. Alfred

Perry; Mr. L.H. Davidson; Rev. William Hall; Mr. T.J. Claxton;

Mr. Thomas White, M.P.; Rev. A.B. Mackay; His Lordship Bishop

Bond; Rev. G.H. Wells; Mr. Warden King; Canon Baldwin; Mr. George

Macrae, Q. C; Mr. Peter Redpath; Mr. Adam Darling; Mr. Hugh

McLennan; and Mr. A.A. Ayer.

It was not till 1887 that a site was determined upon for the

projected asylum. Subscriptions, however, had been obtained which

amounted at the end of 1887 to a total of $68,139.82, which

includes a gift from the Provincial Government of $7,812.29.

At a meeting of governors held April 14, 1887, it was finally

resolved to purchase a portion of the Hadley farm, which had been

selected by the site committee in the spring of 1886, for the

sum of $18,000. Situated in the Municipality of Verdun (whence

the name Verdun Hospital by which the institution is often

designated) just at the foot of the Lachine Rapids, the location

chosen was an admirable and extremely picturesque one. The

mountain rising behind crowned with green woods, its lower slopes

dotted with villas, the mighty St. Lawrence, with its timbered

islands, stretching in front; and the dancing rapids, with their

musical roar, in such close proximity, made a prospect of scenic

beauty difficult to surpass.

By the spring of 1890, the administration building and west

wing were completed, the first patient being received on July

15, 1890, and before the end of the year there had been 139

admissions. The first medical superintendent was Dr. T.J.W.

Burgess, who has held the post ever since.

A new wing was added in 1894. On January 24, 1895, the

institution was honoured by a visit from their Excellencies, the

Governor General Lord Aberdeen and the Countess of Aberdeen.

By 1896 the “Annex” for imbecile and violent patients was begun

in the spring and completed in the autumn. The summer of 1897

saw its opening and the erection of an infirmary. On September

11th, the asylum was visited by the psychological section of the

British Medical Association that gathered in Montreal on the

occasion of the first meeting of the society outside the British

Isles.

In 1898 the pathological laboratory, donated by Mr. G.B. Burland,

was installed under the direction of Dr. Andrew McPhail. The

“East” house in contradistinction to the Annex or “West” house

was completed and opened. This summer the asylum was visited by

the Medico-Psychological Association, the oldest of American

Medical societies then holding its fifty-eighth annual meeting in

Montreal.

In 1907 the Hadley farm of sixty acres adjoining the hospital

was purchased and donated at the cost of $42,000 by a Canadian

gentleman, Dr. James Douglas, of New York. In the same year the

addition of a power house and other lighting and water supply

improvements cost the establishment about one hundred and

twenty-five thousand dollars.

In 1909 a new annex, known as the North West House, was opened

on September 16th. The capacity of the buildings in 1910 was

for a population of 680. The institution at the end of its

twenty-first year had 366 cases, of which nearly forty per cent

have been discharged as cured. The asylum which has acted for the

Protestants of the Province has certainly a good record to show.

THE CIVIC HOSPITALS

After the great epidemic of smallpox in 1885, when the sick were

isolated or treated in temporary buildings, erected on the old

exhibition grounds, the City Council on January 13, 1886, named a

commission to choose a site for the erection of a civic smallpox

hospital. In consequence of which, on May 25, 1886, the city

bought the Robert property situated in the Hochelaga Ward, north

of Moreau Street. This hospital was demolished and reconstructed

in 1912. It is administered by the hygiene department of the City

Hall for smallpox cases.

The steps leading to their erection follow:

Until 1904 there had been only the Civic Hospital on Moreau

Street for contagious diseases--a totally inadequate provision in

a large city. In 1901, on January 23d, the city council received

an offer by Sister Filiatrault, superior general of the Grey

Nuns, offering to contribute $50,000 for a contagious disease

hospital for Catholics on the condition that the city should

contribute a like amount with an annual subvertion of $10,000. A

week later the Montreal General Hospital and the Royal Victoria

Hospital made a similar offer for the general population.

This being accepted, the Catholic hospital, St. Paul’s, at 656

Maisonneuve Street, was in operation by 1904 under the direction

of the Notre Dame Hospital, but the Alexandra Hospital, owing

to several hitches, was not opened till July 9, 1906, its

incorporation being granted in 1903 to James Crathern, Richard B.

Angus and Charles F. Smith.

The hospital is erected at the foot of Charron Street and the

river bounds it on the south and east.

In 1906 Sir William Macdonald purchased and presented to the

hospital the triangular piece of land between it and the river

to the east, at a cost of $7,141.35. In 1908 the late Sir R.G.

Reid built and equipped a very necessary observatory pavilion

at the cost of $12,568.82. A nurses’ home is at present being

erected to the west of the administration building, of fireproof

construction, at a cost of about $56,000, including equipment,

which will bring the total expense of the hospital building up to

$360,000. The patients admitted from January 1, 1913, to December

31, 1913, numbered 1,036.

The Hôpital St. Paul, a section of Notre Dame Hospital, receives

Catholic and the Alexandra Hospital, Protestant patients. The

city pays each one of these institutions annually $35,000 for

thirty-five beds a day, and $1.00 a day in addition for each

patient above the contracted number.

TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARIES

The Royal Edward Institute

In this city it is not quite twelve years ago since the first

organized effort against the ravages of the “white plague”

was initiated by the formation of the Montreal League for the

Prevention of Tuberculosis. At a meeting held in the Art Gallery

on November 29th, 1902, under the auspices of the Governor

General, Lord Minto, resolutions were passed calling for combined

effort on the part of the government, the city authorities, and

public-spirited citizens to relieve the miseries associated with

this infection and to check its spread. A committee was appointed

at that time, but not until June, 1903, was work actually

commenced in a small room in Bleury Street.

The establishment of a sanatorium in the near neighbourhood

for the treatment of incipient cases, and of a hospital for

the treatment of the more advanced and hopeless cases, was at

first proposed; but after consideration it was felt that the

expense of maintaining institutions sufficiently large to cope

with the requirements of the city would involve an expense

far beyond what the community could be reasonably expected at

that time to contribute, so a beginning of work was made by

the establishment of a dispensary, November 1, 1904, and the

employment of what has been termed the dispensary method for

reaching the tuberculous poor. It is a method which has been

gradually developed in Edinburgh under the guidance of Dr. R.W.

Phillip, and in France by Calmette, and which has been adopted

with much success in Philadelphia. The method emphasizes the

importance of disseminating a practical knowledge regarding the

spread, development, and course of the disease among the poor,

and is based upon two facts; first, that it is not necessary for

patients in the early stages of tuberculosis to leave their

homes to be healed, and, second, that patients can be educated

so to comport themselves as to be of little danger to those

around them. Montreal is one of the first pioneers in purely

tuberculosis clinical institutions, the first established by

Doctor Phillip in Edinburgh in 1887, being followed in 1903 by

Calmette in Lille, and by New York and Montreal in 1904. Making

use of this plan it has been the aim of the executive board

not only to attend to the wants of such cases as may apply to

the dispensary, but to co-operate with the medical profession

throughout the city, both in hospital and private practice. All

physicians are invited to report to a central station cases of

tuberculosis occurring in their practice which cannot be fully

treated by them. These cases are tabulated and arranged according

to the district in which they live; each patient is visited

at his home by an inspector or nurse; full instructions, both

written and verbal, are given regarding the mode of life to be

followed to secure the greatest advantage to the patient and the

greatest security to those around him.

An interesting exhibition dealing with all phases of the crusade

was organized in October, 1908, and was visited by over 50,000

persons, including the older children attending the public

schools. Addresses were given by eminent speakers and an attempt

was made to reach all clasess of our citizens and interest them

in the measures necessary to ensure health, and check the spread

of this infection. This movement in public education has led the

way to subsequent health exhibitions in the city, notably the

Child Welfare Exhibition of 1912.

Later an appeal was made to the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council to

appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the conditions in this

province favouring the spread of tuberculosis and to ascertain

the best methods of checking it.

With the growing work of the League, the urgent need of more

room to meet the necessities of its dispensary work, and the

desirability of a large central station, where a resident staff

of nurses could be continually in attendance, was forced upon

the executive. At this juncture, a philanthropic citizen, the

late Lieut.-Col. Jeffrey H. Burland, came forward with his very

generous offer of $50,000 from his sisters and himself as a

contribution in memory of their father and mother, to be applied

towards the purchase and equipment of a suitable building, on

the condition that the general public would contribute an equal

amount to serve as an endowment sufficient to cover the annual

expenses connected with the maintenance of its efficiency. This

condition has unfortunately not yet been fulfilled; as only

$36,000 has been subscribed, nevertheless, Colonel Burland

impressed with the urgency of the League’s need acquired in May,

1909, the very central and commodious detached building, No. 47

Belmont Park. This with much judgment and care he had altered

and enlarged to suit the possible requirements of the dispensary

work for many years to come, and to serve as the headquarters of

the League’s work in Montreal. No dispensary building like this

one with its bright sun parlours and large roof garden exists

anywhere; and it is hoped that its advantages may not only prove

to have much practical benefit for the consumptive patient, but

also have an educational value for the general public.

The whole equipment has been very carefully studied and all

the arrangements made with the view of securing the greatest

efficiency at the minimum of running expense.

By gracious permission of King Edward VII the organization became

known as the Royal Edward Institute.

Its work is one that Montreal has become proud of.

THE BRUCHESI INSTITUTE

The Bruchesi Institute is the tuberculosis hospital and

dispensary under French-speaking direction for patients of all

races and religions. It started humbly when at the request of Dr.

Eugène Grenier, granted on October 10th, 1910, the Sisters of

Providence Asylum, 369 St. Catherine Street, put aside a couple

of rooms for an anti-tuberculosis clinic. Dr. P.E. Bousquet

undertook the treatment of the superior respiratory tract, Dr.

B.E. Bourgeois that of surgical tuberculosis, and Doctor Grenier,

assisted by Drs. J.A. Jarry and Louis Verchelden, that of

pulmonary tuberculosis.

The first board of administration was completed on March 9, 1911,

as follows: honorary president, the Rt. Rev. Paul Bruchesi,

Archbishop of Montreal; president, J. Auguste Richard; vice

president, Abbé Tranchemontagne; treasurer, U.H. Dandurand;

secretary, Dr. Eugène Grenier; directors, Canon Adam, T. Bastien

and Dr. E. Dubé, who greatly promoted its formation. The same

names appear in the act of incorporation of the Bruchesi

Institute, November 10, 1911. A medical board was also formed

at the period, Dr. E. Dubé being elected president, Dr. Eugène

Grenier, secretary, the latter being succeeded by Dr. Gustave

Archambault.

The dispensary opened on February 27, 1911. On July 24, 1912,

this was moved to 340 St. Hubert Street, where the Sisters

of Providence placed at its disposition many large rooms. In

these new quarters the institute has eleven beds for private

tuberculosis persons; 316 have been received and treated in these

private rooms from August 18, 1912, to October 31, 1914.

Educational courses for public instruction through lectures and

a press campaign, and a post-graduate course for physicians

were in operation by July 15, 1913, the opening lectures of the

post-graduate course of 1914 being given by Prof. S.A. Knopp, of

New York. Thirteen physicians have already followed these special

courses on “early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.”

With the aid of the Sisters of Providence the Bruchesi Institute

opened in 1911 a preventorium at Beloeil, but the lack of

financial support on the part of Montreal and the province caused

the institute to discontinue this branch of its work, after

one year. The Bruchesi Institute receives from the Sisters of

Providence the use of the building it occupies, including heating

and cleaning, the services of six sister-nurses, etc. It also

receives the services of thirty-two attending physicians, from

the City of Montreal $3,000, and from the Province of Quebec

$3,000, and material financial aid from the public. The institute

is affiliated to “The Canadian Association for the Prevention of

Tuberculosis.”

THE GRACE DART HOME

A supplementary aid for tuberculosis patients is supplied by

the Grace Dart Home, which was started about eight years ago

as a private institution by Mr. Henry J. Dart in memory of his

daughter, Grace Dart. Friends became interested and a provincial

charter of incorporation was obtained. About two years ago the

former house of Sir Francis Hincks on St. Antoine Street was

purchased and extensions made so that between thirty and forty

patients are provided for.

CIVIC ASSISTANCE TO THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS MOVEMENT

The city has come to the relief of the tuberculosis movement. Its

assistance of recent years is as follows:

Amount paid for the maintenance of tuberculous patients in 1913,

$6,276.45. In 1912 the amount was $6,147.55.

The amount voted in 1913 for the treatment of cases of

tuberculosis amounted to $14,300.00, and the same was apportioned

as follows:

Hospital for incurables, $7,500.00; Royal Edward Institute,

$3,300.00; Grace Dart Home, $500.00; Bruchesi Institute,

$3,000.00. In 1912 it was $13,300.00 and in 1911, $11,300.00.

Supplementing the hospitals are the dispensaries connected

with the convents and the milk stations. One of the oldest now

existing is the Montreal Dispensary, established in 1853, the

Dispensaire of the Sisters of Providence being opened on June 1,

1863.

THE CHILDREN’S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Of recent years the special hospital treatment of children has

been marked. The greatest development in infant care is to

be dated to the rise of the Children’s Memorial Hospital on

Pine Avenue. Not only is this institution to be credited with

efficiency in its general treatment of infants, but it especially

deserves the credit of being the pioneer in Canada of special

clinical treatment and the special vocational education for

crippled and deformed children in the school latterly erected

on its grounds and completed in September, 1914. This will be

treated later.

The first meeting of the committee for the founding of the

Children’s Memorial Hospital, of Montreal, was held on November

25, 1902. Nearly a year went by, however, before the committee

deemed it advisable, or even practical, to make tangible

advancement in this great undertaking.

November, 1903, marks a memorable epoch in the history of the

child cripples throughout Canada, for it was then--nearly a year

after their first meeting--that the committee procured temporary

quarters in the private dwelling, 500 Guy Street, where they

practically launched their noble enterprise, thus bringing

into being one of Canada’s greatest and long-felt needs, an

institution especially adapted for the treatment of deformities

of children and of the many diseases accruing from these

deformities.

To those temporary quarters children were brought from the East

and West, from the North and South of the Dominion to receive

surgical and medical treatment. In that small building, though

the accommodations were woefully limited, many and remarkable

cures have been effected.

The Children’s Memorial Hospital of today was opened April 6,

1909, its beautiful location and handsome and well equipped

buildings making it a credit to the city and to the Dominion.

From an institution, pitifully hampered at its beginning and

during the first five years of its existence, has evolved one

resplendent in its environments of sunshine and mountain air;

of foliage, flowers and birds. It occupies one of the most

delightful sites in or around the beautiful city of Montreal.

Situated on the upper slope of Cedar Avenue with the greater

height of Mount Royal for its background, the blue waters of the

grand St. Lawrence stretching before it, the busy city almost

encircling it, the Children’s Memorial Hospital of Montreal

stands, not merely an ornament to our city, but a benefit to

or land. Its wards, sun-parlors, operating rooms, out-door

department, nurses’ apartments, dining room, kitchens, corridors,

passages--all bear evidence of the great work carried on in the

institution.

It is a general hospital for all children’s diseases, with the

exception of those that are contagious, with wards for boys,

girls and infants, and there is surgical and medical treatment.

The officers from the inception have been: Sir Melbourne Tait,

president; Sir H. Graham, first vice president; Mr. G.H.

Smithers, second vice president and honorary treasurer; Dr. A.

McKenzie Forbes, third vice president and honorary secretary; Dr.

H.B. Cushing, fourth vice president and recording secretary; and

Mr. George J. Foster, honorary solicitor.

THE HOPITAL STE. JUSTINE

The Hôpital Ste. Justine, which is a corresponding institution

to the last named, was established as a hospital and dispensary

for children in November, 1907, at No. 740 St. Denis Street, in

a house loaned at a nominal price by Mr. Damien Rolland. The

next spring it was removed to 820 Delorimier Avenue. Meantime,

as the work was of great importance, steps were taken to rear a

worthy building which saw its first stone solemnly blessed on

St. Denis Street in April, 1914. The building was opened in May,

1914, and towards the end of June the patients were transferred

from Delorimier Avenue. The formal blessing of the Hospital by

Archbishop Bruchesi took place in November.

The hospital is well equipped with departments for general

medicine, surgery, diseases of the eye and skin diseases. For

the last three years the religious sisters, “Les Filles de

la Sagesse,” have directed the internal arrangements and the

nursing department. In connection with the hospital there is a

school of nurses for children’s diseases and the hospital is the

only body in the Dominion empowered to grant diplomas for such.

Arrangements are being made to connect the hospital with the

University of Laval as the children’s clinic.

The board of directors is composed of a committee of ladies and

medical men, the names of those applying for the charter being:

Mesdames Raoul Dandurand, Lady Lacoste, J.R. Thibaudeau, F.L.

Beique, A.A. Thibaudeau, F. D. Monk, D. Rolland, L. Beaubien,

F.X. Choquet, Jules Hamel, A. Berthiaume, F. Bruneau, J.A.

Leblanc, Gérin Normand, R. Masson, Henri Gerin-Lajoie, L. de G.

Beaubien, Mademoiselles Euphrosine Rolland, May Boyer, Blanche

Lareau and Thais Lacoste, and the following doctors: Joseph G.

Dubé, Zephyrin Lachapelle, R.G. Hervieux, Louis Joseph Gatelien

Cleroux, Telesphore Parizeau, Seraphin Boucher, Joseph Charles

Bourgoin, Benjamin Georges Bourgeois, Zephir Rheaume, Irma

Levasseur, Edouard Etienne Laurent and Raoul Masson.

OTHER HOSPITAL ADJUNCT ASSOCIATIONS

Among the other supplemental hospitals in the city are: The

Samaritan Hospital for Women, the Montreal Foundling and Baby

Hospital, the foundling department of the Grey Nuns, the Montreal

Maternity Hospital, the Hôpital de la Miséricorde, the Women’s

Hospital, the St. Margaret’s Home, the various dispensaries, the

Association for Affording First Aid, the Pure Milk Depots or

_gouttes de lait_, the Créches, etc.

Nursing work in the homes of the people is carried on mostly by

the Victorian order of Nurses and the Soeurs de l’Esperance.

Several of these will be treated in the section on General

Humanitarian work, or in other places.

THE MONTREAL DISPENSARY

The Montreal Dispensary deserves special notice as it dates its

foundation to 1853. Its work has been progressively useful.

During the past twelve months the total number of applications

for advice and treatment made to the medical staff of the

dispensary by the sick poor of the city was 23,240.

These were classified as to their religions as follows: Roman

Catholics, 10,808; Protestants, 10,329; other creeds (mostly

Jews), 2,103.

This total may be again subdivided under the different

departments in which these patients were treated, viz.: General

department (medical), 7,250; general department (surgical),

1,170; department for diseases of eye, 1,768; department for

diseases of women, 1,404; department for diseases of ear, nose

and throat, 1,521; department for diseases of the skin, 1,989;

department for diseases of children, 7,334; department for

diseases of tuberculosis, 804.

A careful consideration of the above figures will impress one

with the fact that an institution which supplies free advice and

treatment to such numbers of poor people must of necessity be

doing a good work.

THE MONTREAL MATERNITY HOSPITAL

The Montreal Maternity Hospital was established in 1843, with

forty-three patients, the first physician being Dr. Michael

McCulloch and its first directress Mrs. W. Lunn. It was

incorporated in 1853. In 1913 its patients numbered 1,293. The

hospital provides a training school in obstetrics for McGill

University medical course and for nurses for the English

hospitals. Among the directresses succeeding have been: 1844-55,

Mrs. W. Lunn; 1855-66, Mrs. D. Ross; 1866-75, Mrs. J. Molson;

1875-82, Mrs. R. MacDonnell; 1882-85, Mrs. McCulloch; 1885-87,

Mrs. W. Gardner; 1887-88, Mrs. MacDonnell; 1888-89-91-93,

Mrs. W. Gardner; 1893-95, Mrs. W.R. Miller; 1895-96, Mrs.

Labatt; 1896-97, Mrs. R. MacDonnell; 1897-98, Mrs. W.R. Miller;

1908-1913, Mrs. R.W. Reford; 1914, Mrs. J.L. Cains.

INCURABLES

There is also a Home for Incurables at Notre Dame de Gràce. In

1898 several young ladies of the city inaugurated the work. Their

efforts elicited universal admiration, receiving especially the

assistance of Archbishop Bruchesi. In 1904 the former Monastery

of the Precious Blood was fitted up in the Hospital by its

new possessors, the Sisters of Providence. From the date of

establishment over two thousand persons have been cared for.

ST. MARGARET’S HOME

Another subsidiary hospital adjunct is the St. Margaret’s

Home for Incurables, under an Anglican sisterhood, which

was incorporated in 1890, although its foundation occurred

several years previous to that date. The head home is at

Grinstead, England, and its American headquarters are at

Boston, Massachusetts. The work of the home was originally of

a charitable nature and it has continued such in part to the

present time, caring for about twelve free patients continuously.

However, it has taken on more of the nature of an hospital

for chronic incurables, and as such deserves mention in this

department.

The pressing need for a convalescent home for Montrealers has

been met to some extent for about forty years by the Convalescent

Home at Murray Bay, situated at the Lower St. Lawrence. It

may, however, be ranked as a city charity for it is directed

and supported by Montrealers, its present president being

Mr. Sergeant P. Stearns, and the admission of patients being

regulated by the Charity Organization Society of Montreal. Last

year, 1913, the home received 121 cases, 13 from Quebec, 2 from

Murray Bay and the remainder from Montreal.

CONVALESCENT HOMES

The latest addition to the hospital service of the city is the

care of convalescents overflowing from the busy hospital wards.

This has been found an important need and has only been met

spasmodically till the present year, when the Loyola Convalescent

Home to receive patients of all denominations was formally opened

on April 25th, at 26 Overdale Avenue, under the auspices of the

“Ladies of Loyola Club.”

NOTE

MEDICAL BODIES

THE MONTREAL MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY

On Saturday, September 23, 1843, nineteen medical men met at the

house of Dr. James Crawford, on Little St. James Street, and

resolved to found a society “for the purpose of communicating

together on subjects connected with their profession.” The

founders were:

A.F. Holmes, O.F. Bruneau, J.B.C. Trestler, Archibald Hall, Henry

Mount, William McNider, J.G. Bibaud, James Crawford, George W.

Campbell, C.S. Sewell, William Sutherland, Francis Badgley,

Arthur Fisher, David D. Logan, William Fraser, C.A. Campbell, M.

McCulloch, F.C.T. Arnoldi, Peter Munro.

The name chosen for the society was “The Medico-Chirurgical

Society of Montreal,” and at a meeting held the following week,

a code of by-laws was adopted providing for the holding of

fortnightly meetings from the first of October until the first of

May, and for monthly meetings during the rest of the year.

The officers consisted of a secretary-treasurer--Dr. Francis

Badgley for the first year--and a committee of management of

three, elected annually. The members, in the order in which

their names appeared on the roll, presided at the meetings and

the president for the evening was also expected to provide the

principal part of the programme.

In July, 1845, the constitution was altered to provide for a

president, two vice presidents, secretary-treasurer, and a

committee of management of three, and in August, Dr. A.F. Holmes

was elected the first president. During the autumn of the same

year an attempt was made to form an association of all the

licensed practitioners of the provinces of Canada, and delegates

from Toronto, Niagara, Quebec, Three Rivers and Montreal, met in

Montreal, but failed to come to any agreement.

A tariff of professional charges was adopted by the society in

February, 1846. All patients were divided into two classes and

the twenty-four hours were divided into three portions. Day

visits, 7 A.M. to 8 P.M.; evening visits, 8 P.M. to 10 P.M.;

night visits, 10 P.M. to 7 A.M.

In March, 1852, the meetings ceased to be held, but from what

cause is not now evidenced by the minutes.

Thirteen years later an attempt was made to carry on the

society, and a meeting of thirty French and English medical

men organized themselves into a society bearing the old name.

Dr. G.W. Campbell, dean of the faculty of medicine of McGill

University, was elected president. Two vice presidents, one

French and one English, were appointed, and two secretaries, who

kept the minutes, French and English, on opposite pages of the

minute book, a system which evidently did not prove successful,

the society lasting less than two years on this basis. Dr. W. H.

Hingston was president during the second year.

Four years later, on November 5, 1870, the old society was again

reorganized with twenty-five members; Dr. G.W. Campbell was again

chosen president and Dr. T.G. Roddick secretary-treasurer, a

position which he held for five years. Meetings were held every

alternate Saturday in the Natural History Society’s rooms.

From the date of the second reorganization the society has

grown rapidly and has now become established on a firm footing

financially, and exercises an ever increasing influence on all

matters, pertaining to medical science. The fiftieth anniversary

of its foundation was celebrated by a banquet at the Windsor

Hotel, on November 23, 1893. The meetings of this society are at

present held at 112 Mansfield Street.

LA SOCIETE MEDICALE DE MONTREAL

The present association for the French-speaking medical men in

the city is represented by “La Société Médicale de Montréal” and

was established in 1900 under this name by the adoption of its

statutes on June 19th. It had existed, however, since 1875 as

the “Comité d’Etude.” Its meetings are held at Laval University

and there are 200 members at present who meet twice a month. Its

principal officers have been Doctors Hervieux, Demers, Benoit,

Dubé, Boucher, Marien, Foucher, A. Lesage, Boulet, Parizeau, P.

Mercier and J. Décarie. Its present president is Dr. A.D. Aubry

and the secretary, G. Wilfred Derome.

THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

(QUEBEC)

The College of Physicians and Surgeons is the corporate name of

all the registered practitioners of the province, each one of

whom is styled a member.

Its headquarters are at Montreal and its affairs are conducted

by a board of governors, forty-one in number, elected for four

years; thirteen from the district of Quebec, sixteen from the

district of Montreal, six from the district of Three Rivers, and

six from the district of St. Francis.

Of these forty-five, six are to be collegiate members: two from

Laval University, at Quebec, two from Laval University, at

Montreal, and two from McGill University.

This board of governors of the college is known as the Provincial

Medical Board, and meets twice a year to perform its functions.

This board has the power to regulate the study of medicine, by

making rules regarding the preliminary qualifications, duration

of study, and curriculum.

It appoints every third year four persons actually engaged in

education in the province as matriculation examiners, and persons

desiring the license must qualify before these examiners before

entering upon their professional studies.

By an amendment passed in 1890, holders of a degree of B.A.,

B.S.C., or B.L., conferred by any Canadian or British university,

are exempt from passing the preliminary examination.

As regards the professional requirements for the license,

holders of a degree in medicine from Laval University, McGill

University, and the Montreal School of Medicine, are entitled to

the license by virtue of such degrees, without examination. The

same privilege is granted to registered practitioners of Great

Britain, under the Imperial Medical Act of 1886. Other than the

graduates so mentioned, all candidates for the license, must pass

an examination before the board.

The Provincial Medical Board also has power to fix the tariff of

fees for professional services, and such tariff must have the

approval of the lieutenant-governor in council, and be published

in the Official Gazette six months before it becomes law.

No person may practise the profession of medicine in the province

who is not a member of the college, and he is liable to fine, and

even imprisonment, for repeated offence. If guilty of felony, his

name is removed from the register, and cannot again be registered.

THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

The Board of Health of the Province of Quebec has its seat in the

City of Montreal. The board was appointed in August, 1887, under

the authority of an act passed by the Legislature in 1886, the

year following the very severe epidemic of small-pox in Montreal.

Under the authority of the Quebec Public Health Act, the board

has made and enforces through all the municipalities of the

province by-laws relating to the prevention and limitation of

infectious diseases, the improvement of sanitation, the removal

of nuisances, the wholesomeness of food, the sanitary conditions

of habitations and factories, etc. Since 1894, no system of

waterworks and no sewerage system can be established without the

board having approved the plans thereof and this is also the case

for projected cemeteries. In 1893, the Legislature enacted the

law of statistics by which the data contained in the registers

of the civil status are made available to the board and this was

the origin of its division of vital statistics. In 1893, the

board established a bacteriological and chemical laboratory where

rural municipalities can have their analyses made free of cost,

as well as physicians the bacteriological diagnosis. In 1909, the

board organized a special division of sanitary-engineering for

the efficient betterment of the sanitation of water supplies and

sewerage systems. In 1910, the board requested the Government to

assent to the division of the province in ten sanitary districts

under “whole time” inspectors who possessed a diploma in public

health. The delay in securing these sanitarians was the cause

that this district service could only be organized in the year

1912.

The board has jurisdiction over the whole 1,164 municipalities

the province contains. It has power to require the organization

of a local board of health in every municipality. Municipal

councils are bound to execute all by-laws enacted by the

provincial board and whenever the latter find them too lax, it

may directly itself execute the by-laws at the expense of the

municipalities in fault.

The board is composed at present (1914) of ten members, one of

whom is made president. The other officers are: the executive

secretary, the chief inspector of health, the recorder of vital

statistics, the bacteriologist, the chemist, the sanitary

engineer and seven district inspectors. The president is Dr. E.

Persillier-Lachapelle, and the secretary, Dr. E. Elzear Pelletier.

THE CITY BOARD OF HEALTH

The Bureau of Health of Montreal came into effect through a

by-law passed in the city council on the 10th of May, 1865.

Subsequently, ten years later, this by-law was replaced by

another, No. 105, passed in 1876, under which the board now

operates.

The board has jurisdiction over all matters of public health

and is composed of the following sub-departments: contagious

diseases; medical inspection of schools: sanitary inspection;

food inspection; inspection of milk and dairy farms; statistics;

municipal laboratories; the municipal medical service. The

sanitary inspection department covers the general sanitation of

the dwellings, outhouses, lanes, etc.

The first health officer was Dr. Larocque, who served for about

twenty years, and was succeeded by Dr. Louis Laberge, who filled

the office for nearly thirty years. The present officer is Dr. S.

Boucher, who was appointed December 1, 1913.

The by-law governing the bureau calls for a board to consist of

the mayor, nine aldermen of the city and nine citizens outside

of the city council. This, however, has not been carried into

effect. The board now consists of nine members, including the

mayor and the health officer. The board is appointed by the city

council each year, in March, and the present board consists of

Mayor Martin, Alderman Letourneau, M.D., chairman; Alderman

Dubeau, Alderman Denis, M.D., Alderman Dubois, M.D., Alderman

O’Connell, Alderman Blumenthal, Alderman Turcot, and the medical

health officer, Dr. S. Boucher.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The medical faculty of Bishop’s College has been abandoned

since 1905.

CHAPTER XXXIV

SOCIOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS

I

CARE OF THE AGED, FOUNDLINGS AND INFANTS

GREY NUNS--PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM--SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE--THE

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1832--L’ASILE DE MONTREAL--MONTREAL

LADIES BENEVOLENT SOCIETY--THE SHIP FEVER OF 1847--ST.

PATRICK’S ORPHANAGE--HERVEY INSTITUTE--PROTESTANT

INFANTS’ HOME--PROTESTANT INDUSTRIAL ROOMS--MONTREAL DAY

NURSERY--L’ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE--OTHER INSTITUTIONS.

A city’s life is not fully told unless the record of its

charitable, philanthropic and sociological progress is at least

indicated. That of Montreal will be found to be full, inspiring

and satisfactory. The following record is a study of movements

and origins rather. It is not a directory. Nor is it in any

way meant to be a comparative appreciation of the work done

by the various societies or institutions mentioned. Its scope

is historical. Innumerable obstacles stand in the way of the

preparation of such a chapter as that now offered, but it should

nevertheless be attempted if only to gather together as many as

possible of the early links of the many excellent social works

of the city and to bind them to those larger ones which have

been forged by the present day busy workers who in their active

present are working busily and wholeheartedly for the growing

needs of the hour and have not, through one cause or another,

the historical means of surveying the early humble beginnings of

works with which they or others have linked their names and their

self-sacrificing endeavours.

The first pioneer social movements of Montreal under British

rule were those embracing the care of the aged and that of

foundlings and abandoned children. These were found together

under one roof but in different departments in the Hôpital

Général of the “Grey Nuns” or the “Sisters of Charity” according

to their official title. At the time of the capitulation the

above, with the Hôtel Dieu, founded on May 17, 1642, since the

early days of the colony, sufficed for the charitable needs of

the small community; for although the “Congregation” established

in 1657 by Marguerite Bourgeoys, had cared for many orphans and

thus in some sense might be said to have been the forerunner

of the modern orphanages of the city and had shared in other

social experiments, its work must be considered to have become

specifically educational. Again although the Hôtel Dieu also

still maintained, as it did until recent years, a number of

aged persons and orphans, its special function had been mostly

exercised as a hospital for the sick. Its history having been

already told, that of the Grey Nunnery is now in place as the

peculiar pioneering institution for the aged, orphans and general

charity under British rule.

THE GREY NUNS

On taking possession of the Hôpital Général from the Charron

Frères, in 1747, Madame d’Youville and her companions devoted

themselves to works of charity of every kind, receiving into the

institution all classes of unfortunates without distinction of

age or sex, never refusing any. During several years the Sisters

cared for fallen women and had rooms for twelve. In 1756 a ward

was opened to receive English soldiers, sick and wounded, who

had been taken prisoners at Oswego under Shirley and Pepperel

and others during the “Seven Years’ War” before the capitulation

of Montreal. On September 7, 1760, the hospital being mistaken

by the English as an outwork of defence, was about to be reduced

by the cannon when a soldier ran to the general and on his knees

implored him to save the hospital where he and his companions

had been tended in the “Salle des Anglais.” The result was that

the officers went in and were hospitably received by Madame

d’Youville with biscuits and wine.

After the capitulation the hospital, as well as those of other

communities in the town, suffered by the depreciation of paper

money, receiving a very small percentage of its worth from the

French government, thereby losing more than a hundred thousand

francs.

The work of caring for abandoned children began on November 16,

1754, but was not developed till shortly after the conquest in

1760, when Madame d’Youville one day found the body of a little

child frozen in the ice with the dagger still in its throat and

its little hands raised as in supplication for justice. This

incident with others caused her to develop this work which was

then first undertaken systematically on this continent. Funds,

however, were wanting. Under the old régime certain moneys had

been appropriated for “enfants trouvés,” foundlings. The new

military government, approached by Madame d’Youville and the

Rev. M. Montgolfier, the brother of the inventor of the balloon,

and the superior of the Seminary, could only procure a sum of

288 francs. On September 13, 1771, Madame d’Youville approached

the sympathetic Governor Carleton, but with no good results.

Yet, in spite of the extreme poverty of the sisterhood the work

continued, supported by their needlework. Another contributing

cause for their poverty was the loss of their hospital in the

great fire of May 18, 1765, which devastated the lower part

of the town. This was more disastrous to them than the fire

of 1745, for it reduced their home to ashes. The children and

the aged poor were about to be transferred to the barns of the

farm belonging to the Grey Nuns at Point St. Charles when M.

Montgolfier came with an invitation from the nuns of the Hôtel

Dieu offering their hospitality. As, however, the number was too

considerable, the nuns of the “Congregation” shared the problem

of housing them. Not losing heart, Madame d’Youville dared, on

the 9th of June following, to begin rebuilding, relying on the

sum of 6,000 francs contributed by the Montreal faithful and the

Indians of the settlements of Caughnawaga and the Lake of Two

Mountains.

[Illustration: THE GREY NUNNERY OF TODAY]

[Illustration: THE OLD “GREY” NUNNERY As it looked from McGill

Street in the late ’60s before the new building was erected on

Dorchester Street. This site was that of the original General

Hospital, founded by M. Charron in 1692, and transferred to

Madame D’Youville in 1747. A portion of these buildings still

remains in 1912, being employed as warehouses. The new Custom

House is to be built on this spot.]

But the Seminary came to her aid with a loan of 15,000 francs.

By order of M. Montgolfier the workmen laboured constantly, even

on Sundays, so that by September 23d the part for the aged men

was ready. The Sisters entered their convent on December 5th

and the poor women on Christmas Day. The rest of the buildings

were not finished till 1767, the church being blessed on August

30th. Though housed, money was very scarce; yet Madame d’Youville

had dared even nineteen days after the fire of 1765 to complete

a contract already arranged since August 25, 1764, for the

acquistion of the seigneury of Chateauguay, originally accorded

in 1673 by Frontenac to M. Lemoyne of Longueuil, and then

belonging to the family of Robutel de Lanouë. The development

of this farm, which scarcely gave any revenue, was the object

of the zealous solicitude of Madame d’Youville and now is the

sanitarium and country house of the Grey Nuns for their different

foundations. The property of Point St. Charles was afterward

built upon for a country house for the children and the aged

poor. It was burnt down in 1842 but re-erected in the following

year. The death of this “mulier fortis” occurred at 8:30 P.M. on

December 23, 1771, at the age of seventy years after a life full

of fatigues, privations and sacrifices. The work undertaken by

her devoted followers has spread from Montreal far and wide. On

October 7, 1871, the Mother House was removed from its oldtime

position “down town” to the block bounded by Guy Street, St.

Catherine Street, Fort Street and Dorchester Street. The old

buildings were converted by merchants into warehouses, part of

which are still standing. The new custom house, being erected in

1914, marks the site of the southwest corner of their estate.

The following resumé of the work of the Grey Nuns is interesting:

In 1801, at the request of the government officials, the insane

were admitted and a special annex built. Previous to this, the

sisters had already received twenty-three such patients and until

this work was discontinued in 1839, the number received was 114.

In 1823, the community undertook the care of Irish orphan girls.

In 1846, at the request of the priests of the Seminary, a

“dispensary” for the poor was opened and a system of house to

house visitation was established.

In 1847, the sisters nursed the poor Irish immigrants stricken

with typhus fever.

In the same year a temporary “home” was opened for the women left

without resources after this terrible plague epidemic.

In 1849, at the request of the mayor of Montreal, the sisters

undertook the nursing of the cholera victims in the “sheds”

constructed for the typhus patients.

In 1851, St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum was opened and the Grey Nuns

took charge.

In 1858, the first “kindergarten” conducted by the Grey Nuns in

Montreal was founded on Bonaventure Street by the Rev. Father

Rousselot, a Sulpician. It was known as Salle d’ Asile St.

Joseph, but was ultimately closed, because its proximity to the

railroad made it dangerous for the small children who came there

to school.

In 1861, the Nazareth Asylum for the Blind on St. Catherine

Street was opened.

In 1885, during an epidemic of small pox, forty Grey Nuns devoted

themselves to the care of the victims in their homes and in the

hospitals.

Since the days of their foundress, the Sisters each year have

provided for a certain number of poor students who board in the

establishment.

In the Mother House, on Guy Street, at present, the Grey Nuns

care for foundlings, orphan boys and girls, poor and aged men and

women, besides having an industrial school for young girls.

THE FOUNDLINGS

The number of foundlings received annually is between four

hundred and fifty and five hundred. Since the founding, 37,168

infants have been admitted.

The number of children averages between one hundred and one

hundred and twenty. There are at present in the nursery 126.

The children who survive, when not kept in the nursery, are

either placed out to board or adopted by good families. In 1911,

fifty-five were adopted.

When about three years of age, the little children leave the

nursery and are placed with the orphans. These foundlings come

from all directions and belong to all nationalities.

A course of lectures has been opened at the nursery for the

training of children’s maids.

THE ORPHANS

There are in the Grey Nunnery 300 orphans, of which 170 are boys

from three years to twelve years of age, and 130 girls from three

years to eighteen or twenty years of age.

Since 1748, when the first orphan girl was received, there have

been admitted 5,788 orphans, 2,875 boys and 2,913 girls.

From 1823 to 1873, these children were almost exclusively of

Irish origin. Since the latter date, the majority are from

Montreal, though some few are from the suburbs. Almost all are

French-Canadians, there being a few English speaking children and

some Indians. The greater number are received gratuitiously, very

few being able to pay their board.

At the age of twelve, the boys who are not claimed by relatives,

are placed at the orphanages of Montfort or of St. Arsène, or

adopted by respectable families.

The girls on leaving the orphanage enter the industrial school,

where they are taught domestic economy.

Those who have relatives wishing to claim them can leave. The

others are adopted by good families or placed out to earn their

living.

THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL

The industrial school was opened in 1908. Since then 297 pupils

have been received, 270 of these being Canadians, 19 English and

8 Indians. There are at present 60 pupils in this department.

These young girls are employed in the different departments and

work rooms of the house.

In the sewing room they are taught sewing and mending as well as

knitting, embroidery, etc. In the kitchen, laundry, book bindery,

printing office and pharmacy, they are trained to become useful

members of society.

Several hours are also spent each day in the schoolroom.

THE AGED AND INFIRM

There are 195 aged poor and infirm at present at the Mother

House, 95 men and 100 women.

Since the founding of the institution in 1747, 6,250 aged poor

and infirm have been received, of whom 2,952 were men and 3,298

women.

These comprise cripples of all kinds, and persons afflicted

with epilepsy or cancer. The number of the latter cases has

considerably diminished since the opening of the Hospital for

Incurables in Montreal.

Until 1910 the only grant from the provincial or municipal

authorities was $105.00, but the provincial government now grants

for the different works of charity an annual appropriation of

$2,905.00, in which is included the $105.00 for the nursery, the

expenses of which amount to $25,000.00 annually.

In 1910 and in 1911, the City of Montreal allowed $1,000.00

to the institution. In 1912, this allowance was increased to

$1,200.00. The balance of $98,550.00, which is the amount of

the annual expense for the support of the 660 inmates, must be

provided by the community. The average cost per capita is 41

cents a day.

Although there is no dispensary at the Grey Nunnery for outside

poor, these are continually assisted in many ways. Thus in 1911,

1,200 meals were given, and 300 persons were assisted materially.

Besides the Mother House, the Grey Nuns have in Montreal:

Three hospitals with training-schools: Notre Dame Hospital, St.

Paul’s Hospital, and the Ophthalmic Institute.

Four kindergartens: Nazareth, Bethlehem, St. Henry’s, and Ste.

Cunegonde’s.

Five orphanages: St. Patrick’s, St. Henry’s, Ste. Cunegonde’s,

Bethlehem, and St. Louis’.

One institution for the education of blind pupils.

Two homes for working girls: “Youville” and “Killarney.”

Three homes for the aged poor: St. Bridget’s, Ste. Cunégonde’s,

and St. Anthony’s.

One industrial school: St. Joseph’s.

In Canada, outside the City of Montreal they have:

One school at Côte-des-Neiges, one at Chateauguay, and one at St.

Benoit, with a home for infirm and aged women.

Four homes: in Varennes, Beauharnois, Chambly and Longueuil,

for aged and infirm women and orphans. A few lady boarders are

received in these homes to help support the works of charity. The

sisters visit the sick.

One hospital at St. John’s, with a home for old men and women;

also, a kindergarten.

In Western Canada, the Grey Nuns direct twenty-five

establishments, and in the United States, fourteen.

THE PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM

The next movement for orphan children was on the part of the

English ladies who formed before 1822 a Female Benevolent

Society. This was followed by the “Protestant Orphan Asylum,”

the connecting link being provided as follows by the following

extract from the original minutes.[1]

“Upon the dissolution of the Female Benevolent Society in

February, 1822, the officers and members of that institution

consigned their orphan proteges and their flourishing little

school to the care and maintenance of the Protestant churches of

the city. The rector of the English Episcopal and the ministers

of two Presbyterian churches accepted the charge.”

Founded therefore in 1822, without endowment the Protestant

Orphan Asylum trusted entirely to the generosity of interested

friends. The clergy of the city undertook to preach charity

sermons for its benefit, and a substantial sum was thus raised.

The constitution of the new charity was framed by the Rev. John

Bethune, D.D., Dean of Montreal, and the Rev. Henry Esson, D.D.,

Pastor of St. Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church.

The first building occupied as an asylum (in 1833) was situated

in St. Louis Street. The expenditure in this year was £211 10s

4d. In 1838 removal was made to more commodious premises in St.

Antoine Street, the expenditure that year being £248 4s 5d.

In 1848 the annual reports were first published, and in the

spring of the same year the foundations of a new home were laid,

on land generously donated by Judge Smith on St. Catherine Street

where Holland’s store now stands. This was sufficiently finished

to permit the taking possession thereof June 4, 1849. The present

building at 93 Côte des Neiges Road, was completed and occupied

1895.

It is interesting to compare the small beginnings of the earlier

years with present conditions. For instance, in 1833, as

previously stated, there was no endowment, and the expenditure

for the year was £211 10s 4d, about $846. In 1911 the market

value of its endowment fund amounted to $178,962, yielding a

revenue of $9,143.50, and this with the annual subscriptions

provided for the year, $10,109.80.

In the annual report for the year 1859 attention is called to

the remarkable sanitary fact that out of upwards of six hundred

children received into the home since its foundation, only

forty-seven had died, notwithstanding the epidemic of cholera and

typhus fever, at different times prevalent. And it may be added

that this record has been maintained, and even surpassed, in the

years that have followed.

THE MONTREAL LADIES’ BENEVOLENT SOCIETY

On the occasion of the epidemic of cholera in 1832 there arose

a corresponding effort among the English Protestant ladies. The

Montreal Ladies’ Benevolent Society was then founded “for the

purpose of affording relief and support to destitute women and

children” and the work which its founders inaugurated eighty-two

years ago has been carried on ever since. The Society was

incorporated in 1841.

The list of its presidents previous to 1849 was destroyed by

fire. Since 1849 the following ladies have served it as president:

1849--Mrs. Renaud.

1850--Mrs. Davidson.

1853--Mrs. Tulford.

1855--Mrs. Geddes.

1873--Mrs. Mackenzie.

1875--Mrs. Molson.

1876--Mrs. Vanneck.

1877--Mrs. Wheeler.

1882--Lady Galt.

1883--Mrs. Cramp.

1889--Mrs. Edwyn Evans.

1890--Mrs. Cramp.

1896--Mrs. John G. Savage.

1907--Mrs. Lachlan Gibb.

1910--Mrs. Alister Mitchell.

Honorary President--Countess Grey.

Many names prominent in social and philanthropic work in Montreal

during that period are to be found on the roll of its past and

present committees.

The original building still stands with the added wings on

Ontario, formerly Berthelet, Street.

There are seven old women and ninety-eight children in the

home--fifty-two boys and forty-six girls between the ages of

six and fourteen years. Every effort is made to start these

children suitably in life. But unfortunately, when they reach a

wage-earning age, they are frequently taken away by their parents

or nearest relatives, who up to this period have, more often than

not, ignored their existence--whereas if the children were only

left long enough in the home, they could receive special and

individual instruction and better positions could be found for

them.

Fifty-five destitute children and children of delinquent parents

have for many years been sent in through the city for whom the

city pays $7 per month for girls and $8 per month for boys. The

cost of each child averages $13.75 per month.

THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE

The succeeding movement in the charity for the aged, orphans

and the poor was that started in 1828 by another Montreal lady,

Madame Gamelin, who founded the “Sisters of Providence,” a

religious congregation, in 1843, the Asile de la Providence

having been incorporated on September 11, 1841, and being erected

canonically in 1844.

By 1905 the congregation had spread over eighteen dioceses and

had seventy-seven houses. In 1913 it had ninety-seven houses. Its

foundress, Marie Emmeline Eugene Tavernier, was born on February

19, 1800. On June 4, 1823, she was married to Jean Baptiste

Gamelin, a man of fifty, described in the marrage register as a

“burgher,” the appellation then given to a proprietor living on

his income. Three children were born of the union. Two died three

months after birth. In 1827 Mr. Gamelin died and the following

year the third child also. The widow’s heart now turned to the

aged and poor. On March 4, 1828, she opened a modest refuge on

the ground floor of a small parochial school, directed by the

Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, situated on the corner

of St. Lawrence and St. Catherine streets. The first beneficiary

was a widow named St. Onge, 102 years old. The refuge was shortly

removed to two houses rented on St. Philippe Street with her

charges, which soon reached the number of thirty, not always

over-grateful.

About this time Madame Gamelin formed a society of lady

auxiliaries, Mesdames François Tavernier, E.R. Fabre, Maurice

Nolan, Augustine Tullock, R. St. Jean, Paul Joseph LaCroix,

Joseph Gauvin, Simon Dalorme and Julien Tavernier. This society,

founded on December 13, 1827, and organized on December 18th

of the same year, still exists as the “Society of the Ladies

of Charity.” Each of these agreed to pay a monthly board for

one poor woman. During the cholera outbreak of 1832-1834

Madame Gamelin did not spare herself in visiting the sick. The

“yellow” house was secured for the growing needs of the refuge

by M. Olivier Berthelet, whose name is linked with Montreal’s

charities. It was a modest frame building, two stories in

height, standing on St. Catherine and Hubert streets. During the

political troubles of 1837-38 there commenced the work, still

pursued by her followers, of visiting the Montreal jails. Writing

in his “Patriots of 1837-38” Mr. L.O. David, afterwards city

clerk of Montreal, and a senator, said: “There are two names in

particular deserving of special mention and which the prisoners

have never forgotten, Madame Gamelin, who later became the

foundress of the Providence, and Madame Gauvin, mother of Doctor

Gauvin, who himself took part in the events of 1837.” In 1841

Madame Gamelin’s asylum obtained civil incorporation through a

measure, introduced by the Hon. D. Viger and the Hon. J. Quesnel,

under the name of “Corporation for Aged and Infirm Women of

Montreal.”

In 1841 the work was so well founded that to secure its

permanency as a constituted diocesan charity the ladies

associated with it, under the beautiful name of the Ladies of

Providence, determined to give it over to the Daughters of

Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, then lately visited in Paris

by Bishop Bourget. A new building was forthwith determined on

to receive them, and for the funds for this, the first bazaar

recorded in Montreal was organized, in Rasco’s Hotel on St.

Paul Street, on May 15, 16, 1842, and netted 500 louis. The

directresses were Mesdames Gamelin, Gauvin, St. Jean, Fabre,

Levesque, Boyer, Moreau and Lafontaine. Other sums were raised

and the corner stone of the house opposite the “yellow” house

was blessed on May 10, 1842. About the middle of June, 1842,

Bishop Bourget gave Madame Gamelin and the Ladies of Providence a

rule modelled upon that which St. Vincent de Paul had drawn up

for a society of ladies in Paris who had consecrated themselves

to the work. The Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul did not come,

after all, and Bishop Bourget determined to create a diocesan

order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence. On March 25,

1843, the first clothing took place of the first six postulants

in the “yellow” house, who were to obey Madame Gamelin as their

superior. As yet she was not herself a religious, but on July

8th, on one of the postulant’s returning to the world, Madame

Gamelin determined to take her place and she was accepted by the

Bishop as one of the new order of the Sisters of Providence, one

of whose early works was to carry on the work of the care of the

aged and infirm already begun by Madame Gamelin in 1827. In 1860

her institute established an asylum for “abandoned” children,

French Canadian and Irish, which was opened on September 25th.

The work for the insane at Longue Pointe, begun in 1849, is told

elsewhere.

L’ASILE DE MONTREAL

Meanwhile the year of the cholera, 1832, had seen the birth,

on July 18, of the “L’Asile de Mountréal pour les orphelins

Catholiques Romains” or “Les Orphelins des Récollets,” so called

because these orphans were first cared for in the convent

of the Récollets. The asylum received its incorporation in

September, 1841. The work was promoted by a Sulpician, the

Rev. P. Phelan, and a widow, Madame Gabriel Cotté, who became

its foundress and received her helpers from among the “Ladies

of Charity.” Among the Ladies of Charity under whose auspices

the new work was placed and still continues, were those of the

best society of Montreal. The first president was Madame Marie

Charles Joseph LeMoyne, Baroness de Longueuil, the wife of

Captain David Alexander Grant, of the Ninety-fourth Regiment,

who died on February 25, 1841. The vice presidents were Madame

de Lothbinidère and Madame de Beaujeu. On the death of the

Baroness de Longueuil she was succeeded as president by Madame

Berthelet, Madame D.B. Viger, Madame C.S. Cherrier and Madame

T. Bouthillier. Under the board of directors the asylum was

conducted successively by Madame Chalifoux and Madamoiselle

Morin. The present president is Madame J.O. Gravel and the vice

president is Madame Rosaire Thibaudeau, niece of the esteemed

foundress, Madame Cotté.

The institution has remained under lay control, although since

1889 the Grey Nuns have been invited to undertake the internal

management. Madame Cotté was its first treasurer, being succeeded

by her daughter, Madame Quesnel, who supported the work till her

death. The foundress, Madame Cotté, endowed the work with a gift

of land, that named “Pres de Ville,” on Lagauchetière Street, and

with a legacy in money. Her heirs exchanged the original land

for that on St. Catherine Street on which the institution stands

today, a part of which was built by the legacies in money left by

Madame Cotté and Madame Quesnel.

In 1913 the orphanage and grounds were sold and a spacious

property bought for the new orphanage site at Notre Dame de

Grâces. The new buildings have been commenced but have been

interrupted by the European war of 1914.

The dire year of 1847, that of typhus fever, saw great activity

among all these French and English institutions for charitable

works. As the incoming immigrants were mostly Catholics the

activities of the Catholic institutions of the period may

naturally be recalled. The “Providence Sisters,” lately erected

as a religious congregation, were called by Bishop Bourget to

second the Grey Nuns, the Nuns of the Congregation and the Nuns

of the Hôtel Dieu at the fever-stricken sheds at Point St.

Charles. The work of caring for the 600 or more orphans of the

emigrants was confided to the Sisters of Providence in the two

provisory hospitals. The religious of the Good Shepherd, who

had been called to Montreal in 1844, finally took charge of the

girls, and Madame Gamelin’s “Providence” Sisters took the boys

to Mrs. Nolan’s house on St. Catherine Street. Bishop Bourget’s

pastoral letter of 1848 describing the transference of the

children through the street states: “The spectacle of hundreds of

children famishing with hunger, covered with rags and in danger

of succumbing to the attacks of that terrible disease which had

deprived them of their parents was so poignant that it can never

be forgotten.” Twenty-seven of the “Providence” Sisters were

stricken with the plague and three died, and similar disaster

befell other charitable “Congregations” or lay associations of

all sections.

On the 1st of October the orphans were removed from their

temporary home in Mrs. Nolan’s house to the former convent of

the Good Shepherd, situated on Beaudry Street, then Black Horse

Street, the new Hospice of St. Jerome Emilianus. From the 11th

of July Mother Gamelin had received 650 orphans. Of that number

332 died and 188 were placed out or adopted. In the month of

March, 1848, 130 remained in addition to 99 who stayed in the

sheds at Point St. Charles. An appeal at this time was made by

Bishop Bourget and colleges, convents and lay people responded

in adopting the children. Sixty remained with the Sisters of

Providence and were distributed among the different houses or

apprenticed to trades. “In adopting these poor children,” says

the same pastoral, “they will become our companions in faith,

good priests, fervent religious, excellent citizens,” as, indeed,

they did.

THE ST. PATRICK’S ORPHANAGE

This leads up naturally to the history of the Irish Catholic

charities, and of the St. Patrick’s Orphanage, in particular.

Before 1800 few Irish reached the city, yet they came early in

the nineteenth century, so that by 1823 the number of orphan

children of Irish parentage was such that M. Roux, the superior

of the Sulpicians, arranged with the Grey Nuns[2] to receive the

first five of forty children in the “Salle des petites orphelines

Irlandaises” which was opened February 14, 1823. Until 1886 the

Sulpicians unostentatiously supported no less than 848 little

Irish orphans.

In the fall of the year of “Black ’47” the Rev. M. Pinsonneault

rented a house on Colborne Street of fifteen apartments, in which

he lodged fifty families of those who, though destitute, had

escaped the terrible ship fever. This was known as the “House.”

Mrs. Brown, a good Catholic Irishwoman, undertook to teach the

children and M. Pinsonneault founded a band of ladies for the

purposes of organizing bazaars for the support of the struggling

institution which was even vilified in the press. The “Ladies of

Charity” were organized in 1849 as a permanent body to assume the

upkeep of the work and to collect subscriptions.

Meanwhile during the visitation of 1847 it was rendered necessary

for 650 little Irish orphans to be taken from the pest sheds of

Point St. Charles and taken care of, as is told elsewhere, by

the religious daughters of Mother Gamelin, the foundress of the

Sisters of Providence.

On June 20, 1848, Father Dowd had arrived and, being appointed

in September almoner of the poor, he became superior of the

House. He quickly determined that a new asylum was needed. This

was secured in a small house on Craig Street, opposite the Champ

de Mars, generously loaned by M. Augustin Perreault, who added

numerous other benevolent gifts and services. In October, 1849,

the asylum was opened and Mrs. Brown was joined by Mrs. McMahon,

better known as Mrs. “Mack.” A fire on June 9, 1850, nearly

threatened the existence of the new house.

About 1850 a parishioner of St. Patrick’s church, M. Bartholomew

O’Brien, bequeathed a sum of £1,000 for an orphan asylum. Father

Dowd formed a building committee of Messrs. Charles T. Palgrave,

Francis McDonnell, Charles Curran, P. O’Meara, P. Lawlor, J.

McGovern, Patrick Brennan, Thomas O’Brien, Patrick Lynch and

Mathew Ryan. The latter acted as secretary till February, 1850,

when he was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Bell. A lot of ground, 100

feet by 10 in front on Dorchester Street, with 120 feet of rear,

was given, in trust for the building of an Irish orphan asylum by

the Fabrique of the parish of Montreal.

On November 21, 1851, the unfinished house was entered by the

orphans, two or three planks laid against the principal entrance

being the only door. The formal blessing of the building by the

bishop took place on February 2, 1852. In this same year the

treasurer, Mr. T.C. Palgrave, received a grant of £500 from the

provincial parliament. The act of incorporation received the

royal assent on May 30, 1855. In 1859 Father Dowd resigned his

directorship, leaving a balance to the poor of $157.39. He was

succeeded by the Rev. Michael O’Brien, who afterwards became the

first superior of St. Ann’s church. In 1861 Mr. Edward Murphy,

afterwards senator, joined the board of trustees, becoming

secretary in the place of Mr. Bell.

His Excellency, Viscount Monck, governor-general, visited the

orphan asylum on July 3, 1862, when an address was read by Mr.

Thomas Ryan, afterwards senator. On the death of Mr. Bell, in

1864, Mr. John Fitzpatrick became a trustee. Dying in the same

year, he made the orphanage his residuary legatee.

Through the efforts of the indefatigable Father O’Brien there

was acquired the property on Lagauchetière Street, where the

St. Bridget’s Refuge was afterwards built, the act of the

transference by the corporation of the asylum to the refuge by

resolution being dated June 24, 1866. In 1859 it was proposed

to build St. Bridget’s church for the Irish in the Quebec

suburbs and money was collected, but, as the bishop could not

be prevailed upon to permit its creation, at a meeting of

subscribers held on March 9, 1867, it was resolved unanimously

on the motion of Mr. B. Devlin, and seconded by Mr. M.P. Ryan,

that the money collected (about $8,000) by Fathers O’Brien

and O’Farrell (afterwards bishop of Trenton) be appropriated

as follows: “one-half to the Montreal St. Patrick’s Orphan

Asylum and the other half to the Rev. Father O’Farrell and

his successors for Irish Catholic charities in the St. Ann’s

suburbs, the whole to be invested by them in stock in the new St.

Patrick’s Hall, now in course of erection.”

The history of the ill-starred St. Patrick’s Hall, a magnificent

structure, a credit to the Irish people of the city, tells of

two disasters, in the last of which it perished by fire. The

association determined to wind up its affairs, which resulted in

the stockholders receiving 55% for their investment, the asylum

being, therefore, a considerable loser.

On the death of the Rev. Michael O’Brien in 1870 Father Dowd

was again appointed director by the bishop. In 1877 there was

terminated a long dispute which was settled in the ecclesiastical

court, resulting in the non-divergence of the funds, originally

collected for St. Bridget’s church and given with the consent

of the subscribers, half to the orphan asylum and half to the

Fabrique of St. Marys, who claimed the original gift for the

St. Bridget’s church, when permission to build this had been at

last granted by the bishop in 1873. The case for the asylum in

civil law was entrusted by the trustees to Mr. J.J. Curran, Q.C.,

M.P., afterwards the Hon. Justice Curran, his view in favour of

the asylum being endorsed by Mr. Lacoste, Q.C., afterwards Sir

Alexander Lacoste, chief justice, K.B.

In January, 1873, Lord Dufferin, the distinguished Irish governor

general, visited the asylum. On January 30, 1874, Sister Forbes,

who since 1853 had succeeded Sister Reed as superioress of the

asylum, celebrated her “golden wedding” as a nun. Mother Forbes

died three years later, on March 28, 1877, after her twenty-third

year in the superiority of the asylum, to the great grief of the

Irish population.

The last of the original trustees died on May 26, 1889, the

Hon. Thomas Ryan, senator for the Victoria division of the

province. On the 26th of December, 1889, the following gentlemen

were trustees, Edward Murphy, J.S. Mullin, W.H. Hingston, Owen

McGarvey, James O’Brien, John B. Murphy, Patrick Kennedy,

Hon. Judge Doherty, James McCready, J.J. Curran, Q.C., M.P.

In December, 1891, Father Dowd died. He was held in greatest

respect by all denominations in the city. The flag on the city

hall was placed at half mast and the funeral was a public

demonstration. He was succeeded by Father Quinlivan, who had

assisted him for some time before his death. In 1892 the Hon.

Senator Murphy died. His name deserves to be remembered among the

great philanthropists of the city. His memory is perpetuated in

the “Edward Murphy School” and the Edward Murphy medal given by

the Catholic School Commissioners. In 1902 the trustees of the

orphanage were Hon. Sir William Hingston, Hon. Marcus Doherty,

Hon. J.J. Curran, J.S.C., Mr. Michael Burke, Mr. Patrick Mullin,

Hon. James O’Brien, Mr. J.C. Collins, Mr. C.A. McDonnell and Mr.

P. McCrory.

In 1909 the orphanage, being declared unsafe, was removed to

the new asylum built under the direction of Mr. W.E. Doran,

architect, of gray stone, fireproof and three stories in height,

on St. Catherine Road, Outremont. The estate is a valuable farm

of forty-five acres, with its own orchards and vegetable gardens.

Its internal direction is still under the Grey Nuns. Its trustees

at the time of the change were the Rev. Gerald McShane, pastor of

St. Patrick’s church, the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Messrs. M. Burke, P.

Mullin, C.F. Smith, C.A. McDonnell, P. McCrory, J.A. Macdonald,

M.D., who has also given his services free for thirty years,

and Donald Hingston, M.D. At present Messrs. A.J. Trihey, H.J.

McKeon, T.W. McNulty, W.J. Rafferty, have joined the board since

the deaths of Messrs. M. Burke, C.F. Smith, C.A. McDonnell and P.

Mullin.

The names of Dr. H. Schmidt, Dr. Henry Howard, Dr. J.A.

Macdonald, Dr. Thomas J. Curran, should be remembered in

connection with the medical care of the orphans.

The great burden of sustaining the funds of the institution

fell during many years on the “Ladies of Charity.” The first

annual bazaar was held in 1849 under their auspices. The first

president was Mrs. Charles Wilson, the wife of the Hon. Charles

Wilson, mayor of the city. In 1850 she was succeeded by Madame

Vallières de St. Réal, the wife of the well known judge. This

Irish lady remained president till 1861. Mrs. O’Meara succeeded

but died in 1862, when Madame Vallières was recalled till 1866,

when she was made honorary life president. Mrs. M.P. Ryan

became president till 1882, when with Mrs. Campion she became

honorary life president. Mrs. Brennan took office in 1882, and

Mrs. Edward Murphy in 1883, remaining till 1900. In 1900 the

following ladies were installed in office: Mrs. M.P. Ryan, Mrs.

Campion and Mrs. E. Murphy, honorary life presidents; Mrs. E.C.

Monk, president; Mrs. E.C. Amos, vice president; Mrs. D. Boud,

second vice president; Mrs. Loye, third vice president; Mrs.

Whitney, secretary. Of late years this organization has not been

called upon for the same active services for the orphanage, but

their members individually have been foremost in other growing

English-speaking Catholic charities.

THE HERVEY INSTITUTE

Among non-Catholic charitable works called forth at the time of

the ship fever was the Hervey Institute, founded in 1847.

Its first home was on St. Antoine Street; two small houses

followed. Then the Home found itself at 215 Mountain Street,

in 1875. The new Home, opened by their Excellencies, Earl and

Countess Grey, on December 16, 1908, is situated at the corner of

Windsor and Claremont avenues, Westmount.

Like most similar organizations the Hervey Institute rose from

humble beginnings, little idea being in the minds of the group of

ladies who began the work of the magnitude of the scale of future

undertakings. It now has accommodation for eighty-five persons.

Miss Hervey, for whom the Home is named, was born in 1807 and

came to this city from Scotland in 1846. The following year she

started the home in a small way, calling it an industrial home.

She was led to do this by the extreme need for such among the

poor--for at that time there was little organized relief among

the Protestants other than that given by the churches--and the

mother left with her small children to support, owing to the

death of the father, was in a sad plight. Miss Hervey and her

associates gathered these children together, taught them to sew

and also the elementary subjects of education as well as the

performance of domestic duties.

Among well known names connected with the Home in those days were

Mrs. John Stirling, Mrs. John Redpath, Mrs. Neil MacIntosh, Mrs.

John McDougall, Mrs. Hannibal Whitney, Mrs. John Lovell--the last

mentioned still showing an active interest in the Home--Mrs.

(Doctor) Scott, another member of the original committee, worked

unceasingly to accomplish a piece of work desired by Miss Hervey,

that of a separate Home for the tiny children and young babies,

as it was found impossible to continue the reception of children

of all ages. Thus the Protestant Infants’ Home was established,

as an offshoot in 1870, by this same untiring worker, Miss Hervey.

The following ladies have been the presidents of the institution:

1847-75 Miss Hervey

1875-78 Mrs. H.L. Routh

1878-81 Mrs. J. Ross

1881-82 Mrs. James Tasker

1882-86 Mrs. J.H. Moody

1886-92 Mrs. Alex Murray

1892-96 Mrs. Langlois

1896-1904 Mrs. G. Summer

1904 Mrs. J. Henderson

The Home was incorporated in 1875 when Mrs. J. Routh was

president, other signers of the charter were: Mrs. Holmes and

Mrs. M.L. Clarke, the last mentioned being at present on the

committee of management. The original intention of caring for,

teaching, and training in domestic duties half orphan girls,

has been carried on, but more than that, the special provision

made for boys in the comparatively new Home on Windsor Avenue,

Westmount, shows the result of many anxious thoughts directed to

the problem of the growing boy without a home. Boys as well as

girls are now trained for their work in the world; boys are kept

until fourteen years of age, girls until sixteen.

In receiving girls and boys into the Home, the idea is to keep

family life as nearly normal as possible, so the mother or father

may place their children in the same home knowing they are at

school and may play together.

Half-orphan children, between the ages of five and fourteen, are

received, qualified teachers are in attendance, one children’s

trained nurse and other nurses and over all a superintendent.

The parent pays whatever possible; all other cost of maintenance

is met by the voluntary subscriptions.

A development of late years has been the purchase of a summer

home at Morin Heights in the Laurentian Mountains, in healthy and

beautiful surroundings. It is owing to this annex, to which the

children have been sent for two months for nine years, that the

directors owe the wonderful record of no annual drug account over

$25.00. This for a home of seventy-five children is a record, as

is the fact there have been but four deaths in the sixty-eight

years in which the Home has been in operation.

Since the inception in 1847 many hundreds have passed through the

Home and have made successes. The girls have become efficient

nurses and teachers and the boys successful business men, while

two of the more recent inmates are doing their duty by their King

and Country in the Canadian overseas contingent.

THE PROTESTANT INFANTS’ HOME

As mentioned, it was through the energy of Miss Hervey and Miss

Scott that the Protestant Infants’ Home was established on

April 30, 1870, the by-laws being adopted on that date and the

constitution in May following. The first home of Miss Hervey’s

Institute was on St. Antoine Street. It was destined to receive

unmarried mothers, together with their babies from the Maternity

Hospital as well as destitute children and even those paid for.

The age for children admitted is between fourteen days and five

years.

Among the first directors were Mesdames Henry Baylis, J.M.

Gibson, G. Ferrier, F. Henshaw, B. Christie, T. Campbell, J.

Alexander, I. Harper, G. Brown, C. Hart, G. Aitken, Aikman, W.H.

Clare, Godfrey G. Shaw, C. Pelton, Scott, Wilk, and C. Brown.

The home was transferred from St. Antoine Street to different

places and is now located on Queen Mary’s Road.

THE MONTREAL DAY NURSERY

This was followed on the English side by the Montreal Day

Nursery, located at 50 Belmont Park, which was started in 1888

and incorporated in 1900.

The object of the Day Nursery is to take care of the children of

women who, for various reasons, are obliged to work by the day to

support their families. The Nursery is open every week day from

7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Children from three weeks to twelve years of

age are admitted by the day. They are fed, kept clean, medically

treated, and, when necessary, clothed. The younger children

are under the supervision of a resident governess, the older

ones are sent to the Belmont Street and St. Patrick’s schools.

The Nursery is non-sectarian, there are no restrictions as to

creed, nationality or colour, and it is supported by voluntary

contributions.

When the Nursery was first opened about ten children were taken

care of daily. The increase in numbers has been steady until now

there are from ninety-five to one hundred and ten cared for,

divided as follows: Infants, twenty; runabouts, between two and

four, forty; and about fifty between the ages of four and twelve.

A charge of ten cents is exacted for one child, and five cents

more for each additional child from the same family.

The Montreal Foundling and Baby Hospital was started in 1891 and

has admirably carried out its title.

L’ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE

A modern form of charity for the old and sick and for children

was founded on October 30, 1903, by MM. L.H. Lesvesque, Joseph

Hoostetter, A. Rivet, Ludger Gravel, G. L’Archevesque, Leo

Fournier, Charlemagne Rodier, Dr. E. H. Desjardins, under the

name of L’Assistance Publique, situated on 338-340 Lagauchetière

Street. Its incorporation is dated January 28, 1907. Its

object is the protection, housing, boarding and clothing,

temporarily as long as the board shall see fit, of children,

women, old people, the sick and other afflicted persons (with

the exception of those suffering from incurable or contagious

diseases). It aims at finding employment, or placing those in

their charge into suitable charitable institutions. The work

is restricted to citizens of Montreal, of all nationalities.

The work has progressed so that it became necessary to build a

large wing, which was inaugurated on February 5, 1911. It has

four dormitories, an infirmary and three refectories. Over one

hundred and five aged and poor persons dwell permanently in

the hospital. The institution does not lodge casuals, this work

being abandoned on the erection of the Meurling Institute in

1913, but it serves dinners to needy unemployed. The society is

administrated by lay people, of whom the present officers are:

MM. Joseph Lamoureux, president; A.A. Labresque, vice president;

Trefflé Bastien, treasurer; and A. Godin, secretary. The internal

management of the home for ten years has been in the hands of

Mlle. Morache.

NOTE

The foregoing are types of the leading philanthropic institutions

concerned in the movement for the care of the aged, orphans and

children. There are others of great importance. The following

list indicates most of the other activities under the above head:

Homes for the Aged:

Hospice Auclair (Sisters of Providence), Rachel and Sanguinet streets.

Hospice Bourget (Sisters of Providence), 2200 Ontario Street.

Hospice Gamelin (Sisters of Providence), 1281 St. Catherine, East Street.

Hospice du Sacré Cœur (Sisters of Providence), 401 Pie IX Avenue.

Sisters of Providence, 109 St. Dominique Street.

Hospice St. Antoine (Grey Nuns), 76 St. Paul Street.

Little Sisters of the Poor, Seigneur Street.

Providence Asylum, 369 St. Catherine Street.

St. Anthony’s Villa (Lay), 865 Dorchester Street.

St. Bridget’s Home (Grey Nuns), 297 Lagauchetière Street.

St. Cunegonde Home (Grey Nuns), corner Atwater Avenue and Albert Street.

Orphanages:

Bethlehem Asylum (Grey Nuns), St. Antoine Street.

Orphélinat Catholique (Grey Nuns).

Grey Nunnery, 25 St. Mathew Street.

Huberdeau (In the Laurentians) (Filles de la Sagesse).

Maison Ste. Genevieve (Sisters of Providence), Dorion and Gauthier streets.

Montfort (For Boys) (Fathers and Brothers of the Company of Mary).

Orphélinat St. Arsene (Brothers of St. Gabriel).

St. Alexis Orphanage (Sisters of Providence), 247 St. Denis Street.

St. Cunégonde Asylum (Grey Nuns), St. Cunégonde.

St. Henri Asylum (Grey Nuns), St. Henri ward.

Hospice Auclair (Sisters of Providence).

Hospice Bourget (Sisters of Providence).

Hospice du Sacré Cœur (Sisters of Providence).

St. Patrick’s Asylum (Lay Trustees and Grey Nuns).

St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage (Grey Nuns), 110 Visitation Street.

Filles de la Sagesse, 620 Notre Dame Street.

Infants:

The Sœurs de Miséricorde (Maison St. Janvier), Sault au Récollet.

Day Nurseries and Créches:

Bethlehem Asylum (Grey Nuns), 1 Richmond Square.

Hospice St. Antoine (Grey Nuns), 76 St. Paul Street.

Jardin L’Enfance (Grey Nuns), 110 Visitation Street.

Nazareth (Grey Nuns), Mance and St. Catherine streets.

Sisters of Providence, Mother House, 1271 St. Catherine Street.

St. Cunegonde Home (Grey Nuns), Atwater Avenue.

St. Henri Asylum (Grey Nuns), 63 College Street, St. Henri.

French Protestant Home---Orphans and Children.

II

RELIEF MOVEMENTS

THE PROTESTANT HOME OF INDUSTRY--ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY--THE

OLD BREWERY MISSION--THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK--THE CHARITY

ORGANIZATION SOCIETY--THE MEURLING MUNICIPAL REFUGE--OTHER RELIEF

AGENCIES.

THE PROTESTANT HOME OF INDUSTRY

The beginning of the nineteenth century marked a decided growth

in the English population and there can now be seen its efforts

to organize its relief work. The present chapter will also

indicate the progress of the movement towards organized charity.

In 1818, an act was passed forming a corporation of the “Wardens

of the House of Industry at Montreal.” This was in order to

carry out the wish of a John Conrad Marsteller, who in 1808 had

left two stone houses and other buildings on St. Mary Street for

the erection of a House of Industry, but the amount not being

sufficient, there was delay till the act of 1818 created the

“wardens” or overseers and visitors of the poor. No regular steps

seem to have been taken for the appointment of these wardens till

April 2, 1827, when a commission, signed by the Governor General,

Earl Dalhousie, appointed as wardens of the House of Industry,

François Desrivières, Saveuse de Beaujeu, Samuel Gerard, Jean

Bouthillier, Horatio Gates, Rèné Kimber, Henry McKenzie and James

Kimber.

In 1863 an act of incorporation was granted for a “Protestant

House of Industry.” A building site was secured at the corner

of Dorchester and Bleury streets, for which the proprietor,

Mr. John Donegani, was paid £3,750. Upon this property a large

brick building was erected, three stories in height with a

high basement. It became the center of sociological activity.

“During the year 1865,” says Mr. Sandham, the historian, “the

missionaries of the different religious societies formed

themselves into a City Missionary Relief Society and were

liberally aided by the citizens in carrying on their work. The

following year it was thought advisable that all assistance

should flow out through one channel and accordingly a United

Board of Outdoor Relief was formed in connection with the

institution.” This institution is still in operation in the city.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

St. Vincent de Paul Society, to which no work of charity is

foreign, started poor visiting and relief in Montreal in 1848.

The parent body was originally formed in Paris in May, 1833, by

eight students under the direction of M. Bailly, the general

council being established at Paris in 1840, and the particular

council of Montreal being founded on March 18, 1848. The city

is now divided into the central, northern, eastern and western

particular councils with local parish conferences to each. In

December, 1914, these were more than fifty-four.

THE OLD BREWERY MISSION

An English exponent of a further phase of the relief movement is

the Old Brewery Mission, which was established in 1890 under the

following circumstances:

About the middle of the winter of 1890 there were many suffering

from cold and hunger through lack of work. A suggestion came

that much good might be done could a soup-kitchen be opened

to furnish cheap and nourishing food to the needy. A suitable

place was found in an old house on Dalhousie Street. There were

two rooms. The back one was used as a kitchen--the one in front

as a reading-room. It was furnished with benches and tables on

which were magazines. A grate-fire made the place homelike and

cheerful. Young ladies voluntarily served the soup. As the place

began to get crowded, it was thought best to have short addresses

delivered to the men. The work was so satisfactory and evidently

so badly needed that when the old house was torn down in the

spring, larger quarters were found in an old brewery (hence the

present name) on College Street. After this the work so grew

that a missionary was engaged and regular evangelistic services

were held. But there was so many disadvantages about this place,

and the locality was found so unsuitable, that another site

was chosen--a shop on St. James Street, near Inspector Street.

About this time the movement was started to put up the present

building, where for fourteen years the work has flourished.

THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK

In 1884 the Salvation Army came to Montreal and its method of

organized charity work has been one of gain to the city.

Early in its life the rescue work for men was instituted, as

has been recorded. That for women and girls was also early

inaugurated and this latter has since remained one of the

important branches of the Army’s activities. Today the Young

Women’s lodge receives young women and girls who are employed,

furnishing pleasant rooms and good board at a nominal rate and at

the same time a safe and congenial home.

In addition to this work the Army opened up, on the 1st of

February, 1899, at 398 St. Antoine Street, a Working Women’s

Home, where floor scrubbers, window cleaners, etc., are furnished

room and board within their means and also employment when

needed. During the last year 11,494 beds were occupied in this

department and positions were found for 3,860 women.

With the erection of the Metropole, about 1903, the training

college was removed to Toronto and this building became the home

for the Social Corps for men. Board and lodgings are furnished at

a small price to those able to pay and employment is found for

those in need thereof.

The Industrial Home for men is located on Chatham Street, and

here, if employment is not found for applicants within a week,

they are put to work for the Army until permanent employment is

secured. At this place there is a store, with departments for

furniture repairing, shoe repairing, tailoring and paper sorting.

The men are put to work at repairing furniture and shoes which

are secured by the workers of the Army from all over the city,

and these repaired articles are sold at the store at very low

prices, the sale taking place about noon of each day. There, poor

people, who are reluctant to ask for charity, are allowed to

pay a very small price for furniture, clothes, shoes, etc., and

thereby retain their independence. The material sold is fashioned

from donations taken from all over the city and waste matter

generally. In this way the aim of the Army is accomplished,

to bring the waste matter of the city and the “down-and-outs”

together, thus utilizing the one and saving the other with

absolutely no cost to the city. The Industrial Home, through this

means and through the sale of waste paper, which, when sorted,

they are able to dispose of to the very best advantage and

command the best price, is practically self-supporting, and the

men are not only given board and lodging while waiting to find

permanent employment, but also are paid a sum of money for their

services, which they are advised to save up as a reserve capital

upon which to start in their new line of work when secured.

The Army has recently purchased a lot at 520 Outremont Avenue,

upon which it is planned to build a large building for hospital

purposes.

THE CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY

The advent of the most modern form of organized charity work

in Montreal dates from 1894, for in that year the Charity

Organization Society really came into being, though it did not

come officially into the name until 1900. The incorporators of

the Society were George Hague, Lady Drummond, Charles F. Smith,

Emanuel P. Lachapelle, Harry Bovey, Louis J. Forget, Herbert

B. Ames, Frank J. Hart, Mrs. Margaret Thibeaudeau, Sir William

Hingston, Lady Margaret Hingston, Joseph B. Learmont, Mrs.

Charlotte Learmont, John C. Reid, Frederick L. Beique, John Cox,

Mrs. Caroline O. Cox, R. Wilson Smith, J. Damien Rolland, Robert

Craig, Miss Helen Reid, Jeffrey H. Burland, Trefflé Berthiaume,

Daniel F. Hamilton and Alphonse Turcotte.

Its work began in the former year when the Local Council of

Women took up the question of organized charity relief work.

It collected and studied trunks full of information about it,

mastered its principles and details, went about explaining it,

drew up a constitution and was ready. Then, in conjunction with

a number of influential men, it called a public meeting in the

old Board of Trade hall, in December, 1899. Lady Minto came from

Ottawa to be present. The hall was packed, and there and then,

with much enthusiasm, the resolution was taken and the Charity

Organization Society shortly opened its doors at 98 Bleury

Street. There it remained for some twelve years, till last May it

opened its new office at 70 Mance Street. Its first secretary,

Mr. Francis McLean, guided it with wisdom and discretion through

those first critical years. Then came the late Mr. Richard Lane,

who won for it wide recognition and sympathy, through his unusual

gifts and personality. At his death he was succeeded, about 1911,

by Mr. Rufus Smith.

The work as developed by this association, in league with others

of the same world-wide reputation for scientific efficiency in

relief management, is an important factor in civic sociology.

The society is very fortunate in having among its directors many

of the original incorporators, who are all connected with divers

other charities in this city, so that this central board has

far-reaching influence as a bureau of exchange in the solution of

relief problems.

THE MEURLING MUNICIPAL REFUGE

The latest relief movement in Montreal is the Meurling Municipal

Refuge, installed by the municipality. Its establishment was

brought about through a windfall in the form of a donation by a

former Montreal citizen, Mr. Gustave Meurling, who died recently

in France.

On the 19th of May, 1913, the contract was awarded for the

erection of the Meurling Municipal Refuge to Mr. Théodore Lessard

for the price of $116,000. The total cost of the Refuge amounted

to $180,000. The city received from the Gustave Meurling estate,

after deducting all expenses, $72,429.19, so that the city’s

share amounts to $107,770.81.

The building, although it is simple and without luxury, is quite

solid and safe. It is entirely fire-proof. In order to reduce to

a minimum the cost of maintenance, the inside facing of all the

outside walls and of all the divisions other than those which

are glazed has been made of pressed brick. The foundation walls

are of stone concrete. The floors, which are all of concrete

finished with cement, have a slight slope, which permits of their

being thoroughly washed. A steam and hot water heating system

runs through the whole of the building. The tank is provided with

a heater for summer. Improved appliances (among others three

fumigators of the most modern type) have been installed in the

laundry.

The walls have been constructed sufficiently thick to support the

additional stones which may hereafter be erected. The Meurling

Municipal Refuge is now, in 1914, in full operation.

The following table shows the number of destitute persons who

have been harboured gratuitously in the police stations and night

refuges since 1901:

1901 55,125

1902 50,207

1903 46,685

1904 61,400

1905 65,184

1906 62,228

1907 59,713

1908 78,548

1909 59,097

1910 58,726

1911 76,334

1912 82,731

1913 90,076

or 7,345 more than in 1912.

As will be seen by these figures, the establishment of a

municipal refuge could no longer be delayed. The Meurling

institution is undoubtedly of great service to the homeless poor.

Among other relief bodies are:

Refuge de Nuit (Ouimet); Refuge Français, 71 Viger Avenue; Refuge

of the “Union Nationale Française,” founded October 20, 1886, by

M. Victor Ollivon.

III

SICK VISITATION AND NURSING BODIES

GREY NUNS--SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE--OTHER BODIES--THE VICTORIAN

ORDER OF NURSES

GREY NUNS

The visitation of the sick in their homes has always been one of

the forms of charity in this city. As a more pronounced movement

the Grey Nuns took up domiciliary visits on October 23, 1848.

Among the works of the Grey Nuns for 1863 Jacques Viger, in his

“Servantes de Dieu in Canada,” has the following:

Number of the poor helped in their homes 1,418

Number of house visits 4,943

Number of night attendances among the sick 300

SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE

The Sisters of Providence who were engaged in the same work

according to the Annuaire de Ville Marie of Huguet-Latour, in

1863, were thus active:

Number of poor and sick visited in 1863 13,243

Night attendances 622

Assisted at death 136-758

Thus the work was carried on by the early religious communities

and their work is now supplemented by other new congregations,

notably by the Sœurs del ’Esperance, on Sherbrooke Street, who

make this work a specialty, and by the Tertiaries (lay) of St.

François, and others. The work has also been carried on by groups

of ladies connected with the Protestant churches and as well by

nursing bodies organized of late years.

With regard to the modern organized nursing system, reference has

been made to the training of nurses for hospital work. There are

schools attached to each of the great hospitals. There are now,

however, several bodies who are trained to work in the homes

of the people, such as the Canadian Order of Nurses, Phillip’s

School for Nurses and the Victorian Order of Nurses. The latter

movement being the latest development and one that has reached

Dominion prominence, deserves especial historical recognition.

THE VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES

The Victorian Order of Nurses was inaugurated in 1897 as the

Memorial of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in Canada. The suggestion

that this should be the Canadian Memorial came from the National

Council of Women of Canada, of which Her Excellency, the Countess

of Aberdeen, was then the presidential head. In 1896 the urgent

need of medical aid and trained nursing in the northwest

territories and outlying districts of Canada had been brought

home to the council through its affiliated societies in the

Canadian west. A scheme was thought out and laid before the prime

minister and other members of the government and at a public

meeting at Ottawa in 1897 a resolution in its favour was moved by

the Hon. Wilfrid Laurier, seconded by the Hon. Clifford Sifton,

minister of the interior, and carried unanimously.

After consultation with some of the leading doctors, public

meetings were held in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, and

representative committees were formed in these and other cities

for the promotion of the scheme. On the advice of the friends of

the movement in Montreal it was decided that only fully trained

hospital nurses, holding a diploma from a recognized hospital

school, after training in maternity and district work, should be

admitted into the order. Very strict rules were made forbidding

the nurses to go to cases where no doctor was in attendance,

placing the nurse in all cases under the control of the doctor

and limiting the nurse’s attendance on the patient to visits of

short duration, thus safeguarding the interests of the ordinary

professional nurse.

It was agreed to administer the order through a central board

and local boards of management who would supervise the nurses’

work and be responsible for their salaries, board and lodging.

It was hoped that enough money would be collected for the

permanent endowment of the order for work in all parts of

Canada, but, owing mainly to the strong opposition of the large

majority of medical men who misunderstood the objects of the

order and pronounced against it, public opinion was adversely

affected and only a tithe of the money required was collected

and that mainly for local purposes. So many new facts, however,

had been brought to light emphasizing the great need for such

a nursing order throughout Canada that it was decided to make

a start with the money in hand and four training centres,

namely, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax, were established

under district superintendents with a New Brunswick lady, Miss

Charlotte Macleod, of the Waltham Training School, as chief lady

superintendent.

Meantime a constitution and by-laws had been drawn up and an

application made to Her Majesty for a royal charter for the

new order, which was duly granted in 1898. By the end of the

following year there were eighteen Victorian Order districts

throughout the country with thirty nurses. Today in Montreal

alone we have ten districts, with seventy-one Victorian Order

nurses, while in Canada generally there are two hundred and

thirty-two. Cottage hospitals have been started all through the

country districts and in addition to these there are small

centres with two nurses who attend patients scattered over a wide

area and also receive emergency cases at the homes.

As the aim and object of the order became better understood the

opposition on the part of the doctors and nurses changed into

cordial sympathy and co-operation and the Victorian Order have

now no better friends than the medical and nursing professions.

So happily inaugurated with Lady Aberdeen as its first president,

the order has always enjoyed the warm support of the successive

governors general of Canada and their consorts. Lady Minto’s

exertions secured the money for the Cottage Hospital fund, Lady

Grey raised the necessary funds for the country nursing centres,

and it was owing to the interest and energy of H.R.H., the

Duchess of Connaught, that a large sum of money was collected

last year for the central fund. The Victorian Order has been

fortunate in attracting to its service devoted women to whose

singleness of purpose no less than to their highly trained

intelligence must be ascribed its marvellous growth and success.

IV

MOVEMENTS FOR THE “UNFORTUNATES”