“Why no, neither you nor I, nor ninety-nine out of a hundred, would decide otherwise; but it seems a question was raised, and all the books of reference were appealed to, as well as the poets. In almost every case, an _orphan_ was said to be a child deprived of one or both parents; and, what is very singular, the term orphan occurs but _once_ throughout the Old and New Testaments. In Lamentations it says, ‘We are _orphans_, and fatherless, and our mothers are as widows.’ Now, in the opinion of many, the _orphan_ and _fatherless_, and those whose mothers are as widows, here mentioned, are three distinct sets of children—that is, as the lament says, _some_ of us are orphans, meaning children without father and mother, _some_ of us are fatherless; and the third set says, ‘our mothers are as widows.’ This means, that in consequence of their fathers’ absence, their mothers were as desolate and helpless as if in reality they were widows by the _death_ of their husbands. This text, therefore, settles nothing. Girard, like all the unlettered men of the age, by the term _orphan_, understood it to mean a child without parents.” “I very well remember,” said Hastings, “that on another occasion when the term came in question, I asked every man and woman that worked on and lived near the great canal, what they meant by orphan, and they _invariably_, without a _single_ exception, said it meant a child without parents.” “Well, the good sense of the trustees, at the end of the time I mentioned, decided after the manner of the multitude—for it was from this mass that their objects of charity were taken. And there is no instance on the records, of a widow begging admittance for her fatherless boys. They knew very well what being an orphan meant, but to their praise be it said, if _fatherless_ children had been included in the term, there were very few who would not have struggled as long as it was in their power, before their boys should be taken to a charitable institution.” “I recollect, too,” said Hastings, “that great umbrage was taken by many persons because the clergy were debarred from any interference in the management of the college. No evil, you say, has arisen from this prohibition?” “None at all,” replied Edgar. “The clergy were not offended by it; they found they had enough to do with church affairs. It has been ever since in the hands of a succession of wise, humane, and honest men. The funds have gone on increasing, and as they became more than sufficient for the purposes of the college, the surplus has been lawfully spent in improving the city.” “In the year 1835—alas, it seems to me that but a few days ago I existed at that period—was there not an Orphan Asylum here?”