American literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals
In the autumn of 1867 Mrs. Gladstone brought down about a dozen of her
orphans from Clapton and lodged them in another small house, which her
brother had lent to her. These she put under the care of a widow with
a little boy of her own. There they dwelt happily, going every day up
to the village to attend the infant school. When the Lancashire
distress was quite over, and all need of the old dower house at an end
for the mill girls, Mrs. Gladstone transferred her Clapton orphans
there, and added to their number other children whose fathers and
mothers had died in the London Hospital. When the orphanage was
properly established in the larger house, it accommodated comfortably
about thirty children. Experience taught Mrs. Gladstone that poor
parents found it more difficult to provide for and manage their boys
than their girls. So the Hawarden orphanage has come to be filled by
boys. They attend the parish schools till they are old enough to be
apprenticed to trades. There is now a whole army of well-doing young
men who have been brought up in the Hawarden Castle orphanage. It is
still in full tide of the work it has carried on for over twenty-five
years.
About 1880 a home for training young women for service was opened at
Notting Hill, London, under the management of a committee of ladies.
The object of the home was to take girls under its protection who had
bad homes, and were therefore likely to be totally neglected and to
drift into a life of uselessness and vice. Mrs. Gladstone was asked to
become the president, and consented. It is organized on a small scale,
a fact much in favor of its purpose. Not more than fifteen girls are
there at one time, and a few lady boarders are taken in, as this works
well for training the girls in the various branches of domestic
service. The proud characteristic of the school is its determination
never to despair of any pupil, however discouraging she may be in her
first trial of service. The reward seems great when a girl, who has
failed in several places, at last finds a mistress who understands her
and draws out the best in her, when she receives praise as a good
servant instead of the fault-finding hitherto her portion. There are
now numbers of respectable, well-doing servants who have been trained
here, and the institution has proved a boon to employers as well as
the employed.
A CROWN OF HONOR.
[Illustration: MRS. GLADSTONE TO-DAY.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account