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JMt. Pleasant Home!
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Destitute Children
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mt. pleasant, s.c., i
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^ june, 1883. ^
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^ " Bishops, take care of the orphans: see that they want ^
^ nothing."—Apostolic Constitutions. ^
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\ "A moral care over the tempted and ignorant portion '/,
| of the State is a primary duty of society."—Dr. Channing. ^
^ "A million of children are crying to us to set them free ^
^ from the despotism of ignorance and crime."— Ginx's ^
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The Need.
More than a million of colored children in the
southern states are growing up in ignorance and
vice. For the most part they are orphans, or chil¬
dren of destitute parents, whose destitution, vagrant
life, depraved habits, and ragged and filthy condi¬
tion exclude them from the ordinary restraints of
society. They form a class from which the ranks
of crime are continually recruited. No asylums are
provided for these homeless, neglected waifs thrown
upon the street by the tide of corruption or poverty,
created by the system of slavery. They seem to be
drawn irresistably to the jail, the penitentiary or
the gallows. A published report from the state of
Texas may answer for almost any other state in
the South so far as the colored population is con¬
cerned. "With thousands of orphans, destitute and
neglected children, tramps and wretched outcasts
falling into crime, there is not an asylum, children's
home, or house of reform iitall this state."
To save these children from ignorance and crime
and make them intelligent,.honest, and industrious
citizens is not only a charity, but a christian duty.
How can it best be done, was a question long before
the minds of those who laid the foundation of the
Mt. Pleasant Home for Destitute Children. Long
experience in the schools provided by the State
and charitable societies have satisfied them that
these institutions do not and can not touch this out¬
lying mass. Missionary efforts in the homes, and
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on the streets seem like drops of rain in a desert, no
verdure follows. What they need is the early train¬
ing of a christian home. They need to be gath¬
ered into" families and surrounded with home
influences ; they need some one to supply the place
of the parent; to watch over and direct their steps
until right habits are formed ; to stimulate their am¬
bition to become useful, respectable, industrious
people. This seems to the founders of the Home
the only rational way of saving these children. In¬
stitutions of this character ought to be established
in every state and the children taken at the earliest
age possible. The first years of a child's life have,
the greatest influence on his after character. The
earlier immoral and corrupt tendencies are checked,
the better. But, while the institution is not a refor¬
matory in its design, but a formitory, undertaking
to form the child's character, rather than to reform
it, still its doors are not shut to those who have al¬
ready formed evil habits and come to it for refuge.
It prefers, however, and makes especial effort to se¬
cure, the child in its infancy whose parents are either
dead, or incapacited by poverty, or lack of parental
affection, to discharge the duty God has imposed
on them. We are satisfied from long experience and
observation that this is one of the forms of philan¬
thropic endeavor greatly needed in our land. We
all know that prevention of an evil is much better
and easier than its cure. An able writer has said
"To destroy the seeds of crime, to dry up its sources,
to kill it in the egg, is better than repression, better
even then reformation of the criminal." The appli¬
cation of this remark to the case in hand is evident
when you consider that three-fourths of the inmates
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of southern prisons are colored, whose ranks are
being filled from the class we are seeking to
save.
ITS HISTORY.
Near the close of one cold stormy day in the win¬
ter of 'Si, a little girl about eight years old stood,
nearly naked, at our door, begging for food and
shelter. We did not know it then, but this was
God's messenger to our hearts, that had long been
tender toward the poor neglected waifs that were all
about us. We had pitied them in their sad forlorn
condition and had wondered what could'be done
for them, but we did not know the real sadness of
their case. Here was a child who had no home, no
parents, no friends in the wide world. She had
been wandering here and there, picking up a living
as best she could for two years since h£r mothers
death. The scars and bruises upon her body told
the tale of some of her sorrows, her lips told the
rest. What did this child need? A home. She is
only one of a thousand in the city over yonder, just
across the bay. We found her a home in the city
of "Brotherly Love" in the north.
About this same time there came into the citv of
Charleston a family of ten, driven, the man said, by
political persecution from the country. No matter
what the cause they were poor, such poverty as is
unknown any where but in the south. A bundle of
rags on one of the boy's head was the furniture
of the household. Soon the mother died,-and her
last breath was a prayer that her four youngest chil¬
dren might be provided with a home. How shall
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we meet this request? The youngest a babe, the
oldest under six. We hired a nurse for the babe.
For the others we hired a small house, gathered
what we could from sympathizing friends, and made
them as comfortable as possible through the summer,
and in the fall took them into our own family and
cared for them as our own. Others came as poor
and needy, mothers dying heard of our charity beg¬
ged a home for their children. But we could not
accommodate them. In vain we sought to rent a
house. No house could be found for a colored Or¬
phan Home. At last we found a house for sale on
reasonable terms, as quietly as possible we secured
the refusal, and sent out petitions through the north
for assistance. The response was generous, the
Lord's hand seemed evidently in it. Late in the
Springof'd2, we made our first payment and secured
a home for the homeless waifs. On the 12th of
May, 1882, it was appropriately dedicated with pub¬
lic religious services, to Him who has said, "Of
such is the Kingdom of heaven." Without any
effort on our part they have come until the four
had grown to eighteen. One tender little one
went home to Jesus soon after she entered, from a
disease contracted by exposure and want. Seventeen
now constitute our family, and they are as bright
and happy children as can be found in any home,
north or south.
Feeling assured of God's approbation, we pro¬
ceeded to put the institution upon a basis that would
commend it to the patronage of philanthropists
every where, and in June of 1883 it was incorporated
according to the laws of the state of South Carolina.
It is the onlv refuge for colored children in the state
and has not, as jet, received any material aid from
thesection in which it is located. We find, however,
as it is becoming more and more known in the com¬
munity, prejudice is wearing away, and the people
even take pride in having a true benevolent institu¬
tion in their county. The Board of Health reports
us as the most cleanly of any place in the village.
The children do most of the household work. As
soon as they are old enough they are taught to cook,
wash, iron, knit, sew and mend, and all the
duties of a household. The older ones attend school
regularly, and make commendable progress in their
studies.
We have had no sickness to speak of, only such as
has arisen from the low physical condition of the
children when they came. The location of the
Home is healthful, on the shore of the bay, looking
out directly on Fort Sumpter, Fort Moultrie and
Charleston City.
The clothing* of the children has thus far been
donated by individuals, sunday schools, and church
spcieties, who have become interested in our work.
We shall never cease to render thanks to God for
the generous sympathy we have found among the
churches and friends to whom our effort has become
known. We feel assured that God has moved in this
matter, and his pillar of cloud has gone before us.
"* "In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least"
is the echo that comes to us as we look into the happy
faces of these children who have already twined
themselves around our hearts as the vine embraces
the oak.
We have felt it to be God's will to publish to the
world this brief history, not that it may know what
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we have done, but that it may see a want of our age,
and that the good, every where, may have an oppor¬
tunity of joining us in ministering to children who
have neither home nor friends.
While the home is designed to be a christian
home, and the religious influence decided and promi¬
nent, it is not sectarian in any sense. The utmost care
is taken in the selection of those who are to act in the
place of parents to the children, that they be persons
of warm christian sympathies, but no question is
raised in regard to their religious connection. We
hope that all the children will identify themselves,
when they come to years of maturity, with some-
christian church, and that they will become earnest
and consistent workers in the great vineyard of the
Master. If this shall be the happy issue of our pre¬
sent humble effort, the reward will more than com¬
pensate the trials we encounter.
A. D. M.
PRESENT FINANCIAL CONDITION.
We improve this opportunity of expressing our thanks
to all tlie friends who have so generously responded to
our private appeals for aid in caring for these destitute
little ones. But, as the work has grown upon jur hands,
we are constrained to make a more public announcement
of the work we have undertaken. That our friends may
know how much they have contributed, and how the
money lias been spent, we submit a condensed statement
from the Treasurer's report from July 1st, 1881 to Jan. 1st,
1381,
Whole amount of money received . . $2,838.32
" " " ' expended . . 3,212.31
Leaving a deficit of 373.99
This debt has been unavoidable in the rapid increase of
the family as the institution has become known aud appre¬
ciated. We trust, however, that the increase of the demand
will be met with an increase of our income, and so the
debt be transcient. We are hoping that some one to
whom the Lord has intrusted many talents will be moved
to endow our Home with sufficient capital to make all
special appeals unnecessary.
The money has been spent as follows:
For the House . . . $1,200.00
Deed, Insurance, Taxes and Repairs . 283.14
Furniture . 150.00
Clothing, Shoes, etc. . . 30.00
Sickness and Funeral Expenses (one child) G0.00
Running Expenses of the Home . 1,489.17
- Total . . r $3,212.31
At present the running expenses average £75 per month,
or about $53 per year for each child, or about one dollar a
week. Surely out of our abundance we can afford in res-
cue one little waif from a life of poverty and ci i.ne.
Hear friends, if the Lord moves you to take an interest
in this good work will you please forward your contribu¬
tion to either of the Trustees, whose names are given
below, or to the Manager, Miss Abby I). Munro, Mt.
Pleasant, S.C.
TRUSTEES:
Henry M. Laing, Philadelphia, Pa.,
Rev. Temple Cutler, Essex, Mass.,
Rev. Edward T. Hooker, Charleston, S. C.,
Prof. A. W. Farnham, Fulton, N.Y.,
Miss Abby I). Munro, Mt. Pleasant, s. C.,
Miss II. E. Wells, Charleston, S.C.,
Mrs. Augusta Larned, Mt. Pleasant, S. C.
MANAGER:
Miss Abbie^D. Monro, Mt. Pleasant, s. < .
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