Charities for Children in San Francisco [pp. 78-101]

Charities for Children in San Frant isco.
their charge, and then went into a hospital where he died in a few days. These
children were, of course, orphans, and
might have been placed at once in an
asylum, where they would have been
maintained and schooled till they were
grown. The eldest son was fifteen, a
manly fellow, who wished to start off to
make his own way in the world, and he
was allowed to do so; the next was sent
upon a ranch and is now a good farmer;
the third was placed with a school teach er in a southern county, and as he proved
bright and studious the teacher intends
to send him to the University; the
youngest child is somewhat feeble-mind ed, and a constant source of trouble.
The second case is of two little girls
whose father had deserted their mother,
taking them with him, and had married
-committing bigamy-a woman of very
bad character; he died, and the children
were left in the hands of this woman.
In some way they were brought to the
society,- being, of course, half orphans,
and by it placed in homes in good
families. After a time their own moth er learned their whereabouts, and re claimed them; and as she proved to be
a good and competent person, they were
'restored to her.
The third is of a motherless boy,
eleven years old, picked up in the streets
and sent to the society. He proved to
be the son of a well-to-do man, of good
social and intellectual appearance. The
father was sent for, called, gave the
society some money, but said plainly
that he cared nothing what became of
the boy, and would do nothing for him.
The boy was bright, but had been al lowed to run the streets till he was "a
downright hoodlum of the worst type."
He was placedin one home after anoth er, and regularly returned; till at last
he either decided to turn over a new
leaf,'or found the right place, where he
has now been for three and one-half
years, behaying well, and highly valued
by his employer, (a farmer and cattle
raiser,) who desires to retain him at regular wages when his indenture expires.
The fourth is of a native Indian girl,
whom the officer of the society found on
the ferry boat, screaming wildly and begging to be saved from the custody of a
white man who claimed to be her father,
but who she declared was no relation to
her. She was brought to the society,
and placed in the home of a lady who
was a musician and artist, with the surprising result that the girl developed un usual powers in both directions, and has
become a musician herself.
The fifth is of two little children
who were put to board with a poor aged
couple by a well-dressed stranger; after
the first month the stranger disappeared,
and the old people, unable to keep the
children, took them to the society.
They were little things -three and six
years old - and of course could not be
indentured out; but both were placed
in childless homes, the baby girl espe cially being a great pet. The people who
had her, however, met with reverses,
became destitute, and reluctantly al lowed her to be taken to the same lady
who had the brother, where the chil dren are now happily living together.
The sixth is of a girl and boy who
lived with their parents in one of the
most wretched hovels in Tar Flat. "The
parents were continually intoxicated,
and the girl went regularly back and
forth to the grocery for beer. The boy
traveled about the wharves barefooted,
with a gunny sack over his shoulder,
begging, finding, and stealing whatever
he could." They finally brought up,
one after the other, in the city prison,
where they were booked for the indus trial school, but by the discretion of the
judge first turned over for a trial with
the Aid Society. The children were
placed in good homes; the girl has
grown into "a fine-looking, weil-educat ed young lady," and is now learning
dressmaking, and the boy is in a good
place with a store-keeper in a distant
[Jan.
84