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    26 A HOUSE OF MERCY.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    . At A Few This High Days Institution Ga...

    cc After the girls have been under our care a certain time , " pursued the Warden , " and I have cause to believe them sincere and

    in earnest , I am anxious to include them amongst what are termed the * Enrolled Penitents . ' By this they enter into a

    voluntary agreement to stay out , agreeable to my plans , their full term . A regular chronicle is kept of their conduct from the time of their

    first admission , and if , as Enrolled Penitents , bearing good charactersthey leave this institution , they are entitled to a certain

    , privilege during the remainder of their lives ; that is , if they continue in the path of rectitude . ! Le £ misfortune have fallen upon any

    of these women in after years , they are invited to make known their condition to the Warden and the Sisterswho , as far as it lies within

    , their power , are desirous of stretching forth a protecting hand . In any time of affliction let but these unfortunates reach the gates of

    this Penitentiary , and give one pull at its , bell-handle , and the abode of friends is reached . We cannot of course take them into the

    institution ; that would avail them nothing ; but they-will have encountered friendsand there are a . thousand ways in which kind

    , hearts may benefit the poor and the distressed . If , for instance , we will say , a woman has lost her husband , and has a number of little

    children dependent upon her sole exertions , we cannot probably give her money , but the Sisters can make up a bundle of clothes , and

    ways and means through various channels may be thought out for helping the mother to provide for the children : and many other

    instances could be given . " On entering the institution the clothes of the penitent are

    removed , and the dress of the establishment is given to her ; whatever small possessions she may have brought with her are ,

    together with the clothes in which she enters , given up to the Principal Sister . These clothes , having been cleansed , are put

    asideticketed with her numbernot with her name , and do not again , come into her possession , unless she voluntarily leaves the

    Penitentiary or is expelled , a very rare occurrence , when , of course , she is re-clothed in her old garments , and goes forth into the

    world unprovided with the comfortable outfit given to the penitents who obediently and satisfactorily have lived out their time of

    probation . Any money which the penitent may possess on her entrance is

    placed in the poor ' s box , and this plan has been decided upon for several reasons . It may happen that the girl is actuated by no real

    penitence in entering , and simply seeks the Penitentiary as a comfortable asylum for two or three weeks , leaving again as soon as the

    spirit of change seizes upon her . In that case any little money , frequently the wages of iniquity , removed from her and placed in

    the poor's box , is a small payment as it were towards the expenses of her board and lodging . If , on the contrary , she remains patiently

    and meekly , fulfilling her duties until the full term of her probation

    26 A House Of Mercy.

    26 A HOUSE OF MERCY .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1858, page 26, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031858/page/26/