"
With her usual energy, Miss Macpherson again entered on her God-given
work among the poor of the East End, and at once resolved to do all in
her power to help the destitute children with whom she came in daily
contact.
In the very month of her return, the first girl was rescued and
received into her own Home, then at Canonbury. Her story was thus
written at the time:--"E. C., aged sixteen, was sent to my lodgings
to know if I could provide a home for her. In August 1866 the father
of this poor girl had bidden her farewell as she was leaving home on
an excursion with the Sunday-school to which she belonged. On her
return, cholera had numbered him among the dead. The mother threw
herself into the canal, and, though restored, was lying helpless in a
workhouse. E. C., who had before been learning dressmaking, was
tossed about from one poor place of service to another--her clothes
all pawned, or in tatters--till her last resting-place was on the
flags. Then she applied at the Rev. W. Pennefather's soup-kitchen in
Bethnal Green, and slept in the room at that time rented above it.
The two following days were occupied in vain endeavours to procure
admittance into one of the existing Homes for girls, the third, in
preparing clothing for her, while, at the same time, _no way_
appeared open for her to be received anywhere.
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