"As we arrived, a farmer kindly offered to broom the snow from our
feet--a process all seemed prepared to do for each other. Then, in a
good-sized hall, about fifty of all ages gathered around an immense
stove--ministers, doctors, and farmers, with their belongings. Chairs
in front of the stove were set for the minister and myself.
"After singing 'Rock of Ages,' etc., and prayer, it was so like a
family, that it became easy just to tell real story after story as to
how we find the children, where the means come from, and what is
required of those who receive them.
"The minister then present was one who, having heard of the work at
the commencement; had gone to the Home and received little Bessie,
aged ten. She now came up and gave me a hearty kiss, and then, so
childlike, showed me her new winter garments. Now who was Bessie? The
child of a surgeon who had rained his family by intemperance. The
mother, a teacher in a ladies' school in Germany, earning her own
bread, after a long and heavy struggle. Bessie is loved and is being
educated in everything to make her a useful woman.
"Next morning we started for visits to several children. Found the
first child gone to school.
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