OCR Text |
Show THE MM Of IRISH GIRLS HOW THEY ARE TAKEN CARE OF AT CASTLE GARDEN. Noble Work Done E y the Mission of Our Rosary On the Landing- of the Immigrants at New York. (Correspondence I niter mountain Catholic.) New York, Oct. 23. There are many j Irish - girls -scattered throughout the United States, and particularly in the great west, who will be interested to know how- the sixteenth anniversary of the Mission of Our Lord of the Kosary waa celebrated, it was made the occasion oc-casion of very imposing ceremoniec. Rev. Father Henry had charge of the affair. Certainly the Mission has done great work; it has been a boon and a blessing bless-ing to the Irish immigrant girl. ' it is an. old story that of Irish immigration im-migration to America. Without entering enter-ing into the arguments of those who claim "that St; Brendan first discovered America, we find there Avtre Irish adventurers ad-venturers in this country in Dutch colonial co-lonial days. The historian of the time relates tnat the first mass offered in New York City was celebrated by a Jesuit priest on the spot where the new .custom house will" stand, facing Howling Green. The writer took pains to add that after divine services an enterprising young Irishman led a "blushing Irish beauty to the altar, "to be married, Father." The failure of the '9S movement ar.,i the subsequent famine fam-ine in. Ireland, gave immigration from that country its srreatest impetus. Thousands upon thousands of the youth cf both sexes tied to America to escape the tyranny ar.d the famine at home. History bears testimony to the very important role thtise same exiles played in .the building up of this great nation and in the maintenance of its institutions,. institu-tions,. From the vei-y bog-inning, the influx of Ireland's sone and daughters was beset with trials and crosses. On the outskirts of the city of Montreal was raised some years ago a monument to commemorate the graves of hundreds of Irish people who perished from that plague of the Atlantic known as "ship-fever." "ship-fever." Many today remember the condition con-dition of immigrants when sailing vessels ves-sels were in vogue. Could the shores of Manhattan speak they could tell of many a scene of privation and suffering suffer-ing endured by these strangers. . , When the other countries of Europe began to' send their quotas of immigrants-the government of the state of j New York found it necessary to inter-I inter-I vene. A system of supervision and dis- I I crimination was established. For this I purpose the old Dutch fort known as Castle Garden was leased from; the city , authorities. Here immigrants were ex- amlned and only the desirable were allowed al-lowed to land. The state made little or no provision for their security, once , they were released by its officials. In this way a field was left open for the j operationa .of the criminal element that infest every large city. Thievet;, blackmailers black-mailers and bavdy-house agents made their harvest cn many a hapless immigrant. im-migrant. As 'long as- the immligranits reimain in Castle Garden they had pro- tectlon and also the privilege cf a fa- I bor bureau established by the Irish Emigrant society. Once, however, they . left the landing depot to se-ek relatives ' or friends or to securfe boardingvh-ouses j they had to run the gauntlet of thtfee ; scheming wretches. Anyone acquaSn t-ed t-ed with the native- simplicity and confiding con-fiding disposition of the Irish people wSll readily see the terrible danger to which these strangers were exposed. Sniares were set, especially for the Irish, girl. Young, beautiful, unwary, alone, she suffered most. Masters grew so deplorable de-plorable that public ' conscience cried out for a remedy. It came when Cardinal Car-dinal McCloskey appointed Father John Riordan ra protect the immigrant ait Castle Garden. The appointment was a mos t happy one. Of Irish parents, with the enthusiasm, pluck and energy of the race, he gave himself heart and soul to the w'ork. In a short time the forces of injustice and vice were routed rout-ed from the field. He established at i No. 7 State street a Home exclusively fox Immigrant girls. After a few fruit-I fruit-I f ul years saintly Father Riordan died. I and his successors, Father Kelly and I Father Callaghan, have eince parsed to their rewiard. As, in the early days of Christianity, "thtr-Church, watered by the. blood of its martyrs, flourished, I so has the Mission o)f Our Lady of the ' I Rosary become more firmly established Bi5 one by the. Its directors laid down theiir lives to the work. In the sixteen, fears of its existence there landed at New" York 476,149 Irish immigrants of both sexes. Of this number 230,000 weTe feanaies. The Irish seldom immigrate in families. The parents and the little ones remain at h'onTe wWle the adult members of the ! family one by One cfoss the Atlantic to America, ; This is borne out by the fact that the oses cf nearly all female irn-mdgrAntei irn-mdgrAntei from. Ireland range from 15 to 40 years. The record, then, of the MUssicn is this, that 5n sixteen years it has protected the faith and guarded the virtue cf a quarter of a mdllion of IriFih immigrant girls. The work of the Mission in detail i may be summea , up as icu-ows: ist. It exercises a moral intluence over steamship lines to protect the immigrant, immi-grant, on. beard their vessels. 2nd. It watches over, guides and assists ait the landing- depot those immigrant girls who intend to proceed by rail or steamboat steam-boat to destination. 3rd. It exaimines the claims andi.fitnesis of the relatives ci- frtends who call for the immigrants. 4th'. It provides a Home "free of charg-e" fcr these gtir Is whose friends do not cill- on the day of arrival or wh'o have no friends at all, or who are unable to proceed on their journey, oth. It tries to Icea-te relatives of these who bring indefinite addreisse.3. 6th. It secures positions in good famillies for those ready to go to work. 7th. It supplies .the good offices of the priest who alcTie can bring confidence, encouragement en-couragement and hope to the heart of the Irish exile. Although our records were burned a few years ago in the fire at Ellis Island, it is safe to calculate cal-culate th'3it 70,000 Irish girls were guests at the Home since $ts foundation. Two representatives of the Mission are always present when the trans-Atlantic liners from English .and Irish ports discharge their passengers at the landing land-ing depot. In the sixteen years these line made 5,016 trips to this country, or nearly one arrival every day. A Kittle calculation will show that on an average about 'ninety-five Irish people landed at: the hrrmlgrant depot every day since. During the year endiing June SO, 1899, 21.637 Irish landed at .the Barge office an increase of 4.0G3 over the ccrree-pondinsr period a year ago. Of this number 12,470 w;ere females mostly youngvgirls. TTnder the protection protec-tion f f the Mission all these girls either reached their destination in safety or found their friends or secured employment. employ-ment. Some-time's- during the year the capacity of the Home was overtaxed. On the 19th of May last 172 Irish girls i arrived at- the Home at 9 p. m. The Leo House for German Catholic immigrants immi-grants cordially . received those who could not conveniently be accommodated. accommodat-ed. These statistics speak louder than words of the extent and greatness of the Mission's work. , . , The MSss-lon- is dependent entirely upon , charity , and, splendid tribute to the generosity and chivalry cf the Irish race in America, from the beginning- of the Institution to the present time no money- has been asked or expected of the imrnigTant. gsrl. Each year in October, the month of the Rosary, the work and the need3 of the Mission are placed before the public and an appeal made for funds to carry on the good .work for the coming year. The results accomplished by the Mission Mis-sion are most creditable to those engaged en-gaged therein and are such as to enlist the generous sympathies of Catholics in air parts of the union. |