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Show T THE ROSARY MISSION. Twenty years ago on the first of October, in the city of Xew York, the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary was established for the care and protection of the Irish immigrant girls by Rev. Father Rior-dan Rior-dan of happy memory. A little book sent to this paper reviews a portion of the good work undertaken under-taken and carried out by the Rosary mission. "From July 1. 1883, to July 1, 1903, S,968.04G persons arrived at the various ports of this country; coun-try; 0,91(!,3S3 landed at the port of Xew York. Of these M5,019 were Irish, the males numbering 200,-717 200,-717 and the females 298,332. Xow, as the average ages of those Irish immigrants would not exceed 23 years, it is safe to say that nearly one-half million mil-lion of Irish people of both sexes, the bone and sinew of their country, have landed at the port of Xew York alone since the mission was established. estab-lished. 'What wonder that thoughtful Irishmen of every rank and condition, of every shade of political po-litical opinion, having the welfare of Ireland at heart, are having their eyes opened to the sad fact that unless something is done to staunch the bieed- ; ing wounds, the "Isle of Saints and Scholars" will j be but n memory of the past. j "It was generally expected that with the introduction intro-duction of the Land Purchase bill a material reduction re-duction in the number of immigrants would natur' ally result; the contrary, however, has been tho case, as the following figures show: During tho fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, 24,350 Irish people peo-ple arrived at this port, as against 19,391 for tho year 1902, giving n increase of 5,000 more persons this year than last. Of these 12,919 w-ere females. During the last six months 15,080 landed, as against 11,530 for a corresponding period of last year, giving once more an increase of some thou-sands thou-sands for the present year. Thus, in spite of reso-lutions reso-lutions and land bills and royal visits, the tide of immigration still flows unchecked from the Green Isle beyond the sea, and the work of the mission must still keep apace." ! The little book explains the plan of taking care of immigrant girls upon their arrival at Xew York, and, among other things, says: "Xow, as often happens where .upward of 5,000 or more immi' grants are landed in a single day, one-half, perhaps, per-haps, hailing from Qucenstown or Liverpool, it is not so easy to find a particular immigrant, as many of our friends who write us seem to think. Xor is this all When the business of the day was over, after meeting, directing and, helping those in need, often with a little.nioney and that not alone in the. case of girls, butjilso of a large number of young men and families -we have taken to tho 'Home,' at 7 State street, and kept, free of charge, a grand total of .75,000 -Irish girls. There they remained re-mained until called for by their friends, sent to their respective destinations or placed in service. Surely this is a splendid record 1 Have we not just reason to feel grateful that not one of these many thousand Irish girls ever failed to reach her destination?" desti-nation?" , ' The Mission of the Rosary is certainly an object ob-ject to be encouraged : and appeals especially to people of the Irish race in this country. It has the approval of eastern archbishops and bishops. Xo person would miss the two. bits which entitles the giver to become a member of the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary. y l |
