LITTLE EMIGRANTS.

Grey River Argus, Issue 625, 20 January 1870, Page 4

LITTLE EMIGRANTS.

[the times, oct. 29.] Yesterday Miss Rye, the most succesful of the priestesses of emigration, sailed from the Mersey with 95 persons . under her care, in the Montreal ocean steamship Hiberian (Captain Smith), for Quebec. Her charge consisted of 19 adults, eight boys, and 68 little girls, all of whom, with the exception of ten, are orphans. Her intention is to take them to an establishment she has prepared in Canada, near Niagara, and there give them a course of training, and ultimately to send them out as domestic servants. Miss Rye herself, with 26 children from London, Wolverhampton, Bath, &c., arrived on board on Wednesday evening. The Liverpool contigent, consistiig of 50 little girls from the Liverpool Industrial Schools which form part of the parochial system, were taken on board yesterday at noon. About a month ago Miss Rye explained her plan to the Liverpool Select Vestry, and obtained their consent to the experiment at the rate of L 8 per head. The money was provided, L2OO but of the voluntary rate, and the remaining L2OO by subscription^ Mr Rathbotie, M. P. , being a principal subscriber. Eighty or ninety children were at first selected, all of. them either orphans, or those who had been: deserted for a number of years ; but it was determined that no child whose relatives objected should be sent out, and as objections were made in several cases the number was at length reduced to 50. The inmates of the schools were at once "act to work, and an excellent kit was provided for each of the little travellers. A good substantial box, containing 28 articles of apparel, was given to each. Mr and Mrs Birchall, the master and matron of the schools, accompanied the little emigrants to the steamer. It was an interesting sight oh board the tender. The. 50 were all \uider .11 years of age, and 20 were under seven. • They were all attired in warm woollen hoods, covering the ears and shoulders, substantial woollen frocks and cloaks, stout shoes, and woollen socks. Each little one was also provided with a nice picture-book and a plum bun. They were an exceedingly cheerful, merry, happy-looking assemblage. The little children were evidently many of them great pets, and bore little marks of affection about them in. the form of extra worked hoods, large supplies of picturebooks, and the like. When on board the tender, and still more on board the Hibernian, the little voyagers lost all sense of regret at leaving home in the crowd of wonders that thronged upon them, and the only tears to be seen were those of one pretty little maiden who had run a splinter into her finger. Two or three of the little girls had relatives who came to see them off; but the great majority were in that respect forlorn, though in no sense unhappy. Miss Rye received them on b'OarCl the Hibernian, and they were formally handed- over to her charge by Mr Birchall. The arrangements made for their reception were admirable. Their berths were roomy, and the whole section was carefully partitioned off from the other parts of the vessel, and would be strictly reserved to Miss Rye, her matron, and the children under their charge. Miss Rye was warm in her praise of the arrangements which Messrs Allan had made. She also remarked that the kindness her charge had met with from the railway companies' employes, and from all with whom they had come in contact, was most marked. Indeed, the childish band excited the utmost interest. Rough tars, who had been accustomed for years to scenes of parting from home and friends, and had become hardened thereto, unbended now, and took a kindly and inquiring interest in the little adventurtw who are so soon to encounter the trials of an emigrant life, though certainly under far happor auspices than usually fall to the lot of the orphan "and the friendless. On their arrival oh board, the children were at once taken down to their section of the vessel for dinner. Very happy they looked, and yet many of those little cheerful faces had Sassed through scenes of great sorrow, me pretty little creature, almost a baby, and her sister, slightly older, had left their mother, a poor London needlewoman, dead in the house, where she had struggled for many years. In this case, aL a, the father was long dead. All the children were provided with excellent outfits. Before leaving the school the Liverpool children were carefully examined by the ochoor doctor, and they, with the others, "also 'passed 'the scrutiny of the emigration

J medical officer. As to their future, Miss Jlye has already bought and prepared an ample home for them at Niagara, which she aptly christened "Our Western Home." There the children will be kept in careful training un til they are 15, when they will be let out to services at fixed rates of wages, and still to some extent under Miss -Rye's supervision, until they are 18, when they become their own mistresses. Due care will be taken that the persons to whom the children are permitted to go out are of good character and position. There is, however, another very important and interesting element in the scheme. If any visitor to our " Western Home" sees a child to whom he or she takes a fancy-^and if the merry, happy, intelligent faces we saw are any criterion, there will be many such— and can give sufficient guarantees of respectability and honest intention, they will be permitted to adopt the child. Seeing the excellent opening there is for female labor in such a country as Canada, few will dispute the excellence and the practical philanthropy of Misa Rye's enterprise, and^there are fewer still who will not wish the orphan children a hearty "God speed,"