THE SHILLING BABY.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 14616, 4 September 1913, Page 3

THE SHILLING BABY.

I A TItUE OTOBY OF THE TJATE DR. T. J. BAIfcXAKiDO. j A' lector reached uio one day from! a lady whom I know an an unwearied visitor in the neighbourhood of Ratcliff 'Highway. She informed me that for .some time past slid had noticed a . peculiarly luiseni'ble-looking baby crawling about the doorway of a certain common lodginghouse which had a vile reputation even in: lhat neighbourhood of horrors. The little mile was clad in filthy rags, which always appoared the same, and had a weakened 'old-manish' face and a look of utter neglect pathetic in the extreme. The den in which, this wretched infant waa see'i was filled with men and- women of notoriously evil jifo, but none claimed the child as their own. It had, they said, 'been V'ft there by a former inmate, who wtis gone no one knew where, and the little -waif waa supposed to be under <be. care of the house jyt-nerally. une oi the women, however, was tmppoged , to have some kind of charge-., or it. and fulfilled her oJlfiigatiouK for the moat part by iwgk'ctimr th-urn. Was it .possible, aafced my informant, w got ponmnrnm of tho child, and deliver it horn it« present neglect and '<v»l surroundings. t at i>/kjc* mtuc one of our of •vm to learn all h<> could about the 1/ >y, and tr> invito iho woman mppmwl to ha m charge of it to )>mig tho child j to m<? tk> following morning if she were willing to give it up. When p,n# caw© it was widont >,he bad k'#;i drinking Her' biwd and «houlder» wero covered with a Hhawl underneath which, on her arm. a graafy lump projected. She introduced lier object % throwing back '/lie «hawl and ■exposing to my view a poor JittJo child about two years oi a%e. Ah I&ave tjaid, it had tliac wati 7&rised look a;bout the e>yw and mouth which, afl.incdioal men know 80 well, distiniguislKw babies who have been ftubjects of neglect and wa«trag cfßonm. Its arm was «earcely thicker than my fin,gt-r,' the eye» largo and wistful, had such a wistful and childlike look that involuntarily the tears came to my own eyes. Never before in all my wide experience had I &iH?n wch a sad mournful fielf-consciiuß look in a 'ba/by'fi face. Not a whimp-1 er, however, e^eaiped its lips. It gazed at rae and all in the room'with its old and mournful ayes, as though taking ail in and communing with itself. Occasionally a> lump of . something; covered .with rags and fastened to its waist was taken up and sucked for a. while. Anxious to ■'brino 1 the interview to fi' speedy termination I just pufc a few inquiries and told the woman she could leave the child. j 'Oh,' she leered. T wants haff a I quid (,10s.) for her, and she. don't go for bo less.' 1 To accede to her request would! have been madness For ten shillings i per baby I could have had all tho j children in ILntcliff lodginghous© in ■an hour. The woman wrangled and argueel, but 1 stood firm.. /Finally she said — 'Well, guvnor let's bo friends. Tou shall have her for a bob." Anxious to save 'the little mitte I handed the woman a shilling and 1 had secured my "baby! The child was at once taken to '>ur Villa-"** Home, and- the lodge superintendent was so touched I)}' its appearance that sho set to work herself to perform the needful duty of cleansing the little waif. B*ut how to begin was the question. There was no beginning or ending anywhe-re to bo found to the clothes —there were no (buttons, no hooks, no. eyes. It did not seem that the clothes had been usually takon off at all. They war© •simply knotted on with, strings and the knots did not «e.en\ to have be^n untied for days or even weeks. At last, with a. pair of scissors the whole of the clothing was cut from top to bottom, and so Ml off the child. She was found to be 'but- skin and bone—'a; living skeleton. The object tied (to her waist which she occasionally sucked, turned out to hie- an old fish 'bone wrapped in a piece of cotton, and must have '"been at least tliree weeks or. a month old .1 The advantage of our Cottage Home system- for girls is that among the sixteen or twenty children who gather round 1 tho Christian 'Mother' presiding over each household tfiere aw unequalled opportunities for the development of family life There «re j perhaps, one or two baibies qiuite help > less- dependent on others for every need. At t-he next stage are the you.mr ones, whose, merry prattle and j j gentle ways endear ebern t.o all. Then there are the other girls, to whom is allotted the care of some of the younger, and the whole of the household work is divided amongst the- family. , accord-ing to their age. In one of 1 these little households, my poor res-1 •cued baby was placed, and quickly be . ca-mo tho! net of it'll. J I Visiting <this particular cottacre' some months later, T did not recognise in the chubby, 'blue-eyed, curlyhiiircd crirl of some- three years of age the poor little- R-a't-ehiff waaf until the 'Mother', in fi half whisper, said. 'Don't you recollect this little one "he ' 1 is the, shilling baby.' Accustomed as I was to the transformation talsinir place around me j among roy'rescued children, I confess} ed I wfiß fi«tnnished by the chiirige j which a brief few' moths of loving care mid happy, innocent, suirroundim.'s hnd effected in the Kttlie girl. '• I 'bowed mv head and from my very j soul <rave +han.ks to God for enaWing me to bold out to so forlorn a child, th* mercy that would, by Hils grace, purifr and bless its whole existence, i