ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHANAGE, UPPER HUTT

New Zealand Tablet, 2 September 1920, Page 13

ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHANAGE, UPPER HUTT

• I *- (A Tribute "by E.D.’ "> - It was a blue day when I saw it first. Magpies were flying above it in the clear air, and from all sides came the shouts of children at their play-clean-faced, children whose appearance spoke eloquently of the care bestowed upon them by the devoted nuns. The (Sister in charge showed us over the building. Everywhere one was struck by the exquisite orderliness, the airy cleanness of the place. And everywhere was sunlight—sunlight in the wide kitchen, sunlight on the kitchen gardens, sunlight on the white beds. Dimly, only dimly, as ‘if the idea were too great, it came to us what it must mean in these days of hardship to feed and clothe and tend more than 300 children. Picture it, you mothers of growing families—so many little mouths to be fed, so many little feet to be shod, so many small bodies to be clothed, so many small minds to be enlightened ! In the school the sain‘d exquisite order prevailed. One could not help reflecting on the salaries its capable teachers would merit if paid according to the grading scheme. It must be clear to all logical minds that the good nuns are bearing too heavy a burden. To increase'their meagre resources they are holding in October a great bazaar, and it is .to this I direct your charitable attention, that you may in pity give, and give again. I ask it first for the sake of the children. Give that they may pass warmly through the lean days, and grow up straight, and. sweet. Give, and small hands will be lifted for you in blessing. I ask it for the sake of the nuns so unwearied in sacrifice, so radiant in renunciation. Which of us would do for pelf what they.do for love? Give, for the sake of -those pitiful ones who, regardless of creed, take to their hearts the forgotten , and the fatherless. Give and rejoice that the spirit still lives that impelled St. Vincent de Paul and drove Damien to Molokai. Lastly I ask it for your own sakes. When Christ said to the rich young man, “Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor he thought less of the beggar at the cross-roads than of the greed that ate the young man’s soul. He stripped him bare to give him the sky. Oscar Wilde had to go to prison to learn that. He was lucky. Some of us never learn it. Parting with a penny is to some as painful as a dental operation. Yet Heaven is* for the poor. God has said it. Therefore let the rich lead the way: let us all in the month of October renounce some intended purchase, some cherished pleasure, to help at least one little child.

If the small bay, Christ, should come, Cold and barefoot to your door, You would sandal His young feet With leather from your store. You would heap His hollow hands With white bread from your board, And cry, Oh grief, that you should starve, My little smiling Lord !” He is at your door to-day With this pleading band, His is every lifted face, Every clinging hand. He will call His dreamy saints, And her who sits apart, To hear a Child’s prayer in the night, Blessing the wide of heart.