history of man, and to say to these doers of good in
a spirit of prophecy,
Thine was an empire o'er distress;
Thy triumph—of the mind;
To burst the bonds of wretchedness,
The friend of human kind:
Thy name—through every future age,
By bard, philanthropist, and sage,
In glory shall be shrined.
But these honest chroniclers have as yet had no chance
with the delineators of warriors and statesmen, who
had astonished, awed, and charmed mankind. It is
believed that a day of better taste is dawning upon
us, and that men will take as much pleasure in tra-
cing the rise and progress of an asylum for the chil-
dren of poverty and disease, as in recounting a battle
in which thousands were made miserable, and which
created many orphans at a blow.

Promiscuous charity has been practised by the
kind-hearted and the wealthy in every age and nation.
The benevolent have poured the oil and wine into
the wounds of the unfortunate, to assuage their
anguish, if they could not heal them; they have fed
the hungry and clothed the naked, and in so doing
have received their reward in the blessings of the
just. The Saviour of the world declared that, inas-
much as this was done to one of the children of
misfortune, it was done unto himself. But notwith-
standing this generous current of philanthropy has
been flowing in the hearts of the virtuous, in all
nations, since the birth of man, yet it was left for a
late age to collect facts relative to human misery, and
from these to form a system for permanent relief.
In former times, charity seemed to pour out her heart
like water, but never to consult reason upon the true
means of preventing the evils she mourned. In this
age she has called in industry, sagacity, perseverance,
and the highest order of invention, to assist her in
her great undertakings.

Prisons, in every age and nation, have been viewed