Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/264

224 been accustomed. The only course left open was to step outside the borders of the Church, by making application to some unsectarian institution, and consent to sacrifice for a few years the distinctive Church teaching which the children had hitherto received. The result was, that two of the little fellows were at once provided with a home without any payment whatever. This episode naturally awoke in the mind of the superintendent the thought that it was very strange, and looked almost like neglect on the part of the National Church, that there should be no central organisation or society to which parish clergymen and others could at once refer such cases with a certainty of a home being provided, without payment, for the orphan and the outcast. Certainly, the Church was in a far better position to do so than any other existing body or society, with the admirable parochial machinery at her disposal, coupled with the wealth and zeal of her members. At all events, there was not the least doubt that this course would not only benefit our little neglected ones, but also strengthen the hands of many a hard-working clergyman in a poor parish, to whom the widow and the orphan rightly look for support and comfort in their hour of trial.”

The idea was ventilated, and, singular as it may seem, the first subscription, the foundation-stone so to speak, of this benevolent organisation consisted of thirteen postage stamps sent by one of the