Letter for the Board

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You can see a steady decline in occupants of the Orphanage. There was an article pasted into the record book as follows:

BATON ROUGE, January 1, 1881

EDITORS ADVOCATE : For several years the annual address of the President of the Board of Administration for the Protestant Female Orphan Asylum, has been omitted. The many friends of that institution are consequently in ignorance of some facts concerning its history, and the causes which have gradually led to its present untenanted and dilapidated condition.

The ladies of the Board feel that the community, which in the days of prosperity contributed generously to the support of the Asylum, has a right to know the reason of its present condition and seeming indifference and inactivity of the Board of Managers.

In the flourishing days of the State and the Asylum, there was an annual appropriation for its support of from one to three thousand dollars; annual subscriptions from the citizens, generous donations from individuals besides the annual donations from the merchants and planters, of dry goods, vegetables, etc., all assisting very materially in the support and comfort of the orphans.

The last appropriation received from the Legislature was in 1871--fifteen hundred dollars. This amount and a legacy left by the late Mr. Harris of five hundred dollars, received in1875, are the only large sums received by the Board in ten years; and these amounts have been expended as shown by the quarterly reports. In 1870, the Asylum came into possession of a neat, convenient cottage building, a legacy left by the late Evan Hawes. The occupation of the building has enabled the Board to lease the Bird Building on Main Street, and the rent thus derived has constituted the only income, except an occasional nominal appropriation by the Corporation. In the hard times, after the war, the appropriations ceased, the subscriptions were hard to collect and finally dropped, the donations were few and nominal, one or two of the merchants remembering us annually. Rents at first profitable and promptly paid were afterwards reduced and almost impossible to collect, a large portion of one years rent being still due by the State. During these years (1870-1878), some fifty children from our own and other parishes, have been fed and clothed and have enjoyed the comports of a well conducted Christian home. Under the supervision of our intelligent Matron, those capable have received sufficient education in the rudimental branches and household duties to enable them to go into the world competent to make themselves useful and earn their own living. The number of inmates has steadily and gradually decreased. Some have been placed in homes; others have been adopted into families and some have been laid to rest in "God's Acre." The resources of the Board have become exhausted by the maintenance of the children, the salary of the Matron, a heavy insurance, and more than seven hundred dollars spent in repairs on the large building and losses in various ways.

We have been waiting for two years in the hope of collecting a claim of three hundred and seventy- five dollars against the State for rent. A petition for relief has passed through two sessions of the Legislature without success, and a judgment for that amount has been recently repudiated by the Funding Board, as not coming under the list their liabilities. The Board do not feel that they have a right to sell the property, and divert it from the intention of the founders who made the institution the special object and care of their lives. They are willing and anxious to lease the property for a term of years. Whenever this can be done, for a sum sufficient to justify it, the Cottage building will be opened for the reception and maintenance of destitute female orphans.

A MEMBER OF THE BOARD