no longer seen in New York those juvenile beggars whose miserable appearance is made an instrument of gain by their worthless masters; those vagrants who disguise their vagabondage under the pretext of imaginary professions, collecting cigar stumps and rag picking; those little girls who sell flowers at the doors of houses of bad repute, often concealing under this ostensible occupation infamous transactions with panders who keep them in their pay.  A determined warfare was declared against the Italian padroni, who thrive upon the toil of the little unfortunates to whom they pretend to teach music, and whom they utilize as peddlers and chimney-sweepers.  The conviction of the too notorious Ancarola was the signal for the suppression of these shameless villains; the purchases of children ceased, and the cause of humanity triumphed, thanks to the combined efforts of the society and of the Italian consul, after long and earnest conferences.  It is not only the Italians, but the children of all nationalities, who have profited from this powerful patronage:  Hungarian, German, Chinese, Irish, French.  One of our compatriots, a girl of fourteen years, came one day to implore its aid.  Her father was a drunkard, who had reached the lowest round in the ladder of degradation; her mother had no means of subsistence except concubinage, nor her two sisters except prostitution.  She begged that they would save her from this life of shame.  The society received her, procured her a position, a good education.  Learning that she was heiress to a considerable property left by a grandfather, the society took active steps in France to secure to her her rights.  Unfortunately, the agent who had possession of the estate became insolvent after having squandered the property, and it was impossible to recover it.  The society continued to care for the young girl up to the day of her marriage to a young man enjoying a regular salary of $1,200, and worthy of her in all respects.

The strict watch kept upon the liquor saloons contributed equally to improve the condition of children.  Many were in the habit of being sent by confirmed drunkards to buy the “liquid poison!” They thus promoted this vice whose hardened subjects would prolong It even beyond the grave by asking that “a bottle of whiskey may be put in their coffin.”  The obedience of the children was rewarded by invitations to drink, which initiated them in debauchery.  It was among women abandoned to drink that lived Eliza Clark, a child of eleven years, paying for the drinks with the gains which she realized from dancing or singing; in return, the women gave her brandy to drink and tobacco to smoke, so that when she was found she resembled “a beast more than a human creature.”  They also suppressed the playing of pool for drinks by minors, instituted by saloon keepers to induce them to drink liquor, which was the reward of those whom fortune favored in the game.