LA SOCIETE MEDICALE DE MONTREAL
The present association for the French-speaking medical men in the city is represented by “La Société Médicale de Montréal” and was established in 1900 under this name by the adoption of its statutes on June 19th. It had existed, however, since 1875 as the “Comité d’Etude.” Its meetings are held at LavalUniversity and there are 200 members at present who meet twice a month. Its principal officers have been Doctors Hervieux, Demers, Benoit, Dubé, Boucher, Marien, Foucher, A. Lesage, Boulet, Parizeau, P. Mercier and J. Décarie. Its present president is Dr. A.D. Aubry and the secretary, G. Wilfred Derome.
THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS(QUEBEC)
The College of Physicians and Surgeons is the corporate name of all the registered practitioners of the province, each one of whom is styled a member.
Its headquarters are at Montreal and its affairs are conducted by a board of governors, forty-one in number, elected for four years; thirteen from the district of Quebec, sixteen from the district of Montreal, six from the district of Three Rivers, and six from the district of St. Francis.
Of these forty-five, six are to be collegiate members: two from Laval University, at Quebec, two from Laval University, at Montreal, and two from McGill University.
This board of governors of the college is known as the Provincial Medical Board, and meets twice a year to perform its functions.
This board has the power to regulate the study of medicine, by making rules regarding the preliminary qualifications, duration of study, and curriculum.
It appoints every third year four persons actually engaged in education in the province as matriculation examiners, and persons desiring the license must qualify before these examiners before entering upon their professional studies.
By an amendment passed in 1890, holders of a degree of B.A., B.S.C., or B.L., conferred by any Canadian or British university, are exempt from passing the preliminary examination.
As regards the professional requirements for the license, holders of a degree in medicine from Laval University, McGill University, and the Montreal School of Medicine, are entitled to the license by virtue of such degrees, without examination. The same privilege is granted to registered practitioners of Great Britain, under the Imperial Medical Act of 1886. Other than the graduates so mentioned, all candidates for the license, must pass an examination before the board.
The Provincial Medical Board also has power to fix the tariff of fees for professional services, and such tariff must have the approval of the lieutenant-governor in council, and be published in the Official Gazette six months before it becomes law.
No person may practise the profession of medicine in the province who is not a member of the college, and he is liable to fine, and even imprisonment, for repeated offence. If guilty of felony, his name is removed from the register, and cannot again be registered.
THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC
The Board of Health of the Province of Quebec has its seat in the City of Montreal. The board was appointed in August, 1887, under the authority of an act passed by the Legislature in 1886, the year following the very severe epidemic of small-pox in Montreal.
Under the authority of the Quebec Public Health Act, the board has made and enforces through all the municipalities of the province by-laws relating to the prevention and limitation of infectious diseases, the improvement of sanitation, the removal of nuisances, the wholesomeness of food, the sanitary conditions of habitations and factories, etc. Since 1894, no system of waterworks and no sewerage system can be established without the board having approved the plans thereof and this is also the case for projected cemeteries. In 1893, the Legislature enacted the law of statistics by which the data contained in the registers of the civil status are made available to the board and this was the origin of its division of vital statistics. In 1893, the board established a bacteriological and chemical laboratory where rural municipalities can have their analyses made free of cost, as well as physicians the bacteriological diagnosis. In 1909, the board organized a special division of sanitary-engineering for the efficient betterment of the sanitation of water supplies and sewerage systems. In 1910, the board requested the Government to assent to the division of the province in ten sanitary districts under “whole time” inspectors who possessed a diploma in public health. The delay in securing these sanitarians was the cause that this district service could only be organized in the year 1912.
The board has jurisdiction over the whole 1,164 municipalities the province contains. It has power to require the organization of a local board of health in every municipality. Municipal councils are bound to execute all by-laws enacted by the provincial board and whenever the latter find them too lax, it may directly itself execute the by-laws at the expense of the municipalities in fault.
The board is composed at present (1914) of ten members, one of whom is made president. The other officers are: the executive secretary, the chief inspector of health, the recorder of vital statistics, the bacteriologist, the chemist, the sanitary engineer and seven district inspectors. The president is Dr. E. Persillier-Lachapelle, and the secretary, Dr. E. Elzear Pelletier.
THE CITY BOARD OF HEALTH
The Bureau of Health of Montreal came into effect through a by-law passed in the city council on the 10th of May, 1865. Subsequently, ten years later, this by-law was replaced by another, No. 105, passed in 1876, under which the board now operates.
The board has jurisdiction over all matters of public health and is composed of the following sub-departments: contagious diseases; medical inspection of schools: sanitary inspection; food inspection; inspection of milk and dairy farms; statistics; municipal laboratories; the municipal medical service. The sanitary inspection department covers the general sanitation of the dwellings, outhouses, lanes, etc.
The first health officer was Dr. Larocque, who served for about twenty years, and was succeeded by Dr. Louis Laberge, who filled the office for nearly thirty years. The present officer is Dr. S. Boucher, who was appointed December 1, 1913.
The by-law governing the bureau calls for a board to consist of the mayor, nine aldermen of the city and nine citizens outside of the city council. This, however, has not been carried into effect. The board now consists of nine members,including the mayor and the health officer. The board is appointed by the city council each year, in March, and the present board consists of Mayor Martin, Alderman Letourneau, M.D., chairman; Alderman Dubeau, Alderman Denis, M.D., Alderman Dubois, M.D., Alderman O’Connell, Alderman Blumenthal, Alderman Turcot, and the medical health officer, Dr. S. Boucher.
FOOTNOTES:
1The medical faculty of Bishop’s College has been abandoned since 1905.
1The medical faculty of Bishop’s College has been abandoned since 1905.
SOCIOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS
I
CARE OF THE AGED, FOUNDLINGS AND INFANTS
GREY NUNS—PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM—SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE—THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1832—L’ASILE DE MONTREAL—MONTREAL LADIES BENEVOLENT SOCIETY—THE SHIP FEVER OF 1847—ST. PATRICK’S ORPHANAGE—HERVEY INSTITUTE—PROTESTANT INFANTS’ HOME—PROTESTANT INDUSTRIAL ROOMS—MONTREAL DAY NURSERY—L’ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE—OTHER INSTITUTIONS.
A city’s life is not fully told unless the record of its charitable, philanthropic and sociological progress is at least indicated. That of Montreal will be found to be full, inspiring and satisfactory. The following record is a study of movements and origins rather. It is not a directory. Nor is it in any way meant to be a comparative appreciation of the work done by the various societies or institutions mentioned. Its scope is historical. Innumerable obstacles stand in the way of the preparation of such a chapter as that now offered, but it should nevertheless be attempted if only to gather together as many as possible of the early links of the many excellent social works of the city and to bind them to those larger ones which have been forged by the present day busy workers who in their active present are working busily and wholeheartedly for the growing needs of the hour and have not, through one cause or another, the historical means of surveying the early humble beginnings of works with which they or others have linked their names and their self-sacrificing endeavours.
The first pioneer social movements of Montreal under British rule were those embracing the care of the aged and that of foundlings and abandoned children. These were found together under one roof but in different departments in the Hôpital Général of the “Grey Nuns” or the “Sisters of Charity” according to their official title. At the time of the capitulation the above, with the Hôtel Dieu, founded on May 17, 1642, since the early days of the colony, sufficed for the charitable needs of the small community; for although the “Congregation” established in 1657 by Marguerite Bourgeoys, had cared for many orphans and thus in some sense might be said to have been the forerunner of the modern orphanages of the city and had shared in other social experiments, its work must be considered to have become specifically educational. Again although the Hôtel Dieu also stillmaintained, as it did until recent years, a number of aged persons and orphans, its special function had been mostly exercised as a hospital for the sick. Its history having been already told, that of the Grey Nunnery is now in place as the peculiar pioneering institution for the aged, orphans and general charity under British rule.
THE GREY NUNS
On taking possession of the Hôpital Général from the Charron Frères, in 1747, Madame d’Youville and her companions devoted themselves to works of charity of every kind, receiving into the institution all classes of unfortunates without distinction of age or sex, never refusing any. During several years the Sisters cared for fallen women and had rooms for twelve. In 1756 a ward was opened to receive English soldiers, sick and wounded, who had been taken prisoners at Oswego under Shirley and Pepperel and others during the “Seven Years’ War” before the capitulation of Montreal. On September 7, 1760, the hospital being mistaken by the English as an outwork of defence, was about to be reduced by the cannon when a soldier ran to the general and on his knees implored him to save the hospital where he and his companions had been tended in the “Salle des Anglais.” The result was that the officers went in and were hospitably received by Madame d’Youville with biscuits and wine.
After the capitulation the hospital, as well as those of other communities in the town, suffered by the depreciation of paper money, receiving a very small percentage of its worth from the French government, thereby losing more than a hundred thousand francs.
The work of caring for abandoned children began on November 16, 1754, but was not developed till shortly after the conquest in 1760, when Madame d’Youville one day found the body of a little child frozen in the ice with the dagger still in its throat and its little hands raised as in supplication for justice. This incident with others caused her to develop this work which was then first undertaken systematically on this continent. Funds, however, were wanting. Under the old régime certain moneys had been appropriated for “enfants trouvés,” foundlings. The new military government, approached by Madame d’Youville and the Rev. M. Montgolfier, the brother of the inventor of the balloon, and the superior of the Seminary, could only procure a sum of 288 francs. On September 13, 1771, Madame d’Youville approached the sympathetic Governor Carleton, but with no good results. Yet, in spite of the extreme poverty of the sisterhood the work continued, supported by their needlework. Another contributing cause for their poverty was the loss of their hospital in the great fire of May 18, 1765, which devastated the lower part of the town. This was more disastrous to them than the fire of 1745, for it reduced their home to ashes. The children and the aged poor were about to be transferred to the barns of the farm belonging to the Grey Nuns at Point St. Charles when M. Montgolfier came with an invitation from the nuns of the Hôtel Dieu offering their hospitality. As, however, the number was too considerable, the nuns of the “Congregation” shared the problem of housing them. Not losing heart, Madame d’Youville dared, on the 9th of June following, to begin rebuilding, relying on the sum of 6,000 francs contributed by the Montreal faithful and the Indians of the settlements of Caughnawaga and the Lake of Two Mountains.
THE GREY NUNNERY OF TODAYTHE GREY NUNNERY OF TODAY
THE GREY NUNNERY OF TODAY
THE OLD “GREY” NUNNERYTHE OLD “GREY” NUNNERYAs it looked from McGill Street in the late ’60s before the new building was erected on Dorchester Street. This site was that of the original General Hospital, founded by M. Charron in 1692, and transferred to Madame D’Youville in 1747. A portion of these buildings still remains in 1912, being employed as warehouses. The new Custom House is to be built on this spot.
THE OLD “GREY” NUNNERY
As it looked from McGill Street in the late ’60s before the new building was erected on Dorchester Street. This site was that of the original General Hospital, founded by M. Charron in 1692, and transferred to Madame D’Youville in 1747. A portion of these buildings still remains in 1912, being employed as warehouses. The new Custom House is to be built on this spot.
But the Seminary came to her aid with a loan of 15,000 francs. By order of M. Montgolfier the workmen laboured constantly, even on Sundays, so that by September 23d the part for the aged men was ready. The Sisters entered their convent on December 5th and the poor women on Christmas Day. The rest of the buildings were not finished till 1767, the church being blessed on August 30th. Though housed, money was very scarce; yet Madame d’Youville had dared even nineteen days after the fire of 1765 to complete a contract already arranged since August 25, 1764, for the acquistion of the seigneury of Chateauguay, originally accorded in 1673 by Frontenac to M. Lemoyne of Longueuil, and then belonging to the family of Robutel de Lanouë. The development of this farm, which scarcely gave any revenue, was the object of the zealous solicitude of Madame d’Youville and now is the sanitarium and country house of the Grey Nuns for their different foundations. The property of Point St. Charles was afterward built upon for a country house for the children and the aged poor. It was burnt down in 1842 but re-erected in the following year. The death of this “mulier fortis” occurred at 8:30 P.M. on December 23, 1771, at the age of seventy years after a life full of fatigues, privations and sacrifices. The work undertaken by her devoted followers has spread from Montreal far and wide. On October 7, 1871, the Mother House was removed from its oldtime position “down town” to the block bounded by Guy Street, St. Catherine Street, Fort Street and Dorchester Street. The old buildings were converted by merchants into warehouses, part of which are still standing. The new custom house, being erected in 1914, marks the site of the southwest corner of their estate.
The following resumé of the work of the Grey Nuns is interesting:
In 1801, at the request of the government officials, the insane were admitted and a special annex built. Previous to this, the sisters had already received twenty-three such patients and until this work was discontinued in 1839, the number received was 114.In 1823, the community undertook the care of Irish orphan girls.In 1846, at the request of the priests of the Seminary, a “dispensary” for the poor was opened and a system of house to house visitation was established.In 1847, the sisters nursed the poor Irish immigrants stricken with typhus fever.In the same year a temporary “home” was opened for the women left without resources after this terrible plague epidemic.In 1849, at the request of the mayor of Montreal, the sisters undertook the nursing of the cholera victims in the “sheds” constructed for the typhus patients.In 1851, St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum was opened and the Grey Nuns took charge.In 1858, the first “kindergarten” conducted by the Grey Nuns in Montreal was founded on Bonaventure Street by the Rev. Father Rousselot, a Sulpician. It was known as Salle d’ Asile St. Joseph, but was ultimately closed, because its proximity to the railroad made it dangerous for the small children who came there to school.In 1861, the Nazareth Asylum for the Blind on St. Catherine Street was opened.In 1885, during an epidemic of small pox, forty Grey Nuns devoted themselves to the care of the victims in their homes and in the hospitals.Since the days of their foundress, the Sisters each year have provided for a certain number of poor students who board in the establishment.In the Mother House, on Guy Street, at present, the Grey Nuns care for foundlings, orphan boys and girls, poor and aged men and women, besides having an industrial school for young girls.
In 1801, at the request of the government officials, the insane were admitted and a special annex built. Previous to this, the sisters had already received twenty-three such patients and until this work was discontinued in 1839, the number received was 114.
In 1823, the community undertook the care of Irish orphan girls.
In 1846, at the request of the priests of the Seminary, a “dispensary” for the poor was opened and a system of house to house visitation was established.
In 1847, the sisters nursed the poor Irish immigrants stricken with typhus fever.
In the same year a temporary “home” was opened for the women left without resources after this terrible plague epidemic.
In 1849, at the request of the mayor of Montreal, the sisters undertook the nursing of the cholera victims in the “sheds” constructed for the typhus patients.
In 1851, St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum was opened and the Grey Nuns took charge.
In 1858, the first “kindergarten” conducted by the Grey Nuns in Montreal was founded on Bonaventure Street by the Rev. Father Rousselot, a Sulpician. It was known as Salle d’ Asile St. Joseph, but was ultimately closed, because its proximity to the railroad made it dangerous for the small children who came there to school.
In 1861, the Nazareth Asylum for the Blind on St. Catherine Street was opened.
In 1885, during an epidemic of small pox, forty Grey Nuns devoted themselves to the care of the victims in their homes and in the hospitals.
Since the days of their foundress, the Sisters each year have provided for a certain number of poor students who board in the establishment.
In the Mother House, on Guy Street, at present, the Grey Nuns care for foundlings, orphan boys and girls, poor and aged men and women, besides having an industrial school for young girls.
THE FOUNDLINGS
The number of foundlings received annually is between four hundred and fifty and five hundred. Since the founding, 37,168 infants have been admitted.
The number of children averages between one hundred and one hundred and twenty. There are at present in the nursery 126. The children who survive, when not kept in the nursery, are either placed out to board or adopted by good families. In 1911, fifty-five were adopted.
When about three years of age, the little children leave the nursery and are placed with the orphans. These foundlings come from all directions and belong to all nationalities.
A course of lectures has been opened at the nursery for the training of children’s maids.
THE ORPHANS
There are in the Grey Nunnery 300 orphans, of which 170 are boys from three years to twelve years of age, and 130 girls from three years to eighteen or twenty years of age.
Since 1748, when the first orphan girl was received, there have been admitted 5,788 orphans, 2,875 boys and 2,913 girls.
From 1823 to 1873, these children were almost exclusively of Irish origin. Since the latter date, the majority are from Montreal, though some few are from the suburbs. Almost all are French-Canadians, there being a few English speaking children and some Indians. The greater number are received gratuitiously, very few being able to pay their board.
At the age of twelve, the boys who are not claimed by relatives, are placed at the orphanages of Montfort or of St. Arsène, or adopted by respectable families.
The girls on leaving the orphanage enter the industrial school, where they are taught domestic economy.
Those who have relatives wishing to claim them can leave. The others are adopted by good families or placed out to earn their living.
THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
The industrial school was opened in 1908. Since then 297 pupils have been received, 270 of these being Canadians, 19 English and 8 Indians. There are at present 60 pupils in this department.
These young girls are employed in the different departments and work rooms of the house.
In the sewing room they are taught sewing and mending as well as knitting, embroidery, etc. In the kitchen, laundry, book bindery, printing office and pharmacy, they are trained to become useful members of society.
Several hours are also spent each day in the schoolroom.
THE AGED AND INFIRM
There are 195 aged poor and infirm at present at the Mother House, 95 men and 100 women.
Since the founding of the institution in 1747, 6,250 aged poor and infirm have been received, of whom 2,952 were men and 3,298 women.
These comprise cripples of all kinds, and persons afflicted with epilepsy or cancer. The number of the latter cases has considerably diminished since the opening of the Hospital for Incurables in Montreal.
Until 1910 the only grant from the provincial or municipal authorities was $105.00, but the provincial government now grants for the different works of charity an annual appropriation of $2,905.00, in which is included the $105.00 for the nursery, the expenses of which amount to $25,000.00 annually.
In 1910 and in 1911, the City of Montreal allowed $1,000.00 to the institution. In 1912, this allowance was increased to $1,200.00. The balance of $98,550.00, which is the amount of the annual expense for the support of the 660 inmates, must be provided by the community. The average cost per capita is 41 cents a day.
Although there is no dispensary at the Grey Nunnery for outside poor, these are continually assisted in many ways. Thus in 1911, 1,200 meals were given, and 300 persons were assisted materially.
Besides the Mother House, the Grey Nuns have in Montreal:
Three hospitals with training-schools: Notre Dame Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and the Ophthalmic Institute.
Four kindergartens: Nazareth, Bethlehem, St. Henry’s, and Ste. Cunegonde’s.
Five orphanages: St. Patrick’s, St. Henry’s, Ste. Cunegonde’s, Bethlehem, and St. Louis’.
One institution for the education of blind pupils.
Two homes for working girls: “Youville” and “Killarney.”
Three homes for the aged poor: St. Bridget’s, Ste. Cunégonde’s, and St. Anthony’s.
One industrial school: St. Joseph’s.
In Canada, outside the City of Montreal they have:
One school at Côte-des-Neiges, one at Chateauguay, and one at St. Benoit, with a home for infirm and aged women.
Four homes: in Varennes, Beauharnois, Chambly and Longueuil, for aged and infirm women and orphans. A few lady boarders are received in these homes to help support the works of charity. The sisters visit the sick.
One hospital at St. John’s, with a home for old men and women; also, a kindergarten.
In Western Canada, the Grey Nuns direct twenty-five establishments, and in the United States, fourteen.
THE PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM
The next movement for orphan children was on the part of the English ladies who formed before 1822 a Female Benevolent Society. This was followed by the “Protestant Orphan Asylum,” the connecting link being provided as follows by the following extract from the original minutes.1
“Upon the dissolution of the Female Benevolent Society in February, 1822, the officers and members of that institution consigned their orphan proteges and their flourishing little school to the care and maintenance of the Protestant churches of the city. The rector of the English Episcopal and the ministers of two Presbyterian churches accepted the charge.”
Founded therefore in 1822, without endowment the Protestant Orphan Asylum trusted entirely to the generosity of interested friends. The clergy of the city undertook to preach charity sermons for its benefit, and a substantial sum was thus raised. The constitution of the new charity was framed by the Rev. John Bethune, D.D., Dean of Montreal, and the Rev. Henry Esson, D.D., Pastor of St. Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church.
The first building occupied as an asylum (in 1833) was situated in St. Louis Street. The expenditure in this year was £211 10s 4d. In 1838 removal was made to more commodious premises in St. Antoine Street, the expenditure that year being £248 4s 5d.
In 1848 the annual reports were first published, and in the spring of the same year the foundations of a new home were laid, on land generously donated by Judge Smith on St. Catherine Street where Holland’s store now stands. This was sufficiently finished to permit the taking possession thereof June 4, 1849. The present building at 93 Côte des Neiges Road, was completed and occupied 1895.
It is interesting to compare the small beginnings of the earlier years with present conditions. For instance, in 1833, as previously stated, there was no endowment, and the expenditure for the year was £211 10s 4d, about $846. In 1911 the marketvalue of its endowment fund amounted to $178,962, yielding a revenue of $9,143.50, and this with the annual subscriptions provided for the year, $10,109.80.
In the annual report for the year 1859 attention is called to the remarkable sanitary fact that out of upwards of six hundred children received into the home since its foundation, only forty-seven had died, notwithstanding the epidemic of cholera and typhus fever, at different times prevalent. And it may be added that this record has been maintained, and even surpassed, in the years that have followed.
THE MONTREAL LADIES’ BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
On the occasion of the epidemic of cholera in 1832 there arose a corresponding effort among the English Protestant ladies. The Montreal Ladies’ Benevolent Society was then founded “for the purpose of affording relief and support to destitute women and children” and the work which its founders inaugurated eighty-two years ago has been carried on ever since. The Society was incorporated in 1841.
The list of its presidents previous to 1849 was destroyed by fire. Since 1849 the following ladies have served it as president:
Many names prominent in social and philanthropic work in Montreal during that period are to be found on the roll of its past and present committees.
The original building still stands with the added wings on Ontario, formerly Berthelet, Street.
There are seven old women and ninety-eight children in the home—fifty-two boys and forty-six girls between the ages of six and fourteen years. Every effort is made to start these children suitably in life. But unfortunately, when they reach a wage-earning age, they are frequently taken away by their parents or nearest relatives, who up to this period have, more often than not, ignored their existence—whereas if the children were only left long enough in the home, they could receive special and individual instruction and better positions could be found for them.
Fifty-five destitute children and children of delinquent parents have for many years been sent in through the city for whom the city pays $7 per month for girls and $8 per month for boys. The cost of each child averages $13.75 per month.
THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE
The succeeding movement in the charity for the aged, orphans and the poor was that started in 1828 by another Montreal lady, Madame Gamelin, who foundedthe “Sisters of Providence,” a religious congregation, in 1843, the Asile de la Providence having been incorporated on September 11, 1841, and being erected canonically in 1844.
By 1905 the congregation had spread over eighteen dioceses and had seventy-seven houses. In 1913 it had ninety-seven houses. Its foundress, Marie Emmeline Eugene Tavernier, was born on February 19, 1800. On June 4, 1823, she was married to Jean Baptiste Gamelin, a man of fifty, described in the marrage register as a “burgher,” the appellation then given to a proprietor living on his income. Three children were born of the union. Two died three months after birth. In 1827 Mr. Gamelin died and the following year the third child also. The widow’s heart now turned to the aged and poor. On March 4, 1828, she opened a modest refuge on the ground floor of a small parochial school, directed by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, situated on the corner of St. Lawrence and St. Catherine streets. The first beneficiary was a widow named St. Onge, 102 years old. The refuge was shortly removed to two houses rented on St. Philippe Street with her charges, which soon reached the number of thirty, not always over-grateful.
About this time Madame Gamelin formed a society of lady auxiliaries, Mesdames François Tavernier, E.R. Fabre, Maurice Nolan, Augustine Tullock, R. St. Jean, Paul Joseph LaCroix, Joseph Gauvin, Simon Dalorme and Julien Tavernier. This society, founded on December 13, 1827, and organized on December 18th of the same year, still exists as the “Society of the Ladies of Charity.” Each of these agreed to pay a monthly board for one poor woman. During the cholera outbreak of 1832-1834 Madame Gamelin did not spare herself in visiting the sick. The “yellow” house was secured for the growing needs of the refuge by M. Olivier Berthelet, whose name is linked with Montreal’s charities. It was a modest frame building, two stories in height, standing on St. Catherine and Hubert streets. During the political troubles of 1837-38 there commenced the work, still pursued by her followers, of visiting the Montreal jails. Writing in his “Patriots of 1837-38” Mr. L.O. David, afterwards city clerk of Montreal, and a senator, said: “There are two names in particular deserving of special mention and which the prisoners have never forgotten, Madame Gamelin, who later became the foundress of the Providence, and Madame Gauvin, mother of Doctor Gauvin, who himself took part in the events of 1837.” In 1841 Madame Gamelin’s asylum obtained civil incorporation through a measure, introduced by the Hon. D. Viger and the Hon. J. Quesnel, under the name of “Corporation for Aged and Infirm Women of Montreal.”
In 1841 the work was so well founded that to secure its permanency as a constituted diocesan charity the ladies associated with it, under the beautiful name of the Ladies of Providence, determined to give it over to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, then lately visited in Paris by Bishop Bourget. A new building was forthwith determined on to receive them, and for the funds for this, the first bazaar recorded in Montreal was organized, in Rasco’s Hotel on St. Paul Street, on May 15, 16, 1842, and netted 500 louis. The directresses were Mesdames Gamelin, Gauvin, St. Jean, Fabre, Levesque, Boyer, Moreau and Lafontaine. Other sums were raised and the corner stone of the house opposite the “yellow” house was blessed on May 10, 1842. About the middle of June, 1842, Bishop Bourget gave Madame Gamelin and the Ladies of Providence a rulemodelled upon that which St. Vincent de Paul had drawn up for a society of ladies in Paris who had consecrated themselves to the work. The Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul did not come, after all, and Bishop Bourget determined to create a diocesan order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence. On March 25, 1843, the first clothing took place of the first six postulants in the “yellow” house, who were to obey Madame Gamelin as their superior. As yet she was not herself a religious, but on July 8th, on one of the postulant’s returning to the world, Madame Gamelin determined to take her place and she was accepted by the Bishop as one of the new order of the Sisters of Providence, one of whose early works was to carry on the work of the care of the aged and infirm already begun by Madame Gamelin in 1827. In 1860 her institute established an asylum for “abandoned” children, French Canadian and Irish, which was opened on September 25th.
The work for the insane at Longue Pointe, begun in 1849, is told elsewhere.
L’ASILE DE MONTREAL
Meanwhile the year of the cholera, 1832, had seen the birth, on July 18, of the “L’Asile de Mountréal pour les orphelins Catholiques Romains” or “Les Orphelins des Récollets,” so called because these orphans were first cared for in the convent of the Récollets. The asylum received its incorporation in September, 1841. The work was promoted by a Sulpician, the Rev. P. Phelan, and a widow, Madame Gabriel Cotté, who became its foundress and received her helpers from among the “Ladies of Charity.” Among the Ladies of Charity under whose auspices the new work was placed and still continues, were those of the best society of Montreal. The first president was Madame Marie Charles Joseph LeMoyne, Baroness de Longueuil, the wife of Captain David Alexander Grant, of the Ninety-fourth Regiment, who died on February 25, 1841. The vice presidents were Madame de Lothbinidère and Madame de Beaujeu. On the death of the Baroness de Longueuil she was succeeded as president by Madame Berthelet, Madame D.B. Viger, Madame C.S. Cherrier and Madame T. Bouthillier. Under the board of directors the asylum was conducted successively by Madame Chalifoux and Madamoiselle Morin. The present president is Madame J.O. Gravel and the vice president is Madame Rosaire Thibaudeau, niece of the esteemed foundress, Madame Cotté.
The institution has remained under lay control, although since 1889 the Grey Nuns have been invited to undertake the internal management. Madame Cotté was its first treasurer, being succeeded by her daughter, Madame Quesnel, who supported the work till her death. The foundress, Madame Cotté, endowed the work with a gift of land, that named “Pres de Ville,” on Lagauchetière Street, and with a legacy in money. Her heirs exchanged the original land for that on St. Catherine Street on which the institution stands today, a part of which was built by the legacies in money left by Madame Cotté and Madame Quesnel.
In 1913 the orphanage and grounds were sold and a spacious property bought for the new orphanage site at Notre Dame de Grâces. The new buildings have been commenced but have been interrupted by the European war of 1914.
The dire year of 1847, that of typhus fever, saw great activity among all these French and English institutions for charitable works. As the incoming immigrants were mostly Catholics the activities of the Catholic institutions of theperiod may naturally be recalled. The “Providence Sisters,” lately erected as a religious congregation, were called by Bishop Bourget to second the Grey Nuns, the Nuns of the Congregation and the Nuns of the Hôtel Dieu at the fever-stricken sheds at Point St. Charles. The work of caring for the 600 or more orphans of the emigrants was confided to the Sisters of Providence in the two provisory hospitals. The religious of the Good Shepherd, who had been called to Montreal in 1844, finally took charge of the girls, and Madame Gamelin’s “Providence” Sisters took the boys to Mrs. Nolan’s house on St. Catherine Street. Bishop Bourget’s pastoral letter of 1848 describing the transference of the children through the street states: “The spectacle of hundreds of children famishing with hunger, covered with rags and in danger of succumbing to the attacks of that terrible disease which had deprived them of their parents was so poignant that it can never be forgotten.” Twenty-seven of the “Providence” Sisters were stricken with the plague and three died, and similar disaster befell other charitable “Congregations” or lay associations of all sections.
On the 1st of October the orphans were removed from their temporary home in Mrs. Nolan’s house to the former convent of the Good Shepherd, situated on Beaudry Street, then Black Horse Street, the new Hospice of St. Jerome Emilianus. From the 11th of July Mother Gamelin had received 650 orphans. Of that number 332 died and 188 were placed out or adopted. In the month of March, 1848, 130 remained in addition to 99 who stayed in the sheds at Point St. Charles. An appeal at this time was made by Bishop Bourget and colleges, convents and lay people responded in adopting the children. Sixty remained with the Sisters of Providence and were distributed among the different houses or apprenticed to trades. “In adopting these poor children,” says the same pastoral, “they will become our companions in faith, good priests, fervent religious, excellent citizens,” as, indeed, they did.
THE ST. PATRICK’S ORPHANAGE
This leads up naturally to the history of the Irish Catholic charities, and of the St. Patrick’s Orphanage, in particular.
Before 1800 few Irish reached the city, yet they came early in the nineteenth century, so that by 1823 the number of orphan children of Irish parentage was such that M. Roux, the superior of the Sulpicians, arranged with the Grey Nuns2to receive the first five of forty children in the “Salle des petites orphelines Irlandaises” which was opened February 14, 1823. Until 1886 the Sulpicians unostentatiously supported no less than 848 little Irish orphans.
In the fall of the year of “Black ’47” the Rev. M. Pinsonneault rented a house on Colborne Street of fifteen apartments, in which he lodged fifty families of those who, though destitute, had escaped the terrible ship fever. This was known as the “House.” Mrs. Brown, a good Catholic Irishwoman, undertook to teachthe children and M. Pinsonneault founded a band of ladies for the purposes of organizing bazaars for the support of the struggling institution which was even vilified in the press. The “Ladies of Charity” were organized in 1849 as a permanent body to assume the upkeep of the work and to collect subscriptions.
Meanwhile during the visitation of 1847 it was rendered necessary for 650 little Irish orphans to be taken from the pest sheds of Point St. Charles and taken care of, as is told elsewhere, by the religious daughters of Mother Gamelin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence.
On June 20, 1848, Father Dowd had arrived and, being appointed in September almoner of the poor, he became superior of the House. He quickly determined that a new asylum was needed. This was secured in a small house on Craig Street, opposite the Champ de Mars, generously loaned by M. Augustin Perreault, who added numerous other benevolent gifts and services. In October, 1849, the asylum was opened and Mrs. Brown was joined by Mrs. McMahon, better known as Mrs. “Mack.” A fire on June 9, 1850, nearly threatened the existence of the new house.
About 1850 a parishioner of St. Patrick’s church, M. Bartholomew O’Brien, bequeathed a sum of £1,000 for an orphan asylum. Father Dowd formed a building committee of Messrs. Charles T. Palgrave, Francis McDonnell, Charles Curran, P. O’Meara, P. Lawlor, J. McGovern, Patrick Brennan, Thomas O’Brien, Patrick Lynch and Mathew Ryan. The latter acted as secretary till February, 1850, when he was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Bell. A lot of ground, 100 feet by 10 in front on Dorchester Street, with 120 feet of rear, was given, in trust for the building of an Irish orphan asylum by the Fabrique of the parish of Montreal.
On November 21, 1851, the unfinished house was entered by the orphans, two or three planks laid against the principal entrance being the only door. The formal blessing of the building by the bishop took place on February 2, 1852. In this same year the treasurer, Mr. T.C. Palgrave, received a grant of £500 from the provincial parliament. The act of incorporation received the royal assent on May 30, 1855. In 1859 Father Dowd resigned his directorship, leaving a balance to the poor of $157.39. He was succeeded by the Rev. Michael O’Brien, who afterwards became the first superior of St. Ann’s church. In 1861 Mr. Edward Murphy, afterwards senator, joined the board of trustees, becoming secretary in the place of Mr. Bell.
His Excellency, Viscount Monck, governor-general, visited the orphan asylum on July 3, 1862, when an address was read by Mr. Thomas Ryan, afterwards senator. On the death of Mr. Bell, in 1864, Mr. John Fitzpatrick became a trustee. Dying in the same year, he made the orphanage his residuary legatee.
Through the efforts of the indefatigable Father O’Brien there was acquired the property on Lagauchetière Street, where the St. Bridget’s Refuge was afterwards built, the act of the transference by the corporation of the asylum to the refuge by resolution being dated June 24, 1866. In 1859 it was proposed to build St. Bridget’s church for the Irish in the Quebec suburbs and money was collected, but, as the bishop could not be prevailed upon to permit its creation, at a meeting of subscribers held on March 9, 1867, it was resolved unanimously on the motion of Mr. B. Devlin, and seconded by Mr. M.P. Ryan, that the money collected (about $8,000) by Fathers O’Brien and O’Farrell (afterwards bishopof Trenton) be appropriated as follows: “one-half to the Montreal St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum and the other half to the Rev. Father O’Farrell and his successors for Irish Catholic charities in the St. Ann’s suburbs, the whole to be invested by them in stock in the new St. Patrick’s Hall, now in course of erection.”
The history of the ill-starred St. Patrick’s Hall, a magnificent structure, a credit to the Irish people of the city, tells of two disasters, in the last of which it perished by fire. The association determined to wind up its affairs, which resulted in the stockholders receiving 55% for their investment, the asylum being, therefore, a considerable loser.
On the death of the Rev. Michael O’Brien in 1870 Father Dowd was again appointed director by the bishop. In 1877 there was terminated a long dispute which was settled in the ecclesiastical court, resulting in the non-divergence of the funds, originally collected for St. Bridget’s church and given with the consent of the subscribers, half to the orphan asylum and half to the Fabrique of St. Marys, who claimed the original gift for the St. Bridget’s church, when permission to build this had been at last granted by the bishop in 1873. The case for the asylum in civil law was entrusted by the trustees to Mr. J.J. Curran, Q.C., M.P., afterwards the Hon. Justice Curran, his view in favour of the asylum being endorsed by Mr. Lacoste, Q.C., afterwards Sir Alexander Lacoste, chief justice, K.B.
In January, 1873, Lord Dufferin, the distinguished Irish governor general, visited the asylum. On January 30, 1874, Sister Forbes, who since 1853 had succeeded Sister Reed as superioress of the asylum, celebrated her “golden wedding” as a nun. Mother Forbes died three years later, on March 28, 1877, after her twenty-third year in the superiority of the asylum, to the great grief of the Irish population.
The last of the original trustees died on May 26, 1889, the Hon. Thomas Ryan, senator for the Victoria division of the province. On the 26th of December, 1889, the following gentlemen were trustees, Edward Murphy, J.S. Mullin, W.H. Hingston, Owen McGarvey, James O’Brien, John B. Murphy, Patrick Kennedy, Hon. Judge Doherty, James McCready, J.J. Curran, Q.C., M.P. In December, 1891, Father Dowd died. He was held in greatest respect by all denominations in the city. The flag on the city hall was placed at half mast and the funeral was a public demonstration. He was succeeded by Father Quinlivan, who had assisted him for some time before his death. In 1892 the Hon. Senator Murphy died. His name deserves to be remembered among the great philanthropists of the city. His memory is perpetuated in the “Edward Murphy School” and the Edward Murphy medal given by the Catholic School Commissioners. In 1902 the trustees of the orphanage were Hon. Sir William Hingston, Hon. Marcus Doherty, Hon. J.J. Curran, J.S.C., Mr. Michael Burke, Mr. Patrick Mullin, Hon. James O’Brien, Mr. J.C. Collins, Mr. C.A. McDonnell and Mr. P. McCrory.
In 1909 the orphanage, being declared unsafe, was removed to the new asylum built under the direction of Mr. W.E. Doran, architect, of gray stone, fireproof and three stories in height, on St. Catherine Road, Outremont. The estate is a valuable farm of forty-five acres, with its own orchards and vegetable gardens. Its internal direction is still under the Grey Nuns. Its trustees at the time of the change were the Rev. Gerald McShane, pastor of St. Patrick’s church, the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Messrs. M. Burke, P. Mullin, C.F. Smith, C.A. McDonnell,P. McCrory, J.A. Macdonald, M.D., who has also given his services free for thirty years, and Donald Hingston, M.D. At present Messrs. A.J. Trihey, H.J. McKeon, T.W. McNulty, W.J. Rafferty, have joined the board since the deaths of Messrs. M. Burke, C.F. Smith, C.A. McDonnell and P. Mullin.
The names of Dr. H. Schmidt, Dr. Henry Howard, Dr. J.A. Macdonald, Dr. Thomas J. Curran, should be remembered in connection with the medical care of the orphans.
The great burden of sustaining the funds of the institution fell during many years on the “Ladies of Charity.” The first annual bazaar was held in 1849 under their auspices. The first president was Mrs. Charles Wilson, the wife of the Hon. Charles Wilson, mayor of the city. In 1850 she was succeeded by Madame Vallières de St. Réal, the wife of the well known judge. This Irish lady remained president till 1861. Mrs. O’Meara succeeded but died in 1862, when Madame Vallières was recalled till 1866, when she was made honorary life president. Mrs. M.P. Ryan became president till 1882, when with Mrs. Campion she became honorary life president. Mrs. Brennan took office in 1882, and Mrs. Edward Murphy in 1883, remaining till 1900. In 1900 the following ladies were installed in office: Mrs. M.P. Ryan, Mrs. Campion and Mrs. E. Murphy, honorary life presidents; Mrs. E.C. Monk, president; Mrs. E.C. Amos, vice president; Mrs. D. Boud, second vice president; Mrs. Loye, third vice president; Mrs. Whitney, secretary. Of late years this organization has not been called upon for the same active services for the orphanage, but their members individually have been foremost in other growing English-speaking Catholic charities.
THE HERVEY INSTITUTE
Among non-Catholic charitable works called forth at the time of the ship fever was the Hervey Institute, founded in 1847.
Its first home was on St. Antoine Street; two small houses followed. Then the Home found itself at 215 Mountain Street, in 1875. The new Home, opened by their Excellencies, Earl and Countess Grey, on December 16, 1908, is situated at the corner of Windsor and Claremont avenues, Westmount.
Like most similar organizations the Hervey Institute rose from humble beginnings, little idea being in the minds of the group of ladies who began the work of the magnitude of the scale of future undertakings. It now has accommodation for eighty-five persons.
Miss Hervey, for whom the Home is named, was born in 1807 and came to this city from Scotland in 1846. The following year she started the home in a small way, calling it an industrial home. She was led to do this by the extreme need for such among the poor—for at that time there was little organized relief among the Protestants other than that given by the churches—and the mother left with her small children to support, owing to the death of the father, was in a sad plight. Miss Hervey and her associates gathered these children together, taught them to sew and also the elementary subjects of education as well as the performance of domestic duties.
Among well known names connected with the Home in those days were Mrs. John Stirling, Mrs. John Redpath, Mrs. Neil MacIntosh, Mrs. John McDougall, Mrs. Hannibal Whitney, Mrs. John Lovell—the last mentioned still showing anactive interest in the Home—Mrs. (Doctor) Scott, another member of the original committee, worked unceasingly to accomplish a piece of work desired by Miss Hervey, that of a separate Home for the tiny children and young babies, as it was found impossible to continue the reception of children of all ages. Thus the Protestant Infants’ Home was established, as an offshoot in 1870, by this same untiring worker, Miss Hervey.
The following ladies have been the presidents of the institution:
The Home was incorporated in 1875 when Mrs. J. Routh was president, other signers of the charter were: Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. M.L. Clarke, the last mentioned being at present on the committee of management. The original intention of caring for, teaching, and training in domestic duties half orphan girls, has been carried on, but more than that, the special provision made for boys in the comparatively new Home on Windsor Avenue, Westmount, shows the result of many anxious thoughts directed to the problem of the growing boy without a home. Boys as well as girls are now trained for their work in the world; boys are kept until fourteen years of age, girls until sixteen.
In receiving girls and boys into the Home, the idea is to keep family life as nearly normal as possible, so the mother or father may place their children in the same home knowing they are at school and may play together.
Half-orphan children, between the ages of five and fourteen, are received, qualified teachers are in attendance, one children’s trained nurse and other nurses and over all a superintendent.
The parent pays whatever possible; all other cost of maintenance is met by the voluntary subscriptions.
A development of late years has been the purchase of a summer home at Morin Heights in the Laurentian Mountains, in healthy and beautiful surroundings. It is owing to this annex, to which the children have been sent for two months for nine years, that the directors owe the wonderful record of no annual drug account over $25.00. This for a home of seventy-five children is a record, as is the fact there have been but four deaths in the sixty-eight years in which the Home has been in operation.
Since the inception in 1847 many hundreds have passed through the Home and have made successes. The girls have become efficient nurses and teachers and the boys successful business men, while two of the more recent inmates are doing their duty by their King and Country in the Canadian overseas contingent.
THE PROTESTANT INFANTS’ HOME
As mentioned, it was through the energy of Miss Hervey and Miss Scott that the Protestant Infants’ Home was established on April 30, 1870, the by-laws being adopted on that date and the constitution in May following. The firsthome of Miss Hervey’s Institute was on St. Antoine Street. It was destined to receive unmarried mothers, together with their babies from the Maternity Hospital as well as destitute children and even those paid for. The age for children admitted is between fourteen days and five years.
Among the first directors were Mesdames Henry Baylis, J.M. Gibson, G. Ferrier, F. Henshaw, B. Christie, T. Campbell, J. Alexander, I. Harper, G. Brown, C. Hart, G. Aitken, Aikman, W.H. Clare, Godfrey G. Shaw, C. Pelton, Scott, Wilk, and C. Brown.
The home was transferred from St. Antoine Street to different places and is now located on Queen Mary’s Road.
THE MONTREAL DAY NURSERY
This was followed on the English side by the Montreal Day Nursery, located at 50 Belmont Park, which was started in 1888 and incorporated in 1900.
The object of the Day Nursery is to take care of the children of women who, for various reasons, are obliged to work by the day to support their families. The Nursery is open every week day from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Children from three weeks to twelve years of age are admitted by the day. They are fed, kept clean, medically treated, and, when necessary, clothed. The younger children are under the supervision of a resident governess, the older ones are sent to the Belmont Street and St. Patrick’s schools. The Nursery is non-sectarian, there are no restrictions as to creed, nationality or colour, and it is supported by voluntary contributions.
When the Nursery was first opened about ten children were taken care of daily. The increase in numbers has been steady until now there are from ninety-five to one hundred and ten cared for, divided as follows: Infants, twenty; runabouts, between two and four, forty; and about fifty between the ages of four and twelve. A charge of ten cents is exacted for one child, and five cents more for each additional child from the same family.
The Montreal Foundling and Baby Hospital was started in 1891 and has admirably carried out its title.
L’ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE
A modern form of charity for the old and sick and for children was founded on October 30, 1903, by MM. L.H. Lesvesque, Joseph Hoostetter, A. Rivet, Ludger Gravel, G. L’Archevesque, Leo Fournier, Charlemagne Rodier, Dr. E. H. Desjardins, under the name of L’Assistance Publique, situated on 338-340 Lagauchetière Street. Its incorporation is dated January 28, 1907. Its object is the protection, housing, boarding and clothing, temporarily as long as the board shall see fit, of children, women, old people, the sick and other afflicted persons (with the exception of those suffering from incurable or contagious diseases). It aims at finding employment, or placing those in their charge into suitable charitable institutions. The work is restricted to citizens of Montreal, of all nationalities. The work has progressed so that it became necessary to build a large wing, which was inaugurated on February 5, 1911. It has four dormitories, an infirmary and three refectories. Over one hundred and five aged and poorpersons dwell permanently in the hospital. The institution does not lodge casuals, this work being abandoned on the erection of the Meurling Institute in 1913, but it serves dinners to needy unemployed. The society is administrated by lay people, of whom the present officers are: MM. Joseph Lamoureux, president; A.A. Labresque, vice president; Trefflé Bastien, treasurer; and A. Godin, secretary. The internal management of the home for ten years has been in the hands of Mlle. Morache.
NOTE
The foregoing are types of the leading philanthropic institutions concerned in the movement for the care of the aged, orphans and children. There are others of great importance. The following list indicates most of the other activities under the above head:
Homes for the Aged:
Orphanages:
Infants:
Day Nurseries and Créches:
II
RELIEF MOVEMENTS
THE PROTESTANT HOME OF INDUSTRY—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY—THE OLD BREWERY MISSION—THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK—THE CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY—THE MEURLING MUNICIPAL REFUGE—OTHER RELIEF AGENCIES.
THE PROTESTANT HOME OF INDUSTRY
The beginning of the nineteenth century marked a decided growth in the English population and there can now be seen its efforts to organize its relief work. The present chapter will also indicate the progress of the movement towards organized charity.
In 1818, an act was passed forming a corporation of the “Wardens of the House of Industry at Montreal.” This was in order to carry out the wish of a John Conrad Marsteller, who in 1808 had left two stone houses and other buildings on St. Mary Street for the erection of a House of Industry, but the amount not being sufficient, there was delay till the act of 1818 created the “wardens” or overseers and visitors of the poor. No regular steps seem to have been taken for the appointment of these wardens till April 2, 1827, when a commission, signed by the Governor General, Earl Dalhousie, appointed as wardens of the House of Industry, François Desrivières, Saveuse de Beaujeu, Samuel Gerard, Jean Bouthillier, Horatio Gates, Rèné Kimber, Henry McKenzie and James Kimber.
In 1863 an act of incorporation was granted for a “Protestant House of Industry.” A building site was secured at the corner of Dorchester and Bleury streets, for which the proprietor, Mr. John Donegani, was paid £3,750. Upon this property a large brick building was erected, three stories in height with a high basement. It became the center of sociological activity. “During the year 1865,” says Mr. Sandham, the historian, “the missionaries of the different religious societies formed themselves into a City Missionary Relief Society and were liberally aided by the citizens in carrying on their work. The following year it was thought advisable that all assistance should flow out through one channel and accordingly a United Board of Outdoor Relief was formed in connection with the institution.” This institution is still in operation in the city.
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
St. Vincent de Paul Society, to which no work of charity is foreign, started poor visiting and relief in Montreal in 1848. The parent body was originally formed in Paris in May, 1833, by eight students under the direction of M. Bailly, the general council being established at Paris in 1840, and the particular council of Montreal being founded on March 18, 1848. The city is now divided into the central, northern, eastern and western particular councils with local parish conferences to each. In December, 1914, these were more than fifty-four.
THE OLD BREWERY MISSION
An English exponent of a further phase of the relief movement is the Old Brewery Mission, which was established in 1890 under the following circumstances:
About the middle of the winter of 1890 there were many suffering from cold and hunger through lack of work. A suggestion came that much good might be done could a soup-kitchen be opened to furnish cheap and nourishing food to the needy. A suitable place was found in an old house on Dalhousie Street. There were two rooms. The back one was used as a kitchen—the one in front as a reading-room. It was furnished with benches and tables on which were magazines. A grate-fire made the place homelike and cheerful. Young ladies voluntarily served the soup. As the place began to get crowded, it was thought best to have short addresses delivered to the men. The work was so satisfactory and evidently so badly needed that when the old house was torn down in the spring, larger quarters were found in an old brewery (hence the present name) on College Street. After this the work so grew that a missionary was engaged and regular evangelistic services were held. But there was so many disadvantages about this place, and the locality was found so unsuitable, that another site was chosen—a shop on St. James Street, near Inspector Street. About this time the movement was started to put up the present building, where for fourteen years the work has flourished.
THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK
In 1884 the Salvation Army came to Montreal and its method of organized charity work has been one of gain to the city.
Early in its life the rescue work for men was instituted, as has been recorded. That for women and girls was also early inaugurated and this latter has since remained one of the important branches of the Army’s activities. Today the Young Women’s lodge receives young women and girls who are employed, furnishing pleasant rooms and good board at a nominal rate and at the same time a safe and congenial home.
In addition to this work the Army opened up, on the 1st of February, 1899, at 398 St. Antoine Street, a Working Women’s Home, where floor scrubbers, window cleaners, etc., are furnished room and board within their means and also employment when needed. During the last year 11,494 beds were occupied in this department and positions were found for 3,860 women.
With the erection of the Metropole, about 1903, the training college was removed to Toronto and this building became the home for the Social Corps for men. Board and lodgings are furnished at a small price to those able to pay and employment is found for those in need thereof.
The Industrial Home for men is located on Chatham Street, and here, if employment is not found for applicants within a week, they are put to work for the Army until permanent employment is secured. At this place there is a store, with departments for furniture repairing, shoe repairing, tailoring and paper sorting. The men are put to work at repairing furniture and shoes which are secured by the workers of the Army from all over the city, and these repaired articles are sold at the store at very low prices, the sale taking place about noon of each day. There, poor people, who are reluctant to ask for charity, are allowed to pay a very small price for furniture, clothes, shoes, etc., and thereby retain their independence. The material sold is fashioned from donations taken from all over the city and waste matter generally. In this way the aim of the Army is accomplished, to bring the waste matter of the city and the “down-and-outs” together, thus utilizing the one and saving the other with absolutely no cost to the city. The Industrial Home, through this means and through the sale of waste paper, which, when sorted, they are able to dispose of to the very best advantage and command the best price, is practically self-supporting, and the men are not only given board and lodging while waiting to find permanent employment, but also are paid a sum of money for their services, which they are advised to save up as a reserve capital upon which to start in their new line of work when secured.
The Army has recently purchased a lot at 520 Outremont Avenue, upon which it is planned to build a large building for hospital purposes.
THE CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY
The advent of the most modern form of organized charity work in Montreal dates from 1894, for in that year the Charity Organization Society really came into being, though it did not come officially into the name until 1900. The incorporators of the Society were George Hague, Lady Drummond, Charles F. Smith, Emanuel P. Lachapelle, Harry Bovey, Louis J. Forget, Herbert B. Ames, Frank J. Hart, Mrs. Margaret Thibeaudeau, Sir William Hingston, Lady Margaret Hingston, Joseph B. Learmont, Mrs. Charlotte Learmont, John C. Reid, Frederick L. Beique, John Cox, Mrs. Caroline O. Cox, R. Wilson Smith, J. Damien Rolland, Robert Craig, Miss Helen Reid, Jeffrey H. Burland, Trefflé Berthiaume, Daniel F. Hamilton and Alphonse Turcotte.
Its work began in the former year when the Local Council of Women took up the question of organized charity relief work. It collected and studied trunks full of information about it, mastered its principles and details, went about explaining it, drew up a constitution and was ready. Then, in conjunction with a number of influential men, it called a public meeting in the old Board of Trade hall, in December, 1899. Lady Minto came from Ottawa to be present. The hall was packed, and there and then, with much enthusiasm, the resolution was taken and the Charity Organization Society shortly opened its doors at 98 Bleury Street. There it remained for some twelve years, till last May it opened its newoffice at 70 Mance Street. Its first secretary, Mr. Francis McLean, guided it with wisdom and discretion through those first critical years. Then came the late Mr. Richard Lane, who won for it wide recognition and sympathy, through his unusual gifts and personality. At his death he was succeeded, about 1911, by Mr. Rufus Smith.
The work as developed by this association, in league with others of the same world-wide reputation for scientific efficiency in relief management, is an important factor in civic sociology. The society is very fortunate in having among its directors many of the original incorporators, who are all connected with divers other charities in this city, so that this central board has far-reaching influence as a bureau of exchange in the solution of relief problems.
THE MEURLING MUNICIPAL REFUGE
The latest relief movement in Montreal is the Meurling Municipal Refuge, installed by the municipality. Its establishment was brought about through a windfall in the form of a donation by a former Montreal citizen, Mr. Gustave Meurling, who died recently in France.
On the 19th of May, 1913, the contract was awarded for the erection of the Meurling Municipal Refuge to Mr. Théodore Lessard for the price of $116,000. The total cost of the Refuge amounted to $180,000. The city received from the Gustave Meurling estate, after deducting all expenses, $72,429.19, so that the city’s share amounts to $107,770.81.
The building, although it is simple and without luxury, is quite solid and safe. It is entirely fire-proof. In order to reduce to a minimum the cost of maintenance, the inside facing of all the outside walls and of all the divisions other than those which are glazed has been made of pressed brick. The foundation walls are of stone concrete. The floors, which are all of concrete finished with cement, have a slight slope, which permits of their being thoroughly washed. A steam and hot water heating system runs through the whole of the building. The tank is provided with a heater for summer. Improved appliances (among others three fumigators of the most modern type) have been installed in the laundry.
The walls have been constructed sufficiently thick to support the additional stones which may hereafter be erected. The Meurling Municipal Refuge is now, in 1914, in full operation.
The following table shows the number of destitute persons who have been harboured gratuitously in the police stations and night refuges since 1901:
As will be seen by these figures, the establishment of a municipal refuge could no longer be delayed. The Meurling institution is undoubtedly of great service to the homeless poor.
Among other relief bodies are:
Refuge de Nuit (Ouimet); Refuge Français, 71 Viger Avenue; Refuge of the “Union Nationale Française,” founded October 20, 1886, by M. Victor Ollivon.
III
SICK VISITATION AND NURSING BODIES
GREY NUNS—SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE—OTHER BODIES—THE VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES
GREY NUNS
The visitation of the sick in their homes has always been one of the forms of charity in this city. As a more pronounced movement the Grey Nuns took up domiciliary visits on October 23, 1848. Among the works of the Grey Nuns for 1863 Jacques Viger, in his “Servantes de Dieu in Canada,” has the following: