Franklin Repository

The Orphans of Pennsylvania Soldiers Adopted as the Children of the State--Liberal Provisions for their Education--The Plan Devised and its Operation the Work of Andrew G. Curtin--Its Support Based upon the Munificence of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

As your own noble State was the first, and I believe is yet the only one, to make liberal and permanent provision for the maintenance and education of the destitute orphans of her gallant sons who laid down their lives for the Union, we have watched the progress of the enterprise with more than ordinary pride and interest. Feeling also that our readers will be gratified to hear of the present condition of this work, we have been at some pains to procure a brief outline of what has been done and is in progress.

Fortunately, or rather providentially, for the efficiency and success of the undertaking, there was scarcely anything of detail as to a plan of operation in the acts, (one of May 6, 1864, and the other of May 23, 1865,) on the subject; the whole manner of proceeding being left to the discretion of Gov. Curtin. And here it may be remarked, that more of this noble project belongs to the present Executive than is generally known. It is supposed that it entirely originated with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, but this is not by any means the fact. It is true that that liberal corporation did present to the Governor, for the use of the State, towards the demands of the war for the Union, the sum of $50,000; but we believe that the gift at first was general and not for the specific purpose except as above stated. And it was some time after the gift took place, that the suggestion was made to appropriate the fund to the support and education of the destitute orphans of our soldiers. As we understood the matter, this suggestion originated with Gov. Curtin, but was at once acceded to by the company. It thus appears, that while the honor of designating this particular work of benevolence is due to the Governor, that of affording the first means of putting the idea into operation is entirely the work of our great railroad company. We are much mistaken, indeed, if this plan for the support of our military orphans, does not furnish one of the brightest pages in the history of the State, and, therefore, the above statement has been made, in order that the facts may be put correctly on the record.

The plan for giving activity to this humane and patriotic thought seems to have been well considered. At one time very different methods were proposed. Some desired the money to be distributed amongst the destitute widows of our soldiers, in proportion to the number of their children, to be by them expended in their maintenance and education. But the uncertainty of the effective application of the fund by this means, to its specific objects (the maintenance and education of the orphans) rendered it, if not an unsafe, at least a very unreliable mode. Others contended for the expenditure of the fund by the various School Boards, who were to find out the children and have the general oversight of them while in a state of apprenticeship. But here, again, want of certainty and reliability were felt to be in the way, while the plan itself differed nothing from that of treating these soldiers' orphans as paupers, except that they were to be bound out by School Directors instead of Directors of the Poor.

A broader minded policy was fortunately adopted and is now slowly vindicating its own merits and taking firm ground in the public mind. Its main features are these:

The destitute orphans of our deceased soldiers and sailors are admitted into the care of the State, between the ages of four and sixteen, and of both sexes. The lowest age--four--has been adopted as the limit, for the reason that as "education" as well as maintenance is to be afforded, no child could be fairly accepted as the proper subject of school education--the kind supposed to have been intended--till at least of that age, though as a general rule, not many are fitted for such exercises even then. But to meet the wants of as many as possible, it was thought best to fix the age of admissibility as low as the most liberal would contend for. Below, our children are to be regarded more as nurselings than as school pupils. On the other hand, it was supposed that at sixteen young persons might be so well grounded in the essentials of a general English education and established in moral and business habits as to admit of being safely sent abroad into the world to win their own "maintenance." Hence the limits upward as well as downward; it being always understood that orphans of this class, now under four years, shall come into the school as soon as they arrive at that age.

Of course proof of the facts that the children are the offspring of our soldiers, and of their destitution, is in all cases required. This, while not so strict as in case of application for a pension, is sufficiently so to guard against imposition. The mother or guardian is required to state all the necessary facts, under oath. This statement is then laid before the Board of School Directors of the district in which the applicant resides, and if found to be correct, is officially approved by that body; and finally, it is scrutinized by a county committee of superintendence, appointed for that and other purposes; and not till all these formalities and approvals have been complied with and obtained is any case laid before the State Superintendent, who has a final power of admission or rejection, according to the facts of each application, regularly and officially considered.

The pupils when accepted are divided into two classes. Those between the ages of four and seven, eight or nine years, according to physical development and intellectual advancement; and those from seven, eight, or nine, as just stated, to sixteen.

The first class, or the more juvenile orphans, are placed in the Orphan Asylums already in existence for general or denominational purposes, in most of the cities and some of the larger towns. Here departments for themselves are in some cases provided; and they receive that careful degree of physical and moral care and that moderate portion of intellectual culture which their tender years demand; and hence, when duly prepared, they are to be transferred to the other or higher grade of schools. To these schools, for the more juvenile, the State pays a moderate annual sum for their keeping, the price at present being $100 for each pupil, including the expense of boarding, clothing, tuition, &c.

The other class--from seven, eight to sixteen--are being placed in schools in the country, where they are not only to be instructed in all the branches of a sound English education, as soon and as thoroughly as their previous culture and various gifts will admit, but in those useful and practical employments which also constitute a portion of education in the true sense of the term. To this end, no school for this class of pupils will hereafter be accepted with less than twenty acres of arable land attached to it, and all now in the employment of the State will be required to have that quantity in readiness for cultivation next spring. Each school is to contain about an equal number of boys and girls, and all the household and domestic employments, as well as the cultivation of the ground belonging to the school, with several of the simpler mechanical employments, are to be habitually attended to, and pursued by the pupils, according to sex and physical ability, in addition to the usual number of hours of school study common to other boarding schools.

No other pupils are to be mixed with these orphans in their more advanced institutions; and the course and method of study are to be such as shall be designated by the State officers.

There are not to be less than 100, nor materially over 120 pupils, in each of these more advanced schools.

To secure the sound moral and the proper religious training of these orphans, they are to be assigned, as far as practicable, to the care and instruction of teachers of the same religious persuasion as that of their deceased fathers; and the clergymen of the vicinity of each school are expected to have them in their proper Sabbath Schools, and otherwise regard them as of their flocks.

The compensation now paid for keeping and instructing the more advanced pupils in these boarding schools, is $150 per annum for each, for everything except clothing, which is provided by the State.

The attempt to execute this task began in June, 1864; but till May, 1865, no encouraging progress was made. This was owing to two obstacles: 1st. To want of confidence on the part of mothers and of proprietors of proper schools, in the permanency of the enterprise. The mothers were unwilling to separate themselves from their children--rendered doubly dear to them by the loss of the other parent--under the strong probability of having them sent back when the first appropriation of $50,000 should be expended; and school proprietors felt the same unwillingness to embark in an enterprise of such very doubtful duration. 2d. The exorbitant war prices of all the necessaries of life caused the few offers to accept these orphans that were made to run so high, that the State officer would close with very few of them, and these only because they were comparatively moderate and emanated from persons who were willing to risk a good deal in this noble undertaking.

There are now seventeen of these institutions, of both classes, in operation, viz: eleven for the more juvenile, and six for the more advanced.

Those of the former are Northern Home, in the city of Philadelphia; Home of the Shepard of the Lambs, Bridesburg; Lutheran Orphans Home, Germantown; St. John's Orphans' Asylum, Philadelphia; St. Vincent's Orphans' Asylum, Tacony; Children's Home, Lancaster; Children's Home, York; Loysville School, Perry county; Pittsburg and Allegheny Orphans' Asylum, Allegheny City; Pittsburg and Allegheny Children's Home, Allegheny City, and Soldiers' Children's Home, Pittsburg.

Those for the latter are at Quakertown, Bucks County; Paradise and Strasburg, Lancaster County; McAllisterville, Juniata County; Orangeville, Columbia county; and North Sewickley, Beaver county.

Into all these schools, as we learn by the Pennsylvania School Journal, in which the full proceedings of this trust are published monthly, here has been ordered for admission to the schools, to the 1st of July, 857 orphans, viz., 332 of the more juvenile, and 525 of the more advanced classes. About 50 have since been admitted. There are about 200 perfected applications now on hand, for which no schools have yet been procured, and applications are coming in at the rate of from 100 to 150 per month.

While speaking of expenses, it may not be improper to say we are informed that the money now at the command of the State Superintendent, for the expense of these schools for 1865, will probably be sufficient to meet all demands to the end of the year.

We learn from the School Journal that schools for the more advanced pupils are yet needed in the extreme northeastern, southeastern, northwestern and southwestern portions of the State; also, in or near Elk, Cambria, Lycoming, and Franklin counties; and that communications on the subject, from those quarters, will be gladly received by the Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, Superintendent, at Lancaster. The schools are regularly visited by the State officer--some of them as often as six times within the current year. They are all found to be improving--some more than others; but all doing as well as the newness of the enterprise and the difficulties in the way of putting it into operation, fairly considered, could be expected to admit.

At first many of the children were rude and uncared for, some of them filthy in condition, and all liable to the temporary diseases and unpleasantness incident to the collection into close companionship of so many, from such various and often wretched homes. But now that they are becoming cleansed and brightened, and are beginning to feel the comforts and advantages of their position, their official visitors and teachers speak of them in most encouraging terms. And why should they not justify this opinion? They are of the same flesh and blood--even the poorest and most neglected of them--as the offspring of their more favored fellow-citizens. Placed, therefore, under the humanizing, christianizing and elevating influences, they begin not only to manifest their claim to equality, as human beings, with the rest of society, but to prove that the same good blood courses in their veins, and the same high spirit informs their childish actions which distinguished those whose names they bear, and whose records are so honorable to their native Pennsylvania.

Great diversity of appreciation of the value and benefits of those schools has been manifested, even by the mothers of their pupils. Not a few, being habitually impatient and cautious, have given trouble by their unreasonable complaints and their impossible expectations. But the very large majority, appreciating not only the great value of the undertaking to themselves and their unprotected children, but the difficulty of at once perfecting so complicated an enterprise, have been reasonable, patient, and grateful. In fact, without the moral support thus afforded, and the hope of ultimate success thus encouraged, the attempt to organize these schools would have been one of unmixed labor and care. As it is, even this early dawn of their history begins to brighten with facts, and feelings, and results, which justify any amount of effort and expenditure for their completion.

It is amongst the most wise and benevolent features of the plan under which these orphans are now trained, that they are to be allowed the same vacation accorded to other boarding school pupils, to visit widowed mothers and other relatives, and keep up the parental and home relations. The first of these vacations will commence on Friday, July 28th, and will continue till Monday, September 4th. About these days, therefore, they will be seen in the public conveyances of most parts of the State, going from and returning to their respective schools, clad in their neat but plain, uniform dresses; the boys with blue cap and roundabout and gray pants, modestly corded with black; and the girls in tan-colored or white and black muslin de laine dresses, according to age, and dark straw hats with brown ribbons.

Each will be furnished with a pass from his or her school, setting forth the purpose and duration of the term of absence, and the direction of the journey, thus certifying their character to all who may take an interest in these CHILDREN OF THE STATE.

We must close this long article by commending these young and interesting travelers to the consideration of all who may be favored with the opportunity of showing gratitude to the dead by extending kindness to the living; and especially we would suggest, if it needs any suggestion, to railroad and other authorities in matters of travel, that their official passes shall serve as free tickets to their holders. Let it not be forgotten that these visits will carry gladness to hundreds of sad and lonely homes, and that this graceful aid will be an additional evidence of kind feeling to the soldier's widow and orphan. And let us not forget here again to acknowledge that to Andrew G. Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania, the widows of the brave men who fell in defence of Liberty and Union, are indebted for the care and education thus secured for their children.

Col. Harry White was nominated as the Union candidate for Senator in the Indiana, Cambria and Jefferson district last week, after a protracted but friendly contest in the conference. Col. White was chosen to the Senate in 1862 as the regular Union candidate, he being at the time a Major in one of the Pennsylvania regiments in active service in the Shenandoah Valley. He took his seat in the winter of 1863 but did not resign his commission, and after the adjournment, he promptly rejoined his regiment, then under Milroy at Winchester. When Ewell, commanding the advance of Lee's army, routed Milroy, Major White, with a considerable portion of his command, was captured, and he was awarded the hospitality of Libby and other rebel prisons. It was obvious to intelligent politicians on both sides that the then pending election would return 16 Union and 16 Democratic Senators for the session of 1864, and the supremacy of the Union party in the Senate depended therefore upon the return of Major White before the meeting of the legislature; and it required no extraordinary amount of sagacity to assume that with the election over and the parties a tie in the Senate, Jeff. Davis would be slow to release a prisoner who would give the predominance in the Senate against his trusted friends. Accordingly every effort was made by the President and Secretary of War, in an indirect manner, to effect a special exchange for Major White before the election; but promptly as the government acted in the matter, the Democracy had anticipated it, and Major White was doomed. Secretary Stanton instructed the commissioner of exchange to say to Mr. Ould, the rebel commissioner, that one Major White, a prisoner, was wanted as a witness in a court martial case--which was strictly true--and any officer of like grade, not charged with positive violation of the rules of war, would be given in exchange for him. The proposition was made, in reply to which Mr. Ould gave a laugh of triumph, and informed our commissioner that he knew the value of Major White politically, and he was not to be taken at any such odds. The rebel government had been fully advised that the Senate would be a tie if White should be retained, and Jeff. Davis was just as much a party to the disgraceful revolutionary proceedings of the Democracy in the Senate in 1864 as Hopkins, Clymer & Co. Subsequently various propositions were made to exchange Major White, but Jeff. Davis felt that his prize was too valuable, and he rejected all. Even a Brigadier General, who was held as a criminal, was offered, but no grade of officer seemed to be of sufficient importance to the rebel powers to warrant them in surrendering Major White, and thus placing their ally, the Democracy, in the minority in the Senate of Pennsylvania.

All hope of exchange failed by means of the ordinary channels, and extraordinary expedients were resorted to in order to effect Maj. White's release, or failing that, to get his resignation to Gov. Curtin. Parties in Baltimore who understood the underground road to Richmond, and made regular trips for a consideration, undertook to communicate with Major White, and offers were numerous to produce him for a large amount of money by subsidizing the rebel officers; but they were declined. His resignation was procured, however, secreted in a pocket bible and brought North, much to the mortification of the rebels and the Democracy, and at a special election they were defeated by an overwhelming majority and the Senate unlocked. Disappointed in their purpose to render substantial aid to the Democracy, the rebels visited special vengeance on Maj. White, and he suffered all the horrors possible for a man to suffer and live. He made his escape three times, but was each time re-captured, and was honored with a residence in the famous dungeon of Libby for some days, for his pertinacity in attempting to get away. At last his ingenuity prevailed, and he escaped by disguising himself and passing North with a crowd of regularly exchanged prisoners. He was promptly promoted by Gov. Curtin to the Lieutenant Colonelcy and subsequently to the Colonelcy of his regiment, and breveted Brigadier General by the President, in which capacity he remained in active service until the war was brought to a close by the surrender of Lee.

--The Union men of his district have now rendered a just tribute to his personal and political worth and to his great privations for the cause, by his re-nomination for Senator, and we hope to record his election by a decided majority. The Union men of the district must not be unmindful, however, that he is hated by the Democratic leaders more than most men, because of his worthy efforts while a prisoner, to defeat Jeff. Davis's petty rebellion inaugurated in the Senate by reason of his absence, and they will leave no means or efforts untried to compass his overthrow. This is the only naturally Union district in the State they will contest, and their efforts must bring out corresponding efforts on the part of the Union men to preserve their supremacy. Let the character of the struggle be well understood from the start, and the Union men of Indiana, Cambria and Jefferson, forearmed because forewarned, will achieve a decisive victory by the triumphant restoration of Harry White to the seat in the Senate which was lost to him by rebel hate for his devotion to our common country.

From the Oil City Monitor

Having a leisure hour on Monday last we strolled across the river to take a "peep" at Imperial City--a town on the opposite bank of the Allegheny that is being built up with remarkable rapidity. Over there once, mixing with its inhabitants, on its streets, on the high ground in its rear, we could very readily comprehend the origin of the phrase "cities were built in a day;" for the lumber-loaded teams were everywhere, and the hatchet and saw kept up one interminable roar. Industry and go "aheadtiveness" appears to be a part of the being of all sexes and conditions in that locality; and we would not be surprised at some future time to learn that the occupants of Imperial had been on a race to see who could do the most labor and who could accumulate wealth the fastest.

The city itself, we presume, derives its name from the Imperial Oil Company, the former owners of most of the land on which the town is built. This company was organized, we believe, in December, 1864, or January, 1865. Col. A.K. McClure of Chambersburg being selected as its President, E.W. Davis, formerly Speaker of the House of Representatives of this State, as Treasurer, and J.M. Sellers as Secretary. At the organization of the Company, it was in possession, in fee simple, of 120 acres of land lying adjacent to, and what now comprises Imperial City, 100 acres in fee simple on Cherry Run, known as the McFate farm, 40 acres in fee simple on Cherry-tree Run, 110 acres at Walnut Bend, and a lease a short distance below Franklin. Besides these the Company owned the working interest in two producing wells on the Clapp Farm, near this city. Vested with the ownership of all this property, together with the two wells above referred to, that were producing oil in paying quantities all the while, the company began operations under the most favorable auspices; and under the management of George J. Balsley, Esq., a very energetic and efficient Superintendent, it has gone steadily forward improving and developing its territory until the present time; and we believe that now, in point of character and ability as to officers, intrinsic and acquired value of property, and flattering prospects generally, it has but few superiors, as a company, anywhere.

Besides leasing lots almost daily to other parties, on one or other of their numerous tracts, the company itself is engaged in working several old wells as well as putting down four new ones in Imperial City. The first of these is now down 508 feet, the drillers having passed through two veins of oil-one at a depth of 235 feet, the other at 368 feet from the surface. The second one is down 387 feet, and has every indication of being a good well, and of producing largely, as soon as the proper machinery is applied to it. The sand pump was let down twice in our presence, and both times came up full of a heavy quantity of oil. The other two are being put down quite rapidly, and within the next ten days, these four wells will be properly tested, and there can scarcely be a doubt but what some of them and perhaps all will produce oil in paying quantities.

The Company has also a character for fair-dealing and liberality that but few organizations of this character, and in this locality can boast of. Incidentally, we learned during our visit to Imperial that quite recently the Methodist and Lutheran congregations had respectively been the recipients of a lot of ground worth some eight or ten hundred dollars, from the company, on which to erect Churches, and that another lot was also donated by them for the building of a school house. Such liberality is rather uncommon in this part of the country; and in this instance it cannot but be seen that the Imperial Oil Company, while taking care of its own interests does not lose sight of the interests of the public.

The territory of the company having been selected with great care and prudence, the officers being men of acknowledged ability, integrity and influence, and the operations of the company already a source of considerable profit, cannot but eventually become one of the wealthiest, as it is now one of the most liberal and enterprising organizations in this locality.

THE UNION CONVENTION--The Union delegate elections will be held on Saturday next, and the Convention will meet on Tuesday following to nominate a ticket. We have received several communications asking what the proper basis of representation is for the several districts. There has been no action as to representation since 1859 when the following resolution was adopted by the Union County Convention:

Resolved, That at the Delegate Meeting of 1860 each Election District shall send 3 Delegates, and for each 100 votes exceeding 300, they shall be entitled to an additional Delegate--counting the whole vote cast in each district. The Surveyor General's vote of 1859 to be the basis of Representation for three years.

It was manifestly the intention of the Convention that there should be a revision of representation at the expiration of three years; but it was not done. Whether there shall be any change made is a matter of solely for the Convention to determine, and we presume that the Presidential vote of last year would be the proper basis should a change be made. In order that the matter may be understood, we append the aggregate vote of each district for President last year--including the army vote--so that should a revision of representation be deemed desirable it can be done intelligently from this table. The following is the total vote for President in 1864.

By the terms of the resolution of 1859 the vote of both parties is counted, so that Union men in minority districts cannot be overslaughed.