Studies in Social Services: Dr. Barnardo's Homes

We are pleased to have Mrs. Sophie Baghdadi Rassam present, in this engaging practical study, a social and humanitarian project which is the very best of what our country needs at the present time.

Dr. Barnardo's Home
Dr BARNARDO'S HOMES

This great social reformer was born in 1845 in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. From his tenderest years a life of asceticism and piety captivated him, and this upbringing left its mark upon him: he showed no sign of intelligence during his early studies, nor did he excel in any athletic game. When he reached young manhood he devoted himself to teaching in a school run by one of the charitable societies; apart from that, he spent his hours in prayer and supplication.

One day, as he was praying fervently alone, he felt an impulse driving him toward missionary work in China, so he went to London in 1866 to train and prepare, and then to join one of the missionary expeditions.

On reaching twenty-one he realized that China's need for evangelization, great as it was, was outweighed by its greater and more pressing need for medical missions; so he decided to study medicine and at once entered the London Hospital for the said purpose. There he showed a prodigious physical and mental capacity, for despite the time and effort the study of medicine demands, he never stopped giving lessons and preaching in the streets — which means that he "wasted" on sleep only the fewest possible hours.

Then came the turning point in his life, when he made of his lodging — a single room he had rented for the equivalent of 125 fils a week — a night school which he called "the Place of Hope"... One night, when the lessons were over and his pupils had gone, Barnardo noticed that one of them, called "Jim," had not stirred and had not left the place. He went up to him and reminded him that he must be off, and when he repeated it, the boy answered:

— Where should I go, when I have no home and no shelter?
— Then how have you been spending your nights until now?
— I have grown used to sleeping among the ruins, or in the gardens, or under the bridges.

Barnardo was moved by what he saw and heard from his pupil, who was no more than ten years old; he took him by the hand and led him to his bed, after serving him a hot supper.... Yet that did nothing to lessen his distress or quiet the storm within him. He went on thinking of the contradictions that this great city — the chief center of the world's commerce — might contain, and of the social tragedies within it, until he arrived at the following truth: this Jim must be one of hundreds, nay thousands, who have been denied shelter and livelihood, and who at this moment are groaning and complaining of cold, hunger, and nakedness.

At last, after a short argument with Jim, he was able to coax him and persuade him to point out the places where boys like him took refuge. The two went out, and when they reached one of the street corners, guided by the boy, they climbed a high wall — and on top of that crumbling wall Barnardo found eleven young bodies, aged between nine and fourteen, sunk in a calm, deep sleep in the shadow of another wall adjoining it. Their covering was the sky in all its breadth; their clothing, tattered scraps, and scanty at that... The sight appalled him, and he began to reckon with the matter and make ready for it.

The Work Begins

Only a few days later, the missionary societies held a crowded meeting in the Agricultural Hall, which Barnardo attended in his capacity as a candidate for mission work. It happened that the speaker of the evening was delayed by unforeseen circumstances, and the organizers asked Barnardo to occupy the audience by explaining the inquiries and projects he was striving to establish in the eastern quarter of London. It was a surprise that daunted him at the very first, but he braced his lean frame and stood up among the people to speak. His words made so deep an impression on the souls of those present that they applauded him and asked for more of his account whenever he wished to stop and made to sit down.

No sooner had that meeting ended than gifts and donations poured in upon him — among them, one young girl, who worked as a servant, came up to him imploring him to accept from her the modest sum she had been able to save, to be spent on the homeless. Nor did the matter stop there: the newspapers took an interest in publishing his speech and commenting on his efforts, and this had a far-reaching echo among the various classes. Some believed him, and some doubted his words — such as Lord

By the efforts of one independent man, it embraces the largest family in the world... This is Dr. Barnardo's Home, which in less than 85 years has graduated 138,000 waifs who, but for this Home, would have been without shelter and without support.

Shaftesbury, known for his encouragement of charitable projects and social services...

But the said Lord was not content to remain in the ranks of the doubters; he wished to get at the truth of the matter. He therefore gave a splendid dinner party, to which he invited a number of personalities, Barnardo among them... In the course of the party, the medical student found himself obliged to answer the varied questions of those present, and he learned that this was a plan of the Lord's own laying and devising; even so, he went on explaining and debating, and when one of them asked him to prove in practice what he was saying, he accepted the challenge without hesitation.

At a late hour of that night he invited some twenty of those personalities to accompany him, and led them to the fish market near London Bridge. And just as despair was beginning to creep into his soul while he searched for his quarry, he passed a boy lying stretched among a heap of worn-out crates. He drew near him and began to speak kindly to him and calm his fears, until he promised him a reward in money if he could point out others like himself among the homeless of that quarter... At once calls and signals were heard, after which seventy-three naked and hungry boys assembled. The company gathered round them, showing them tenderness and plying them with gifts, while the boys looked now at one another and now at Barnardo. Before that gathering broke up, Lord Shaftesbury asked Barnardo to remain in London and not to travel to China. He promised to think it over, but he did not settle the matter until the year 1870, when a letter reached him from the Member of Parliament Samuel Smith, promising in it to give a thousand pounds as the seed of a center for the homeless, if he would give up going to China and consent to place the project under his supervision... So he bowed to the will of God, as he put it, and there and then the first Home for the homeless was opened. On his marriage in 1873 a building was presented to him as a gift, which he turned into a refuge for homeless girls; and then his project began to grow and expand.

It is related that a boy called "Carrots" applied to Barnardo, asking to join his Home — or his family; and since the Home was crowded with its residents at that time, he was forced to send the boy away for the moment, after supplying him with some money and telling him to come back in a week... But Carrots died one day before

the appointed term ran out, a victim of hunger and cold. The news of his death weighed heavily on Barnardo, who held himself responsible for it; he prayed and grieved until he resolved to make practical atonement by hanging a large board on the door of the Home, on which was engraved the following declaration:

No homeless child is refused
refuge in this Home

And this noble motto still stands and is still acted upon to this day, despite the financial difficulties the project has passed through on many occasions.

By the year 1905 — the year of Barnardo's death — his Home had succeeded in rescuing 60,000 waifs, and had worked to spread the idea, to awaken consciences, and to stir them to concern themselves with this social problem and to treat it — treat it effectively.

Barnardo's Home as I Found It

I was invited to visit the main center in London, and I found that it consists not merely of the original Barnardo house, which was presented to him as a wedding gift, but of a quarter — a small town — comprising 68 buildings, besides the church, the hospital, the library, and the many gardens; in the middle of one of these Barnardo sits upon a high marble pedestal, with three boys at his feet reading from a book, and behind him a woman clasping her three children. This headquarters has branches in London itself and in most of the other English cities and villages — indeed, in many parts of the world, such as Canada, Australia, and elsewhere.

I found, too, that each one of those buildings contains a reception room, another for reading, a third for eating, and several bedrooms, with a kitchen and a bath — all of them completely fitted out with the most modern furniture and the means of comfort and heating, and with curtains... Over the management of each presides a woman called an "Aunt," with one assistant or more, as need requires.

Since the Home accepts the homeless of both sexes, provided their ages do not exceed 16 years, its residents have been distributed among those buildings according to age. If the homeless child is under two years old, he is placed in a special house called the "nursing house," which is furnished with all kinds of toys and means of amusement; if he is older than that but has not passed five, then in another house; and after five, the boys' rooms are separated from the girls' rooms, on the condition that no more than ten souls live in a single room. And when a homeless boy or girl reaches the age of adolescence, every two of them have a room of their own.

The first thing to catch the visitor's attention is that merry spirit which pervades the Home, and the contentment shown by everyone. For Dr. Barnardo left no occasion or cause that might weigh upon the homeless children or make them feel that they are living in a refuge, an orphanage, or a home for waifs. They are asked to do no housework at all beyond tidying and arranging their own beds and their own rooms; all other tasks and services, we find, have been entrusted to maids and workers hired for this purpose... And so everyone in the Home — even the workers and the hired hands, the women supervisors and the men — may be seen cheerful and glad, each doing his work with energy and zeal, unmarred by any grumbling or criticism.