A Refuge for the City's Most Vulnerable
A modest home on Spring Street provides critical care for children whose parents have died or are unable to support them.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Spring near Seventh, may be seen the above title in an unpretentious house, surrounded by a quarter of a block of green grass. This is but a week old, but the relief has been such to about a dozen little ones for five months, and many are the thanks contributed to the quiet women who, in the midst of sickness and poverty, have poured out her love in tender care for the little ones whose parents were either dead, or, if living, were unable or unwilling to care for them. The expense has been borne mostly by friends of the children—i.e. most of them have so far been boarders at a low price, while some of them have been aided by the county, and some have been objects of charity. It was a modest request from this source to the various Christian prayer meetings for aid which aroused the desire of our citizens to provide for the needy, and finally crystallized into Ladies' Relief Society and an organized Orphan's Home.
“The transformed appearance of several children who for a few months have here found a home is the best voucher for the kind and watchful care bestowed upon them.”
This early charitable effort highlights the lack of social safety nets for children in 1884 Seattle. It serves as a precursor to the civic social services that the city would eventually struggle to fund and manage.
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