Over the front door of a little Chinese house off Tibet Road, behind the Race Course, hangs a great fish, indicating to the passers by: "Babies Wanted." To this house come fathers, carrying a little bundle which perhaps is crying indignantly at the cold reception given to it. Mothers, too, seek out this house, perhaps crying themselves as they give away the little mite for which they have no food or clothing.
Here is the Baby Drawer in the wall. Pull out the heavy thing avd see the little sheepskin mat and the tiny blanket to keep the waif warm, although there is always some one Watching. behind the wall to take the baby in at once before it can catch celld. Before you push it back some one unseen starts tu pull back the strange cradle. This 'Kindness. Help Institute,' as one of the Chinese translated it, is an establishment which has been running for some time and seems to have an excellent reputation among the Chinese by whom it is supported. The administrative force appears to be only men, but as they take us to the back of the house we begin to find plenty of amahs about.
Cries of young babies aid us in our quest and soon we find ourselves in two adjoining rooms running over with babies, from two weeks to four or five months, one would judge, each amah caring for two children. There are about 40 foundlings there at present, but the number varies from day to day, as they care for all who are left at the door. Boys are itted as well as girls, but it is seldom that they are given away. The children are cared for by the institute until some one wishes te adopt. them, which usually happens when they are a few months old. The tiny mites are very appealing! and all of them seem healthy, fairly clean and well nourished. Their surroundings are also tolerably clean—preternaturally clean no doubt. compared to the homes from which they cama Every kiddy is numbered, wearing a wooden tag which looks like a hot water ticket.
Here is one little flaxen-haired baby, and—yes, her eyes are blue. Cam: it be a Chinese albino? Our guide tells us no, "belong foreign" and it" certainly looks like a diminutive Russian peasant. What can its future be, or that of another
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.