Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/217

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ORPHANS
205

sat on the committee of management. Similar institutions in Madras and other military centres have been built, and have proved of great benefit to the European and Eurasian community.

The Trichinopoly orphanage was originally in the fort. After the troops were moved and St. John's Church was built, a habitation was found for it in the cantonment just within its limit. When we arrived in Trichinopoly it had its own buildings in Puttoor, situated about a mile from the church. After the English troops left, a fine airy building which had been occupied by the soldiers was assigned by Government, at the request of the chaplain, for the use of the orphans. It was nearer the church and was more convenient in every way. With a few alterations the building was adapted to the new purpose and the children went into residence (1881). Since then there has been no change, and the Vestry School continues to flourish as far as its funds allow, always full, and with a list of candidates waiting for a vacancy.

The children regard the chaplain as their temporal as weir as their spiritual father. With the assistance of a good matron the large family is not a very onerous charge. The little ones of mixed blood are gentle and obedient. They have no desire to break bounds or run away. The rules that govern them are those that exist in any well-ordered house and no severity is required to enforce them. A certain amount of discipline is good for boys and girls all over the world. Eurasian children conform to rule with more readiness than those who are pure-blooded and born in England. Habits of cleanliness and truthfulness have to be enforced; and certain native practices, learned in early childhood when there was a too intimate acquaintance with the bazaars, have to be eradicated.