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Newspaper Page Text
UUJiU.WIIII!,!!! Jane whitaker visits the house of the " good shepherd here's her story By Jane Vhitaker The House of the Gotod Shepherd is1 located on Grace and Clark streets aidrthe grounds and building extend the length of the hlock. Ahighience encloses the grounds. The building iSj immense and very imposing. ,A sister bade me enter and led me uxrough a reception hall into a rqom, where she seated me in a chair by some grilled work which separated the room from the one behind it igack of my chair she placed a screen. ..In, this manner the parents of girls who visit at the home are received. The girl and a sister enter through a rear door into the portion of the room that is partitioned off with a little door that may be opened to exchange greetings, and the sister remains dur ing the entire interview. The Mother Superior welcomed me cordially. She told me I might in spect the house and requested a sis ter to accompany toe. Then she will fngly answered questions I asked re garding criticisms that .had been made of the House of the Good Shep herd. When we started our inspection the first thing that I noticed was the ab solute cleanness of everything. The ifoors and woodwork were spotless, even in the corners where dust so often has a habit of hiding. t My attention was attracted to the gems of art that hung on the walls qf,the reception hall, but before I had finished" my inspection I discovered that there were not more than two or three rooms in the entire institu tion that did not have beautiful pic tures adorning the walls. . We visited the chapels first. There aje two of these, one for the juniors and one for the seniors, and this divi sion of the two classes of girls is ear ned on throughout the entire home. The sister explained that they do not permit the younger girls to. mingle with the older and more experienced girls, even in the chapel. Both chapels were beautiful. That I may not be compelled to repeat that adjective too frequently it might be well to state that the entire House of the Good Shepherd is beautiful. From the chapels we entered a room where girls were stitching aprons on power machines. This was the initial step In teaching them to. sew. The girls range in age from 15 to 18, and there were about 60 in the room. We examined some of the work and the sister explained to me tba by teaching them to handle these ma chines they gave the girls a trade to follow when they were releasd, and said that very often employers sent there for operators. Then we entered the junior school rooms, in which is one class in. the morning and another in the after noon and in which the children are taught as they would be in atay city school. Next to these rooms was a recrea tion room, and in that room later in the afternoon I listened to an orches tra of the junior girls playing two se lections and singing "On the Lakes of Killarneyv" The sister teaches them to play different instruments and some of the girls were practic ing as we went through. In the corridor there was a large library and the books were not con fined to religion, but covered quite a range of fiction. "All the girls are taught domestic science," the sister said to me as we walked toward another room. "Few girls really care to do housework, but a knowledge -of It at least gives them an opportunity to earn a 2ving hon estly when, they leave here. The' ju nior girls are taught- sewing aad beadwork. Only the senior gfrte are permitted ta work la the laandiy." - A little girl of about 16 was oomia&