The asylums maintained by the Benevolent Society of Lima accomplish great good among a class that is generally neglected. The Orphan Asylum has two branches, one of which is for the care and protection of foundlings, and the other for the education of orphan children of tender age. The first is located in a large building, which has a revolving cradle so arranged that, as soon as the infant is placed in it, a mechanism carries the cradle inside, the little one’s identity being completely lost as it passes from a world that offered no welcome to the shelter of a home that receives it as a sacred charge. About two hundred children live in the foundlings’ home, which is provided with nurses, doctors, and the usual service of a well-regulated household. The second branch of the Orphan Asylum gives practical instruction suitable for children who are to earn their living later. The boys are taught some trade, the workshops of the institution including those for the instruction of shoemakers, carpenters, tailors, and printers; the girls, as soon as old enough to learn, are sent to Santa Teresa to be instructed in sewing, embroidering, millinery, and other handiwork. Near the hospital of Santa Teresa is located the Asylum of Santa Rosa, supported out of the funds of the Benevolent Society, supplemented by the amounts received from the sale of embroideries, fine sewing, artificial flowers, and other articles made by the inmates. In the asylum of San Andrés, which in 1879 replaced the hospital of that name, both boarding and day pupils are included in the benefits of charity, the former numbering about a hundred children, and the latter three times as many, of both sexes, between three and eight years of age. Instruction is given in household work and in other practical subjects, the children, at the same time, learning to read and write. A crèche has been established where infants may be left during the day in charge of a corps of nurses, while the mothers are at work.
The Instituto Sevilla is one of the most important charities in Lima. It is named in honor of a philanthropic Peruvian, Don José Sevilla, who bequeathed a large sum to the Benevolent Society for the purpose of maintaining an asylum in which the inmates should learn occupations suited to their sex. A hundred girls are educated in this school free of charge, the period of apprenticeship lasting five years. In addition to those already referred to, the Society directs a number of branches, under various names, dedicated to the needs of the destitute. The “Little Sisters of the Poor,” the “Infants’ Shelter,” the “Olla (stewpan) of the Poor,” the “Ruiz Davila,” and others, not only provide comfort and protection, but give teaching of a practical kind. For the encouragement of economy and foresight, the society has established a savings bank, with a section for mortgages, in which deposits earn four per cent per annum interest. The Lazaretto is under the management of the Benevolent Society, though in times of epidemic, the municipality contributes half of the sum required for expenses. The care of the insane is one of the charges of the Benevolent Society, and in order to provide better accommodation for this class of unfortunates, a national asylum is being built near Lima, which will receive applicants from all parts of the republic. The asylum now has about four hundred inmates, under the direction of the inspector appointed by the Benevolent Society for this institution.
HOSPITAL DOS DE MAYO, LIMA.
Among the important services performed by the society is that of directing the burial of the dead. The public cemetery of Lima, which covers an area of twenty acres, dates from the government of the Viceroy Abascal, who first abolished the custom of interring the dead in the church vaults. The present system of burial, known as the Columbarium Romano, which consists of walls in which niches are built one above the other, is familiar to all travellers in Latin countries. It was necessary to overcome great prejudice in the beginning, a cemetery not being looked upon as consecrated ground; but the interment there of the Archbishop of Lima in 1808 sufficed to inaugurate the new system successfully. The original construction of the Pantheon cost a hundred thousand dollars. It is one of the most notable in South America for its space and for the number and fine architecture of its mausoleums. The entrance faces an open circle, or plazoleta, in which stands a marble column crowned by a statue representing the Resurrection. On one side of the Pantheon is the Civil burial ground for Protestants, and on the other side is that reserved as a last resting place for the unbeliever.
In addition to the hospitals, asylums, and other institutions governed by the Benevolent Societies in all the principal cities and towns, there are numerous special charities supported by the departmental and municipal authorities of the different centres, or maintained by church societies and private philanthropy. The needs of the unfortunate receive increasing attention as the public administration extends its vigilance throughout the republic, and to the institutions already existing new ones are constantly being added. The government recently granted subsidies to the Benevolent Societies of Moquegua, Ayacucho, Huánuco, Huancavelica, Huancayo, Caráz, Aplao, and Yungay. The hospitals of Tarma and Moquegua have been enlarged and improved, and in the Amazon port of Iquitos a new hospital is being constructed according to modern ideas and plans. In the increasing progress and development of Peru, its benevolent charities have received greater attention than ever, the moral sentiment of the nation demanding that these institutions share in the general blessing of prosperity.
MILITARY HOSPITAL, LIMA.
THE CATHEDRAL, AREQUIPA.