TOWNS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. G77 



for the whole fifty-three acres, susceptible of being greatly improved for 

 the pleasure and comfort of the citizens. The public buildings, State and 

 Federal, the numerous churches, to some of which historic as well as 

 architectural interest attaches; the Academy of Music, one of the finest 

 theatres in the South ; the colleges, the library, the edifices devoted to 

 charity, and many other fine buildings, including the imposing Charles- 

 ton Hotel, and the Market, famous for its fruits, fish, game and vegetables, 

 can not find place in this brief account. Charleston has always been 

 generous in its 



CHARITIES. 



Mills enumerates fifty-one benevolent and missionary societies in ope- 

 ration prior to 1824; of these fourteen were established in the eighteenth 

 century. He ascribes to Charleston the honor of establishing the first 

 religious charitable society in America. The Fellowship Society, formed 

 in 1762, for the succor of the insane, was doubtless one of the first of 

 these humane institutions in modern times. The first library was a dona- 

 tion from Dr. Bray, in the year 1700, and the first free school was opened 

 in 1712. At present the city maintains its chariiable institutions at a 

 cost of about ten per cent, on its gross income. Their management is in 

 the hands of boards of commissioners, who serve gratuitously, deeming 

 it a privilege to be intrusted with the duties of administering hospitals 

 and bestowing relief on pauperism ; a survival perhaps of the sj^onta- 

 neous charity cultivated by the old vestry influence. The Orphan House 

 was established in 1790, and has accommodations for three hundred 

 children ;. it is maintained at an annual cost of $20,000. The Alms House, 

 founded in 1712, has an annual average of sevent^^-eight inmates, besides 

 its outdoor relief to two hundred and eighty-nine others. The Ashley 

 River Asylum, for colored persons, averages sixty-eight inmates. The 

 Roper and City Hospitals, and the Shirra's Dispensary, with four physi- 

 cians employed permanently by the city, give relief to the sick poor, and 

 by arrangement between the city and the Faculty of the Medical Col- 

 lege, " the best medical and surgical skill is at all times available to the 

 humblest person at a nominal cost, without regard to race or creed." 



