64 OCEAN TO OCEAN <)N HORSEBACK, 



temporary home for destitute women and children. 

 The Massachusetts General Hospital — which, save for 

 the Pennsylvania Hospital, is the oldest in the country 

 — the Boston City Hospital, the New England Hos- 

 pital for Women and Children, and a number of other 

 finely-organized institutions care efficiently for the 

 city^s sick and suffering. Orphan asylums, reform 

 schools, missions of various sorts, and retreats for the 

 aged and indigent, are numerous. 



One of the most unique and interesting among 

 these charities is " The Children's Mission to the 

 Children of the Destitute," which aims to bring the 

 little ones of these two sadly separated classes, the 

 poor and the well-to-do, in contact for their mutual 

 benefit. By its agency the forlorn little waifs of the 

 streets are provided with home and friends, religious 

 and secular instruction, and employment whenever 

 necessary or advisable. Still more unique is the 

 Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association, 

 whose vast building and hall on Huntingdon avenue 

 occupies an area of over 110,000 square feet. As 

 early as 1795 this association was founded to extend a 

 helping hand to mechanics in difficulties, to establish 

 libraries and classes for apprentices, offer premiums 

 for inventions and improvements in trades, and give 

 every encouragement to the tradesman. The building 

 is a beautiful as well as a vast structure, and eight 

 thousand people can be seated in the grand hall. The 

 mechanics' festivals, fairs, and exhibitions of indus- 

 try are held here from time to time, when there is 

 much awarding of medals, prizes and honors. 



On Boston's commercial greatness there is no space 

 to touch. Nor is it needed. Could her schools, her 



