Woman has in all time borne a conspicuous part in works of benevolence and reformation. There is an intensity in the female nature which generally develops into positive traits of character, either for good or for evil. She loves or hates with all her heart, and can hardly occupy a middle ground. The instincts of a good and true woman are easily aroused by the cries of the wretched and helpless, and her entire nature is at once thrown into efforts for their relief. In the quickness of her perceptions, in the depth and constancy of her sympathy and affection, as well as in the sublimity of her faith, she has often excelled her more hardy companion. But alas an angel corrupted becomes a devil, and a woman abandoned to treachery and lust becomes a mournful wreck, of all others the most difficult to recover. Nature thus abused seeks to avenge itself of the outrage, by sadly inverting all her high-wrought faculties, degrading to the deepest infamy all that was formed for sublimity and purity. Only woman can intimately superintend the recovery of her own fallen sex, and the age has produced not a few who have successfully toiled in this dark and forbidding field.

The House of Mercy was founded in 1854, through the untiring exertions of Mrs. S. A. Richmond, wife of the late Rev. William Richmond, formerly rector of St. Michael's Church, New York. The act of incorporation was passed February 2d, 1855. The efforts of the society for several years were on a limited scale, and conducted in private houses hired or gratuitously furnished by the friends of the enterprise. The zeal and efforts of Mrs. Richmond, who was a Christian lady of rare endowments and great address, during the infancy of the movement are infinitely above all praise. She not only sought with the most careful training the reformation of the fallen in the Institution, but shrank from no other toil or exposure. For several years she so successfully plead the cause of the society at the markets, in the streets, and before the counters of the merchants, that the supplies of the House were never exhausted. When her failing health compelled her to resign the superintendency in the Institution, she still conducted the branch office at No. 304 Mulberry street, receiving and sending to Eighty-sixth street the women who desired to reform. She was succeeded in the management of the Institution by several members of the sisterhood of St. Mary, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who had spent some time at St. Luke's. At first only the internal government was committed to them, but for several years past the financial department, in connection with the trustees, has been in their charge also, leaving the committee of ladies to whom this was at first assigned as merely representatives from their respective churches. The sisters have succeeded with much satisfaction both to themselves and others. The younger class of fallen women are taken, a large part of them being between twelve and twenty years of age. They are not compelled to remain against their will, and if very refractory are sent away. Deep-rooted virtue is with them a plant of slow growth, hence a period of exclusion from ordinary society for one or two years is considered essential to their thorough reformation. Many return to their friends, after spending a few weeks or months in the Institution; some depart at the request of the sisters, or without it; others remain long, and then go to service in good families, or enter upon the responsible duties of the conjugal state. Quite a large number of the inmates have been confirmed as members ofthe church by the bishop at his annual visit to the Institution, a few of whom have failed in the performance of their religious obligations, but many of them have nobly persevered. The Institution is mainly supported and entirely controlled by the Protestant Episcopal church, one of her clergymen officiating as chaplain.

On the 16th of June, 1859, ten lots of ground, containing a large country mansion, were purchased at a cost of about $12,000. The property is situated between Eighty-fifth and Eighty-sixth streets, near the Hudson river. Six lots have since been added. Several successful fairs have been held, and a number of State and city donations received, the largest of which was granted by the Legislature of 1867, amounting to $25,000. The earnings of the inmates have thus far been small, and the society depends upon its annual subscribers and the gifts of the benevolent for the support of the House. When the mansion was purchased it was said to be able to accommodate one hundred inmates besides the ladies in charge, but like too many other estimates it fell short just one half. It has never afforded the space or arrangement for suitably classifying and dividing its forty-five or fifty inmates, a matter of vital importance in such an institution. For several years the society sought for means to enlarge their buildings. The State grant of 1867, supplemented by liberal subscriptions from the friends of the enterprise, enabled them in 1869 to carry forward this much-desired project.

The corner-stone of the new building was laid by Bishop Potter of New York on the 16th of October, 1869, in the presence of Bishops Southgate, Lay, Quintard, and a large number of clergymen and friends of the Institution from the city. An interesting address, containing valuable reminiscences of the past, was delivered by Rev. Dr. Peters. The building occupies a beautiful site, almost overhanging the Hudson, fronting on Eighty-sixth street, and at a pleasant remove from the new Boulevard. It is built of sandstone and red brick, relieved with dressings of Ohio stone. On entering the principal door; access is had to a spacious hall; opening out of this are offices, and beyond a broad staircase of iron ascending to the upper stories. On the floor above is a corridor, ninety feet in length, lighted by windows taken from the old oratory, thus connecting the old building with the chapel, dining-hall, and school-rooms. The chapel is fifty feet in length, terminating at the eastern end in a circular apse; the altar and reredos are of carved stone, supported by pillars of polished marble, the sanctuary being laid with encaustic tile. At the west end, on either side of the door, are apartments for the Sisters, and above these, behind an open arcade, are two concealed galleries, one for visitors and the other for the sick. In the second story are placed the infirmary, a Sister's room, bath-room, and a mortuary; over these a dormitory, divided into little rooms by low wainscot partitions and curtained doors. A slender bell-turret surmounts the roof, rising to the height of eighty-eight feet. The basement contains laundry, kitchen, pantries, and store-room. The stained glass for the windows was imported from England. The edifice cost $30,000, and the sixteen lots, with their buildings, are now valued at $100,000, and are free from debt. The number of inmates is now to be increased from forty-five to one hundred, and the managers propose to eventually remove the old frame mansion and complete a large quadrangle, in-closing the property of the Institution with permanent buildings in the style of the one just erected.