THE society that established this industrial enterprise was duly incorporated by act of Legislature in 1851, with the design of furnishing employment in needle-work to infirm and destitute females at such a rate of remuneration as should afford them a livelihood. It is not designed to encourage supineness and beggary, but the principle of self-help and self-respect. It generously proposes to help those who are willing to help themselves, and those first and only who are destitute of employment. It never employs those to whom other avenues of industry are open, and it never turns away a needy, industrious widow if it can be prevented. Its organization, which is vested with power of self-perpetuation, consists of a board of about fifty Christian ladies, with an advisory committee of gentlemen to assist them in managing their finances. The House, which is situated at No. 120 West Sixteenth street, is a wooden structure, with a rear building fitted up for an industrial school, and cost about $16,000. The society purchases goods, and makes marketable garments, and sells them in its own store, drawing in the meantime all the custom work its managers are able to secure. Three general committees have the principal management of the business: 1. The Purchasing, which selects and procures all the fabrics; 2. The Cutting, which prepares the work for the seamstresses; and, 3. The Appraising, which attaches a card to each garment, stating the price that will be paid for making, and when made, the price at which it may be sold.

Besides these three committees which are formed from the directresses, there are several from the managers, viz., a Visiting, a Distributing, a Registering, a Paying, and one on Ordered Work.

Work is given to needy women from every part of the city, and unlike most other establishments, this society gives employments through all seasons of the year. It furnishes two kinds of work:

Those only who excel in needle-work find employment in this department. Bridal outfits, embroidery, braiding, knitting, quilting, and other choice and difficult tasks are produced with astonishing proficiency, and compare favorably with the best imported specimens in this line. Some of these undertakings require, in order to their successful completion, as much talent and effort as is required to enter one of the learned professions, and the society has found it difficult to secure the services of a sufficient number of this class to be able to fill all orders of this kind with despatch.

This includes all ordinary sewing for household use, garments for both sexes and of every description. Large orders are taken from some of the missions and promptly filled. Here the miserably poor, whose hands have been so hardened as to incapacitate them for neat sewing, find employment.

Several years ago, a class was formed from these adults by the managers, to teach them to become expert seamstresses; but after much effort it was found impossible to much improve them, and so the undertaking was relinquished.

During 1870, 258 women were employed, and $10,165 paid for such service. Receipts from sales of garments during the same time amounted to $8,873.70, and from ordered work, $4,710.69. The society has all the appliances for doing three times the amount of work, but fails to dispose of its stock, owing largely, we think, to the fact that its House is situated in a poor business locality, and with no adequate scheme for wholesaling.

The society has an invested fund of about $18,000, besides its real estate.

There is a sewing-school also connected with the House, where one hundred and thirty girls were instructed in 1870. Spiritual instruction is blended with manual. Portions of Scripture and hymns are orally taught, and a good library has been provided. Three hours on Wednesday, and three on Saturday, they are instructed in needle-work. Each is encouraged to finish a garment, which becomes her own. An annual exhibition is held in January, when their work is examined, and each girl receives the garment she has made.

Many of the girls who were here a few years ago are now filling fine situations, and the religious instructions inculcated at the House have resulted in their conversion. The hall in the rear building is hired for an Episcopal Sunday school, which has led some to erroneously suppose that the House was denominational. The society is not limited in its operations by creed or nationality.

An infant industrial school has also been established, which is open daily to small children of both sexes. The supervision of this is committed to Mr. Brace of the "F." About fifty children attend, mostly from crowded tenement-houses. A comfortable dinner is provided for them, and it is hoped that, by thus surrounding them for a few hours each day with elevating influences, they will be stimulated to self-help and self-respect.

The managers have made arrangements so that those formerly in its employ, but whose age or misfortune now incapacitates them for toil, receive a small annuity. A Bible-class and a Mothers' Social and Religious Meeting are held one day each week in the school-room. The women assemble, and while engaged with their needles, the Bible is read, expounded, and its claims urged upon them. The benevolent ladies who projected this Institution, and have nobly sustained it during twenty years, often amid difficulties that have caused them nights of sleepless anxiety, have performed a noble work that will never be forgotten. They have raised the fallen, cheered the faint, and covered the naked with a garment. They have carried bread to the homes of the famishing and the fatherless, and many times assuaged the sorrows of her who was ready to perish.