THE association for the establishment of this Institution was organized at the residence of Mrs. James McVickar, April 15, 1866, and the act incorporating the society passed the Legislature March 23, 1867. The enterprise was at first intended to provide for aged and indigent females, and grew mainly out of these two facts First, the several institutions of a similar character were known to be so crowded that applicants were constantly refused for want of room secondly, because all others of the kind in the city, with a single exception, were denominational, and their doors closed against applicants, however worthy, from other religious bodies. The printed circular distributed at its organization declared that the "Home" should "be absolutely free from all sectarian bias, and open, in its direction and its objects, to persons of all Protestant denominations." That its "Board of Managers" should "always continue to represent indiscriminately our common Protestant Christianity in all its various forms." At the election of officers and managers ladies connected with the Episcopal, Dutch Reformed, Unitarian, Baptist, Quaker, Methodist, Universalist, and Presbyterian Churches were elected. An advisory committee of gentlemen, a legal adviser, and a physician, were also appointed. The society began its benevolent undertaking in a hired building at 253 West Thirty-seventh street, in May, 1866, ten months before its legal incorporation. None are admitted under sixty-five years of age, except in special extreme cases. An entrance fee of $100 was at first required of those admitted, but the constantly increasing expense of living, and the uncertainties of income, have led the managers to advance the price to $250. The first inmate of the Samaritan Home was an American woman of seventy, who had always supported herself until by partial paralysis was left helpless and homeless.

The attention of the society was also early directed to the pitiable condition of many aged and homeless men. Some of these had been once the children of fortune, others for a period successful merchants, but having outlived their families and encountered reverses which had swept away their means, were now pining away the evening of their career in saddest destitution and friendlessness. Destitute of all those arts of self-accommodation, that tact and skill in the kitchen and nursery which render the presence of an infirm woman more endurable and less trying to charity, how dreary the lot of old men who have known better days, to find themselves in the last twilight of existence, when retirement and comfort are so desirable, wifeless, penniless, friendless, childless, or, what is still worse, to have ungrateful children who leave them to eke out their last sad hours in a crowded, squalid almshouse, with heartless officials for their only guardians. In May, 1868, two years after the formal opening of the Home, the department for aged men was opened. This necessitated the hiring and furnishing of another house, which was taken on the same block, No. 259 West Thirty-seventh street. These buildings were, however, unsuited to the enterprise, being old, cold, and without cellars. On the 1st of May, 1869, the managers leased and transferred the Home to the corner of Ninth avenue and Fourteenth street. This building is a large double house, fifty feet front, constructed of brick, with three stories and basement, bisected with halls, and is well adapted to the wants of the Institution. It is surrounded by fine open grounds for gardening, and is leased for five years, at an expense of about five thousand dollars per annum. It belongs to the Astor property, and that wealthy family could hardly dispose of it better than to donate it to the Samaritan Home.

Persons are received at the Home on a probation of three months, after which period the board takes definite action in the case. If the applicant is not confirmed as a permanent inmate, the admission fee is returned, deducting board at two dollars per week since the date of admission. Those admitted are expected to assist, if able, in performing the light work of the house and garden. No system of labor has yet been introduced to provide income, the inmates being too much broken down to perform much service. During 1868 three of the aged women and one of the men passed away to the better land. In 1869 two more aged ladies died, and in 1870 more were laid to rest. Mr. Charles T. Cromwell some time since presented the Home with a fine burial-place at Cypress Hill Cemetery, which is already occupied by the remains of the mouldering dead. Like all societies, this in its beginnings had its struggles with poverty and the indifference of the public, but it has passed the crisis. Its managers have not only met their expenditures, but have established a building fund which already amounts to over $20,000. Its friends are now annually cheered with a few large and many small donations, besides its annual subscribers, upon whom it mainly relies for support. The expense of the Institution amounts to $9,000 or $10,000 per annum.

Living near the Home, we have often visited it and found it always a well-ordered asylum of comfort and refinement. There are now twenty aged men and twenty-four women comfortably domiciled in their appropriate apartments, with space for several more. The men can be seen any day occupied with light tasks around the garden and yards, or reading their favorite books. The women, seated in easy chairs, spend their day between light needle-work or knitting, and in reading the religious magazines. All appear cheerful and contented, They speak of their matron, Mrs. Julia J. Trew, in terms of high appreciation. Divine service is conducted by some clergyman every Sabbath, and religion sheds it hallowed radiance among them through all the year. Turning away from the door of this Good Samaritan, we can but pray that it may long survive to pour wine and oil into the wounded heart of hoary humanity.