100 years ago in The Saratogian

Thursday, July 5, 1917

It’s the sort of thing you might think only happens in cartoons, but local investigators are trying to figure out who left a baby on a Wilton Road doorstep early yesterday.

The Saratogian reports that Henry W. Senecal was awakened between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on July 4 by the sound of a baby crying. Looking outside, he found “a halfclothed infant lying on a bundle of rags in a market basket.”

Later that morning, Senecal contacted the local Humane Society. Representatives of the society collected the baby boy and took him to Saratoga Hospital “to await further developments.”

Estimated to be two weeks old, “the child is apparently in good health but there was no mark left in the basket or on the clothing by which identification might be made.”

NURSES’ GRADUATION

A nurses’ dormitory recently donated to Saratoga Hospital by Mr. and Mrs. Louis H. Cramer hosts a graduation ceremony tonight for four new nurses.

“The large room at the eastern extremity of the first floor was filled with relatives and friends of the young women who made up the class,” The Saratogian reports. The graduates are Adelphine E. LeClair and Elise H. Paro of Saratoga Springs, Anna Barr Campbell of Pawtucket and Laura Anne Noonan of Dreaden Station.

Rev. John Mitchell delivers the commencement address. “I read lately in a magazine an advertisement offering a correspondent course in nursing in three months,” he notes with disgust, “I think the editor of that publication should have been arrested.”

By comparison, tonight’s graduates “go forth not only with splendid preparation, but with the splendid word ‘Duty’ writ large across your consciousness.” Talk of duty leads inevitably to talk of war.

“You go forth in cheerfulness like that Florence Nightingale whose sunny presence was described by the soldiers whose spirits she revived,” Mitchell says, “Perhaps some of you may have her opportunity to serve in war. But whether in war, in the dark and filthy slums of the city, in the sweetness of the home or the busy work of the hospital, you are to carry cheerfulness.”

“The Son of God goes forth to war,” an old hymn goes. “Following Him into the war today, to strike a blow for righteousness, are those American boys now in Flanders and France, and the hundreds and thousands of others who are to follow,” Mitchell says, “You also, perhaps, will follow in His train.”

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Clara Kimball Young stars in “The Badge of Shame” at the Broadway Theatre tonight, while “celebrated comedian” Frank McIntyre stars in “The Traveling Salesman” at the Broadway Palace.”