the name written distinctly, and of saying the name is O'Reily when it is Riley, or Donnelly when it is O'Donnell. Mistakes, perhaps apparently trifling, are quite sufficient to keep the nearest and dearest relatives apart, and deprive the young and inexperienced girl of the much-needed protection of a brother or a father.
The titles by which the General Superintendent is addressed are very varied. At one time he is styled 'The Mayor of Castle Garden,' at another 'The Commander,' at another 'The Keeper,' and not unfrequently 'Head General!' The mistake of Blackbird's Island for Blackwell's Island, in which there is a penitentiary, is not altogether inappropriate; but that of mistaking a General officer for a Police officer was much more serious, as witness the following:—
Two country girls, recently arrived from 'Sweet Tipperary,' with the painting of nature on their healthy cheeks, received from one of the clerks a written card bearing the address of their friends in the upper part of the city, and were directed to apply for information on their way to the first policeman they met; and one of these blue-coated brass-buttoned dignitaries, on duty at the Depôt, was pointed out to them for their guidance. 'Thank your honour kindly, we'll be sure not to mistake the pelliceman when we want him,' said the rosiest, who did all the talking. It was at the early part of the war, when the streets were full of blue Federal uniforms. The two country girls set off rejoicing, but had not been gone many minutes when they were back again, out of breath and greatly flurried. 'Well,' said the clerk, 'what brings you back?' 'Oh, sure your honour, we did just as your honour tould us. We went up the wide sthreet ye call Broadway, and when we kem to the big church beyant, with the cross on it, sure there we saw a gintleman with a blue coat and gould buttons, and a cocked hat on his head, and a fine feather in it, and a swoord by his side; and Mary and meself
