Calame, Mary Anne

Calame, Mary Anne was a philanthropist of the Society of Friends. In early life the poor and the helpless became the principal objects of her care. Her efforts to reclaim the children of vicious parents led her at last to the establishment of a kind of home for them. She began with only five children, asking at first about a farthing a month for their support, from each of her neighbors. In 1832 the institution which she established at Locle, Switzerland, as a refuge for the young from vice and misery, contained two hundred and fifty children. These were nourished, clothed, and educated by benevolent contributions, under her direction. These contributions came largely from the Society of Friends in England. In this work she was assisted by her intimate friend, Marguerite Zimmerlin, during a score of years. Mary Anne held religious services after the manner of the Quakers, not only it the institution which she had founded, but also in Neufchatel. She died Oct. 22,1834, leaving the orphanage in the hands of a committee, together with all the funds which she had collected for it. See The Friend, viii, 366.