The record-union., 1896-09-17

dow nursing her baby, and five chill
dren, just able to toddle about, played
on the sidewalk. They all seemed to
belong to one house, and not a very
large house, either. An old barrel
hoop, a tin can and an old paint brush
were the children's toys.
In the midst of this poverty and gen.
eral dilapidation the Training Home is
not hard to find. Fresh as to paint,
clean as to windows. It stands flush
with the street and is four stories high.
1t has a fiat roof with rail around it,
where in time there is to be roof
garden.
Part of the first floor is sublet, which
reduces the rent considerably. On the
second floor there are thirty-twO small,
neat bedrooms This is called the lodg-
ing department, and the rooms are to
be rented to the girls who work in the
cigarette factories and cheap stores in
the neighborhood. The two upper floors
are devoted to the Training Home prop
er. The third floor is like the second,
| and out of the thirty-two rooms twenty
| two are already occupied. The fourth
floor is taken up with the kitchen, laun-
| dry, storerooms and schOolroomS.
| The girls look much as other girls do.
| Only their faces are often pale and
pinched, and there is something sad
about the mouth and eyes that is pitt
full to see in girls so young.
| Many of them are sweet and lovely by
| nature the victims of circumstances.
Others are unruly and have to be con-
| fined by themselves part or all Of the
time But Mrs. Fisher, the matron,
| knows how to manage them. l believe
she works harder than any woman In
| San Francisco. I looked at the stairs,
thought Of the number of girls, OF the
| size of the house, and said, How 90
you manager" Mrs Fisher Is Christian
| woman. She waited a moment and then
said, II couldn't by myself. l have help
| from above and love the girls"
| Yes, she loves the girls, and the girls
love and obey her without a question.
| The girls are taught to do the work.
They learn to sew and cook; to wash
| and iron and do the thousand little
| things that housekeeper has to under
| stand. There is one sweet-faced, gentle
little girl who is learning to be nurse.
There is dispensary and operating
table and all the essentials for the
proper care of the sick in the home.
| Every girl spends a certain number OF
40
| work and time for play.
| All of this is the outgrowth OF that
| little outcast from Sacramento. A child
given by its mother to q brute, rescued
by saloon-keeper and protected by q
| Christian woman. That Is why l say
Sacramento Is in a measure responsible.
Girls are brought to the home from
| all about this part Of California The
| first Is not the only one that has come
| from Sacramento. It is not q refuge
| for hardened women; it Is home for
| young girls who are weak, who have
temptations greater than their strength,
who are just, perhaps for the first time,
slipping from the path of virtue 1t is for
those who are more sinned against than
| SHINING
| One girl who went from the home to
work in a family out in the Western
| Addition walked all the way to the
home on Hill street to save her car
fare, and gave her first months wages
to the matron.
"It is the first honest money I ever
earned" she explained, "and I want
you to use 1t for the girls"
| No one doubted that day but that the
home paid.
| San Francisco people are taking a
great interest In the Training Home.
All the material for the changes In the
house were donated. The coal used is
given; the Butchers Association fur
nishes the meat: all the meals and po-