The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-22
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suCu an INSTITUTION as the 'Sb. Louis
Social Settlement" the outcome of
woman's warm sympathy for women,
and young girls cropping after little
brightness in their hard lives.
This settlement" has absorbed ten
years of the best thought and endeavor
OF one of the womanliest women l ever
met. One who is still as much enthused
with the work as when her friends con-
sidered it too chimerical to ever become
practicable. But when ones heart is
fred with this kind Of love-which
''seeketh not its own" but another's
good, it is not in the nature of women to
give up under ordinary difficulties.
Thus while the settlement is not as we'll.
established as Hull House, OF Chicago,
or the Everyday Church. of Boston.
there is every reason to believe it will
be soon, since it has passed the expert
mental STAGE and even cavilers have
come to believe in it's usefulness; to see
its excuse for being. That conceded,
the rest is bound to follow.
Who Started the Social Settlement?
Mrs. Lucy A. Wiggin is the founder
OF the Social Settlement" which grew
from the little seed sown in special
night-schoo for working girls she start
ed some ten years ago. From that
branched out "The st. Louis Working
Girls Library" the other branch, the
Social Settlement" all three with still
other lesser branches working harmoni-
ously to the mutual end, the education
| and saving of working girls and I'M
taught mothers from themselves, and
their unfavorable environment.
Mrs. Wiggin is widow of the blonde
type. in her prime; and for the past
seventeen years she has had to be self
supporting. her occupation teaching in
the public schools.
| She is not self-assertive as so many
women with Emission" are. Her wo-
manliness, gracious and sweet, is the
first impression she gives; and her Gin
f1uence" is felt rather than ''dinged" into
one in the aggressive way which always
provokes opposition from the start.
After being asked for the history of her
work she replied:
There is not much to tell. My schools
have always been located in the factory
district; and observation soon led me to
believe there was much need for other
teaching than the public school provid-
ed for l became especially interested
in the older girls, from twelve to twenty,
who could not be spared to attend
school, as their scant earnings were
needed in the family. Being mostly
foreign born, they seemed ignorant of
the commonest laws of life, health. NOR
ais and were densely illiterate. but with
all suspicious and proud. thought if
l could only gather these girls into a
night school where / could keep them
from the streets, | thought l could
show them better way. how to put
some intellectual and social pleasures
into their lives which would be innocent
and helpful. l might keep some of them
from going wrong, and do some good to
future generations by elevating them, as
these girls were bound to be either law
full wives or mothers of fatherless chill
dren. They all seemed to drift inevita-
bly, into one or the other of these condi-
tions. l finally succeeded in procuring
permission from the Trustees for the
use of the school-house, if would pay
for the lighting and fuel, which I gladly
undertook; and it was one of the happy
days of my life when l was first able TO
go out and hunt up my first class of
| girls. In course of time | interested
other women and some good men in the
work | was trying to do. We all worked
harmoniously, giving all our leisure to
the work which grew upon our hands in
interest and scope. One thing led to
another. We found we must put our
selves along side of these people, to live
with them to make them believe we
would do them good without other re-
ward than seeing them enjoy themselves.
We found the girls especially sensitive
to anything that looked like patronage
or condescension. and we never gave
them occasion to complain of it, for our
one aim was. to strive to make them re-
| gard us, as older sisters, and to be con-
fided in as friends. At that time there
we're 1000 factory girls in the city. There
are thousands now. Their occupation
removed them from all association or
conversation with refined and educated
people. They lived mostly in the poor.
est class of tenement houses on the river
front and saloons, beer gardens and
dance halls were their only places of
resort. They were not connected with
any Sunday school. and no church knew
of them except the Catholic, which pro-
vided for spiritual needs only, such as
birth, marriage or death.
They had no means of keeping in
touch with those above their level, out.
side of their homes. This section of our
city comes as near to the demarcation of
caste as is possible in an American
city. 1t was the rough. uncouth girls of
this class we hoped to reach, hoped to
teach them how to use what time they
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