The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-21
CAUSES OF THEIR RUIN
Some of the Temptations That
Beset Young Girls.
PARENTS ARE TO BLAME
Mothers Allow Their Daughters to Do
as They Please-Work of the Sal
walton Armv Rescue Homes
Punish the Men.

Adjutant Langtry of the Salvation
Army, who has struggled with the devil
in Montana cities, and now is matron
of the army rescue home in Spokane,
was recently interviewed by a Chron-
icle reporter, and her expressions and
suggestions with reference to the res
cue of fallen girls make up very in
teresting story. She said: IF the laws
were in my hands l would make the
men suffer. l would punish the men
who are numbering the poor girls inch
by inch, leading them astray and de-
sorting them. These men should be
mobbed. they should be horsewhipped;
they should be published, disgraced
scandalzed. Yes, they should be made
to suffer They get the poor girls into
trouble and then skip the country
leave them without a dollar, sick,
friendless, disgraced, with a babe to
care for. Sometimes they are even
| meaner than that-I have known them
to borrow money from the girls they
had ruined, and then run away. The
| Klondike caught many men of this
| class. Something should be done to
give these men what they deserve"
"Adjutant inquired the reporter,
what do you think is the chief cause
of the ruin of young girls in American
They come to US and tell stories
| that show all kinds of causes. l have
come to believe that one of the main
| reasons why girls go to the bad is
| heredity, and parents from whom they
| would inherit such tendencies are not
| fit to care for them.
These young girls around the city
| from whom the houses on Front ave-
nue. recruit their forces-watch them.
First they are allowed to wander on
| the street as they will: then it is a
| nod. smile or a wink al some boy or
man: then they pick up acquaint-
ances. They drift on from careless
ness to ruin-and their parents let
them go. Yes, there is no question
that unfit or careless parents are in
many, many cases to blame for the
| downfall of their girls
| But not in all cases?"
mo, not in all. Some of those we
| have in our homes seem to come from
| nice, respectable families. They have
| been deceived under promise of mar
ragp. They are heart-broken. They
don't care what happens to them. Some
| we have here now would have been in
the river long ago if they had not b EN-
| led to our home.
And then there are some who have
led good lives till they Were married;
| then their homes We're unhappy, they
went to the bad. We have had some
| of those here, too"
DO you think dancing can be
classed among the causes that lead
| girls astray?'
! Dancing? Yes, in some cases dane
ing has helped to bring them where
| they are"
And the love of finery?'
Eyes, that too-girls who love fine
clothes and are too lazy to work for
| them.
| But ! believe we must look to the
| parents in most cases. If mothers were
more particular with their boys and
girls, did not let them run the streets
| and go to questionable places, there
! would be far less of sin and misery in
| the world"
rs it easy to persuade them to leave
a life of shame when you offer to help
| them and care for them?''
| Easy? oh. it is heart-breaking work
-heart-breaking. When they get into
the bad resorts it is very hard to get
them out again. We go to the houses
and talk to them. Sometimes they
meet us with the cry, Go away! Don't
| talk to us-you only make us feel
worse!' They cry and cry-some have
| told me they wished l could pick them
up and carry them out of those places:
but, oh, it is so hard so hard to get
| them to come. We leave one penitent
and almost persuaded: then some one
else will come in, laugh at her. call
her baby for crying, get her to drink
some beer and forget all about the
| chance to lead another kind of life
| But sometimes you get them?"
| when they are sick-that is our
chance. When one of them is down
with fever or some other disease, then
we have chance to get them out of
those places and bring them to our
LN,,
that drag them back again..
| And can you really save these girls
from that life? Or do they drift back
| again."
I'VE can not claim all of them
| would to heaven that we could-but
some drift back a"an. Yet the results
are wonderful. OF the girls who have
come to us so per cent have kept true.
I receive letters still from some who
| We're with us in Helena three years
ago, and they are holding their
ground true converts to Christianity"
What becomes of the girls after they
| leave the rescue home?'
| Some go home to their parents.
| Others go out to work and prove good
| workers, too. Some find homes with
friends. Two of the girls who were
with us last year are married now and
making good wives"
us the home kept filled?"
| lieu anu CNerHO"lnR. 1t is pan
ned to accommodate Is people. includ-
| ing three officers, but sometimes we
have had to make room for 90 At the
| present time we have Is girls and chill
dren here, and have sent three others
| to places this week. Two more, who
| are waiting, will come in this week.
and ] have had to write to others that
| we can not take them now. Oh, it is
so hard when a woman wants a chance
| to reform to be compelled to tell her
We can not help you; we have no
| room for you now
From what places do the girls
| Gomez"
| From all over the state, but most
of them are Spokane girls. Since the
| LIST of January We have had So young
| women here and % children. and We
| could have had many more if we could
| have made room for them
| Are any plans being made to en-
! large the homer"
IF the Florence Crittenton Home