The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-17
BEAUTIFUL CHARITY
NIGHT REFUGE IN A GREAT CITY
FOR WOMEN WHO ARE STRANDED.
An Institution Where No Questions
Are Asked-HeIp Extended to Dis
couraged People and Its Results.
New York Evening Post.

New York Evening Post
There are nearly a dozen places In New
York city exclusive of the public institu-
tons where needy women can get shelter
and assistance free of charge. There are
the Homes for Respectable Young Girls"
the Female Assistance Societies" 'Shel-
tiers for the Friendless' and so on. There
are also Magdalen asylums and houses of
refuge. OF all these well-planned charities
there is only one in which the clause mo
questions asked figures as main factor
ir the admission of inmates. At this one, a
plain, unpretentious looking brown stone
house at IA West Fifteenth street, 12.10S
women. admitted without inquiry even as
to their name, were sheltered and fed dur
ing this last year. The place is known S
THE Night Refuge for Friendless Women"
It's beneficiaries get word of il through
the police, the postmen and such citizens
as have had their attention called to it.
The woman who founded it, who has in
duced others to help her support it, is not
ably unworldly, liking to keep her good
Offices In the background and to work quiet
|
lence she has aroused. She is not a rich
woman. In the twenty-one years since
starting her peculiar charge she has never
asked or had from the city one penny to-
wards the support of the home, but has
secured all funds by personal exertion.
Checks for rent. barrels of provisions.
boxes Of groceries and bales of clothing
stuffs are constant contributions from mer
chants whose hearts were touched that
there should be women actually in want of
food and shelter in the very midst of the
city's plenty.
The whereabouts of this lodging place
where no questions are asked is posted
plainly on the wall beside the sergeants
desk in every police station. When women,
hungry and with no place to go, apply at
the police station for shelter they see the
card: might refuge for women. Open all
night for the reception of those who need
succor. No cards or letters necessary TO
secure shelter and food" On winter nights
more than a dozen women, one by one,
often apply at the police station as last
recourse. In the summer there are not so
many. The city is not so crowded then and
conditions are easier.
FOR THE HOMELESS.
OF the numerous police stations those on
the west side regard this refuge for women
applicants as an incalculable good. Many
homeless woman is given car-fare to
West Fifteenth street from distant parts
of town, and once within the influence Of
the matron at the refuge. the applicant is
not allowed to go until her state is bettered
by substantial meals, warm clothing. and
the feeling that she has friends to depend
on. She is free to use the place as a haven
while she goes out in search of employ
ment, even If 1t takes weeks for her to find
| work. If she chooses to unburden her woes
and 1t turns out that she has friends at
distance who could help her, she is assisted
to make the necessary money for her pass
| age to them. If it proves that I'll health was
| the cause of her troubles, she is placed in
the right hospital for her complaint, and
| the refuge matron acts as sponsor for her.
If the woman has fed from brutal or
drunken husband. or from any manner of
| family injustice, she is given advice and all
possible aid. Only one description of out
cast is debarred the shelter, and that is the
woman who is noisily drunk and who would
be menace to the peacefully inclined. The
sergeants at the stations do not send this
| kind to the refuge.
There are two facts ever present in my
mind when I see these women, said the
mistress Of the home. "One that 1t is very
money nor the capacity for earning money
| to get through with what she has and
come to the verge of desperation; the
other that a sensitively constituted woman
would almost rather starve than run the
gauntlet Of questions as to what brought
her to this pass Poverty is deadly sting
to delicately organized people. Once they
| give their name and declare their Identity
as paupers, they feel that brand Is upon
them. Hundreds Of women have stayed In
| our home whose names l do not know,
whose reticence respect. They stayed
there and picked up the courage and physi-
| cal strength to start on again. L asked
| them nothing Sometimes. months after,
when they were working and removed from
| brance, may be a little sum of money for
the home, or only letter OF gratitude,
giving me assurance that the help had not
| fallen on stony ground.
THEIR SECRETS RESPECTED.
ST am a pretty good judge of character,
| as every one who comes much in contact
with people gets to be. can usually tell at
once the grade of life my dodgers come
| from. Shabby clothes, soiled hands, I'M
kempt hair, distracted looks cannot dis
guise the gently born woman, and there are
such here frequently. Enough of them tell
| us their story for us to gauge the rest, and
when I see a woman of refined instinct TAX
| ing the help offered to her thankfully. but
| bearing her trouble in silence. reserving the
name and identity that she fears her con-
| no more try to probe into her past than
would touch wound not yet healed We
| have had women here who became i'll pure
| ly from the reaction after their long siege
Of worry before deciding to appeal for
| help. And some have come here after seri-
Gus illnesses In hospitals. discharged too
soon. They broke down after only a short
term of work, and had nothing to support
| themselves on, having pawned one posses
sion after another until abject restitution
made them think of suicide. Then 1 get
them, and seeing them brighten, take
heart, and start life fresh again is ample
reward for any exertfoa.
This night refuge is in reality only one
branch of a more comprehensive charity. 1t
was inevitable that out of the hundreds of
women housed so informally there should
be some peculiarly interesting. Wild girls
| running away from uncongenial homes, i'm
patient of restriction or because of dis
putes with parents or guardians. would
| come when stranded. to the refuge, and
afterwards be moved to tell their story.
These girls need proper quarters until
-