The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-05

warehouses and such places, keep them
for a time provide them with board and
lodging, while an attempt is being made
10 improve their characters, and then get
them into good positions. The ages OF
there boys range from - 10 10. Some or
them are typical hard cases" and many
are first offenders. And with all OF trcm
the army does great things.
Inc Church Army has 1902 homes, all 'o'o'
where it keeps for time the men, women
and children it rescues from crime ana
misery. In most of the homes set apart
for boys the youths were formerly pat 10
work cutting kindling wood or other WORK
of that sort, but the supply OF boys pres
entity exceeded the demand for the WORK
they were doing, and then 1t was that the
officer in charge of them hit upon the
laundry idea.
odd work for Boys.
The women who formerly did all the
washing for the homes did it badly, after
the manner of London washerwomen' as
every visiting American will wrathfuly
testify. They were slow, too, and putting
a garment into the wash was like putting
money into a lottery. You might get IL
back with a lot of other things that did
not belong TO you, but the chances were
in favor of your never seeing II again
The officer figured out that as boys hkeu
to dabble in water they might take 10
laundry work rather better than one
would suppose. So he engaged a iaunory-
man. set up an assortment of tubs, man
eles" ironing boards and boilers in one
of the homes situated on Latimer ROAD
and tried IL on. That was in last August
and the results have proved rather sur
prsing.
Most of the boys. when first introduced
to the tubs. wringers and ironing noarus,
erumbled lot about being MADE ora
women Of" as they put It, but the ldea
appealed to them more on the whole than
slicing hardwood into chips. They regard
ed the work as a huge Joke at first, and
spent most of their time splashing each
other literally, but before they knew II
they began to take real interest In doing
their work well, and really were fairly
EXPERT by the time the Church Army
found them situations elsewhere.
OF course, the boys don't do fine work
such as wosnen's clothes and dainty
things. They don't bother with women q
clothes at ALL That is yet done by the
women In the female homes" whom the
bows have to a certain extent, superseded.
The boys mostly confine their efforts to
rough work, but they can 10 up their
own linen and those of the men and boys
in the other homes. That they are ca
pable of still higher things. or would
quickly become 90, Is proved by the case
OF two or three boys. who. through ex-
ceptional circumstances. have been made
"assistant SUPERINTENDENT" and have
thereby been enabled TO remain in the
laundry for ten or twelve months, instead
of the customary three In that time they
have made so much progress that not
only are they to be trusted with the
finest of linen and dress" shirts but
thew have even aspired to lace curtains,
and done" them without flaw.
Captain" Winson, the man In charge,
was questioned on the subject:
II am now sure that boys can do laun-
dry work better than women he said. 1t
stands to reason. In laundry work you
need strength. Watch a woman who Is
ironing and see how she bears down on
the board She knows that the harder
she presses, the better. Take wringing:
Tho great difference between some laun-
dries and others is the amount of water
their people wiring out Of or leave in, the
clothes. A lusty boy of II or IS can de-
velop twice as much strength in his wrist
"a a woman, and. having to wear shirts
and collars himself he's apt TO treat them
more re respectfully. And, after all, why
no, English laundrymen as well as Chi
ntse7'
what the Boys Say.
Afterward talked with one Of the boys
He ead; "Give me time at this lay and
I'll Inock out any woman in the business.
shirts and all / know how to look out
for buttonholes. do" In his time this
excellent young man had looked out" for
pocketLooks other than his own.
The home is rather small at present
Enlistment for the South African ecrv-
ice has been so great for lcug
tine that boys OF any kind are scarce
in London just now. But though Il is
not year yet since the boy washer
woman" experiment was begun, already
over seventy boys have been trained as
laundrymen. Most of them. feeling that
the work makes them appear rather fool
ish, don't consider Il seriously as a fu-
ture profession, but the tendency to keep
at Il permanently Is growing steadily.
And although they do no outside work
az all, The fame OF these youthful and
masculine 'washerwomen" is growing
steadily. A few weeks ago the army adj
vertised for still more boys to do laundry