The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05
Neiqhborhood Houses.

In the cities where settlement workers
have established neighborhood houses.
ready cooperation which they have re-
ceived from those who derive the great
est benefit, has proved inspirational to
other cities and reports from settlement
eenters have been particularly encourage
ing in the year just closed.
While Birmingham has undertaken set
Element work in its establishing free kin
dergartens in certain sections of the
city, the general work, in comparison
with that of other cities is in its in
fancy, and needs to be developed along
other lines of special activity that are
found in neighborhood houses elsewhere.
Mrs. r. H. Ezekiel, one of Birming-
hams philanthropic women, calls atten-
ton to conditions in the south:
Here in the south the settlement house
is yet comparatively unknown, though
conditions in some regards demand it
more than in other sections. The proxim-
ity of the poor white to the negro is
often productive of weakening OF the
moral fiber which does not fail of dis
astrous results.
'The fabric of a child's character is
woven of such fine threads, that it be-
hooves us to guard we'll the weaving, lest
the pattern. designed in Gods image, be
broken and blurred.
Here, in our city, talk of settlement
work is in the air. The great wave of
rohibtion has swept over us and given
,he wise man pause to think. If the
child Is taught temperance in thinking
and living, futile efforts to legislate vir-
ture into a community would be more
than foolish. Self-restrain means char
acter, not the lodging of temptation. That
is what the neighborhood house is teach
ing, unselfsh living, clean thinking and
one Father for us all.
"Creeds are good things. From time
immemorial the varying beliefs of men
have been the most potent stimuli of
thought and upbuilders of the world s
best literature The disputations of the
rabbis have crystalized themselves into
the Talmud, while those of the scholas-
tics have evolved a rich mine of theolog-
ical reasoning. In our own time the
conflict between that known as the higher
criticism and the letter Interpretation of
the Book has certainly added to the in
formation of the people, and brought
about hitherto unknown liberation of
widely divergent viewpoints.
Difference of opinion certainly cam
not work against brotherhood if it seeks
for some common ground upon which
all moral men must stand.
There is a code of ethics, accepted
by all straight-thinking people and which,
Jew and Christian, agnostic and ortho-
uOA. dtttpI DIS TIE DdSlS Vi Sdut lNlIB.
However we may fence our part of this
common ground with the barriers of our
own little creed, or name it by our own
particular brand of ism" the field is
yet for us all, andAwe can thereupon
find the place to work tremendously to-
gether for the betterment of society.
1.-THE settlement house has fulfilled the
desire of undenominational endeavor to-
ward the Improvement of social condi-
tions. Working as it does, in neighbor-
hoods where the manner of living does
not make for high standards, lit intro
duees elements of charm, and ethical
concepts into the lives of those whose
environment, physical and moral, is other
wise arid and bare.
wherever it stands, the neighborhood
house becomes an GASES, toward which
the esert-dwellers of the slums make
their pilgrimage for the waters of truth
and beauty"
Mrs. Frances Mclean.
Mrs. Frances Mclean of Chattanooga