New-York tribune., 1908-07-23
TRAINING GIRLS,
No Lost or "Saued" IN Group
Watched Ouer by Mrs. Falconer-


Mrs Martha p Faleoner head of the girls Depart
mept of the Philadelphia House of Refuge cur
tain call yesterday morning. Here are SOME oA
her salient sentences:
'Our institution is full of privileges insteao Vi
punishments, and every privilege can be had py
working for it
TO the shame of Pennsylvania. be it said. have
many many girls who have never been lhsiue
schoolhouse in their lives. Many on thei" nav
worked in factories ever since they were ten years
old get the other end of the hopper, where ehi'u
labor is grinding the girls into the reformatory'
81 have thirty-two in authority over me- anu
twelve auxiliary women and L stih live
Ministers come there speak Sunday ai'sF-
Moons and talk To the girls about their dear par
ents They haven't any dear parents III lnsS
had they wouldn't be there
"A nervous broken down elderly woman is not
the person charge of bright smart vicious
girl especially when you can get a bright youhs
college graduate with trained mind for the ssihe
pay"
Good friends of our institution sometimes talk
about girls being lost saved How hate
those two wortsl I never allow them to be used IN
the building. If you have any success WIN 't''
girls YOU have got to get over that way OF Ioohihs
at them and look at them you would AT DoSS II.
a reformatory-that is the result OF heredlty anu
environment; a young person who mas gone Wis
and whom we are trying to show how to go risIl-
We don't speak of boy who has got INTO trouoe
as being lost or 'SAed.'
1--WE are getting more and more OF our sHi9
places when they leave US. that they need never
go back to their homes. # hadn't been oi IoI
those homes most of them would never H"'o o.
into the reformatOry
OUTSIDE THE PRISON.
Mrs. FaIconer is famous in circles of charity and
corrections as the woman who can take one Vi
two hundred girl prisoners out to church. lectures:
musicals with no guardian but herseNs anu
bring them all safely back to prison assnH- <A"s
one of them could walk off at any moment Du' '
not one of them ever has. The whole reason Ioi
this Mrs FaIconer could probably never eXpidih
But part of 1t is that every girl who goes out IN
this way has previously won her superintendent >
trust and confidence.
THE new girl is always homssck at first; not
for her home but for the life she has left said
Mrs Falconer. she is hOmesick ana unhappy ,
she hates me: she hates the place and all the
girls and all the teachers and have sood dea ol
sympathy with her. L spend most of my time win
the new girls Most of them come In IN very pau
physical condition I have the doctor examine
girl first and prescribe if necessary lheh tis
dentist goes over her teeth, and fixes them II
necessary. Then if there's anything Ie1t ol Hei'
l take her in hand First l try TO ouiid her up
physically. / that she has ali the sood' Piaii.
food she can eat: that her appetite is tempted II
! necessary but with nothing stimulating. No tea
| or conee-she hates that; only little meat once
a day All the milk bread, cereals fruit Vess'dOies
and cocoa she The girls come IN nervous
excitabIe overstimuIated overemotonal, sometimes
I
oaI,nad rested fed and built up; not stimulated
| When I went there it favorlte punishment
| to send girl to bed without any supper said
J 10 them If YOU did that 10 me l can tell you
| you wouldn't have very angeIc peISo" - WIN
! with No girl is ever deprived OF meal
"rhe place is full all sorts of privileges about
| talking at meals lighter work, and all Sorts Oh
things. All won by good conduct
| The new girls live the first floor They eat IN
silence. They have fewer privileges Ihey must
rf-.;- rI.a.
cult of all lessons fer them. tell them that While
,av must obey the teachers the teachers nave TO
! obey me- 1 have to obey the directors and the di-
rectors and all of have to obey the laws of the
! land When they have learned the first floor les
! SONS they can move upstairs There more priv
fegas and pIeasanter work UP there, and the floor
is run largely by committee elected by the girls
/ themselves.
! "The very greatest privilege of all is to go to
church with me- You have no idea Of the difference
/ that has made When went there Sunday was a
dreadful dav 1t is a dreadful day in any institI-
ton Work is put aside; these people cannot aInuse
! themselves much by reading, and they remember
| that this was the day which they used to have
| the most fun. 1t unheard of to take the girls
ont to. church the girls that if they tried to
run away they would never be allowed to go again.
| and that probably | would lose my job as we'll Not
! one has ever made the slightest trouble Now Sun
dav morning is all a hustle Of confusion. with a
/
/ borrowing each others things hUrryiug to be in
time But it is a happy confusion It's not good 10
have a place like that too quiet. You allow those
! girls 70 be too quiet and they may grow sullen.
Either vouve got to furnish the excitement or the
| girls will. and prefer to furnish it myself.
A LITTLE AMUSEMENT.
$50 we go to church at night too. Why not?
| II it's bad to go to church night, why have
! church? There's the church crying for more peo-
pIe and there are we with nothing to do. And the
! church where we go has treated nicely. The
! minister never breaches at us. and l believe a
good MANY of the folks don't know but that were
! boarding school. In fact. one day lady over
took us and said to of the girls. And where
! a-a vo, all from my dear?' and the girl chirped
! brightly From the college, and we all walked
sedateIy on without a word. l think House of
! Refuge Is hideous name. anyway, and 1 don't
! blame any girl for lying cbout IT.
| .A1ind vou these are all girls who have run
! aUav from or been thrown out of every other in
! etitution IN philadelphia. When how well
| the church privilege worked we extended it. till
! now we go to everything that's cheap or free in
the neighborhood. We take In university extension
| lectures settlement musicals and all sorts of
things.
Every girl has TO do all the common work which
svarx housewife has to dO-washing. ironing clean
| ing plain cooking plain sewing She begins at the
uasbtub | tell her If you well for three
months after that some ore will wash your clothes
all the rest of the time you stay here After three
| months she goes to something else. Then I've
| o., a bright Young college woman who is down on
| the roll as q relief officer But she teaches those
! Girls 10 play-they never knew how; teaches then
clever interesting jolly games, and games where
| they can ronp hard and get tired Now they VI
| i,,en MS a hundred acre farm, and the girls
| g living out there in tents this summer. till the
h,,f1dines are up farming under first class woman
! farmer Fifteen girls and fifteen teachers sleep II