The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-06-03
BY Maud Ballington Booth
r. j.. The ::t<LittIe Mother'' Of the Prisons !; n
My <tBoys'' Who Made Good

The test Of all work must be in its
lasting results, and in such q work as
that which we have undertaken in the
Volunteer Prison league the success
accomplished means more than it
would almost anywhere else. II q man,
on going forth into the world from
prison, proves steadfast and makes
good, 1t sends back a message of hope
to all those still waiting for the good
day of liberty. A practical message OF
this kind means more to them than all
the theories that can possibly be
brought to bear upon them. If. on the
other hand, those who 60 forth before
them fail and fall again into crime,
their return to prison will bring to the
waiting prison population shadow OF
gloom and hopelessness deepened and
darkened by the thought that they,
too, will in all probability fail when
their chance and turn come to step out
into liberty.
When I first learned the needs, and
realized the possibilities represented
by the great prison population, l said
to my boys that did not intend to go
out into the world with theories and
arguments, but that would refute all
pessimistic views concerning the pris-
oner and his future, confounding their
old adage "once a criminal, always a
criminal; once a thief, always
thief," with flesh and blood facts. l
told them that their lives in the future
were to be my argument. Their sue
cess, their faithfulness, their integrity
would prove to the world that what l
believed and proclaimed about them
was true, and that had not bestowed
my confidence in vain.
All Is Well, Little Mother"
These hopes have been wonderfully
and widely fulfilled. l do not say that
I have always had success. There
have been some disappointments, and
when these disappointments came they
were always very heartbreaking. We
also have to face the fact that the
ainety-and-nine who do we'll, and settle
down to honest and Industrious lives,
pass unrecorded in the world, but the
one who plunges back into crime Is
heard of and heralded, so that the few
failures are known very widely by the
quietly on their way with no applause
or credit marks in their favor. But
can truly say that my heart has been
cheered, and my faith rewarded 30
wonderfully that we can proclaim with
sincerity that it has been all we'll
worth while. All over this country, as
| travel, meet those whom once
knew in prison, now living earnest,
honest lives. l can call up as l. write
the faces Of host of those whom l
first remember as hopeless and hard
and sad, but today they are bright and
steadfast look and say joyously in an
swer to my question, "All is we'll. lit
tie mother"
Eight Thousand Graduates.
OF course, in one way, this work can
never make treat show or parade be-
fore the world. Over 5000 men have
come to me straight from state prison,
and passed through our two homes.
going out into positions to which we
have sent them. This does not count
the record of the other homes, nor
does it speak Of the thousands who
have been earnest league members in
prison and have gone back to their
own homes, there making good to the
great Joy and pride Of their loved ores.
But we cannot gather all this multi
tude Of earnest, honest, reformed men
into some vast hall and exhibit them
to the public as the living, tangible
| results of the work Even If such a
thing were possible, should be the
last to wish it; we do not seek this
kind of advertisement We do not wish
| our boys to become as notorious In
their efforts to reform as they were in
their past criminal lives. The power
| of our work is that we build up mans
self-respect. We help him to forget the
past, to find his place once more as an
| ordinary working member of society
not marked or ticketed in any way as
| coming from prison. Nevertheless, in
their own little corner of life they are
making their mark. and little by little
they are making easier the path for
those who come after them.
The very fact that we have been
dealing with the most desperate, the
very given-up men of the criminal
world has made these determinations all
the more marked in the little commu-
mites where they have been known
and watched.
Still, there Is to me in my work no
greater Joy than that of the testimony
coming to my heart from my boys "
own lips, and the evidence which can
| read when l meet them, which assures
nae that those lips are speaking truth.
A 12-Years' Success.
was met In New York only last
week by one of my boys" whose life !
had helped to brighten from the
day Of his discharge. With a face
literally beaming with happiness, he
said, We'll, little mother. next week
| it will be IL years since 1 came home
IL good, happy years." AS congratu.
lated him realized as no one else
could how much that meant to him
and how much it had meant to others
to whom his life had been an inspira
ton. Living the life of a professional
| crook until he was over thirty, he was
so many times convicted that if you
asked him about the number he would
! have to stop to- count his arrests on
| his fingers to make sure he missad
none of them. He had never made 8
| dollar by honest work in his life until
oftor NO cont him ont from, o,,r H..