The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-06-01
By Maud Ballington Booth
IN The "LittIe Mother" Of the Prisons ri
My "Boys" Who Made Good

Volunteer Prison league the success
accomplished means more than 1t
would almost anywhere else. II man.
on going forth into the world from
prison, proves steadfast and makes
good, It sends back 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. II. 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 q 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 first learned the needs, and
realized the possibilities represented
by the great prison population. said
| to my boys that I did not intend to go
out into the world with theories and
arguments, but that would refute all
pessinlistic views concerning the pris-
oner and his future, confounding their
old adage "once criminal, always
criminal; once thief, always a
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.
Cali is Well, Little Mother"
These hopes have been wonderfully
and widely fulfilled. do not say that
l have always had success. There
have been some disappointments, and
when these disappointmentsc came they
were always very heartbreaking. We
also have to face the fact that the
ninety-and-nine who do well, 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
public and the many successes go
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 so
wonderfully that we can proclaim with
sincerity that it has been all well
worth while. All over this country, as
l travel. I meet those whom I once
knew in prison, now living earnest
honest lives. l can call up as write
the faces of a host of those whom l
first remember as hopeless and hard
and sad, but to-day they are bright and
good, and can meet my eye vita a
steadfast look and say joyously In An
swer to my question, "All is well. Ut
tie mother"
Eight Thousand Graduates.
OF course, in one way. this work CAN
never make Great 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 coG3t
the record of the other homes, nor
does 1t 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 reforn1ations all
the more marked in the little commu
mites where they have been known
and watched.
Still, there is to me in my work ne
greater joy than that of the testimony
coming to my heart from my boys
own lips, and the evidence which car
lead when meet them, which assures
me that those lips are speaking truth
A 12-Ycars' Success.
l was met in New York only las,
week by one of my boys" whose life
day of his discharge. With a face
literally beamjng with happiness, he
said, We'll, little mother, next weel
it will be IL years since came home
IL good, happy years" AS l 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 professional