Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-16
THE MODERN WOMAN.
XIX-WOMEN In PHILANTHROPY.
By Frederic ]. Haskin
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

FOUND human beings confined in dark,
unventilated cells having no floor but
the earth and only loose straw supplied
once q week as bedding. This was sup
posed to be changed each week when the
patients We're turned out of their cells
like animals for exercise. Miss Dix. hav-
ing had ner sympathies aroused by the
condition near her own home. visited
asylumS and retreats for the insane in
every state east of the Rocky mountains
She found men and women. often entirely
naked. chained in their cells and Inra shed
into submission to the wills of their keep
ers. most of whom were both brutal and
cruel. Through her influence. one wealthy
the asylum in Rhode Island. her own
state. into good condition. This after
ward served as a model to other state
asylums. The care and attention given
even to the pauper insane is largely due
to this woman, who died at an advanced
age in 1887. in Trenton. n. j.. where she
had been asked to make her home in rec
ognltlon of what she had accomplished
In the reorganization of the insane
aSvlum of that town.
Since Miss DiX's time other charita Bile
women have found that her work could
be broadened to include the suffering peo-
pie in institutions OF many classes. They
have proved that many children retained
as idiots can be restored to normal in
telllgence by Proper education and treat
ment. and they have taken means to sup
ply that treatment. Miss Margaret Ban
croft of Haddonfield. n. j.. was one of
the first persons to demonstrate that even
the mentally defective child was entitled
to all the education it could assimilate.
Her work has had a most important bear
ing upon the development Of the special
classes for defective children which now
are recognized part of the public school
systems in most large cities In Phila-
delphia. the first class for defective chill
dren was established by the phiiantnropIc
women of the Civic Club, who provided
funds for it's support until its utility was
so established that the city took # over
as a part of the public school plant.
Women have been responsible for manv
movements for the improvement of the
health condi-
Many Movements Due tons of the
to Women Of Country. The5 u orr ry.
izations are the first 70 lend aid in any
sudden emergency. The work of the
great Red Cross Society. which sends it's
aid to starving China, to the wounded
soldier on the Turkish frontiers as read
lily as to the flood-stricken people along
our own river banks, owes it's origin to
wonlan's charity. When the beloved
SldTd DdTtOu passed away last year d1CcT
long exceeding her three-score years and
ten, the tributes to her memory came
from the soveregns of the world. as we'll
as countless thousands of her own coun-
try people who had benefited by her low
ing work. The work of women for tenn
perance, for the abolition Of vice, for bet
ter living conditions for the poor work.
ers, for health, for public improvement
of every kind. is each week branching
out into new channels of philanthropic
work.
Perhaps because their own educational
advantages were so long limited. modern
women are working eagerly 20 extend
some opportunity to acquire an education
to those who are out of reach of the
regular schools. Last year. in New Or
leans, a quiet patient little woman died
after years of invalidism, who in her own
home, working against odds which would
have discouraged any but the stoutest
heart, had been able to teach hundreds
of neglected boys and girls to read when
there was no provision for night schools
for young workers yet available in that