Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-26

Her travels after her faithless lover
ended futilly as nearly all those cases
do and the girl was stranded in one
town after another. She was finally
taken in charge by the police matron
of a nearby town and eventually turn
ed over to me. l comforted this little
wayward girl as well as I could and
after she spent several hours with me
she had frightened up and gave her
solemn resolve to return to her par
ents and live down the blight in her
young life. l just placed her cn the
train a few minutes ago with her
transportation paid to her destination.
! Now that girl is one of those who
can be saved by being taken in charge
at the right time. 1t is in cases OF
this sort that the most effective work
Of the police matron is brought into
/ play. A case of that nature is one
where a good motherly word is better
than all the advice or lecturfng IN the
world. l expect to hear from this girl
in a few days falling me Of life where
| she left on with It several weeks ago.
And speaking Of letters Of all ma
lures. Why I have letters dated back
years and years telling me Of the re-
formation Of some poor unfortunate
young girl whose life was dragged
from the brink Just In time to save
her from lifelong disgrace. And I
have pictures from grateful girls who
are now happy wives and mothers and
whose future was assured to them by
only q few words Of good counsel and
interest in their life as they them
selves saw It.
"One thing that Is most essential IN
work of this nature. Is not to lecture
to girls or to speak to them from your
own position. One must place himself
on the level and make her interests
your interests. A heart to heart talk
is the only manner Of conversation or
advice which these girls Will receive
and heed. l have known girls who
were in my care to beg me not to let
women. who considered themselves
charity workers. visit them in their
cells. The girls said it was misery
for them TO have to listen to high ad-
vice from these women to whom their
own life was an enigma and absolute
ly foreign to them in every way.
And another thing along this same
line, gals who have been placed in a
cell for safe keeping for some minor
or other offense hate to be visited by
these certain women who gaze upon
them as so many curiosities and peer
at them behind the prison bars as one
would at so many monkeys at the cir
Gus. No matter how hardened the
: girl is 70 the iniquities of the world.
: she dislikes being stared at
My years of experience with girls
has proven to me beyond doubt that
there is no girl but that has some good
in her. IT, matters not TO what depth
she has fallen nor how long she has
To been part and parcel of the under
i. strata Of society. She has some vein
Of goodness in her and certain woman
: ly instincts, inherent in all woman
kind, that cannot be effaced nor ex-
-, terminated by even the hardness &C
quired through braZen contact with
the world. ! have found that this one
little inherent element of goodness,
= the desire Of womankind to uplift
, rather than lower humanity, 10 be the
, means Of saving many a girl.
> The regrettable part of human ma
I ture, that which Expresses one who is
down on his luck or on the toboggan.
= as is commonly said nowadays. | find
- 70 be the means Of preventing many a
young girl from redeeming herself be-
iG of " Sc
common trait is overcome by thought
/ full consideration on the part Of some
woman in whose hands the future of a
girl may be placed.
"Of the hundreds OF cases that are
brought TO me during the course of a
year, there are scores that are what
might be termed hopeless cases. These
girls are from the riffratf OF life,
those TO whom no words Of encour-
are so hardened in their ways that
there is absolutely no hope for their
reformation. These girls are general
ly those who come to me from the DO
lice courts and who fill the cells at
the house of detention for both long
and short sentences.
Among these girls are to be found
pickpockets, thieves, drunkards and
others who are 10 be placed in the
category Of down and outs. The com
pany Of such girls and women is gen
orally stunned by other girls who may
{ be in my care at the time and they of.
ten profit by the sad example that Is
thrust upon them with its full effect
This class Of girls is that which was
not cared for at the outset of their
careers in the world. Their young
lives were neglected by their mothers
or fathers and in many instances
! have known where step-mothers oil
: step-fathers have been the sole cause
, OF the ruin Of young girls.
Another cause 20 which | can trace
many downfallen cases is the public
dance hall. do not discountenanct
3 dancing where II is given the proper
1 surroundings and environment but the
r public dance hall where the young anC
= immature girls with shallow minds
!, congregate, is a fertile field for tn,
c pagation Of vice