Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-12

A LITTLE girl stood sobbing among a
group of kindred unfortunates in the
dingy old room of the Manhattan Juvenile
Court one morning three years ago. Her
dress was ragged and soiled, her face I'm
washed, her hair disheveled, her cheeks
pinched for lack of nourishing food, her eyes
swollen with weeping, and her heart a hunger
for an understanding sympathy.
The child's unworthy father had deserted
the mother, then i'll and unable to provide
for her. As an abandoned child she had
been brought to court, where through the
usual channels of public charity some jul
dicial provision might be made for her care.
She was barely old enough to realize how
grievously alone she stood.
By happy chance there had come to
court that morning woman whose person
alitv was notably in contrast with the every
day assembly of mothers present in connec-
ton with the arraignment of their children,
and presently the sobbing little girl realized
that an arm had been tenderly placed about
her and that a gentle-voiced woman was
whispering kind words to her.
And when called to the bar her patron
stood by her side, consulting with the Judge
as to the disposition of her case. In conclusion
the court gave the visitor charge of the little
waif, who thereby escaped the discon1forts of
a public asylum and found protection in a
private home later provided for her.
Following this first visit to the court the
visitor called often, and such incidents were
of increasing frequency. 1t was the little
girls to whom she directed her special at
tention, and particularly those of the Protes-
tant faith. Catholic and Hebrew organiza-
tons, long established, ably cared for needy
children Of their creed and race. Protestant
boys were already being cared for by the
then fve-year-old society Of Big Brothers.
THUS did Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, ST..
begin and for some years continue her
work of investigation in the New
York Children's Court, preparatory to a
comprehensive movement looking to the
care, protection, and rescue of little girls
discovered in need of such attention. And
she is yet familiar figure in this court.
During this preliminary work her upfift-
ing influence on the people she visited was
almost invariably reflected in marked i'm
provement in home conditions, a general
putting of the house in order. The clothes
given the children were kept in repair and
presumably clean, and the children's hands
and faces were clean too,-morning, noon,
and night, at least,-and in most cases a
bath to them was no longer thing OF mys-
terry. Mother tidied up the rooms, and her
person. Father, with steady job now, took
an interest in his home and personal appear
ance, and the corner saloon saw less of him
since the Woman Who Cares had given him
new vision of his paternsl responsibilities.
At the time the Big Brother Society was
organized, some three years after the Chill
dren's Court was established in New York,
it was not believed necessary to take into
consideration any definite proposition look
ing to the care of little girls, 3since most of
them are easily taken care of from the very
nature of their cases"
Mrs. Vanderbilt, however, with her keen
insight and understanding of every phase of
social conditions, looked more deeply into
the situation. From her first survey of this
field she recognized condition in nearly
every case of moral delinquency that would
require intelligent direction in the reclama-
ton of these unfortunate girls, who in most
instances were victims of circumstance and
environment rather than wilful offenders.
1t was because of this conviction that
Mrs. Vanderbilt began her visits of personal
investigation to the Children's Court, from
which has developed the now well organized
Society of Big Sisters, of which, as the origi-
nal Big Sister, she is president and leading
spirit. Mrs. Vanderbilt found that such
girls were not so much in need of punitive
correction, institutional restraint, or the jul
dicial protection offered by the court as