The Washington times., 1914-03-07
Bv KATE WALLER BARRETT.

One of the most important factors
in determining a girls fall Is a
broken home.
Less than one-third of these 1oo.-
900 girls had normal homes. Eth
er one or both parents were dead
or divorced, and the girl had been
denied the care of father or moth
er. Usually she had been placed out
to work early In life or else had
been kept by an indulgent parent in
idleness. The vanity Of parents IN
making ladies" of their daughters
instead Of teaching them something
by which they can earn an honest
living, Is pitiful. The mother, bend
ing over a washtub and the daughter
dawdling in the drawing-room Is
often the background to the lie Oh
an unfortunate girl.
Such a mother once brought her
daughter to the Florence Crittenton
Home in Washington. She gave the
home 500 for the care OF the giri,
which was SO rare an occurrence tha1
II was ouite an episode. Wefound that
the girl, although really capable, mad
been taught nothing. We put her IN
the laundry, where she was perfectiy
happy and did fine work one oay
the mother called to see her. with
bride. I told her of how well the
girl was doing in the laundry.
Raised To Be Lady.
She looked at me. with anger flash
ine in her eyes, and said. DO you
mean to tell me that you have my
duehter washing. She never touched
even her own clothes in her lie. 1
always did her washing myseif. L
would not let her do 1t. My daugh-
ter has been raised to be a lady.
looked her straight il the eye
and I said, Madam. IL had had
such a nice daughter as you have
and had to bring her to Florence
Crittenton Home when she was less
than eighteen years old. 1 would De
glad TO know that some one else was
using different methods with her
than I had used
She insisted upon taking her
daughter away. SO ! called the girl
in and told her Of the conversation
and said that would see the treas
urer returned to her the SlO0 that she
had given to Us. But the daughter
had more sense than the mother and
she said II won't go. l have been a
fool long enough and now L am
going to stay here and make some
thing of myself.
And so She did.
Today she Is as fine and able a wo-
man as any one could wish TO see.
Many mothers are too much like
the hen that raises ner brood for
the market and displays them in the
worlds show windows.
AS j have stated before. most OF
the girls began to work when they
were in their teens. The majority
looked for a job. and the first one
they found they took
I heard Richard lie Gallienne say
to Edwin Markham that he had just
heard OF a man who had been look
ing for a Job eight wears, and mad
dropped dead when he found it.
| remarked that l thought the man
deserved to die il he had spent eight
wears looking for 4 Job" for in
that time he could have had time to
learn a trade or a profession.
hate the word Job and, IL its
baneful Influence could De traced.
many a girl would be found who lad
fallen because it was Job. rather
than a vocation, that she WIS look
ing for.
Lack of Home Standards.
As a rule these girls received wages
enough to keep body and soul to-
pether. | have never found a case
in which the need of the bare neces-
stiles of life was the cause of girls
fall. but, as I have said before, eco
nomic conditions have much to do
With the social evil. AS n rule. girls
know verv little of the value of
money.
They have lived from hand to
Irouth, and It Is one of the traves-
ties of our economic order that peo-
pIe who need to be economical can't
afford to be. 1t takes money to be
able to make the most of money.
ard to spend it to advantage.
II were to work for minimum
wage. IL would be for fathers. and
not for daughters. for then the
daughters might stay ut home long
enough to learn something, and while
at home might have sufficient in
come to be taught to spend 1t judi
cioCslv.
Lack of home standards is one OF
face and much OF this comes from
wrCng economic conditions surround
ing labor
Temporary and intermittent trades
are another source of danger to
AM,ISCMcN1S