The Washington times., 1914-03-29
WASHINGTON WOMEN
BECOME BIG SISTERS
Mrs. Dubois interests Many in
Helping Working Girls of the
, City.
Continued from First Page.l

(Continued from First Pagel
is all that is necessary, and should be
administered with a coating Of real
sisterly sympathy and appreciation.
Mis- Dubois and Miss E. Bigelow told
the story OF the work that :laS so Tar
been done, and gave brief outline OF
how to go about being big sister or a
big brother They impressed uTon their
hearers that it is a great game TO play,
and that the greatest thing ABOUT II Is
that there aren't anv rules to IT, en-
rept those rules person makes for
himself.
How to Begin.
The idea is to make yourself known
to some ene who needs symGahy-some
ono who is having hard tiT1e ior want
of sympathy. The matter of personal
prejudice doesn't enter into At at All.
The matter of personal preference ISL
to be considered either-nobodS' leei-
ings need be unnecessarily hurt.
During the course of Miss Bigelow's
address some one in the audience asked
her how one cou begin big sister work
low or Mrs. DIP Bois would furnish a
candidate for sisterhood, with the ad-
dresses of some of the people who need
help. Miss Bigelow laughed heartily:
''Just go downtown some evening after
o'clock and go into any restaurant
east of Fourteenth street., she replied.
II don't care what kind of res .aurarH
you go into. Suit your own taste and
convenience. But stay there two or
three hours and watch. You'll not have
to be given the names and addresses of
eople who need help if ycu'l keep your
eyes open.
"Or better yet-put on some old
clothes-the kind of clothes you think a
woman earning s. or IS a week would
wear-and &C look for a room that You
could rent with that income. And look
at the room. at its furnishings. at the
pictures. and tie paper = the wall, al
the conveniences it has. And then ask
Your prospective landlady about the use
of the parlor-and see what kind of a
parlor you get oh, you won need any
names and addresses
And il you don't feel that you could
do any of these" said Mrs. Dubois.
take turn on the Avenue after dark
some evening and keep your eyes open.
Or walk along r street and ride up
and down the street car lines. Or go
into the moving picture shows. And
locks interesting, just think what you'd
like to have a sister say TO you If you
were the person you've seen. Then go
say it!
a nutshell Be human. Be a sister.
There are s1.l0o ooe, 900 spent every year
in this country for police forces. jails.
penitentiarieS. courts. and correctional
institutions. And $500. .0eo.0OG is spent for
schools and churches I'm not decrying
but note there is half billion less
than for schools. The constructive
things of life draw only after as much
support as it is necessary to give the
repair department.
Prevention the Object.
THE big sister movement is prevent
i've It is calculated to keep the courts
idle, the jails empty, the police forces
simply patro'ling beats. We want TO
prevent criminals Today in Washing
ton the work of the Juvenile Court is
nemendous-far more than it was when
IL started. The children brought into
that court are carded-their ofenses
arc made a matter of record: This
shouldn't be. Why brand a child as a
criminal and serd him to correctional
institutions Jail? And that is where
the great work of the big sisters and
big brothers comes in. The foundation
of this republic is its children. We
must have healthy minded children. and
a healthy-minded child isn't going to
iail It's a sign Of III health when they
20 to jail. And what We want to do Is
10 keep them healthy. Reform begins
in the home. We want to educate the
women eeem to regard the Job of being
a mother as a sort Of monitors posi-
ton The 'don't-do-that Willy type is
Oar too common.
willy won't do that if Willy can be
shown it is rot q healthy thing for
him to door II he can - shown some
thing he can do that is better for him
than that The big sisters are not only
TO show Willy. but TO show WHY'S
mother; We've got 10 educate these
people TO believe that boys don't throw
bsseballs to break windows. They
throw them to catch or TO bat. Con-
seaueEtly. it doesn't help the boy bit
for you to make ii against the law
policeman to collar him when he ac-
cfoeptaly breaks a window with Base
ball or when he walks on the grass in
e park.
No Place for Play.
There are far to many Keep off the
g1oes'' signs in this comUunity. We've
so< Q lot Of beautiful parks here-but
net enough places where child can
play. Most Of the cases in the Juvenile
Court are the baseball and walking on
the grass kind. Personally. I love TO
see the grass and the flowers. But
icVe the boys and girls a whole lot more
and II it's q choice between them, Id
vote to cut out the grass and flowers.
I've enjoyed myself immensely dur
ing the last year. And ! want 10 show
YOU how you can enjoy yourselves. And
enjoy yourselves in your own way, be-
cause you can go at this thing as you
like It. Yon don't have TO follow any
onSs rules. Play the game according 10
your own system, and you'll do some
thing. We want to get the Y. NJ. c. A,
OF some other organization to take over
the boy end of il and let US devote our
selves to the girls But this Is not Or
gsnization work, in the general sense
Tho organiZs tiOns are doing other WORK.
The Consumers League. for instance.
has gotten through an eIeht-hour law.
snd Il is going 10 get 4 minimum wage
law. AND there's going 10 be Il lot IF
work for us when that minimum wage
law is enacted. We've got to get very
bCsy with the people who T-i!l be thrown
out Of work. The Kenyon Dill put
strain on us. But We manag To bear
up under il. And wa'Te going to bear
up under all of il. We want help. We
are not asking you to join big sister
moyement-bcca cause !eu' rc ~ Eig sisters
already. We want YOU TO aUrk At il.
That il all there is TO il.
Now that you've read this far you'll
realize what you've let Yourself in for
bv taking up tire paper this afternoon.
You're a big sister or big brother
lust like the rest OF US. Weloome to
our league. All you've got TO do now is
10 work at II.