New Britain herald., 1917-10-11

hearing and any service we can in
 wisdom render. Some require per
 sonal. individual help, some material
 relief, others employment, medical 1 or legal advice, or even correctional
 treatment. And it is our business to
 discover by careful sympathetic study
 of each individuals problem, what
 particular sort of service we can give
 to help him regain, if possible, a
 normal place in society and become independent of further charity. For our own society we have faith 1 that the work which has grown so l tremendously in the past few years l will continue its growth and constant ] ly adjust its service to the needs of l the city. Home service of the [ highest standard is cur ideal, and
 during the past year various methods 1 have been used in working toward l this.
 When the war is ended there will 1 be need for social effort and recon struction such as the world has never 1 known-work that must be carried on with closest unity. New Britain 1 has been commended many times of l late for the unusually fine spirit of team work prevailing among its var 1 ious organizations. Promotion of such cooperation along with emer- gency relief, form the two main req sons for the existence of our society. Publication of a Social Welfare Di- rectory, showing the city's philan- thropic resources, has been one of our
 methods of promoting such team
 work. Twenty-two public addresses 1 winter have helped bring about a better understanding of our work. The little pilgrimages of groups con- ducted to various welfare agencies for
 better acquaintance with their work,
 have continued through another year.
 Our Social Workers Conference com
 posed of representatives of all the
 welfare agencies of the city has
 passed its third year, meeting once
 a month at the Charity Organization
 rooms to discuss matters of mutual
 interest. And our Women's Advisory
 committee composed of twenty rep-
 resentative women of the community,
 has met regularly for two hours every
 week, to talk over family problems
 and advise with the paid workers.
 Home Service" was the watchword
 of the study class of young women who came together for weeks on Sat-
 urday mornings in our office to study civic problems at first hand, and plan out, how they themselves would meet each situation. Those in charge of National Home Service Divisions of the Red Cross are urging every Char ity Organization society to undertake classes of this sort this year to train women to serve with their heads as we'll as their hands. We have already completed two such winter courses with success.
 Home Service" is also the .key- note in the work of the group of who have rendered valu- able service to their community through our society by giving during | the year, 204 hours of their time to l work in our office, and by making l ,75 calls in connection with our work, 1 going about usually two by two. These 1 7oung women were members of our lasses in previous years, and are bet CT able to give intelligent service be- ause of their knowledge of the city's fairs. They arrange to take children 0 doctors and specialists in this city nd out of town, they see to pre- escort youngsters whose yes need testing, buy railroad tickets, egotiate in rent or insurance mat CTS, consult with school teachers, l ake messages and papers to other of ices, pay bill in stores and restaur- nts, vertify records at the city clerk s ffice, and perform dozens of like rrands.
 Our Girls Protective committee is
 new activity in home serviee,-most cautiously and conservatively con- al nf uvenile delinquents only ten or fifteen CT cent. are girls, but that among Il delinquent girls eighty per cent. re guilty in crimes against the per- on, we begin to realize with the doc DTS and educators that there is a ast difference between the boy prob em and the girl problem.
 Small boys just naturally congre- ate in gangs, and if the gang gets ato mischief there is some tangible vidence such as stolen metal or a roken window, and the arm of the aw reaches out and gathers them in. With girls it is different. Each girl as one dearest chum to whom she .onfides her hearts inmost secrets, nd the whole girl problem is subtle intricate sex problem, varying in- lnitely with each one.
 Tn clty or the maKe-up or NeW Britain the. girl problem is apt to ,e the parent problem also. When a ypical immigrant family comes to our ;ity the father is at once absorbed nto one of our factories. His wife tays at home and does Old Country in small quarers throw ng a shawl over her head to go to he store for occasional excitement. She speaks only the mother tongue with her family and her neighbors, The children, on the other hand, go o our public schools; they learn to alute our flag; they sing our national they are taught our glorious history and learn to respect our cus- oms and institutions. Then they go nome, and they think father and