New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-02-09

mission. I want to buy a Prince AL
bert coat" and his tone implied that
a mission that could not furnish a
Prince Albert coat upon demand
wasn't much of mission. / fastened
to suggest several places where his
need might be supplied, for l feared
that my inability to hand over the
desired article might result disastrous
~, and at last he turned and disap-
proved as suddenly as he came. In
contrast to this call may be men,
toned that of two Polish children,
who came to greet me when l re-
turned from my vacation, bringing
bouquets of wild flowers 1--WE hadn't
any money to buy flowers" Mary said,
so we went~out and gathered you
some field flowers" l. assured her
that no "boughten" flowers would
have been half so pleasing to me.
Mary told me of her attendance at
the trade school during the summer,
where she learned to sew, and her
brother had been attending the sum-
mer school at the First church, and
had also had a garden at home for
flowers and vegetables
Three Pathetic Calls.
One morning three women followed
one after the other, each with a differ
ent kind of trouble, and in all three
cases we were powerless to effectually
overcome the difficulties in the way.
one was young woman left to sup
port her two children and her trouble
was that there was no place to leave
the children while she went to work.
AT last, a home was found for the baby
in the country, and the mother pays
al 0f
her small earnings. The provision for
Rosie, the other child who is not yet
three years old, reminds me of call
made several years ago on a family of
goodly proportions where the sleeping
Accommodations were decidedly limited.
AS an older sister described to me how
various ones were provided for, l in
CURED And where do the boys
sleep?'' ooh, most anywhere, was the
reply That is where Rosie stays while
her mother is at the factory; and our
hearts ache for her and all the other
ROsies and their brothers who, in the
absence of a Day Nursery, must stay
most anywhere" while their mothers
go to work.
The second caller that painful morn
ing came to say that her husband re-
fuses to let their little boy about three
years old go to the hospital to have
an operation that would enable him 20
walk. All the arrangements had been
made with the specialist, at the re-
quest of both parents, and the child
was to go that very day, when the
fathers refusal put an end to all
further effort to benefit the child and
prevent his growing up in helpless
ness
rTSI.. Itch
who rushed in in great excitement,
tearing her hair and biting her fingers
and in very broken English tried to
make me understand that her ten
year-o1d boy had been arrested for
theft that morning, and as he was
already on probation, she was sure
he would be sent to the Reform school,
7 tried to calm her down till Miss
Brehovsky could be reached, and then
she went with her to- the police station
where a large part Of the day was
spent in the midst Of an exciting
scene. Miss Brehovsky served as in
terpreter, and also as a quieting force
to Mrs. D-who went into a frenzy of
excitement when her boy received the
dreaded sentence to the Reform
school After further consultation
with the probation officer, however, it
was decided to give him one more
chance, and the mothers fears were
allayed for the time, and she departed
to exercise a severe vigil over her
sons going out and coming in. The
total number of office calls for the
year was BAL.
Sewing School Important.
The sewing schools, which are an
extremely important part of our work
and claim a large share of our at
tention, have already been described;
but special mention should also be
made of the Bible verses taught there,
the principles of right living set forth
in story form, and the effort to in
sptre a desire for cleanliness and
neatness in personal appearance; and
when little girl, addicted to careless
attire, much the worse for a pro-
longed existence. whose face, hands
and hair are usually in direct contrast
to the ideal set for them in the Oft
repeated sewing school formula, one
day appears SO completely trans
formed in these particulars that we
scarcely recognize her, we feel that 1T
is almost as much of an achievement
as making 1.-TWO blades of grass grow
where only one grew before"
Students from the School of Mis-
sions in Hartford have been working,
as in other years, in the sewing schools
and have" visited in the homes and
in the hospital. Some Of them have
been teaching English to women who
were anxious to learn our language
and I will read few items from their
reports: Mrs. Sis learning English
very we'll. have been using Pryor
and Ryan's "How to Teach English"
with great success. She is very much
interested both in the English and in
the subject NATTER MRS. Ms as
enthusiastic as ever over her English
lessons and is anxious to continue
them.'