The Washington herald., 1920-06-13

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This much has been proved by DR..
Kate Waller Barrett, of Alexandria,
president of the National Florence
Crittenton Mission.
Three years ago. Mrs. Barrett es-
tablished a rainbow farm for girls
that were called the worst kind"
by the police and courts. 1t nestles
among the hills of Fairfax County,
Virginia. less than thirty miles from
Washington. and is. known as
Ivakota.
| Today, girls who have been
"graduated" from Ivakota are hap
lpiIy married. They boast that they
got their first glimpse of the dawn
of a new day at Mrs. Barretts rain
bow farm. where every girl has
the power within herself to regain
her lost place in the world"
Offering a constructive idea for
the care of girls in their teens, Mrs.
Barrett makes this novel sugges-
ton:
"In every block in every city mt
least one home In failure. Just
across the street II n home where
the sons and daughters will go
morally wrong or where there fs not
enough money to support the family.
Every neighbor IL. the block must
icross the street and gather together
to form a protection for those chill
dren. Ii is Americas hope"
Mother and social worker, presi-
dent of the National Florence
ICrittenton Mission, Mrs. Barrett's
PHILOSOPHY is thus summed up:
| No girl is past reform.
Mothers and wrong home life
are to blame for a girls trans
gression.
NO girl is born bad" the
world makes her so.
Man is just like woman
weak.
! Society leaders set the pace;
the poor girl pays the fiddler.
1t is better for a girl to want
/ something bad and to work for
| il than to have no ambition at
all.
Only Place of Its Kind In U. s.
I Ile vi a " TWIN
{ of her Southern home in Alexandra,
Mrs. Barrett talked to a Sunday
Herald reporter of the girl that
needs another chance and of the one
place in America where she is ac-
ccpted without question of moral,
mental or physical condition.
/ 1t is Mrs. Barrett's belief In the
power of home surroundings that
has led 20 the founding and growth
/ of Ivakota, where girl after girl has
/ fought back" to right living, ac-
iceptance by the world, husband,
home and happiness.
! Five years ago Mrs. Leonard d.
Williams, of Chevy Chase, then Mrs.
Ella D. Shaw, offered her farm as a
gift to the National Florence Crit
tenton Mission if they would take
possession IN three days. They did.
For several years the farm was
used only as summer home for the
Washington branch of the mission,
and then Mrs. Barrett dedicated it to
it's present service.
Are From Washington.
The winding road through the
hills from the little village of Cliff
ton prepares one for the natural
! Deduly VI the ldTIi. "IlOSC "OOuSN
acres and open fields are sweet with
wild honeysuckle this June. On top
of one of those hills stands the main
home, although there are four
houses in which live the fifty-eight
girls now there.
Most of the girls are from Wash
ington and Virginia. To the matron
Miss Margaret Luther, they are hu-
man beings to be loved and trusted
no matter how far down the ladder
of respectability they had gone be-
fore.
"All have come from the streets
from the very dregs of society.
They are girls of 16 and II and is
who have been made the victims OF
evil. willingly or unwillingly. anc
! who have tasted the bitterness OF
the outcast and the diseased.
"A little bungalow houses an in.
firmary, where the United States
Public Health Service maintains q
trained nurse to give them daily
medical attention.
Change Her Whole Life.
But the physical cure is only a
basis" says Mrs. Barrett. 1T is the
complete change in the girls
thoughts and mode of life that
counts. When the girl first goes
out there she may fret and be dis
contcnted. When a holiday comes
, she thinks of the wonderful time
she had in some dance hall the year
before. All her thoughts are in the
past.
:But after she has been there a
year, the holiday is linked up with
the last one at Ivakota and she
does not long for the dance hall
She has been living a clean life in
clean surroundings, and the thought
of going back to dirt and CRIME is
unpleasant to her. She no longer
wants that life.
"It was because she was reaching
out for something new that she
went wrong originally. 1t was heI
desire to express herself, the urge
of her ambition. She took the
easiest path and the one nearest a,
hand, but I would rather have the
girl striving toward something
even though that thing be bad, than
to have all ambition dead.
"It is up to us to divert this en-
ersy into channels that are best
for the girl and for society"
Girls Run Farm.
Every effort is made to have
Iyakota a real farm. To one girl
is assigned the duty of caring for
the electric light plant. to another
the care of the dairy, still another
girl feeds the torty-five hogs
Down in the barnyard a girl stands
. feeding the chickens; just back of
the house two girls are busy with
cross-cut saw getting wood for