The Washington herald., 1920-06-13
DEAD PAST BURIED
IN HILLS OF VIRGINIA.
Happiness Comes in Feeding Chickens,
Hoeing Potatoes or Saving Wood at
DR.. Kate Waller Banett's Ivakota.

back to visit.
You see, we keep in clos ouch
with the girls after they ave-"
says Mrs Barrett. They are on
probation for a year and IL they
slip back we have power to bring
them back. but never once has this
been necessary. Not a girl that has
left here has returned to her old
ways.
Tells Husband of Past.
Most Of them go into work Of
some sort for which they were pre-
pared here, but the larger part ara
married before long. Yes, their
husbands know they were here-ths
girl tells him herself-but not one
of these marriages has turned out
unhappily"
Just across the road from the
main buildings at Ivakota stands
the unfinished school house, which
will serve as a community house
to the entire neighborhood. There
will be two school rooms on the
first floor and an auditorium above.
The'D. A. r. of Virginia of which
Mrs. Barrett is State regent, has
endorsed ii as a model.
The old school house burned last
winter. When the fire broke out
one of the girls at Ivakota burst
into tears, crying:
"Oh, the school house is burning
down. There goes my last chance
to get an education. have moth
ing more to live for" But Mrs.
Barrett's son, ]. B. Barrett, at once
moved the desks across the road
and that afternoon classes were
continued as usual. In the morn
ing classes are held for the farm
children of the neighborhood and a
few children on Ivakota. while in
the afternoon the teacher, provided
by the State, gives her time to the
girls.
Opposition Wears Away.
When the home was first estab-
lished there was considerable op-
position on the part of nearby
farmers. but this has changed and
grown into a spirit OF cooperation
that makes Ivakota one of the prin-
cipal institutions of the country
side.
With 125 acres of the farm under
cultivation. practically everything
used is produced there. The wheat
| is 81 ound at Manassas, and a num-
ber of hogs are killed each year.
Cattle, however. are sold on the hoof.
! A canning factory now nearing COM
pletion will be ready to handle the
10000 cans of tomatoes produced on
the farm this year. and will help In
| maintaining the farm as well as af-
fording work for the girls, for one
motto observed is TO keep busy"
The only methods of discipline are
| bread and water diet or confine-
ment.
1T is the older girls who volun-
/ tarily maintain discipline" say farm
workers. IF a girl is inclined to
ruin away when she first comes, she
soon gets over it. The girls who
have been here longer talk to her
and show her what a tremendous
opportunity is hers if only she will
! stay, and her attitude changes. One
girl who lett recently to accept a
good position cried like a baby; an
other insists on staying and paying
| for her board. Her brother was
killed in France, and she has his in
surance. We could let her go. but
she prefers to remain"
! Has Helped Girls Forty Years.
For forty years Mrs. Barrett has
been active in the work of the Ma
| tional Florence Crittenton Mission,
which has branches in seventy-six
! cities in America. Probably no other
1 woman in America knows more
| about girls and the influences that
| guide them, nor has won their love
as has Kate Waller Barrett. From
| far and near they flock to her when
in trouble.
Il have one girl in my house in
Alexandria now" she said, who is
| i'll terrible trouble. She was mar
ried to a good man and has an
1S-months old baby to which she
was devoted, when an old sweetheart
persuaded her to run off with him.
They went to West Virginia, taking
the child with them.
| Still Has Hope.
| "As motherhood again approache6
her. she began to grow remorsefuI
Although she loved her little SON
dearly. she took him back to his
| father in expiation and then came
TO me- She won't go back to the
man with whom she ran away, nor
Will she accept any money from him
for support.
| What will I do with her? ar
going to send her to Florence
| Crittenton Mission near her home.
where her husband will probably see
her. i believe he still loves her
and that. once together, he will take
her back.
That girl is not wicked: she was
weak. And 1t works just the same
with men; a boy and girl are
alike. 1 think all boys and girls
should be tested along this line and
| the weak ones helped before they
have gone too far. ] can go into a
high school class full of BOYS and
4 girls and, after a few minutes of
sane talking, can pick out those who
need help and are likely to go
| wrong.
THE most beautiful and the most
fragile thing in the world is the girl
of 16. She longs and yearns for a
part in life. and she will start down
one path or the other.
Her Own Early Life.
over half a century ago a young
| girl of aristocratic family stood
evening after evening under the
trees of her fathers estate beside
the Potomac river and watched the
night boat bound for Washington go
by with it's crowds, lights and mu-
sic. That girl was i.
| "If my mother could have known
my thoughts in those days. her hair
| would have turned white with hor-
| ror. l would have given anything
in the world / possessed to leave
my dull home life and join the out
side world.
| II was just the sort of girl who
/ would have gone wrong, as the