Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-07-16
By LAUREL C. THAYER,
City Court Probation Officer.


Ny Journal for Tuesday, May 81, 1918
says:
Nellie SIS case continued indeti-
nitely on condition that she leaves the
city Immediately for her fathers farm"
I chartered a police auto from the cap
tain on duty, and We started for the
Union Station, the two policemen in the
front seat. and Nellie and 1 in the back.
We had half an hour IN which 10 90
after her clothing and meet the train
Nellie directed the way to the frame
rcoming house on East Ohio street where
she spent the few hours when she was
not on the street or at Fit Benjamin Har-
rison.
Stale air from a haIf-dozen sleeping
rooms poured into the front hall. carpet
less and dusty. Two wOmen's faces
peered through half opened doors won
dering what all the noise was about.
OFFICER FINDS
BARREN HOME.
NeIIies room on the second floor was
less dusty than the hail. but looked
empty and barren in spite OF its four
pieces Of furniture of the cheapest. an
cient wooden variety-a bed small dress
er. old-fsshioned washstand and straight
backed chair.
Two windows, with their shabby. dark
green shades, and torn, half curtains,
looked out upon a small backyard orna-
mented solely by pile Of weather-beat-
en- dry goods boxes. The four walls
of the room were absolutel bare. Not
even a photograph relieved their wide
expanse.
This, then, was NeIlie's home"
Every girl has her household gods.
You remember il was the photo Of Lord
Kitchener on the dresser Of the east end
London working girl, in one Of O'Henry's
stories. that looked its disapproval when
she was about 10 60 to supper with 4
young FOUNDER" And she did not 90.
NeIlie's household gods were two IN
framed group pictures Of her soldier
friends at the fort. They were on her
dresser near the brOken black comb and
the brush with all the enamel rubbed off.
A frightened glance at the policemen
and probation officer, who stood by while
she packed. reassuTed her that the pre-
cious pictures would not be mOlsted.
TENDERL yGUARDs
TWO PICTURES.
'I can take these home any way" she
remarked as the pictures were tenderly
laid on top Of her clothing in 4 very
cheap. aged suit case.
As the girl stepped on the train at the
union station, she took my hand and
said with a smile I'm much obliged
to you Good-by. Be good"
The peculiar admOnitiOn has had
special force
It is not Of Nellie that am thinking
today. She has sunk into the limbo Of
the unknown that engulfs most OF the
young girls that are officially placed on
trains for their homes.
1t is Of her rOoming- house home"
h0r IN
with her arrest and appearance in police
court
The bouquet Of violets on the stenogr1-
piers desk in that cramped. sordid office
may explain why she is not in Nellies
place.
There was no hint of violets in Nellie's
room: no vase: no picture, no book, not
the slightest trinket: not the least touch
of art.
Can you imagine a woman vOUntarilv
spending her leisure hours in such a
prison: Prison indeed would it be to
a young girl. Need we be surprised at
the terrible reaction?
There was in Nellie's heart the youths
love Of excitement and the desire to jump
out Of the hum drum experience OF life"
VAGRANT CHARGE
MEANS ANYTHING.
70 1t is strange, then. that she found the
Army activities at the fort, with all its
military glamor its young life. attract
tive
Nellie was slated IN police court for
"vagrancy." which in police parlance,
covers a multitude Of sins.
No attempt is >Qade to excuse Nellie in
quoting the following from Jane Ad-
dams; we are only trying to explain her.
After citing the 1900 youths who were
tried in Chicago for Offenses, Miss Ad-
dams remarks:
Possibly these 1900 youths were
brought to grief because the adult popu-
lataion assumed that the young would
be able to grasp only that which is pre-
sented in the form Of sensation: as If
they believed that youth could thus early
become absorbed in a hand to mouth ex
istence, and so entangle in materialism
that there would be no reaction against
It. 1t is as though we were deaf to the
appeal Of these young creatures, claim
ing their share of the Joy Of life. flinging
out Into the dingy city their desires and
aspirations after unknown realities. their
unutterable longings for companionship
and pleasure. Their very demand for
excitement is a protest against the dull
ness OF life, to which we ourselves in
stinctively respond"
Nellie in her lonely roomi
Could we fathom her thoughts as she
lay wide awake. staring at the bleak
barren, unrespOnsive walls with their
dingy, streaked wall paper during her
brief visits to her apartment" we might