Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-26
WOMEN IN LEAGUE
BY Frederic j. Haskin
\ TEW YORK CITY, Feb. 22.-There
" still exists today a popular super

stition that women are traitors to
their own sex, that they fight a petty,
guerilla warfare among themselves, and that
when woman is down and out it is in
varfably man who comes nobly and disin-
terestedly to her rescue.
This may be true in some places, espe-
cially in the masculine mind, but it isn't
so in New York Here Women for
Women" is a popular slogan in the bust
ness and industrial worlds, and the city is
filled with feminine clubs and societies
whose sole object is the assistance or pro-
motion of their own sex.
One of the most interesting Of these is
an organization Of working girls, known as
the Girls Service league, which is dedi-
Gated to the aid and protection of girls
who work. Every girl on it's membership
list is constantly on the lookout for signs
of distress or unhappiness among her
friends and acquaintance. When Laura,
the landlady's daughter, suddenly falls into
deep depression, or when Katie comes to
the factory with eyes red from weeping,
the G. S. L. member does not remain an
innocent bystander. Usually she puts
tactful arm around Laura or Katie, and
says: Say, kid, if there's anything wrong,
come on up to the club and talk it over
with our secretary
The league has two clubhouses in diff
ferent sectors of the city, each possessing
free dormitory of some twelve or fifteen
beds, and an employment agency Girls
who are stranded in New York are well
come to the clubs hospitality at any time
of the day or night. Girls rescued from
various dangers and deIinquencies by social
workers of the New York Probation and
Protective association are also taken in at
the clubhouses. Those who need medical
care are sent to a hospital clinic; those
who are out of work are found jobs through
the club employment agencies; and others,
whose condition demands it, are sent to
convalescent home in the country.
The leagues clubrooms are large and
cheerful with bookcases full of good books;
a piano and Victrola, and many games, in
Guiding parcheesi and checkers. The girls
are privileged to. entertain their young
men friends here on several nights
week, while every Saturday night a club
dance is given. Lectures on health and
thrift and working conditions also take
place every so often, to which parents as
we'll as the girls are often invited.
The objects of the league, as set forth
in it's constitution, are as follows: To
protect girls from mral danger. To pro-
mote moral education. To encourage right
thinking and clean conversation. To i'm
prove conditions of work for girls. To Sc
cure wholesome recreation for girls. To
stimulate faith in the possibilities of life.
Every member is pledged to befriend
lonely girls in the city and those who are
living apart from their families, and to
report girls in need of help; or bad con-
ditions in places where they live or work,
or find their recreation. She is also re-
quired to study the laws relating to health,
labor, recreation and protection, and to re-
port violations of these laws. Girls are
also encouraged to make suggestions for
improving these laws for securing better
enforcement Of them.
Some Examples
And to all these things the growing
membership list of the league subscribes
most earnestly, q few recent instances
will indicate.
There is the case of Alverta, who even
now is being supported by the club. AL
verta was one of a family of ten children
who were very much resented by their sep
father. The little Long Island cabin where
so that the day that Alverta became
sixteen she left and came to New York.
Here she secured a job in factory and
tiny room in miserable boarding house.
Although she lived but scantily, her wages
could not be made to stretch over the en-
tire week. Always there was one night
when she had to go without dinner
On one of these impoverished evenings,
as she was coming home from work, she
met another roomer in the house, a Span
lard. The man took the lean pocketbook
out of her hand, and opened it.
"Only three pennies" he said. 'This
must be the night you do not dine-unless
you go to dinner with me-"
Alverta went. So much Alverta con-
fided to the club director herself. The
rest of her story was filled in by Camilla,
a young Spanish girl who came to the
club one evening and requested help for
Alverta. 1t seemed that after a few months
the Spaniard had tired of taking Alverta to
dinner and had transferred his attentions
to Camilla, who also lived in the rooming
house. The man confided the whole affair
to the girl and asked her to help him get
rid of Alverta by pretending to be very
jealous He also added that he was afraid
trouble might come because of Alverta's
extreme youth.
Camilla said nothing, but inwardly she
decided that it would. A half hour later
she arrived at the club in great indigna
ton.
81 have seen the girl" she told the
director, land she is very young, and there
very stupid He thinks that l, Camilla,
would help him desert this child, who is to
have baby"
A Dramatic Rescue
Yet another member of the league saw
her chance to rush to the rescue of her
sex when she came across a young girl in
the midst of a heated argument with
man in corner of subway station. With
out the slightest comptnction, she listened
to the conversation and heard enough to
convince her that the girl was in serious
danger So, approaching the couple boldly,
she asked the girl if she could speak to
her minute.
'Listen,' she said, in some embarrass-
ment, as she had never rescued anybody
before, ST wouldn't go with him, if 1 was
you You can't trust these New York guys.
If you amt got any place to go, you can
come to club. It's all right. You can
look it up in the telephone book
the girl nervOusly.
G. S. l.. member. Say" she exclaimed,
walking I'D to the waiting man, "beat it.