The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-02-08
BIC SISTER WORK
 TOLD BY ATTY. HELEN MCCORMICK
Members of C a t h o 1 i c Charitable Bure a u Hear Woman Attorney at St. Augustine's Hall.

Hear Woman Attorney
 at St. Augustine's Hall.
 "A Big Sister is not a Lady Boun- tiful who pats the head of a poor child, leaves a tract and jar of jam, when the family has no bread on which to spread the jam, but she is a woman who feels the sympathy that any live human being ought to feel for the boy and girl less fortunately placed who needs the help and ad vice of a friend" said Assistant Dis trict Attorney Helen Mccormick of Brooklyn, N. Y., last night in open ing an address explaining the scope and aim of the Big Sister movement to the Catholic Charitable Bureau at St. AugustfneS hall.
 'In the Big Sister movement" Miss Mccormick continued. there is no room for any woman who is not will ing to give her love, her sympathy, her energy, her active work. In three years our organization in Brooklyn has grown from ten to six hundred, and we have accepted no one unwill- ing to give all of these. You can do more in Bridgeport. We are busy women, who do our own homework or have our places in the business or professional world. We are combined for the purpose of helping those who cannot help themselves.
 "A little boy described the Big Brother as "A fellow who knows all about and likes you just the same, and that is exactly what a Big Sister is. A Big Sister in social work is the same as a big sister in the home, except that the Big Sister is not bound by ties of blood to those she helps. The tie that binds is the love of God, and no one who has not the tant or Jewish has any place in Big Sister work"
 Miss Mccormick related how the Catholic Big Sisters in Brooklyn had interested the Knights of Columbus there in the Big Brother movement, and asked Bridgeport to follow the example.
 Miss Mccormick asserted that the fact that the Big Sisters were vo1un- teers working without pay, freed from the red tape of officialdom, made their path easier in winning the confidence of those needing help. She compared the Big Sister work to prophylact1c medicine, asserting that it was essen tially preventive, adding, "In social science we realize we must not con- fine ourselves to reforming, men and women and children, but we must prevent their getting into trouble. That is the primary field of the Big Sister,"
 Supplementary probation work af- ter the probation officer has carried the case to the end of the period fixed Dy C1le COuTI IS dIHUluOI lieu Ol DIS Sister work, Miss Mccormick said.
 Miss Mccormick cited the case of a youlg girl 15 years of age, who made a grave charge against her father, the only other member of the family, and asserted that had it not been for the Big Sister movement the child would have to be sent to an institution as a girl without protection. The Big Sis ters got the permission of the father and court to have her placed in working girls home, where she is earning her own living and is social asset.
 The omnipresent window that all ways gets in the way of the normal city boy trying to play ball offers an- other opportunity for the Big Sister and Big Brother, who arranges that the boy is put in touch wil1 ath- elite club where he can expend his energy.
 Miss McCorick declared that to the Big Sister the child problem was a family problem, and that almost in variably where there was something the matter with the child, there was something wrong with the family. I've can't rest after attending to the child problem" she said, because to solve that we must solve the family problem No child is ever arraigned in the Chtldren's Court unless there are two other delinquentS standing be- side the child, one the child'S parents, and the second society, and the great
 
 and you and I make up society.
 Miss Mccormick cited the six prin- cipa1 causes of delinquency among children as CD Bad Environment, which may be in the homes of either the poor or the rich; (2) Bad Asso- ciates, on whom there is no age linn it, either minimum or maximum, es- pecia1ly attractive to young boys and girls because of their love of mystery and antipathy to 'Don'ts'; (3) The Wrong Job, the only remedy for which Is to take advantage of every oppor- tunity for vocational guidance, state, city or private. (4 Lack of recrea- tiona1 facilities, and if the right fla cilities are not afforded children will Discipline, and particularly lack Of good example from parents, and if you don't inculcate respect of law. in the home by teaching children by exam pie to respect the parents, there will be no respect for the laws of so- ciety, and (6) Lack of Spiritual Training.
 ters in Brooklyn" Miss McCornicq said. First the Big Sister must be over 21, second she must be a prac- tical Catholic, and third she must be a real Big Sister, which last means she must have tact, common-sense, love of God, anxiety to serve, and willingness to sacrifice time and energy"
 Miss Mccormick asserted that the first Big Sister movement was the Ladies' of Charity organized in Paris by St. Vincent de Paul, which has several branches in this country. Norfh o1.r Pac1fic