Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-04-09
Ry HAYDEN CHURCH.

LIVERPOOL. England. April l, 1872.
HCHE is. think. the most ex-
traordinary woman I have
ever met. II you, study the
careers of the people in his
tory who have done most for hu-
manity you will find few in which
some element of self-interest cannot
be traced. but have looked in vain
for any regard for self in her. And
to Know, as we know here. OF the
influence which this frail. delicate
girl is able to exert over the strong
men to whom she is at once mother
and, in the true sense of the term,
a ministering angel Is to make one
doubtful if, after all. the age of
miracles is. past"
1t was Horace Lee Washington,
American consul in this famous sea-
port, who spoke thus to me yester-
day. The girl Of whom he was speak
ing is an American girl-an Ameri-
can girl who is carrying on a work
for Americans in Liverpool which it
is probably no exaggeration to de-
scribe as as fine and pretty near as
hazardous a one as has ever been
performed by member of her sex.
For more than two years now this
girl, whose name is Ethel L. Fisher
and whose home town is Randolph.
N. Y, has been doing street patrol
in Liverpool on behalf of the Ameri-
can Y. NJ. C. A. She is, am told. the
only woman, certainly the only Amer
lean woman, who is doing similar
work.
MISS FISHERS job is to act as
A'A protector and good fairy gener-
ally to the men of the American mer-
camille marine and all the other
American seamen whose voyages
bring them to Liverpool. and the way
she gets away with it, is a source
of sheer amazement to everybody who
hears about it. You will understand
and possibly share that amazement
when 1 tell you what are the two
principal duties of this plucky and
resolute American girl.
One of them is to get off the streets
and thereby save from arrest Yankee
sailor boys who have looked too fire.
quently upon the wine when 1t is
red. The other is to protect them
from the special danger that threat
ems them as a result of association
with bad companions. The latter In
Liverpool, are numbered by the hum
dreds, and their favorite prey is the
men of Americas merchant navy.
II an American sailor gets drunk
here and is "pinched" it means at
the least that he won't get back to
his ship next day IN time to report
for duty, and that he will be locked
a couple of days pay. At the worst
it means that he will miss his ship
altogether. lose all the money that
is coming to him and be stranded in
Liverpool with no chance of getting
another job for weeks. So IL Miss
Fishe- spots an American sailor on
the street here who has evidently had
too much to drink. she generally car
ries him off, willy-nilly, to the Ameri-
can "Y" Hostel and keeps him there
till he is sobered up. Or if he is due
for duty aboard ship within a few
hours, or she happens to know (and
she makes it her business to know
that his ship is leaving port before
the sobering-up process can be &C
complished. she. takes him down to
the docks and puts him on board.
How on earth does she manage to
do these things? That is the ques-
ton that stumps everybody-more
than any one else. perhaps, the Liver
pool "bobbies'-i.e.. policemen-one
of whom, Miss Fisher told me. re-
Gently remarked to her that his job
was bad enough. but that he wouldn't
take hers for all the money the king
could pay him.
X r \ X
ITO discover how she does it, and.
l. incidentally, to get her own. ac-
count of the wonderful work, as it is
unhhesitatingly described by every
one familiar with it, that this Ameri-
can girl is carrying on here was the
business that brought me to Liver
pool couple of days ago. But first