Evening star., 1928-10-10

Finally the difficulties apparently had
been cleared away. Two and 2 some
how had been made to equal 5. The
| family started to leave. Mrs. Dow dug
into the depths of closet and came
out with two toys in her hand, har-
monica for Billy and china doll for
the little girl in the hospital. When
they we're stepping over the threshold
| the woman suddenly turned, ran back
into Mrs. Dow's arms, and kissed her.
| There is always a call for dolls and
| harmonicas and shoes and stockings in
that dingy Office of the Episcopal City
Missions.
Mrs. Dow follows her cases from
court and jail into the homeS-and
they usually are dingy and broken
homes. Everywhere she is Mother
but particularly at the District Jail and
at Occoquan, where she goes down into
the depths like visiting angel THE
fail is my hangout," she says. There
are few of the men and women who get
behind the bars who are not in need of
"mothering," and Mrs. Dow volunteers
TO give it to them. Sometimes the
repentance and despair means a turn
ing point in the life of the individual.
Every day brings forth new tasks for
Mrs. Dow. Old cases return, once more
in trouble. There is a good deal of un-
employment just at present. The
fathers of reunited families lose their
jobs and fearful wives come for Succor
to the only friend they know. Dere-
lictS stranded in the city drift into the
basement and ask for help. Men. just
cut of prison come to be directed to
job or for a recommendation which will
Offset the prison record And nobody
passes out OF the door without help of
some kind.
Holds No Case Hopeless.
Mother Dow regards no case as hope
less. There is no miracle, she holds,
which cannot be accomplished, for the
guiding spirit of the City Missions has
infinite power. Most of her time is
spent in very practical discussions, but
every now and then the smile fades
from her n1otherly face, there is an
emotional culver in her voice, and she
pleads with her patients to put their
faith in Christ.
Father DoW-the term applied to him
in the jails and hospitals is partly an
ecclesiastical title suggested by his
Roman collar and partly a term of
ffection-descendS into the depths of
the inferno outside the gates. He min
listers to those who have no other min
tsters-the men and women whom the
world has forgotten.
For a long time there have been
Episcopal services at St. Elizabeth's
Hospital, conducted by the City Mis-
sions department. Other churches also
hold their services there, and all do
excellent work among the mentally
afflicted The services are attended by
those with ground parole and those con-
trollable enough to be intrusted in the
chapel with attendants. Religious Sug-
gestion is valuable part of psychiatric
treatment. Litanies and music tend to
sooth the mind and re-eStablish old
connections with reality.
But one class of patients was not
reached by these ministrations-the
criminals in Howard Hail. These men
were prisoners. They were guilty of
|.about every crime on the calendar.
Many of them had records of brutal
murder. Yet the criminal insane prob
ably are the most intelligent of all and
perhaps in need of the greatest SYM
pathy. Some are paranoiacs with no
mental deterioration except in certain
definite lines. Some are pSychopathic
personalities who seemed to retain a
normal intelligence and who could not
be classified in any of the ordinary
pathological groups. Some are loatn-
some creatures with crimes of a nature
not usually discussed. Demons ragged
In the minds of these men-hates en-
gendered of the great primeval forces
that underlie the consciousness of the
human race.
Among these men went Father Dow,
with results that won the highest COM
mendation from the hospital staff. Now
services are held in Howard Hall twice
a month and the clergyman receives
frequent calls to come to some of the
inmates. Probably no field of his &C
tivitieS has yielded better results. To
bring religion to the mind of an in
sane man requires specialist. 1t Is
quite q different matter from preach
ing to people with whole minds.
Ministering to the feeble-minded is
different proposition altogether. The
insane can understand. Sometimes
they have quite keen understandings.
They know what the minister is talk.
ing about, but they have a continual
tendency to distort 1T. The feeble
minded, however, fail to grasp the
meaning of his remarks. DR.. Dow has
found, however, that he can do a great
deal of good among them. For one
thing, they can be reached by music.
Men and women who can't follow a
logical argument can learn a simple
tune and many of them have excel
lent voices. They enjoy singing and
look forward to the clergyman'S COM
ing. Furthermore, he has found that
they have excellent memories They
may not understand what they re-
member, but they retain the words.
| His coming is a pleasant interlude In
the dreariness of their lives.
JaiIs Promising Field.
His most promising field, DR.. Dow
says, is in the jails. There he spends
great deal of his time. He. has probed
| the minds and hearts of criminals. He
finds that they are not such bad type
after all and that no man % so far
gone but that he cannot be turned to
better ways. And he finds that most
criminal cases follow a strangely SIM
liar pattern.
IT think I can say safely" he said,
| that 80 per cent of the boys who go
| 20 Jail are there because of some
| woman-either sweetheart who
| proves untrue, or a nagging or ex-
| travagant wife. Many a man gets into
trouble trying to satisfy the demands
of woman for luxuries which he can
not buy for her with the money he
earns and she pushes him on into crime
to secure money"
The second great reason for the GRIM
| inal of the present, according to DR..
| Dow's observations, is the Volstead act.
He doesn't state his opinions on the
general subject of prohibition, but he
has found that disrespect of the en-
forcement act often has been the first
step in disrespect for all law. Surely
a more competent witness never bore
testimony to this oft-repeated COM
| plant.
Broken homes also are a frequent
| case of crime, he says. This is par
one reason why Mrs. Dow tries so hard
to keep homes from being broken up
! aad to Eeanata saareats after thsg AaNs