Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-30


line between the sublime and the
ridiculous, responsibility and disgrace
crime and innocence. There are sc
many patches Of ice on the roads Of
life.
What to do with this womanP This
is the problem which Mrs. Van Wrinkle
and her aides face over and over again
| accident. But the Woman's Bureau
is not an extra-legal organization. II
can't function as a pSychiatric clinic.
Its activities are walled in on every side
| by the law.
In the eyes of the law the woman is
a thief. 1t does not recognize moral
! accidents. She is as much a thief as
the professional shoplifter The law
says that thieves must go to Jail. It
| doesn't bother about the nuances of
human behavior. After all her years as
faithful wife, loving mother, kind
neighbor, a good church member the
poor woman has tripped over pro-
truding second and fallen head-flrst
into legal situation.
, Fortunately, largely due to the
Woman's Bureau, it doesn't usually
turn out that way. Store owners, when
the circumstances are explained to
to prosecute. The policewoman can
FIX it up"
Wife of Clergyman.
Imagine the plight of one of the re-
cent cases. She was the wife of promi-
nent clergyman, in Washington with her
husband attending church convention.
The trip to the National Capital had
been quite an adventure to her. She was
to give lecture on 1t at q meeting of
the church women when she got home.
She had promised her children and her
friends to bring them something" In
her home city she was the head of
social welfare organization connected
with the church which did much work
among fallen women, broken homes,
etc. In the National Capital she had
attended the meetings of the convention
with her husband. She had listened to
the most eloquent preachers of the de-
nomination. She herself had given a
talk on social work"
Then on the last day Of the conven-
ton, she went to department store TO
get her supply of things from Wash
ington" for the folks back home. The
clerk wasn't looking. The police wom-
ans hand on her arm-the search and
discovery of the stolen article in her
handbag, She hadn't the slightest idea
why She had stolen 1t. It would be
great story for the papers back home.
But the police women fixed it up"
and the folks back home never heard
about 1t. The woman returned as If
nothing had happened to her children.
her church societies. her social work.
But she is a conscientious woman, and
her self-confidence has been shaken.
Mrs. Van Wrinkle has received many let
tiers from her asking for advice. The
ans mind:
This above all, to thine own self be
true,
And it must follow as the night the
day,
Thou can'st not then be false to any
What a hypocrite she must be, she
writes, in her false self ghteousness, TO
give advice to fallen women and the like
II they only knew what sort Of woman
was talking TO them-a THIEF. How
can she conscientiously continue in So
cial work with this brand upon her. It
IS invisible to all eyes but her own, but
she is one Of those rare persons who is
honest with herself.
AND Mrs. Van Wrinkle has had a
hard job trying to convince this woman,
caught red-handed at stealing, that
she is ut to continue doing good to
others. For the police women know
that there are shadowy spots in most
llves-eventS which folks don't talk
about, but 60 about their business as
II they never had happened. Their
experience has convinced them, even
without self-analysis, that about every
body has the makings of thief. Some
never had q good opportunity. Some
nave never been caught. It's a hard
job to get through life without stealing
law or no law. Folks do all sorts of
things on the impulse of the moment,
literally without intending to do them
or knowing why they do them.
Another, Wife of Minister.
There was another minister's wife
not that minister's wives are any bet
ter than other folks, but somehow or
other they At into type, csses-who was
caught stealing under somewhat differ
emit circumstances. The church was
poor. Her husbands salary was small
He had high ideals regarding the proper
attitude of a minister Of Christ toward
sordid financial matters. When the
church needed money he gave 1t out OF
his own salary. "The Lord will pro-
vide" they sang at the Sunday evening
prayer meetings. Consider the lilies
of the field" he read in st. Matthew
They had q large family with big
appetites, marvellous ability at Kicking
out shoes and wearing holes in stock
ings, and subject to all the maladies
Of children requiring medical attention
The family must keep up an appear
ance. The minister couldn't afford to
appear in his pulpit without a clean
collar. The minister's wife couldn't be
the shabbiest dressed woman IN the
congregation. The minister's children
| couldn't be sent to school in rags. This
was dreadfully obvious to the wife.
Somehow or other, the bills piled up
The shop-keepers became nsistent
There were letters from lawyers.
| So one afternoon, while the good mar
was composing his sermon for the nexl
| Sabbath, his wife was being searched
/ in the rest room of a department store
| She was a THIEF. She told the same
old story Of the sudden impulse. Per-
haps it was true, but in this case there
was plenty of reason for the impulse.
! Here again the trouble was "hxeo
up" The congregation never heard
about it.
THOSE women who steal on the i'm
| pulse of the moment, Mrs. Van Wrinkle
says, seldom take anything of much
| value. The objects are attractive
| rather than costly. They attract the
| eve rather than the avarice. Wealthy
J society matrons, to whom price is nc
incentive, occasionally are caught and
taken, sobbing Historically, to the House
of Detention,
A psychological explanation of thi:
inpulsive stealing probably would be
rather complicated. 1t is one Of those
| dark corners of human behavior which
are not very well understood.
But, says Mrs. Van Wrinkle, it is only
common sense to assume that thes'
women are not criminals in the &C
cepted sense Of the word and they don't
deserve the treatment OF criminals
The plain fact sand it may be rather
hard to adrnit-that anybody's wife OF