第81章 MORE CRUSADES.(15)
Then,again,it can easily be understood that the monotony of domestic service in this country is not altogether congenial to the tastes of many of these girls,who have been accustomed to a life of excitement and freedom.This can be easily understood.To be shut up seven days a week with little or no intercourse,either with friends or with the outside world,beyond that which comes of the weekly Church service or "night out"with nowhere to go,as many of them are tied off from the Salvation Army Meetings,becomes very monotonous,and in hours of depression it is not to be wondered at if a few break down in their resolutions,and fall back into their old ways.
On the plan we propose there is something to cheer these girls forward.
Life on the farm will be attractive.From there they can go to a new country and begin the world afresh,with the possibility of being married and having a little home of their own some day.With such prospects,we think,they will be much more likely to fight their way through seasons of darkness and temptation than as at present.
This plan will also make the task of rescuing the girls much more agreeable to the Officers engaged in it.They will have this future to dwell upon as an encouragement to persevere with the girls,and will be spared one element at least in the regret they experience,when a girl falls back into old habits,namely,that she earned the principal part of the money that has been expended upon her.
That girls can be rescued and blessedly saved even now,despite all their surroundings,we have many remarkable proofs.Of these take one or two as examples:--J.W.was brought by our Officers from a neighbourhood which has,by reason of the atrocities perpetrated in it,obtained an unenviable renown,even among similar districts of equally bad character.
She was only nineteen.A country girl.She had begun the struggle for life early as a worker in a large laundry,and at thirteen years of age was led away by an inhuman brute.The first false step taken,her course on the downward road was rapid,and growing restless and anxious for more scope than that afforded in a country town,she came up to London.
For some time she lived the life of extravagance and show,known to many of this class for a short time--having plenty of money,fine clothes,and luxurious surroundings until the terrible disease seized her poor body,and she soon found herself deserted,homeless and friendless,an outcast of Society.
When we found her she was hard and impenitent,difficult to reach even with the hand of love;but love won,and since that time she has been in two or three situations,a consistent Soldier of an Army corps,and a champion War Cry seller.
A TICKET-OF-LEAVE WOMAN.
A.B.was the child of respectable working people--Roman Catholics--but was early left an orphan.She fell in with bad companions,and became addicted to drink,going from bad to worse until drunkenness,robbery,and harlotry brought her to the lowest depths.
She passed seven years in prison,and after the last offence was discharged with seven years'police supervision.Failing to report herself,she was brought before the bench.
The magistrate inquired whether she had ever had a chance in a Home of any kind."She is too old,no one will take her,"was the reply,but a Detective present,knowing a little about the Salvation Army,stepped forward and explained to the magistrate th at he did not think the Salvation Army refused any who applied.She was formally handed over to us in a deplorable condition,her clothing the scantiest and dirtiest.For over three years she has given evidence of a genuine reformation,during which time she has industriously earned her own living.
A WILD WOMAN.
In visiting a slum in a town in the North of England,our Officers entered a hole,unfit to be called a human habitation--more like the den of some wild animal--almost the only furniture of which was a filthy iron bedstead,a wooden box to serve for table and chair,while an old tin did duty as a dustbin.
The inhabitant of this wretched den was a poor woman,who fled into the darkest corner of the place as our Officer entered.This poor wretch was the victim of a brutal man,who never allowed her to venture outside the door,keeping her alive by the scantiest allowance of food.
Her only clothing consisted of a sack tied round her body.Her feet were bare,her hair matted and foul,presenting on the whole such an object as one could scarcely imagine living in a civilised country.
She had left a respectable home,forsaken her husband and family,and sunk so low that the man who then claimed her boasted to the Officer that he had bettered her condition by taking her off the streets.
We took the poor creature away,washed and clothed her;and,changed in heart and life,she is one more added to the number of those who rise up to bless the Salvation Army workers.
SECTION 6.--A PREVENTIVE HOME FOR UNFALLEN GIRLS WHEN IN DANGER.
There is a story told likely enough to be true about a young girl who applied one evening for admission to some home established for the purpose of rescuing fallen women.The matron naturally inquired whether she had forfeited her virtue;the girl replied in the negative.
She had been kept from that infamy,but she was poor and friendless,and wanted somewhere to lay her head until she could secure work,and obtain a home.The matron must have pitied her,but she could not help her as she did not belong to the class for whose benefit the Institution was intended.The girl pleaded,but the matron could not alter the rule,and dare not break it,they were so pressed to find room for their own poor unfortunates,and she could not receive her.