SANTA CLARA EXPERIENCES. THE SAN JOSE HOME.
All the next day we remained in Redwood City in anticipation of
receiving mail, and our hopes were realized. There were letters of
cheer and encouragement from Mrs. Dorcas Spencer, State Secretary
W.C.T.U.; Mrs. Augusta C. Bainbridge, State Superintendent Purity
W.C.T.U.; Mrs. Elizabeth Kauffman, matron of the Home of Peace; the
chaplain of the Sailors' Home, in which place I had held frequent
meetings; Mr. and Mrs. George S. Montgomery; Judge George Cabaniss;
Captain and Mrs. Kincaid, the superintendent and matron of the county
jail, Branch No. 3, and other friends alike interested. Also, Lucy heard
from her people. It gives me pleasure to copy one of my letters:
622 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, Cal June 30, 1902.
Mrs. Roberts.
My dear Sister:
How I do praise the Lord for laying that burden on you! I have prayed
for it so long. I knew he would lay it somewhere soon. The Woman's
Christian Temperance Union have a special department for jail work, and
some lovely Christian women in charge. The State, county and local
superintendents of jail, hospital, purity, mother's work, evangelistic
and other departments would be glad to help you. I am State
superintendent of purity. Let me know now I can help you.... If you
want the directory you can get it at headquarters, 132 McAllister
Street. You can show this letter to either of the ladies there, and
they will know I endorse you and your work....
Yours in love,
A. C. Bainbridge.
We decided to go to Santa Clara on the morrow. Accordingly, the next
day we were mingling with a great throng of merry-makers--_with them,
but not of them_.
Mr. Lewis' mother, with whom we had dined the previous evening, had
recommended a certain private boarding-house. Hither we repaired, and
were fortunate in finding a Christian hostess, who made us very
welcome. Lucy helped her, she having a great Fourth of July crowd for
meals, whilst I rested.
On the following day I went forth in quest of means to help swell the
fund started in Redwood City. I walked and talked all day; toward
evening I returned to our boarding-house with only a poor report. Lucy
greeted me cheerfully and said:
"I'm going to earn your board and mine, Mother dear. The landlady needs
help; so as long as we're here, it will not be necessary to touch the
fund. You needn't think you are to bear all the burden. No, indeed. I'm
going to do my part, too."
"God bless you, Lucy! I'm so thankful!" I replied. "How good the dear
Lord is and how wonderfully he provides!"
At the end of nearly a week of toil, I had apparently made little
impression. One night as I sat in our room, too tired to go to the
dining-room, Lucy came in, took off my shoes and stockings, cried over
the swollen, blistered condition of my feet, bathed them, made me
retire, and brought to the bedside a tempting meal.
The next day, after making a few calls and receiving some small sums by
way of encouragement, I felt impressed to return to our room and then
go to a handsome home directly across the street from the
boarding-house. Soon I was ringing the bell. A lady greeted me with a
lovely smile, bade me enter, and encouraged me in making known my
errand. Calling her husband, she asked me to repeat my story. When I
took my departure, after receiving overwhelming kindness and a cordial
invitation to return when convenient, I held in my hand my first gold
piece for the fund. The donors were Mr. and Mrs. Chas. E. Moore, who
have been my warm, interested, personal friends from that time to this.
They did all in their power to aid me, particularly through
introductions to people of means in their home town.
Soon I was led to make myself known to the pastors of the various
churches, one of whom agreed to give me an opportunity of addressing an
audience from his pulpit. His name was Thurston, and I shortly learned
that he was a nephew of the people with whom I had traveled in
gospel-wagon work. The following notice in the Santa Clara News of July
7, 1903, heralded the prospective meeting:
FOR A RESCUE HOME
Mrs. Florence Roberts, who is known in San Francisco as the Rescue
Missionary and Singing Evangelist, will address the public in the
Baptist church next Sunday on the subject of the establishment of a
non-sectarian home for women near San Francisco.
She comes highly endorsed by prominent citizens and Christian
societies. There are, she states, thirty-five thousand women on this
coast to be reached, and she is endeavoring to procure funds for a home
to which they can come for reformation. A free-will offering will be
taken at the conclusion of the address.
Prior to this meeting I learned of a little rescue home in San Jose,
the adjacent city, and one afternoon Lucy and I visited it. We went
without previous announcement, for I wanted to satisfy myself as to its
merits. It was a pretty old-fashioned cottage of about eight rooms,
located at 637 East St. John Street. There were but two girls--one a
mother, the other a prospective one--and, sad to relate, a most
inefficient matron. I quickly took in the situation, and, for the sake
of the inmates, privately decided to accept erelong her invitation to
sojourn temporarily under that roof.
After I had thoroughly canvassed Santa Clara, I, acting upon divine
directions, took Lucy and went to the San Jose rescue home.
Before long it became my sorrowful duty to report conditions as they
existed. The president of the board of managers, Rev. J. N. Crawford,
was absent on his summer vacation. Upon learning that the
vice-president, Mrs. Remington (now deceased), was sojourning in San
Francisco, I boarded the train and a few hours later was in earnest
discussion with Mrs. Remington and her friend, Miss Sisson. This
consultation terminated in their sincere plea for me to take upon
myself certain responsibilities, concerning which I promised to pray.
The result was that I felt led to go further south for a while, but not
before some better conditions existed for those two poor girls and
others who might follow.