CALL ON THE GOVERNOR AND THEN GO SOUTH.
Acting upon the suggestion of several sympathetic, interested friends,
who realized, with me, the great necessity for "the ounce of prevention
home and school" for many of the rising generation, I took a special
trip to Sacramento in order to submit specifications and plans to
Governor Gillett, then in office.
This was not our first meeting; therefore I was by no means a stranger
to the Governor, who very kindly and cordially received me. Almost his
first words were, "Time being at a premium with me, tell me what I can
do for you." In as few words as possible the story of effort and
apparent though not total failure was being poured into his attentive
ears. Presently, to my great joy, he replied:
"Mrs. Roberts, this has been a pet project of mine for many, many
years. All I have lacked was the time, means, and assistants to carry
it into execution. Let me tell you something for your encouragement:
right now I am considering certain offers of land for just such a
purpose. No paltry six acres for it either, but three hundred or more.
I hope soon to see this vitally important and absolutely necessary plan
receive the approbation of our next legislative session, and an
appropriation made for the purchase of a large tract of land, together
with necessary and suitable buildings. I know you have been working
very hard. Do not nurse disappointment any longer; instead join me
feeling assured of the future welfare and maintenance of the delinquent
and dependent children of our State."
Much more did he encourage me, but the above was the sum and substance.
Lighter hearted than I had felt for many days, I now took more interest
than ever in the rescue work. In response to a call I hurried to
southern California, where, with others, I engaged in the Master's
service in seeking and warning the lost, working from San Diego on up
the coast.
Perhaps it would be advisable at this time to quote from the report
made in the San Diego Sun of July 14, 1908.
LOW DANCE-HALLS, CURSE OF THE CITY.
Mrs. Florence Roberts, known throughout the State as "Mother Roberts,"
who has been in this city for two weeks in the interests of fallen
humanity has visited the red light district of this city. One
conclusion that she draws is this: "The dance-hall is an abomination
that must go. It is more degrading than any other form of dissipation.
The future of the State is being ruined. The young--men are being
degraded past redemption; the young women, especially working girls,
are in danger."
[Illustration: HYMN "SOME MOTHER'S WANDERING GIRL"]
Discussing her observations with a "Sun" reporter, Mrs. Roberts said:
"I visited at least a dozen of the saloon dance-halls. The private
houses would not admit me, not knowing who I was; but the saloons are
of course public.
"As far as I can see, the traffic is not organized as it is in most
places. Each saloon seems an individual institution.
"We went into place after place, dirty and squalid, most of them, and
all very unattractive. The 'glittering place of vice' was not to be
found; merely the girls, the low dance-music, and the catering to every
bestial passion.
MEN ASHAMED.
"Many of the men were young. Almost all were well dressed and
respectable looking, and, thank God, many of them were ashamed when we
came in, and pulled their hats down over their eyes. We saw, not only
the common sailors, but the officers, the men who command the great
ships, who plan and direct the battles of the world, parading their
gold braid in these dens of vice, in the company of the lowest.
"The indecent postures, the short-skirted, low-necked dresses, the
sensual dancing, and the frequent trips to the places behind the
saloons, were nauseating and repulsive. But the heart-sorrow, the
sometimes unconscious longing for something higher and better, showing
through the paint and powder, the hard, sinister lines, the brazen,
defiant eyes, touched my heart with the awful sorrow of it all, and I
would give all I possess to be able to touch them and to help them.
"I said to one poor girl, 'Do you enjoy this life?'
"'Not on your life, lady,' she replied. 'We drift into it, and we can't
see the way out.'
"Many are totally resigned to the life. One girl said to me
indifferently, 'I don't expect ever to live any other life. I'm used to
it, and it's good enough now.'
FORCED TO LEAVE.
"In one place the barkeeper allowed me to sing to the girls, but just
in the middle of my song, the proprietor came in and said something in
a gruff voice to the barkeeper. The latter came over to me and
apologetically said, 'Say, lady, the boss is giving me h---- for
allowing this. I guess you'll have to quit.'
"Two of the girls were deeply touched by what I said to them. I spoke
of the wrong influence of some kind of home life.
"'You're right, lady. That's so. It was that way with me. I was started
wrong, and everybody helped to grease the hill I was sliding down, and
I soon reached the bottom.'
"The girls are decoyed by some man friend, who has so compromised the
girl that she feels she is being shunned, to the house of a 'kind woman
who will protect her.' She is ruined. She begins smoking and drinking
and soon unless she takes great care of herself, she is sent from a
first-class house to a second class, then a third class, then lower and
lower, until she ends in some vile dance-hall, compared to which the
orthodox hell is a paradise. Five years altogether Is the average life
in this business.
NO-SCREEN LAW.
"One thing I found here that I have found nowhere else, and that is the
rigid enforcement of the no-screen law. Everything was open. I shall
speak of it in other places. And then the law forbidding the sale of
spirituous liquors means so much to the girls, the poor, poor girls,
who are so bitter against the whole world, and who are suspicious of
every woman.
"A barkeeper asked me, lady, what are you doing in a place like this?'
"'I am here to do some good if I can. I am a mother.'
"'Well,' he replied, 'this is no place for decent people.'
"Just then a rough-looking customer spoke up, 'Don't you leave because
he wants you to. Do all the good you can'
"I am afraid some of the girls thought I was there out of mere vulgar
curiosity. No, indeed. I have seen the worst places in the State, I have
visited the girls, talked with them, eaten with them, and praise God,
have helped some of them to do better."
CHRISTIANITY
Mrs. Roberts has no use for so-called Christianity that forgets the
virtue named charity. She tells a story of a young girl who was won
from the tenderloin by a Salvation Army lassie.... [Here follows the
story of Dollie, found between these pages.]
WORST RESORTS
"As I said before," continued Mrs. Roberts, "we visited all the houses,
but were not admitted to all. They are very superstitious, and to admit
visitors on Monday would 'hoodoo' the business for the rest of the
week. None of the houses were attractive. We learned the name of only
one, which, the girls tell me, is the worst in the whole district.
"There is one place, though, that I must mention. It is most attractive
with lights, mirrors, and music. But I assure you it is the first step
of its kind downward. [A first-class saloon.]
"This place has a most appropriate electric sign, a winding, twisting
snake. 'There is one thing more I must tell you,' I said to a young,
attractive-looking boy, 'What attracts you here?'
"'For the life of me I can't tell you, except that there's no other
place where we fellows can enjoy ourselves.'
"What an opportunity for an immense, well-equipped reading-room, where
the boys can have games, books, and all sorts of harmless amusements."
Mrs. Roberts will be here for some little time, and she expects to
speak several times before she leaves. She spoke at the Central
Christian church yesterday to a large audience.
Among other things at this meeting I mentioned this incident:
In one of the Northern towns, the chief of police, knowing I was in the
town, sent for me to confer with him on a case of "strictest privacy."
Wondering what was the matter, I hastened, and soon was hearing this:
"In one of the houses on ---- Street, I have just learned from one of
my men, who was told by a near-by saloon-keeper, of a young girl inmate
who has been constantly in tears for the past two weeks, a new-comer
aged about sixteen. I want some one to get her away from there. My
political situation is such at the present time that it will never do
for me to figure in this matter; at the same time I am aware if you are
conspicuous in it, those doors will be closed upon you, and that will
be unwise, seeing these landladies are more or less kindly disposed
toward you.
"I understand this girl is from San Francisco, where she has a mother,
who ought to be notified and the daughter at once sent home to her; but
I'm in a quandary how to proceed so as not to incur ill-feeling with
the politicians of that neighborhood. [He was a candidate for
reelection.] What would you suggest?"
Quickly I replied: "If that landlady does not know your voice, 'phone,
asking if she has any new girls at present? Then ask her to send the
new one to the 'phone. If she does so, have a talk with the girl of a
nature calculated to lead the landlady to infer you are friendly, and
as soon as it is safe to do so, tell her, the new girl, that she is to
come out presently as though to go to a restaurant for breakfast, that
friends are going to rescue her from her awful predicament, but that
she must be very cautious for fear of creating suspicion. Tell her to
look on the corner of Fourth and L---- Streets for a lady wearing a
small black bonnet trimmed with white and to follow her into the
building where she sees her disappear. Tell her to act as though she
were making arrangements for an evening engagement."
In less than half an hour that poor child was closeted with the chief
and me in his private office. Soon, after reassuring her, he left us
alone in order that I could freely interrogate, and this, after many
tears, was the sum and substance of what she told:
"I've a very comfortable home, a dear mama and two little brothers.
Perhaps I have a stepfather now, for mama was intending to marry again.
He's a chef in ---- Hotel."
"Is your papa long dead, dear?" I inquired.
"Papa isn't dead. Mama got a divorce from him a little while ago. He
wouldn't support us ---- and ----."
"Has your mama known this chef very long?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, quite a while. I never saw much of him though, 'cause Mama
would rather I wasn't around when he called; so she often used to let
me go to the nickelodeon or the dance with some of the girls I know,
when she expected him to spend the evening."
"How did it happen you came here, my child?" was the next question.
"It was this way. I got acquainted with a fine-looking young lady, a
swell dresser, too, at ----Hall. We took a 'shine' to each other on
sight, and I asked her to call on me, 'cause I wanted Mama to meet her.
Mama liked her, too. She told us she lived with her aunt, Miss Clark,
on Post Street, who was quite nicely fixed. Said she must take me to
see her soon.
"Well, we met often after that, _and Mama was pleased because I now had
a companion old enough to take good care of me._ One day when I went
home with Tessie, to take tea, her aunt said to her, 'I've just
received a letter from Louise, and she wants to know when you are
coming to make her a visit.' Tessie said, 'Oh, I'd like to go next
week. Mamie, I wonder if you couldn't come, too? Louise is my cousin;
she's well off, and will give us a good time. You ask your mama and
I'll write Louise.' Mama was willing. Tessie's aunt soon got another
letter saying Cousin Louise would be pleased to have me come, so we
made arrangements. I was to meet Tessie at the boat Monday morning at
ten o'clock. Mama wasn't very well, so I went down alone on the car
with my suitcase. We'd bought our tickets Saturday, and for fear of
accidents Tessie gave me mine for safekeeping.
[Illustration: SOME MOTHER'S WANDERING GIRL.]
"I went on board the boat and waited and waited, but up to the last
minute Tessie didn't come, but a messenger boy did--with a note saying
her aunt was sick, but for me to go and she'd come on the next boat.
Louise would be dressed--and described how I would know her, for she
was to meet us. Tessie never came, neither did her cousin. This woman
I'm with is named Louise, but she says she doesn't know Tessie. I don't
know what to make of it, do you?"
Then she told me exactly what kind of life she had been forced to lead
for over two weeks, and that when she first came the landlady dictated
a letter which she (Mamie) wrote to her mother.
"As big a lie as ever was told," said Mamie; "but I had to do as Miss
Louise said, and she mailed it. I haven't written Mama since, 'cause I
didn't want to spoil her pleasure. Guess she's safely married now,
'cause she expected to be."
"My dear child," I said, "will you give me your San Francisco address,
your mother's name and initials? You are going home on the next
steamer. I am going to have her meet you at the wharf. I know the
stewardess, who is a good woman. She will not let you out of her sight
until she hands you over to your mother."
Poor, frail, pretty, little, sixteen-year-old Mamie wept with joy. The
next morning, long before it was time to sail, she was safely hidden
away on board the steamer. The mother, in response to the telegram, was
on hand when the ship reached the San Francisco wharf, and unless she
is different from other women of that caliber, she can not, I think,
ever forget that registered letter, in which some good wholesome advice
was given and such motherhood as she represented was so scathingly
denounced as to upset her honeymoon. Furthermore, I did not hesitate to
inform her that her little daughter was both physically and morally
ruined and that God would hold her (the mother) and her alone
responsible. Was that all? No. The right persons were put on the track
of Tessie and her aunt. Unfortunately, however, they were never, on
account of some technicality, made to suffer, aside from having to take
their immediate departure. However, the just God is taking cognizance
of all these things. Nothing escapes him. "Vengeance is mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord."
Dear reader, I generally leave my audience with a heavy load on my
heart. Why? Because, as other public workers and speakers, I find few,
very few, comparatively speaking, who heed the warnings which
observation and practical experience have prompted me to give out. Once
as I was walking out of a church, two ladies directly behind me were
conversing on the address just finished. One said to the other,
"Weren't you immensely interested in those dreadful word-pictures from
real life?" "Yes," replied the other, "but that work is very unpopular,
and requires peculiarly adapted people, entirely different from you and
me." I silently thanked God for so richly endowing a few of us with
sufficiently peculiar qualities to seek for wonderful, priceless jewels
among the fallen who, through lack of proper home training and
companionship, have taken the downward course. Many of these outcasts,
if sought and cared for, will some day occupy an exalted place in the
Master's kingdom.