FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER.
_Mr. Alfred Harris, member of the Associated Press Bureau, to
Walter R. Stoddard, editor of The Boston Message_:--
MERTON, FEB. 12, 1914.
"_My Dear Stoddard_:--I was sent here, as you know, to write up the
social settlement in Freetown; and I have done the best I could, and
am ready to start West to-morrow. But I feel tempted to let you know
something in this letter that I did not feel like putting into my
report.
"Merton is a city of about 50,000 people, a railroad centre, and a
place of good residence and business life.
"Fifteen years ago a district known as Freetown, settled by negroes,
had the reputation of being the source of more crime and social trouble
than any other part of the city. The son of one of the district court
judges was found one night unconscious, wounded, and robbed in this
district. It was supposed at the time that he was assaulted by a
criminal by the name of Williams, who committed suicide while in jail.
This was afterward proved to be false; as I shall speak of this later
on, I will not go into the details of it here.
"What I wanted to write about particularly was the personality of the
social-settlement work now finally established in Freetown.
"Rev. Howard Douglass and his church (the Emmanuel) proposed the
building of a house in Freetown where some of the most prominent
families in Merton agreed to live during all or part of the time, for
the express purpose of redeeming the place from sin and fitting it up
into a transformed human life.
"It is not exaggerating the facts to say that what was planned fifteen
years ago has been carried out with the most remarkable results. Let me
tell you a little about them.
"First, there was the building itself, built largely by the gifts of
Mrs. Carlton, who had been a social leader in Merton for many years.
Her original gift was three thousand dollars. She afterwards increased
it to five thousand. The building contained a large kindergarten and
assembly hall, a housekeeping department, a reading-room, a dispensary,
a nursery, bath-rooms, and rooms for sewing and industrial work, and
physical culture and music rooms. There have been some changes in the
original plan of the house, but it has remained practically the same
as when first built. I ought not to forget the rooms provided for
residents who take up their stay in the house on a co-operative plan
that has so far worked very satisfactorily.
"You will be interested to know something about the work done in this
house. The kindergarten has been, perhaps, the central force of the
establishment. Nothing has been so valuable in lasting results. A
volume might be written about it. No one in Merton any longer questions
the value of the kindergarten in the redemption of Freetown.
"The housekeeping department has resulted in the increased number of
faithful, competent cooks and servants who have been trained in the
house. It is the common rule now, so I was told, for the graduates
of the cooking and housekeeping classes in Freetown to be sought by
the best families in the city; and these servants have even set the
standard of prices for the best servants, and command higher wages
than any other girls in Merton who go out to service. If the social
settlement had not done anything else, it would be a great blessing to
the housekeepers of Merton. It has helped to solve a large part of the
servant-girl problem in this city.
"The children's nursery has been a wonderful blessing to the mothers of
Freetown. The mother who goes out to wash or work all day can leave her
baby at the settlement and go off, knowing it will be cared for even
better than the mother herself could do it. Formerly, many a child was
shut up in a cabin with other children only a little older, or turned
out into the street to play; and it was a wonder that more of them did
not die. As it was, many babies used to grow up miserably neglected,
and suffering was common and harmful.
"I did not mean to describe so particularly the details of the work
done by the settlement, but I have been so astonished by what I have
seen that I do not know where to stop when I once begin to write.
"I must mention one regular feature of the Freetown work; that is, the
premium list for physical improvement of the place.
"Premiums are offered every year for the best gardens, best-looking
yard, finest flower-beds, neatest interior of cabin, most fruit on a
place, most improvements during the season, etc.
"You would be astonished to see what has been done along this line.
Unsightly yards, dirty alleys, shiftless cabins, are a thing of the
past. One of the prettiest parts of Merton is Freetown. The parks in
front of the houses are arranged in original designs of flowers; the
yards are ablaze with roses; and shade-trees, fruit-trees, vines, and
lawns have so transformed the district that it is a favorite drive for
Merton people to pass through Freetown. All this may seem impossible,
but I believe you will see how it is within the reach of human effort
when I tell you a little more about how it has all been secured.
"In the first place, some of the most prominent people in Merton have
actually lived in this settlement house, and have given their time and
their strength and their brains to the actual redemption of the place.
For instance, there is Judge Vernon, whose son I mentioned. He has been
a resident a part of the time. It had been his custom once a year,
before the settlement house was built, to go off with two or three old
college classmates on a month's hunt or camping expedition. He has
frequently, in past years, given that amount of time to residence in
the settlement. He told me that his service there had proved as full of
recreation and stimulus as any of his previous vacations. He is a man
of great influence, and his example has been a wonderful one for other
men in Merton.
"By the way, I meant to tell you that it was found several years
after his son's death that the negro, Williams, who it was supposed
was the cause of it, was innocent. A confession made by one of Claude
Vernon's social acquaintances disclosed the fact that on the way home
that night he had quarrelled with another companion, while both were
under the influence of liquor, and blows were exchanged with fatal
results to Judge Vernon's son. His companion shielded himself behind
the bad reputation of the negro, and revealed the facts only on his own
death-bed.
"I mention this because it had a good deal to do with the change in
public opinion towards Freetown on the part of many families, notably
the judge's own. His married daughters, Isabel and Winifred, I have
met once or twice. They belong to the fashionable society here, and I
suppose have no great sympathy with the unusual interest taken by their
father in Freetown.
"The Carlton family is another remarkable help to the work done by the
settlement. Father, mother, and daughter have been for the most part
permanent residents. Miss Inez is a beautiful young woman of great
force of character. She has made her life-work the redemption of the
place. Mrs. Carlton has given much money to the work; but that is a
small thing by the side of her own personal attention to the work
itself. I was struck repeatedly with the unusual charm of her manner,
and wondered that a woman of such social distinction as she evidently
was had been willing to live in such surroundings. Her daughter also
impresses every one in the same way.
"Mr. Douglass, pastor of the Emmanuel Church, has, with his wife and
family, lived in the house a part of the time. He has been obliged
to work out the problem of the residence in connection with his own
church-work. His church heartily stood by him, notably his Christian
Endeavor society, which has furnished during these years some of
the best material in the city for residents. The young man who was
president of the society the year the settlement house was built is
now the head resident, and manages the business of the house when Mr.
Douglass is absent.
"One of the most helpful residents has been Mr. Brooks, a well-known
lawyer of Merton. He has given a large part of his time and money to
make the settlement powerful for good.
"Another important fact has made the redemption of Freetown possible.
The work has been well endowed. A short time after the dedication of
the house, Mrs. Lewis, president of the United Clubs of the women
of Merton, succeeded in gaining the co-operation of a majority of
the clubs to work for an endowment fund to place the settlement on a
firm basis. This work of the clubs has been very successful. Instead
of meeting for entertainments, receptions, parties, or ethical and
literary discussions, the women of fashion and social power have met to
work for a humanity that was in more need of being redeemed than they
themselves were of being improved in their minds, and the result has
justified the effort. Freetown settlement is permanent because it is on
a firm financial basis.
"I ought not to omit mention of the churches of Merton, which have
also, without regard to denomination, helped the settlement all these
years in many generous ways. In fact, nearly all the Sunday work there
is done by members of the different churches and Christian Endeavor
societies. This has been a wonderful aid to unite the denominations.
"The political aspect of Freetown has been completely transformed by
the political school started by the Christian-citizenship committees of
the Endeavor societies. This alone would prove of untold value to the
city.
"Fifteen years seems like a comparatively short time to redeem a place
such as Freetown was. But it is the personal life going into the heart
of the great need that has done it. Don't you think it is because
Christian people do not generally do their work on a large enough scale
that the results are so small? It is because so many prominent people
here, people of wealth and mental ability and social influence, have
been willing to give their lives to the redemption of Freetown that it
has been redeemed. I do not mean, of course, that everything is all
right in Freetown. But in a very true sense it has been redeemed. And
it is no miracle, unless we call love for lost souls a miracle. If you
are in doubt about all this, come out here and look for yourself. Mr.
Douglass has just called to take me over to see the exercises in the
kindergarten hall in honor of Lincoln's birthday.
Very truly yours,
"ALFRED HARRIS.
[Illustration: "_As he reached the corner, he stopped and looked
back._"]
An hour later Mr. Alfred Harris came out of the hall. He shook hands
with Mr. Douglass and the other residents, and started down the street.
It was his last day in Merton.
As he reached the corner, he stopped and looked back. The children came
out of the hall, and were standing about the minister and his wife.
Inez Carlton and her mother were standing on the steps just above the
group. The whole scene impressed the newspaper man profoundly.
An elderly man touched his arm.
"It's been worth while, don't you think?"
"O, it's you, Mr. Brooks. 'Worth while!' I should say so. Why cannot
the same thing be done in every city where the need is as great?"
"It can, if--" the lawyer paused thoughtfully.
"If--" said Mr. Alfred Harris, looking gravely at the lawyer.
"If the world will give itself to redeem itself."
He went on toward the settlement, and the other man went his way with
his head bent in reverie. Somehow he seemed to hear the words borne to
him from the settlement, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us."
Ah, yes! Shall the world ever be redeemed in any other way?
"And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,
'_God with us_.'"
THE END.
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Redemption of Freetown, by Charles M. Sheldon