Regeneration: Being an Account of the Social Work of The Salvation Army in Great BritainHaggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
Religion
Regeneration: Being an Account of the Social Work of The Salvation Army in Great Britain
Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
Great Britain -- Social conditions; Salvation Army
Many of these girls have been in the habit of thieving from their
mistresses or others, generally in order to enable them to make
presents to their lovers. Indeed, it would seem that this mania for
making presents is a frequent cause of the fall of young persons with
a natural leaning to dishonesty and a desire to appear rich and
liberal. The Army succeeds in reclaiming a great number of them; but
the thieving instinct is one not easy to eradicate.
All these girls seemed fairly happy. A great deal of knitting is done
by them, and I saw a room furnished with a number of knitting
machines, where work is turned out to the value of nearly £25 a week.
Also I was shown piles of women's and children's underclothing and
other articles, the produce of the girls' needles, which are sold to
help to defray the expenses of the Home. In the workroom on this
Saturday afternoon a number of the young women were engaged in mending
their own garments. After their period of probation many of these
girls are sent out to situations found for them by the Army.
THE WOMEN'S INDUSTRIAL HOME
HACKNEY
This Home is one of much the same class as that which I have just
described. It has accommodation for forty-eight girls, of whom over
1,000 have passed through the Institution, where they are generally
kept for a period of six months. Most of the young women in the Home
when I visited it had been thieves. One, who was twenty-seven years of
age, had stolen ever since she was twelve, and the lady in charge told
me that when she came to them everything she had on her, and almost
all the articles in her trunk were the property of former mistresses.
In answer to my questions, Commissioner Cox informed me that the
result of their work in this Home was so satisfactory that they
scarcely liked to announce it. They computed, however, that taken on a
three years' test--for the subsequent career of each inmate is
followed for that period--90 per cent of the cases prove to be
permanent moral cures. This, when the previous history of these young
women is considered, may, I think, be accounted a great triumph. No
money contribution is asked or expected in this particular Home.
Indeed, it would not be forthcoming from the class of girls who are
sent or come here to be reformed, many of whom, on entering, are
destitute of underclothing and other necessaries, The needlework which
they do, however, is sold, and helps to pay for the upkeep of the
place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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