第80章 MORE CRUSADES.(14)

The usefulness of such Homes is too evident to need any discussion.

There is one class of unfortunate creatures who must be objects of pity to all who have any knowledge of their existence,and that is,those men and women who are being continually dragged before the magistrates,of whom we are constantly reading in the police reports,whose lives are spent in and out of prison,at an enormous cost to the country,and without any benefit to themselves.

We should then be able to deal with this class.It would be possible for a magistrate,instead of sentencing the poor wrecks of humanity to the sixty-fourth and one hundred and twentieth term of imprisonment,to send them to this Institution,by simply remanding them to come up for sentence when called for.How much cheaper such an arrangement would be for the country!

SECTION 5.--A NEW WAY OF ESCAPE FOR LOST WOMEN.THE RESCUE HOMES.

Perhaps there is no evil more destructive of the best interests of Society,or confessedly more difficult to deal with remedially,than that which is known as the Social Evil.We have already seen something of the extent to which this terrible scourge has grown,and the alarming manner in which it affects our modern civilisation.

We have already made an attempt at grappling with this evil,having about thirteen Homes in Great Britain,accommodating 307girls under the charge of 132Officers,together with seventeen Homes abroad,open for the same purpose.The whole,although a small affair compared with the vastness of the necessity,nevertheless constitutes perhaps the largest and most efficient effort of its character in the world.

It is difficult to estimate the results that have been already realised.By our varied operations,apart from these Homes,probably hundreds,if not thousands,have been delivered from lives of shame and misery.We have no exact return of the number who have gone through the Homes abroad,but in connection with the work in this country,about 3,000have been rescued,and are living lives of virtue.

This success has not only been gratifying on account of the blessing it has brought these young women,the gladness it has introduced to the homes to which they have been restored,and the benefit it has bestowed upon Society,but because it has assured us that much greater results of the same character may be realised by operations conducted on a larger scale,and under more favourable circumstances.

With this view we propose to remodel and greatly increase the number of our Homes both in London and the provinces,establishing one in every great centre of this infamous traffic.

To make them very largely Receiving Houses,where the girls will be initiated into the system of reformation,tested as to the reality of their desires for deliverance,and started forward on the highway of truth,virtue,and religion.

From these Homes large numbers,as at present,would be restored to their friends and relatives,while some would be detained in training for domestic service,and others passed on to the Farm Colony.

On the Farm they would be engaged in various occupations.

In the Factory,at Bookbinding and Weaving;in the Garden and Glasshouses amongst fruit and flowers;in the Dairy,making butter;in all cases going through a course of House-work which will fit them for domestic service.

At every stage the same process of moral and religious training,on which we specially rely,will be carried forward.

There would probably be a considerable amount of inter-marriage amongst the Colonists,and in this way a number of these girl's would be absorbed into Society.

A large number would be sent abroad as domestic servants.In Canada,the girls are taken out of the Rescue Homes as servants,with no other reference than is gained by a few weeks'residence there,and are paid as much as #3a month wages.The scarcity of domestic servants in the Australian Colonies,Western States of America,Africa,and elsewhere is well known.And we have no doubt that on all hands our girls with 12months'character will be welcomed,the question of outfit and passage-money being easily arranged for by the persons requiring their services advancing the amount,with an understanding that it is to be deducted out of their first earnings.

Then we have the Colony Over-Sea,which will require the service of a large number.Very few families will go out who will not be very glad to take a young woman with them,not as a menial servant,but as a companion and friend.

By this method we should be able to carry out Rescue work on a much larger scale.At present two difficulties very largely block our way.

One is the costliness of the work.The expense of rescuing a girl on the present plan cannot be much less than #7;that is,if we include the cost of those with whom we fail,and on whom the money is largely thrown away.Seven pounds is certainly not a very large sum for the measure of benefit bestowed upon the girl by bringing her off the streets,and that which is bestowed on Society by removing her from her evil course.Still,when the work runs into thousands of individuals,the amount required becomes considerable.On the plan proposed we calculate that from the date of their reaching the Farm Colony they will earn nearly all that is required for their support.

The next difficulty which hinders our expansion in this department is the want of suitable and permanent situations,Although we have been marvellously successful so far,having at this hour probably 1,200girls in domestic service alone,still the difficulty in this respect is great.Families are naturally shy at receiving these poor unfortunates when they can secure the help they need combined with unblemished character;and we cannot blame them.