It was he who suggested that the war be carried into the streets, and led by him a few men and women ventured forth and a.s.sailed the hosts of sin at the very doors of the brothels. The dens were invaded and men and women warned. The City Government was appealed to and in less than two years the business districts and Custom House Place, infamous across the world, were cleared of open houses of shame. Where the artful scarlet woman plied her deadly trade the streets are now full of children, and the houses once red with sin are now shops of new citizens, who have yet their mother tongue and the strange garb of lands across the seas.
So I was led to do what every true minister of Christ must do. I investigated the moral conditions of my home city. Knowledge of its culture, acquaintance with its commerce, friendship with its schools and homes and zeal for the respectable sinner were not enough. The man who is set to guard the moral interests of a community must go into the deeps and darks of his city. He must know first hand what the dangers to youth are, where the traps for girls and boys are set, what the bait used is, how the ruin is wrought and what the remedies are. Save as he does this his voice will not reach far, nor his protests have in them the moral ring of the man who knows. The daring youth and the toughened rascals soon detect whether a man talks from aroused conviction and a pointed purpose, or whether he is just preaching in the air and saying things that he thinks should be said.
My investigations convinced me that all thus far said was true, and far more than any respectable man can know was terribly rampant every night in Chicago. It was very apparent that more men and women of influence and power must give earnest thought and much time to the solution of this menacing problem. A Pastor"s part was very clear to my mind. It is said that the Chinese employ a physician to keep the family in good health, he draws his fees while health obtains. That is something like the position of a Christian minister in his community. It is his business to promote good health, high morals, finest ideals; to rebuke evil in all of its forms, and especially that kind of evil nearest his own doors and in his own city. What would be thought of the physician that spent his time playing with the children, reading fine poems to the family, indulging in pretty speeches, but running away when dread diseases began to show themselves, refusing to treat cancer, smallpox, or other fearful plagues. So is the preacher who is content to do the ordinary work of his pastorate and takes no pains to investigate the moral and social conditions of his town. It is the sacred duty of every pastor to know his community on its unclean and diseased side.
But I saw that such a course would open one to grave misunderstandings.
It is not according to the accepted order that a minister of a large city church should browse around the slums and visit in the brothels.
The saloons were not a part of his expected field of labor. It was prudent and indeed necessary that the Church should speak its own mind in these matters. Therefore the whole problem was laid before the Board of Deacons and later before the Church itself, with the result that the Church voted most heartily that the Pastor should feel free to use one day a week in such labors on behalf of the fallen and outcast as he might feel led to do. Further the Church placed the work of the Midnight Mission upon its regular calendar for 4 per cent of all the missionary funds, contributions to be made quarterly towards its work, thus putting the city-saving work on a level with every other missionary enterprise of the denomination. So was the Pastor given the endors.e.m.e.nt of his people. Such action provided ample protection and was as wings for the accomplishing of the gigantic tasks set for a small band of heroic men and women. The Church was kept informed from time to time as to the progress of the midnight work. Care was taken not to allow this work to become a mere fad, but it was so presented as to rank with every other ministry of the Church. The young people were not drawn into this type of work at all, as it was not deemed advisable to take young people into the streets of sin where the fight against the White Slave Traffic was being waged. Earnest warnings were given the young folk and the young men were especially instructed in the dangers and allurements of the scarlet woman. Thus the Church was related to this needed warfare in both a physical and spiritual manner. The results upon the Church are most striking and satisfactory. It can be said with full agreement that the outcasts need the Church, but it is equally true that the Church needs this kind of service and without it suffers a loss of sympathy and aggressiveness that is fatal to the peace and prosperity of the Church.
A Church ought to die fighting itself that refuses to give battle to the White Slave Traders! Shame on the minister and the Church that is indifferent under the revelations that are made every day showing to what depths the vile creatures of the red light districts have sunken to gain a little more of cruel gold! G.o.d will not hold guiltless men and women who, hearing the stifled cries of the enslaved, heed them not! It behooves the sons and daughters of the brave men who freed the black slaves to rise in another and holier crusade to free the white slaves from a bondage blacker and more d.a.m.ning than any the world has yet known. Yes, it is high time that every preacher of the Gospel investigated the conditions of his own city and town.
Country ministers have great opportunity in this warfare on behalf of women and girls. It is in the country that the procurers work. There is need for education, outspoken, persistent warnings that parents must be compelled to hear. The wise and earnest words of United States District Attorney Edwin W. Sims, found in another chapter of this book, should be carefully pondered by all who desire to protect young womanhood. Here the country preacher will find his cue and will be instructed as to what he can and ought to do.
There is need that the Pastor co-operate with existing organizations that have for their purpose the suppression of this frightful evil.
Already in nearly every city of any size there are companies of good people banded together to wipe out the White Slave Traffic. Let the Pastor seek out such folk and give them a hearty word of cheer. Such action will attract other persons of influence and wealth and give character and power to the crusade. If the folk already engaged in this holy cause are humble, unlearned and obscure, let the man of G.o.d remember that "He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty."
If the Pastor is wise there is a surprising weight of public sentiment that will arouse at once at his call. The Press in nearly all of its forms will aid him and give wide currency to his protests and suggested methods. This has nowhere been more clearly shown than in the late session of the Illinois State Legislature. Two new bills were up for pa.s.sage, they had pa.s.sed the Lower House without an opposing vote and were on the calendar of the Senate on a morning when I happened to be present. The President of the Senate entertained a motion to send the bills to third reading without reference to a committee, one of the Senators was busy at his desk reading a report or something when he became suddenly aware that some bills were pa.s.sing to third reading without the customary reference to a committee. With startled air he arose and demanded what those bills were. The President waved his gavel at him and said, "the White Slave Bills"! "O," said the Senator, "that"s all right," and sat down to resume the reading of his report. The bills then pa.s.sed to third reading without a sign of opposition on any man"s part. This action proved to me how very strong and immediate is the response of the good people of any community to a call like that which this book send up.
We have always found the police ready to help in any practical line. It is now nearly three years since Superintendent Bell of Midnight Mission, Miss Lucy A. Hall, a deaconess of the Methodist Episcopal Church and myself made a thorough canva.s.s of the red-light district and put the Illinois Statute on White Slavery in the hands of nearly every dive keeper, madam and many of the prost.i.tutes themselves. This is the form of that leaflet distributed, which had no small part in starting the crusade against the White Slavers in Chicago.
It is a penitentiary offense to detain any woman in a house of prost.i.tution against her will.
The Criminal Code of Illinois makes the following provision for the punishment of this crime against American liberty:
Sec. 57c. "Whoever shall unlawfully detain or confine any female, by force, false pretense or intimidation, in any room, house, building or premises in this State, against the will of such female, for purposes of prost.i.tution or with intent to cause such female to become a prost.i.tute, and be guilty of fornication or concubinage therein, or shall by force, false pretense, confinement or intimidation attempt to prevent any female so as aforesaid detained, from leaving such room, house, building or premises, and whoever aids, a.s.sists or abets by force, false pretense, confinement or intimidation, in keeping, confining or unlawfully detaining any female in any room, house, building or premises in this State, against the will of such female, for the purpose of prost.i.tution, fornication or concubinage, shall on conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than ten years."
No "white slave" need remain in slavery in this State of Abraham Lincoln who made the black slaves free. "For freedom did Christ set us free. Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage," which is the yoke of sin and evil habit.
In this canva.s.s we had the most cordial support of the police. Captain Harding of the 22nd Street Station detailed a detective to accompany us and he showed us the most faithful attention.
It was in this canva.s.s that we visited the most infamous and notorious house in the West. The madam of this particular house told us, in the presence of the policeman, that she had paid $160.00 each for two girls that had been sent her from the South. She also explained how safe her house was from violence and how free from disease, and yet, before our conversation ceased she admitted that she had placed 105 girls in a neighboring Christian hospital for treatment. Since then that hospital has stopped doing this sort of business. The President of the inst.i.tution attested the truth of the woman"s statement and afterward put an end to her patronage of his hospital. Only last winter I had the opportunity of holding a Christian service in that same house of shame.
Two of our lady workers secured permission to conduct such a meeting for the poor girls and invited me to take charge of the service. On a Sunday night at about 12:30 four of us went to that house and preached Christ to some fourteen of the poor creatures. One of them, a married woman, was rescued the next night. We had a.s.surances that two or three others determined to quit the evil life and go home. The meeting was such a success, from our point of view, that the madam said she did not think another service of the sort could be arranged. There are, however, many places open for just such effort and Pastors that have the support of their Churches and can find a company of faithful, sensible companions in the work, can powerfully a.s.sault the strongholds of Satan in the dark places of the cities. This phase of the work is difficult, delicate and perhaps dangerous. The most fruitful and most possible kind of effort on behalf of the outcasts is in the open air meetings, the street gatherings, where the gospel can be sung and preached by the hour.
Crowds of men, mostly young men, stand for hours listening to the familiar hymns and the old, old story of the Cross. Where is the Pastor more needed than in just such gatherings? Let it be said for the Pastors of Chicago, that the mightiest of them have counted it a joy and privilege to preach from the curb-pulpit of The Midnight Mission. If the list of the ministers, lawyers, judges, physicians, teachers, deacons and other laymen was given here it would look like an honor roll of the City of Chicago. The presence of the Pastor in this sort of work is of value from more points of view than that of preaching alone. To see the accepted ministers of the city in such meetings is to lift the meetings to a plane with the Church work and worship. It gives protection to the workers when the Pastor can not be with them. It secures the respectful attention of the unchurched portion of the community and a.s.sures the police that the efforts are sane, sound and determined. It should be the purpose of every Pastor to promote such open air work for the sinful and hopeless of his city.
The Pastor is the channel through which the people can be stirred on these grave social questions. Let him educate his own flock and mightily agitate his own community. In the city of London the most influential clergymen are not hesitating to take the lead in reaching the submerged portions of the population. Witness this testimony found in "The Churchman" for May 2, 1908.
THE BISHOP OF LONDON AS A MIDNIGHT MISSIONARY.
"During this Lent Dr. Ingram has taken as the field of his regular Lenten mission, the districts of central London. In addition to the many parish churches in which he has spoken, he has given addresses in connection with the mission at Westminster Abbey.
The last week of his work was marked by a midnight Church Army procession, which, with bra.s.s band and torches, perambulated the most squalid quarters of Westminster and Pimlico. For an hour and a quarter, the Church Army workers, headed by the bishop, marched slowly in the rain through the muddy streets, halting before the public houses (saloons), where addresses were given by the bishop. By the time the houses were closed the procession received large additions from the crowds of carousing men and women, who came out of them early Sunday morning. A meeting was held afterwards in the schoolroom of one of the parish churches near by, where there was a half-hour of hymn singing, and a final address by the bishop."
The Bishop of London, whom Editor Bok of The Ladies" Home Journal calls the best loved man in England, has taken a foremost part in the purity reform. He preaches in the slums at midnight, and on the other hand pleads with the leaders of his church and nation to oppose with the light of truth and the fire of earnestness the evils of impurity which so threaten the national life. He protests in public by voice and pen against the false modesty which keeps young people in ignorance of the wages of sin, and so thrusts them blindfolded into the pitfalls and traps which the evil-minded always have in readiness for the untaught and unwary. The good bishop insists that the children and youth of the British Isles shall know the truth, that by the truth they may be made free. He is unsparing in his criticism of those who would have the people go on in ignorance to their injury or ruin.
Surely every true minister of the Gospel needs only to know the situation and become acquainted with the black facts of rampant sin, to buckle on his armor and give battle to the hosts of iniquity. Why then should I labor to convince my brothers in the ministry? O, Pastor, Who-ever-you-are, investigate, co-operate and agitate until all the slaves are free and the "mauvais sujet" are converted to Jesus or consigned to jail!
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE STORY OF THE MIDNIGHT MISSION.
After many days and weeks of united prayer, that G.o.d would interpose against the destruction of young girls and young men in the shameful resorts of Chicago, I asked Miss Ella N. Rudy, on an August afternoon in 1904, at a meeting at 441 South Clark street, if she would come the next night, with a view to holding a meeting in Custom House Place, which at that time had half a hundred vile resorts peopled with about seven hundred ruined girls. Miss Rudy is a woman of strong and earnest Christian character, and I appealed to her because I knew that she would surely come if she promised. She hesitated a moment and promised to come. I then announced to the score of persons present that such as would like to join us should come the next night at eight o"clock for prayer and at ten we would go to the street. The announcement was received with intense interest. Pastor Boynton, who was chairman of the meeting, immediately asked permission to preach the first sermon, which was gladly granted. Fifteen devoted people stood with him when he came to preach.
Miss Rudy is now a missionary at Ping Nam, Kw.a.n.g Sai Province, South China. On December 7, 1908, she wrote me:
"Yesterday the little Prayer Advocate came and in it I noticed your request for prayer for The Midnight Mission and I was reminded of the beginning of this most blessed work. I think I could point to the spot where you said, after telling the need so earnestly, "Miss Rudy, will you stand with me, for the Lord says where two agree He will do what they ask?" I said, "I will," and we did pray fervently, for, having come in contact with Beulah Home and other refuges, I had seen the great need of going out to seek the lost. I remember our first night, when we hardly knew who would go with us. I put the permit near so if an officer came we could show it. I do praise G.o.d for the way He has blessed you in this work. I have never ceased praying for this work and have always held it up to others for prayer, as I have gone from place to place in evangelistic service. I was so sorry to leave Chicago, but G.o.d"s call lay in another direction. I know I never was missed, for so many rose to their privilege in Jesus. But I would have been missed had I not come to China for we are so few in number here."
Before she went to China, Miss Rudy was at one time holding a gospel meeting in Pennsylvania, when a man came up to her and said: "You do not know me, but I know you. I heard you speak at midnight in Custom House Place in Chicago, and I have been a Christian man since that midnight."
As I was a missionary in India and Miss Rudy is a missionary in China, and as we constantly minister at midnight in the streets of Chicago to Chinese, j.a.panese, an occasional Persian, Hindu or Arab, French, Polish, Russians, Germans, Italians, Jews, and almost every nationality under heaven, The Midnight Mission has some features of a foreign missionary society.
A THOUSAND WITNESSES FOR CHRIST.
From the very beginning of this unique work many earnest people came to help us. During the five years past nearly a thousand persons have taken part with us--pastors, professors, deaconesses, foreign missionaries on furlough, evangelists, judges, lawyers, physicians, "Gideons" and other business men, and many good women. All these, with breaking hearts, have shared our midnight toil and peril, s.n.a.t.c.hing the lost from the fire in the very vestibule of h.e.l.l. Among the well known ministers, professors and physicians who have come to help in the meetings are: Rev. Dr. Cain, moderator of the Presbytery of Chicago; Rev. Robert H. Beattie, the recent moderator; Rev. Dr. John Balcom Shaw, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church; Rev. Dr. A. C. Dixon, pastor of the Moody church; Professor Graham Taylor, Professor Solon C. Bronson, Professor Woelfkin, of Rochester, New York; Professor G. H. Trever, of Atlanta, Georgia; Drs. Linnell, Pollack and Van d.y.k.e--the last a lecturer in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is the medical department of the University of Illinois.
Rev. A. H. Harnly, now an evangelist for the Baptist State a.s.sociation of Illinois, has preached many times with exceptional power in our midnight meetings. Rev. C. A. Kelley, Rev. Ralph Waller Hobbs and Rev.
W. E. Hopkins, formerly a missionary in India, have labored much in this cause. Scores of pastors of Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Episcopalian, Methodist and Presbyterian churches have preached from the little box which is our only pulpit, except when now and then a good friend brings his automobile and lets us use it for a pulpit.
Mr. Rufus S. Simmons, a lawyer, a personal friend of President Taft, is president of the mission since it was organized at the end of 1906; for more than two years there was no organization. Mr. Simmons very often attends the meetings and takes part. His partner, Mr. S. C. Irving, comes occasionally and speaks. Judge Scott of Paris, Texas, spent one night with us, and former Judge Devlin labors diligently.
Mr. C. E. Homan, president of the Chicago camp of "Gideons," an organization of Christian commercial traveling men, and many members of that order have steadily helped in this work.
Deaconess Lucy A. Hall, Miss Helma Sutherland, Miss Florence Mabel Dedrick, missionary of the Moody church, Miss Mary F. Turnbull and scores of good women have toiled with us in the night. No speaker is more interesting and alarming to young men than Miss Turnbull, who was formerly a nurse in an asylum for the insane in New York and knows why many of the patients are there.
One of the best addresses ever given in our meetings was by a young Jew, Mr. Nathan, a reporter, who asked leave to speak. For about forty minutes he spoke with the earnestness of a prophet, though he spoke more of temporal than eternal considerations. The sweat poured down his face as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance, with some reference to judgment to come.
Another friendly Jew, Mr. Richard L. Schindler, has come scores of times to our meetings, not to speak, but to use his influence to help protect us and otherwise encourage our work.
Still another friendly son of Abraham gave me information when enemies were plotting against me. He warned them that he would expose them if they did me any harm.
A HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOLISH YOUNG MEN.
Pastors and church people usually have no idea of the mult.i.tudes of men and youths from avenues, boulevards and suburbs, who swarm by the ten thousands through the vice districts of great cities on Sat.u.r.day and Sunday nights, and by hundreds or thousands every other night. Fathers and mothers, sisters, sweethearts and neighbors are ignorant of the ruinous folly of several million American young men. I have counted them pa.s.sing one street corner in the center of Chicago"s red light district--red with the heart"s blood of mothers, wives and babies--at the rate of 3,500 an hour. These are the young men of whom we read, "void of understanding" as the book of Proverbs fitly describes them.
They gather by troops at the harlots" houses and throng the streets of shame without a blush. They are even ready to give reasons why they should support these slaughter houses, not knowing that "the dead are there and her guests are in the depths of h.e.l.l."
One night I dreamed that I saw a young man stepping carelessly on and off a railway track, near a curve around which the express train might come thundering and screaming at any moment. Whether on the track or off it, the young man was indifferent to danger and wanton in his movements.
But as I looked I saw in my dream, that there was nothing whatever above his coat collar--he had no head. This explained his recklessness. A hundred times I have told this dream to crowds of young men, to ill.u.s.trate the folly of men who have heads and do not use them--"void of understanding." We have warned probably one hundred thousand of these foolish young men.
The Bible is always with us and always foremost. But some who would pay no regard to an open Bible in the street preacher"s hand, instantly give heed when they see the Revised Statutes of Illinois open at the criminal code, and they listen carefully to the section which p.r.o.nounces them criminal if they patronize an evil resort.
We quote to them the great utterance of Judge Newcomer, spoken before the Methodist Preachers" Meeting of Chicago, September 17, 1906, when he said: