Note--Miss Dedrick is rescue missionary for the Moody Church, Chicago.
She is devoting her life to the visitation and rescue of sinful women in Chicago. She is heart and soul in the work and has been wonderfully blessed in her efforts.
When asked to write for you, giving some of the experiences in the work of rescue of our sisters of the street, and those who are victims of the white slave traffic, I was more than glad of the opportunity of sharing this burden which G.o.d has laid so heavily on my heart. I will treat of conditions as I have found them in the underworld of Chicago.
What are we doing for our tempted sisters?
Are we going to let the white slave traffic have free and undisputed sway without a word of protest, blighting and ruining the homes in this fair land of liberty and freedom? Are we in Illinois, the State that sent Abraham Lincoln forth as leader in the conflict for freedom of the slaves of the south, going to let an evil, worse, yea, far worse than that ever was, or could be, exist and triumph, and not rise up in arms against it?
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE GILDED LIFE" AS IT REALLY IS
All the fresh air these poor slaves get is in the back yard of the dives, which is full of refuse, and where they are watched by colored attendants]
[Ill.u.s.tration: "COME WITH ME, SISTER--THERE IS HOPE FOR ALL"
One who has answered the cry, "For G.o.d"s sake, do something"]
The question, what are we doing for our sisters came up as far back as Solomon"s time, but has an answer been found? No! It was only when Jesus met the woman at the well did a new life open up for our unfortunate sisters. I plead with you do not draw away your skirts for fear of contamination. Remember, the Master Himself allowed a fallen woman to wash His feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head.
It was a fallen woman who was first to see the omissions and deficiencies of hospitality forgotten by others. Are not fallen women included within the scope of the Master"s great commission?
Jesus said, another time, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more."
A woman may fall lower than a man, but this is due to her sensitive moral nature. With the conviction that she is past redemption, doors closed, no one loving her, people, yes, her own s.e.x, ostracizing her--she becomes hopeless, desperate, reckless. Can you blame her?
Again, let me recall to your mind, Jesus Himself forgave and renewed repentant ones. Even when a woman had fallen to the depths of sin and degradation He still called her "woman."
Not every girl who leads a life of sin and shame is by any means a white slave in the full sense of the word, as the white slave traffic exists, though truly a slave she is, for G.o.d is no respecter of persons and the same judgment will be hers unless she hastens home to Father"s House, where room and to spare and warm welcome awaits her. Not many open doors await her in this world.
An example of this is found in the case of a young girl in Mississippi who, ruined, went from door to door to find someone who would befriend her. Some have one excuse, some another. All said: "We cannot take you in." Tired, discouraged, only one door open, and that the brothel, to which she went.
It is said in one city of half a million people, as reported through the press, they determined to expel 1,500 fallen girls from the city, without offering them a place to go. When brought before the authorities, between sobs and tears, these girls said: "Where can we go, no homes, money, nor friends?" The reply was: "I cannot tell you, but you must leave here."
Many ask: "Who are these girls who go astray?"--having an idea that it is only the ignorant cla.s.s who are down in sin. It is not so, and let me undeceive everyone on this point, though many, many of the ignorant cla.s.s do go astray also. Satan is claiming our best, our VERY best girls of education, refinement, advantages and religious training. In one of the most notorious and elegant resorts, known as the -------- in the red light district of Chicago, there are college girls, who have had every advantage. Only lately, as I have done personal work there, did I learn that these very girls were at times in such despair as to threaten to commit suicide.
Within a few blocks of Moody Church was a girl, an elocutionist, a musician, a sweet, stately girl of refinement, whose home has been in a house of shame for the last five or six years.
Some girls come to me when in these resorts and say: "I used to sing in Moody Church Choir." Others will tell you they went through every department of the Sunday school, some were Sunday school teachers.
Members of almost every Church you will find among them. When these facts are considered one cannot help but realize the need for action.
Satan has entered our churches, as well as every other place. It is only recently that our churches have opened to workers to even speak on this subject, but thank G.o.d, they are gladly beginning to do so, since they see danger staring them in the face. The time for prudishness, false modesty, indelicacy is over; too long has Satan been aided in his onward march in this way.
A sad incident occurred in one of our West Side churches. Seven or eight boys, whom everyone considered pure, were found, upon investigation, to have caused the ruin of thirteen girls. One girl, in telling me how she had been led astray said she had only been getting $3.50 a week. Seeing an advertis.e.m.e.nt for experienced workers at $5.00, she answered it. For two weeks they kept it from her that she was in a house of shame.
A problem that must be met is the preservation of our American homes.
Let me quote from Mr. Moody: "Intemperance comes as a blight upon one family in seven, but the evil of impurity threatens seven times as many families, that is all of them." There are hundreds of towns and villages where it is impossible to get a drink of liquor of any kind, while on the other hand there is not a single town, hamlet or community of any size where the evil of impurity does not exist to a greater or less degree.
There must be co-operation on the part of the state, the home and the church. What we need is a practical salvation, something more than saying: "Be ye saved." The church can do what the state cannot, and vice versa. Not only present, but future generations are in danger. Vice and crime are being flaunted, as it were, and advertised in our very faces.
Every man, woman and child has a place in the battle.
It is girls whose ages are from 13 to 22 who are going astray, even as young as 9 years; deceived, betrayed, led away, through wiles of abominable men, whose business is to traffic in girls. Since living in Chicago, many girls I have known gave birth to little ones at the ages of 13, 14 and 15.
Let me give some figures: During the month of May alone in the two syphilitic wards in Cook County Hospital, 140 men and 32 women pa.s.sed through. In Twenty-second Street Red Light district, by police enumeration a few months ago, there were 1,100 girls living lives of prost.i.tution, farther South, 1,200, making a total of 2,300. This is appalling, and yet this does not take in the whole city.
As many of you know, as far as can be learned, the average buying price of a girl is $15.00. She may be sold for $200.00. If specially attractive, anywhere from $400.00 to $600.00.
The conscience of these girls is by no means dead. Upon giving one my card in the hospital, she said: "If I had only known it before; many tell me about being a Christian, and another world, but I never could understand it."
The cry of another sinsick girl was, amid sobs and tears: "Oh! it is awful and sin has done it."
Oh, Christian women, mothers, give recognition to the fact; yes, welcome it, that a fallen woman can be saved, and extend to her sympathy, encouragement and love!
These girls are reached, not only through resorts, but in our city prisons, police stations, courts, hospitals, and elsewhere. The rescue homes are doing a n.o.ble work, especially Beulah Home, Salvation Army Home and others. The Girls" Refuge, where the Juvenile Court cases are taken, has girls of all ages up to 18 and 19--at present 140 girls are there under Christian influence.
The superintendent of a rescue home recently asked 200 girls who were there how many had been warned as to temptation and danger by their mothers--not one had, only in a few instances had they been told to be good while they were gone. Another sad fact, and, oh, how hard to admit, is that a girl receives the most discouragement from her own s.e.x, and with this censure and criticism, is it any wonder our sisters do not have any drawing toward Christianity?
One word of warning to Christian workers. Many take money from these resorts, going in with the sole object of getting money, by selling papers, or taking money when offered them.
One night, as I started to talk to a girl, she offered me money, and, as I refused, she seemed quite surprised. I told her I was not doing the work for money, I was interested in her soul"s welfare only. She said: "How is it some of you Christians come in here and take our tainted money?" Oh, workers, remember the Gospel is without money and without price! Do not forget these girls, down as they are in sin, they are watching OUR lives, and it is this that counts for most.
Especially let me say: "The girls of today are the mothers of the morrow, and as in the life and influence of mother rests the making of men and nations, let us, with G.o.d"s help, save the girls." Knowing the price of a single soul, the burden of my heart is, that the minds of our American people may be so stirred and awakened to the existing causes of evils that are engulfing our girls, that we will each take our part, appoint ourselves as a committee of one, to do all we can to stamp out this monstrous soul scourge, and hinder and stop its further progress.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF CITY LIFE FOR A COUNTRY GIRL?
After an experience in rescue missionary work for women and girls, not only in this city but in New York City and Boston, there is one conclusion which I am forced to come to and more and more is becoming an undeniable fact.
It is this, that our country girls are in more danger from white slave traders than city girls. Were I alone in making this statement, I should not hesitate for one moment in what I have to say, but others agree with me in this, among them being United States District Attorney Sims, who has written much on the subject of white slavery. One reason for reaching this conclusion comes from the personal hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart touch with these girls themselves. The country girl is more open to the enticements of city life, being more truthful, perfectly innocent and unsuspecting of those whose business it is to seek their prey from girls of this cla.s.s.
A girl reared in the country is not taught to suspect everyone she meets, unless a rare occurrence presents itself, and when involuntarily the defense instinct a.s.serts itself. While, on the other hand, the city girl has had it drilled into her, as it were, from the time she could walk, that she must regard people with distrust, not speaking to strangers anywhere, accepting nothing from anyone, her own people being the only ones she should make confidants of.
Mr. Sims says: "There is a definite but undefined danger in the very atmosphere of the city for the girl or young woman, which demands a constant and protective alertness, while on the other hand, life in the rural districts is comparatively free and unrestrained." Again he states, and through his investigation of the white slave traffic has reached the conclusion, that the best and the surest way for parents of girls in the country to protect them from the clutches of the white slaver is to keep them in the country.
While this may be the safest, surest, easiest course to take, it would not be advisable in all cases, for many girls have an ambition and aim in life, which they are seeking to attain, and the city offers advantages for this development which the country does not, and we should not seek to put obstacles in her way, but to protect her in carrying out her purpose in life.
But if circ.u.mstances should seem to compel a change from country to city, the only safe way is for parents to accompany their girls and see them settled, though this would have its disadvantages, as many parents are just as ignorant as their children regarding the perils of city life.
A TIMELY WARNING.
Parents who do not believe in the warnings given on these lines but say, as many do, "Wait, time enough when they are older, then let them find out for themselves; experience is the best teacher," should remember this: Ignorance is not innocence, and it is but the preface to the book of vice. To parents is given the first and greatest opportunity of fortifying their children with the true armor of knowledge and purity.
More than one girl with whom I have talked in resorts in the Red Light district, when questioned as to how they came there, would say, "Oh, mother thinks I am working, a good position." I have said, "Does she not ask you?" "Oh, no, mother never questions me much," and in many cases they would say, "I send money home and"--think of it--"that has satisfied mother."
WHAT IS HER MOTIVE FOR CITY LIFE?
There comes a time in nearly every girl"s life when her cry is to go to the city, and I think I can speak from personal experience here. It may be necessary through force of circ.u.mstances, or to develop herself along the line of her cherished ambition, or a thirst for knowledge. If it is to satisfy the desire for mere personal happiness and enjoyment and craving for excitement, I say, "Beware!" for here it is many slip and are lost.