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xxxiv
Only a day or two ago a girl, whom we have helped, and who is a day worker at a hospital, but
for economy's sake has to sleep at a night hostel, had an attack of influenza. The doctor told her to
rest for a few days, and she was in this difficulty : at the hostel she has to be up at 7 a.m. and there is no
day accommodation. The proposed scheme would have been a Godsend in such a case.
* * * * * * *
Quite recently we had another type of case for which again the proposed home would have been
most useful.
Very late one night a woman with three children (and a perambulator) came to us for lodgings.
It was a case complicated by matrimonial and divorce troubles. We tried our best to get her shelter.
The M.A.B. could not do anything, as she had a few shillings she was keeping for food for the children.
At last we were obliged to take her to St. Martin's Church for the night. Up to 5 p.m. the next
day she was unable to get any room; we recommended a Salvation Army shelter, where she went, only
to find it full. She walked about with her three children till 2 a.m., when a widow, with four children of
her own, took pity on her and found her accommodation. Again she came to us wanting provision for
the children till she obtained work. We passed her on to the women and children's department of the
Church Army, but with what result we have not yet heard.
* * * * * * *
A girl we are helping to get through her confinement was found to have a verminous head, and it
was essential this should be clean before we could place her. As she lives in a night shelter, there is no
kind of privacy at all, so that she could drastically tackle the problem, and owing to the difficulties of
this environment, it took her three weeks to get fit to go to the maternity home, and meanwhile her time
was getting perilously near.
Under the proposed scheme this could have been accomplished in a few days.
* * * * * * *
A few days ago a girl who had been a domestic servant at a local hospital came to us to ask if
We knew anything of a certain soldier. She was very troubled and excited. According to her story, some
three months ago she had accidentally met the man in question one evening, accompanied him to Hampstead
Heath and misconduct had taken place. She declared that till then she had been a virtuous girl.
According to her statement she was pregnant and in great mental distress. The man had promised
to marry her, but had not kept the promise. It so happened the man had passed through our
hands over questions of employment and emigration.
As our enquiries progressed the case became a very difficult one owing largely to the girl's hysterical
condition.
Conferences were held with both sides, and at the time of writing the case is still being dealt with,
with some prospects of an equitable settlement being reached.
Meanwhile the girl had to be housed, and this was only accomplished with considerable trouble.
Had we been able at once to place the girl in the proposed home, we could have kept her under
observation, have had her medically examined, and then mothered her in a way that seemed very
essential.
* * * * * * *
In another case a girl 18 years of age, previously unknown to us, came in to consult us, and this
is the story she told:—
She was a year in the Land Army, then in a situation for some ten months near her home at
Bristol. She left that against her mother's wish, came up to London and obtained another place, but
whilst there was led astray frequently by a sailor.
She lost her position, and unfortunately got in touch with a companion a street girl of very bad
character, who helped her to spend her savings.
One night, having no money left, this girl persuaded her to accompany herself and a sailor to
Chatham. He paid the fare and had associations with our case in the train in presence of the companion,
but not with her also.
Later the next day the companion told the first girl that the sailor was diseased, but she did not
suggest a visit to the hospital.
The girl came to us, and we found great delay in getting her to a hostel, as they were all full.
The girl says she has kept straight since we first saw her, but had we had the suggested home we could
have dealt with this urgent case in a much prompter manner.
Two incidents that occurred one night whilst this report was being drafted have a similar bearing
on the point at issue.
A girl known to me for many months had come out of Holloway Prison the previous day, and
by appointment came to see me for guidance. I was unable to place her at a proper hostel, and was
obliged to let her go for the evening on the understanding she would stay with some relative whom she
said would put her up the one night.
Instead, she went on the Strand and was arrested, having been found in the company of a drunken
soldier she happened to meet.
(The problem of placing girls just out of prison is, I believe, a very acute one, but only comes
under my observation in connection with girls I have previously known.)
* * * * * * *
The second is a very sad case.
A postman, who knows our work, brought to us a girl who had asked him where she could get
shelter, This was her story.