Part 3

Evangeline Booth was for almost twenty years Commander-in-chief of this great organization in the United States. She believes, as her father did before her, that the first step in influencing a man to lead a better life is to make him feel that you really care whether he sinks or swims. Her courageous, selfless life shows that she _does_ care.

Frances Hodgson Burnett—

The Girl Who Loved Stories And Wrote Them

From under the sitting-room table came strange whispers, but Mrs. Hodgson was not at all surprised. Beneath the long overhanging cover she could see a chubby, curly-headed little girl seated on the floor talking in low earnest tones to her wax doll, braced against the table leg.

Frances, the little girl under the table, would have described the scene very differently. What she saw was not an ordinary center table, but an Indian wigwam; not a speechless doll, but a squaw to whom she, as the chief, was telling tales of the war-trail and the happy hunting grounds.

“Frances is pretending again,” said Mrs. Hodgson to herself as she went out of the room, a bit puzzled at this little daughter’s way of playing.

The chubby little girl and her doll had many an adventure together. They took mad gallops on coal-black steeds that seemed to ordinary eyes nothing but the arms of the nursery sofa. As survivors from a sinking ship they drifted on a raft that Frances’ two sisters would have called the green arm chair. These experiences seemed very real to this little girl.

Something within little Frances’ curly head helped her to transform the sitting-room cupboard into a temple in Central America and the stiff doll into Mary Queen of Scots. It was the gift of imagination. How surprised her family would have been at that time had they known that this gift was one day to make her a famous storywriter.

In the smoky factory town of Manchester, England, Frances Eliza Hodgson was born, November 24, 1849. When she was about four years old, her sweet, gentle mother was left a widow.

Like other English children of families in comfortable circumstances, the Hodgson girls had a governess at home, before they entered a near-by private school. The lessons which interested Frances the most were those that contained stories, such as certain parts of history. She could never satisfy her great appetite for stories, though she read continually.

There were not so many good books for children then as nowadays. Frances’ relatives seemed to think that the birthday and Christmas gift books were quite enough for a little girl. Frances, however, did not agree with them. When she made a new acquaintance at school, she was sure to ask her, first of all, what books she had to lend. Sometimes when she went to visit a little friend, she forgot her manners entirely and buried herself in a new book, so eager was she to read.

One gloomy rainy day, Frances wandered through the house looking for something to read. She glanced at the tall secretary and wished that its books looked more interesting. However, she decided that she might at least try one. Accordingly, she pulled out a fat volume. It had short lines, which, to Frances, meant conversation and a story. She opened another book and found more stories. Delightedly, she continued to examine the books.

Frances was so excited and happy that she forgot to go to tea. She had discovered that there were stories enough to last her for months! It was in this way that Frances Hodgson discovered Shakespeare’s plays, Scott’s and Dickens’ novels, and many other interesting books.

Not content with reading stories, Frances was always telling or writing them. On the afternoons at school when the girls were allowed to talk quietly over their crocheting and fancy work, Frances would tell stories in low tones to the group of girls near her. They were delighted with her tales and continually begged her to tell more.

At home she often wrote stories on slates or in old account books. For fear of being teased she rarely showed the stories to anyone except her mother. Mrs. Hodgson always had an encouraging word for her little daughter’s tales and verses. This gave Frances an added incentive to continue writing.

Just at the close of the Civil War a great change came into the life of the little storywriter. Mrs. Hodgson decided to leave England and move to America. The family fortunes were impaired, and an uncle had promised to find work for the boys in the United States.

Romantic Frances was delighted with the change. Her first American home was in a tiny settlement in the forests of Tennessee. Everything was so new and strange that she seemed actually to be living in a story. The next home on the top of a hill, with mountains in the distance, was even better. How she loved the bright sunshine, the flowers, the birds, and her bower, a cozy retreat in the woods!

The boys had not as yet been able to add very much to the family fortunes. Frances and her sisters did not mind worn-out frocks and scanty meals, but they were troubled to see their dear little mother so worried. The girls decided that something had to be done immediately.

“How wonderful it would be,” thought Frances, “if an editor would buy one of my stories!”

She was only fifteen years old, and she did not know how to send a story to an editor. She had read in a magazine that contributors must write very clearly on foolscap paper, and enclose stamps.

Not having sufficient money with which to buy stamps and paper, Frances and her sisters earned the money by selling wild grapes.

At last the story was sent, but it was done secretly, for Frances was afraid that her brothers would tease her. What a happy day it was when, on its second trip, the story, together with another, brought a check for thirty-five dollars! She had found a way to help.

Frances Hodgson went on writing and selling her stories. Soon her books became famous. When she married Dr. S. M. Burnett, she was able to help him complete his education by her writing. Their son, Vivian, is also a writer. He has been a journalist and is the author of several books.

Mrs. Burnett has written many novels for grown people as well as stories that children love. _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, the tale of a lovable little American boy who won the heart of his crusty old English grandfather, is the best known of her books for children. Among her other well-known books are _Editha’s Burglar_, _Sara Crewe_, _The Cozy Lion_, _The Secret Garden_, and _Land of the Blue Flower_.

Mrs. Burnett does not preach in her delightful stories for children. One can, however, easily see in her stories the lessons in thoughtfulness and courtesy she had learned from her mother. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s great gift of imagination, together with her desire to write, enabled her to give us stories that have brought pleasure to many people.

Katharine Bement Davis—

The Girl Who Has Helped To Straighten Twisted Lives

The villain had received his just deserts, but he, or rather she, was smiling with satisfaction. Her play, for Katharine was the author as well as a principal actor, had been a great success. Nobody had forgotten a line, and, in addition, the scenery had added a realistic setting. Who would ever have dreamed that the deep forest and bold cliffs were only boughs cut from the shrubbery, and boxes covered with mother’s old gray shawl?

The back parlor of the Davis home was crowded with a friendly audience of girls and boys and a few mothers and fathers. This attendance was very gratifying to Katharine, for it assured her that the receipts would be large. With them she intended to provide a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner for a good woman who was having difficulty in supporting her crippled grandson.

Little did this merry eleven-year-old girl think that the work of helping others, begun in such a small way that night, was the work that she was to choose for her own later on. When she grew up she became a sociologist. This is simply a long word for a person who thinks, studies, plans, and works to help people lead happier, healthier, and better lives.

Katharine Bement Davis was born in Buffalo, New York, January 15, 1860. Within a short time the family moved to Dunkirk, New York. In the happy childhood days spent in this town on Lake Erie, there was no hint of the sorrow of life which Katharine was to cheer in later years.

Besides four younger sisters and brothers for playmates, Kitty, as she was called, had no end of school chums. They were always welcome at her home, for the Davis house was a sort of center of good times for the neighborhood. In the winter the children acted plays in the house; in the summer time they played Indian in the backyard, or built houses of kindling wood.

Kitty was usually chief builder, because she loved to watch something grow under her hands. Making things was always such a joy to her that years later, when she had charge of the Bedford Reformatory, she taught her girls how to do all sorts of useful tasks. They even laid the concrete walks between the buildings.

This little Lake Erie girl had as great an appetite for finding out how other people did things as for doing them herself. Once when a friend of the family took her for a drive, she inquired the name and use of every part of the carriage. By the time they reached home, her companion felt as if he had been put through a severe examination; but Katharine knew all about the carriage. This habit of going to the very bottom of things was to be of great use to a woman who was to have hard problems to settle in her public life.

Kitty Davis was very fond of reading. Her sisters and brothers often found her deeply absorbed in a book. Some of Scott’s and Dickens’ novels were among the book friends that she made at eleven and twelve years of age.

Little Katharine Davis liked to create with her mind as well as with her hands. When she was eleven years old, she had thought out tunes for a number of hymns. She enjoyed her music lessons, especially the part which showed her how music is made. The grown-up Katharine Davis realized that music helps people to forget their troubles and to think better thoughts. For this reason, she made sure that her girls at the reformatory should not only hear good music but should sing it themselves in their own glee club.

In the Davis family lived Grandmother Bement, a woman who had always had a hand in any new movement to make the world better. Katharine and the other children loved to hear her tell about the escape of slaves by means of the underground railroad, the fight against drink, and the struggle for rights for women. It was not strange that the granddaughter of such a woman should have a desire to be of service to the world.

The years flew on until Katharine Davis was ready for college. Business reverses had come to Mr. Davis, and he told his daughter that he could not pay her expenses.

“Never mind,” answered Katharine, “I will earn them myself.”

She kept her word. Studying by herself while she was teaching science in the Dunkirk High School, Katharine Davis completed two years of college work. She then entered Vassar College as a junior. She successfully passed the many special examinations that it was necessary for her to take. Upon the completion of two years’ work at college Katharine Davis was graduated with honors.

For a number of years, Miss Davis spent her time, first, in teaching; then, in settlement work; and later, in further study. After three years of graduate work, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with honors, was conferred upon her by the University of Chicago. Thus she was ably prepared to enter the field of social service.

When it was announced that a new reformatory for women was to be opened at Bedford, New York, Dr. Davis was immediately interested. She thought that there she might be able to carry out her ideas for helping girls who had not had a pleasant home and wise parents like her own.

Dr. Davis received the appointment as superintendent of this reformatory, and set about getting acquainted with her girls. She believed that many of these lives that had been started in the wrong way might turn out happily, if some one took the trouble to study them.

Dr. Davis endeavored really to know the girls at Bedford. She was vitally interested in their welfare and did everything that she could to help them. She spent many successful years as superintendent of this reformatory.

Dr. Davis’ ability to grasp a situation and meet it was clearly demonstrated at the time of the Messina earthquake. She was in Sicily when the disaster occurred, and immediately set about to aid the sufferers. Her work of rehabilitating the earthquake victims was so important that it won for her a Red Cross Medal, presented by President Taft.

When Dr. Davis took charge of all the prisons in the city of New York, as Commissioner of Correction, she had another opportunity for continuing her wonderful work. Katharine Bement Davis has served on a number of commissions formed for the purpose of social betterment. Many persons who desire to learn the best ways of working for humanity go to her for advice. Because of the little girl who carried into later life her joy of working and her habit of investigating things, many twisted lives have been straightened.

Grace Hoadley Dodge—

The Girl Who Worked For Working Girls

A group of prominent men and women were sitting in the drawing room of a beautiful home in New York City, talking earnestly. Close by them sat a young girl, the eldest daughter of the house. She shyly added only an occasional word to the conversation, but she gave very careful attention to everything that her elders said.

One member of this group was Dwight L. Moody, the famous preacher. The girl listened to him with particular interest, and was deeply impressed by all he had to say.

There were often such gatherings in this home. No matter with what subject the conversation started, sooner or later came the question of how to help men and women lead the best kind of lives. It was not strange, then, that one day this young girl went to her mother and said, “I have found out what there is for me to do. I am going to help people.”

That is exactly what Grace Dodge did. She helped people. Perhaps you will be surprised to learn that she helped each one of you girls and boys.

Every girl who has learned in a cooking class how to bake a wholesome loaf of bread; every boy who brings home from school a well-finished footstool for his mother, has Grace Dodge to thank. Every one of your older sisters who enjoys a swim or a game of basketball at the Y. W. C. A. has her to thank too. Of course, there are others to thank as well, for every good work needs many helpers.

When Grace Dodge was young, girls and boys in the public schools were not taught how to work with their hands; and girls who were earning their own living had no pleasant clubs. Grace Dodge believed strongly in these things, and worked so earnestly all her life for them that other people became interested too, and gladly cooperated with her in her beloved work.

Grace Hoadley Dodge was born in New York City, May 21, 1855. The Dodge family divided their time between their city home and their beautiful country house at Riverdale on the banks of the Hudson. Here Grace had many a fine gallop through the country with her brothers. Aside from these lively rides, which she greatly enjoyed, she lived quietly.

Even as a child, Grace thought very little about her own pleasure or herself. She liked to talk with the workmen who kept the beautiful lawns and gardens in order, and to make friends with their children. Although there were nurses and governesses in the family, the younger sisters and brothers always preferred to go to sister Grace when they wanted to be comforted; and they did not go in vain.

When Grace went shopping in the city with her mother, she used to think that it was very hard for girls to have to stand behind the counter all day. “I am ashamed to have so much while these girls have so little,” she would many times say to herself, wondering what she could do about it.

Grace Dodge attended a private school at Farmington, Connecticut. After her school days were over, she began to do the work that had always interested her. One of the reasons that she accomplished so much was that, whenever she saw a need for anything, she set about to fill it. Furthermore, she kept persistently at the work until it was done.

Miss Dodge soon discovered that many of the girls in whom she was interested had to work long hours in factories. She began to find that they did not know much about cooking, or sewing, or taking proper care of their health. It was a great pity, she thought, that these girls, many of whom would soon be having homes of their own, should know so little about the important work of home-making.

Miss Dodge began to gather a group of these girls about her every week, and talked to them. She told them in a friendly, simple way how to choose their clothes, how to keep well and strong, and how to use their money wisely. She told them, too, how to live the right kind of lives and of the help that God would give them. Often she talked to them about the homes that they might make some day.

The girls were eager to tell her about themselves. Each one felt that she could consider Miss Dodge as her personal friend. “The Irene Club,” as this group was named after a beloved member, grew until it had to be divided. Still the girls continued to come. In this way clubs for working girls were started. These clubs have proved to be so successful that they have never stopped growing.

At that time, there were no places where girls who were busy all day could learn home-making. Miss Dodge, therefore, together with several other young women, organized classes for these girls in various household subjects. Miss Dodge and her associates soon discovered that there were very few teachers who had been trained to teach in this particular field. They later found that there was a lack of highly trained teachers in practically all of the departments of teaching.

Miss Dodge began to think that there should be a school to train teachers in the various branches of learning. It was not Grace Dodge’s way to stop merely with thinking. She began to work for this school, and, largely because of her efforts, Teachers College of Columbia University rose on Morningside Heights in New York City.

Every year this college sends out thousands of men and women prepared to teach all the school subjects. The wonderful work that Teachers College is accomplishing is due, in a large measure, to the inspiration and guidance that Grace Dodge gave to the college throughout her life.

In many other ways Grace Dodge carried on her work of helpfulness. She was the first woman to serve on the Board of Education of New York City. Because of her pity for women and children who were unprotected and bewildered in travel, she organized the Travelers’ Aid Society. So firm was her belief in what the Young Women’s Christian Association does for girls that she worked to make it a strong organization. She was the president of its national board for eight years.

Miss Dodge often called herself “a working girl whose wages were paid in advance.” Her money meant to her merely a means for doing good.

Grace Hoadley Dodge was unselfish and determined to fill the need that she saw. Through her efforts, school girls and boys now have many opportunities to use hand and brain together. It was because of her great interest in others that she brought joy into the life of many a wage-earning girl and helped to fit her for her work of home-making.

Alice Cunningham Fletcher—

The Girl Who Befriended The Red Man

Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Alice, who loved to sit upon the shore and listen to the song of the waves. She also liked to climb a high hill and look far off at the blue sky and the green slopes.

At home she had plenty of good books to read, and she loved them too. They told her delightful stories about things that had happened long ago. Sometimes she did not quite understand all that they said, as she read them curled up by the fire, but later, when she wandered in the woods, their meaning became clearer.

It was the same way when she played on the piano at home. The music set her to dreaming, and called forth puzzling thoughts. Outdoors she seemed to understand better what the music had to tell her.

This little girl was Alice Cunningham Fletcher. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1845. As she grew older, the thought came to her that if she felt so happy out in the open, how must the Indians feel who had lived a free out-of-door life for generations.

Gradually she began to think that these people, whom the world called savages, must have learned something about how to live happily. Alice Fletcher resolved that, if ever there came a time when it was possible, she would go to the home of the Indians and try to discover their secrets.

Meanwhile she studied all that books and museums could teach her of the story of the Red Men. At last, there did come a day when she decided to go and live among them. It meant leaving behind her, beloved libraries, fine concerts, beautiful pictures, and even a comfortable bed and easy chair. Miss Fletcher felt, however, that there was something that meant more than comfort to her. It was the doing of a definite piece of work that she believed would be useful to the world.

Therefore, she left the friends with whom she could talk of books, pictures, and music, and went to live among the Dakota and Omaha Indians. From the door of her rude wigwam of buffalo skins, she could watch the little Indian children at play and see the everyday life of the older members of the tribe.

Most people think of the American Indian as a reserved, stern sort of person who never laughs or jokes. What Miss Fletcher saw from her wigwam gave her an entirely different opinion. She saw the Indians enjoy fun, and take a wide-awake interest in everything that went on around them. She decided that the sternness of the Indian was only a kind of mask that he wore before strangers.

Soon the New England woman ceased to be a stranger to her Indian neighbors. The love that they both had for the sky, the wind, the streams, and the forest helped to make them understand one another. It was not long before these children of Nature realized that Miss Fletcher had come to them as a friend; and that she was really interested in them. So they dropped their mask of reserve and let her know them as they really were.

Miss Fletcher, always a lover of music, became greatly interested in the music of the Indians. She found, however, that it was very difficult to study. An Indian does not sing just to be heard, but to express some feeling. His singing is a kind of prayer. It was only stray bits of such music that she was able to overhear and write down.

Then Miss Fletcher had a severe illness which turned out to be a blessing, in one respect. When her Indian friends discovered that she really wanted to hear their music, they gathered about her bed and sang for her. To please her, they even were willing to sing into a phonograph, which was to them a strange machine. Thus their songs were preserved for all time. Miss Fletcher has written a book entitled _Indian Story and Song from North America_. This book has already suggested themes for a number of American musical compositions.