Chapter VIII: Fifteen Years After

_Mr. Alfred Harris, member of the Associated Press Bureau, to
Walter R. Stoddard, editor of The Boston Message_:--

MERTON, FEB. 12, 1914.

"_My Dear Stoddard_:--I was sent here, as you know, to write up the social settlement in Freetown; and I have done the best I could, and am ready to start West to-morrow. But I feel tempted to let you know something in this letter that I did not feel like putting into my report.

"Merton is a city of about 50,000 people, a railroad centre, and a place of good residence and business life.

"Fifteen years ago a district known as Freetown, settled by negroes, had the reputation of being the source of more crime and social trouble than any other part of the city. The son of one of the district court judges was found one night unconscious, wounded, and robbed in this district. It was supposed at the time that he was assaulted by a criminal by the name of Williams, who committed suicide while in jail. This was afterward proved to be false; as I shall speak of this later on, I will not go into the details of it here.

"What I wanted to write about particularly was the personality of the social-settlement work now finally established in Freetown.

"Rev. Howard Douglass and his church (the Emmanuel) proposed the building of a house in Freetown where some of the most prominent families in Merton agreed to live during all or part of the time, for the express purpose of redeeming the place from sin and fitting it up into a transformed human life.

"It is not exaggerating the facts to say that what was planned fifteen years ago has been carried out with the most remarkable results. Let me tell you a little about them.

"First, there was the building itself, built largely by the gifts of Mrs. Carlton, who had been a social leader in Merton for many years. Her original gift was three thousand dollars. She afterwards increased it to five thousand. The building contained a large kindergarten and assembly hall, a housekeeping department, a reading-room, a dispensary, a nursery, bath-rooms, and rooms for sewing and industrial work, and physical culture and music rooms. There have been some changes in the original plan of the house, but it has remained practically the same as when first built. I ought not to forget the rooms provided for residents who take up their stay in the house on a co-operative plan that has so far worked very satisfactorily.

"You will be interested to know something about the work done in this house. The kindergarten has been, perhaps, the central force of the establishment. Nothing has been so valuable in lasting results. A volume might be written about it. No one in Merton any longer questions the value of the kindergarten in the redemption of Freetown.

"The housekeeping department has resulted in the increased number of faithful, competent cooks and servants who have been trained in the house. It is the common rule now, so I was told, for the graduates of the cooking and housekeeping classes in Freetown to be sought by the best families in the city; and these servants have even set the standard of prices for the best servants, and command higher wages than any other girls in Merton who go out to service. If the social settlement had not done anything else, it would be a great blessing to the housekeepers of Merton. It has helped to solve a large part of the servant-girl problem in this city.

"The children's nursery has been a wonderful blessing to the mothers of Freetown. The mother who goes out to wash or work all day can leave her baby at the settlement and go off, knowing it will be cared for even better than the mother herself could do it. Formerly, many a child was shut up in a cabin with other children only a little older, or turned out into the street to play; and it was a wonder that more of them did not die. As it was, many babies used to grow up miserably neglected, and suffering was common and harmful.

"I did not mean to describe so particularly the details of the work done by the settlement, but I have been so astonished by what I have seen that I do not know where to stop when I once begin to write.

"I must mention one regular feature of the Freetown work; that is, the premium list for physical improvement of the place.

"Premiums are offered every year for the best gardens, best-looking yard, finest flower-beds, neatest interior of cabin, most fruit on a place, most improvements during the season, etc.

"You would be astonished to see what has been done along this line. Unsightly yards, dirty alleys, shiftless cabins, are a thing of the past. One of the prettiest parts of Merton is Freetown. The parks in front of the houses are arranged in original designs of flowers; the yards are ablaze with roses; and shade-trees, fruit-trees, vines, and lawns have so transformed the district that it is a favorite drive for Merton people to pass through Freetown. All this may seem impossible, but I believe you will see how it is within the reach of human effort when I tell you a little more about how it has all been secured.

"In the first place, some of the most prominent people in Merton have actually lived in this settlement house, and have given their time and their strength and their brains to the actual redemption of the place. For instance, there is Judge Vernon, whose son I mentioned. He has been a resident a part of the time. It had been his custom once a year, before the settlement house was built, to go off with two or three old college classmates on a month's hunt or camping expedition. He has frequently, in past years, given that amount of time to residence in the settlement. He told me that his service there had proved as full of recreation and stimulus as any of his previous vacations. He is a man of great influence, and his example has been a wonderful one for other men in Merton.

"By the way, I meant to tell you that it was found several years after his son's death that the negro, Williams, who it was supposed was the cause of it, was innocent. A confession made by one of Claude Vernon's social acquaintances disclosed the fact that on the way home that night he had quarrelled with another companion, while both were under the influence of liquor, and blows were exchanged with fatal results to Judge Vernon's son. His companion shielded himself behind the bad reputation of the negro, and revealed the facts only on his own death-bed.

"I mention this because it had a good deal to do with the change in public opinion towards Freetown on the part of many families, notably the judge's own. His married daughters, Isabel and Winifred, I have met once or twice. They belong to the fashionable society here, and I suppose have no great sympathy with the unusual interest taken by their father in Freetown.

"The Carlton family is another remarkable help to the work done by the settlement. Father, mother, and daughter have been for the most part permanent residents. Miss Inez is a beautiful young woman of great force of character. She has made her life-work the redemption of the place. Mrs. Carlton has given much money to the work; but that is a small thing by the side of her own personal attention to the work itself. I was struck repeatedly with the unusual charm of her manner, and wondered that a woman of such social distinction as she evidently was had been willing to live in such surroundings. Her daughter also impresses every one in the same way.

"Mr. Douglass, pastor of the Emmanuel Church, has, with his wife and family, lived in the house a part of the time. He has been obliged to work out the problem of the residence in connection with his own church-work. His church heartily stood by him, notably his Christian Endeavor society, which has furnished during these years some of the best material in the city for residents. The young man who was president of the society the year the settlement house was built is now the head resident, and manages the business of the house when Mr. Douglass is absent.

"One of the most helpful residents has been Mr. Brooks, a well-known lawyer of Merton. He has given a large part of his time and money to make the settlement powerful for good.

"Another important fact has made the redemption of Freetown possible. The work has been well endowed. A short time after the dedication of the house, Mrs. Lewis, president of the United Clubs of the women of Merton, succeeded in gaining the co-operation of a majority of the clubs to work for an endowment fund to place the settlement on a firm basis. This work of the clubs has been very successful. Instead of meeting for entertainments, receptions, parties, or ethical and literary discussions, the women of fashion and social power have met to work for a humanity that was in more need of being redeemed than they themselves were of being improved in their minds, and the result has justified the effort. Freetown settlement is permanent because it is on a firm financial basis.

"I ought not to omit mention of the churches of Merton, which have also, without regard to denomination, helped the settlement all these years in many generous ways. In fact, nearly all the Sunday work there is done by members of the different churches and Christian Endeavor societies. This has been a wonderful aid to unite the denominations.

"The political aspect of Freetown has been completely transformed by the political school started by the Christian-citizenship committees of the Endeavor societies. This alone would prove of untold value to the city.

"Fifteen years seems like a comparatively short time to redeem a place such as Freetown was. But it is the personal life going into the heart of the great need that has done it. Don't you think it is because Christian people do not generally do their work on a large enough scale that the results are so small? It is because so many prominent people here, people of wealth and mental ability and social influence, have been willing to give their lives to the redemption of Freetown that it has been redeemed. I do not mean, of course, that everything is all right in Freetown. But in a very true sense it has been redeemed. And it is no miracle, unless we call love for lost souls a miracle. If you are in doubt about all this, come out here and look for yourself. Mr. Douglass has just called to take me over to see the exercises in the kindergarten hall in honor of Lincoln's birthday.

Very truly yours,
"ALFRED HARRIS.

An hour later Mr. Alfred Harris came out of the hall. He shook hands with Mr. Douglass and the other residents, and started down the street. It was his last day in Merton.

As he reached the corner, he stopped and looked back. The children came out of the hall, and were standing about the minister and his wife. Inez Carlton and her mother were standing on the steps just above the group. The whole scene impressed the newspaper man profoundly.

An elderly man touched his arm.

"It's been worth while, don't you think?"

"O, it's you, Mr. Brooks. 'Worth while!' I should say so. Why cannot the same thing be done in every city where the need is as great?"

"It can, if--" the lawyer paused thoughtfully.

"If--" said Mr. Alfred Harris, looking gravely at the lawyer.

"If the world will give itself to redeem itself."

He went on toward the settlement, and the other man went his way with his head bent in reverie. Somehow he seemed to hear the words borne to him from the settlement, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."

Ah, yes! Shall the world ever be redeemed in any other way?

"And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, '_God with us_.'"

THE END.

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End of Project Gutenberg's The Redemption of Freetown, by Charles M. Sheldon