POLICE MATRONS.
Shall we have police matrons? seems no longer an open question. With the reform inaugurated in twenty cities, and under advisement in as many more, the idea may be said to be established. How wide is to be the influence of such an officer, and how effective her work, depend upon the place and the woman. “The place” should be central, with requisite accommodations for the comfort and convenience of the matron, in order that she may economize her time and strength. Official recognition of her work and its importance, with ready co-operation in various ways, will necessarily have much to do with its success; and these have sometimes been won under very trying circumstances. Other points, more or less essential, will occur to those interested, for every conceivable objection and obstacle will be presented, emphasized, and duly magnified while the effort is being made to secure a place.
That secured, then comes the question, “Where is the woman to fill it?” There will be applicants enough, and for them “friends at court” to push their claims, but “the right woman” will have to be sought; and it is better to wait for her, than to inaugurate the movement under too great disadvantages. A middle-aged woman, scrupulously clean in person and dress, with a face to commend her and manner to compel respect; quiet, calm, observant, with faith in God, and hope for humanity; a woman fertile in resources, patient and sympathetic. She could hardly be all this without possessing a generous endowment of “good common sense,” and she cannot possibly do the work required unless that is sanctified. It will be seen at once that “the place” is indeed, in a very real sense, “missionary ground,” and that “the woman” must necessarily have these qualifications and spirit in order to fill it and meet the demands of the time. Competent and conscientious, the influence of such a woman, in such a position, can hardly be overestimated. Her duties, serious and responsible, but legitimate to the office, will naturally develop as she is given opportunity to work out the problem, “What can be done for women in police stations?” under methods demanded by Christian civilization.
Of course, she will be “on call,” and every woman brought to the station will be committed at once into her care, and every duty connected with search, locking-up, and necessary attendance, will be performed by her. The cells for women (entirely separate from the men) will be in her charge, and she will be accountable for them and their occupants. Just what she will need to do in every case, no one could possibly outline. Said the chief of police in ——: “I wish you to state definitely all the duties of a police woman.” For answer, I said: “Will you first describe to me the duties of a policeman?” “Impossible,” was the reply; “he must be ready for everything.” Just so, within the limitations of her office, must the matron be ready for everything.
Women brought to stations are not all drunk, or even bad. Girls or women suddenly set adrift; one who has lost her train and is penniless; or who finds herself deserted; or who, by reason of sudden illness, fainting, or temporary aberration, cannot give her name and residence; the partially insane; attempted suicides; persons arrested on suspicion (and frequently found innocent); young girls taken up for disorderly conduct or because found in questionable company,—all these are liable to be brought to the station-house, a place which officials represent as “wholly unfit for a decent woman.” These arrested women are often irresponsible for the time being, careless of their person, and regardless of the commonest laws of decency. Their clothing is often disarranged and unfastened, and they are liable to be in a condition totally unfit for appearance in court. The matron should be provided with such articles as womanly thought will suggest, and she should accompany her charge to the court room and remain by her until release or sentence removes her from her care. Among these will be found some for whom the matron may intercede, and who, upon her representation, may be taken to some “home,” and life for them thus receive an upward lift, instead of the almost fatal plunge downward of the police court. There will be children of varying ages, from the babe born in the station-house to the poor child in short dresses, the victim of home neglect or of some one’s vile lust; and drunken women with infants in their arms, who need some woman to rescue them, for the time being, from their own unmotherly grasp, and to prevent them from nursing the alcoholized milk which would be offered them. Night will sometimes be made hideous by women raving with drunken delirium, or maddened by the fiery draught to foulest deeds of rage and shame; but “the right woman” will not fail in such emergencies or be dismayed by such depths of degradation, but rather see in it the why of her calling. Any one of the classes named will be better off for the matron’s presence, and the worst will be found more amenable to her touch and voice than to the average policeman, be he ever so well disposed. How far police duty and supervision may be combined with the missionary work needed, both in the station and in following up special cases, will depend, of course, largely upon the locality, the number of arrests, and the general demands of the service.
Whatever else may seem uncertain at the beginning of the work, there is one thing sure—“the right woman” will find her time occupied, and exercise for all her tact, patience, and consecration; and any one who takes the position merely for the salary or from sentimental notions, will pretty surely resign at the end of the first quarter, or those interested in the success of the movement will seek for some one else to fill the place. Difficult as it may seem to secure one who combines these qualifications, yet it will doubtless prove, as in many another important position where much is demanded, that the best available person is selected who, under the emergency, develops unexpected fitness, and who in time comes to compel approval and indorsement even from those who hesitated in committing to her this trust.
In every city where the appointment of a police matron is secured, there should be a committee from the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, upon whom the matron can rely for such help as she will assuredly need, and an “Open Door” or “Temporary Refuge” will prove an absolute necessity if much rescue work, which was the primary thought in the reform, is to be undertaken.
In time, there will be womanly supervision in the transportation of women to the various institutions to which they are consigned; and the police matron will hasten the day, by her womanly forethought, for the women passing from her care, besides strengthening her influence over them. Indeed, the presence of the police matron will often prevent carelessness on many points, and deliberate wrong in others. Ten years ago the movement was sneered at; ten years hence no city will be without one or more such officers.
All along the lines of the National Department advanced plans are yearly sent forth, and every State and Territory made some attempt to carry them out. During the last year hundreds of services have been held in hitherto neglected places. These were of a varied nature, preaching, prayer and conference meetings, Bible classes, Sunday schools, literary and musical entertainments; in some of which young people and children assisted. Said the keeper of one of the most desolate places: “It’s funny to see how the men try to clean up for the women’s meetings.”
One of the convicts told an officer, “I can stand the chaplains preaching, but those women, with their tearful pleading, break me all up; home and mother seem realities again.”
The Prison Flower Mission, cared for and directed by Jennie Carsuday, from her sick room in Louisville, Ky., has proved a blessed ministry to hundreds, and an opening wedge for the gospel message of hope and help.
Great numbers of bibles, testaments, helps for Bible study, prayer, hymn, school, and library books have been supplied, and millions of pages of gospel and temperance leaflets and papers distributed, thus displacing dime novels and cards. Book-cases, wall-rolls, illuminated mottoes, and pledge cards have been furnished, with Christmas boxes and Easter offerings by the thousands. Organs have been given, and others loaned for chapel services.
Petitions for needed reforms have been widely circulated, co-operation with other organizations gladly given, and scores of articles furnished the press, all of which have helped to arouse to action those not identified with the W. C. T. Union, and who perhaps had larger influence in certain directions.
Letter writing, to and for the inmates, has proved helpful. Visiting the friends of prisoners, giving sympathy, advice, and aid, have proved a practical illustration of the words, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Several States have inaugurated the “Prison Gate Mission,” which is an important branch, and aims to have its missionaries meet the prisoners on their release, with help and hope, in the most practical ways. “Temporary Homes” and “Open-Doors” are offering shelter and work, and thousands of lives redeemed attest the genuineness of these varied efforts put forth in quietness but with great faith.
Many of the State superintendents of this department have given years of untiring labor, often furnishing their own supplies at great personal sacrifice. Brave, true-hearted, and practical, they have disarmed criticism, walked unharmed in dangerous places; never dropping into sentiment or refusing attention to established rules, they have won recognition from all right-minded officials and citizens.