WORK OF THE “HOPPER HOME.”
An interesting feature of the work of “The Women’s Prison Association,” New York, is the “Hopper Home,” situated at 110 Second avenue. The first “Home” of the Association was opened in June, 1845, “as a place of shelter for liberated female prisoners.” It was before the day of the sewing machine and ready-made clothing was not thought of in those days. This was the main industry. The association was very poor and at one time had but two cents in the treasury. It was then that Miss Catherine M. Sedgwick, the first director, said: “Well, Mrs. Gibbons, I think even you will be ready to give up now.”
But Mrs. Gibbons answered, “When you are ready to give up, I am ready to take up,” and she went out that afternoon and raised eighteen hundred dollars, with which she stocked workroom and larder. From that time there was no talk of “giving up.”
For many years the main source of income has been the laundry. The treatment of inmates consists of work in the laundry as soon as possible, good food and general hygienic care. When a woman applies for admission, the understanding is that she shall give a month’s labor to the institution. At the end of that time she is generally in good condition and is sent out to service, preferably to the country. Often she remains in her place for many months and sometimes even for years, returning from time to time to make additions to her bankbook, the policy being to encourage such thrift.
That the habit of drink is a disease requiring prolonged treatment is an accepted fact in these days, and it is for this reason that the “Women’s Prison Association” has obtained by act of legislature an appropriation for a state farm for women misdemeanants over thirty years of age. It hopes, by outdoor work, medical attendance and good food to make many of them self-respecting as well as self-supporting members of society.
The average amount earned by eighty-eight women during the year previous to their entrance to the “Home” was $91.37. The average amount the same women are capable of earning per year is $207.36.
Our sixty-sixth Annual Report presents full statistics of our work.
SARAH H. EMERSON.