The Unadjusted Girl, With Cases and Standpoint for Behavior Analysis

by William Isaac Thomas

November 13, 1915. Tillie still earns $4.00 a week.... Must buy new dress [refuses to wear dresses given by charity as being old-fashioned—same as Mary]. For lack of satisfactory dress she has not gone to church for 3 weeks. Mrs. Meyer fears she will slip away from church unless allowed clothes she wants. Her [Mrs. Meyer’s] ideas become more and more erratic. She said she wishes she were dead, had only trouble.

For the past year the church [Irish, not Polish, for the latter always demanded money instead of giving assistance] has had a decided influence over Mrs. Meyer. Her children attend the parochial school and the priest has taken a very active interest in their welfare.... The family lives in a less congested district and although Mrs. Meyer is still very nervous and frequently complains, the whole complexion of the family has changed. She is very interested in a mothers’ cooking class started last winter ... and is also being taught to write by her 12–year-old son.... If the man remains in Kankakee and the children keep well we feel sure the family will eventually become self-supporting. It is surely the highest point as far as the standard of living is concerned.... The present system of County relief cannot but have a debasing effect upon the family, particularly upon the children, who frequently must accompany the mother in order to bring home the dole of inadequate rations.... Mary is a good housewife and a sensible mother. She is contented and happy and her ideals are considerably higher, due directly to her husband.[^[93]]

In this case the social agency, the charity organization, takes the part formerly played by the large family (kinship group) and the community. The man in the case, the cause of the disorganization, is treated as insane. Pretty certainly he would not have been insane in Europe, in his original community. He would have been difficult, but the pressure of the large family and the community would have kept him within certain bounds. His violent behavior is also due in part to the fact that his wife does not behave as a member of a community or family. She resorts to American institutions, hales him into court and lands him in jail. She must do this because she has no family and community back of her, but she breaks the family solidarity. This and the fact that she practices American freedom in associating with another man and receiving presents from him make him “insane.” The wife in the European community would not have taken such liberties; community gossip would have restrained her.

On the other hand the woman never lost her ideal of a home, and the coöperation of the charity organization enabled her to endure. The removal of the man was a positive benefit. Further, the Irish Catholic Church came into the case at a certain point and played the part of a religious community. Its intervention gave aid, status, and recognition, particularly to the girls. (The Polish Catholic Church in America always exacts payment, and in general Polish organizations here interest themselves only in those members who are worth while; the derelicts it leaves to American institutions.)

Another saving element in the situation is that Mary was treated as a member of a family, not as a transgressor against the State. She stole repeatedly and forged checks, but she was never taken into court for it. It was fortunately “overlooked”, as parents overlook such defections. Mary was not betrayed sexually; she did not seem to be so disposed. Perhaps she was lucky in this. Certainly she was fortunate in her marriage, and through it became stabilized and an element of strength in the larger family. Her sister Tillie has a better chance than Mary had. But at the same time a review of the whole case leaves the feeling that Mary’s future was never secure from the date of her birth to the date of her marriage. There were not sufficient formative influences to assure a social organization of her wishes.

The efforts of the federal government during the war to control the behavior of girls who were either wild already or went wild during the excitement resulted in many cases in the attempt to stabilize the girl by improvising good family and community influences for her. The work was in charge of the Girls’ Protective Bureau. The methods used were in the main similar to those of a juvenile court. Families of good standing made it a part of patriotism to take girls into their homes and made extraordinary efforts to influence them. The workers of the Bureau acted both as parents and as community. The result was often very good. Where the girl was not bad but had, for example, run away from a country home to see a boy from her neighborhood, she was eventually returned home without demoralization. But the records show in general that the influence of an extemporized family and community is not usually sufficient to give a new scheme of life to a difficult girl. She does not belong really to the new family and community, as in the case of the girl born there. She is placed under discipline. She is not a daughter of the family, to be married like a daughter of a family. She has not a life-long train of memories, making her a part of the situation. She usually appreciates her new security for a time, but presently the desire for new experience, recognition and response return and if possible she runs away. Case No. 84 is typical of the result when a girl of bad habits is placed with a family of good standing which is sentimental about her, patronizes her, treats her half as servant, half as family-member, excludes her as far as possible from the world and exhorts her. On the other hand this girl was not very bad. She needed simply a situation in which she could live, with some response and recognition.

84. Marie Morse, age 16, who first came to our notice on June 15th when one of our protective officers found her at 11 P.M. in front of the Northwestern Station in the company of two sailors.

Marie had then been living with her father for three weeks. It was found that he, in his effort to be what he considered good to her, had given her her own way until she did nothing but “run the streets” from morning until late at night and quite refused to obey him....

Marie claims that her mother “picked up with men” in Riverview, so she could do likewise. The mother does not deny having once spoken to a man she did not know, but explains it by saying that Marie was teasing for a ride in Forest Park and she could not afford to give it to her, so a gentleman volunteered to give them both two rides. Marie stated that her mother had a colored woman living with them, and that she (Marie) was forced to sleep with this colored woman. The mother does not deny this, but said that her church teaches her that color makes no difference, and that Marie only slept once with this woman, and that was when Marie chose to do so....

Visited Mr. Morse. He showed visitor every corner of their rooms, which were in good order and clean. He does all the work of the home. Marie refuses to do anything, even very personal things. Mr. Morse’s young married niece (aged 26) came in to cook his Sunday dinner for him. She stated, when Mr. Morse left the room, that Marie had absolutely no moral standard at all and when she and other relatives would advise her, she would say “That’s nothing—mother does it.” She states that Marie has told them absolutely dreadful things and thinks nothing of it; thinks it is all right to “pick up” with and go with any man....