GIRLS' CO-OPERATIVE BOARDING HOMES. 



383 



international system of hygiene, and for this pur- 

 pose he had made arrangements for an interna- 

 tional sanitary conference to be held under the 

 patronage of the Government. The Congress 

 broke up on Aug. 10, after deciding to hold the 

 next meeting in Rome in 1893. 



GIRLS' CO-OPERATIVE BOARDING 

 HOMES. Popular novels and other books have 

 depicted the life of working girls in large towns. 

 Among these may be mentioned Walter Besant's 

 ''Children of Gibeon." and Helen Campbell's 

 "Prisoners of Poverty." The working hours 

 often e.xceed twelve, with poor pay, dingy sur- 

 roundings, brutal treatment, and, looming above 

 all, the constant danger of irreparable misfor- 

 tune. The authors generally suggest co-opera- 

 tion as a radical remedy, and that word is the 

 active principle of the girls' boarding homes. 

 It is easy to see that fifty girls or more, living 

 together, paying no rent, and buying provisions 

 at wholesale prices, may lead a comfortable ex- 

 istence on a sum that would doom them to mis- 

 ery were they living apart. Very few of the 

 homes date farther back than 1866, and hone, 

 so far as known, earlier than 1849. They sprang 

 up in rapid succession from 1866 to 1870, but 

 the majority are later than 1880. They are 

 evidently an outgrowth of the progressive con- 

 centration of industries, bringing many young 

 women together in factory towns. At first they 

 were intended to shelter the unemployed and 

 destitute, but gradually they developed into 

 boarding houses, giving room and board at cost 

 to employed and unemployed. In most of them 

 it is understood that a girl who loses her place 

 will continue to receive room and board on 

 credit until able to pay. The self-supporting 

 homes can not, with any sort of propriety, be 

 called charities. The fortunes of these insti- 

 tutions have been exceedingly various. The 

 largest that of the Young Wornens' Christian 

 Association of Boston has grown in twenty-four 

 years to a value of $279,000, and a capacity of 

 300, and many others show a record nearly as 

 brilliant. On* the other hand, many lead a pre- 

 carious existence, and many have perished. The 

 fatal mistake of some consisted in admitting in- 

 discriminately the virtuous and the fallen. It 

 has passed into an axiom that the two classes 

 must be treated separately. A few endowed in- 

 stitutions admitting both classes still exist, but 

 they have been excluded from the list here given. 

 Another cause of wreck was overstrict regula- 

 tions, driving away all but the most needy. 

 There may be some justice, though hardly much 

 generosity, in requiring obedience in return for 

 charity; but in a self-supporting institution 

 any regulations going beyond the requirements 

 of simple propriety are a manifest injustice. 

 Perhaps " suggestions " substituted for " regula- 

 tions " might solve the problem. The conditions 

 for entrance, besides the uniform requirement of 

 good character, are various. Many homes have 

 an age limit, admitting none below fourteen or 

 above thirty. Some exclude all whose weekly 

 earnings exceed $6. In some the weekly charge 

 is graduated according to the girls' income. 

 Thus, at the Primrose Home, in New York, girls 

 earning $1 a week pay 25 cents, and so on up- 

 ward to $2.50, paid by girls earning $5. In the 

 Sacred Heart Home, Cincinnati, only the matron 



knows what each girl pays. The difficulty aris- 

 ing in regard to those arriving without creden- 

 tials has been solved in some cities by establish- 

 ing two separate homes one for regular board- 

 ers and one for transients. The latter home re- 

 ceives those who can furnish no reference, and 

 from it they may be transferred to the other as 

 soon as satisfactory evidence as to character has 

 been obtained. Those who receive board at less 

 than cost are generally required to assist in house- 

 work. Nearly all the institutions have a relig- 

 ious cast. One of the regulations generally is 

 that the boarders are " expected " (in some cases 

 " invited ") to be present at family prayer and 

 to attend some church on Sunday. One home 

 contents itself with a parlor organ, forbearing 

 the purchase of a piano, not for reasons of 

 economy, but because that instrument is "too 

 worldly." Other regulations are: Lights to be 

 extinguished at a certain hour, generally 10 p. M.: 

 inmates required to rise and retire not later than 

 specified hours, nor to go out without obtaining 

 leave and giving the object of going out and the 

 time required. Some have specified hours for 

 the admission of visitors. Gentleman friends 

 are allowed to call at specified times, and the 

 girls are allowed to go out in the evening " with 

 proper escort." One institution invites gentle- 

 man friends to an entertainment once a week ; 

 another, once every fortnight. Several reports 

 mention with evident satisfaction the number 

 of marriages that have taken place "'from the 

 home." Most of the homes furnish instruction 

 of some kind in sewing, cooking, child-nursing, 

 reading, writing, arithmetic, stenography and 

 type-writing, drawing, elocution, and singing. 

 The larger ones have gymnasiums, that of Bos- 

 ton numbering 1,000 students. All such instruc- 

 tion is given either free or at a nominal charge. 

 The training schools for domestic service estab- 

 lished in some homes are a very recent and very 

 interesting experiment, which has already met 

 with brilliant success. At the Boston Home 20 

 girls are received- at a time, given room and 

 board free of charge, have their own parlor, 

 kitchen, and dining-rooms, and remain three 

 months, during which time they learn all vari- 

 eties of housework. Employers meet them there, 

 become acquainted with them, and are enabled 

 to make suitable selections. Many homes also 

 maintain employment bureaus. The dining- 

 rooms and laundries, besides serving the needs 

 of the inmates, are in some cases made a source 

 of revenue by admitting customers from outside. 

 Nearly every institution has its library and read- 

 ing-room. The library of one, which may well 

 pass as representative of its class, was found to 

 contain, besides religious works and novels, a 

 surprisingly large number of historic, philosophic, 

 and scientific books. On its tables were seen, be- 

 sides the current illustrated magazines, several 

 of the graver periodicals, such as the ' Popular 

 Science Monthly," the " North American Re- 

 view," the " Forum," and the " Scientific Amer- 

 ican." Many homes serve at the same time as 

 club houses to girls not residing in them. " Holi- 

 day houses," are generally transitory, being rent- 

 ed for the summer, and the stay of each visitor 

 being limited to about two weeks. A few per- 

 manent ones are given in the list. The more im- 

 portant institutions own their buildings, though 



