THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1069 
The Police Woman of Paterson, N. J. 
A New Job Well Filled. 
“I want a horsewhip, not a club,” said 
Mrs. Grace E. Headifin, the new police 
woman, of Paterson, New Jersey, when 
sworn in a week or two ago. “My expe¬ 
rience is that the class of men whom I am 
to watch need a vigorous application of a 
horsewhip, and I shall feel very com¬ 
fortable if it falls to me to wield it. 
“I was appointed to protect the girls 
who work in our silk mills from the rav¬ 
ening wolves who first make drunk and 
then destroy. And they did it in such an 
insidious way. They perverted almost 
the only amusement which these young 
people enjoy, transforming dances into 
drinking orgies and driving the girls into 
bestiality when they were under the in¬ 
fluence of liquor, often intoxicated to the 
condition of paralysis. The good people 
of the city saw the danger and the need, 
and succeeded in inducing the Board of 
Grace E. Headifin, the Policewoman. 
Aldermen to pass an ordinance prevent¬ 
ing the sale of liquor or beer in or about 
the dance halls, and my work is to see 
whether or not the terms of the ordinane; 
are obeyed. I have to be mother, or 
chaperon, for upwards of 15.000 girls be¬ 
tween the ages of 10 and 25. I am glad 
to say that conditions have improved and 
shortly I can report that all objectionable 
features are eliminated.” 
Existing Conditions. —To make her 
unique work and its purposes clear it 
will be necessary to cite briefly conditions 
which exist in a cosmopolitan manufac¬ 
turing city like Paterson, which will ap¬ 
pear strange to most women readers of 
Tiie It. N.-Y. It would not be extra¬ 
ordinary if they scarcely believed them 
true. Many thousands of young women 
from 16 years of age up work in the silk 
mills. How many it is impossible to say, 
but probably not less than fifteen thou¬ 
sand. They stand all day at one ma¬ 
chine, or more, doing not heavy work, 
like dairying and other farm work, but 
light labor like tying knots in silk, or 
something similar. Yet, even though it is 
light it lacks variety, and when pursued 
day after day becomes exceedingly monot¬ 
onous. It is monotonous to perform daily 
taskp everywhere, but in varying degree, 
and probably factory work is as monoto¬ 
nous as anything that can be devised. 
Then, too, these girls are principally of 
races whose characteristics are quite the 
opposite. Many are very volatile in tem¬ 
perament, and under normal conditions 
crave the stimulus of considerable ex¬ 
citement. Obviously it is quite impossi¬ 
ble that these excitable natures can be 
even partially satisfied while they are en¬ 
gaged in their ordinary occupation, and 
as they work on hour after hour they feel 
the suppression of what they desire, and 
frequently become almost hysterical un¬ 
der the stifling influence. Their work 
ends and they pour out of the great fac¬ 
tories eager for a change, some relief frora 
what they have suffered all day. Just here 
enters another element which may seem 
incomprehensible to the women and girls 
who read this paper. Carefully compiled 
statistics show conclusively that only 35 
per cent, of these girls live in their own 
homes. In other words, 65 in every 100 
live in boarding houses, or with persons 
other than their own parents or near rela¬ 
tives. Here, then, are the conditions. 
Thousands of girls, with volatile, excit¬ 
able natures, employed day after day at 
monotonous work, and wholly without 
home restraint or influence. 
The SEARcn for Amusement.— 
Amusement they feel they must have, 
and the more exciting it is the better. 
They do not always stop to choose. Com¬ 
paratively few of them have relatives or 
close friends, or any others to guide them 
aright. The moving picture theater at¬ 
tracts. Others go to the cheap vaudeville 
houses. In Summer they go to parks. 
In all of these lurks some menace, but 
they are as nothing compared to the 
dance hall conducted in conjunction with 
a saloon. And unfortunately every man¬ 
ufacturing city is seriously afflicted witli 
these festers. Unprincipled men attend 
these dances and ply the girls with drink. 
Easily excitable they speedily become 
more or less intoxicated, and then their 
downfall is certain. In one night two 
years ago 100 girls between the ages of 
16 and 25 were picked up by the police so 
intoxicated they were helpless. The hor¬ 
rors of it cannot be printed here. It is 
one of those features of city life to which 
it is hoped country women may always 
be strangers. 
Efforts at Betterment. —The Worn-' 
an’s Club, the Charity Organization So^ 
ciety, the Young Women’s Christian As¬ 
sociation, in conjunction with the Minis¬ 
terial Association, and other agencies 
were roused to the dangers that beset the 
working girls of the city and began an 
agitation for changed conditions. They 
succeeded in inducing the board of alder¬ 
men, even though a considerable propor¬ 
tion of them are saloon-keepers, to pass 
an ordinance regulating dances. And 
Mrs. Grace E. Headifin was appointed a 
special police woman under that ordi¬ 
nance. So far as known she is the only 
such officer in America. There are dance 
hall regulations in other cities, but they 
haven’t been worked out in the same way, 
nor has any other woman in any other 
city the same official power to protect 
young girls from the ravening wolves that 
devour. This is the story of the neces¬ 
sity for such an officer and her appoint¬ 
ment. She is a very determined woman, 
widow of a former court officer, and at 
one time matron of the county jail. 
Therefore, she comes to her new work 
with expert knowledge of the forces with 
which she must contend. In speaking of 
it she said: 
“It is surprising how conditions have 
changed since I was appointed. All treat¬ 
ing and drinking of any kind of liquor or 
beer has stopped. And I am glad to say 
that very few of the girls who went to 
these dances wanted drink. They want 
the exhilaration and the stimulus of the 
dance. They do not want the drink. 
Many of them drank without knowing, or 
thinking, of the consequences, and before 
they realized their danger were more or 
less intoxicated. But that is passed. We 
make the proprietors of the dance halls 
supply ice water, and all the young peo¬ 
ple drink that, young men as well as 
young women. 
“I have stopped all so-called love-mak¬ 
ing. None of that is permitted at any of 
the dances. The danger in that is ob¬ 
vious, particularly if the young people 
are somewhat excited by the stimulus of 
the dance. I have a daughter of my own 
and I am protecting all these other 
girls just as I would like someone to pro¬ 
tect her under similar circumstances. 1 
am trying to see that the amusement they 
like best is made wholesome for them, so 
that they can enjoy it without danger of 
injurious consequences. 
“All these dances are closed promptly 
at 11.30, and the young people go home 
sober. They go to their mills next morn¬ 
ing with clear heads, ready to do a full 
day’s work. They run less risk of injury 
from becoming entangled in the machin¬ 
ery, since their senses are not fogged by 
the effects of dissipation the night before. 
Most of the immorality which formerly 
was more or less closely associated with 
these public dance halls has been done 
away with. Few girls are voluntarily 
immoral, but when stupefied with liquor 
they will do things they would not do 
when in their right senses. I am very 
glad to say all dangers of that character 
have disappeared. I have had mothers 
come to me and say they would permit 
their daughters to go to the dances now 
where they would not allow them to go 
before. 
Supervised Tlay.— “I wish all this 
could have begun earlier; that these 
young people could have had supervised 
play, as they are having now. Then they 
would have been directed right at the be¬ 
ginning, and would never have been ex¬ 
posed to the dangers and temptations 
which have beset these, many of them 
lonely girls, for so long. The supervised 
playground teaches folk dancing, march¬ 
ing and similar beautiful evolutions, and 
leaves little room for the absurd and 
semi-barbaric dances which are practiced 
with such abandon at present. I find less 
of the positive indecency among the em¬ 
ployees of the mills than I find in society 
circles, and I sometimes wish I could 
exert my authority in some of the 
wealthy country club houses that are 
located just outside the city limits. 
“Yes, I can make arrests, but so far 
have not been compelled to exercise my 
authority. Constables are assigned to 
that unpleasant duty. But I shall not 
hesitate to arrest anyone who defies my 
authority or refuses to stop forbidden 
practices when told to do so. I don’t 
wear a uniform, and I try not to appear 
different from any other woman. If my 
occupation is odd, as you phrase it, you 
will own that it has a very definite and 
helpful purpose in view. Maybe it is odd 
to be protecting young women from the 
wolves of the world. I confess I know of 
no one else who is doing it in exactly the 
same way.” 
Mrs. Headifin is a motherly woman, 
one of those who remind you of your own 
mother, and make you feel as though you 
could fly to her arms if you were troubled 
and would get unmeasured sympathy. 
And that is what she tries to be, not a 
policewoman, as the word is usually un¬ 
derstood, but a mother with a heart big 
enough to hide away all these employees 
in the great mills who are seeking relief 
from the tension of their toil and are 
made the prey of the destroyer. It is a 
great work and one whose influence will 
live on long after she herself has laid it 
down forever. estiier a. cosse. 
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Not just free from visiblo dirt, but free 
from disease and hidden dangers. 
20 Mule Team Borax will prove your 
best helper. 
Sinks and drain pipes aro breeding 
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made hygienically clean by flooding them 
daily with a strong solution of Borax 
and boiling water. This will remove the 
germs and odors nnd lessen the danger of 
contagion from this source. 
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Indian Bead Work 
MOTHING is more fascinating or more in vogue at this time than 
Indian Bead Work articles. We have procured an outfit for 
making these articles, which will be sent, delivery charges prepaid, for 
ONE NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION 
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THREE YEARLY RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTIONS 
< One of these may be the renewal of your own subscription for one year. ) 
This outfit consists of a Patented Loom for making articles, an instruc¬ 
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seven bottles of colored beads—dark blue, green, light blue, black, red, 
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Every woman knows and appreciates the value of these home-made 
articles. 
Your neighbor needs The Rural New-Yorker. If he is not a reader 
get his subscription. If he is a subscriber get his renewal. 
These articles will not be given with subscriptions—they are sent as rewards only (in place 
«f cash) to our subscribers and friends who, acting as agents, send us subscriptions as indicated. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 333 W. 30th St., NEW YORK CITY 
