USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Braddock > The unwritten history of Braddock's Field (Pennsylvania) > Part 25
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When the great steel mill was planted at the head of Thirteenth
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Street, Braddock, it brought with its prosperity man's curse, woman's enemy and the children's educator in vice and crime-the saloon.
The plea of the saloon is well stated in the following stanza :
"Wanted, some bright boys, full of cheer, To stand at my counter as drinkers of beer, To fill up the ranks without further delay Of the army of drunkards passing away. A hundred thousand a year will just supply
The loss to our trade from the drunkards who die."
A noted evangelist has said, "The saloon is. the sum of all villianies. It is worse than war or pestilence. It is the crime of crimes, It is the parent of crimes and the mother of sins. It is the appalling source of misery and crime in the land and the principal cause of its crime. It is the source of three-fourths of its crime and of course it is the source of three-fourths of the taxes to support that crime."
The mission of the saloon is to fill the jails, penitentiaries, insane asylums and other charitable institutions with human derelicts.
Who has to pay the bills? The landlord who does not get the rent because the money goes for whiskey; the butcher, the baker, the grocer, and the charitable persons who take pity on the children of drunkards and the tax-payer who supports the insane asylums and the poor-houses, that the whiskey business keeps full of human wrecks.
In these days when the question of saloon or no saloon is at the fore in almost every community the mind returns to a nation-wide or- ganization known as the W. C. T. U., which had its origin in the great temperance crusade in 1874, and had, yes, still has a very earnest band of workers in Braddock.
There are a few of us who can remember the time when the pa- tient, long-suffering wives and mothers of the drunkards of this country assisted by their sympathizing, but more fortunate sisters, marched in solemn conclave, two by two, into the saloons and offered prayers to God for help in stopping the liquor traffic. The spirits of these brave women were never dampened by the water, beer and whiskey thrown upon them, but often, very often, by the sneers and jeers of friends (?) in the family and church.
Our dear Francis Williard, who was national president of this wonderful body of women from 1879 until her death in 1898 was at the time of the crusade a teacher in the Methodist Female College in Pitts- burgh, and was first initiated into the temperance work in a crusade on Weiss's saloon on Market Street, Pittsburgh.
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
The W. C. T. U. is today the largest society of women in the world managed and controlled by them and having in the United States alone in 1916 a paying membership of 445,000.
The badge of the society is a bow of white ribbon-the motto is, "For God and Home and Native Land". The trysting hour is at noon when white-ribboners all over the world lift their hearts in prayer that God will bless the temperance cause. Today a glance at "the wet and the dry" map of the United States shows that an all-wise God hears that prayer and is answering it. A wonderful illustration of prayer answered !
In 1874 the task seemed so large, so dark, so hopeless, so improb- able. Today almost-accomplished.
Braddock's branch of the W. C. T. U. was organized in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church December 6, 1881, and was composed of the foi- lowing women :
Mrs. Arvilla Harrop
Mrs. Keziah Boli
Mrs. Sarah Bowman
Mrs. Helen Soles
Mrs. Elmira Scritchfield
Mrs. J. T. Riley
Mrs. Virginia Riston
Mrs. E. Robinson
Mrs. Sue G. Kulp
Mrs. Ellen Jones
Mrs. Mark Bennett
Mrs. S. Reynolds
Mrs. Flora Lewis
Mrs. Joseph McCune
Mrs. Rachel Clay
Miss Eliza Mills
Mrs. Kate Treese
Miss S. Parker
Miss Eliza Henning
Miss R. Stephens
Miss B. Sharp
Miss A. Seddon
Miss O. Bryan
Mrs. W. Murdough
Mrs. G. Sherwin
Miss Sue Lytle
Meetings were held in Braddock's first bank building at the head of Tenth Street and Braddock Avenue.
Mrs. J. F. Riley, Mrs. E. Robinson, Mrs. Joseph McCune were the first three presidents in order named. Mrs. S. Bowman and Mrs. Rachel Clay were secretaries. Mrs. Arvilla Harrop was the treasurer. The first state convention was held in Pittsburgh December 15, 1881.
This body of women working under great, very great difficulties, received very little recognition from the Braddock people. At that time the cause for which they were working seemed a losing one. Being in sore straits for funds, a committee composed of Mrs. Harrop, Mrs. Clay and Mrs. Bowman called upon Mr. Thomas Carnegie to ask his assistance.
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"A friend in need is a friend indeed." He proved this friend by giving them $300 at this time. Later he sent them $200, telling them to call upon him whenever they were in need. This they did many times over, and in his death they lost a very loyal friend.
What can be said of the work of these women? "By their works, ye shall know them." In the pursuance of the "Do Everything" policy, these women sewed for, and clothed the poor, made naked by King Al- cohol ; fed the hungry, made so by the same cause; nursed the sick and housed the homeless. They carried petitions year after year, against licensing liquor houses. Oh, the need of woman suffrage! In 1889, thinking to get the people awakened to the importance of temperance, they brought Francis Murphy to the town for a six weeks' campaign, and at its close The Blue Ribbon Society had control of the temperance work in the town.
In 1909 the W. C. T. U. comes again to the front in the temperance work. Re-organized through the efforts of Mrs. Bowersox and Rev. Quick, it now has a membership of sixty women from all the church denomina- tions.
President-Mrs. Donaldson
Secretary-Mrs. Zuerner
Corresponding Secretary-Mrs. Speer
Treasurer-Mrs. Holden
These women visit the sick and crippled throughout the town and hold religious services on Saturday afternoon in the Braddock Hospital. They assist in the maintenance of the "Providence Rescue Home" on Mount Washington-a very worthy institution. Temperance literature to the amount of 3,000 pages a month has been circulated by them and they have just furnished a room in the new hospital at a cost of $100. These worthy women are constantly doing deeds of kindness and acts of mercy too numerous to mention, proving themselves worthy active members of the great W. C. T. U.
Have the women working in the cause of temperance throughout the nation achieved anything worth while? One glance at the map on the following page answers the question.
Remember "In union, there is strength". This valiant band of organized women press zealously forward. Each branch, supplying its quota of good work for the temperance cause: knowing that "Love beareth
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WASHINGTON
NORTH DAKOTA
MONTANA
.
SOUTH DARDIA
IN
W
O
NEBRASKA
COLORADO
ANSAS
IŞSOUR
OKLAHOMA
ARKANSAS
NE
T
White-"Dry." Black-"Wet"
M.ST.AVILLE OHIO
all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things;" and that if they continue in their good works, the great annalist of the future dipping her pen in the sunlight of humanity and love shall write in the clear blue side-by-side with the name of this great and glorious nation one word-SALOONLESS.
A SALOONLESS NATION, IN 1920.
'Twas an inspiration of divine creation, When the Christian throng decreed, That this boon of heaven, unto mortals given, Be from liquor's bondage freed, That this land of plenty be in nine-teen-twenty, In the name of Christ our King,
A saloonless nation, it's a proclamation, Hear the joyful millions sing.
G. A. R. HOME.
On the north side of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Hawkins Sta- tion stands a large commodious building known as the G. A. R. Honie. This Home was erected and dedicated to the indigent mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of the honorably dismissed soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic by the women of the G. A. R.
This valuable property has from its erection been a quiet and in- viting refuge for the helpless, bereft, or decrepit women whose claim for admission has been the relationship held to a veteran of the Civil War. The Home was founded with the express desire to prevent the descendent
OREGON
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of a soldier's family from ever crossing the threshold of an almshouse in this nation which was ransomed by their blood.
In 1890 the Stahl Homestead at Hawkins was purchased for the nominal sum of $9,500. It was furnished and equipped, and on June 28, 1890 was dedicated with imposing ceremonies. Immediately it was used for the purpose intended-a haven of rest. On Thanksgiving Day, No- vember 28, 1890 five soldiers' widows and one soldier's mother (four of whom were from the Allegheny County Poor House) ate their Thanksgiv- ing dinner in this Home as guests of the women of the G. A. R. With growing demands the institution has been enlarged and improved until now it houses one hundred ten inmates and is valued at $75,000.
To the women of the G. A. R., and particularly to those of Major A. M. Harper Circle No. 4 of Braddock, and to Mrs. Elmira Scritchfield, Mrs. Sue Kulp, and Mrs. Ella Soles may be ascribed the credit of seeing this laudable movement launched and carried to its consummation. The work of the Braddock Circle is strenuous and is ever on the increase, since only a small membership remains from the long list of early years. The needs of the Home are a life work for this small band of earnest workers.
Annually these women have conducted a supper on the lawn of the Home at which from 500 to 600 people are fed on provisions donated from Braddock homes entirely. The solicitation of this food and the giv- ing of the dinner demand not only energy but forethought and executive ability on the part of the members of this Circle. Through their efforts a donation of food is received each year from Braddock, North Brad- dock and Rankin schools. All goes for the maintenance of the Home and is a wonderful help.
The foregoing does not show the limitation of work done by the Circle. This band of women knows no limitation in its line of service. A cry for help is never unheeded; whether it be for a basket of groceries, or days and nights of strenuous activity in dire disaster or smaller aids in kindness and sympathy.
Achievements! This home stands an eloquent monument to the en- terprise as well as womanly patriotism of this band of willing workers who conceived the idea and carried out its consummation. To the women of the G. A. R. and to the Braddock women in particular we pay grateful tribute for upholding the honor of this patriotic order and perpetuating its memory in such an institution.
WOMAN'S CLUB.
In 1894, a few years after the Carnegie Library had been built, two
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townswomen, Mrs. A. B. Stevenson and Mrs. A. W. Schooley, in conver- sation as to the benefit of the library to the community bethought them- selves that a woman's club in connection with the same might prove not only a benefit to women, but indirectly one to the town.
At their suggestion, Mrs. Edwin Anderson, wife of the librarian, called a meeting at her home on North Avenue for the purpose of organ- izing a literary club for the women of Braddock.
On February 12, 1894, the following women met in the parlors of Mrs. Anderson's home and organized a club which after twenty-three years still lives and is known as the Woman's Club of Braddock.
Charter Members :
Mrs. Edwin Anderson Mrs. James Gayley
Mrs. A. B. Stevenson
Mrs W. Morrow
Mrs. A. W. Schooley Mrs. W. Lapsley
Mrs. Adah Preusse Mrs. A. M. Scott
Mrs. Richard Stevens Mrs. R. M. Holland
Miss Louisa Addenbrook Miss Maggie Lukens
Miss Minnie Dinkey
Miss Elizabeth Corey
Mrs. A. J. Spigelmire
At a second meeting held in the home of Mrs. Adah Preusse on Holland Avenue a constitution and by-laws were adopted, a program for study selected and the following officers elected :
President, Mrs. Edwin Anderson
Vice President, Mrs. James Gayley
Secretary, Miss Louisa Addenbrook
Treasurer, Mrs. A. J. Spigelmire
This club, being the only literary club in the Monongahela Valley for several years, grew in size, admitting members from Turtle Creek, Edgewood, and Wilkinsburg, and the interest aroused in the study of good literature cannot be over-estimated. "Give a person this taste and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a happy person. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history, with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest and the purest characters which have adorned humanity."
One day during each club year was known as "Visitors' Day". Each member was permitted one guest and a varied and delightful pro- gram was rendered followed by a social hour. As other clubs began to organize in the neighboring towns, the officers of these clubs were also invited and thus the meeting grew in size and importance.
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
The Club joined the State Federation in 1899 and the National Body in 1900. Delegates to these conventions always returned with en- thusiastic reports of civic work which was being accomplished in various parts of the state and this aroused the members of the Woman's Club to the fact that a purely literary club is more or less a selfish one benefitting the members and their friends only, and that a true civic spirit inculcated into the same would make it of greater benefit to the community.
On one memorable "Visitors' Day" the entire membership of the neighboring clubs was entertained in Carnegie Library and from this meeting arose an organization known as "The Federated Clubs of the Monongahela Valley". (1900) This Federation was entertained by one of the sister clubs each year; a general program was presented and civic affairs were freely planned and discussed. This organization grew in size and importance, and, when "The Congress of Clubs of Western Penn- sylvania" was formed in Pittsburgh, "The Federated Clubs of the Monon- gahela Valley" disbanded in its favor, but the civic spirit it had fostered grew, and what is more conducive to good in a community than a true civic spirit ?
No adequate idea can be given of the work that is being done by clubs, and societies of women-scholarships established, hospital beds en- dowed, traveling libraries started, sewing and cooking schools maintained, day-nurseries supported, schoolrooms decorated, nurses supplied to the poor, playgrounds established, clean-up days organized, birds cared for, yard improvement encouraged, all, all for the betterment of the communi- ty; for intellectual and moral growth-not one for graft.
When Braddock was laid out (if it ever was, one thinks from the look of it that it just "growed") no thought was ever given to parks or breathing spots for the poor of the congested districts. The yards are small where there are yards and we are sorry to say there are sections where there are no yards. Playgrounds, therefore, are very necessary in a city like Braddock. His Satanic Majesty is just as busy today as ever in finding mischief for idle hands to do. Play is a safe guard against crime; therefore the children should be given places in which to romp and play.
GIVE THEM A PLACE TO PLAY !
"Plenty of room for dives and dens (glitter and glare and sin!),
Plenty of room for prison pens (gather the criminals in!),
Plenty of room for jails and courts (willing enough to pay!) But never a place for the lads to race; no, never a place to play.
Plenty of room for shops and stores ( Mammon must have the best!),
Plenty of room for the running sores that rot in the city's breast!
Plenty of room for the lures that lead the hearts of our youth astray,
But never a cent on a playground spent; no, never a place to play !
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Plenty of room for schools and halls, plenty of room for art; Plenty of room for teas and balls, platform, stage, and mart. Proud is the city-she finds a place for many a fad today, But she's more than blind if she fails to find a place for the boys to play!
Give them a chance for innocent sport, give them a chance for fun- Better a playground plot than a court and a jail when the harm is done! Give them a chance-if you stint them now, tomorrow you'll have to pay A larger bill for a darker ill, so give them a place to play!"
In 1909 the Woman's Club decided that the children of the town should have a public playground. The public was aroused to the need through the press, but playgrounds cost money ; and alas! no open-hearted, open-handed philanthropist appeared. The women cast about them, but there was neither a Hetty Green nor a Mrs. Russell Sage in their midst. Recalling that Goethe says "Energy will do anything that can be done in the world", they girded their loins and started forth to secure the play- grounds.
A little button bearing the sweet face of an unkempt child and the words, "Wanted-a playground" was the scheme adopted. 'Twas only a button-a little button! But it was truly wonderful the way in which that sweet face crept into the hearts of the people and the way in which the buttons appeared upon their coats signifying their sympathy with the movement. Under the guidance of the teachers, thousands of these but- tons disappeared in the hands of the school children. The playground idea appealed to them. Where is the child who does not love to play ?
At the close of the button campaign, the shekels were counted. Lo! there were five hundred and thirty-five dollars-almost enough to equip and run a playground for the summer. An entertainment given by Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright in Carnegie Hall netted $100. Each member of the Woman's Club subscribed five dollars and the following donations were solicited :
Sand
Carnegie Steel Co.
Sand Boxes
Braddock Lumber Co.
McBride Lumber Co.
Swings
Mrs. Allen Kirkpatrick
Balls.
Roderus and Klaban
Baskets Katz and Goldsmith
Thus fortified the women hired a superintendent and two as- sistant teachers and for six weeks six hundred children played to their hearts' content under the supervision of these trained teachers and the club women, upon the grounds of the First Ward School in Braddock. That was real labor for the club women, but they closed with the determi-
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nation to have two playgrounds the following summer. Playgrounds had come to stay.
"Still humanity grows dearer Being learned the more."
The next summer (1910) the Club took care of two playgrounds- one in North Braddock and one in Braddock; in 1911, two in North Brad- dock and two in Braddock; in 1912, two in North Braddock and two in Braddock; in 1913, three in North Braddock and two in Braddock. Please take notice that the movement, like Topsy, just naturally "growed".
Now there are two important questions :- How much did the play- grounds cost? Where did the Club get the money? The cost in money was $2,391.47. The cost in physical strength, in mental labor and in time cannot be estimated. The members of the Club gave freely of all. The civic committee, which was composed of Mrs. Vankirk, Mrs. Ida Morgan, Mrs. A. M. Scott deserves great praise for its earnest and exhaustive labors.
Where did the money come from? Buttons, entertainments and personal contributions were the sources of wealth. The School Boards worked side-by-side with the women and rendered splendid financial as- sistance.
At the close of 1913, the Club felt that the work of development was finished, that they had succeeded in awakening the people and the Boards of Education in both boroughs to the importance and necessity of the playground activities and that the time was now ripe to hand it over to the School Boards, where the whole movement properly belonged. The Boards accepted the trust and have taken excellent care of the move- ment. The Club, however, shall always be proud of its child and wish it long life and prosperity.
"Clean-Up Day" was the next thing attempted by the women. "Free Ride to the Dump" drew the usual crowd. The way those Brad- dock alleys and cellars belched forth their germ-laden contents was truly appalling. The City Fathers had consented to haul the rubbish free of charge and it took weeks and weeks to do it. Cost? The cost of play- grounds is but a trifle in comparison.
The Woman's Club has ever been mindful of the hospital and its needs. For years it had donated $10 for Christmas decorations and has helped with decorative work. In 1917 they donated $367 to furnish the maternity ward and expect in the future to undertake the up-keep of the same. These things have been done and many others planned for Brad-
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dock's welfare by this band of optimistic workers. Blessed optimism! that amid all the short-comings of human nature sees the best, lifts souls upward and helps to make the world sunny by its singing :
"When a bit of sunshine hits ye, Glancing sidewise from a cloud; When a bit of laughter gits ye, And your spine is feelin' proud, Don't forget to up and fling it At a soul that's feelin' blue For the minute that you sling it, It's a boomerang to you".
Captain Jack Crawford's conclusion is correct. The optimism that cheers others onward and upward is always a boomerang of blessing and help- fulness to the individual who embodies it.
This is an age of clubs-clubs for the rich; clubs for the poor ; clubs for pleasure; clubs for profit. Some clubs are a blessing to a com- munity ; others are a curse. Some are are a hindrance; some are a help. For the Woman's Club of Braddock, there is but praise. Its doctrine is to help, not to hurt humanity. It's not a printed, but a living gospel-the art of right living. Can there be greater achievement than this? "They talk about a woman's sphere as though it had a limit There's not a place in earth or heaven There's not a task to mankind given, There's not a blessing or a woe, There's not a whisper yes or no, There's not a life or birth, That has a feather's weight of worth, Without a woman in it".
"Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from them." -Madam DeStael.
BRADDOCK HOSPITAL.
While we will concede to man the credit of first suggesting a hos- pital in Braddock, we will have to maintain that without the enterprise, courage, indomnitable will, and persistent energy of the Braddock women, it would now be a thing unknown.
Mrs. Thomas James, Mrs. Scritchfield and Mrs. Treese were the trio of our town's women to whom credit must be given for taking the preliminary steps in organizing the work for the Braddock Hospital.
From the pulpits of the various Braddock churches went forth a call that all women interested in a hospital movement should meet at the home of Mrs. Thomas James, Parker Avenue, October 15, 1894.
At this meeting the enterprise was fully discussed and it was de- cided to have a hospital. A second meeting was called at the home of Mrs. James October 21, 1894. At this meeting a society known as the
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Braddock Hospital Association was formed, and the following officers were elected :
President, Mrs. Jennie Lapsley,
Secretary, Mrs. Rachel Clay,
Treasurer, Mrs. Al Maggenni,
Financial Secretary, Mrs. A. W. Schooley.
A charter was applied for and received through the kindness of the late Major R. E. Stewart. This charter reposes today in the new safe in the Braddock General Hospital and bears the following names in mute testimony of their good works:
Florence Murto Bell
Jennie Scott Lapsley
Gertrude Roberts Carothers
Kate W. Treese
Mary K. Collingwood
Mary J. Holtzman
Elmira Scritchfield
Margaret Kramer
Elizabeth James
Susan C. Kulp
Mary M. Schooley
Margaret Bell Scott
Virginia Riston
Kate McIllfried
Caroline Markle Stewart
"So shines a good deed in a naughty world".
After the organization, there came the struggle for existence. The women discussed ways and means whereby they could earn enough money to build and equip a hospital where the men injured in the mills could be properly and quickly cared for.
"When pain and anguish rive the brow, A ministering angel thou -- ".
Hundreds of Braddock women were interested and for a time all went well. Everyone was anxious and willing to work. The first effort- a bazaar in Turner's Hall-netted the sum of $4,500. Entertainments of various kinds-concerts, waffle-suppers, lectures, lawn-fetes-followed each other in rapid succession until the ladies had in hand the sum of $10,000, no mean sum, but only a drop in the bucket to buy a building and equip it as an up-to-date hospital. Interest in the scheme began to wane. One by one the enthusiasts dropped off until a faithful nine re- mained-Mesdames Schooley, Scritchfield, Kulp, James, Newman, Kelley, King, Steinmetz and Treese.
Rumors were abroad that the undertaking was too gigantic, that the town would never be able to care for it and that the money on hand had better be used for another purpose, but these faithful few said, "No! we will keep the money for the purpose intended".
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