The Heal Facts of the Case.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 58, 22 October 1881, Page 88

The Heal Facts of the Case.

If but a tithe of the scandalous stories that have been in circulation, respecting the " Young Women's Home " had any foundation in fact, not a moment should have been lost in sAveeping such a den of infamy out of existence, and purifying the moral atmosphere of the city from its contaminating influences. The charges and insinuations that have been levelled against the Horne — not secretly, but in the broad light of day, in the public streets, cind in printed circulars which have been distributed broadcast by hundreds — have been enough to make one's hair stand. Briefly and jjlainly stated, they are asfollow : — 1. That the establishment of the Young Women's Home, in the building in Upper Queenstreet, was a mere subterfuge for converting it into an hotel, and that this was " the goal which a wide-awake young lady and her gushing friends were straining every nerve to arrive at." 2. That there was an " occasional sensationalism " in the Home by " the presence thereat of a handsome beardless youth dressed in female attire." 3. That the Home was not attended by " industrious girls," its " only occupants being worthless characters and malignerers." 4. That the cry for aid in establishing the Home was " simply throwing dust in the eyes of the public," and " a wicked attempt to obtain money by false pretences." These statements were published in printed circulars bearing the name of " T. B. Hannaford," of whose veracity and motives the public are by this time quite as competent to judge as we are. This was bad enough, but worse remains behind. Statements were industriously circulated in Q.ueen-street that scenes were of constant occurrence in the Home which were a scandal and a disgrace to the neighbourhood ; that female laivrikinism was rampant ; that the management was in a state of utter demoralisation ; that on several occasions respectable people liA'ing in the neighbourhood had been shocked by the indecent behaviour of the inmates of the Home, and that on one occasion they had beheld the superintendent of the Home lying on the floor and surrounded by a number of the girls, playing leapfrog in a condition very little removed from nudity. To crown all, it was openly stated that a child suffering from a malignant attack of scarlet fever had been secretly brought by Dr Stockwell at night in a cab and placed in a part of the Home occupied by servants and schoolteachers, who were liable to be infected with the disease and to spread it abroad. These stories, diligently circulated by lewd felloAVs of the baser sort and long-tongued babbling gossips, lost nothing by repetition, for — Flying rumours gathered as they rolled, Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told, And he who told it added something new, And all who heard it made enlargement too." We conceived it to be our duty to trace these stories to their source, and to institute searching inquiries as to their truth or falsehood. We felt that whatever might be the social status and credibility of their authors, the statements were of too serious a character to be ignored. If true, they demanded instant exposure ; if false, no punishment short of hanging could be too severe for any scoundrels avlio could be base enough to wickedly and maliciously fabricate the slanders. But we did not consider it incumbent upon us to concern ourselves Avith the minor charges and insinuations against the Home set out above. As to the graver allegations, we waited upon the people whose names were mentioned as immediately connected with the matters either as principals or witnesses, and here are the results : — Mr Atkinson, a tenant in one of the shops immediately under the Home, informed us that an infant son of Mr Heath, superintendent of the Girls' High School, suffered from a malignant attack of scarlatina, and was brought at night by Dr StockAvell and placed in the Young Women's Home, to the intense alarm and annoyance of the neighbours, who feared the spread of the contagion to their families from the girls and teachers who were constantly passing in and out of the place where the child AA*as under treatment. Mr Atkinson further dreAV our attention to an extract in his note-book of the 28th clause of the Municipal Corporations Act, which he considered had been flagrantly contravened. Another tenant of a neighbouring shop corroborated his statements as to the case of scarlet fever, and added that she had frequently heard such noises in the Home overhead that she and her friends were unable to converse, and that her husband was prevented from pursuing his studies. But neither she nor Mr Atkinson could speak as eye-AAitnesses as to the alleged indecent scenes in the Home, and only repeated mere rumours they had heard. On applying to Mr Vincent Rice we were obligingly shown the correspondence AA-hich had come before the Board of Education respecting the case of scarlatina. It was reported in a letter dated September 27th by Mr Heath, who asked the Board to dismiss the school for the holidayin consequence of the sickness in his family. Attached to this letter was a certificate "by Dr Stockwell stating that the disease was scarlatina or scarlet fever — for the terms are synonymous — of the simplex or mild type. Dr StockAvell, who was next waited upon, stated that he strongly advised the removal of the child to the hospital, to which Mrs Heath naturally objected ; that an alternative proposal to isolate the sufferer in a house in the suburbs was also overruled ; that arrangements having been made by Mrs Heath with Miss Smith for placing the children in a part of the buildings in which the Home is situated, but separated from it by a dividing wall, he removed the boy thither in a cab, not mysteriously at night, but early in the forenoon, so that he might have the advantage of being attended by one of Miss Smith's trained nurses ; that the sufferer was convalescent in three days, and was removed to Mount Albert until completely recovered ; and that there was never any real risk of contagion.

Miss Laura Smith, superintendent of the Young Women's Home, received our representative with that charming mixture of trepidation and suspicion with which ladies usually regard the inquisitive reporter, and after a few words of introduction she was about to treat us to an edifying homily on the duties of the newspaper professson, of which she was not permitted to deliver more than the mere exordium, when she was interrupted by a polite explanation of the precise object of the visit. She was at first disposed to treat the charges against the Home as well as their authors with supreme contempt. It was, however, pointed out with becoming delicacy and deference that the imputations reflected seriously on the reputation of the Home and its inmates, that the matters had a public bearing, and that to pass the charges over in silence might in some quarters be construed into inability to repel them. Apparently struck with this view of the subject the lady gradually thawed into affability and communicativeness, and became en rapport. The statements affecting the moral character and discipline of the Home which were couched as delicately as possible, she scouted with the scornful and indignant contempt of conscious innocence. She, however, frankly admitted that amongst a number of vivacious and youthful females it was not always possible to maintain that strict decorum and propriety of demeanour which characterise a Sunday school class, or the best regulated families, and that occasionally there had been some harmless kind of adolescent gambols, such as one might expect to see in a select boarding school, or amongst a nest of playful kittens, but the stories of naughty behaviour were the wicked invention of some " base perjured man," some Low-breathed talkers, iniuioii lispers, Cutting honest throats by whispers, so different from the general run of the female sex. Miss Smith also spoke in emphatic terms of the amenability to discipline of the inmates of the Home. As to the case of scarlet fever she pronounced it a very mild form of the disease, and said that every necessary precaution had been used to isolate it and to render contagion impossible. Her reason for admitting the child was that it might benefit by the attendance of her own trained nurses. Finally she offerred to show our representative over the building in order to satisfy him of the bona fides of her statements. The temptation to enjoy a peep into the interior of this mysterious home of youth and beauty Like glimpses a saint has of heav'n iv his dreams, a scene so jealously tabooed from the gaze of vulgar man, proved too strong for journalistic instincts. The offer was jumped at. We passed from the neatly furnished sitting-room, with its piano, tasteful pictures, and ornaments, into a broad corridor flanked by sleeping apartments the doors of which were closed. At the end was a small scullery and pantry, and contiguous to if a spacious well-lighted dining-room, where a number of young ladies sitting at dinner in walking dress suddenly burst info view. Becoming instantly the cynosure of all eyes, or rather being exposed to a perfect battery of feminine , optics, the whole scene became confused and intermingled, like a rapidly dissolving view in which the only prominent feature Avas the snow-white table-cloth, and we beat a hasty retreat for the staircase. Mechanically following our conductor we passed out into the street, passed the front of the shops on the ground door, and by another, separate entrance into the Servants' Registry Office, from the back room of which a (light of stairs ascends to apartments above. It was in one of these, separated from the Home by the intervening Avail, and completely isolated, that Mr Heath's child was confined until he became convalescent and was removed to Mount Albert. Miss Smith stated that these rooms Avere completely cut off from communication with the adjoining premises, and that none but the nurse had access to them during the treatment of the ease. As to the Servants' Registry she said she had been obliged to open this branch as an adjunct to the Home OAving to the frequent enquiries for serA'ants, and that such institutions were almost invariably connected with Young Women's Homes in England. Seeing that Miss Smith was in the midst of her active duties, we took our leave with many apologies. Summing up the results of this search after truth we must come to the conclusion that the charges and insinuations against the Home are a series of vile inventions, emanating from some malevolent scoundrel actuated by base and selfish motives, some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue. Some cogging, cozening slave to get some office. This liar of the first magnitude, this Thersites, subsisting like a ghoul on the reputation of defenceless women, and of struggling industrious girls, poisons the moral atmosphere with his foul concoctions ; and if the committee of the Home have a particle of self-respect left they will sheet home the slanders to him, and inflict the condign punishment he so richly deserves.