19. Jane Addams, Settlement Worker

Among the “girls who became useful,” none can take a higher rank than Jane Addams, the founder of “Hull House,” a center which radiates love and good will into the great city of Chicago. This “Palace of a Thousand Joys” is a little city of refuge for the homeless and hopeless, for the man without work, for the overworked mother whose fretful children can be left to the gentle care of the sweet-voiced helpers of Miss Addams, for the discouraged mill-girl and factory-hand, for the old and young of that bustling city.

Miss Addams was born in a home of plenty in Cedarville, Ill., where her happy childhood was passed without knowing poverty, as she played with her brother in the free out-of-doors that should be the heritage of every boy and girl in America. She was not strong, as her spine was weak, and she had to carry her head on one side. This was a great sorrow to her, for she was afraid her father, a large, handsome man, would be ashamed of his plain, crooked girl. But she found her father was all the more tender to his frail child. He talked lovingly to her of the equality of all, of the rich and poor, and taught her that the duty of the rich was to help make life happier for the poor. In this teaching of her wise, loving father, was laid the foundation of the life-work of this “Little Sister of the Poor.” She was so sensitive that once when she had told an untruth she could not sleep until she had confessed her fault to her father, who said: “I am glad if I have a little daughter who must tell lies, that she cannot sleep afterward.”

She attended the village school until she went to Rockford to a seminary, from which she graduated. Afterward she went to Europe several times, visiting all the great art-galleries. While in London she went to the East Side, where the poorest of England’s poor live. She was greatly grieved by the sight of tiny children, half-starved, with old, wizened faces, toiling from morning until night in the mills and factories, with never a day to play in the green fields, chasing the butterflies and gathering wildflowers. In America she saw things that made her sad—poverty, vice, and sorrow; little children and weak women with tasks too heavy for them, and with no time for pleasure or improvement. So when she was traveling in Spain for pleasure, she suddenly resolved to devote the rest of her life to helping the poor of her own land. Returning to Chicago, she and her friend, Miss Starr, took an old house that had once been a handsome home, but was now in the midst of the poorest part of the city. They fitted it up with comfortable furniture, hung beautiful pictures brought from Europe on the walls, and began the work among Chicago’s poor that has resulted in the celebrated settlement of Hull House. They provided a day-nursery where little children could be cared for while their mothers were at work; reading clubs for boys and girls; sewing clubs; a gymnasium; an art school and kindergarten; entertainments for the children and their fathers and mothers. Every one is welcome to this bright, cheerful home, full of love and good will for each and all. The Polish, Italian, and Jewish children mingle freely together. No creed is thought of save the creed of Jesus, “A new commandment I give unto you, Love one another.” The children are told stories, given care when ill, and help at all times, so that, in the eyes of the world, “Hull House” and “Jane Addams” now stand together for all that is best and most helpful in philanthropy and settlement work.

Miss Addams’ service does not cease at the door of Hull House. She goes about the country talking to thousands of people in the interests of better laws for children and better wages for women and girls. Do you wonder that this useful woman is known by the gentle title of “Kind Heart”?