OCR Text |
Show WORK IIF THE - mw'WW ' BWTIUTC - - - . : bir - ' SswSia t&r.Q Mil' long ngo tne news or uuriur- N- . tug n mini fur out ut wu by doctor on land ttet us nil umisp at the wonders about nn, almost unniiturul In their Infinite possibilities pos-sibilities anil surcFMMos. It till V ' arrested my attention m shuri'ly w 1 that with Intonse curiosity 1 went x, j to the Seamen's Church ln"tl- aaat ftjfi ,n Kew Y,,ll C"' fr",n A where 1 lieuril this wonder sprunK. V Dimly I hml henrd of this ' jdure. this enonuous btilhllng which meiint home to thousiiiuls ud tf)uutnd of seunien from ull over the world, and I l.nd lietiril f Its lower mid Its greitt green light whlt h wB the Mi st light to he aeen tis h boat ' , came within view of New York. The Institute U situated on the very edjre. ns It were, of Manhattan Manhat-tan Island South street, nlonit the water front. Cujitaln Itobert Huntington, principal of the Navigation. Marine Knglneerlng and Itmllo schitol f the Institute, ni.d Ir. Mmistlehl. superintendent, have been the onea to accomplish this medical serv-!c serv-!c by wlreltwa. For the past year KIKF, which Is the distress signal Kent to the Institute radio Mutlon, hits resulted re-sulted hi treatment of the man, alclt at aeu by a doctor at one of the public health atntlons on land. The Institute bus put through this work tn u very complete wuy. It hna ilnully won out In the In-1 In-1 Blstei.ee of the law which uuikea all uhlpa curry n first aid equipment, n first aid manual (the work of the InBiltute) and a medicine chest. And now, In orrtri to receive his certificate, n ship's olllcer must have? hud u course In first aid training. Ko tl.it l now u muit who la sick can be treated at seu by these officers who understand medicine sufllcleutly t be able to pruficlentlj follow out the dlrectloi.g of the doctors who send their advice and treatment by wireless follow inc ihe sending of the man's gviurtoms to them. Ships outside the radius can have messages relayed by the ships within the radius. All kinds of Illnesses have Wen treated and now the final MTBiigement as to the different coasiul stations Is to be made so that all over the world there will be medical service by wireless. Anil all ' this has been put through by the Seamen's Church Institute. The radio corporation pays all the wire-leKH wire-leKH expenses of senilin messages with the exception excep-tion of some of the telephone toll churges und a private Individual pays these. The accomplishment of this ns a world service has Just been completed. Anil the place I had known of as that with the j;reen lljrlit. wh'rli Is not only the first to be seen upon upproachin' land, but the lust light to tie seen as nun bull out to sea again, has been responslhle 1 Then, too. I hud heard of the time ball which dropped down the pole on top of tits tower every day exactly as Washington sent word that It wus conn, und of the hundreds of glasses turned toward to-ward this tower around noon, a simple enough tale but one that hud always appealed! For all bouts In the harbor take their time from the Seamen's Sea-men's Church Institute time ball. Of these I had heard, ami sometimes of services, serv-ices, sometimes cf entertulntnenis and up to the time of the long distance medical treatment of the transference of a ferry house along the water front Into n comfortable, heated, lighted relief station for the jrreut number of unemployed seainen this jrar. This they too had put through with the eo-opeiuthm eo-opeiuthm of the civic and naval tun horiri.s. It was er.v dlriieult, I found, to discover who vn tli( liwj'lrution back of each enoi 'imw accomplish-nient. accomplish-nient. Archibald It. Mnnsllcld, l. I)., Ihe superintendent, super-intendent, was the cno who everyone el.se told rne, had put through everything. But Dr. Mansfield treated thut with scorn, and went on to explain Just who were the Individuals responsible for the many and devious splendid things accomplished there. In fact there was this spirit everywhere. There Is absolutely no desire for self glory In anyone any-one I met a rure thing to he found In a large organization. or-ganization. Over seventy years ago a pious gentleman frnro Boston found his bout stranded on the New England Eng-land cooast. He found shelter, however. In the Inn of a small coast town. It was Sunday. The pious gentleman sent out word to the various ships which hud sought shelter In the storm that there would be a service that Sunday morning In the parlor of the Inn, and there wus such tremendous, response that soon afterward a floating church was to be seen In New York hurbor. For it showed seainen enjoyed a service. Next some men from Trinity pnrlsh went (ion every Sundi' to the wharves and askod the men to come to services. And the Seamen's Church Institute had grown out of these beginnings and the iTotestant Kplscopnl Church Missionary Society So-ciety for Penmen In the city and port of New York. Since 1000 It has been known as the Seamen's Church Inst'tute of New York. It wiis Itevcrend Dr. Munsfleld ho made the Church Institute what It Is who struggled his way through the almost Insurmountable difficulties which loomed and Intruded nnd threatened. Time and again his life has been threatened. Time and at'nln has he been watched and followed by men carrying firearms wnltlng for an opportunity to pet even with him. for he has been the hitter enemy of these vultures who have fed for years off snilors. Vultures who have not waited for death they have been more remunerative living but for the Inenpabil'ty on the part of the sailers which they have produced through the liquor they have sold. The life around the wharves of a great city Is not one well known In other parts of a city's life. Vaguely one Imagines thnt snilors are apt to get drunk when hcy come to port. Vaguely one Imagines Im-agines that n good numy of them are enf.ced by women and pretty generally left brokp me good time before their ship sets mrl again. But k fe know the combine which existed for years and ye:1.' und which it seemed would never be broken. It was a system aga'nst seamen by musters of ships nnd keepers of "I loarding houses.'' The masters mas-ters of the ships directed their men upon golna to shore to these various boarding bouses along the water front. There the men found drink and women. wom-en. They were thoroughly fleeced, they were thoroughly thor-oughly tilled with liquor, ami then they were put out as worthless "hums" to eke out the rest of thel." time ashore penniless, usually coat I ess. hungry hun-gry nnd lacking In any self-respect. The money which they had been rohhed of by these ''boarding houses" wus divided between the boarding house owners and the musters of the ships. Here wus Dr. Mansfield's greatest difficulty. The masters of the various ships would not give men Jobs who went to the Seamen's Church Institute. Insti-tute. They would not tuke thein buck on their ships. But Dr. Mansfield went to various shipping companies com-panies which agreed to co-operate and so flip ter-rlhle ter-rlhle combine was at last broken up. Everything and eveiycne along fhe wafer front fought n hard and angry bultle against Dr. Munstiebl. Barber-shops, Barber-shops, hoot-blacking establishments, Itmrh rooms, dl were ready lo worl; !n with tl,e "hoarding houses" nnd the masters of the ships. There was while tin- money was. Why l.oiiier iiineit a Hum's body when there was money to think aiioit? I'earhs-Iv, coitrtifcottidy Dr. Mangold worked against the. cruel and Mi-sk gieed of the w titer- i front. Is It any wonder thnt thousands nnd thousands thou-sands of twain en the world over look upon the Seamen's Church Institute as their home? There Is everything nt the Institute burbei shops, tailor shops, lunch rooms, outfits for salo everything that there might be along the water front's exterior with none of Its demon-like Interior. In-terior. Here Is a place like an enormous hotel with comforts such as even hotels cannot afford, and yet at prices such as are charged by lodging houses, so thut there Is not the feeling of charity. There are great reading rooms, lounging rooms, there Is nothing stiff here, there are entertainments, entertain-ments, dances, movies, uiagaz'nes. hooks smokes, there Is companionship, there are beds with cool, fresh linen, sliowt c baths, duces where n man nmv wash und dry his clothes. Over eight-hundred eight-hundred men s'eep there every night, though several sev-eral hundred have tn be nightly turned 11 wuy until the new building next door Is erected. There Is a chupluin always on duty, talking t6 the men, helping them, bringing fam lies and met together again through the Institute's wonderful "missing men department." This chaplain has also studied law sufltclently so that be may help the men In various legal dbllcultles that arlss -and he Is a chaplain with u very keen sense . humor. It keeps everyone "smoothed out." "And he gives everything lie owns away," the house mother told me. Mrs. Janet Koper. the house mother. Is a quiet person whose skill nnd enormous success at her work Is real I ml as one goes about with her. She Is very far from being aggressively executive. She doesn't talk about "systems" or "theories" or "executive ability." She talks about the men. She showed me about. There Is not n wash bowl In the huild'ng that Is not a memorial. Kvery room has a memorial plate upon its door. A favorite form of memorial has been to donate n room. And In the new building width is to he started In the spring already many of the rooms have been donated. Sometimes I came iutoks a Chinese name a Chinaman who wanted to show his affiliation .with, and his affection for. tht building :th the green light which had meant home for him In a foreign city. But Ijpieul of a seam, in, according to Mrs, IJoper. nnd typical of what a senmun should be Is illustrated In the memori..! plate on a room donated in memory of the captain of the Tiianic "In memory of Captain Kdward .1. Smith, R. N. It., who lost Ids life while In fMiniunnd of S. S. Titanic. April 1. 1!112. He sailed the sen for forty years, faithful In duty, friendly In plr!t. firm in command, fearless In disaster; he uaveil the women and children and went down with his ship." The link which thousands feel with the Institute Insti-tute Is Its greatest stronghold ngainst the sordid ness of the water front. Men arriving In Bi klyr. telephone to see If there Is room for them. Men from all over the world come here and go forth to tell of the green light In the tower which stand-in stand-in the building where there Is everything to belt them. 'Ilici e is the bank, the post oIlU e. the plaei where their baggage run he wife, In n park nearby there are open nlr ntovin picture shows in' the summer and various etiiet tainmciiis. The Seamen's Church Institute U under th Pr. ti stall! I-ipiseopnl church, lis chaplains 111 I'piseopiiliall, though its employees lite ol' foi I lis. It serves 1. II the cl apl.iiu bo visits 11 liiell in the hospitals brings rabbis to the ,!, priests to the Koman Catholics, and iinuNt. Whatever fa. lbs the.-e men have been liaiiii 1 |