s
being supplied by the slum nursery. Here the mother can leave her
children in the morning, when she goes to her work, and find them safely
waiting for her in the evening, clean and happy. A charge of five cents
per day is made to cover the expense of feeding the children. During the
day they are well cared for, the younger ones properly nursed, and the
older ones taught simple little kindergarten games and songs. Sometimes
children are brought here and never called for again, in which case the
Army lassies in charge must find some permanent home for them, but this
does not often happen, as the mothers of the children are usually known
by the Army workers. At the slum nursery in Cincinnati there is also a
free clinic, where sick women and children go for treatment. Two of the
most efficient physicians of the city furnish free aid, and the
medicines necessary are provided.

In addition to the visitation work and the nursery, the maintenance of
the slum post means the keeping of slum quarters and a slum hall. The
"quarters" are the two or more rooms where the lassies live, and they
are located where most can be accomplished in the way of example and
influence. The hall is for the carrying on of slum meetings, for these
are regularly held. In these meetings the roughest crowd of men, women
and children is awed into respect and reverence by the simple slum
lassies with their songs and music. Again, in this little hall, the
children of the neighborhood are gathered in a Sunday School and taught
by the slum officers. It is a most interesting spectacle to watch these
children. Many different nationalities are represented, the dark races
and the light. As children, these nationalities mingle together more
freely than in adult life.

A special aspect of the slum post is the distribution of charitable
relief to the needy. It is specially situated, and has advantages for
this purpose; hence it becomes the distributing depot for bread, soup
and coal in winter, and ice in summer. For instance, from one slum post
in New York during the winter of 1907-8, 2,800 loaves of bread were
given out in one week, and for some months, an average of from 300 to
1,000 loaves, besides an average of two tons of coal per week. Some of
this, naturally, would go to the undeserving, but the slum officers, as
a rule, know the people of their immediate neighborhood, and can
exercise due discretion.

The failure of the Army slum work to increase in the