SLUM ANGELS IN TOWN.
They Will Distribute Comfort and
Cheer to the Unfortunate.
The Slum Angels have arrived in Kansas City and from now on we can see them every day, if we feel like it. There are only two of them, that seeming to be all that could be induced to come to Kansas City, although Minneapolis has five and New York and several other cities many more.
Various are the names that the Slum Angles go by. In some places they are called the Slum Sisters and in others the Little Saints of the Salvation Army. If you address them as Captain Nettie Room and Lieutenant Alice Seay, they would answer to those names also.
They are two bright, sweet faced young women who have been appointed by Colonel Blanche B. Cox, commanding the Mid Western province of the Salvation Army, to take charge of the slum and relief work of the army in this city. For several years there have been slum angels at work in other cities and Miss Room herself has been in the work eight years, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. Miss Seay graduated from the Chicago training school last July.
All of the investigating work of the army in this city will be turned over to them and it will be their duty exclusively to determine whether an applicant for relief is worthy or not. They will also administer temporary relief where the need is pressing.
An important part of their work consists in nursing. Miss Room has nursed several years in hospitals and her assistant has had instruction along the same line. The slum angel comes into the home of the poor family at their darkest hour, when illness has attacked the breadwinner, doctors and nurses the ailing one, cheers up the other members of the family, and provides temporary relief when needed.
One other function that the angels undertake is to teach that virtue is next to Godliness. They will invade an unkempt home and with the consent of the housewife, give the house a thorough cleaning. They will instruct the family in the use of soap, scrubbing brushes and disinfectants.
The customary uniform of the slum angel consists of a blue striped suit with a black straw hat, trimmed with army insignia. They will occupy rooms in one of the congested districts of the city, which they will make their headquarters. It is planned to make these rooms the meeting place of the mothers' clubs, reading circles and sewing societies, which the slum workers will organize among their workers.
"But we will not forget the spiritual side of our work while attending to the physical wants of our people," said Miss Room yesterday. "We will make it our business to bring Christianity into the lives of all with whom we come in contact."
The slum sisters are making preparations for their work this week. They will begin active settlement life in a few days.
