Professor Narrates Settlement History

One night in the late autumn some years ago I was overtaken by a storm in one of the most desolate districts of an eastern city. At the end of a dark side street, fronting a railroad, I saw a faint light through the blinding storm. Instinctively, I turned towards it for shelter. As I paused for a moment and looked through the uncurtained window of that little, tumbled-down house, it was a strange sight that met my eyes. A group of neighborhood boys unmindful of the furious storm were seated on the floor intently listening to a middle-aged woman. It was that night in that room, through a chance question, that I first learned of the Northwestern University Settlement from its founder, Mrs. Wade Rogers.

Fellowship Necessary
Two great fundamentals are essential in a settlement if it is to be a true neighborhood house. First, its workers must have a broad human fellowship; and secondly, the work of the settlement must be adapted to the peculiar needs of the neighborhood, and the workers must always be willing to change the character of their work in order to meet the demands of the new needs. This will constantly necessitate the turning oer to other or larger institutions the work that has been started by the settlement workers.
The history of N.U. settlement is a testimonial of the work, of those who through the last quarter of a century have expressed in their labors there the desire for a larger share in human fellowship. It speaks of the summons coming to them out of the great deep of common life and the conscious response of their neighbors to an opportunity for a larger share in the better things of life. The great desire of the private and public social workers to be assigned to this district of the city in order to be in contact with this setlement, is indicative of a recognition and appreciation of this fellowship existing between the settlement and its people.

Playground Established
The history of the institution shows that it has fully recognized the necessity of readaptation and the assuming of new obligations. The second playground in Chicago and the first on the north and west side was established under the direction of the Northwestern University Settlement. Later, it was a leading spirit in the opening of the great playground two blocks south of the Settlement, and one four blocks north on Noble street. "No organization," states the headworker in a former report, "stands out in Chicago today with a larger record of usefulness than the Visiting Nurses' association, and besides this statement, there are many groups of visiting nurses to attest the value of an experiment begun, according tothe Chicago papers, by the Northwestern University Settlement in 1893." The first office of the Legal Aid Society was startedin the old Northwestern Neighborhood House in 1896. The first circulating library in this part of Chicago was started there. The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, which is the reorganized "Milk Commission of Chicago," was first organized under the roof of this house by Dr. E. A. Fishkin. The first of hte Elizabeth McCorkick summer tents for sick babies was placed on the back roof of the Settlement. It is needless to go on in further detail, as these illustrations are sufficient to prove the authenticity of the pioneer work of the settlement.
It is perfectly obvious that with no endowment and the small budget which is raised every year by subscription, that the greater part of this work has been possible only through the sacrifice and devotion of the pair [?] workers and the help of volunteers. The neighbors of the house have said that the conveyance in which Miss Harriet Vittum has most often been seen, is the ambulance or patrol wagon accompanying some poor unfortunates in order to lend them a hand. It is not strange that the human side of this settlement should be so widely known among social workers in the city. Whether it is the child with a small injury, the man out of a job, the call of the sick, the woman waiting on the front doorstep at midnight, the welcome is always the same. I wish I could also tell you in detail how she has made corrupt politics in this section fight for its life. I can assure you that if for no other reason, it will be worth a visit to the settlement to know this woman; one of Chicago's three greatest women. Personalities that express so much of themselves in human fellowship can never be put in print. The house is always open to stranger and friend; especially to Northwestern people.