Chapter: THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL IVY HOUSE, HACKNEY

This Hospital is one for the accommodation of young mothers on the
occasion of the birth of their illegitimate children. It is a humble
building, containing twenty-five beds, although I think a few more can
be arranged. That it serves its purpose well, until the large
Maternity Hospital of which I have already spoken can be built, is
shown by the fact that 286 babies (of whom only twenty-five were not
illegitimate) were born here in 1900 without the loss of a single
mother. Thirty babies died, however, which the lady-Officer in charge
thought rather a high proportion, but one accounted for by the fact
that during this particular year a large number of the births were
premature. In 1908, 270 children were born, of whom twelve died, six
of these being premature.

The cases are drawn from London and other towns where the Salvation
Army is at work. Generally they, or their relatives and friends, or
perhaps the father of the child, apply to the Army to help them in
their trouble, thereby, no doubt, preventing many child-murders and
some suicides. The charge made by the Institution for these lying-in
cases is in proportion to the ability of the patient to pay. Many
contribute nothing at all. From those who do pay, the average sum
received is 10_s_. a week, in return for which they are furnished with
medical attendance, food, nursing, and all other things needful to
their state.

I went over the Hospital, and saw these unfortunate mothers lying in
bed, each of them with her infant in a cot beside her. Although their
immediate trial was over, these poor girls looked very sad.

'They know that their lives are spoiled,' said the lady in charge.

Most of them were quite young, some being only fifteen, and the
majority under twenty. This, it was explained to me, is generally due
to the ignorance of the facts of life in which girls are kept by their
parents or others responsible for their training. Last year there was
a mother aged thirteen in this Hospital.

One girl, who seemed particularly sad, had twins lying beside her.
Hoping to cheer her up, I remarked that they were beautiful babies,
whereon she hid her face beneath the bedclothes.

'Don't talk about them,' said the Officer, drawing me away, 'that
child nearly cried her eyes out when she was told that there were two.
You see, it is hard enough for these poor mothers to keep one, but
when it comes to two--!'

I asked whether the majority of these unfortunate young women really
tried to support their children. The answer was that most of them try
very hard indeed, and will use all their money for this purpose, even
stinting themselves of absolute necessaries. Few of them go wrong
again after their first slip, as they have learned their lesson.
Moreover, during their stay in hospital and afterwards, the Salvation
Army does its best to impress on them certain moral teachings, and
thus to make its work preventive as well as remedial.

Places in service are found for a great number of these girls,
generally where only one servant is kept, so that they may not be
taunted by the others if these should find out their secret. This as a
rule, however, is confided to the mistress. The average wage they
receive is about L18 a year. As it costs them L13, or 5_s_. a week, to
support an infant (not allowing for its clothes), the struggle is very
hard unless the Army can discover the father, and make him contribute
towards the support of his child, either voluntarily or through a
bastardy order.

I was informed that many of these fathers are supposed to be
gentlemen, but when it comes to this matter of payment, they show that
they have little title to that description. Of course, in the case of
men of humbler degree, money is even harder to recover. I may add,
that my own long experience as a magistrate goes to confirm this
statement. It is extraordinary to what meanness, subterfuge, and even
perjury, a man will sometimes resort, in order to avoid paying so
little as 1_s_. 6_d_. a week towards the keep of his own child. Often
the line of defence is a cruel attempt to blacken the character of the
mother, even when the accuser well knows that there is not the
slightest ground for the charge, and that he alone is responsible for
the woman's fall.[5] Also, if the case is proved, and the order made,
many such men will run away and hide themselves in another part of the
country to escape the fulfilment of their just obligations.

In connexion with this Maternity Hospital, the Salvation Army has a
Training School for midwives and nurses, all of whom must pass the
Central Midwives Board examination before they are allowed to
practise. Some of the students, after qualifying, continue to work for
the Army in its Hospital Department, and others in the Slum
Department, while some go abroad in the service of other Societies.
The scale of fees for this four months' course in midwifery varies
according to circumstances. The Army asks the full charge of eighteen
guineas from those students who belong to, or propose to serve other
Societies. Those who intend to go abroad to work with medical
missionaries, have to pay fifteen guineas, and those who are members
of the Salvation Army, or who intend to serve the Army in this
Department, pay nothing, unless, at the conclusion of their course,
they decide to leave the Army's service.

At the last examination, out of fourteen students sent up from this
Institution, thirteen passed the necessary test.

 Sarah meets with her mother, Ada, over shopping and a meal at a cafe. Ada gradually gets Sarah to tell her the whole story about her relationship with Billy Prior. Ada scolds her daughter for having sex so soon. She warns her that condoms are not reliable and that if she gets pregnant, she is in big trouble. Ada does not believe in love between a man and a woman; she raised her two daughters by herself. But she considers marriage "the sole end of female existence" and she would like nothing more than to see her daughter walk down the aisle with a man of dependable income. Sassoon meets with Graves in a bar for some lunch. He tells Graves that he has agreed to go back to active service if they promise to send him to France. Sassoon implies that Graves has no real courage, as he simply goes along with whatever the army tells him to do despite the fact that he claims to feel that the war is wrong. Graves lectures Sassoon on the importance of behaving in a gentlemanly way and keeping one's word, no matter how one's ideas may have changed. Graves changes the tone of conversation and tells Sassoon about an old friend named Peter, who was caught soliciting himself outside barracks. Peter will be sent to Rivers to be cured, and Sassoon is slightly taken aback. Graves says that since he heard about what happened to Peter, he decided to write to a girl named Nancy. Graves wants to make it clear to Sassoon that he is not a homosexual. Sarah and her friends go back to the munitions factory for a night shift. They talk about how many men in the army are homosexual, and joke that some of them have never been around women in their lives. As they are working, Sarah notices that Betty is not around. Lizzie says that Betty, realizing that she was pregnant, used a coat hanger at home to try to abort the baby. Instead, she punctured her bladder and was taken to the hospital, where the doctor strongly reprimanded her for what she had done. The girls go back to work. Rivers finishes his nightly rounds and goes in to visit his last patient, Sassoon. Sassoon tells him the news about Peter, Graves's friend. Sassoon was hurt that Graves should make it so clear that he finds homosexuality disgusting. Sassoon is also upset that they are sending Peter to a psychiatrist to be "cured"; he thought that people had been growing more tolerant. Rivers explains to him that in wartime the powers that be want to make it very clear that there is a right kind and a wrong kind of love between men. They do this by punishing what is deemed the wrong kind. Rivers advises Sassoon to keep his private life private, or else he may find himself to be considered an enemy of his own country

