Plymouth Magazine-Fall26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 16
Picnics lifted spirits and fostered fellowship.
Ellen Ward was a founder of the YMCA
in Des Moines. Many Plymouth
members supported the mission with
their time, money and prayers including
Henry C. Harris, Vice President and
Dr. George Royal, Secretary, chief
medical staff and member of North Park
Congregational Church. Dr. Royal was
also instrumental in founding of the Iowa
Congregational Hospital. W.W. Williams
Treasurer. James Callanan paid the rent
for the first mission location in 1893.
The closing report of the mission stated,
“In thirteen years the Sunbeam Mission
has come to have both a literal and a
figurative significance in Des Moines.
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A kindling factory provided work experience for the unemployed
The hungry have been fed and clothed.
The outcasts have found a haven of
refuge. The discouraged and disheartened
have discovered the star of hope. The
misanthrope has been made to see that
Christianity, instead of being a cloak for
human selfishness and exploitation, is
the practical application of principles to
human needs and embodies the dynamic
power to transform human lives.”
Frank Cramer felt that the most important
work of the mission was the 210 “erring”
women saved by the mission. These words
were published December 5, 1906, in “A
cry for justice,” an editorial in the Des
Moines Daily Capital. “Here and there
women will be saved who have seen
nothing ahead but blight, darkness and
death. But no permanent and lasting
reform will ever be accomplished among
this unfortunate class until society
demands one code of morals for both
sexes. When the man part of the problem
is attacked with the same vigor and
earnestness that is displayed in the form of
sex-slavery, sex limitations, and industrial
bondage, when a fallen woman has the
same chance to rise along by the side of
her unfortunate brother, the fallen man,
then we can hope to restrict, nay, even
eradicate the social evil.”
