Chapter 17

THE UNNECESSARY STORY OF MRS. BEN WAH AND HER PARROT

Mrs. Ben Wah was dying. Word came up from the district office of the Charity Organization Society to tell me of it. Would I come and see her before I went away? Mrs. Ben Wah was an old charge of mine, the French Canadian widow of an Iroquois Indian, whom, years before, I had unearthed in a Hudson Street tenement. I was just then making ready for a voyage across the ocean to the old home to see my own mother, and the thought of the aged woman who laid away her children long ago by the cold camp-fires of her tribe in Canadian forests was a call not to be resisted. I went at once.

The signs of illness were there in a notice tacked up on the wall, warning everybody to keep away when her attic should be still, until her friends could come from the charity office. It was a notion she had, Mrs. McCutcheon, the district visitor, explained, that would not let her rest till her "paper" was made out. For her, born in the wilderness, death had no such terror as prying eyes.

"Them police fellows," she said, with the least touch of resentment in her gentle voice, "they might take my things and sell them to buy cigars to smoke." I suspect it was the cigar that grated harshly. It was ever to her a vulgar slur on her beloved pipe. In truth, the mere idea of Mrs. Ben Wah smoking a cigar rouses in me impatient resentment. Without her pipe she was not herself. I see her yet, stuffing it with approving forefinger, on the Christmas day when I had found her with tobacco pouch empty, and pocket to boot, and nodding the quaint comment from her corner, "It's no disgrace to be poor, but it's sometimes very inconvenient."

There was something in the little attic room that spoke of the coming change louder than the warning paper. A half-finished mat, with its bundle of rags put carefully aside; the thirsty potato-vine on the fire-escape, which reached appealingly from its soap-box toward the window, as if in wondering search for the hands that had tended it so faithfully,--bore silent testimony that Mrs. Ben Wah's work-day was over at last. It had been a long day--how long no one may ever know. "The winter of the big snow," or "the year when deer was scarce" on the Gatineau, is not as good a guide to time-reckoning in the towns as in the woods, and Mrs. Ben Wah knew no other. Her thoughts dwelt among the memories of the past as she sat slowly nodding her turbaned head, idle for once. The very head-dress, arranged and smoothed with unusual care, was "notice," proceeding from a primitive human impulse. Before the great mystery she "was ashamed and covered her head."

The charity visitor told me what I had half guessed. Beyond the fact that she was tired and had made up her mind to die, nothing ailed Mrs. Ben Wah. But at her age, the doctor had said, it was enough; she would have her way. In faith, she was failing day by day. All that could be done was to make her last days as easy as might be. I talked to her of my travels, of the great salt water upon which I should journey many days; but her thoughts were in the lonely woods, and she did not understand. I told her of beautiful France, the language of which she spoke with a singularly sweet accent, and asked her if there was not something I might bring back to her to make her happy. As I talked on, a reminiscent smile came into her eyes and lingered there. It was evidently something that pleased her. By slow degrees we dragged the bashful confession out of her that there was yet one wish she had in this life.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, when, as a young woman, she had gone about peddling beads, she had seen a bird, such a splendid bird, big and green and beautiful, with a red turban, and that could talk. Talk! As she recalled the glorious apparition, she became quite her old self again, and reached for her neglected pipe with trembling hands. If she could ever see that bird again--but she guessed it was long since gone. She was a young woman then, and now she was old, so old. She settled back in her chair, and let the half-lighted pipe go out.

"Poor old soul!" said Mrs. McCutcheon, patting the wrinkled hand in her lap. Her lips framed the word "parrot" across the room to me, and I nodded back. When we went out together it was settled between us that Mrs. Ben Wah was to be doctored according to her own prescription, if it broke the rules of every school of medicine.

I went straight back to the office and wrote in my newspaper that Mrs. Ben Wah was sick and needed a parrot, a green one with a red tuft, and that she must have it right away. I told of her lonely life, and of how, on a Christmas Eve, years ago, I had first met her at the door of the Charity Organization Society, laboring up the stairs with a big bundle done up in blue cheese-cloth, which she left in the office with the message that it was for those who were poorer than she. They were opening it when I came in. It contained a lot of little garments of blanket stuff, as they used to make them for the pappooses among her people in the far North. It was the very next day that I found her in her attic, penniless and without even the comfort of her pipe. Like the widow of old, she had cast her mite into the treasury, even all she had.

All this I told in my paper, and how she whose whole life had been kindness to others was now in need--in need of a companion to share her lonely life, of something with a voice, which would not come in and go away again, and leave her. And I begged that any one who had a green parrot with a red tuft would send it in at once.

New York is a good town to live in. It has a heart. It no sooner knew that Mrs. Ben Wah wanted a parrot than it hustled about to supply one at once. The morning mail brought stacks of letters, with offers of money to buy a parrot. They came from lawyers, business men, and bank presidents, men who pore over dry ledgers and drive sharp bargains on 'Change, and are never supposed to give a thought to lonely widows pining away in poor attics. While they were being sorted, a poor little tramp song-bird flew in through the open window of the Charities Building in great haste, apparently in search of Mrs. McCutcheon's room. Its feathers were ruffled and its bangs awry, as if it had not had time to make its morning toilet, it had come in such haste to see if it would do. Though it could not talk, it might at least sing to the sick old woman--sing of the silent forests with the silver lakes deep in their bosom, where the young bucks trailed the moose and the panther, and where she listened at the lodge door for their coming; and the song might bring back the smile to her wan lips. But though it was nearly green and had tousled top, it was not a parrot, and it would not do. The young women who write in the big books in the office caught it and put it in a cage to sing to them instead. In the midst of the commotion came the parrot itself, big and green, in a "stunning" cage. It was an amiable bird, despite its splendid get-up, and cocked its crimson head one side to have it scratched through the bars, and held up one claw, as if to shake hands.

How to get it to Mrs. Ben Wah's without the shock killing her was the problem that next presented itself. Mrs. McCutcheon solved it by doing the cage up carefully in newspaper and taking it along herself. All the way down the bird passed muffled comments on the Metropolitan Railway service and on its captivity, to the considerable embarrassment of its keeper; but they reached the Beach Street tenement and Mrs. Ben Wah's attic at last. There Mrs. McCutcheon stowed it carefully away in a corner, while she busied herself about her aged friend.

She was working slowly down through an address which she had designed to break the thing gently and by degrees, when the parrot, extending a feeler on its own hook, said "K-r-r-a-a!" behind its paper screen.

Mrs. Ben Wah sat up straight and looked fixedly at the corner. Seeing the big bundle there, she went over and peered into it. She caught a quick breath and stared, wide-eyed.

"Where you get that bird?" she demanded of Mrs. McCutcheon, faintly.

"Oh, that is Mr. Riis's bird," said that lady, sparring for time; "a friend gave it to him--"

"Where you take him?" Mrs. Ben Wah gasped, her hand pressed against her feeble old heart.

Her friend saw, and gave right up.

"I am not going to take it anywhere," she said. "I brought it for you. This is to be its home, and you are to be its mother, grandma, and its friend. You are to be always together from now on--always, and have a good time." With that she tore the paper from the cage.

The parrot, after all, made the speech of the occasion. He considered the garret; the potato-field on the fire-escape, through which the sunlight came in, making a cheerful streak on the floor; Mrs. Ben Wah and her turban; and his late carrier: then he climbed upon his stick, turned a somersault, and said, "Here we are," or words to that effect. Thereupon he held his head over to be scratched by Mrs. Ben Wah in token of a compact of friendship then and there made.

Joy, after all, does not kill. Mrs. Ben Wah wept long and silently, big, happy tears of gratitude. Then she wiped them away, and went about her household cares as of old. The prescription had worked. The next day the "notice" vanished from the wall of the room, where there were now two voices for one.

I came back from Europe to find my old friend with a lighter step and a lighter heart than in many a day. The parrot had learned to speak Canadian French to the extent of demanding his crackers and water in the lingo of the _habitant_. Whether he will yet stretch his linguistic acquirements to the learning of Iroquois I shall not say. It is at least possible. The two are inseparable. The last time I went to see them, no one answered my knock on the door-jamb. I raised the curtain that serves for a door, and looked in. Mrs. Ben Wah was asleep upon the bed. Perched upon her shoulder was the parrot, no longer constrained by the bars of a cage, with his head tucked snugly in her neck, asleep too. So I left them, and so I like to remember them always, comrades true.

It happened that when I was in Chicago last spring I told their story to a friend, a woman. "Oh, write it!" she said. "You must!" And when I asked why, she replied, with feminine logic: "Because it is so unnecessary. The barrel of flour doesn't stick out all over it."

Now I have done as she bade me. Perhaps she was right. Women know these things best. Like my own city, they have hearts, and will understand the unnecessary story of Mrs. Ben Wah and her parrot.

INDEX

Addams, Miss J., Chicago work, 365, 395.

Adler, Professor F., reform work, 71-72, 371, 402.

Air-shaft in tenements, tenants' uses and peril of, 93.

Alfred Corning Clark buildings, 129, 130.

Allen Street-- Children seeking "the commissioner" for justice, 59-60. One-room houses, beginnings of, 97. School building, 354, 357.

Anderson, Mrs. A. A., bath gift to city, 282.

Armenian Christmas tree, contribution of poor children, 218.

Association for improving condition of the poor-- Baths, public, 282. Housing reform movement, 128. Work of, 285.

Athletic meets, Crotona Park, 366.

Bacillus of the slum, 62.

Balkan peninsula, immigration from, 202.

Bands, roof playgrounds, 389-395.

Barney of Cat Alley, 333-339.

Baron Hirsch Fund, _see_ Hirsch Fund.

Baths, public-- Anderson, Mrs. A. A., gift, 282. Association for improving condition of poor, work of, 282. Free river baths, 282. Hamilton Fish Park, Tammany use of, 149-152. Lack of public baths scandal, 281. Mott Street bath, 282. Plans for system of municipal baths, 282-283. Rivington Street, 281. Shower-baths for public schools, 283.

Battle Row-- Gang, Easter service, 251-252. Improvement, 135.

Baxter Street "dens of death," 14, 20.

Beds, Mills Houses, 159.

Beginning of the battle, 1-4.

Bellevue, scandal during Tammany government, 66.

Bend, _see_ Mulberry Bend.

Ben Wah, Mrs., and her parrot, story of, 441-449.

Beresheim, Jacob-- Arrest for murder, 227. Birth in tenement, 228. Law-breaking, 234. Life and environment, 227-236. Schooling neglected, 231.

Berlin death-rate, 124.

Big Flat, Mott Street-- Carriage factory in place of, 32. Instance of reform still-born, 27. Blacksmith, Patrick Mullen, 413-414.

Bleeker Street house, _see_ Mills Houses.

B'nai B'rith "removal plan," 215.

Bone Alley, destruction, 279-281, 285.

Boss, character of, 420-429.

Bottle Alley, Whyo gang headquarters, 272, 308.

Bowery lodging houses, _see_ Lodging houses.

Boxing match, 430.

Boys-- Clubs, _see that title_. Crime, _see that title_. Farm colony for young vagrants, 127, 172, 350. Fathers' authority lost, 237-238. Future of--effect of political influences, 225-226. Gangs, _see that title_. Increase of child crime, 225, 240-242. Military spirit, 247, 255. Play, necessity of, 233. Summer excursions, Mr. Schwab's proposition, 405-406. Type of East Side boy, _see_ Beresheim, Jacob. "Weakness not wickedness" reformatory verdict, 244.

Brass bands, school roof playgrounds, 389-395.

Brick sandwiches, 224.

British Museum, stone arm exhibit, message of warning, 111-112.

Bronx-- Crotona Park athletic meets, 366. Primary school 1895, condition, 348.

Brooklyn-- Riverside tenements, 135, 140. Weeks, L. S., murder, 156.

Bruin, Madame, school punishments, 341-342.

Buck, Miss W., management of boys' clubs, 373, 383.

Buddensiek, tenement builder, imprisonment, 20-21.

Building Department, supervision of tenement lighting, etc., 104.

Byrnes, Inspector--lodging houses as nurseries of crime, 54, 156.

"Cadets," Tammany organization, 74.

Capmaker, Polish, home in Stanton Street tenement, 76-80.

Cat Alley-- Barney, 333-339. Charity of the Alley, 322-325. Children of the Alley, 330-331. Cosmopolitan population, 314-316. Dago eviction, 314. Deaths and funerals, 325-330. Demolition, 337-340. Description and occupation, 312-313. "Fat One," 326, 329. French couple, 315-316. Irish population, 314, 316-320. Marriages, early, and second marriages, 325. Mott Street scrap, 320-322. Name, mystery as to origin, 312. Tragedy averted, 323. Trilby, 331-333. Walsh, Mrs., funeral, 329-330. Widows, 325-326.

Catherine Street, condition before destruction, 119.

Cellars, Park Street, 20.

Census-- Death-rate, _see that title_. School census, 349.

Charity of the poor, instances of, 216-222, 322-225, 445.

Charity Organization Society, tenement reform movement, 143, 147.

Chicago-- Church, basement dwellers in neighborhood of, 181. Hull House kindergarten, harvest picture incident, 365. Parks, 410. Playground, 304-305, 439. School excursions, 362. Slums, outlook, 17. Child labor, East Side, 43-44, 185, 186.

Children-- Boys, _see that title_. Cat Alley, 330-331.

Clubs, _see that title_. Increase of child crime, 225, 240-242. Landlords of tenements, Greenwood story, 96. Neglect of, 225-226, 233. Schools, _see that title_. Tagging lost children proposed, 92. Tenements as "infant slaughter houses," 37.

Children's Aid Society-- Report as to condition and neglect of children, 225. Rescue of boys, 245. Cholera panic, 1866, 4, 29.

Christmas trees-- Armenian, contribution of poor children, 218. Gotham Court, 311. Santa Claus in the slums, 94, 310-311.

Church Federation, Fifteenth Assembly District-- Baths, investigation, 281. Educational agencies and saloons, 129-130, 292.

Churches-- Movement up-town, 232. Neglect of the young, 232. Reform movement attitude, 399, 435-437.

Citizens' council of hygiene, report 1866, 19.

City and Suburban Homes Company-- Erection of model tenements, 129-137. Homewood plan, 137-138. Management, 136.

City History Club, work of, 379.

Cleaning the streets, Colonel Waring's work, 45-46, 268-272, 415.

Clubs-- Buck, Miss W., work of, 373, 383. East Side boys' demand for club room, 372. Gangs, _see that title_. Good Government Clubs, _see that title_. Jackson Pleasure Club, School No. 160, 374-377. Meeting, management of Miss W. Buck, 373. People's Club, work of, 381. Saloon room, 372. School classroom plan, 372-374. Willard, D., work of, 378-379.

College settlement, _see_ University settlement.

Colored people, _see_ Negroes.

Committee of Fifteen, evidence of Tammany corruption, 74.

Consumers' League, work of, 196-201.

Convalescents' home, gift for, 396.

Cooking classes, advantages of, 367-368.

Cooper Institute, educational work, 380.

Cottages, Homewood plan, 137-138.

Crime-- Boys, _see that title_. Child crime, increase of, 225, 240-242. Gangs, _see that title_. Italian criminals discovered in Mulberry Street, 204-205. Lodging houses as "nurseries of crime," 54, 156. "Weakness not wickedness," reformatory verdict, 244. [_See also_ Murders _and_ Robberies.]

Croker, R.-- Abdication, 75. Election of 1900, 73. [_See also_ Tammany.]

Crotona Park athletic meets, 366.

Crowding, _see_ Overcrowding.

"Cruller fire," tenement house, 88.

Cutting, R. F., erection of homes for working people, 129.

Dalmatia, immigration from, 202.

Dancing, school roof playgrounds, 392-793.

Death-rates-- Berlin, 124. Double-deckers, lowest mortality, 114-115. First Ward, 116. Five Points "dens of death," 16. Heat of summer 1896, power of resistance, 125-126. Mott Street barracks, 123. Rear tenants scandal, 115. Reduction, council of hygiene's judgment, 19. Reform effects on, 125-126.

Deaths in Cat Alley, 325-330.

Death's Thoroughfare, Old Church tenements, 16.

Democratic government imperilled by existence of slum, 6.

Demolition of dangerous property, 114, 116-125, 140, 272-280, 310-311, 337-340.

"Dens of Death," 14, 16, 20.

Destitution encouraged by free lunch, lodging, etc., 170, 172.

Destruction of property, _see_ Demolition.

Devil's money--campaign against Tammany, 1901, 63-75.

"Discretion" clause, tenement building, 88, 105, 107, 148.

Disease--disclosures of Tenement House Exhibition, 1900, 143-147.

Dispossessed tenants, rehousing, 286-287.

Doctor, woman doctor, Dr. J. E. Robbins, 205-206.

Dog, Trilby of Cat Alley, 331-333.

Double-deckers-- Cause of overcrowding, 102. Description and condemnation by Tenement House Commission, 102-103. Doom of, 82-85, 148, 149. Elizabeth Street, midnight inspection, 99-102. Mortality rate, lowest, 114-115. Solid block, 105.

Drunkards and slum homes, 23.

"Druv into decency," 113-114.

Dwellings of the poor, _see_ Tenements.

Eagle, Ellis Island, 202-204.

East River barge, winter lodgings, 1896, 170-172.

East River Park, sacred grass, 301.

Education, _see_ Schools.

Education Board, work of, 365-366.

Educational Alliance-- Roof garden, 388. Work among Jews, 382.

Eldridge Street tenement, unlighted halls, 91-92.

Eleventh Ward, overcrowding statistics, 82.

Elizabeth Street-- Giant, 331. Midnight inspection of tenements, 99-102. Sewing "pants" at thirty cents a day, 183.

Elliot, Dr., subscriptions for guild house, 402.

Ellis Island eagle, 202-204.

Elsing, Mr., children of Sunday-school, contribution to Armenian Christmas tree, 218.

Emigration, _see_ Immigration.

Enforcement of the law, necessity of, 47, 223, 235, 415, 418.

Essex Street, attempt to establish park, 294.

Excursions, Mr. Schwab's proposition, 405-406.

Exhibition, tenement house, 1900, effect of, 143-147.

Experimenting with the school, 403-410.

Eyes inspection, public school children, 358-359.

Factory tenements, disapproval of, 134.

Farming-- Farm colony for young vagrants, 127, 172, 350. Jewish farming abilities, 215. Truck farming on site of Stryker's Hill, 366.

Fat boiling in tenements, cause of fires, 88.

"Fat One" of Cat Alley, 326, 329.

Federal Government slum inquiry, 61, 97, 175.

Fifteenth Assembly District, _see_ Church Federation.

Fire-engine horses, fate of, 425.

Fires in tenement houses-- Air-shaft, danger of, 93. "Cruller fire," 88. Non-enforcement of law as to fireproof material, 87-89.

First Ward death-rate, 116.

Five Points-- Mortality rate, 16. Wiping out in 1850, Wisconsin farmer's work, 14.

Flag, flying, value of, 209-211.

Foreign population-- Child labor and education, 185-186. Italians, _see that title_. Jews, _see that title_. Proportion, 175-176.

Forest, R. W. de, chairman of Tenement House Commission of 1900, 147.

Forsyth Street tragedies, 86.

Foster, R., fight with tenement landlords, 124.

Fourth Ward, examination of girls' school, 355-357.

Fourth Ward slum, 16.

Fraunces' Tavern, historical association, 380.

Free lunch, lodging, etc., vagrancy encouraged by, 170, 172.

French couple, Cat Alley, 315-316.

"Frills," Hester Street roof playground, 342, 359, 360, 403.

Funerals-- Cat Alley, 329-330. Slum interest and excitement, 109.

Gambling, characteristic of Italian immigrant, 186.

Gangs-- Battle Row, Easter service, 251-252. College settlement work, success of, 248-249. Genesis of, environment of boy's career, 235-247. Hook gang, 288. Long Island story, 250. Whyo gang headquarters, 272, 308. Women's work and success, 251. [_See also_ Boys.]

Gehegan, Mrs., of Cat Alley, 319.

Genesis of the gang, environments of boy's career, 236-247.

German destitution and charity, story of, 217-218.

Giant, Elizabeth Street. 331.

Gibbon, quotation from Vitruvius as to height of dwellings, 11.

Giddings, Professor F. H., child labor investigation, 185.

Gilder Tenement House Commission, work of, 88, 105, 108, 116, 228, 276, 279, 281.

Golden Gate Association, kindergarten record, 245.

Good Government Clubs-- Tammany condemnation of, 126. Work of, 1896-97, 127, 128, 279, 371, 372.

Gotham Court-- Beginnings of reformation, 23-27. Christmas tree, 311. Destruction of dangerous property, 118, 119.

Gould, Dr. E. R. L., president of company for erection of homes for poor, 129, 133, 138, 139.

Government by the people imperilled by existence of slum, 6.

Government slum inquiry, 61, 97, 175.

Grand Street, soap factories prohibited below, 107.

Grant, Mayor, reform work, 45-46.

Graveyard as playground, 302.

Great Robbery, city treasury, 4-5, 285.

Green Dragon yard, London, 26-27.

Gun-maker Patrick Mullen, 413-414.

Hamilton Fish Park-- Restoration, 296. Uselessness of, 149-152, 295.

Health Board-- Tammany negligence, 64, 67. Tenement landlords, fights with, 30, 37.

Heat of summer 1896, power of resistance, 125-126.

Hebrew Institute-- Educational Alliance work, 382. Roof garden, 305-307.

Hebrews, _see_ Jews.

Hell's Kitchen-- Improvement, 51-52. Negro possession, desolate appearance, 110.

Helvetia House demolition, 285.

Hester Street-- School-- Club room, 373. Nature studies, 363-364. Roof playground, 342, 359-360. Wheat lesson, 363. Street-cleaning, 45.

Hewitt, A. S.-- Chairman of Advisory Committee on Small Parks, 287. Neglect of the children, 233. Ten years reform theory, 287.

Hirsch Fund-- Educational work in Hebrew Institute, 382. New Jersey, aid to Jewish colonies, 213.

Holy Terror Park, 302.

Home libraries in the tenements, 382-383.

Homes-- Homewood cottage scheme, failure of, 137-138. Lack of home-life-- Need of neighborliness, 398-403. Warning, 111-112. New Jersey, Jewish colonies, 212-215. New Orange, scheme abandoned, 214. Rallying points of civilization, 80. Slum an enemy of, 7.

Homewood cottages, failure of scheme, 137-138.

Hook gang, 288.

Horses, fire-engine, fate of, 425.

Hotels-- Mills Houses, _see that title_. Stewart, A. T., failure of hotel, 29, 165-166. Woman's Hotel for working women, need of, 166-168.

Housing of the poor, _see_ Tenements.

"Hudson-bank" park-- Success of, 292. Truck farming on site of Stryker's Lane, 366.

Hudson Guild, subscriptions for guild house, 402.

Hull House Kindergarten, Chicago, harvest picture incident, 365.

Immigration-- City destination, mistake of, 207-208. Distribution necessary, 208, 212. Ellis Island eagle, 202-204. Inspection before embarkation at foreign port, 206, 207. Italian statistics and incidents, 176-181. Jewish, 191-192. Naturalization papers, fraudulent, 186, 190, 207. Restriction, enforcement of law, 206. School as means of enrolment, 211, 212. Shutting the door problem, 204-206. Tammany slum politics, 186-191, 211.

Irish people-- Cat Alley tenants, 314, 316-320. Eviction in tenements, 110-111.

Italians-- Cat Alley, Dago eviction, 314. Charges of dirtiness and ignorance, 181-183. Child labor, 185. Criminals discovered in Mulberry Street, 204-205. Elizabeth Street tenements inspection, 100-101. Gambling, 186. Home scene--sewing "pants," 184. Immigration statistics and incidents, 176-181. Naturalization papers, fraudulent, and illegal registration, 186-191. Politics of the slum, 186-191. Underbidding the Jew, 183.

Jackson Pleasure Club, School No. 160, 374-377.

Jerome, W. T., campaign of 1901, 74.

Jersey Street, clearance and factory erections, 32-34.

Jews-- Charges against, at citizens, 192. Educational work among, 382. Farming abilities, 215. Glazier, story of, 384. Hebrew Institute, _see that title_. Immigrants, 191-192. Material for good citizens, 192-193. New Jersey colonies, 212-215. Orchard Street, dwelling under stairs, 95. "Removal plan" started by B'nai B'rith, 215. Roof garden, Hebrew Institute, 305-307. Sweating, 194. Tailors' quarrel, 183.

Jim and his mother, story of, 256-263.

Juvenile Asylum for burglars and truants, 349.

Kelly, Mrs., and Jim, story of, 256-263.

Kerosene Row demolition, 285.

Kerosene stoves, odor of tenements, 92.

"Kid"--Battle Row gang, Easter service, 251-252.

Kindergarten record, San Francisco, 245.

Kindergarten system, benefit of, 365-367.

Klotz, Madame, of Cat Alley, 316.

Laundries of model tenement houses, 136.

Law, enforcement, 47, 223, 235, 415, 418.

League for Political Education, reform work, 247.

Leipziger, Dr., evening classes, 403.

Lexow disclosures, 5, 41, 66.

Libraries-- Free library system, erection of buildings, 397. Home libraries in the tenements, 382-383.

Licensing of tenements, 153.

Lights in halls of tenements, non-enforcement of law, 90-92.

Lodging houses-- Competition of Mills Houses, 161. East River barge, winter lodgings, 1896, 170-172. Mills Houses, _see that title_. "Nurseries of Crime," 54, 156. Police station lodging rooms, 48-50, 169-170. Problem of, 159.

London-- British Museum exhibit, warning message, 111-112. Green Dragon yard, 26-27. Ragged school, factory nuisance incident, 117. Seven Dials, reformation, "druv into decency," 113-114.

Long Island-- Homewood plan, 137-138. Stewart house, failure of, 165-166.

Lost children, tagging proposed, 92.

Low, Mayor-- Election, 75. Reform government, school erections, 44. Roof playgrounds, 389.

M'Carthy, Mrs., of Cat Alley, 316.

Mahoney, Miss, of Cat Alley, 319.

Market, Colonel Waring's scheme, 273.

Marriages in Cat Alley, 325.

Massachusetts-- Demolition of dangerous houses, 123. Tenement labor, registry system, 200.

_Massachusetts_, U.S.S., cost of, 346.

Medical inspection of schools, fight for, 357.

Menu, Mills House, 160.

Meyer, D., thief, 238.

Meyer, F., murderer, 98.

Mike of Poverty Gap, 239-240.

Mills, D. O., _see_ Mills Houses.

Mills Houses-- Beds, 159. Business management, 158. Erection of hotels, 128. Fame and success of, 162, 165. Housing capacity, 161. Menu, 160. Privileges of, 159. Thieves, safety from, 162.

Mississippi River town, reservation of vacant land, 17.

Model tenements, erection and success of, 128-137.

Mooney, William, founder of Tammany, character of, 64.

Mortality rates, _see_ Death-rates.

Mott Street-- Barracks-- Death-rate, 123. Destruction, 118, 120-124. Legal proceedings, 120, 123. Bath, public, 282. Big Flat, _see that title_. Cat Alley scrap, 320-322. Trilby, gang in pursuit, 332.

Mulberry Bend-- Bottle Alley, _see that title_. Description, 39-40. Destruction, 39-41, 51. Campaign difficulties, 272-276. Cost of, 275. Wrecked square-- Accident to children, 270. Nuisance, 276. Effect of reform, 307-309. Italian criminals, nest of, 204-205. Night scenes, 173. Old Church tenements, 16. Park-- Appropriation lost, 40. Completion and opening, 266. Cost, 18. Dedication, 267-268. "Keep off the grass," 267. School building reform, 355. Whyo gang headquarters, 272, 308.

Mullen, Patrick, story of, 413-414.

Mullen's Court, purchase for destruction, 119.

Murders-- Beresheim, J., 227. Forsythe Street tragedy, 86. Lodging houses, murders traced to, 156. Meyer, F., 98. Mike of Poverty Gap, 239-240. Weeks, L. S., 156.

National Consumers' League, work of, 196-201.

Naturalization papers, fraudulent, 186, 190, 207.

Neckties, Poverty Gap, 51.

Negroes-- Character as tenants, 110. Model tenements for, 134.

Neighborliness, need of, 398-403.

Nero, enactment as to height of buildings, 11.

New Jersey, Jewish colonies, 212-215.

New Orange, home-building attempt abandoned, 214.

"Nurseries of crime," lodging houses as, 54, 156.

Old Church tenements, 16.

One-room houses, beginnings of, 97.

Open spaces, _see_ Parks and playgrounds.

Orchard Street-- Jews dwelling under stairs, 95. One-room houses, beginnings of, 97.

Outdoor Recreation League-- "Hudson-bank" park, 292. Organization and object, 300. Seward Park gymnastic apparatus, 302.

Overcrowding-- Battle against, 83-86. Double-deckers as cause of, 102. Elizabeth Street, midnight inspection, 99-102. Increase statistics, 81-83. Promoters of, high rents and low wages, 96.

Paddock, Rev. R., evidence against Tammany evil-doers, 72.

Palmerston, Lord, advice as to checking an epidemic, 34.

Park Avenue hotel for working girls, failure of, 29, 165-166.

Parkhurst disclosures, 41, 66.

Park Street, cellars, 20.

Parks and playgrounds-- Advisory committee, action, 287-291. Chicago, 304-305, 410, 439. Crotona Park, athletic meets, 366. East River Park, sacred grass, 301. Effect of, 288-289, 307-309. Essex Street, attempt to establish park, 294. Gilder law, 276, 279. Graveyard as playground, 302. Hamilton Fish Park, _see that title_. Hebrew Institute, roof garden, 305-307. Holy Terror Park, 302. "Hudson-bank," _see that title_. Mulberry Bend, _see that title_. Naming of, 374-375. Outdoor Recreation League, _see that title_. Poverty Gap playground, 302. Proportion of park area down-town, 279. Recreation piers, 292, 296, 299. Rivington Street, attempt to establish park, 293. Roof playgrounds, _see that title_. School playgrounds, _see_ Schools. Seward Park, _see that title_. Small Parks law, _see that title_. Tammany neglect, 67, 309. Tenement plots, 107, 108. Thieves' Alley site, 286.

Parrot of Mrs. Ben Wah, story of, 441-449.

People's Club, work of, 381.

People's Institute, educational work, 380.

People's University Extension Society, work of, 381.

Piers, recreation piers, 292, 296, 299.

Playgrounds, _see_ Parks and playgrounds.

Play piers, 292, 296, 299.

Police Board conspiracy, 417.

Policemen, candidates' examination papers, 220-221.

Police station lodging rooms, 48-50, 169-170.

Policy swindle, 418.

Polish capmaker, home in Stanton Street tenement, 76-80.

Political Education League, reform work, 247.

Political meetings in school buildings proposed, 407-408.

Political tenements, 149, 152.

Poor, improvement, _see_ Association for improving condition of the poor.

Population-- Cat Alley, 314-316. Census, _see that title_. Charity of the poor, instances of, 216-222, 322-325, 445. Death-rate, _see that title_. Foreign population, _see that title_. Increase statistics, 81-83. Inquiry by United States government, disclosures, 175. Italians, _see that title_. Jews, _see that title_. Movement, 133. Overcrowding, _see that title_. Sweating, _see that title_.

Potter, Bishop-- Arraignment of Tammany corruption, 70-73. Pro-Cathedral, Stanton Street, 72, 182. Religious organizations, 182.

Poverty Gap-- Improvement, 51-52. Mike, of Poverty Gap, 239-240. Neckties, 51. Playground, 302.

Prague, picture of city, incident, 204.

Prison, _see_ Tombs.

Prostitution, Tammany organization, 69-74.

Public baths, _see_ Baths.

Public Education Association, reform work, 371, 372, 378.

Public schools, _see_ Schools.

Push-cart men, Colonel Waring's market scheme, 273.

Quaker, builder of Gotham Court, 25.

Rear tenements, _see_ Tenements.

Recreation piers, 292, 296, 299.

Recruiting thief, 156, 164.

Reformatory report on weak character of boys, 244.

Reform by humane touch, 411-440.

Reform effects in thirteen years, 42-54.

Reform programme, 283-285.

River baths, free, 282.

Riverside tenements built by A. T. White, 135, 140.

Rivington Street-- Bath-house, 281. Mills Houses, _see that title_. Park, attempt to establish, 293.

Robberies-- Great Robbery, city treasury, 4-5, 285. Meyer, D., thief, 238. Recruiting thief, 156, 164. Tweed, thief, 4-5, 285.

Robbins, Dr. Jane E., woman doctor in the slums, 205-206.

Rome, slums of, 9-11.

Roof gardens-- Educational Alliance building, 388. Hebrew Institute, 305-307.

Roof playgrounds, public schools, 291, 342. Brass bands, 389-395. Fight for, 385-389. Hester Street school, 342, 359-360. Success of, 389-439.

Roosevelt, Theodore-- Election as Governor, 56. Law enforcement, 47, 235, 415, 418. Reform administration, 50, 414-418. Tenement House Commission appointed, 1900, 147.

Roosevelt Street tenement, demolition of, 124.

Roses, Hester Street school, 364.

St. Andrew's Brotherhood, school children excursion schemes, 362.

Saloons-- Cheer and social life of tenements, 419-420. Club room for boys provided, 372. Fight with Roosevelt, record of week of crime, 418.

Sandwiches--brick sandwiches, 224.

San Francisco, kindergarten record, 245.

Santa Claus in the slums, 310-311. [_See also_ Christmas trees.]

Scarlet fever epidemic traced to public school, 358.

Schools, public-- Allen Street building, 354, 357. Appropriation for new schools, 44, 346. Barrel and hog punishments, 341-342. Board of Education, work of, 365-366. Bronx primary school, 1895, condition of, 348. Building, perfection of Snyder schools, 353. Census, 349. Charges and facts, 342-345. Clubs, classroom opened for, 372-374. Compulsory education law, non-enforcement, 231. Control, abolition of ward trustee, etc., 347, 348. Cooking classes, 367-368. Excursion schemes, 362. Experimenting, 403-410. Eyes inspection, 358-359. Fourth Ward, examination of girls, 355-357. Hester Street, _see that title_. Immigrants, school as means of enrolment, 211, 212. Kindergartens, benefit of, 365-367. Lack of schools, 43, 186. Medical inspection fight, 357. Mental befogment results, 230. Nature lessons, 361-364. Neighborhood purposes, 387, 398-410. Number and naming of schools, 374, 375. Playgrounds-- Advisory committee report, 290-291. Roof playgrounds, _see that title_. Political meetings in, suggested, 407-408. Public Education Association, reform work, 371, 372, 378. Punishments in Madame Bruin's school, 341-342. Recreative purposes, 361. Reform fight, 44-45, 283, 345-371. Scarlet fever epidemic traced to public school, 358. Seats, "dead-line," 408-409. Shower-baths, 283. Social movement, use of the public school, 398-410. Sunday opening proposed, 399-403. Teachers' attitude to reform, 369-371. "Three H's" and "Three R's," 368, 387. Tombs, school for boys awaiting trial, 378, 379. Tompkins Square lodging house evening classes, 226. Truant school, 241, 242, 349, 350. Woman's work in reform, 371, 377, 379.

Schwab, Mr., summer excursions for boys, 405-406.

Settlement, _see_ University Settlement.

Seven Dials reformation, "druv into decency," 113-114.

Seward Park-- Crowds at play, 302-304. Delay in promised park, 295. Gymnastics, 302-303. Work started on, 296.

Sheds, tenants in, 98.

Shower-baths for public schools, 283.

Silver campaign, Irish laborer story, 217.

Slaughter houses, rear tenements condemned as, 37, 105, 116.

Slovak immigration, 202.

Slums-- Bacillus of the slum, 62. Beginning of the battle, 1-4. Chicago outlook, 17. Clubs, _see that title_. Crime, _see that title_. Democratic government imperilled by, 6. "Druv into decency," 113-114. Funeral show, 109. Inquiry by United States government, 61, 97, 175. Italians, _see that title_. Jews, _see that title_. Making of the slum, 1. Military band, 252, 255. Parks, _see that title_. Population, _see that title_. Rome, 9-11. Schools, _see that title_. Sensations and shows, 109. Stroll through tenement-house neighborhood, 86-108. Sweating, _see that title_. Tammany, _see that title_. Tenements, _see that title_. Tuberculosis, 194-196, 300.

Small parks law, 287. Advisory committee action, 287-291. Lost appropriation, 40. Origin of, 274.

Smallpox epidemics, 29, 34, 64, 67.

Snyder, builder of schools, 353.

Soap factories prohibited below Grand Street, 107.

Social halls scheme, 420.

Social movement, use of the public school, 398-410.

Soup--end of free soup, 47.

Stanton Street-- Polish capmaker, home of, 76-80. Pro-Cathedral, 72, 182. Stroll through neighborhood, 86.

Staten Island, summer excursions for boys, Mr. Schwab's proposal, 405-406.

Stewart, A. T., hotel, failure of, 29, 165-166.

Street cleaning, Colonel Waring's work, 45-46, 268-272, 415.

Stryker's Lane, truck farming, 366.

Sullivan Street, condition before demolition, 119-120.

Sunlight in tenements, assessment on, 94.

Summer, 1896, power of resistance of heat, 125-126.

Sunday opening of schools proposal, 399-403.

Sweating-- Consumers' League, work of, 196-201. Fight against, 196. Growth of, 31. Home work in tenements, 183-184, 194-196. Italian underbidding Jews, 183. Jews, complaint against, 194. United Garment Workers of America, compact, 1892, 198.

Swine and the cholera panic, 1866, 4, 29.

Tagging lost children proposed, 92.

Tailors-- Jewish quarrel, 183. Sweating, _see that title_.

Tammany-- Boss, character of, 420-429. Campaign of 1901 against, 63-75. Croker, R., _see that title_. Election, 1897, 425-426. Election night, slum scenes, 58. Good Government Clubs condemned by, 126. Hamilton Fish Park, use of people's baths, 149-152. History of corruption and peculation, 5, 60, 64-74. Immigrants claimed by slum politics, 186-191, 211. Italian immigrant vote, 187-191. Mooney, William, character of, 64. Parkhurst and Lexow disclosures, 5, 41, 66. Playgrounds policy, 309. Prostitution organization, 69-74. Reform failures, 65. Smallpox epidemics during government, 64, 67. Tramp vote, 48.

Teachers, school reform attitude, 369-371.

Tenants of the slums, _see_ Population.

Tenement House Commission-- Appointment, 1900, 147. Gilder, _see that title_. "Infant slaughter houses," 37.

Tenement House Committee, volunteer, formation and work of, 143.

Tenement House Department, creation of, 147-148.

Tenement House Exhibition, 1900, effect of, 143-147.

Tenements-- Air-shaft, tenants' uses and peril of, 93. Alfred Corning Clark buildings, 129, 130. Buddensiek, tenement builder, imprisonment, 20-21. Building Department supervision, 104. Children, _see that title_. Christmas trees, _see that title_. Citizens' council of hygiene, report, 1866, 19. City and Suburban Homes Company, _see that title_. City control of building proposed, 152. Death-rate, _see that title_. "Dens of death," 14, 20. Destruction, _see_ Demolition. "Discretion" clause in building laws, 88, 105, 107, 148. Disease--disclosures of Tenement House Exhibition, 1900, 143-147. Double-deckers, _see that title_. Factory tenements, disapproval of, 134. Filthy condition, landlord's excuse, 13. Fires, _see that title_. First chapter in story of, 11. Gilder Commission, work of, 88, 105, 108, 116, 228, 276, 279, 281. Halls, unlighted, 90-92. Health board fights, 30, 37. Height and jerry-building, 11-13. Home libraries, 382-383. Increase in population and overcrowding, 81-83. "Infant slaughter houses," 37. Irish people, _see that title_. Italians, _see that title_. Jews, _see that title_. Kerosene stove, odor of, 92. Landlord's profits, 90. Licensing, 153. Model tenements, erection and success of, 128-137. Negroes, _see that title_. One-room house, beginnings of, 97. Open spaces, _see_ Parks. Opposition to improvement, 30-31. Overcrowding, _see that title_. Parks, _see that title_. Plans for improvements, 37. Political tenements, 149, 152. Population, _see that title_. Rear tenements-- Condemned as "slaughter houses," 37, 105, 116. Death-rate scandal, 115-116. Demolition, 114. Report of select committee of assembly, 1857, 12-13. Rome, 11. Standard of space for adults and children, 97. Sunlight, assessment of value, 94. Sweating, _see that title_. Tenants, _see_ Population. Twenty-five-foot lot, doom of, 142, 148, 149. Up-town and down-town, 109-111. Water supply, lack of, 181. [_See also_ Slums.]

Thieves, _see_ Robberies.

Thieves' Alley demolition, 285, 286.

Tombs-- Demolition, proposed preservation of gates, 5. School for boys awaiting trial, 378, 379. Tweed, thief in, 4.

Tompkins Square-- Beresheim, Jacob, _see that title_. Evening classes failure, 226.

Tracy, Dr. R. S., mortality records, 116.

Tramp vote, Tammany's use of, 48.

Trilby of Cat Alley, 331-333.

Trinity Church, opposition as tenement-house landlord, 30.

Truant school, fight for, 241, 242, 349, 350.

Truck farming on site of Stryker's Lane, 366.

Trucks, street obstructions, disappearance, 45-46, 269-270.

Tuberculosis in the slums, 194-196, 300.

Tweed, thief, 4-5, 285.

Twenty-five-foot lot, doom of, 142, 148, 149.

United Garment Workers of America, compact, 1892, 198.

United States government slum inquiry, 61, 97, 175.

University Extension Society, work of, 381.

University settlement-- Social development and school movement, 397-410. Work with East Side gang, 248.

Vagrancy-- Crime, _see that title_. Encouragement by free lunches, lodging, etc., 170, 172. Farm colony for young vagrants proposed, 127, 172, 350.

Vitruvius, quotation as to height of dwellings, 11.

Walsh, Mrs., funeral in Cat Alley, 329-330.

Waring, Colonel-- Death, 268. Market scheme, 271. Mulberry Street Park dedication, 268. Street-cleaning, 45-46, 126, 268-272, 414, 415. Trucks, disappearance, 45-46, 269-270.

Water supply in tenements, lack of, 181.

Weeks, L. S., murder in Brooklyn, 156.

Wheat lesson, Hester Street school, 363.

White, A. T., Riverside tenements, 135, 140.

Whitechapel, London, Green Dragon yard, 25-27.

Whyo gang headquarters, 272, 308.

Widows in Cat Alley, 325-326.

Willard, D., reform work among children, 378-379.

Wisconsin farmer--battle with Five Points, 13-14.

Woman doctor in the slums, Dr. J. E. Robbins, 205-206.

Woman's Hotel for working women, need of, 166-168.

Woodbine, Hirsch colony in New Jersey, 213.

Wooster Street barracks, 16.

Working people's dwellings, _see_ Tenements.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Battle with the Slum, by Jacob A. Riis