CHAPTER XVI.
THE VERDICT OF THE POTTER'S FIELD
Looking back now over the field we have traversed, what is the verdict? Are we going backward or forward? To be standing still would be to lose ground. Nothing stands still in this community of ours, with its ever-swelling population, least of all the problem of the children of the poor. It got the start of our old indifference once, and we have had a long and wearisome race of it, running it down.
But we have run it down. We are moving forward, and indifference will not again trap us into defeat. Evidence is multiplying on every hand to show that interest in the children is increasing. The personal service, that counts for so infinitely much more than money, is more freely given day by day, and no longer as a fashionable fad, but as a duty too long neglected. From the colleges young men and women are going forth to study the problem in a practical way that is full of promise. Charity is forgetting its petty jealousies and learning the lesson of organization and co-operation. "Looking back," writes the Secretary of the Charity Organization Society, "over the progress of the last ten years, the success seems large, while looking at our hopes and aims it often seems meagre." The Church is coming up, no longer down, to its work among the poor. In the multiplication of brotherhoods and sisterhoods, of societies of Christian Endeavor, of King's Daughters, of efforts on every hand to reach the masses, the law of love, the only law that has real power to protect the poor, is receiving fresh illustration day by day.
The Fresh Air Work, the Boys' Clubs, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, bear witness to it, and to the energy and resources that shall yet win the fight for us. They were born of New York's plight. The whole world shares in the good they have wrought.
Kindergartens, industrial schools, baby nurseries are springing up everywhere. We have children's play-grounds, and we shall be getting more, if the promised small parks are yet in the future. Municipal progress has not kept step with private benevolence, but there is progress. New schools have been built this year and others are planned. We are beginning to understand that there are other and better ways of making citizens and voters than to grind them out through the political naturalization mill at every election. If the rum power has not lost its grip, it has not tightened it, at all events, in forty years. Then there was one saloon to every 90.8 inhabitants; to-day there is one to every 236.42.[32] The streets in the tenement districts, since I penned the first lines of this book, have been paved and cleaned as never before, and new standards of decency set up for the poor who live there and for their children. Jersey Street, Poverty Gap, have disappeared, and an end has been put, for a time at least, to the foul business of refuse gathering at the dumps. Nothing stands still in New York. Conditions change so suddenly, under the pressure of new exigencies, that it is sometimes difficult to keep up with them. The fact that it is generally business which prompts the changes for the better has this drawback, that the community, knowing that relief is coming sooner or later, gets into the habit of waiting for it to come that way as the natural one. It is not always the natural way, and though relief comes with bustle and stir at last, it is sometimes too long delayed.
Another mischievous habit, characteristic of the American people, preoccupied with so many urgent private concerns, is to rise up and pass a law that is loudly in demand, and let it go with that, as if all social evils could be cured by mere legal enactment. As a result, some of the best and most necessary laws are dead letters on our statute books. The law is there, but no one thinks of enforcing it. The beginning was made at the wrong end; but we shall reach around to the other in season.
The chief end has been gained in the recognition of the child problem as the all-important one, of the development of individual character as the strongest barrier against the evil forces of the street and the tenement. Last year I had occasion to address a convention at the National Capital, on certain phases of city poverty and suffering, and made use of the magic lantern to enforce some of the lessons presented. The last picture put on the screen showed the open trench in the Potter's Field. When it had passed, the Secretary of the Convention, a clergyman whose life has been given to rescue work among homeless boys, told how there had just come to join him in his work the man who had until very lately been in charge of this Potter's Field. His experience there had taught him that the waste before which he stood helpless at that end of the line, looking on without power to check or relieve, must be stopped at its source. So he had turned from the dead to the living, pledging the years that remained to him to that effort.
It struck me then, and it has seemed to me since, that this man's position to the problem was most comprehensive. The evidence of his long-range view was convincing. Society had indeed arrived at the same diagnosis some time before. Reasoning by exclusion, as doctors do in doubtful diseases, the symptoms of which are clearer than their cause, it had conjectured that if the "tough" whom it must maintain in idleness behind prison-bars, to keep him from preying upon it, was a creature of environment, not justly to blame, the community must be, for allowing him to grow up a "tough." So, in self-defence, it had turned its hand to the forming of character in proportion as it had come to own its failure to reform it. To that failure the trench in the Potter's Field bore unceasing witness. Its claim to be heard in evidence was incontestable.
Now that it has been heard, its testimony confirms the judgment that had already experience to back it. There is no longer room for doubt that with the children lies the solution of the problem of poverty, as far as it can be reached under existing forms of society and with our machinery for securing justice by government. The wisdom of generations that were dust two thousand years ago made this choice. We have been long in making it, but not too long if our travail has made it clear at last that for all time to come it must be the only safe choice. And this, whether from the standpoint of the Christian or the unbeliever, from that of humanity or mere business. If the matter is reduced to a simple sum in arithmetic, so much for so much--child-rescue, as the one way of balancing waste with gain, loss with profit, becomes the imperative duty of society, its chief bulwark against bankruptcy and wreck.
Thus, through the gloom of the Potter's Field that has levied such heavy tribute on our city in the past--even the tenth of its life--brighter skies, a new hope, are discerned beyond. They brighten even the slum tenement, and shine into the home which just now we despaired of reaching by any other road than that of pulling it down. Tireless, indeed, the hands need be that have taken up this task. Flag their efforts ever so little, hard-won ground is lost, mischief done. But we are gaining, no longer losing, ground. Seen from the tenement, through the frame-work of injustice and greed that cursed us with it, the outlook seemed little less than despairing. Groping vainly, with unseeing eyes, we said: There is no way out. The children, upon whom the curse of the tenement lay heaviest, have found it for us. Truly it was said: "A little child shall lead them."
REGISTER OF CHILDREN'S CHARITIES
AS PUBLISHED BY THE CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY
In addition to the charities given here, seventy-eight churches of all denominations conduct weekly industrial and sewing classes, generally on Saturdays, for which see the Directory of the Charity Organization Society, under Churches, where may also be found the register of thirty-two fresh-air funds not recorded below, and of some kindergartens and clubs established by various churches for the children of their congregations.
NURSERIES.
AGES RECEIVED.
AHAWATH CHESED SISTERHOOD, 71 East 3d St. 3 to 6 yrs.
BETHANY DAY NURSERY, 453 East 57th St. 2 weeks to 6 yrs.
BETH-EL SOCIETY, 355 East 62d St. 2-1/2 to 6 yrs.
BETHLEHEM DAY NURSERY, 249 East 30th St. 1 week to 7 yrs.
CHILDREN'S CHARITABLE UNION, 70 Av. D. 3 to 7 yrs.
DAY NURSERY AND BABIES' SHELTER, 118 West 21st St. 1 to 5 yrs.
ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE GRATUITE AND SALLE D'ASILE, 69 Washington Square. 2 to 11 yrs.
EMANU-EL SISTERHOOD, 159 East 74th St. 3 to 6 yrs.
GRACE HOUSE DAY NURSERY, 94 Fourth Av. 1 to 8 yrs.
HOPE NURSERY, 226 Thompson St.
JEWELL DAY NURSERY, 20 Macdougal St. 2 to 5 yrs.
MANHATTAN WORKING GIRLS' ASSOCIATION, 440 East 57th St. 2 weeks to 10 yrs.
MEMORIAL DAY NURSERY, 275 East Broadway. 1 to 6 yrs.
RIVERSIDE DAY NURSERY, 121 West 63d St. 1 mo. to 8 yrs.
ST. AGNES' DAY NURSERY, 7 Charles St. 8 days to 6 yrs.
ST. BARNABAS' HOUSE, 304 Mulberry St. 4 weeks to 8 yrs.
ST. CHRYSOSTOM CHAPEL NURSERY, 224 West 38th St.
ST. JOHN'S DAY NURSERY, 223 East 67th St. 1 to 6 yrs.
ST. JOSEPH'S DAY NURSERY, 473 West 57th St. 2 weeks to 7 yrs.
ST. STEPHEN'S EQUITY CLUB, KINDERGARTEN AND NURSERY, 59 West 46th St.
ST. THOMAS' DAY NURSERY, 231 East 59th St. -- to 6 yrs.
SALLE D'ASILE ET ÉCOLE PRIMAIRE, 2 South 5th Av. 3 to 8 yrs.
SILVER CROSS DAY NURSERY, 2249 Second Av. 2 weeks to 10 yrs.
SUNNYSIDE DAY NURSERY, 51 Prospect Pl. 2 weeks to 7 yrs.
VIRGINIA DAY NURSERY, 632 5th St. 6 mos. to 6 yrs.
WAYSIDE DAY NURSERY, 216 East 20th St. 2 mos. to 7 yrs.
WEST SIDE DAY NURSERY, 266 West 40th St. 18 mos. to 7 yrs.
WILSON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL DAY NURSERY, 125 St. Mark's Pl. 1 mo. to 6 yrs.
KINDERGARTENS.
AHAWATH CHESED SISTERHOOD FREE KINDERGARTEN 71 East 3d St.
ALL SOULS' CHURCH FREE KINDERGARTEN 70th St. East of Lexington Av.
BETH-EL SOCIETY FREE KINDERGARTEN 355 East 62d St.
CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH FREE KINDERGARTEN 454 West 42d St.
CHERRY STREET KINDERGARTEN 340 Cherry St.
CHILDREN'S CHARITABLE UNION KINDERGARTEN 70 Av. D.
EAST SIDE CHAPEL AND BIBLE WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION KINDERGARTEN 404 East 15th St.
EAST SIDE HOUSE KINDERGARTEN Foot of East 76th St.
EMANU-EL SISTERHOOD KINDERGARTEN 159 E. 74th St.
FREE KINDERGARTEN ASS'N, OF HARLEM, No. 1 School 2048 First Av.
FREE KINDERGARTEN OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL Varick near Beach.
FRENCH FREE SCHOOL 69 South Washington Sq.
HEBREW FREE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION East B'way and Jefferson St.
KINDERGARTEN OF MADISON SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HOUSE Third Av. and 30th St.
" " ST. GEORGE'S AV. A MISSION 253 Av. A.
" " " CHAPEL 130 Stanton St.
" " SHEARITH ISRAEL CONGREGATION 5 West 19th St.
LADIES' BIKUR CHOLIM SOCIETY KINDERGARTEN 177 East Broadway.
NEIGHBORHOOD GUILD KINDERGARTEN 146 Forsyth St.
N. Y. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL KINDERGARTEN 175 East 68th St.
N. Y. KINDERGARTEN ASSOCIATION SCHOOLS: No. 1, 221 East 51st St. No. 2, Alumnæ Kindergarten, cor. 63d St. and First Av. No. 3, 228 West 35th St. No. 4, 348 West 26th St. No. 5, Shaw Memorial, 61 Henry St. No. 6, McAlpine, 62 Second St. No. 7, Av. A and 15th St.
ST. ANDREWS' FREE KINDERGARTEN 2067 Second Av.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S " 209 East 42d St.
ST. JAMES' FREE KINDERGARTEN Av. A and 78th St.
ST. MARY'S KINDERGARTEN 438 Grand St.
SHAARAY TEFILLA SISTERHOOD KINDERGARTEN 127 West 44th St.
SILVER CROSS " " 2249 Second Av.
SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE " 109 West 54th St.
TEMPLE ISRAEL SISTERHOOD KINDERGARTEN 125th St. and 5th Av.
TRINITY CHURCH ASS'N " 209 Fulton St.
WILSON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN 125 St Mark's Pl.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
ABIGAIL SCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN 242 Spring St.
AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY Office, 32 East 30th St.
HOME SCHOOL 29 East 29th St.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL NO. 1 552 First Av. cor. 32d St.
" " " 2 (Rose Memorial) 418 West 41st St.
" " " 3 124 West 26th St.
" " " 4 34 Willett St.
" " " 5 220 West 36th St.
" " " 6 125 Allen St.
" " " 7 234 East 80th St.
" " " 8 463 West 32d St.
" " " 9 East 60th St. and Boulevard.
" " " 10 125 Lewis St.
" " " 11 52d St. and Second Av.
" " " 12 2247 Second Av.
CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY. Office, 24 St. Mark's Pl. _Industrial Schools_-- ASTOR MEMORIAL 256 Mott St. AV. B 607 East 14th St. COTTAGE PLACE 208 Bleecker St. BRACE MEMORIAL 9 Duane St. EAST RIVER 247 East 44th St. EAST SIDE 287 East Broadway. ELEVENTH WARD 295 Eighth St. FOURTH WARD 73 Monroe St. FIFTH WARD 36 Beach St. FIFTY-SECOND STREET 573 West 52d St. GERMAN 272 Second St. HENRIETTA 215 East 21st St. ITALIAN 156 Leonard St. JONES MEMORIAL 407 East 73d St. LORD 135 Greenwich St. PARK 68th St. near Broadway. PHELPS 314 East 35th St. RHINELANDER 350 East 88th St. SIXTEENTH WARD 211 West 18th St. SIXTH STREET 632 Sixth St. WEST SIDE 201 West 32d St. WEST SIDE ITALIAN 24 Sullivan St. _Night Schools_-- GERMAN 272 Second St. ITALIAN 156 Leonard St. BRACE MEMORIAL (Newsboys) 9 Duane St. ELEVENTH WARD 295 8th St. EAST SIDE 287 East Broadway. LORD 135 Greenwich St. JONES MEMORIAL 407 East 73d St. FIFTY-SECOND STREET 573 West 52d St. WEST SIDE 400 Seventh Av.
CHURCH SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG JEWS (Industrial School for Girls) 68 East 7th St.
EIGHTH WARD MISSION SCHOOL 1 Charlton St.
FIVE POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY 155 Worth St.
" " MISSION 63 Park St.
FREE GERMAN SCHOOL 140 East 4th St.
HEBREW FREE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION East Broadway and Jefferson St.
ITALIAN MISSION (P. E. School for Girls) 809 Mulberry St.
INDUSTRIAL CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE 113 Macdougal St.
LOUIS DOWN-TOWN SABBATH AND DAILY SCHOOL (Hebrew) 267 Henry St.
MISSION OF THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN Lafayette Pl. and Great Jones St.
MISSION SCHOOL OF ALL SOULS' CHURCH 213 East 21st St.
NEW YORK BIBLE AND TRACT MISSION (School for Girls) 422 East 26th St.
NEW YORK HOUSE AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY 120 West 16th St.
SISTERHOOD OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD (P. E.) 419 West 19th St.
ST. BARNABAS HOUSE 304 Mulberry St.
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 346 West 43d St.
ST. ELIZABETH INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 235 East 14th St.
SPANISH INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 1345 Lexington Av.
TRINITY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 90 Trinity Pl.
ST. GEORGE'S INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL Teutonia Hall.
TRINITY CHAPEL INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 15 West 25th St.
ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHAPEL INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 105 East Houston St.
ST. MARY'S Lawrence St., Manhattanville.
WEST SIDE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 266 West 40th St.
WILSON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 125 St. Mark's Pl.
UNITED HEBREW CHARITIES (Industrial School for Girls) 128 Second Av.
ZION AND ST. TIMOTHY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 332 West 57th St.
FRESH AIR WORK.
THE TRIBUNE FRESH-AIR FUND Tribune Building.
BARTHOLDI CRÉCHE 21 University Pl.
CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY--Health Home West Coney Island.
" " " Summer Home Bath Beach.
THE KING'S DAUGHTERS TENEMENT-HOUSE COMMITTEE 77 Madison St.
NEW YORK INFIRMARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN 5 Livingston Pl.
NEW YORK CITY MISSION AND TRACT SOCIETY 106 Bible House.
ST. JOHN'S GUILD 501 Fifth Av.
" " " Floating Hospital (every week-day but Saturday).
" " " Seaside Hospital Cedar Grove, Staten Island.
SANITARIUM FOR HEBREW CHILDREN 124 East 14th St.
SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE 109 West 54th St.
NEW YORK ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR (Ocean Parties) 79 Fourth Av.
ST. BARNABAS FRESH-AIR FUND 38 Bleecker St.
THE LITTLE MOTHERS' AID SOCIETY 305 East 17th St.
NEW YORK BIBLE AND TRACT MISSION 416 East 26th St.
NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR PARKS AND PLAY-GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN 36 Union Square.
AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY Summer Home at Oceanport, N. J.
SUMMER SHELTER Morristown, N. J. (Apply to Charity Organization Society, 21 University Pl.)
BOYS' CLUBS AND READING-ROOMS.
ASCENSION MEMORIAL CHAPEL (P. E.) 330 West 43d St.
AVENUE C CLUB 65 East 14th St.
BETHANY CHURCH Tenth Av., bet. 35th and 36th Sts.
CALVARY PARISH 344 East 23d St.
CHAPEL OF THE COMFORTER 814 Greenwich St.
CHRIST CHAPEL West 65th St. near Amsterdam Av.
CHURCH OF THE ARCHANGEL (P. E.) 117th St. and St. Nicholas Av.
CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER Park Av. and 81st St.
COLLEGE SETTLEMENT 95 Rivington St.
COVENANT CHAPEL 310 East 42d St.
DEWITT CHAPEL 160 West 29th St.
EAST SIDE HOUSE Foot of 76th St. and East River.
FREE READING-ROOMS 8 West 14th St., 330 Fourth Av., and 590 Seventh Av.
GRACE MISSION 640 East 13th St.
HOLY COMMUNION (P. E.) CHURCH 49 West 20th St.
HOLY CROSS LYCEUM 43d St., bet. Eighth and Ninth Aves.
HOLY CROSS MISSION 300 East Fourth St.
LAFAYETTE CLUB (Middle Collegiate Church) 14 Lafayette Pl.
MISSION CHAPEL OF MADISON AV. CHURCH 440 East 57th St.
MADISON SQUARE CHURCH HOUSE Third Av., cor. 30th St.
MANOR CHAPEL 348 West 26th St.
MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH Washington Square, South.
MONDAY NIGHT CLUB (Church of Holy Communion) 49 West 20th St.
NEIGHBORHOOD GUILD 147 Forsyth St.
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH 114 East 35th St.
NORTH SIDE BOYS' CLUB 79 Macdougal St.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S PARISH HOUSE 207 East 42d St.
ST. GEORGE'S (P. E.) CHURCH (Memorial House) 207 East 16th St.
ST. LUKE'S M. E. CHURCH (Knights of St Luke) 108 West 41st St.
ST. MARY'S Lawrence St., Manhattanville.
WEST SIDE Vermilye Chapel, 794 Tenth Av.
WILSON MISSION BUILDING ("Av. A Club") 125 St. Mark's Pl.
CHILDREN'S LODGING-HOUSES.
BRACE MEMORIAL 9 Duane St.
GIRLS' TEMPORARY HOME 307-309 East 12th St.
TOMPKINS SQUARE 295 8th St.
EAST SIDE 287 East Broadway.
FORTY-FOURTH STREET 247 East 44th St.
WEST SIDE 400 Seventh Av.
MISSION OF THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN Lafayette Pl. and Great Jones St.
CHILDREN'S HOMES--TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT.
ASYLUM OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL 215 West 39th St.
ASYLUM OF SISTERS OF ST. DOMINIC (House of Reception) 137 Second St.
BERACHAH ORPHANAGE (Gospel Tabernacle) 692 Eighth Av.
BETHLEHEM ORPHAN AND HALF-ORPHAN ASYLUM College Point. L. I. (Controlled by thirteen Lutheran churches of New York and vicinity.)
CHILDREN'S FOLD 92d St. and Eighth Av.
COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM West 143d St. and Boulevard.
FREE HOME FOR DESTITUTE YOUNG GIRLS 23 East 11th St.
DOMINICAN CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY 329 East 63d St.
FIVE POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY 155 Worth St.
GERMAN ODD FELLOWS' ORPHANAGE Apply at Home, 82 Second Av.
HEBREW BENEVOLENT AND ORPHAN ASYLUM Amsterdam Av. and 136th St.
HEBREW SHELTERING GUARDIAN ORPHAN ASYLUM Eleventh Av. and 151st St.
HOLY ANGELS' ORPHAN ASYLUM (for Italian Children from New York) West Park-on-the-Hudson.
HOUSE OF MERCY 81st St. and Madison Av.
LADIES' DEBORAH NURSERY AND CHILD'S PROTECTORY, Male Department, 95 East Broadway and 83 Henry St.; Female Department, East 162d St., near Eagle Av.
LEAKE AND WATTS ORPHAN HOUSE Ludlow Station, Hudson R. R.
MESSIAH HOME FOR LITTLE CHILDREN 4 Rutherford Pl.
MISSION OF THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN FOR HOMELESS AND DESTITUTE CHILDREN Lafayette Pl. and Great Jones St.
ST. JOSEPH'S HOME FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN House of Reception, 143 West 31st Street.
NEW YORK FOUNDLING HOSPITAL (Asylum of Sisters of Charity) 175 East 68th St.
NEW YORK INFANT ASYLUM Amsterdam Av. and 61st St.
ORPHANAGE OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY 400 East 50th St.
ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY Riverside Drive and West 73d St.
ORPHANS' HOME AND ASYLUM OF PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 49th St. near Lexington Av.
ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM Madison Av. and 51st St.
ST. AGATHA'S HOME FOR CHILDREN 209 West 15th St.
ST. ANN'S HOME FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN Av. A, cor. 90th St.
ST. BENEDICT'S HOME FOR COLORED CHILDREN House of Reception, 120 Macdougal St.
ST. CHRISTOPHER'S HOME Riverside Drive and 112th St.
ST. JAMES' HOME 21 Oliver and 26 James St.
ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHAN ASYLUM 89th St. and Av. A.
SHEPHERD'S FOLD (P. E. Church) 92d St. and Eighth Av.
PROTESTANT HALF-ORPHAN ASYLUM Manhattan Av. near 104th St.
HOME FOR SEAMEN'S CHILDREN (New York and vicinity) West New Brighton, S. I.
SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN 100 East 23d St.
REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS.
BURNHAM INDUSTRIAL FARM Office, 135 East 15th St.
HEBREW SHELTERING GUARDIAN SOCIETY Eleventh Av. and 151st St.
NEW YORK CATHOLIC PROTECTORY Office, 415 Broome St.
NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM 176th St. and Amsterdam Av.
ST. JAMES' HOME 21 Oliver St.
HOUSE OF REFUGE Randall's Island.
HOUSE OF THE HOLY FAMILY 132 Second Av.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.
ALL SAINTS' CONVALESCENT HOME FOR MEN AND BOYS (Holy Cross Mission) Avenue C and 4th St.
BABIES' HOSPITAL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 657 Lexington Av.
BABIES' WARD, POST-GRADUATE HOSPITAL 226 East 20th St.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Randall's Island.
NEW YORK INFIRMARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN 5 Livingston Pl.
FIVE POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY INFIRMARY 147 Worth St.
GOOD SAMARITAN DIAKONISSEN (Hahnemann Hospital) Park Av. and 67th St.
INFANTS' HOSPITAL Randall's Island.
LAURA FRANKLIN FREE HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN 17 East 111th St.
NEW YORK FOUNDLING HOSPITAL 175 East 68th St.
NURSERY AND CHILD'S HOSPITAL Lexington Av. and 51st St.
ST. MARY'S FREE HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN 405 West 34th St.
HARLEM DISPENSARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN 2331 Second Av.
SICK CHILDREN'S MISSION OF CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY 287 East Broadway.
YORKVILLE DISPENSARY AND HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN 1307 Lexington Av.
NEW YORK ORTHOPÆDIC HOSPITAL 126 East 59th St.
NEW YORK OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL 201 East 23d St.
ASYLUMS FOR DEFECTIVE CHILDREN.
CRIPPLED BOYS' HOME (Forty-fourth Street Lodging House) 247 East 44th St.
INSTITUTION FOR THE IMPROVED INSTRUCTION OF DEAF MUTES Lexington Av. and 67th St.
IDIOT ASYLUM Randall's Island.
NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND Ninth Av. and 34th St.
NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB Eleventh Av. and 163d St.
NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF THE RUPTURED AND CRIPPLED Lexington Av. and 42d St.
ST. JOSEPH'S INSTITUTION FOR THE IMPROVED INSTRUCTION OF DEAF MUTES 772 East 188th St.
SHELTERING ARMS Amsterdam Av. and 129th St.
SOCIETY OF ST. JOHNLAND Apply at Calvary Chapel, 220 East 23d St.
SYRACUSE STATE SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED (Apply to Superintendent of Out-door Poor.)
CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY Haxtun Cottage, Bath Beach, L. I.
HOUSE OF ST. GILES THE CRIPPLE 422 Degraw St., Brooklyn.
Footnotes:
[1] It is, nevertheless, true that while immigration peoples our slums, it also keeps them from stagnation. The working of the strong instinct to better themselves, that brought the crowds here, forces layer after layer of this population up to make room for the new crowds coming in at the bottom, and thus a circulation is kept up that does more than any sanitary law to render the slums harmless. Even the useless sediment is kept from rotting by being constantly stirred.
[2] Report of committing magistrates. See Annual Report of Children's Aid Society, 1891.
[3] The census referred to in this chapter was taken for a special purpose, by a committee of prominent Hebrews, in August, 1890, and was very searching.
[4] Dr. Roger S. Tracy's report of the vital statistics for 1891 shows that, while the general death-rate of the city was 25.96 per 1,000 of the population--that of adults (over five years) 17.13, and the baby death-rate (under five years) 93.21--in the Italian settlement in the west half of the Fourteenth Ward the record stood as follows: general death-rate, 33.52; adult death-rate, 16.29; and baby death-rate, 150.52. In the Italian section of the Fourth Ward it stood: general death-rate, 34.88; adult death-rate, 21.29; baby death-rate 119.02. In the sweaters district in the lower part of the Tenth Ward the general death rate was 16.23; the adult death rate, 7.59; and the baby death rate 61.15. Dr. Tracy adds: "The death-rate from phthisis was highest in houses entirely occupied by cigarmakers (Bohemians), and lowest in those entirely occupied by tailors. On the other hand, the death-rates from diphtheria and croup and measles were highest in houses entirely occupied by tailors."
[5] Meaning "teachers."
[6] Even as I am writing a transformation is being worked in some of the filthiest streets on the East Side by a combination of new asphalt pavements with a greatly improved street cleaning service that promises great things. Some of the worst streets have within a few weeks become as clean as I have not seen them in twenty years, and as they probably never were since they were made. The unwonted brightness of the surroundings is already visibly reflected in the persons and dress of the tenants, notably the children. They take to it gladly, giving the lie to the old assertion that they are pigs and would rather live like pigs.
[7] As a matter of fact, I heard, after the last one that caused so much discussion, in a court that sent seventy-five children to the show, a universal growl of discontent. The effect on the children, even to those who received presents, was bad. They felt that they had been on exhibition, and their greed was aroused. It was as I expected it would be.
[8] The Sanitary census of 1891 gave 37,358 tenements, containing 276,565 families, including 160,708 children under five years of age; total population of tenements, 1,225,411.
[9] The general impression survives with me that the children's teeth were bad, and those of the native born the worst. Ignorance and neglect were clearly to blame for most of it, poor and bad food for the rest, I suppose. I give it as a layman's opinion, and leave it to the dentist to account for the bad teeth of the many who are not poor. That is his business.
[10] The fourteenth year is included. The census phrase means "up to 15."
[11] The average attendance was only 136,413, so that there were 60,000 who were taught only a small part of the time.
[12] See Minutes of Stated Session of the Board of Education, February 8, 1892.
[13] Meaning evidently in this case "up to fourteen."
[14] Report of New York Catholic Protectory, 1892.
[15] If this were not the sober statement of public officials of high repute it would seem fairly incredible.
[16] Between 1880 and 1890 the increase in assessed value of the real and personal property in this city was 48.36 per cent., while the population increased 41.06 per cent.
[17] Philosophy of Crime and Punishment, by Dr. William T. Harris, Federal Commissioner of Education.
[18] Seventeenth Annual Report of Society, 1892.
[19] English Social Movements, by Robert Archey Woods, page 196.
[20] The Superintendent of the House of Refuge for thirty years wrote recently: "It is essential to have the plays of the children more carefully watched than their work."
[21] Report for 1891 of Children's Aid Society.
[22] In this reckoning is included employment found for many big boys and girls, who were taken as help, and were thus given the chance which the city denied them.
[23] It is inevitable, of course, that such a programme should steer clear of the sectarian snags that lie plentifully scattered about. I have a Roman Catholic paper before me in which the Society's "villainous work, which consists chiefly in robbing the Catholic child of his faith," is hotly denounced in an address to the Archbishop of New York. Mr. Brace's policy was to meet such attacks with silence, and persevere in his work. The Society still follows his plan. Catholic or Protestant--the question is never raised. "No Catholic child," said one of its managers once to me, "is ever brought to us. A _poor_ child is brought and we care for it."
[24] The Society pleads for a farm of its own, close to the city, where it can organize a "farm school" for the older boys. There they could be taken on probation and their fitness for the West be ascertained. They would be more useful to the farmers and some trouble would be avoided. Two farms, or three, to get as near to the family plan as possible, would be better. The Children's Aid Society of Boston has three farm schools, and its work is very successful.
[25] I once questioned a class of 71 boys between eight and twelve years old in a reform school, with this result: 22 said they blacked boots; 36 sold papers; 26 did both; 40 "slept out;" but only 3 of them all were fatherless, 11 motherless, showing that they slept out by choice. The father probably had something to do with it most of the time. Three-fourths of the lads stood up when I asked them if they had been to Central Park. The teacher asked one of those who did not rise, a little shaver, if he had never been in the Park. "No, mem!" he replied, "me father he went that time."
[26] The lodging-houses are following a noteworthy precedent. From the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, organized in the beginning of this century, sprang the first savings bank in the country.
[27] That is the average number constantly in asylums. With those that come and go, it foots up quite 25,000 children a year that are a public charge.
[28] Report upon the Care of Dependent Children in New York City and elsewhere, to the State Board of Charities, by Commissioner Josephine Shaw Lowell. December, 1889.
[29] Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell on Dependent Children. Report of 1889.
[30] Anna T. Wilson: Some Arguments for the Boarding-out of Dependent Children in the State of New York. This opposition the Superintendent explains in his report for 1891, to be due in part to the lying stories about abuse in the West, told by bad boys who return to the city. He adds, however, that "oftentimes the most strenuous opposition ... is made by step-mothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins," and is "due in the majority of cases not to any special interest in the child's welfare, but to self-interest, the relative wishing to obtain a situation for the boy in order to get his weekly wages."
[31] It will do so hereafter. This autumn the discovery was made that the city was asked to pay for more children than there ought to be in the institutions according to the record of commitments. The comptroller sent two of his clerks to count all the children. The result was to show slipshod book-keeping, if nothing worse, in certain cases. Hereafter the ceremony of counting the children will be gone through every six months. Nothing could more clearly show the irresponsible character of the whole business and the need of a change, lest we drift into corporate pauperism in addition to encouraging the vice in the individual.
[32] In 1854, with a population of 605,000, there were 6,657 licensed and unlicensed saloons in the city, or 1 to every 90.8 of its inhabitants. At the beginning of 1892, with a population of 1,706,500, there were 7,218 saloons, or 1 to every 236.42. Counting all places where liquor was sold by license, including hotels, groceries, steamboats, etc., the number was 9,050, or 1 to every 188.56 inhabitants.
How the Other Half Lives.
STUDIES AMONG THE TENEMENTS OF NEW YORK.
By JACOB A. RIIS.
_With 40 Illustrations from Photographs taken by the Author._
12mo, net $1.25.
This volume is the result of fifteen years' familiarity as police reporter with the seamy side of New York life. It is, however, by no means a mere record of personal observations, but a careful, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of a thesis with illustrations. It is philosophic as well as expository, and from beginning to end is an indictment of the tenement system as it exists at present in New York.
No page is uninstructive, but it would be misleading to suppose the book even tinctured with didacticism. It is from beginning to end as picturesque in treatment as it is in material. The author's acquaintance with the latter is extremely intimate. The reader feels that he is being guided through the dirt and crime, the tatters and rags, the byways and alleys of nether New York by an experienced cicerone. Mr. Riis, in a word, though a philanthropist and philosopher, is an artist as well. He has also the advantage of being an amateur photographer, and his book is abundantly illustrated from negatives of the odd, the out-of-the-way, and characteristic sights and scenes he has himself caught with his camera. No work yet published--certainly not the official reports of the charity societies--shows so vividly the complexion and countenance of the "Down-town Back Alleys," "The Bend," "Chinatown," "Jewtown," "The Cheap Lodging-houses," the haunts of the negro, the Italian, the Bohemian poor, or gives such a veracious picture of the toughs, the tramps, the waifs, drunkards, paupers, gamins, and the generally gruesome populace of this centre of civilization.
THE CHEAP LODGING-HOUSES. 87
perch in the world. Uneasy sleepers roll off at intervals, but they have not far to fall to the next tier of bunks, and the commotion that ensues is speedily quieted by the boss and his club. On cold winter nights, when every
bunk had its tenant, I have stood in such a lodging-room more than once, and listening to the snoring of the sleepers like the regular strokes of an engine, and the slow creaking of the beams under their restless weight, imagined myself on shipboard and experienced the very
[SPECIMEN PAGE.]
COMMENDATIONS.
THE NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN, 100 East 23d Street.
NEW YORK, February 28th, 1891.
JACOB A RIIS, Esq.,
_Dear Sir_:--"It gives me very great pleasure to express my gratification in reading your valuable work 'How the Other Half Lives.' I regard it as one of the most valuable contributions to the history of child-saving work in this great city, and as pointing out the numerous evils which exist at the present time and which loudly call for legislative aid and interference.
"The thorough familiarity which you have shown with the subject of your work is equaled only by the accuracy of its detail and the graphic pictures which illustrate the scenes described. It is a book which every one may peruse with interest, and the larger the circulation which can be given to it, the sooner I think will the charitable and well-disposed people of this city realize the need, on the part of The Other Half, of support, aid, and assistance, and which you have so graphically described."
I have the honor to remain, with great respect, ELDRIDGE T. GERRY, President, etc.
THE CHRISTIAN UNION, 80 Lafayette Place, New York.
"It is one of the encouraging signs of the times that Jacob Riis's book on 'How the Other Half Lives' has found so many readers that a new edition is now called for. The priest and the Levite are no longer passing by on the other side; that is itself a sign of moral weakness.
"I was first attracted to Mr. Riis's work by an illustrated lecture which he gave in Plymouth Church which stirred our hearts very deeply, and which showed how thorough an investigation and exploration he had made.
"His book presents by pictures for the eye, and by pen and ink pictures quite as graphic, those phases of modern paganism which exist in our great cities and are beginning to arouse the wonder, the indignation, and the wrath of philanthropists and Christians.
"'How the Other Half Lives' is worthy to be a companion to 'In Darkest England,' to which, indeed, as a picture of existing conditions it is superior; nor is it without suggestions of remedy, which, if less elaborate than Mr. Booth's, will strike the average reader as more immediately practicable."
LYMAN ABBOTT.
"It was a murderer who asked the question 'Am I my brother's keeper?' and hoped for a negative answer. But the affirmative answer of God has been ringing through all the milleniums since then. This eternal 'YES' meets the church of to-day, and there are signs that the church is waking to seek some method by which that 'YES' shall be adequately carried out. The first thing is to know how my brother lives, and what are his temptations, difficulties, trials, hopes, fears. On this no book that has ever appeared in this land pours such light as Mr. Riis's book on 'The Other Half.' Let all who want to know what to do for these brothers of theirs in this town, read this book which is enormously more interesting than any novel that ever was written or that ever will be. Dens, dives, hovels, sickness, death, sorrow, drink, and murder, all these exist in our midst in appalling magnitude, and with all of these we must have to do if we are not to be modern Cains. No '_eau de cologne_' business is this, if we are to uplift these brothers of ours, as will be apparent from a reading of this remarkable book. Let all who are in any way interested in the welfare of humanity buy and read it at once, and let all who are not interested repent at once and get the book, and then bring forth fruits meet for repentance."
A. F. SCHAUFFLER.
PRESS NOTICES.
"Criticism, in the narrower sense, has no hold on 'How the Other Half Lives.' The book is most beautiful without, as fascinating within. Every word bears its message; every illustration--there are many--means something. Mr. Riis has deserved nobly of the public for his thorough and resourceful work. We cannot believe that his reward will fail. We should be sorry to think that his earnest words would be less to any reader than a commanding invitation to the thick of the battle against social injustice."--_The Boston Times._
"From personal observation, conducted with the perseverance and tact needed by the newspaper reporter, Mr. Riis has gathered, and here presents, many interesting, pathetic, and monitory facts concerning the extreme poverty, filth, or unhomelike existence of too many of the tenement-dwellers of New York--omitting mention of those costlier tenements which are called flats. He ventures upon some suggestions of remedy, but the chief value of his chapters lies in their exposition."--_Sunday School Times._
"The studies of Mr. Riis among the tenements of New York take the reader into strange places and bring him into contact with startling conditions; but among all the problems now pressing for solution there are none so grave or so difficult as those upon the fundamental facts of which these pages throw light. The author has made a thorough exploration of the great city, and has produced a series of pictures which illustrate strikingly the many phases of life concerned."--_The N. Y. Tribune._
"Mr. Riis's book is an important contribution to sociological literature, and the truths it brings forward as well as the conclusions it deduces must not be evaded, for on them rest all really hopeful projects for the restriction of poverty and crime."--_The Boston Beacon._
"This is a book to be studied alike by the social scientist and by the philanthropist. It presents, in compact form, the story of the nether world of New York City, which, in general outline, varies but little from the story of the nether world of any large city."--_Chicago Times._
"This book bears evidence on every page of faithful investigation and intelligent sympathy with the subject, and should be read by everyone who has it in any way in his power to help on the work, for as the author says: 'The "dangerous classes" of New York long ago compelled recognition. They are dangerous less because of their own crimes than because of the criminal ignorance of those who are not of their kind.'"--_Milwaukee Sentinel._
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text.
The following misprints have been corrected: "unfamilar" corrected to "unfamiliar" (page 2) "opportunties" corrected to "opportunities" (page 36) "virture" corrected to "virtue" (page 43) "inpectors" corrected to "inspectors" (page 103) "Commisioners" corrected to "Commissioners" (page 172) "bookblack's" corrected to "bootblack's" (page 257)
Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation usage have been retained.
Unmatched quotation marks are presented as in the original text.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Children of the Poor, by Jacob A. Riis