New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-26

adopted this method, though perhaps borrower 81 ~
some extent from the French Boston deserves 'D'
public thanks. ,l With
Tho tenement-houses of New-York compared WIN
those of Boston are simply ul's'''0' -
those occupied by the common PooP'0 49,
us by their inconvenience u"iAn0''' ,,o
aud borrors Passing through Mulberry-st ONO
III sr1o f,ir overage of the tencment-houses OF
o,Yrl, CITY the upper part of the street PaS'lnk
Tor resrectahle. the lower part being the IesOi.
of tho fascinated criminal and poor. In WAN ~,
20 exceed half mile-a part OF the way ''i'
for rooms and persons, and another part Oh 'no 49,,
accompauied by a policeman thlhA mus" a.
entered the homes of rs many as o'VOV p ''PIe'
majority of whom live in from two 10 t','o -.
one Of which has no window ana "n'n -
A. a1O 40 and s14 month. The entrance Is "y "
dar, stairway always dirty, the wafer ciosc'S 'io -
the yard and generally one IS appIopil'tou W -
Families while there is place for the deposit Vi
oFal oxcept a barrel, which, when full IS carried
with great labor into the street. l found many OIL
Ibe people industrious and engaged in various trades
The women earned something and were
busy, and possibly some may oySidoo saw that
where family lives in three small rooms: m me
largest Of which cooking and all the Wo'h - "
done while there is no place nanny lVl tIo u0Ioir
of sl6ps or garbage, while insects make sleep Only
possible after WEAKNESS and often after lhsGlsplH
has almost come neither the father nor otheL Is IN
ON, frame of mind for considering the best plan by
which their condition may be improved ~ :.
The women in these poor tenements 90 Wmat -
nossible for them to do and when AS ed some OF
Them when saw they had but one bed where lnee
children slept. they raised their eyes ana hands az
thp same time saving, We do the best we can
which meant that some slept in the bed, and the
rest lay on the floor. Generally there Is carpet
there are framed pictures on tue wan, lew nYYNEJ
pots stand in the window, and the dishes ana inc
Hurnture are kept clean and bright. The casua
passer sees ONLY half of life in the tenement quar-
ters for there are hOuSes in the rear when oIlen
ptoTp
place in Muberry-st. the pOhcematn ColituuO 'O ~,
me through alley about five feet Wl9e; when we
came to a large lofty, Imprinted Duhulllg' almost
entirely surrounded by other buildings ana on gong
Up the dark stairs which were sound nor ana any
where see Tickcty stairs, found tamlleS uNlng III
two rooms the lghtest nearly dark. l was
told by one of the men that the, 9cc4-
pants were mostly G2X a6op9T rs,D Du DO W Inh
while we found women engaged IN binding SHOES,
Gwistiug hair rope, and the like. One woman said u
was almost impossible TO sleep after halu uaN
work on account of the QuarTehug and fighting,
and the policeman said had often rushed through
thealley club in hand at the dead ofnght upon hear
inc fbe cries of police and murder" twas certain
Nv hard place. but there were others near DY muCh
worse which the occasion ana not eau upon me ~
visit know it will net do TO lose sight of the great
fact that whisky makes most of this wretchedneSS but
neither will it do to lose sight of the fact that poor
and honest people or mt least who once were such,
live In these dens while they the last resort Of
poor widows with their children, who ,wonld be as
innocent and as industrious as anybody widow ana
children If they could have haH chance ii tue
world.
A few of the builders and capitalists OF New-loTK
have begun to turn their attention to the SUD-
ject though nothing yet Is proposed Tor the labor
ing peOple. On the corner of Eghteenth-st. and
Third ave is fine house 1l2 by g3 five stories high,
in the process of construction, owned by Ruth
oxford StuyYesant, and estimated 70 cost SI3OUOO'
The walls are perhaps two-thlTdS done, ana large
force is AT work 1t is to be divided into suites which
are to rent from SIS to $lO month there are TO be
hot and cold water, bathrooms, and all the con-
Venences and improvements of the Boston houses.
ful sute seems 20 consist of paTlOT, sitting, dining
ROOM and the necessary closets, and the whole ar
Tangement TO be worthy OF the age ana OI lne
family name of the owner,
COOPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING.
Something over a year ago TIE TRIBUNE sug-
Ing to a limited extent did not present advantages
worthy of attention and a plan was sketched after
wel-written articles the subject which hay
attracted no little attention. and received favor
able comment from the press Of the country
While in Boston, l called upon the author of thes
articles Mrs. PeiTce, the wife of one o
the Professors at Cambridge. Agreeaby, t
st s6o EACH che have Be6n o6faned for estabhng
cooperative household, and some have subscribed
less sums for membership to a laundry, and it is
expected that the organization will be completed and
that operations will be commenced this Fall Still,
IT difficult TO get suitable house, at least IN
Cambridge, and complaint was made that the men
are not prompt to assist and concur. Mrs. Peirces
plan includes Also sewing and fitting depart
ment, that women may have varied employment,
and the whole question of wOman's wants and
capabilities is considered identified with the removal
of the burdens attached to household duties.
Nothing would seem more practical than the plan
for co6peTative housekeeping as presented i'm outline
namely: That one set of cooking apparatus should
take the place of ~ stoves in 20 kitchens and that
one large wash-TOOm and laundry should displace
the weekly distractions OF 20 households. Many
devices have been patented for abbreviating kitchen
work, but for the most part, they on too large
scale for single family or fora woman having many
other cares, and, although they accepted with
hope and CheerfuneSs they have failed; but if
applied on large scale, they would be found well
adapted to the object The difficulty in regard to the
application of inventions TO Kitchen work is pre-
CiSeiy the same as IN applying machinery to village
shop work for both the demand for the product
small that IL does not pay. After all, when
consider &c limited means of some families, the
peculiar tOns, tastes and habits of Others il is
doubtful neither the present evils not less than
which few dictate OF decide upon the style or man
neT in which every article of food shall be prepared
for the many, and hence people naturally shrink
from adopting the plan.
Perhaps Mrs. Peirce undertakes to effect too many
things at once, and it IS important question to
consider whether one branch of work can be per
formed IN cooperative kitchen, that Is, the baking
of home made bread" Ii may be that the bread
which bakers generally make is the best in the
world. but few people think so, and it is doubtful
whether such bread as is now made by any public
baker could take the place of thehome-made in coop
eTatiYe housekeeping OF course we are told that
much family bread Is sour, OF heavy, something
else, which Is true but il is also true that many
families have good bread, and every woman can tell
good bread ana while she and her family NAV submit
occasionally to eat poor bread, because they cannot
help it, they would rebel against il from coGpera-
ton Still there is little doubt but IL smart house-
wife had full charge of the bread department of a
combined kitchen, she would have good bread or
smash the machine In some of charitable insti-
tutiOns they have good bread as need be- and il is
probable that the pOoTneSs of bakers bread arises
from adulteratiOn and systematic Tascality. Grant.
then, that the cooperative bread will be good
other branch of homework also can be done
this is, washing and iTonlng and we know that with
a steam engine giving n plenty of power and
manges and other appliances this labor be per-
formed fully well as in the isolated household and
thaf the cost Now with these two great and lead
ing branches OF housework done by cooperation let