Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-02-04
The Cry for Help.


have not absolutely lacked warm garments
in the winter-time.
confess that the street in which we live
is not in accordance with my highest ideal.
Could my dream of home be realized,
my family should live in two-story double |
cottage, with hall running through the |
centre and as many rooms as possible upon |
the middle Of lot of generous size, so that |
windows could open on every side. Vines
and flowers and fruit-lrces with some ever
greens and other ornamental trees should be |
planted upon the premises. There should
even be little plot for such vegetables as
the children or myself might wish to culli-
vate.
If possible, the entire ncighborhood in
which lived should possess similar charac
teristics. There should be no city lots, lG
feet front by 35 or 40 feet deep. No house
should he built against another. Long rows
Of hideous brick boxes three stories high.
and trailing out behind into u tail of dismal
buck buildings commanding no prospect
save the interior of your ncighbor's sitting
room and kitchen--such enormities as these
shonld have no existence in any street
could influence. Houses and men should
have elbow room, children shall have breath
ing space and chance to learn something
of the delights of pure air, something OF the
advantages of country living.
Living in Wilmington, this is my dream.
D,,f fbar in ial, ita
vision is realized. 1t has taken bodily
form in Springfield, Massachusetts, which |
select as an example, because it is n thriving
city, and not mere village.
The older part of Springfield presents the
usual characteristics of cities. In the new
part u better rule has been followed. The
cottages Of industrious workingmcn and The
villas of the wealthy, dot the slopes and
nestle in the glcns OF the suburbs
Can any man show gnnd reason why the
hil-sdes of this vicinity should not be GOV
cred in very few years with comfortable
and pretty dwellings, each embowered in the
foliage of its own vine and peach tree!
| If were rich, as | am not, and remained
n philanthropist, as | humbly claim ! am,
would bul on West Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth streets, in the neighborhood OF Frank
lin street, and further West, clusters Of such
coitage houses. l would sell them to those
who could buy, rent them to those who de-
sired it. They would moi be more expensive
than tenements on Pickle street, or Shiplry
street, or Poplar street.
They would be more remote from business
True. Their distance would necessitatc
longer walks to and from the shop, or fac
tory or store. 1t is very questionable whether
that is disadvantage. Many u mau gets
no walk, no fresh air, except on his transit
from his home to his work and back again.
It would not hurt him to be ten minutes
longer out Of doors in the morning aud ut
evening.
have neither room nor patience to meet
all the objections that may he offered. The
simple fact remains that in scores Of Nortli-
crn towns and villages the thing is done
with Improvement in health, comfort and
morality.
have never as yet been able 10 aplrroAi-
mate the fuliiment Of this dream Of mine.
50 have regarded my home in Pickle street
as delightful, and have tried to make 1t 80.
The money might have spent in tobacco
have laid out in books and pictures. Sur
rounded by my family l have communcd
with the wise and good of other times and
Of the present, through the medium of liter
ature. The Library at the Institute has
been great help to me. For my four dol
lars year l have had the opportunity u
reading hundreds of dollars worth OF bGoks
wonder often that more of my fellow
, working men do not avail themselves o
r such advantages so chcaply offered.
n | am not unwise enough to refuse my
: wifes help toward a more roomy and pleas
: ant dwelling. But would gently remint
Il her that probably while Pickle street stand
/ it will have inhabitants. When we go ava.
i from No. 1888 somebody else will come in
s perhaps young couple just entering upol
If life. If, through the columns of the Con-
IS MER0IaL, we can give them any useful hint
q drawn from our ten years of experience
g ought VIC not TO do it!
v Is Sarah Jane justfiablc in keeping bacl
~ that scheme of domestic economy whic
Il she thinks better than Mrs. Stoves?
For myself must harp again upon tha
10 string have already touched-the indisper
a sable necessity Of a training III housekeeE
n ing, as a part of feminine education.
e, fear my brilliant wife misunderstood III
,o sentence which she Describes as 'luIninous
lf certainly never meant that she and oly
ar Logan should return to their girlhood.
IN. am too well aware of the long interval
years that they must overpass to accomplis
NJ that.
10 But write for the "coming" woman,
0S well as for those whose shadows fall far b
% hind them as they journey toward the settir
~ sun.
80 look upon my daughters and think
~ their future. Caring for them care for Il
o. daughters of my neighbor at No 33l, al
- - for the little girls on the other side of 3
oi way. My thought goes out more wide
w STILL and considers all the girls, who brigl
es aud gay, and happy now, will soon be slru
nd Cling amid the cares and perpexities tli
he make up the sum of real, earnest lle.
"a, III 0Ol WIllc lOr tilc lucui Wo'hhh. ~
OF is always rich. Her father provides even
in thing for her until she Is married, and th
en-, her elegant and wealthy husband cherish
,Ie her, perhaps even pampers her.
aci write for the real woman, the woman
the everyday existence.
lne My Sally will be such a one. So
yas vas bright-haired Alice 80 will Susie, a
its Nelly, and Maggie, and Annie, and all
Of other schoolgirls in our street. Their faith
nea are clerks or mechanics. Their husbal
@ 'ent will most likely pursue similar occupatio
How, in the name of all that is mary
Dad lous-how will my daughters or those
,,ay,, other men like me, be able to pay to &C
ess. such wages as are paid to carpent
The That sweeps away u. once the whole inco
ecie Of some Of my neighbors, and more Il
Una. half of some of the rest
- Yet in the bright future for which Sa