Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-07-10
The Italian slavc-Tradc.


them as a class, however, this article does not
pretend to deal 1t will be restricted to the
lowest class Of ALTO the Italian children who
beg in the streets and restaurants under pre-
tense of playing musical Instruments and their
patroni, the ruffians who hire them. 1t must be
understood that this traffic in children is as alb
Solute slave trade as ever eXistedi down south,
and is in its details infinitely more repulsive.
A society has been formed with agencies all
over this country, and with travelling agents in
Italy This society does business in this way:
Il, ny its agents in Italy, purchases from parents
IN the teeming Basllacata, province of Naples,
north of Calabria, young boys and girls at the
rate of six dollars year, for eight years, unless
the child should die or run away Other agents
bring these children by way of Genoa and Mar
settles TO this country; here other agents hire
them ont to pdtrOni or bosses who furnish them
with musical instruments and send them out to
make living for them. In return they board
| them and clothe them, treating them toerably
well if they each make the required amount,
which is one dollar per day, but still not at
! tempting TO educate them, and exposing them
| in winter to the most terrible sutierngs from
| insufficient clothing.
A reporter of the Times was sent to look
| around and find out what could be learned with
| regard TO the haplesS Italian children who bore
| people so persistently with their stunning,
! knowing evidently nothing of music, but whose
wretched condition melts the angriest invalid or
| the sternest moraliSt 10 the bestowal of few
| cents or word or two of kindness. He diScOv-
| cred that the great haunt of these people was on
| Crosby street, two blocks below Broome, which
| contained some hundreds of them. But none of
| them could speak anything save an Italian
| pdtois, which is different from the sweet Tuscan
as il sounds from Roman mouths. he therefore
| applied for assistance to Mr.. A. Il. Cerqua, the
| superintendent of the free Italian school on
| Franklin street, gentleman who has worked
| for his degraded fellow.countrymen with zeal
and a success worthy of the highest praise.
| Having heard the reporters request, he entered
| warmly into the idea, and to further it procured
| an Italian gentleman who had been educated in
| the school, and who had raised himself by pa
| tient industry and modest talent to a responsible
| and lucrative position. He was extremely will
ing 10 assist and at hafpast seven O'Clock stood
| with the reporter in front of an Italian grocery
| in the locality on Crosby street mentioned
| above. Almost all the houses facing the street
are tenements, but even those are too expensive
| for the pdtroni and their boys, who live in the
| horrible back tenementS erected in the rear.
| From the narrow passages which give entrance
| and egress to these haunts of disease, boys
| were continually issuing, fiddle in hand, or
| with their dlngy harpS Slung across their
| backs. Occasionally man would appear with
| barrel-organ. Standing on the sidewalk smoking
| their pipes were groups of pdtrORi, chatting and
| gesticulating with all their fingers at once.
| Hideously honey women, dressed with out
| landish bodices and with naked feet thrust into
| loose slippers, kept fastening into the grocers
| and returning with lOaves of Italian bread and
| fagenGs of American cheese, old strong, and
hard as brick bats Some of these women were
quite old, and realized the idea of witches per-
fectly. There was one in particular who had
two enormous warts upon her chin, from which
struggled some punches of coarse white hair.
Her nose and chin nearly met Her bodice was
very ragged and showed the upper part of her
bosom, which was tanned almost like leather,
| and covered with long, white hairs. She
carried about dozen loaves of long bread and
a little tin can of milk, and showed couple of
small boys who were lounging in the entry
rudely away to the right and left. They drew
back with fear, almost with dread The young
Italian proposed TO follow her down the entry
which was accordingly done The old woman
passed up narrow staircase in a rear house,
built with a wonderful economy of space and
having scarcely standing room in from. Find
ing that we were following her, she turned
abruptly round and asked the Italian, in his
own language, if he wanted couple of boys
evidently believing, from the comparative
Splendor OF our appearance, that we were going
10 give an evening party, and wanted a harp
and violin. Thinking this about as easy a |
way TO the accomplishment of the desired end |
we assented, and she explained that her son had
a good many boys, but that they were
not musicians enough. There were, however, |
three young Italians who lived by themselves
and had no pdtrOBe, who might answer. Fol-
lowing her directions, we arrived at the room in
dictated, and found one of the brothers at home
He was a very slim, gentle young fellow of
nineteen, fair-haired and blue-eyed, very differ
ent from the conventional idea of an Italian. He
was extremely tlmid, but when he understood
fully the reason OF the visit he also entered
warmly into it, and declared that this business
of selling boys into slavery was disgrace to the
governments that permitted it. He and his
brothers had adopted music as a profession.
They studied il, working at the dryest parts of
it long hours every day, as much from natural
love as from any hope of future great success.
The reporter looked around The little room
was bare even to wrctchedneSS, butt was quite
clean. There was one big box, which contained
their provisions, and three little boxes holding
their little hoard of possessions. No table, no |
chairs were visible, but few cooking utensils |
were grouped around tiny stove that did not |
look as if it was often lighted. There was a |
door half open, which revealed glimpses of a |
dark bedroom; but when our eyes strayed that |
way the young Italian blushed painfully, and |
closed the door, SAYING apologetically, that |
their quarters were very poor. He had an iu- |
nate refinement that would have shamed the |
millionaires of our northern races. Wishing to |
put him at his ease, we asked to see his violin |
He brought it from the back room, handling it |
tenderly, and giving it into hands half hest
tatingly, as If afraid some harm might come to |
it. Evidently it was a very old instrument, but |
he did not know who was the maker. When |
we gave it back TO him he heaved sigh of re- |
lief, and put it carefully away.
He told us that upstairs there was a man who |
came from the same province as himself from |
La Basilicata, in the sunny south, who paid |
four boys from the association, and who was an |
exceptionally kind patrone He thought that
as we came from the Children's Aid society,
this man would willingly receive us, as he had
two little boys of his own who did not 90 out
with music, being too young at present, but for
whom something might be done in the future |
So we went up, and saw this man, who received
us very cordially, but represented all the BOYS
as his own children. The four were preparing
to 20 out, but sat around on their boxes eagerly
listening to what was going on, half with an
idea that something was going to be done for
them. The patrone was as different from our
young Italian viOnst as can be imagined. He
was short, thickset, bow-legged and very dark
with exceedingly homey features. He looked
actually like a gOod-humored Hun. He gesticu-
lated immensely while he spoke, accenting al
most every word with shrugs of his shoulders,
odd motions of his head and rapid wavings OF
his hands and jerkings of his fingers. He told
us that he was very poor man, and that poor
folks could not live now in Italy on account of
the taxes. AT this moment his brother-in-law
arrived, and took a seat on the box, asserting
in melancholy way to the patrones statements
Werecognized this man as a eanutvendera at the
corner of Blocker and Broadway. Victor
Emmanuel and Bombalino, it was all
the same to poor folks, except that
there were more taxes now. He himself was a
carpenter by trade, not good carpenter but he
could do some things. But there were no Italian
workshops in New York, and the Germans and
Irish were rough TO him when he asked for work,
and threatened to beat him. He was a poor
man, but he did not like to be beaten. So he
went into the musical business. They could not
make much money at it, he and his sons. Here
the four boys scowled fearfully.l He bought all
the provisions and cooked all the food now, but
his wife would arrive in a week or SO, and then
perhaps he would get some employment. Here
he threw open the big chest which held the food,
and showed us what they ate. There was mac
caroni and paper bags full Of pulse, long loaves
of bread, half an American cheese, and a little
piece of hard cheese very old and excessively
fragrant. There were also onions and few
heads Of garlic. Being asked what cheese he
used for his maccaroni, he showed the lump of
fragrance. He could not afford to buy Italian
cheese to CRATE over the maccarOn, but he look
ed around the stores where he bought the Ameri-
can cheese which they ate with their bread and
when he saw a very old strong piece, he bought
it. Such pieces were better than pdrnleSdn for
maccaroni. Sometimes he made the maccaroni
himself on board which he showed u.s. and ac-
cording TO his description it must be then some
thing like the German noodles. Sometimes they
had coffee, and on Saturday nights he bought
pieces Of beefin the Market and they had a fiesta
We asked him if the pdtrOni who hired boys
did not sometimes treat them badly. lie shook
his head and said he did not know So we
thanked him for his information and retired
to the young Italians room, who at once told
| uqt Iaf1 in I'm na1Ia tbara