The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-03-02
CROWDED SCH00LH0USES.
THOCSdNDS or CHTLDREN PUT IN
DdILY DANG ER OF DEATH.
The him Light aud Foul Air In which the
Pnpil- of Eost-sidc Primary Dcpu rtments
are Packed Consequent Disease.

are taught in the assembly hall OF the Primary
Department Of Grammar school No. 10, in Four
tecnth street, and yesterday, although seven
windows were open, the heat and foulness OF
the atmosphere In the room were slmost over
powerlns to person who entered from the
street. Tho classes were tepara led by screens,
but the confusing noise OF the Rotations rem
dered teaching aud learning vexatious. Behind
this large room, two other classes are boxed up
on three sides Of sliding doors. with no window
or ventlators, and on the fourth, with one
window from which nearly all the lleht
and all the ventilation must DO OBJ
tanned. DOWN stairs, on the playground
door. are three ciass-rooms, none of which
are wholesome, and one Of which has a
wall so close to its windows az to render II too
dark and close for use Fifty ave children spend
nve hours each day In 1t. One hundred aud sixty
occupy the back galleries. with the sunlight be-
hind them, enjoying occasional currents Of air
when the doors are opened by passers In or out
This school can properly ACCOMMODATES about
Wchildren. 10 mas n register Of 1lO0. Near
by In Ninth street, and 10 Sixteen tn street. are
sChOOlhOuses whose complement Of sch oIars ia
In the primary department OF Grammar
school 10, In fifth street, there arc between 900
and leo scholars. Only two-thirds Of these can
assemble IN the large room to participate In the
morning exercises. Besides the dark close
rooms, partitiOned OF the assem- bly, room there
unit for service, being closed from light aud air
1l the sehuol wall aud adjacent buildings.
When the writer entered one Of these rooms
yesterday, he found the thermometer at ".
srIrIASo ROOMS.
The building on the corner Of Tenth street and
Avenue ID, which has been at different times a
hotel, laundry, and hospital. Is now occupied
bytrammnr school B. None Of the class rooms
present two exposed sides, but. In ali, ventlIa-
ton must be had as much from the closed hsll-
ways as the open air. All the class rooms have
low ceilings and small windows. In two OF
these rooms classes OF eighty or ninety are con-
teachers constitute the primary department.,
and these are crowded Into fourteen rooms OF
the whole number Of Urinary scholars, thirty
are under hve years and one hundred are under
SIX. Sickness has greatly reduced the attend
ance. one hundred scholars are sick with
measles, whoopinR cough, scarlet fever. and
! he primary DEPARTMENT Of Grammar School
=, IN Hehr, street, near PIKE. Is divided into
fourteen classes, which average Nifty scholars
each. by the use Of four apartments that are
unht for such service. and by borrowing a room
W stars from another department, these seven
hundred scholars are cared for. Tue rear OF the
assembly room Is cut up, by means OF the usual
sliding partitions, into four classes. the central
two Of which ART not only without ventilation,
gently the s'ep ;ddsd Of to he eour In defiance
are taught in these dark and cherries
seated with their faces awav from the Hight, are
rendered doubly unpleasant m this building by
In the new wings are bright and cheerful and
the AR IN them can tie kept fresh and pure. out
human beings to occupy. fence shuts on bo,h
light and AIR on one side, and the main building
darkens the other side. The oreaths Of forty
ave children in each rendered them almost sui.
locating, yet only last month the class in the
worst OF the two contained eighty children.
accommodated IA tins department.
HuDDLrp LIKE CATTLE.
Grammar School r. IN Madison street, occu-
pies a building that has become Inadequate.
The playground underneath Is not only dark
low, and unwholesome, but Is 40 small mat
when the nfteen hundred scholars assemble in
II ut recess there is no room for them 10 eyer.
else. As one OF the principals expressed II,
Z" They are huddled together like cattle" The
primary department contains s0O children, In Il
classes. with III class rooms-onlv 8 of which
were originally devised as such-on the de-
partment door. two rooms borrowed from
girls department and the assembly room OF the
urinary department. for tine fourteenth class.
The eight hundred primary children have no
more acconm o. ations Z an The 800 hundred boys
no stairs. Two rooms (which are literary boxe.)
assembly room. Imperfect lEht reaches them
through rooms on either side, but there Ia no
means OF yentilatinR them, although 80 or 60
children are confined In each. Behind these
the end Of the assembly room Is divided into
two other class rooms. These receive igh. from
the rear Windows Of the building, but II fresh
air IA admitted II Is nt the expense OF the
little scholars. who, n. the teacher said. " Come
next day with tbeir tbroats bound In flannel"
In the wings Of the building are four pleasant
rooms with windows In two sides, but The classes
In them sometimes number 20 or sO-A great
many more IA n the regular number OF benches
will accommodate, and at least twice rs many as
can safely occupy the rooms. over = per cent.
OF the scholars In this department are absent on
acc cunt OF sickness, the majority being M with
measles, whooping cough, and other contagious
diseases.
The primary department Of Grammar School
4, IN hiylngton street. has grown SO rapidly that
within year II has been found necessary 10
rent two buildings a block away, 10 Attorney
street. Eight hundred children are taught IN
the main building and nve hundred in the
branch school, Both are under the supervision
Of one principal. Tue eight hundred children
constitute fifteen classes, and by converting
halfway INTO class room, utilizing half the
sembv nall and the whole OF tall wing con
talnlng SIX class rooms, each class IA provided
with room. The three inside rooms IN the
wing lack both adequate light and means Of
ventilation and an apartment on the west side
when has but one window Is so
situated that the sunshine never enters IL.
The most shocking result Of the overcrowding
OF scholar. In this department ia found upon the
been converted into a class room, the door being
made to serve as window. The room is small
and low, and receives light from two narrow
ground glass panes in the door and two narrower
paues In the sides OF the door frame, each OF
While when Is covered with wire netting by slip
ping one OF these narrow panes foot out OF
pure air for the nifty pairs of little
lungs that daily breathe the poison OF the room.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
It Is not surprising that the class In this room
Ia depleted by eleven cases Of measles. or that
among all the aosentees from the school there
are one hundred sick with the same disease or
that the principal has to delay the general ex-
ercises five minutes every morning until there Is
quiet from the coughing, with which the little
ones are seized when they enter the sitting at
mospnere 81 the crowded assembly room. The
branch buildings In Attorney street are ordinary
dwelling houses altered only 10 communicate
VITA each Of her, and. upon some floors, to ad-
mt of ventilation from end to end. Although all
the rooms were close ard the air In them was inn
pure yesterday these ventators were kept
closed. On the hrst noor IN both buildings
there was no aperture IN the middle wall, and
one room particularly was described as almost
unlnhahltabe." Nevertheless, tins worst"
room was occupied while two pleasanter ones
were vacant. The rear class rooms on the third
floor have low and sloping ceilings. aud their at
mosphete was described as intolerabe upon a
warm day, Lqrge cissses are To be taught In
them in the spring and summer. Through both
buildings classes OF nfty and even more
daily confined In rooms that were built for
sleeping apartments of less than the usual siz e.
Ten OF a dozen more are expected In each class
In the spring. At present hlty OF the little ones
are sick with the measles and other contagious