The New York herald., 1879-02-24
GRACE CHURCH.

IN Grace Church Rev. DIR. H. C. Potter read state
ment which had been prepared by committee of
the State Charities Aid Association of which DR..
Richard H. Derby is chairman. showing the fright
ful condition of the homes Of the poor in the me-
tropols and the relations of the present tenement
house system to vice, crime and poverty "Now.
them what is a tenement house? The law defines 1t
"a house occupied by more than three families
living Independently and doing their cooking the
premises This definition would of course. include
what are known as apartment houses. But tcne.
ment house is very different thing from an apart
,nent house. Ordinarily it is from four to six stories
high, having frequently store tho first floor.
which, when used las is often the easel a liquor
store, has entrance from the hallway, that it
can evade the Sunday law and give secret to
the inmates of the tenement at all times.
Four families occupy each floor and set of
rooms consists of two dark closets, used
bedrooms. and living room twice as long of
these pens and ten feet wido The staircase is gener
ally dark and the rooms almost entirely without
ventilation. This would be serious evil if they
used for storing hides or tobacco, but the
tent of that evil becomes apparent when we remem-
ber that into of these houses, occupying
. lot Is by one 100 feet there often
crowded together from 90 to $50 souls. From four
to nine persons occupy apartment consist
ing ordinarily of two rooms. One is used us
o living room, and the other as o cook
ing room, in which washing is also
done. Among the many people in these tenements
there can be no such thing as privacy If of godly
turn Of mind there would be no momentfn all the
day when they would be secure the brefest space
for retirement ana devotion. Their life must be
passed in tho presence OF Others Think of the tor
ture to a young girls madenly sensitiveness. we
whose lives are hedged about with every crcum-
stance that fosters such sentiments How long will
this state of affairs exist as to modesty when all the
The classes who live in tenement houses too soon
and too often pass out OF the fellowship of those
with whom purity and morality are possible things.
The good people living IN the tenement houses have
survived a moral martyrdom greater than those Of
the martyrs of DID,
"Then to this want OF privacy you must add to
the inevitable evils that from wded ILL
ventilated. vciously arranged apartments, those
others that come from intemperance and crime and
neglect, To eat and sleep and wallow in the filth in
which they had been born and nurtured all that
they have of life And when they grow up what has
the community to hope or rather what has it to
fear from them? 1t has been truly said by Edward
Cropsey in the Neither Side of Life that the home
is the last analysis of the State and it is strange
that the civic virtues decay in community whore,
in any true sense Of the word onehalf of the people
have no home at all.
s'Why do speak of these things in this place and
on this day? Doubtless the condition OF those who
live in is wretched enough and the future
of city which endures them is gloomy enough. but
such questions phianthropic rather than re-
hgous But religion exists in this world to show us
how in this world to get ready for another One of
the most infamous tenement houses in New York
once church, and passed from its sacred uses
to those which now make it blight and curse upon
the community. AS to the best method Of graphing
with the evil which exists In the present houses Of
the poor this is not the place to speak The problem
is itself large one, and solution will tit every
emergency and overcome all obstacles.
PLANS FOR IMPROVEMENT.
II must confess my sympathy with Miss Octavia
Hill plan. aided by Ruskns. They built in London
row OF tenement houses of inferior character,
and gradually reformed and them by invok-
ing from the start the sympathy and cooperation of
the inmates. No old houses. defective in construc-
tion and arrangement, can be made wholesome
and convenient those built to-day with special
to light and ventilation and drainage and the
avoidance of overcrowding. But no house. however
admirable its construction will benefit its inmates
until they have been taught to live in it. That
good work done by the kindergarten of the Oiyet
Chapel, where the children OF the poor given OBJ
jcct lessons in those domestic duties which have
much to do with the comforts OF the home.
Then. again. Miss Carson's work is
prompted by the spirit Of God to en-
able the poor to cook cheaply and palatably.
But whatever methods we may employ to lift up
fallen brother perishing by the way, may Goa give
us patience aud courage aud hope The men servants
and maid servants of the brothers and of
the men and women and children In some crowded
tenement. Your maid may have brought the fever
which affects your child from the feveT-tossed child
at her mothers home. dare not undertake to say
in just which way you best may accomplish all the
results intended for the ameloration of the condi
ton. but ask God to show you the way and when He
has make haste to follow it,"