The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-12-19
NEW YORK BABIES.
TERRIBLE LIFE AND wRETcHEo FATE
OF THOUSANDS OF THEM.
Two Striking Features which Strike the
Obseryer-what Can BE Seen In
the Tenement Districts-Pre-
mature Men and Women.

The Bible says the poor are always with
NJ Tie Bible IS decidedly right Ii might
have added also that the children of the
moor are .nlwaysNVith u.s." As a matter OF
fact tho babies on our blocks" are as nu-
merous, so 10 speak, as the stars in the SKY
There are a great many children IN New
York, but they really appear To be unfairly
divided, certain sections Astounding with
them, while others are comparatively child
less There Ii no doubt OF the physical TACT
there are more children to the square inch in |
what are called tenement-houses than in any |
other grade Of human habitation. Some |
people say that appearances are deceitfui and |
that it seems as though there were more
children because there are 50 many families |
in a single house. and that putting the chill
dren of this, that, and the other family to-
gether naturally creates a crowd and makes |
it appear as though there were more chill |
dren TO the family This Is not true Poor |
Deople do have as q rule, more children than |
people who are better off in this worlds |
goods Why this is so is a matter OF no |
special interest here. Elsewhere 1t might be
the occasion Of a very interesting dis
cussion.
The two features that strike an observer
most forcibly in these tenement districts are
the good health and hilarious conduct of the
children Why scores of them are not run
over, mutiated, killed every day in every
year, Is one Of those mysterious special prov
licences which no mere mortal can hope to
elucidate In the first place, the halls and
stairways of tenement houses are packed
with children coming up going down, play
ing house, hugging dollies, sucking candy,
crying fighting, having good time, hav-
ing bad time. The door-steps are always
hui ~ himanSinus
On the sidewalks the boys play hopscotch
and the girls play tag. In utter defiance Of
ordinary prudence, they rush across the
street In groups, they make mud-pies in the
roadway, sail boats IN the gutter, shoot mar
bles on the pavement and climb the lamp
posts for exercise. They have dirty faces
tattered clothing, bare feet, but bright eyes,
stentorian voices, and agility beyond exag-
peraton What becomes OF the handy
legged children we have seen for many years
Is an interesting problem. Nothing is more
common than 10 see white and black babies,
Of or years Of age, with their legs bowed
out in the form OF an eclipse. small hoop
could be rolled between their legs without
touching either knee. They waddle along
like pair Of distorted compasses, and yet
young men or mildIe-aged men with legs OF
that do scription are not often seen upon the
street. There Ii no excessive mortality
among the children Of the poor which would
account for the disappearance Of the handy
legged, yet the fact of their existence as
children can 10 shown by walk along
block of any part Of the tenement house 10
calities.
The children of the present day, doubtless
like the children of other days, are apt to
play at their fathers business. Little girls
InF fl.,y ahl 70 IL
Carpenters boys want tool-chests, the chill
dren of laborers clamor for hods and
trowels and spades and pickaxes, just as
little boys in ministers families put their
nightgowns on outside Of their clothes and
play preach. In many Of the poorer famil-
les the boys and girls of q, 7, s years Of age
and upward are put upon the Streets re-
pardless OF the weather, to sell newspapers.
One Of the most common sights in the over
crowded ueighborhoods is that of a little
shaver, hardly able TO utter word initial
ing his elder brother as he calls out his
kilograms" The height of ambition
among these children is to help
father and mother. That idea is born
in them. They are bought up TO applaud
little Johnnies profit of 90 or 80 cents by the
afternoons and evenings work Of selling
papers Although the profit is not always
properly applied, there is no doubt Of its
daily existence. Efforts have been made by
social agents to interfere with these little
vendors of periodical literature, but the COM
munity has frowned upon such interference
and suggested that such action would be
better applied IL IL were TO take hold Of the
wretched little ones who, under pretense Of
selling matches and apples and bananas in
the offices and hives Of industry in the lower
- L.. II. g..Ls tnI 90
possible indignity at the hands of men old
enough to be their grand parents, and de-
serving the seyerest punishment known to
the law.
The education of these little ones Is a sub
ject which publicists might well give more
attention to than they do. Under the truant
act the children can be compelled TO 60
TO school, but as il Is impossible to put a
quart of fluid into a pint measure, SO with
the limited accommodations furnished by
this great metropolis for the education OF
children, IL Is utterly impossible 10 find phys
ical places for hundreds and thousands OF
them. This is a crying evil Cases are
known and names and places can be given
where children who, by the mere absence OF
day or two or few days from school are
informed that they have lost their places
and that until vacancies occur, their seats
y
This being the case, IL Is easy enough for
auick-witted parents who desire to utilize
their children upon the street to evade The
provisions OF the school and truant laws
The babies on tenement blocks very soon
grow to acuteness to shrewdness, TO mercan-
tile sagacity. Il would amaze parents of
real children 10 know the facts about these
miniature men and women, small in stature
but sharp as briers In intercourse with PEG
pie, many, many years their senior. They
start along the rugged path OF life at time
when other children are coddled and tucked
away, as such tender and unsophisticated
beings should be. We speak Of a swarm Of
bees, of multitude of people, OF a flock oi
sheep, of a herd OF buffaloes, but there has
never been invented yet term sufficient and
fitting TO express the wonderful aggregation
of mites which can be seen along the busy
streets Of New York by daylight and by gas
light
young as TO be ignorant OF home, church
school, morality, religion, can give points N
tain kind Of brightness to men and womei
old enough TO be their parents. While the
great army Of little folks are in bed getting
their @beauty sleep" before Q o'clock, thi
vast contingent on the very outskirts OF 50
ciety are wide-awake, playing on the side
the corner stores, full Of life, spending thei
youthful energies in play, In romp In vices
wondering at their brutal parents enjoying
domestic broik. paralyzed now and then b.
scenes of bloodshed, familiar with the rap o
the polleeman's club, and often witnesses o
debauc lery aud participants In disorder, y
that hy the time their first decade is passes
they are wordly-wise men and wordly-wis
women, the best part of their life past an
gone, and they ara expected to look out 70
fhemselyei here and hereafter, to get thei
living as Lest they can, regardless OF LII
and honor. and often Of decency.
rroyerbiai Philosophy by the Hotel Cleri
Hotel Register.l
Paste L. IN your hat that the PEOPLE OF tn
highest petition and greatest importance, q
rule, make tie least trouble.
IL may seem an absurd proposition 10 som
people, but hotel clerks really were not In
vented for the sole purpose Of answering foo
isl questions.
II isn't the "loudesp or most lordly pcrso
who receives the greatest attention. Ever
hotel In the Land has sheltered bigger me
than you.
Don't spend half your time I'm trying I
devise ingenious ways 70 make trouble fo
the servants and the other half In making
row over your bill
A little genuine civility 10 walters and en-
ployes goes further than an attenuated "tr
--and further than big 4tip," with the p'
.Iiteness left out
The hotel was not built for the express cor
venience and exclusive accommodation .
any one person This is official and IL wi
nav YOU TO remember IT,