, 1884-12-09
NEW YORK BABIES.
TERRIBLE LIFE AND wRETcHED FATE
OF THOUSANDS OF THEM.
Two Striking Features which Strike the
observer-whnt Can Be sean Ia
the Tenement DIstricts-Prc-
mature Men and womsn


New York Hernid-l
The Bible says the poor are always with
US. The Bible is decidedly right. Il might
have added also that the children of the
poor are always with ua" As n matter OF
fact the babies on our blocks are as uu-
merous, so TO speak, as the stars in tho 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
loss. There Is no doubt Of the physical fact
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 deceitful and
that IL seems as though there were more
children because there are SO 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
1t appear Us though there were moro chill
dren to the family. This is not true. Poor
people do have, as a rule, more children than
people who are better off in this worlds
special interest here. Elsewhere it might be
the occasion Of n 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, m~utilated, killed every day in every
year, IL one OF those mysterious special prov
licences which no mere mortal can hope to
elucidate. In the first place, the balls and
Htairways OF tenement houses are packed
with children coming up, going down, play
ing house. hugging dollies, sucking candy,
crying, fighting, having a good time, hay
ing a bad time. Tho door-steps are always
lfnad he Ifttla ,uao ~ various Unconscious
On the sidewalks the boys play hopscotch
and the girls play ting. In utter defiance OF
ordinary prudence, they rush across the
street in groups, they make IN pies in the
roadway, sail boats m 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-
g~oration. What becomes Of the handy
legged children we have seen for many years
is an interesting problem. Nothing is more.
common than 20 see white and black babies,
Of 9 or 3 years of age, with their legs bowed
out in the form of an eclipse. A small hoop
could be rolled between their legs without
touching either knes. They wsddle along
like a pair of distorted compasses, and yet
young men or middle-aged men with legs of
that description are not often seen upon the
street. There is 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 be shown by a walk along a
block of any part Of the tenement house To-
calities.
Thu children of the present day, doubtless
like the children Of other days, are apt TO
play at their fathers business. Little girls
cry for dollies before they are able TO walk.
Carpenters boys want tool-chests, the chill
dren of laborers clamor for hods and
trowels and spades and pickaxes, just as
little boys in Minister families put their
nightgowns on outside Of their clothes and
play preach. In many Of the poorer famil-
les the boys and girls Of Il. Z, 8 years OF age
and upward are put upon the streets, re-
gardless of the weather, to sell newspapers.
One Of the most common sights in the over
crowded neighborhoods is that Of a little
shaver, hardly able to utter a word, imitat-
Ing his elder brother US he callr out his
"Telgrams.7 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 Johnnie' profit of 20 or 80 cents blythe
afternoons and evenings work Of selling
papers. Although the profit is not always
properly applied. there is nc doubt OF its
daily existence. Efforts have been made by
socinl 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 it 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
parts of the city, are subjected to every
possible indignity at the hands of mon old
enough 10 be their grandparents, and de-
serving the severest punishment known 70
the law.
The education of these little ones is a sub
ject which publicists might well give moro
attention TO than they do. Under the truant
act tho children can be compelled 10 20
to school, but as it 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, it is utterly impossible to find phys
ical places for hundreds and thousands Of
them. This is q crying owl. Gases are
known and names and places can be given
where children who, by the mere absence of
a day or two or a few days from school are
informed that they have lost their places
and that until vacancies occur, their seats
being filed, they must 60 without schooling.
This being the case, 1t is easy enough for
quick-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. 1t would amaze parents of
real children TO know the facts about these
miniature men and women, small in stature,
but sharp a. brierz In intercourse with peo-
pie, many, many years their senior. They
start along the rugged path OF life at a time
when other children are coddled and tucked
away, as such tender and unsophisticated
beings should be- We speak Of a swarm OF
sheep, Of a herd OF buffaloes, but there has
never been invented yet a 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
lig..t
Tens and tens OF thousands Of children, 50
young as TO be ignorant Of home, church,
school, morality, religion, can give points In
trade and bargain and shrewdness and q GER
tain kind OF brightness to men and women
old enough to be their parents While the
great army OF little folks are in bed getting
their beauty sleep" before 0 o'clock, this
vast contingent on the very outskirts OF so
ciety are wide-awake, playing on the side
walks, rolling In the streets, buying beer in
the corner stores, full of life, spending their
youthful energies in play, in romp in vices.
wondering at their brutal parents, enjoying
domestic broils, paralyzed now and then By
scenes Of bloodshed, familiar with the rap a
the policeman's club, and often witnesses II
debauohery and participants in disorder, %
that by the time their first decade Is pas sod
they are worldly wise men and wordly-wise
women, the best part OF their life past and
gone, and they are expected TO look out fer
themselves here and hereafter, to get their