The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-02-16
ALoFTIN CLEARER AIR.

"o0t9 are 10 the O"oljoE9 WutOuns
Providence Journal.
The baby seemed to be making for
the edge of the roof as fast as very
rapid locomotion on it's hands and
knees could carry it there.
mo, no! Come here, pet" said thu
mother calmly, and the infant halted
and then turned anu sat down.
What place for a baby that WEES
on the roof of q six.story tenement
house in Baxter street, the tallest
house in the neighborhood, with
view somewhat recalling scene or
the Rhode Island coast, with here and
there black roof to represent the
inky bolders. here and there puff o:
steam to suggest the clouds OF spray
made by the conflict of the waves and
rocks, and all around the white and
pale blue expanse of the upper air.
"Aren't you afraid to let your baby
play around here?" I Inquired of the
mother. she and the infant and be.
ing the only ones up there, and not
only feeling the polite necessity OF say
ing something, but being really curious
to know how q mother could let a
baby out of her arms in such place.
"Why should be afraid?" she in
CURED: II was as good as born and
brought up here on this roof, and no
harm came to me OF IT..
"Roofs aren't to the poor what they
are to the 1ich." she continued, seem,
the look of inquiry in my face, in all
probability. II was borg in this
house, and when was a little wee
thing my mother, God rest her soul,
USED to bring me here for the
fresh air in fine weather and the
cool breeze in the summer.
When was u little girl twas here
that came after school to play at
store and house and with my doll
and little playmates. When I got
big enough to b. allowed to sit up
little late at night here I still came,
to see the lads and young girls at their
merriment. dancing and counting and
flirting and singing and entertaining
one another. And do you know it
was feather in the cap OF a boy or
girl to be here. and is yet for the mat
ter of that, for you'll never find the
hayward or the wild up here once
they have yielded to the life OF the
streets. And when got to be cash
girl and later yet, when went really
to work to help my widowed moth.
err, taking a place in factory, it was
still here that l came for most of my
play and good company. All, that
may seem strange or very dull toyou,
but that is the best OF my reco!!ec-
tions, for everything good that eve-
came to me. outside OF money and the
comforts OF the church, came to me
here on this selfsame roof.
''Twas here that / learned to
dance, to the music OF the accordion
that him who is now my husband
could play better than any boy in the
ward. Night after night, in all the
fine weather, John would come up here
and play for the girls OF the house and
our friends OF the neighborhood, and
when there were boys enough we
would dance with them, and when
there were not each girl would take
another and be partners. 1t is just
the same now. Any night eight
months in the year, you'll find some
OF them here, dancing and sparkling,
and the old folks sitting about,
keeping half an eye on the young ones,
whom they pretend not to see at all,
thong h for that matter when you
have children they are seldom off
your mind. in sight or out. You'd
think, maybe, they'd be afraid, dane.
i1,g on the edge OF the sky like this.
Not a bit. never gave a thought to
the danger. and l don't suppose they
do. Well, here John courted me, and
when we were engaged by his asking
me right there where you're sitting,
we thought to have a nice party down
stairs IN mothers room, and so we
did, but really the best party OF the
two was when we were making the ar.
rangements, and all our friends met
here and we had the best time of all,
with dancing and beer, and Mike
Cronan and his fiddle, and some of
the best singers from tho church hap
pened in.
II wonder if you understand what
a tenement roof really is. For in
stance, it's all the yard we have, and
it's divided up SO that it rightly be-
longs to ono foor-that's two fami-
lies-each day In the week, excepting
Sunday, tor them to hang up their
wash. We'll, some practically never
use it. Tor the good reason that all
they wash they can hang in the open
windows Of the kitchen. Some use it
only about once a month and some
hang the whole air full of linen each
week. But it belongs to a different
flock every different day, and no one
would think OF using it for clothes on
any day but their own without ask
ing permission. Each family puts up
and takes away their own clothes.
illness each day, and, mind you. even
then the SCOT of the cty's smoke
gathers on them that fast that
they must be wiped before clothes
are hung on them. Then. again, do
you see chose boxes OF earth around
the edge yohder? They also belong
to the different tenants, and in the
summer one vies with the other to
see who'll keep theirs the greenest.
Some never have any luck in growing
things, and the best of the boxes don't
amount to much. owing to the heat
OF the sun above and the tin below
drying up the little earth there is in
them, but it is pretty much all that
many a tenement child sees of the
country the first few years. l was
twelve years old before l ever saw
more than the City Hall Park and the
Battery Park, and then when 1 went
up into Westchester County to my
uncle, who has farm, l had enough
to do to tell all those who wanted to
know what the country was really
like
"Then here's where many of the mer
in the tenement sleep all through the
hot weather. Yes, it is the biggest
and the best bedroom we have wher
the sweltering heat comes, and the
women would be glad to make use O.
it for the same purpose if it was con
sidered right for them to do so. Or
such nights the windows are thrown
open back and front, and the women