Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1888-02-14
LIFE ON TIE ROOF.
aLOFT IN THE CLEARER AIR OF
GOTHAM'S SKY PARLOR.

to the Dwellers within-A Yard for
Drying CIothcs-Sleeping Place During
the Hot Season.
The baby seemed to be making for the
edge Of the roof as fast as very rapid loco
motion on its hands and knees could carry it
there.
"No, no! Come here pet" said the mother
calmly, and the infant halted and then
turned and sat down.
What place for q baby that was-on the
roof of six story tenement house III Baxter
street, the tallest house in the neiShborhood,
with view somewhat recalling scene on
the Rhode Island coast, with here and there
a black roof to represent the inky powders,
here and there puff of 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 herc!' inquired OF the mother, she
and the infant aud being the only ones up
there, and not only feeling the polite neces-
sity Of saying something. but being really
curious to know how a mother could let q
baby out of her arms in such place.
"Why should l be afraidr' she inquired;
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 arc to
the rich," she continued, seeing the look Of
inquiry in my face, in all probability. ~
was born in this house, and when 1 was O
little wee. thing my mother, God rest her
SOUL used to bring me here for the fresh dir
in fine weather and the cool breeze in the
summer. When I was little girl twas here
that came after school to play at store and
house and with my doll and little playmates.
When L got big enough to be allowed to sit
up littlo late OF night here still came, to
see the lads and young girls at their merri-
ment, dancing and counting and flirting and
singing and entertaining one another. And
do you know it was q feather in the cap of q
boy or girl to be hero, and is yet for the mat
ter of that, for you'll never find the way
ward or the wild up here once they have
yielded to the life of the streets.
LIFE ON THE ROOF.
And when I got to be a cash girl, anil
later yet, when 1 went really to work to help
my widowed mother, taking place in q fac
tory, it was still hero that I came for most
Of my play and good company. All, that
may seem strange Or very dull to you, but
that is the best of my rccollcctions, for
everything good that ever came to me, out
SiuC VI iiioier lii0 tAc IOuAoi VI III
church, carlo to mo here on this self same
roof.
"'Twas here tina. 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 oil tho
fine weather, John would come up hero and
play for the girls Of the house. and our friends
Of the neighborhood. and when there were
boys enough VIC would with them, and
when there were not each girl would take all
other and be partners. It is just tho Same
now. Any night, eight months in tho 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 SEQ at all, though FOR
that matter, when you have children they are
seldom off your mind, in sight or out You'd
think, may be, they'd be afraid, dancing on
the edge of the sky like this. Not bit; 1
never gave thought to the danger, and
don't suppose they do.
II wonder if you understand what a tene-
n1ent roof really is. For instance it's all TIL,
yard we have. and it's divided up SO that it
rightly belongs to one f1oor-thats two fan,i-
lies-each day In tho week, excepting Sun
day, for them to hang up their wash. Well.
some practically never uses it, for the good
reason that all they wash they can hang in
the open windows of the kitchen. Some use
it only about once month, and some hang
the whole air full Of linen each week. But II
belongs to a different floor every different
day, and no one woslld think of using it for
clothes on any day but their own without
takes away their own clotheslines each day,
and, mind you, even then tho SCOT of tho city's
smoke gathers on them that fast that they
must be wiped before clothes are hung on
them.
POT PLANTS IN BOXES
s'Then. again, do you see those boxes Of
earth around the edge youndcrl They alss
belong to the different tenants, and in tn"
summer one vies with the other to sec who'll
keep theirs tho greenest. Some never bave
any luck in growing things, and the best of
the boxes don't amount to much owing II
the heat of the sun above and thu tin below
drying up the little earth there Ia in them,
but 1t Is pretty much oil that many a tene.
ment child sees of the country the frs. few
years was IL years old before I ever saw
more than the City Hall park and the Bat
terry park, and then, when I went uo into
Westchester county to my uncle, who h:,:, q
farm, had enough to do to tell all these who
wanted to know what the country was really
like
'Then here's where many Of the men il
the tenement sleep ell through tho ho
weather. Yes it is the biggest and the bes
bedroom we have when the swel:ering heal
comes, and tho women would be glad to max,
use of it for tho Same purpose if it was con
sidered right for them to do so. On suci
nights the windows are thrown open bacl
and front, and the women and children tina
are too young to be trusted make tho best Of
what draught there is, while tho men with
pillow and blanket, or sometimes will
nothing at all but their regular clothes ant
nm old coat rolled up under their heads, turn
In on the roof, until it's that thick with mel
that an old soldi,- once told mo it reminded
him Of the dead in tho trenches on q battle
Geld where he was i'll the war. But befor
there's any goes to bed at all, every one il
the house sits up there to cool of, and
really think il all the year those arc tho hap
piest hours we poor people over spend.
"They even had death Oil tho roof few
doors below, last summer 1t was poor oil,
German gentleman, and he was very low al,
sinking when they brought him up, thinkin,
it would revive him, which it did, poor man
but it was in tho other world he felt il
Nothing bad like that ever canc to this root
and 1 am glad Of it, for some would Away
be thinking OF it, and tho place would not b
the same after. But we've had O little O
everything else, I'm thinking, and to Inc it
tho best place there il and the one where