The evening world., 1888-08-01

hour later 1 was in q quarter as utterly differ
ent as though an ocean instead of o few
blocks of brick and mortar had been crossed.
Under the wing of the physician whose
mission it is to visit the less fortunate inhab-
itants of this vast city, at the instigstion Of
The EVENING WORLD. I was piloted through
a region the odor of which still fingers with
me, the loathsomeness of which I still most
unwittingly see and the misery of which I
hope 1 shall never be able to forget.
Most people have heard of Roosevelt street
because it gives its nameSto a line of Brook
unbound ferryboats. These folks, how
ever, are perhaps hardly aware that the street
is full Of vast tenement houses OF the most
primitive nature. where families herd them
selves together in horrible proximity and
where the elemental decencies of existennce
are almost unknown. No sooner had we
entered the street than q sickening smell
almost threw me over. The doctor smiled.
l gasped. A policeman with a rosy nose
came up;
don't like the smell! Oh, it's nothing. We
didn't know what it came from for several
days, but it's all right now."
l believe, most, ardently that there is a
whole family of dead dogs, beginning at the
great grandfather and ending at the further
generation, still lurking in that sewer. They
must all be exterminated before l put my
nose on the street again.
We approached No. 10 Roosevelt street.
Two lightly clad women with hot, clammv
babies stood outside injecting themselves
with the ,odor of dog, and inhaling, the
germs of disease with every breath. There
was a stout, burly man with them. He was
dong nothing.
Halo" he said to the doctor. who cour.
teously, barred his head, before the mothers,
there's a sick baby here. It cries every
night and every day It never stops crying.
The nelghbors are complaining. If somebody
doesn't do something. it'll have to, go"
We followed him up a dark, Shiny stair.
the flthiest garbage barrels, reeking with
purifying matter. At each landing there
were children. AT every door some miser-
window swarmed children. Great heavensl
What a place in which to rear q population I
A the top floor we stopped. In an arm.
chair outside the door of the apartments sal
seemed more like a wizened old man. It was
crying-not healthlly, vigorously. or al
though it had a m~omentary dolorous griev.
ance, but in the whining. wearing tones Of
the incessant, worn-out sufferer.
1t was alone. It had not ever, sufficient
strength to tumble out of the chair. We
summoned Mrs. Hanlon. the mother. Yes,
Willie was a very sick baby" she said, tear4
of ice. He had measles. but though the
eruption had disappeared he did not mind.
There had been measles throughout the
house.
"A dispensary doctor called to zee him. 70
said she, " but on Saturday he said he wonld
not come again"
The doctor examined poor little Willie and
found that he was indeed previously i'll.
He has the best of care" said the mother
earnestly.
The best of care! The atmosphere was
simply sitting. Every entrance was choked
up. There was a window looking into yard
l from which o1GfG nf QtanNh Ranna rnntin.
ually. The best of care !! Poor Mrs. Han
lonI
Mrs. Hanlon has six children, the ages Of
which are alarmingly close together. Her
hook or by crook. But her sorrow for Willie
was not lessened by the fact that she is hardly
able to support the poor little incumbrance.
She wept continually as she looked at him.
- There is hope that he will recover" said
the doctor.
We went through several tenements in
Mulberry street; in each OF which from
looked very suspioiously at the doctor. They
We're afraid he came from the Board Of
Health, and these Italians detest the Board
of Health intensely: The Board occasionally
Italians resent this as an outrage.
There are no sick babies here" cried an
old, woman, warding us off with a long,
laR5 arm wins rs G tSis s yasd Is as me- healthy e; as ss sSx
folks could wish. We get lovely .breezes.
I've lived here fourteen years and I guess
I'm pretty smart"
In the centre of the yard were groups Of
| Italian women washing their linen. Babies
tumbled over one another. Husbands and
brothers and fathers laughed and smoked in
the most startling neglige attire. Sick ba-
bies? Why, the idea was too absurd. Many
of the people had taken their windows bodily
from the easements.
The cool weather has done a great deal Ia
benefit this teeming population of the tone
ment districts. But, during a hot spell what
must it be? Everything l saw yesterday vas
, under the most favorable conditions, ironi-
cal as such q statement may sound.
! l thought of the italian woman, Cignarale,
who through crime has been rescued from
these terrible surroundings. The prison as q
: punishment for these unfortunate Italians In
a farce. A penitentiary or any institution Of
a similar kind must be a heaven in compari-
> son with this tenement-house hell.
snaa Ian DALE
He VIII Be seen.
- 4 N@-II