Telegram-herald., 1889-12-01
SEVEN COLLEGE GIRLS
Who Keep Open House Among
rhs Slums
AEd Are Giving Tssemsas Houss PeOPIs
90 UEeonsHaoaly Good ttIas The
college settlements ha Kisiagtoa
street a Uniqus Experiment.

l ? and down Us high stone steps and
through It's antique doorway whence
Issued stately mstrons rustliug n ore-
csees IN the days when fashion had ner
temple On the now 90 ualor-strlcAen
east side, pass morning ana night seven
slender sweet-faced girls To the one
side Of them Is = cellar groggery. - the
other synagogue now being converted
% other uses. and across the way and
e. about them are cheap shops and dis
nal unclean lodging hOues where want
Joins hands With vice and hOpelessness
In strange uncanny dance OF suffering;
but she seven fresh-fsced girls in their
dainty little gowns, with spotless
gloves and boots such as RiviHgtOn
street had utterly forgotten and their
exqutsisely simple bonnsts half reveal
ing and half concealing the bright
abundance OF ripping hair, look out
from under level brows on dist. despair
and Drunkenness and arc not afraid.
Within the house is an atmosphere
OF warmth and light and color. such as
should peFvade the coy homo nest Of
any seven happy hearted Young women.
A round little maid with short black
hair and an immaculate plnsfors opens
the door Tor you. She used 20 go with
toes out Of her boots and to be innocent
OF the bath tub, but the seven girls
have worked the change. She will show
you into roomy, high-ceiled sitting
room, with carved columns Of the old
days, where the tinted walls, white
and gold hangings al the windows. rugs
on the stained floor, rows OF book
shelves, and odd and artistic chairs,
some In oak and some in bamboo. are
all delightfully."- CHEEKY and cosfort-
able; and you will be greeted by MISS
jeanette Gurney Fine, the presiding
genius Of the establishment that is,
IL IL is Friday. and you are a college
woman), who will explain to you that
this is . college settlement. and that
its girl inmates are simply trying TO be
nsighborly with the women and children
OF the tenement houses. There are
only two other such colonies In the world
of cultivated people living in the slums;
one is Toynbee Hall. which was founded
by university men in the east end of
London, and the other IS in Chicago,
and was started by wealthy woman
this summer on hearing of the project
OF the seven college girls.
Miss Fine is girl of great personal
beauty and with a wonderful charm in
her earnest eyes. She comes from Smith
College and has given up q position in
an aristocratio private school uptown 30
get acqusin ted with her Rivington
street fellow-beings. Que OF her sisters
in the colony is studying medicine IN
the school which was founded by DIR.
Elizabeth Blackwell Another - her
name is Or. Caroline Hsmilton-has
jest received her degree as a physician
and brought her skill TO be OF use TO
this weary, toiling neighborhOod, and
another still owes allegiance 10 college
halls and is studying for her second de-
gree. These are the four who will remain
in the COLONY for year, for there are
permanents and transients among the
young settlers. The transients como
for two months at time, and the three
who have been there since the house
was opened at the beginning of October
will be replaced by other Vassar and
Smith and Wellesley girls sometime
during the present winter.
Between the transients and the per-
manents there are other differences
than those OF duration OF stay. The
perrnanents attend TO their own business
in the daytime that they may not seem
10 pose as missionaries, but may be ac-
cepted on an everyday footing just as
any family OK manual workers moving
into the district might be. They give
to Rivington street only their evenings.
The transients. on the other hand, be-
ing visitors and at leisure, are on duty
all day. And the duty? Well it's
housework not infreqently, for it
wouldn't do TO stand on ones dignity or
good bye 20 the hopes Of success OF the
colony. The seven girls have a matron
who superintends the cooking and the
little maid who minds the bell. What
ever else needs doing they do with their
own busy fingers, these enthusiastic
young women who beg 10 be allowed 10
leave homes Of refinement and luxury
that they may wait upon Themselves
surrounded ~ ignorance and degrsda-
tion, in the Tenth Ward. Isn't 1t a
hare b-ained idea?
Each of the seven girls has her own
room and :hoy divide the housekeeping
expenses among themselves. They at
tempt no religious work or tract dis
tributing Of any description, md their
puzzled neighb0rs. who first discovered
at they were somehow different"
when n little child, who delivered
bundle. ran homo with bulging eyes
and feet winged with amazement, 10 re-
port 20 is mother. who housed six chill
dren and two hoariers in a single room.
that they "nadut a single bed on the
whole FIRST Foor.' were first stupefed
with astonlsbment over such q sinful
waste OF room. then set the newcomers
down as q house OF the King Daugh-
ters. then as Methodist nuns. then as
school ma ans and finally gave up the
puzzle and waited FOR developments
with surprised curiosity.
The frst clue TO the mystery discov-
ered by the neighborhood was little
gilt sign. Baths cents " The interest
aroused was ianguid. ON election day
one woman came. It was holiday. she
explained, and only on holidays had
hivinTtOn s-reet women any timo for
bathing She was told she could come
in the evening. and slowly the news
trick 81 through me tenement house
factories. One night lat week there
were I've women EbO applied a. ono
sine.
BivinVton street children made the
next discovery If they played on the
steps they were not ordereS awsv. On
the contrary. pretty girls often opened
the door and invited them inside. Once
iu that fairTlsnd O., uarlor they had
picture books 20 l0os 81 wonde ful
toys 20 play with nice things g. est
snd when they went home they Vers
asked - come aga n aid bring some
more children naKt sine
After the children cane a mother -
tNo- These tound out sat tbe y0unz
housewives ranted - be friends fo.
know hoF In a countrT viilaTs ths
Nomen rur bacE and forth and sN-
change receipts for carinT croup sn3
making ssvorT 3fs5es ard turning a-1
rsfsroishing cd clothes We'll tie
RiviaEtoa serest people iisDvsred thst
these ro%T Oh eexe6 ssrsu Ters Eantsd 20
- IN just tho~e ee~rns - neigh sorlY in-
tiuasey wish r. an tbst they hked %
axe calls sz3 BE csiled O. snd that
irass-S az s.ttrz n ~ rr-se r sers.