Bismarck weekly tribune., 1889-08-30
.rspecial Correspondence.1

sire SQe may nave 10 PACK up ler lOuSenOlQ
goods and remove them to New York city.
The sun is the deadly enemy of little chill
dren in the metropolis During July and
August it is only after the sun has gone down
behind New Jersey, and the moon and stars
come out, that the little children can escape
from the sitting air Of the tenement houses
and find relief in the open street. Then it is
that the weary mothers come down upon the
door steps and sit upon the curbstones with
their feeble, wailing offspring in their arms
So frail, so white, SO emaciated are these that
they resemble lilies willing on their stem.
Large numbers Of these tired mothers,
through the courtesy Of the various ferry
companies, are permitted to sit on the for
ward decks Of the ferryboats as they ply
back and forth in the East and North rivers
But those who are enabled to take advantage
Of this slight relief from the consuming fire
in the air are very few. Indeed, those chill
dren who really need these inspiring breezes
the most are unable to profit by them from
the fact that their homes are at too great
distance from the rivers and the mothersc can
not spare the time nor money to enjoy these
advantages Consequently, thousands Of little
souls are fated to simply be born, to wall out
a few unavailing protests against the inexor-
able laws of nature, to raise their fading
eyes to sorrow stricken mothers faces and
then to pass away and be buried seven deep
in Calvary cemetery and in Potter's field.
It is indeed question of the survival of
the physically fittest. Those who by reason
Of hereditary strength, or Of unusual care,
or of a residence near to one of the city
parks live to be two years old, are the excep-S
tions to the rule Of almost inevitable death
which prevails during July and August
Let us take peep into Cherry street on
the evening Of a day in August when the
thermometer has reached 80 in the shade.
One block is sufficient for our purpose It is
that portion of the street which runs from
Dover to Roosevelt street. This is locally
known as Cherry hill It is o'clock. The
electric lamps on the Brooklyn bridge are
shining with white insistence upon the rush
ing river below.
The moon and stars are out. A cool breeze
has sprung up and is driving away the heat
which has been stored in the pavements dur
ing the day. The sidewalk is lined with
empty trucks. and the air is filed with the
laughter aud shouts Of little children at play.
There are at least 300 of them, and they seem
to be everywhere, inside and under the trucks,
filling the roadway, swarming like ants over
the sidewalks and rolnping in and out Of the
doorways. They seem utterly free from care.
The sun has been very angry during the day,
but the children have already forgotten his
exhibition of temper and are dimly conscious
that the moon is more kind to little children
in big city than is the fiery autocrat of the
Skies
E "A country visitor would be surprised to see
that these children are at play even when
T..x .,
he would find that most of the childish voices
are stilled and that many of the little ones
are asleep in the trucks Others have de-
parted into the Land of Nod, lying in the
halls, and still others are asleep upon the fire
escapes.
Perhaps the most pathetic and interesting
phase of child life in New York city is the
care taken Of children BY their brothers and
sisters Of little older growth. The sacrifice
of personal enjoyment sometimes made by
these poor children is at once heroic and
amusing. The luxury of baby carriage is
unknown to the little waits stranded in a
tenement district but this loss is made up in
a measure by the clumsy expedient Of soap
box upon wabbling wooden wheels.
Occasionally goat is used to propel the
humble vehicles, and runaways are not in.
Il ITcQuSuUs DuU 1S a AuA0 otSu tLlS U0lupOIaFy
expedient is denied the children. It is not
uncommon for a boy of 5 years to be left all
day in charge of child Of 9 years. The air
of fatherly protection assumed by the elder
as he leads his handy legged little brother
along the sidewalk, sometimes straying half
mile away from home, crossing crowded
streets and narrowly escaping the hoofs Of
truck horses, is phase of human life well
~, 1o
his charge, will fight for his protection
doorstep every night, just before it is time
for his mother to return from her work
A very amusing scene was witnessed at the
during the past week. The earth had been
carted away from a large plot Of ground,
preparatory to the erection of row Of
brown stone front houses, leaving an excava-
tion some five feet below the level of the
roadway. Successive rains had filled this
hole with water to the depth of three feet
Some sixty boys and girls had stolen boards
and pieces Of joist from nearby buildings
and had built six clumsy RATS With in
finite pains and with the help Of the RATS the
little fellows had taken dirt enough to the
center Of the pond to make an island. When
the island was completed one Of the boys
/ procured a pink parasol, aud sailing out to
the island In tho middle Of the waste Of
waters, seated himself barelegged upon it.
Holding up the. parasol he announced to his
admiring comrades that he was Robinson
Il Crusoe. For several days the boys padded
the girls around upon the RATS and afforded
amusement for several thousand New York
ers, who remembered regretfully the time
when they enjoyed themselves in simila.
\ ways.
The children of more fortunate parentage
have no ideasof the straits to which the pow
erty stricken denitens Of the tenement dis.
tricta are put, because Of the scarcity Of toys.
y It is not uncommon for children on Mott or
lbe:':y st;'sss ", enioy ;lseiyes i,s;'lv