The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-06-08

On the stoops and in the doorways wo-
men, old and becoming old, sit and vOlu-
bly, gossip. What ear, trained to the slow
English tongue, can follow those flying,
half uttered words? And the costumes.
Where else in Jersey City can you see
such effect produced with small means;
such wealth of color, such decorative re-
suits with such understanding of the use
ful This woman sitting in the half-dark
doorway-no how that green silk
square on her black hair sets off the olive
complexion, the red and black of the dress.
She wears heavy gold pendants in her
ears; but it is safe to say that they are a
legacy, not the opulent display of the
rich The house is a two-story frame
building, with not more than a dozen
rooms
There's five families in that house,"
says my guide. If one could afford to
purchase gold earrings, it is to be sup
posed that the family would remove to
better quarters as preliminary.
Even the delights of shopping are not
unknown. Here comes an American
horse, very tired, tugging wagon laden
with yellow bananas. They find ready
sale, although the negotiations have to. be
they can speak English and Italians who
admit that they cannot.
SO far all has been about the women
seen. Where are the men?
''Well, they're mostly asleep now" says
my guide. 'They get up early hustling
for rags and rummaging the ash barrels,
and they take nap about this time.
Then some of them have steady jobs in
stores and they keep peanut stands and
black boots this time of day. This is the
wrong time to see them"
NOT CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH.
The sights so far have been pleasant
enough. But suppose you let your eyes
fall on the inanimate facts of the Italian
colony of Jersey City which lies at the
Hill, north of Railroad avenue, west of
Brunswick street, south of Newark
avenue. The sights are not so pleasant
and you begin to perceive an unpleasant
odor.
Here, between two houses, you perceive
that few, if any of the buildings can have
cellars. 1t is all f1lled-in land. You won
der If these half buried wooden boxes are
drains, and if so, where they lead. If you
follow them you come to an area of stag
nant water. 1t has not healthful look,
and whatever value it may have had in
the landscape is DESTROYED by the tin cans
strewn over it, and the layers of refuse
and straw. Half a dozen men are work
ing it over with pitchforks and a crowd
of women are hunting for spoilS. The
idea that goats are fond of tin cans is sus-
tanned by the number of those animals
browsing around There are also geese
innumerable. Here are three little yellow
goslings. You pick up one to caress and
your ears are assailed by shrill cries, both
from the geese and from their owners,
who look upon you as marauder. You
are glad to restore the downy pet to its
kissing parent and beat hasty retreat.
Here is q shed feet high and 20 feet
square. The barnlike doors are thrown
wide open. Inside you see rags, and
nothing else. In front, in a little bay
among the rags, two women are at work
sorting them. As you pause in front,
they look up, smile and chatter. They
are happy, whether the rags bring health
or disease to them. Big bales of rags
stand around the neighborhood.
Here is puppy playing with the car
cass of q kitten. This may be accepted as
sample of the sanitary condition of the
whole neighborhood. Yet, notwithstand-
ing the filled-in ground, the stagnant
water and the rags, the people who live in
this section of Jersey City seem to be
happy and healthy. A. P. Fl.