Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-09-21

The Little Mothers Aid Society and tn
Good Work II Is Doing.
| One of the saddest phases Of chill
life in New York is the fate of thu
Little Mothers among the very
poor. You may see them in any o
the crowded streets of the tenemen
house region little girls of eight
ten, even six years, with sharp care
worn faces. tugging smaller girls ant
baby boys in their thin, bony arms
Their poor little bodies are bent will
the heavy burden, their dwarfet
little souls scarcely less defor1ned.
In such families, where father and
mother and all the older children are
wage earners, the little girls toe
small to be hired in the factories
must mind the baby. for there's al
ways baby to mind. In winter the
little mother is usually locked into
the dismal rooms that such people
call home. In summer she wanders
about the street with the baby on
her shoulder. Some of the east side
mothers sit about on the benches in
Stuyvesant square, where the smart
nursemaids wheel the dainty lace
canopied chariots of their more for
tunate charges
A kind hearted lady whose house
fronts the square used to go out
among these children questioning
them as to why they did not go to
school, and if they wouldn't like to
go to the country on some of the ex-
cursions. and always receiving the
same answer, that they couldn't go
because they had to mind the baby.
The lady interested herself in the
matter, and with the aid of her
friends arranged series of day ex-
cursions on Saturdays when the real
mothers are usually at home. Five
chaperons were employed, who Wis
tied constantly in the homes, found
out the little caretalzers, arranged
for some one else to take the charges
for the day and accompanied the
children to pleasant country places
at short distances from the city. But
when the summer was over, and the
money raised by voluntary contribu-
ton and entertainments was ex-
hausted, the lady opened the base
ment of her own house and invited
them in on Saturdays for little les
son in sewing, and on Wednesdays
for Init of good time in games and
songs and story telling.
II you should go to one of these
sewing matinees you would be aston
ished at the size of the tiny mothers,
some ofwhom might be called babies
themselves. They are clad in a
heterogeneous collection of things,
shabby and outgrown by the rest of
the family, for the wage earners
must be well dressed They begin
to sew on a washcloth, which, when
it is finished, they take home with
them, together with cake of soap
and towel, and, be it said to their
credit, they make good use Of the
outfit before they come again. 1t
was the purpose of Mrs. Johnston,
the founder Of the society, and Mrs.
Hearn, her capable associate in the
work, to teach the children to sew
on garments which should, when fin
ished, be given to them. Butso great
has been the need Of the little maids
that the ladies have fitted them out
with clothing as fast as was possible.
The appeal made by these women,
who, with a few others. have for
nearly two years carried on this
work, is for half worn childrens
Some of the responses to
this appeal have come in the form Of
bundles of ragged garments and old
shoes that Mrs. Johnston was obliged
to pay her ashman to remove. New
are less practicable than
those half worn, because parents
sometimes sell or pawn them. New
York Sun.