The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-07-02
IN SICKNESS AND POVERTY
ruBOSG MOTHERS AND BdBIEs At
TUE EAST SIDE DISPEysARIEs.

Here Arc Medicines Tor the Auing, rood Tor
STARVING Iufsnt-. nnd Excursion Tickets
for Aii-IEaornnce, squnior. and Disease
that Have Come with tae Russian Jewa.
rhere Ia A m odern Herod, and his name Ia
"uent" He makes his headquarters on the
.ast sitlo Of New York city, and when the sea-
son gets long about knee deep in June" he
uhets his weapons and goes forth to slaughter.
Then follows tho annual massacre Of the in-
accents, and the victims are counted by thou
sands. Perhaps 1t is an old story. many limos.
twice.told tale OF trouble, but to those who read
n in the reality It has q perennial pathos.
If Is hard lines. even Mt the beet, to be born q
baby. The blinking eyes of babyhood wink
with 40 many tears. That the pains OF infancy
ara mostly physical and have homey names.
and are accounted to be necessary in the order
Of nature does not help tho matter particu-
larry. The fact remains that good portion Of
tho trouble to which man Is born crowds itself
bru,aly into baby's crib and there abides.
To be born an east side tenement baby an d
IN grow old enough to climb out OF the cradle
Indicates a tenacity and invincible staying
mower which would make a Spartan hero. Over
avery tenement cradle hangs a sword. sus-
handed like that Of Damocles by hair OF
course-not to be too m etaphoricnl-this sword
IA disease. and like mercy and the rain from
haven, 1t falls upon the Just and the unjust.
infants. When it falls 1t MAKES q double
wound. for no sharper pain can reach moth
er's heart than that OF seeing her baby suffer.
There you have the two lowest depths OF mis-
sry in the tenements. There Is but one lot
worse than to be tenement baby and that is
to be tenement mother.
They arc both having their hardest days at
this season. Night after night, during what
we so glibly call 1.-The heated term" they
swarm upon. the curbstones: the m others.
heavy eyed, unkempt. and prematurely old:
che babies weak. and wailing. covered with
acres often, ana gaspinR their little lives away.
At first glance the whole state Of affairs
seems q blank horror OF hopelessness. 1t
seems rs II the sun set upon o miracle when
the day ends and single one OF these chill
dren lives. But the vital spark in good many
Of them absolutely refuses to fly upward. even
in order to become an angel. And human
charity. which is not 80 rare after after all. has
put several schemes at work to help fan it into
steady gloY Of health. r.a 49,, 6.
and Essex strests IL a model Institution and
most M iorloril human beings In this country.
Ninety five thousand of them poured in at the
last They Rn t
and from Siberia to Brazil. OF these about
$4,000 were women and 3. 600 children. -,
V women as they shuilied in and out nine out Of
s R ay s sff ssas and out sfIs%s t Sh
sss ane fbsS Being
many maj, cases s Of dphtherla are Cropping out
now, and when any miserable baby. comes in
little throat. the doctor picks UP q clean in
st1ument and advances to the The, charge; The
mother looks like hunted animal. Suspicion
and resentment struggle with her hone that
the eb viii ssred 10
pays her 10 cents to the clerk outside and
gets brown ticket: This admits her to the
II she cannot pay the 10 cents she gets the
ticket Just the same.
speak a iargon Of their own-s mixture Of
German Polish: and Russsian;nwhch can only
must must be given t them By Word 81 MOUTH
stairs. When the doctors feel in q very pessi-
with a large skull and crossbones on the
bottle. Is given for external use. and another
for the
They call tho patients in the different de-
mems and chiIdren's afternoon class" morn
Ing sIrGcrl and SO on The patients is
uO LOOK uHllk6 SCHOldTS. WnoH Sedteu Ill
the halls on long folding benches exactly like
modern class forms And the dispensary is
ss hn Ss
value Of sterized milk. and last year 10000
bottles were distributed TO $50 babies.
hardly used by public criticism. They are not
50 bad as they are painted. They have to keep
the children. and Join the husband in driving
sewing machine for few, pennies day. But
% @ h ns es hs GhsF os
,Sst the espsnssSy the EFsstest SlsssHs to
not only medicine but advice and help OF va
the dispensary. bringing, one of her little
brood OF children. The baby had cholera in
been In THIS eonntns only
whose husband. had died soon, after they
na sSs esss Sd hex ss
round there She was too miserably poor to
any 80 she received her Pressrip
sician. examined the child and wrote pre-;
scription which the woman could have filled
ssass sae 1a Sic soud
sava he Ssls aR Ra
payment OF so much as cent.
her. Investigation showed her destttptipn and
charitisswSts6 looked after her case At once.
One OF the physicians at the Essex street
mics OF the tenement babies are foul air, want
OF cleanliness. and iDjudicious feeding.
In u case OF cholera infantum," asked THE
Sun reporter. what would You advise"
"sterilized milk and an outing on the boat
or to the park.rw tho reply.
Well. but these people are too poor to fol-
AS for the sterilzed milk they can get 1t
here at price within the reach of any one.
And as for the outing we distributed about
5000 tickets for the free excursions especial
u those Of St Johns Gua Last the the
free Ice tickets. too, We must have given out
you would call the attention OF people to tho
fact that they can buy any. number OF these
tickets that they wish and leave them at the
tdispensa5ies, where they will be carefully dis
The physician was frequently interrup t ed by
patients who came to the main ONCE to DO ex-
amined before going upstairs.
Better sit over there by the window" no
said to the reporter. who was sitting right by
the door through which the patients entered.
over there"
DO you have many contagious diseases p
Oh. not very many" said the physician.