St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-11
LAB0RING AMONG THE POOR
IN ONE OF THE HOTTEST AND
MOST SQUALID QUARTERS
OF GOTHAM.
HIS CHAPEL OF NATIONS.
A Project Which He Is Working
Hard to See Its Fulfill
Ment.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

| yet over. Inc DlS hOp11c OF western
| New York is the richest in America.
| Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter is it's bish-
| op. l know Of no one in New York
who is more respected than he, more
courageous in the assertion of his
civic rights, more conscientious and
lofty in the discharge of his Episco-
pal duties. He is one of the most
prominent figures in all social func-
tions and on state occasions, and a
leader among churchmen of his own
denomination, and an inspirer of
good work among all men. He lives
at No. 10 Washington square north,
perhaps the most aristocraltic neigh
borhood In the metropolis, and his
| home is that of a, courteous, travelled
gentleman and scholar, where no
luxury is unattainable or unknown,
One hundred and thirty Stanton
| street is about the center of the con-
gested, wretched tenement house dis
tr1ct in this city. On the left is a
tumble-down four-story and a base
ment brick house, which is occupied
by Jewish families of unclean and
saving habits On the right is a
three-story brick building, the first
hoor OF which is occupied by Bohe-
mlan cigar manufacturers, while the
other three floors are rented to those
who care more as TO how many cubic
inches of human flesh can be crowd
ed into the stuffy rooms than about
anything else in the world On the
other side of the street are various
Similar buildings, the windows and
shades of which are covered with
Hebralc signs, showing that every
BODY In them is busy at something
or other, except the children who
swarm into the cutters half-naked.
one hundred and thirty Stanton
street is called the Cathedral mis-
sion, and is a church-like structure.
Which is devoted to religious and hui
| name purposes. In the basement
there are a gymnasium and baths.
entrance to which costs five cents.
Above the baths is a commodious
| chapel, Which on week days contains
| a kindergarten and sewing school
and kitchen garden, where girls are
trained to be servants. Going I'D a.
broad flight of stairs you reach what
as called the rector's study. [ looked
| over the books in the little library
| and besides the religious books which
one would expect to find there, I saw
the works of Epictetus, Smiths
| Wealth Of Nations" the works of
Aristotle and several scientific-socio-
logical books. Opposite this study
are a small sitting room, a smaller
bed room and a bath room, the OUT
look from which is upon the back of
the most miserable tenement houses
Ihe study and the living rooms are
very humble and very modest. and
this, taken with the physical s11r-
roundings of the mission, make life
there most simple
1t is in this lodging and in this pitt
full quarter of the great city that Rt.
Rev. Henry G. Potter has been
spending the most uncomfortable
season in New York. Every morn
ing ait o'clock the good bishop an
pears in the chapel for services and
afterwards to receive those who care
to see him, and again in the evening
at O'Clock. There being no kitchen
in the place, and the restaurants in
the ne1ghborhood being too danger
ously suspicious, the bishop has all
his meals at home.
1t was this contrast between his
aristocratic home and surroundings
and the humble home on Stanton
street, that gave rise to the popular
impression that the bishop was doing
penance. However absurd it seems. 1t
was believed by many, and 1 take
pleasure in presenting you with the
bishops own version of this very I'M
usual act of his. Here are the
facts" said the bishop last night:
"A strange city New York is when
regarded from the standpoint of the
church, and strangely diversified must
be the operations of the church, if it
is at all worthily to accomplish the
task set before it. In connection with
the Cathedral of st. John, the Divine,
L have plan to have in it 'Chapels
OF the Nations 1t is not a fancy; it
is the appropriate recognition of a fact
Representatives of all nationalities
meet together in great cities, and in
the city of New York on Lords Day,
the Holy Eucharist is celebrated under
fewer than nine languages. The time
may come, perhaps will come shortly
when the chapels of the nations in
the Cathedral of ST. John the Divine
shall be occupied by representatives
of as many national churches, using,
with the sanction of our own church
their own ancient and time-honored
liturgies, and recognizing the church
yKybi Nh fha
church of generous and all-embracing
Catholicfty. But if the people of these
various nationalities are to be found
and won, they must be sought in their
homes, mostly in the southern part
of the city of New York. They are
by no means a hopeless class. The
Sums are spoken of with altogether
too much contempt, and all the tene-
ment districts are not to be indiscrim-
1nately classed as Sums In manv
of them there live people whose pow
erty is no fault of their own. and is
likely to be only temporary. There are
thousands of intelligent people living
in these tenements who are not pan
pers, and they are not to be treated
as paupers. When they are treated
with Kindness and courtesy they give
children, even when foreign-born. at
tend the public schools and are eager
In the pursuit of knowledge. DR.. Rob
bins, for example, the able and anna
bic head of the college settlement in
Rivington street, has had curious
experience. On being asked lately
what books were chiefly taken from
the library of the settlement, she re-
Piled that the favorite books were
Shakespeare and the History of the
United States. These books are not
merely read, as kindly lecturer had
occasion recently to discover; for.
having undertaken to give some ac-
count of the history of the United
States. she found her hearers to be al
ready 80 well informed on all the prin-
cipal events of our national history
that she was Obliged to turn bar ~