The sun., 1897-11-04
RAINY DAY CLUB TOPICS.
WOMEN DISCUSS TENTILlTIoN,s sETH
Low, AND DRESS.

| Exposed In Their HOmes-Back OF Vent'iA"
tieu at CoinmbIa-DerectH In Piuu'binE.
The Rainy Daisies, as tho members Of tho
| Ryain Day Club afrectionately call ono an
| other, met yesterday afternoon at tho Murray
| Hill Hotel. Tho meeting was one OF absorbing
| interest, Seth Low camo in for his share OF at
| tention. rs will bc seen later. Charles +. Win
gate the sanitary expert, talked to the club
The sensitive feminine nature of his hearers
trembled at what ho TOLD them. There seemed
| to be ninety-nine chances out of q hundred that
| II anybody in New York did by q miracle es-
| cape consumption thero would bo no such luck
| as getting out of typhoid fever. As for malaria
and catarrh, one might ns we'll hope to do
| without breathing The Rainy Daisies therefore
mentally decided, ono and ALL to transplant
themselves to some rural scene, where they
| would not be choked by sewer gas or withered
by poor ventilation. No sooner, however, had
they made up their minds to this than MIR.
| Wingate said that city houses, with al! their
| defects, are better than country houses.
/ IF you should go out into the streets and get
some ignorant, dirty applewoman to come In
| and instruct your children" said he sit would
| be no worse than having the stupid fools who are
| allowed to go into the average country house
and do the plumbing. I think shall simply hold
| out to you the hope that at some election in tho
future a reform candidate will be chosen who
will pass q law to make good health contagious.
| Then we will hang n few plumbers, and have
| Board Of Health composed OF fwomeninspectors."
The applause which followed this remark
was dying away when n still, small voice
| spoke up:
"If," said the voice, you refer to the Presi-
| dent Of Columbia College when you speak OF
reform candidate, I would like to say that
there Is room for him to begin sanitary reform
| at home. have two boys in Columbia College.
| When they first went into tho new buildings
| they were taken into cold, damp rooms, and
| came homo fairly cramped with the chill. A
few days later they came homo with severe
| headaches caused by the excessive heat and the
bad air In the classrooms. They said that II it
had not been for the fear of beng-er- flunkod Il
believe that is the expression) they would have
left tho class
THAT is q serious matter" admitted Mr..
| Wingate
II have been expecting some such criticism, -
remarked the President.
81 do not condemn the buildings" said tho
member who had spoken. 'for don't know
about them. But say that the students should
not have been rushed into them as soon as the
rooms were finished. In fact. the buildings are
not even yet completed"
NO" said Mr. wingate, ''the old maxim is a
good one. Keep your houses the first year for
your enemies, the second for your friends, the
third for yourselves"
Mr.. Wingate's talk was on Homes as They
Arc and as They Ought to Be-" The parlor in
which the club met was about as badly ,ventilat;
he Wer
BREATH and their flushed and feverish faces
tns Barns ato At
close Of the talk one woman asked pertinent
question. .s
don't know good city air when breathe 1t.
But I've been suffering for the last hour and
Ia like to ask Mr.. Wingate what he thinks OF
:, Amid a general sympathetic laugh the gen.
Tho air in this room is like the snakes in Ire
LANG there isn't any!''
The Daisies nodded emphatically at this. II
to listen to letter which the country member
wanted to read to to them they would have fied
them that the epistle would be interesting. and
NY dear Rainy Daisy" began the country
This letter Is from Miss Wixon. one Of the clever:
& Daisy. S Want 1t to tell You about my experience
when I made my first appearance in my rainy
1t this point the country member suddenly
hesitated and became more crimsontippe6
Country @ Get blush. She looked over her glasses a
. srm. father,5,rathor sorry-wero not al
"oh. don't mind mel" cheerfully cried Mr.
, Wingate.
, Miss Wixons description Of how she donneC
her abbreviated skirts and sailed Ali forth -, a,
letter went on to say. "As passed heart
this: Look at
The country, member paused again,
IL thought we would be all ladies'" she
"oh. I'm lIarried!" said Mr. wingate.
8 member. they said Look at those-those-'
q The country member hesitated agar, again, ent M
, well-nigh necessary anatomical members, a
Q the mention of which the club went into shou
n again and finished the spicy letter with grea
| Success. .
= the meeting. AS a whole it was serious ant
n practical Mr. wingate told them that he wa
o men build and in which unfortunate woman
:, II had the misfortune to live in model hous
Il one time" he said, land that is one of those In
o man builds a house; First he digs hole in III
l. wooden or brick or stone box, which he seals a
r the top. Then he keeps On putting those boxe
more like a brick standing on end and the wome
n who live in them are foolish enough to add t
heavy eyyr@ns aDd other and
harbngers No wonder wonder we .f see white a, faces
r every corner, and a doctor In every blocl
IS What We need Is society for improving th
l. condition Of the rich
u clude the dampness and foul atmosphere whic
s. permeates the city soil from rising through tn
y cellar into and through the house This coul
n. easily be DONE Place layer of broken ston
d on the earth floor Of the cellar cover this wit
s Portland cement, and then asphalt, runnin
!. these up tho side walls. You then have wats
g. tight cellar. Many houses are actually bui
T. over old water courses and are not in any wa
20 protected from the resulting dampness. hay
er examined a certain locality near the Thirt.
Of fourth Street Ferry. In that locality the al
nual average Of deaths in block Is five. Seve
a. is extreme But there are fye houses near IL
TO ferry in which there were thirty deaths in
year as many in seven whole blocks. l Il
vestgatcd and found that these houses were bui
over an old water course.
81 was talking with my good friend, NJ
Hewitt, about It, and he said he didn't bclioN
r. that was the trouble. He said be and Pet
Cooper lived over an old water course for year
. and that he was perfectly healthy. / couldn
A. ,lonpsia mioht he due to the unEanitorv incatT