The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
CORNEROFOLDNEWYORK
NhrTTB THRIFT TRlT sURYIVEs IN
P0OR sURROUHDIN6a

Healthy Cht1dren--A Survival In . hegfop ef
Observation-Disclosures 81 n Esrcisn Quarter.
New York has some queer corners, You 30
through an alley no forbidding that you are
almost afraid TO venture and you come out
into a peaceful, middlo-ccntury district hat
looks as II tho idea Of haggling about space
was Incredible and as II scraps and emergencies
of one sort and another were unheard of. There
isn't any street lamp inscription to tell you
where you are. but that does not matter; so
far as appearances go, you are leagues away
from that walled.in alley and the hodgepodEe
Of streets behind It; from the jumbled up quar-
tiers 60 lately left behind that, II the place were
noored with sand instead Of stone, 1t would
still show the marks Of your foot.
You look down the street TO where It ends,
not q block away, and a low-gabled brick
house blocks the view-a little, yellow.washed
cottage turned sideways to the street, for all
the world like o village house in any back.
woods borough In tho land. Tho overhanRins
roof shelters three orderly little shops under the
green shattered upper chambers, a laundry,
q newspaper and k~nickknack store, and a bake
shop. In this street there are no tall ten
ements taking up q whole block, solid and
square and TERED and terraccd with fire es-
capes. There are/no cellar stores to be seen,
either, and no dirt-smearcd doorways, rubbed
black from much going in and out. There are
no people hanging out Of the windows, and no
clothes dangling from criss.cross lines or fut-
tering from the roof. The neighborhood Is
orderly and clean, and there iB . look Of
sturdy self.suflciency about the rows Of old.
fashioned brick houses, as though the inmates
know how to work and were not ashamed OF it.
Tho children playing about tho doors have q
good healthy color in their faces. and the little
girl who comes out of an area gate with q blue
china pitcher in her hand looks well kept and
smiling. Comfortable, almost well to do"
seems written over tho face of the houses, and
the children's homemade mittcns and worstcd
hoods show industry and care on the part Of
the mothers, although a disregard for fash.
ion. The neighborhood is as far removed from
tho fashion of modern New York as It is re.
mote from the slums that are only just around
the corner. Yet it looks wholly American.
The children speak English without any trace
Of foreign accent, although their sturdy make,
their knit mittens and their homely air of com.
fort and modest competence suggest German or
Dutch ancestry.
In King street, Charlton, Vandam, Spring,
and other west side streets that intervene be-
tween the river front and Macdougal street
this aspect of cheer and comfort is noticeable.
Occasionally a little shop crops up, just one on
a block perhaps, looking as though it were kept
TdlhtE UT II CulCuCo u CuotOlitTb, vi III
conformance with the habits of the shopkeeper,
than for the scrambling together Of dollars and
cents. A tiny red-brick house. sandwiched In
between two taller neighbors, has such a store
in the front room on the ground floor. The paint
on the Intel of tho door and the window frames
and blinds IL fresh. as though the landlord re.
spected his tenant. The window to the left Of
the narrow entrance door Is fitted up with mar.
row shelves, and buttons. thread, lamp wicks.
shades, sowing machines, needles, and hanks
of bright-colored worsted are displayed. A few
weekly papers and New Years cards are
tackled up also, and within can be seen the lei.
surely shopkeeper dotting dow aome kind OF
diagram on an outspread sheet OF paper.
The majority of the houses in these streets
are of red brick, barely three stories high. and
occupied sometimes by only one, seldom by
more than three or four families. The narrow
entrance doors with their white facings and
tho narrow steps that come down to the pave.
ment make them look odd in contrast to later
built houses. Now and then there will be q
flight of high steps turned round sideways to
the street in primitive fashion and surmounted
by a very. narrow porch, porch, steps. and hand
rail r. al all d of WOO .T6.s and an o 3D. 7 me, ir ron kn iS ssG
trees in these streets. The breeze blows through
them fresh from the river, and this breeziness
e eoant 50 for sne tSas e SsPs'I pink INK F Rsfa ehe f sslels SSs
cheeks and their good. stout calves. The little
street and Bedford street have no such cheeEss
and calves. The doorsteps OF the houses in
King street, and In some other streets. are kept
that the thrifty housewives begrudRe the in
corruption Of a trip up to Sixth avenue or Broad.
their dowers and knitting needles and match
their skeins OF yarn nearer home;
A certain house, in sharp contrast with the
earmarks of q village grocery. Its street cor.
ner is blunt and rounded, to begin with. and
around on the pavement, that IS, precisely the
kind Of approach one sees to a country. cross
painted apple green. The windo%s are S,eV COW
the corner is the little wooden stoop with four
or five rallied. in steps giving access from the
than it is long. Just opposite a day nursery has
on the edge Of the wieii.to.do. wholesome look.
ing neigh6orhood, there is a whole area Of tene,
IL mea and G mere Ss are Ba6ies at to be Ted fed and CO.
while the mothers work.
Hard by is a curious coupling of circum'
stances. A. church building gapes disconso-
eresaticn aed; I biei nowsst:improyed school,
iooks as though it would push the useless old
church out q the way and nave done with It
Of the unornamented puritanical stamp. with
out a steeple, but with a simple breadth Of
Bew-holding. space and wide, hospitable doors
. ~ khUS otohV. ~ ~ " Wv
two or three coats of CRIME. One or two glassei
are out Of it's windows and various mishap'
have befallen It. but IL looks substantial still
intrenched behind the pile of lum er inside tn,
fence that comes up even with Its porch
Through the narrow court on one side oft car
be seen the cluttered-up back windows OF
tenement house and bottles, tin cans. scarlet
tiannels and other domestic appurtenances put
looks down on the ghostly church as though t.
say. Il came down here to do the work yol
gave up; There isn't need OF you any more
why don't. you get out of the wayr,' There ar,
two churches not far away. in the thrifty. or
derby looking district, churches plain and un
pretentious, with tablets Of their weekly ser
vices put out by the front door and the sign o
much coming and going about their ~entranc
gates and porch steps and freshly painted doors
You may walk four or five blocks westwar,
on any one OF these streets between Spring an,
West Houston, and all along are the neat, trim
little houses with perhaps a flower pot In tn
window and a curtain Topped back tastefully
q vine climbing up or the sound OF a piano {
denote that there is comfort within and tina
some little time and means are left over afte
essentials are provided for. The way Is no
long. though. on either hand to streets Of a di
hang over like q pail, and so dark and smear