The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-23

NO the Editor OF the Journal ana COURIER
Dear Sir-It is not very often that
people starve to death in New Haven,
but there are some who are trying to
live on very insufficient food. The re-
suit is O low vitality, and when what
would otherwise be mild form of
some disease comes upon them or their
children, they will die, apparently from
disease, but really for lack Of suitable
food.
Meeting on the street a day or two
ago woman with family of five at
home husband and three children,
three, thirteen and sixteen years OF
along?" "Oh, as we'll as we can" "Is
any one at your house working now?"
mo, but my husband hopes to get work
after awhile" We'll, do you have
enough to eat?" "a friend of mine has
just given me a bit of tea, and we can
almost always get a loaf of bread"
you generally have butter, milk and
sugar, I suppose" ooh, no, we don't
need them; but sometimes get them if
there LIS a little work. How about
meat?" 1T sometimes buy a piece for
about eight cents, and we make it do
for two meals
You will notice that this woman had
not asked for any help and 1t was only
by further questioning that I found
that her husband was sick and is una
BILE to even look for work, and that she
herself had nearly tainted that morn
ing from want of nourishing food. Do
! need to add that this woman is her
self always in feeble health and partly
blind, and vet tried awhile ago to have
me take back dollar I had previously
given her? The church that she and
her daughter, a schoolgirl of sixteen,
have lately Joined is not to blame for
not helping them, for it does not know
of their needs, and Mrs. - does not
wish me to ask for the help of the
church lest it should seem as If they
had Joined it for that reason. The last
thing she said to me was that she
should try to get some washing to do,
but that was not the last thing that I
did about it.
And this is only one of many of the
families of working people in New Ha-
ven at the present time. These people
uU IlOI WIlLS " Lie petpSl0 clilO SO l SeiAA
writing for them. They do not even let
it be known, as much as they ought,
that they are in need. One family,
with children included, are trying to
get along ON bread and coffee mostly,
no meat. I know Of two respectable
American women, both widows, and
each with little child to care for.
working in the shops day after day
trying to support themselves without
asking help of others, although both are
really too feeble to work. On the list
before me Of between one hundred and
two hundred needy people, many of
whom are not being helped or even
known to others, here are some of the
facts noted:
Mrs. -, widow, and four children;
girl Of nine sick nearly all the time"
Mrs. -, hard working woman
widow-five children; one girl works,
but earns only 81 weekly"
Mrs. -, several children; able to
earn but little; husband dying in hos
pital''
"Mr. and Mrs. -, no children, but
husband sick and will not be able to
work again."
'sMr. and Mrs. , large family; very
needy
'Mr. and Mrs. -, five children; hus-
band sick and not long to live"
MRS. - and children; well brought
up; house very neatly kept, but no help
from drunken husband; unable to pay
rent and obliged to move from place to
place.
60" family, very poor; the father
cannot work"
Let me give in one instance the facts
a little more fully. A family of hus-
band, wife and two little children have
lately broken up because of lack of
means to longer live together. The
children were placed as boarders in an
other family. The mother went into
one Of the box-shops to try to earn
enough to pay for sharing room and
meals with another workingwoman.
and the father, a painter and paper
hanger, tried to find work at odd jobs
of any kind to earn little food for
himself with shelter over night at some
lodging house, and also try to pay for
his children's board. Even this seemed
Impossible, and when I first learned of
these facts from the father one evening
at our mission hall meetings, he said
that he had become 30 discouraged that
he was greatly tempted to drink, al
though not drinking man. He did
not tell me, until questioned, that he
had eaten nothing that day. He only
asked if he could have work, and after
being made comfortable over night he
found work for himself the next day,
and out of IS that he earned that week
he lived Oh 81 himself and paid 81 to his
wife for herself and the children.
Neither he nor she have either before or
since then asked for any help, but
should they not have it with the ask
ing, until these young people and their
little children can have home together
again?
Our missionary association is not a
general relief-giving society, and we
do not ask for funds for that purpose.
In this respect we prefer to commend
and cooperate with the excellent work
of the Organized Charities Of New Ha-
ven. But in the line of our everyday
Christian work at the Mission hall and
in the home of the people who are
specially known to us, we constantly
meet with just such facts as I have
stated, and there is no immediate dan
Ger of too much being done in supple