The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-08-08
HOW TO KEEP COOL
Little Italy's Residents Sleep
on the Streets and
Roofs.
ALL GIVES Way TO COMFORT
Love Songs, Moonlight and
Hammocks the Order of
the Night.

A common question on all sides among
| persons of comfortable means, these warm
days and nights is How do the poor
folks stand ft?'' These same poor folks
seem just as comfortable as their more
lucky brethren and could give the latter
some points about avoiding the heat.
The Italian quarter, commonly known as
Little Italy offers the rarest opportun-
ty for study. In the very heart of the
city and in low marshy ground the Ital-
ians receive the full effect of the SUMS
rays. Shut in on all sides by large build
ings, 1t is seldom one can find wind
enough stirring to turn leaf. Yet in
the face of these disadvantages it is
rare thing for one of the inhabitants of
that quarter to suffer a sunstroke.
How they do it is simple. They study
their own comfort and, not bowed down
with social prestige or forced by lux
urfous surroundings to keep up appear
| ances.'' they bring about the desired COM
fort and relief from the humidity.
A better day than yesterday could not
have been selected to stroll through Lit
| tie Italy, and watch the residents evade
the heat. That section of Fourth street,
which runs from Newark avenue to the
Pennsylvania Railroad tracks is the
most thiekly populated. On the streets
yesterday afternoon in the hottest par of
the city and in the hottest part of the day,
was almost every person in the italian
| contingent. There were mothers with
children ranging from the infant in arms
to those ronping in the streets On every
| stoop or beside sheltering fence or any
| spot that afforded even the smallest
| shade, were these mothers with their
| families.
The women were comfortably, though
inelegantly dressed and comfort was the
| paramount consideration. button left
open her or hook unclasped there mat
| tered not.
| And the children. They sprawled
| about in all shapes and sizes, dirty and
begrimed, but laughing and cheerful. The
mothers in dressing their children evil
IDENTIFY believed that the less clothing the
youngsters wore the cooler they were,
for in many cases the lack of clothing
was painfully apparent. The lads did not
seem to mind this, and disported them
selves in improvised swimming pools
which had their beginning in ordinary
wash tubs. So the hot afternoon was
passed.
The sleeping apartments in the long line
of tenements are not disturbed very much
at night. A glimpse of Little Italy,
last night would have made stranger
wonder If wholesale eviction were not
being carried on. Chairs, cots, mattresses
and, in fact, any household article that
afforded an opportunity for reclining was
impressed into service. The cots and mat
the sidewalk, and lying upon them smok-
ing, were the swarthy sres. They had
completed hard days work and their op-
portunity to secure immunity from the
| heat had arrived
Here and there groups of three or four
were gathered about can of beer, the
contents of which relieved the parcxled
throats.
News" reporter visited one of the
houses and was invited by an occupant
to go upon the roof. Here a true Bohem-
| ian scene was encountered. The women
and children who had occupied the street
during the day were now gathered on the
| roofs. The roofs of all the houses in the
neighborhood were filled. The main ar
ticle brought into use on almost every
roof in sight was hammock. In this,
in most cases the mater familias reclined
while the children We're variously distri-
buted about the rooof. They lay upon inn
provised beds made of two or three layers
of cool straw covered with a sheet or
| blanket. A single sheet wrapped about
them was the covering.
1t was gradually getting cooler and the
reporter thinking shower was coming
up said
what do you do if it rains while you
are asleep?'
The guide replied, "oh, we wake, up and
go below
On a roof not far distant was a party
musically inclined which entertained the
neighborhood. The sound of soft, sweet
| drumming on mandolin accompanied
| by guitar was heard. Finally a rich
| tenor voice was heard singing an Italian
love song.
| There were no social functions to at
| tend, no occasion to dress for tea; moth
| ing to do but keep cool and they sue
ceeded.