Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-07-09
NEW Y0RK.S HOT WAVE.
Agony Greatest Among the
City's Poor.
HEAT TERRIBLE FOR CHILDREN.

Suffering Where Child Heroines
Guarded the Threatened Lives of
Wan and Wasted Babies Tots
Fought For Bits of Ice.
brazen sky that spanned the earth
like fiery furnace. the agony of dumb
brutes that dropped dead by the way
side. strong men suddenly stricken
down and robbed of vitality and con-
seriousness. the quick rumble OF wheels
and the clang of the ambulance bell.
and over Ii all the wall of a little child
that is the way / should write the
history of Tuesday. July =. says Dor
Othy Dix in the New York Journal
Terrible as the heat was for all in
New York. il was most terrible for the
children. Ii is always they who suffer
most. Rich people gathered up their
precious darlings and fed with them TO
cool forest shades or wind swept sea
sands. The poor could only watch their
little ones fade and wither. like blight
cd flowers. under the pitiless sun. and
as made my way down through the
narrow. crowded streets in the tene-
ment district of the east side l mar
veled that romancers should so long
have set their most pathetic scenes
amid snow and ice and depicted cold
as the climax of human suffering.
1t is the burning heat of summer that
is hardest on the poor. Here was
tragedy Of universal, unacceptable suf-
fering to which the bitterest winter
weather could offer no parallel. Every
house. you would think, must have
s,.
The pavements were packed with men
and women. half dressed. desperately
hugging the little strips of shade
thrown by the buildings and painting,
sweltering, gasping for a breath of
the fiery hot air that came, laden with
evil odOrs. up the street.
Children. sometimes with but Il single
garment on, played about, and fought
with each other over the clippings OF
ice that were broken off of piece be-
ing carried into a butcher shop. In
one place n dead horse, already swollen
and hideOus. lay on one side of the
street. and brutal little boys were run
ming and jumping on the poor carcass.
Just opposite Il woman had tainted and
fallen On the sidewalk. and about her
had gathered in an instant the curious.
street crowd, the women
tanning her and chatting in polyglot
tongues.
Looking up ar the rows OF houses
you saw that-the fire escapes swarmed
with mere babies, pushed out there be
cause IL was cooler than in the room
where the mother was perhaps cook
ing dinner or washing clothes. Down
OF, the pavement many of the smaller
hildIcn-the little ones, and years
old-toO weak and languid TO even
move, had crawled into the shadow of
n friendly dry goods box or fruit stall.
or sprawlCd across some doorsill. And
noticed that the men and women
passing I'm and out stepped by them
with rough tenderness. In almost |
every block was woman. weary
looking. hollow eyed from the lack OF
sleep, pacing W and down. up and
down, like s1ntry on his beat. hush
ing fretful baby on her breast.
From one house a frantic father and |
mother rushed out. The man had a
baby in his arms. fits little head hang |
Ing limp and lifeless over his arm. |
The child had been sick for several |
days and had dropped under the heat. |
All night II had walled feebly, and the !
mother had exhausted all her love and |
skill in trying to scothe II. When |
came. she had to cook the fam |
ly meal. and laid the baby on the bed. |
the piteous LITTLE moaning !
and when she turned in TO see |
what was the matter she could not |
rouse the child. 1t had collapsed. and |
The heat had scored another victim.
This is the final terror of summer in |
he tenement. To build fire i'm the |
stove is like stocking Il thrice heated |
furnace. 1t makes the one little room /
n which often a whole family eat. /
sleep and live veritable inferno. I'm |
which year after year. during the hot /
weather. n frightful and heartbreaking |
slaughter of the innocents takes place.
The one thing that charity has been
lble to do TO ameliorate the sufferings
If the children of the poor has been to
)uild a number OF recreation piers
utting out into the water and swept
~ cooling breezes. and during the hot
Weather these are crowded. Early in
he morning. before the gates are open
d, long line of patient mothers are
for admission. and all day long
hey come. bringing their little children
or few hours respite from the sti-
ling tenements.
Such pathetic little creatures as so
many of the babies are too. So white
nd so wan. too feeble to even cry n !
.ood lusty cry and with little hands no
bigger than n monkeys paw, yet the
nxiOus mothers hang over them with
IS much love and solicitude as IL they
we're the prize baby I'm baby show
nd question each other wistfully TO
now if they don't think that already
he cool air is beginning to do the little
ne good.
The outer edges of the recreation pier '
re lined with women with babies in