Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-09-08
CHILDREN OF THE sLUMs.
Pitiful Scenes In the Wards of q Lon.
don Hospital.
From IOndOn Exnrosa

Pitiful Scenes In the Wards of . LOn-
don Hospital.
From the London Express.
Come along with me through the
wards" said the doctor. I'll show you
what Is meant by an East End waster.'
Telling conveys nothing-you need to see
it to understand" He led the way into the
long ward, shady with green venetian
blinds. cool with airy ventilators and
bright with fresh flowers; its double row Of
cots down each side. and line of cribs up
the center. He stopped at one, saying.
Look here" as he circled a finger into .
tiny hand to open it and show it's awful
thinness. From wrist to finger-tip 1t seemed
absolutely feshness. Tiny, threadlike bones,
almost transparent skin just holding them
together.
Look at it's feet" he went on. gravely.
IF you want to know how these East End
children live and die" And he untucked
the covers to find and show the incredibly
small things. But the child was six months
baby wasting they call it in simple
English. Here is another" and he crossed
the ward. Have you ever seen arms like
this?' He unfastened it's things to show
its shoulders and chest. Its upper arm was
distinctly smaller than the mans little
finger The wizened little face. the gaping
mouth the shriveled, loose, all unattached
skin at its throat and shoulders, simply
Think of the gay, cooling, Growing. kicking
mites that one can rubble up and play with
at three months that don't grow in sIumsl
In the next cot was an eighteen-months-
old child. Faint, painting and dangerous,
he lay there outside the covers for cool
ness sake. Unheeding, unseeing eyes. q
dolly cuddled in his arms, and the pitiful-
est, whitish, gauntest little legs imagina.
ton can conceive-it seemed impossible
they could be part Of any living thing.
We went into another. 1t seemed a rep
etition, but he said: mo. These are rather
'baby-wasting' cases. These are rather
older children. suffering from summer ale
mentary disorders. insufficient nourish-
ment weakens them: then what food they
do get Is mostly stuff utterly unfit for them
to touch-unripe fruit, over-ripe fruit, stale
vegetable stuff from yesterdays costers'
carts-then this kind Of thing sets in.
1.-THE child mortality during July and Au-
gust every year in the East End, produced
by bad food, is too fearful to contemplate.
This child is dying from 1t now" and he
turned to cot in which over the face Of q
little chap of two and half was already
dawning the unmistakable hue that Hood
once described as
Deaths own violets that he gives
When he steals Lies roses
"Then take it that large proportion Of
your cases and Of your mortality are simply
the direct consequence of bad environment
and wrong conditions of living?"
Undoubtedly: far the greater proportion.
With cleanliness pure air and proper food
the greater part of the East End chill
drens sickness would be simply impossible.
To the babies 1t comes as this wasting: to
the older ones there are all the malnutri-
ton and alimentary disorders which make
the special mortality of the hot months.
Then right on, there are still the crippled
lives and the mortality produced by all
the scrofulous diseases and hip cases.
Down here they live and sleep, con-
stantly six in rooom, and Of course the
window Is nailed up. You can't induce an
East End woman to open the window-she
won't. Yet fresh air is the children's only
possible chance. Every hours fresh air.
every single meal OF wholesome and proper
food, is just SO much salvation to the East
End child"