The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-07-06
A HOT DAY IN NEW YORK.


ike fiery furnace; the agony Of dumb +
brutes thar dropped dead by the way 4
side; strong men suddenly stricken down 4
and robbed Of vitality and conscsousness. /
the quick rumble CT wheels and the clang /
OF the ambulance bell. and over It all the {
vail Of little chil6-that IS the way I /.
should write the history OF yesterday. !
says Dorothy DIX. in Tuesdays New /
York Journal
Terrible as the heat was Tor al, Il was
most terrible for the children. Il is al
ways they who suffer most. Rich people
gathered up their precious darlings and
led with them 70 cool forest shades or
N-inc-swept sea sands. The poor could
only watch their little ones fade end
wither. Ike blighteG flowers. under the
ritiless sun, ana as I made my way down
through the narrow, crowded streets IL
the tenement district of the East SIDE
marvelled that ronancers should so long
have set their most pathetic scenes amidst
snow and ice and dsnicted cold as the
climax OF human suHerings
1t is the burning heat OF summer that IS
hardest on the poor Here was a traE-
edy Of universal. inescap abls suffering
TO which the hitterest wlater weather
could offer no parallel. Every house. you
would think. must have emptied its hG-
man hive into the street. The pavements
were packed with men and women. half
dressed. desperately hugging the little
strips OF shade thrown by the build
ings, and painting, sweating, gaspins for
a breath OF the fiery hot air that came.
laden with evil odors up the street.
Children. sometimes with bat a single
garment on, played about. and fought
with each other over hte clippings of ice
that were broken OF Of a piece being
carried into a butcher shop. In one place
a dead horse. already swollen and hid
ecus, lay on one side Of the street, and
brutal little boys were running and jump
ing on the poor Observation-Disclosures
ing on the poor carcass. Just opposite
woman had tainted and fallen on the
sidewalk, and about her had gathered in
an instant the curious, cormorant street
crowd, the women tanning her and chat
tering in polyglot tongues.
Looking up at the rows OF houses you
saw that the fire escapes swarmed with
mere babies pushed out there because II
was cooler than in the room where the
mother was perhaps cooking dinner or
washing clothes. Down on the pavement
many Of the smaller children-the little
ones. two and three years old-too weak
and langlIid 20 even move. had crawled
into the shadow Of a friendly dry goods
box or fruit stall, or sprawled across
some door-sil. And I noticed that the
men and women passing in and out
stepped by them with rough tenderness
weary looking, hallow-eyed from the
lack Of sleep. pacing up and down. up
and down, like q sentry on his beat, hush
ing a fretfui baby on her breast.
From one house a frantic father and
mother rushed out. The man had q
baby in his arms, its little head hanging
limp and nfeiess over his arm. The child
had been sick Tor several days, and had
dropped under the heat. All night II had
walled feebly. and the mother had ex-
hausted all her love and skin IN trying
to soOthe It. When morning camo she
had 70 cook the family meal. and laid the
baby on the bed. Suddenly the piteous
little moaning ceased. and when she turn
ed in 70 see what was the matter she
could not rouse the child. II had coll
lapsed, and the heat had scored another
victim.
This is the final terror OF summer in the
tenement. To build a fire IN the stove
is like stoking a thrice-heated furnace
It makes the one little room IN which
often a whole family sat, sleep and live
a veritable inferno. in which year after
year, during the hot weather, a frightful
and heart-breaking slaughter of the in
nocentS takes place.
The one thing that charity has been
able TO do to ameHorate the suflerings Of
the children of the poor has been TO
build a number of recreation piers tut
ting out into the water and swept by
cooling breezes, aud during the hot
weather these are crowded Early IN the
morning before the gates are opened,
a long line Of patient mothers are wait
ing for admission, and all day long they
come, bringing their little children for
few hours respite from the sitting ten
ements.
Such pathetic little creatures as Sc
many of the babies are, tool So white
and so wan, too feeble to even cry a
good lusty cry, and with little hands
no bigger than a monkeys paw, yet the
anxious mothers hang over them with as
much love and sol citude as If they were
the prize baoy IL a baby show, and
question each other wistfully TO know II
they DOM think that already the cool air
is beginning TO do the little one good.
The outer edges Of the recreation pier
are lined with women with babies In their
arms. and there are solid phalanxes OF
perambulatOrs, but, OF course. the ma
jority OF the children are larger, and
these play among themselves or bring
along an old toy or two. which they en-
Joy with that singleness OF heart that
belongs to little ones whose pleasures are
few and far between
One OF the touching phases OF the
scene is the presence, in overwhelming
number of the little mothers Of the
East Side. They are not there. as their
years entitle them TO be. TO run with the
wind or enjoy the merry rOnps. They are
weighted down with responsibility, care
buprdened, keeping a watchful eye upon
the little brothers and sisters they are
sent TO mind
talked with one little mother. nine
years Old, with her yellow hair in two
rigid and mpromising pig tails be-
hind her ears and an air OF worldly Wis
dom and maternal experience that sat
quantity upon her. IN her arms she
hushed the most wizzened and hideous
little creature one could imagine tiny
bundle Of skin and bones with little legs
no bigger than a mans finger Up and
down, with that peculiar caressing. sooth-
ing, undulatinE movement that only
comes with much experience IN handling
babies. she moved the lttle bundle Of
humanity, while with her f0ot she Kept
Tickety perambulat0r in motion
They are twins sch announced. ex-
ultingly, and thev are six weeks OIL.
I've got Eve others. au boys. 10 look
after, and IL keeps me busy. n tie
Oldest
At the hospitals very few cases of
heat prostration among children has
reported. and at the CnIds Hospital 0n
Lexington avenue Only q few had been
brought in. Several reasols we're srEEest-
ed Tor this. one is that the rare1ts took
better care Of the children thau fley Old
of themselves Another was thar the
children. - prostrated, were generally ~
home. where they were plr 20 bed AID a
physician either summoned or they vrers
treated by their mother All physicians.
however. agreed thlr the number 81 chic
drsn Wno have died During the present