The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-10
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she is, indeed, and you must think of
the rest
THE rest" were on the street, being
made heroes of to an extent, but not
too much; and being envied openly by
other children for their coming OPP
portunity to ride in a carriage Their
sharp little faces, unnaturally knowing
seemed wiser than ever as they de-
scribed to their circle what the under
taker had done and how much the fun
eral would cost.
Not Humanity BrutaIized.
Yet this humanity of the tenements
is not humanity brutalized This hui
mainly is bound together by commun-
al ties far closer and more intimate
than are those of happier districts. But
it is humanity in battle. The tenement
house jewellers look forward to the an
nEal summer dying of the children as
unquestioningly as the soldier looks
forward to the dying of comrades in
war Generation after generation has
seen 1t. In the spring mothers look at
their offspring and ask themselves
which ones are likely to be taken.
They tell each other that such a one
probably will not live through August.
Mute, accomplishing, they take heed
of the heat as it grows; unconsciously
heroic, they face death in a struggle
that is more direct than any except
where two men stand face
to face to kill; they trudge
for ten and fifteen long, sitting
blocks, carrying a SICK complaining
child to the ugly river piers TO catch
a. stray puff of air that happier NOR
tails would sniff at in disdain, but that
to those mothers is Gods own Mercy
sent to~earth.
The crowds that block the sidewalk
on the day of funeral so that way
hardly can be cleared for the coffin;
the hundreds of faces that stare with
open curiosity into the face of the
mother as she goes to the carriage
are not there because they lack SYM
pathy. Through generation after gen.
Grafton of conditions to which no
breeder of cattle would dream of sub
tecting his stock they have been rob-
bed of the human knowledge that what
grief Graves more than anything on
earth is privacy. In their bewildered
notions of living they despoil the be-
reaved of their communion with their
loved dead, because they know no
means for showing sympathy that is
not public.
They die as they have lived-in utter.
uncompromising publicity. The first cry
of the newly born is hailed by neigh
bors, and often the neighbors' children.
thronging around the bed. Childhood's
little griefs and joys belong by ac-
knowledged right to "the street." The
dark, odorous rooms are places to cook
in and otherwise only to seek when
shelter becomes absolutely necessary.
The real life of the tenement, from
childhood to death, is on the street the
fire escape and the roof.
Tenement Roof Gardens.
Long before the prosperous folk Of
the country had evolved the beautiful
idea of the roof garden, the poor of
New York had their roof gardens, not
for pleasure, but as vital factors of
living. Unlovely roof gardens they
were and are, with clothes posts and
lines instead of vines, smoking, SCOT
scattering chimneys instead of f1uted
columns, and the hundred stenches OF
dirty streets and suffocating thousands
instead of cooler airs.
There, night after night, the tene-
ment house folk gather to enjoy the
nearest approach of untrammeled So
cial life that they can ever know.
Lounging around on the painted tin,
blistered from the combined heat of
the days sun overhead and the kitchen
fires of the multitude of families be-
low, they make love. Somebody in every
house is sure to have a banjo. An
other somebody is sure to have that
cruelty mournful, but beloved instru-
ment, the ACCORDION. The young wo-