The sun., 1902-03-09
HOME OF The LITTLE MOTHERS
AN EAST SIDE INSTITUTION
THAT HELPS SMALL GIRLS.
It's work Among the Tenement children
VINO Have 10 Take Care OF Smaller
brothers and sisters The Influence
OF surroundin gs- Pride That the
children Take In Their Home.


OF surroundin gs- Pride That the
children Take In Their Home.
The lofty. mirror-lined rooms at 23o
Second avenue where the clever mon and
women Of two continents used TO assemble
as guests Of the British Consul, Ii now tho
home Of 6,O00 tenement reared young girls
who make UP the membership Of the Little
Mothers Aid Association. They and their
mothers come up nightly from the heart OF
the tenement district and sit In their club
meetings under a wonderful cut-gass
chandelier. bought by the Consul, and their
shabby figures are reflected in three mir
rors OF Venetian glass.
"Pitifully as we need money say the
officers of the association, "we would not
turn that glass and gilt into dollars. It's
influence Is really stronger than we are
Indeed the sparkling chandelier has
thrown its beams far into the dark OF the
East Side. and illumined many a top-story
home ond frightened life for many dis
couraged heart. The associations work
is In its twelfth year. And many homes
in New York owe 10 it gifts ranging from
rent and bread to health and cleanliness.
and the use of books.
"Our name ought 70 go to everybody's
heart" said Mrs A'C. Packard, the super
intendent, 10 a Sun reporter. Girls under
IA make up our membership, some OF them
and years old
Upon these devolves the care Of two or
three babies while their mother is out al
work, and often of a nelghbor's child, too
They are the little mothers and they have
had almost no childhood themselves
When the association bought the great
house called the old Canada" place, for
5000, the officers chose It partly on ac-
count of its location, and partly because
Il is beautiful. Nearly all homes Of phil
anthropic effort, they argued, lack the
dignity and atmosphere which are power
full allies TO actual effort.
The huge drawing room, the music room
back OF IL and the library at the rear, con-
uected by great carved archways and
sliding glass doors; the enormous mirrors
and chandeliers and the handsome velvet
portere sold with the house did not. they
thought, make the -Canada" place insult
able for their purpose. Far from that 4,
il enabled them to prove that the children
Of the tenements are peculiarly sensitive
TO their surroundings and TO turn that
senstiveuess to good account.
we have wonderfully proved our belief
In what would be the influence Of the house, .
said Mrs. Packard. "The children were
happy at first just to walk through the
rooms. Gradually, when II was necessary
we let them use the dravingroom for their
sewing classes.
1T is strange, indeed, 10 SEQ the little
! pnched faces and plain gingLam gowns
| working soberly on coarse garments in
! the rooms whose walls look ready To welcome
l,,,., a , l.v,l1t 1ta,, 90
whom they used 70 shelter. But ! doubt
| If the mirrors. rejecting velvet -gowned
and jeweled women in he old days, We're
ever filed with such happy faces as on the
night when the mot hers Of the little mothers
| decently shawled, slip in and sit breathless
| through an entertainment by their children.
THE personal pride OF the children in
the place is not only pride in their home,
but pride because II is a beautiful home.
| Sometimes / enter the drawing room sud-
denly and find little girl stepping delicately
| about with dust cloth, lovingly touching
the marble Of the mantle or the gilt frames
Of the glass. They - cal in unbidden to this
| task, and il is recreation to them.
/ never recall without tears the JOY
they had in the purchase of the house. We
| had outgrown the Stuyvesant street place,
and the floors on Third avenue and the
whole house in Tweuty-frst street, and
the classes were sadly cramped for room.
After we bought the house one Of the little
mothers came 70 n temperance meeting
with newspaper in her hand
Girls, she said, now we're rich. We've
bought house.
house? Well. then we're very poor be-
cause we've got 10 pay for IT,.
so | put up box on the wall for their
pennies to go toward the new house, and
in an incredibly short time they had saved
SIS these children who have nothing.
This is our house they tell visitors
now. We helped pay for this house
Indeed, they did help, with cents and
with tears. one bitterly cold day while the
box was vet untitled two little girls came,
bringing their tiny brother
Baby would come, they said; he has
a penny for the box.
$50 they stood him on a chair and ne
dropped in the cent; and Lizzie, the sister
who had earned il, turned her wistful face
10 me, the tears kept bravely back, as she
said.
well, nT help buy the house, which,
ever one puts il in
Il bolicve tho love and reverence those
children have for their home j. a great
deal owing 10 their delight in its real beauty.
II We let them IN here for a day we influence
them. IL Is not only another world in
spirit, hut 10 them il is another visible
world.
briefly. our aim is simply to take care
| OF these little girls who are entrusted with
the duties Of mothers before they can
speak plainly; to constitute ourselves "A
that they themselves may 20 20 school;
and then. when school is over, to welcome
them home 20 bread and mi15. and two hours
of cass-work in cooking and sewing and
general housewoTk.
"The lessons In personal cleanliness,
in care of clothing, and In morals; the loan
ing of books the mothers club; the shelter
ing Of those turned out OF doors at night
| by drunken parents, the summer outings
| for them all. and the daily care and amusc-
ment Of the babies brought from dark
teucments to our sunny nursery, clothed
In clean gngham and taught their letters
these are some Of the things we try 20 carry
on. The life of a little mother is the es-
sonce OF sadness Of the entire tenement
house district.
At half past 8 o'clock they come here
mornings, and sit on the steps, and on the
Il, ~ on either side Of tho door, waiting
patiently to get in. The home opens at
o'clock.
by that time we have from dozen 70
twenty little women, carrying one-year
and two-year-old baby brothers and sisters.
all waiting for their breakfast We let
them in and feed them, and send the babies
up TO the nursery where there is wonder
land of toys such as most of them never
dreamed Of Then for a little while We
mother the little mothers.
Every one of them has successfully
TO pass inspection before she can go to
4. IL. IL N..V ~