News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-01-28

| $500
| still preserves its eQuanimity.
Let me know the result of your in
terview. please" she finally said as
John Gordon lapsed into a silent brood
ing.
He went into the business city next
day and entered the bank of which
Rufus Gordon was president with a
feeling that he strove to subdue and
the prayer that he might not be pro-
voked into saying some things that
burned in his heart. At the same time
when he was once in his fathers pres
ence ne began to doubt his ability to
discuss the facts calmly.
Mr.. Rufus Gordon showed no sur
prise at the sight of his son, although
the two had not met since that event.
full day when John Gordon had taken
somewhat formal leave of his home.
| "Will you take a seat?" Rufus Cor
don spoke with the cold politeness he
might have shown any man who had
! in all probability come to negotiate for
loan.
John Gordon remained standing and
came at once to the point of his err
rand.
Father, we have decided each to go
! his own way. but that does not mean
| that we are never to have anything
more to do with each other, does it?'
when you are tired of your present
| foolishness you can come back. There
was the faintest suggestion in Rufus
| GOrdon's manner of relenting in his
| tone and attitude. The lips trembled
| slightly, and the eyes rested for just
| an instant on the sons face before
! coming back to the apparently indiffer-
| ent gaze that had been directed at the
| table.
81 have not come to talk of that
| father. 1t is impossible for me to
change my purpose What l have come
to see you about is this: You control
some tenant property in Waterside dis
trict, Bowen street, two blocks south
of Hope House. DO you know from
personal knowledge the condition of
that property?
Instantly over Rufus GOrdon's face
swept an angry wave of color
II 10 hOIC VI SOul puolliCSS' L hlO 10
part Of your contemplate meddling as
a reformer in other peoples affairs"
But it is my business! 1t is the
business of every man. Father, do
you know the horrible condition of that
property and the awful condition of
the people living there?"
Rufus Gordon made no answer, but
bo opUor yJyoc oyi1aptIv, in,
him. John Gordon waited moment.
All his accumulated passion growing
out of what he had seen and heard dur
ing that one short week in Hope House
was in danger of rising like a torrent
against his own father. But when he
spoke it was with an earnestness that
revealed his attempt at SELF mastery.
"Nos. II and 10, owned by you,
father, contain seventeen families.
They are, as l suppose you know, front
and rear tenements. They are both
horribly out Of repair and absolutely
unfit for human habtation. Take the
case of tie plumbing. There are no
revents to any of the pipes, and only
one waste pipe has a trap. That is of
no value because of the condition of
the catch basins, which are below
ground and have simply become so
clogged with grease that they are cess
pools that overflow the court and even
run over into the basement, where two
families are living. Back of No
10 on the alley is a stable in which
a vegetable dealer keeps two horses
and a COW. These are directly under
a room which has been added to the
old brick bakery, that is in a terrible
state of decay and threatens to fall
down. If it does, as it is liable to do
at any time, it will certainly result in
the death or injury of the tenants. All
the plumbing is in direct violation of a
distinct city ordinance which makes it |
an offense to put in piping without
traps, reVentS and catch basins to ac-
cumulate material that clogs the sewer
connections. The overcroWding is sim |
ply indescrbable.
I'm both these tenements that you
own and control there is less than 200 |
square feet of floor area for families |
of from five to seven, living in three |
and two rooms. There are six bed |
rooms in No. II that are absolutely |
dark and that in spite of the ordinance |
which provides that every room Of a |
tenement or lodging house must have |
window space equal to at least one |
tenth of its floor area. These rooms |
not only do not have one-tenth window |
space, but they do not have any at all |
Ley are simply dark rooms, the only |
light and air that ever enter them be- |
ing what can get in through the door, |
which in many cases opens on a middle |
room, which in turn has no light or
air except what can enter through a
shaft between the front and rear tene- |
ments only six feet wide and into
which the tenants throw their garbage |
because the boxes in front are broken |
and overlooking. Father, these human
beings are rotting in these inhuman
surroundings, and no language can
convey the awful horror of child life,
the cruel torture of mother life com
PEELED to give birth to children, to
nurse sick babies, to prepare meals, to
endeayor to obtain sleep or rest, in
the heart of overpowering odors. all in
less space and with less light and air
than a human being would grant to a