The Washington times., 1904-01-02
lI@ HILDREN OF THE TENE-
MENTS." a book OF some
~ bulk and many illustrations.


~ bulk and many illustrations.
might be called the first ex-
cursion of Jacob Riis into the world OF
fiction, but for one thing: IL is not fic-
ton Though some OF the chapters are
cast in story form. It is all genuine fact:
and therein lies its charm. The enthu-
siesm. vigor and warmth of heart so
Characteristic of Mr.. Riis are to be seen
as plainly here as in his How the
other Half Lives" Had the book ap-
peared anonymously it might have been
hailed as unusually realistic slum fic-
ton Coming from an author OF known
experience and truthfulness. it can only
be regarded as a valuable collection of
human documents and a capital bit OF
literature withaI.
OF the way in which it came into be-
ing, the author SAYS:
Il have been asked great many
times In the last dozen years II I would
not write an East Size novel and I
have sometimes had much difficulty in
convincing the publishers that I meant
II when I said / would not. Yet the
reason is plain: 1 cannot. I wish could
There are some facts one can bring
home much more easily than otherwise
by wrapping them in fiction But
never could invent even a small part
of plot. The story has TO come TO me
complete before can tell H. The
stories printed in this volume came to
me in the course Of my work as police
reporter for nearly quarter of CEN
fury. and were printed I'm my paper"
1t may be worth while to recall in this
connection the cutting observations of
James L. Ford on the subject Of East
Side literature. Mr.. Ford wrote on this
about the time Gala CHER appeared
and its author got himself personally
into scrape (never recorded in PRINT
settlement work The contempt of Mr..
Ford for all the tribe of Davis is with
out limit. and he ascribes the vogue and
the DEFICIENCIES of these writer's to the
ignorance of a public which habitually
regards magazine literature as far su-
perior to newspaper literature He
says. reporting an imaginary converse
ton between young reporter and some
magazine writer's, at reception:
"One of the young literary men viii
go on to say in proof OF his theory
about the literary poverty OF New York.
that the magazines have already pub
hshed a great many articles and stories
about the Bowery and the East Side,
and have in fact quite covered the field
without enriching the literature OF the
day to any very noticeable degree. All
of which is perfectly true. but the re-
suits might have been different had the
work been intrusted in each case TO a
ject instead OF to one whose only quail
hcation was that he had mastered the
art OF writing matter suitable for maya
zines-Or in other words. literature
An exception to this rule. and a notable
one, too, was made in the case OF Jacob
A. Riis.
This was written about ten years ago,
since which time stories even more
weird than Davis have appeared in the
togethe- with more or less
STACEY fiction purporting to be of news
paper life. in contrast 70 the paint and
tinsel and limelight of this type OF fic-
ton. Mr. Riis' simple little tales take
on almost the aspect of masterpieces. |
They are thoroughly good, every one of
them.
Nothing is too fine or heroic for the
viriIc language of this reporter-author;
no cause is too insignificant for his
great. generous heart to plead There IL
a stirring chapter in the life of the fire
man. full Of moving incidents and thrill |
ing deeds. and at the end of it is this:
when a fireman grows old. he is re-
tired on half pay for the rest of his
days When a horse that has run with
the heavy engines TO fires by night and
by day for perhaps ten or fifteen years
is worn out II is-sold to huckster,
perhaps. or a contractor, to slave for
him until it is fit only for the boneyardi
The city receives a paltry two or three
thousand dollars 3 year for this rank
and pockets the blood money
without protest"