The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-17
THE BLOCK OF MANY CHILDREN
or WHOM CAME NONE TO STEFAN
AND MARIE BAJZEk.

wherefore stepan and Marie After five
Years waiting Have Tried Another
wOrId where MAyhap the Neighbors
no Not Mock Those VINO Are ChIldlcss.
The light hearted, hard toiling Bohemians
who MI the solid block Of tall enc
ments between Sixty-fourth and sixty-hfth
streets and First avenue and the East River
call It the Block Of Many Children. In
all the crowded East Side, where small
swarthy folk fairly pack the streets from
early morning until late at night, lodging
miraculously from under trucks n trolley
cars, there In no block with more. A long
time ago, with such as read the papers,
race suicide became a fine Joke, something
that would draw hearty laughter over the
light wine, make the housewives merry
as they chartered on the stoops and cause
the fathers to glance knowingly at one
another as they watched their broods scat
tering over the streets like black ants.
Taking pride in their big families, the
fathers and mothers Of the Block OF Many
Children spoke scornfully OF the few mar
ried couples who had none, dinging sharp
witticisms at them, jokes with a contempt
uous tinge that made the childless bitter.
They were pointed out to the newcomers
from across the ocean as proper subjects
Tor sucn rude yssrs as the siav peasant
knows very we'll how to make.
The Bajzeks. Stepan and Marie; went to
live in the Block Of Many Children five
years ago, just after they were married
in q little Bohemian village near Prague,
and came here to make their fortunes.
Stepan, who was ~ years old, . wiry,
sturdy young man with some skill as a car
penter, got steady work atshis trade. Marie,
slender, black eyed and dark skinned. the
p~rettiest bride in the block, knew how to
roll cigarettes swiftly and deftly, 80 fast
that the eve wearied in following her slen-
der, rapid fingers as they twisted the thin
papers and tiny rolls Of tobacco into neat
cylinders. She made much money, and her
savings went with Stepan's into the bank
against the coming OF the babies.
On the stoops in summer evenings marie
n Stepan sat and watched the swarming
children with a tolerant smile. Undouot-
edly these were fine children, we'll grown
and s~turdy-but just wait.
That was for two years. In the
third year tongues began to wag In the
block. II was a long time TO wait Tor emil
dren. the neighbors said. and when new
folk came out Of the old country and found
places in the great warren, the sPiteful
pointed the Baj1eks out to them. .
"Oho!" these would laugh, Look at
In491 DHlEtkH, II yOu viii n - -
rem. The saints have turned from these
people. Is il not a fine joker
There were other jokes made by the
malicious and spiteful that found their
way directly to Stepan and Marie. Inc
couple hid their sadness as much as possible.
fiinging back Jest for Jest, smiling to con-
ceaI the bitterness that was in their hearts.
Thew did not neglect the saints and spent a
portion OF their earnings every week tor
good wax candles, candles with a full rich
lame.
In the fourth year the mockery became
worse. 1t was a shameful thing to Marie
and Stepan to be grinned at and know tnst
winks were being exchanged even by the
very new people who were, they considered,
not their equals in any manner. Their
sorrow was a greater thing to them, though
than the gliding. and mockery. Children
they knew by this time, were not Tor them
One day Marie said to Stepan:
Husband, let Va 20 to a founding asylum
and take a very young baby from II. After
awhile il will be forgotten that It IL not our
own and people will cease jeering at US.
From an asylum they took a year-old
babv and adopted il. Tn ~neighbors
laughed at them, but little by little the
Joking ceased and people, as Marie hac
said, began to regard the baby as theil
own, The baby was very dark, remarkably
so. even for one Of their race and they hao
made sure, they thought, that 1t was o.
their own people. When it was 2 years ole
a few months ago a busyoody OF me olocl
? / IoAIn6O ia OIL Nuy AtAah NAE -
, negro blood in its veins He fastened e
, tell the whole block, exaggerating and dis
torting the unpleasant discovery.
Marie and Stepan suffered worse thaI
ever from mockery. They returned tn
baby to the asylum and ceased minglini
with their neiRhbors, except for a few llh
? Mrs. Peter Nader, who had been kind Z
them and had sympathised with them II
their trouble. One night a lew months az
/ thew were found unconscious In their maj
/ hall dead from the poisonous gas that wa
mourning out OF two jets. They were pre-
vented from dying then, but all the neigh
bors knew that Stepan and Marie wer
= eager to die because they had become
! mock in the Block Of Many Children:
: Last Saturday night Stepan and Mari'
Z were in fine spirits. They invited two o
9 three Of the neighbors TO their fiat, wher'
y wine and food were set upon the table, me e
3 smallest pleasantly Of their guests an
} passed. the wine with the r~srrieet OF talk.
-It is past 1 o'clock" said Mrs. Madel
q finally. Il must go home
q together. Lets eat and drink and laug
while we can. Who knows h to-morro'
o may boz" =,
other guests. Marie followed her to tn
V door. The little cigarette maker thre'
n her arms around her friend neck and bega
- -stepan acts queerly," said Marie =
am afraid, my friend Stepan, sittin
a at the table where the white cloth wa
n splotched red with the wine, looked at HI
wife and laughed loudly.
Yesterday morning about 1880 ocloc
Mrs. Nader went to the Bajxek Hat to q
her ice. For economy she shared tn
D.. Baizek's iceboK. In the hall she smelle
gas. The j~anitor got the door open; Lynn
on the bed were Stepan and his wife, quit
IN dead. The gas was flowing from the or
m ceiling Jet in the room.
Coroner Hamburger decided that II was
10 case OF accidental asphyxiation, but u
.: ~neiRhbors knew better. Also. many
Of them were p~enitent and ashamed.
ID FLOBERT BULLET FEELS.