The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
"ARE YOU A TEACHER?"

Compliment Paid 60 Some women visitors
IN the streets Of the Poor.
A New York woman with a visiting friend
had occasion to walk through Little Italy
in Harlem the other day.
On 18th street, near First avenue, the
New York woman was accosted by two
Italian children:
Hello, teachai See liz pigi LiI' roas'
pigl See!" and running into the street the
children stopped their mother, who was
crossing, bearing in her hands a cunning
little porker in an iron pan evidently fresh
! from the oven. The Italian woman smil-
ingly repeated the children's words:
Yes, teacha, ILL pig, he yus roas'.'
Tn visiting friend remained perched
on the curbstone clutching her skirts high
with both hands, her nose tilted in disap-
prevail Of the fish in the pedler's pushcart
and the beans sold by the old woman on
the corner.
why did they call you teacher7" she
exclaimed to the New York woman. 'And
why did you stop to look at that dread
full pig2'
Perhaps one OF your questions may
answer the other replied the New York
woman. Il guess they called me teacher
because they thought l looked as il ! should
care &c see the pig. Or perhaps they
thought i should like to see the pig be-
cause 1 looked like a teacher"
-oh, well, il you are going to be eng
matic-"
But they had reached their destination;
the new Italian church on Hath street
facing the park. They were hardly seated
before a tiny Italian woman with a bounc-
ing baby entered timidly. then approached
the two American women and sat down
beside them.
The New York woman smiled and patted
the bahy's cheeks and asked how old it was.
The mother replied in a very poor attempt
at English. After a while she looked con-
tidiqgly at the stranger, saying;
sYes, kind Of a teacher replied the
woman.
After dinner that evening as the doiugs
Of the day were being rehearsed the visit
ing friend suddenly remembered the
.why do those people call you teacher2-
TO be ad dressed as teacher by one Of
the tenement district dwellers is the sweet
est music to my ears, the New York woman
replied. You never hear a child in this
part of the city speak TO me that way. I'm
no different from all other women in my
appearance to their eyes. as
"But to the little dwellers in the slums
In. the foreign quarters, in the neighbor-
hood of the settlements and free kinder
gartens, the teacher is an angel OF light,
and to be taken for one of these creatures
is the highest compliment that a woman
can receive.
at has saving grace, too. One day l
went to Chinatown by appointment to meet
a mission worker. After threading my
way with fear through the dark, narrow
=. - aWnLaa 80 g-a..Lr..- ILL.,
and beating heart two flights of stairs past
scarey looking yellow men l found the
mission room door locked. My missionary
had misunderstood the hour.
AT last in response to my desperate
rapping and rafting at the door a young
Chinaman peered furtively out. CHANGING
me over swiftly, he exclaimed.
-'You alice samee teacher
-Yes, yes, l cried, let me in
FL found myself in the midst OF a group
OF Cinnamon to whom l was introduced
az 'allee samee tes err and was respect
fully welcomed entertained until the
arrival of the ti.ltory missionary. When
he came he treasured my timid spirits.
"'Oh, you be safely in Chinatown. Alice
Cinnamon tinka you teacher. he said.
Another time ] was walking in the San
Juan Hill district in the early summer
evening. As came upon a group of vicious
looking black men and wicked looking
white men blocking the sidewalk / hesitated
what to do. l didn't dare to press through
the crowd, yet l didn't wish to be a coward
and go back, and even fight seemed danger
GUS.
my eyes fell on a young colored couple
sitting on the nearest stoop, the mother
holding a dear little baby decked out in
spotless white gown and cap trimmed with
r~oeettes Of bright pink ribbon.
What a dear babyv I said, going up to
the mother. How old is it? And how
becoming those pink ribbons are!'
"'Yas, um.' the little woman answered,
and then after a few words, You one OF der
teachers?'
"'Yes, kind of a teacher is my unfailing
reply. -,
dren near by.
Teacher, teacher they yelled, and
soon a crowd Of youngsters, black and white,
surrounded me.
THE men dispersed and | was escorted
down the hill by a battalion Of children as
safely as If q platoon Of police had been
detailed to protect me.
often and often a child, or more likely
two or three children of the slums meeting
me will slide a soft thou gh dirty little arm
about my waist or knee and beg the privi-
lege of walking the length of the street with
teacher And pitifully often in the sum-
mer, ] am besieged with appeals from
little street urchins unknown to me-.
Can't you help get me into the country,
tea cherH they ask.
.As | said before, | am never more highly
cOnpLlmenJeO tnAn l am When this title i6
bestowed upon me. ] feel that ] have in
some way acquired the hall mark"
We'll, what is the hall mark" asked the
visiting friend. NO one called me
teacher"
mo, you didn't really look as if you cared
for roast pig"
But joking aside. now 10 the children
distinguish"
Having studied the question, | NAV say
with all modesty that these little claimants
IN a,r namur1 nnI Nhnsr a-NkA- n. .-II
seem 10 have decided that airy woman OF
respectable appearance, possessing some
little degree of evident refinement, of digni-
! fed bearing, wearing an earnest face, show
ing an interest in human beings, especially
children and most especially babies, and
having a pleasant word or a su my smile
for all little folk, must belong to that noble
army of teachers who in schools, chu riches,
missions and tents. are doing 40 much to
uplift the littlest ones OF the city"
Hawk Tried TO Carry Away a Dog.
I