New-York tribune., 1906-02-25
Need of School in Little Italy.
Colony of Fifty Thousand Italians Where Chidrens A
Think Edueational Work Should Be Started.

printing class In Leonerd-st with me twenty
businesses. and are bringing up their families
!n comfort Another of my classmates there is
manager Of American printing office; another
holds an important position in Of the largest
American print shops In the city. Another
Owls one OF the best and Oldest machine shops
in Centre-st., shop which makes machinery
for the American trade Another is a large
fruit importer, with business In Park Place
and another has fine fruit store in the Euui-
table Arcade. Another became the nrst italian
policeman in New-Yori and is now In the real
estate business
Nov. all these were poor, friendless boys
who would have had no other chance to get a
start in life. All had to work IN the daytime
and would have had no other chance to learn
English. which was the most important Of all
things TO them. remember particularly three
brothers, all of them successful business
men. They all sold quill .toothpicks on thu
street II was before the days of wooden tooth
PICKS. None OF them knew how 20 read or write
lAnan' nor even TO talk II, for they spoke dia-
leot They learned to read, write and speak
English In that school. and through that picked
up the italian afterward for themselves There
were girls in the evening classes who sold hov-
ers by day in the streets, worked in factories
MIS-. Weygandt, now the principal Of the even-
ing school at No. 1b6 Leonard-st, was one of
them. My wife was also one of the pupils, and
afterward taught In the school. All the girls
who went to that school have trained their chill
dren more intelligently because of It,
Now. there is just great need to-day for
another Children's Aid Society school for the
Italians in Little Italy there was twenty-five
years ago in the downtown colony The Fabbri
family and other early comers among the Ital-
ians helped TO build the Leonard-st school and
befriended II for years. The late Mrs. Fabbri
for many years provided the hot dinners served
daily at that school. Little italy comprises the
territory. roughly speaking from Tooth to llBth-
st. and from I'd to Pleasant-ave. In this terri
tory live fifty thousand Italians, later corners
and therefore poorer than the downtown colony
There are few centres OF social uplift in this
region. The city provided Thomas Jefferson
Park, which is a great benefit. There are two
public schools. believe. and one Settlement.
There is one kindergarten. provided by private
agency. Two more like it could be filled in it's
immediate neighborhood from its waiting list.
But what the section needs Is another great
ehildren's aid society school, where Immigrant
children will be sought out. visited In their
homes and got into school. Children who have
not decent clothing cannot and will not 20 TO
the public schools. The Chiidren's Aid Society
| clothes such children. Children who are not
HSA4AN4SAS nOurisnsu cannot study. such chill
dren are fed by the society. Sewing, cooking.
millinery and dressmaking classes are needed for
the girls; trade classes for the boys AS In all
immigrant families, the children pick M the
| LANGUAGE and other American ways more quick
~ than the parents. and then begin 10 look down
on tneir parents and escape from their control.
| Such children have peculiar need of American
| irlenos. TO bring them In touch with the better
american lie, not merely the life of the streets.
| gymnasium is needed for them. Social clubs
| are needed for them where they can go In the
| evenings Tor enjoyment. and be kept of the
| sQeets A small free music school, where chill
| oren VINO showed special talent could receive
| musical training, would be extremely useful.
| Ihers Is no people arriving among whom more
| musieal talent goes 10 waste than the Italians
People can earn a living by music as well as by
| would be discovered among the poor Italians of
/ New York In such a school The two upper
I stores OF that school ought TO be a dormitory
| tor homeless Italian boys. There are numbers
| OF OF theln running wild in Harlem. with no home
| ties. ano no prospects Of useful life. The pro-
| paion onicer of the Special Sessions Court is re-
| sponsiple Tor this statement.
| but most important OF all IL the English
Nouing else Is so vital to the italian in America
| 10 Itaiian can hope TO get on here without the
.anscaee Ano the English classes should be
put .die III ms evening to accommodate the
| working people There are no short hours for
LlAlihh WORKERS IN New-York They do the
nhroest work Tor the poorest pay, and with the
tohgest hoars. Evening English classes should
pegIn for them at O'Clock, even at $50 and
l NOV. have no doubt that Americana who
see the almost daily religious PROFESSIONS in