The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-22
NEW YORK'S POOR OVBRPED.
qHE CHILDREN SUFFEB FROM
A CONTINUAL STUFFlNGs

qHE CHILDREN SUFFEB FROM
A CONTINUAL STUFFHNGs
Family Outings Even Among tho wen 70 DO
Result D~issstrousiy for the Little Ones
Because OF the Ever Open Lunch Bex
TOO Much Fruit and Cake Eaten.
New Workers eat too much. The number
Of hospitals, dispensaries and physioans.
TO say nothing Of the death rate, might
easily be cut ia half II the daily rations OF
the rich, the we'll to do and even Of the
majority OF the poor were In summer re-
duced one-third.
This is the opinion Of Health experts; who
support their assertions with q lot OF inter-
eeting statistics relating to the size Of the
stomach, the amount Of work II can safely
do, the sort Of food most conducive to health
and longevity-interesting to the medical
profession, that Is. No one else apparently
pays any attention to them. The average
New Yorker prefers to eat, drink and be
merry and take the consequences without
the aid Of statistics.
The Board of Health was never 30 prodigal
ss nov In It's distribution Of free literature
dealing with the questions Of how often
and how much one should eat in hot weather,
what foods would better be avoided. what
produce the best results. Nevertheless.
New York continues day and night and
all the time to consume q remarkable variety
Of foods, washed down with q still more re-
markable variety Of liquids, hard and soft,
and to build and endow hospitals which
subsequently are filed two-thirds with tho
comparatively poor.
.There is a lot written and said these days
about the extravaganza Of the feasts Of the
rich and the hunger Of the poor. but during
the summer. at least. the peril Of New York's
poor, I find, is not hunger, but too much
food remarked with energy q worker con
nected with a philanthropio organization.
THE rich are sayed from some of the
penalties Of an overcrowded stomach by
the fact that their feasts are periodical.
They may gorge themselves, perhaps,
from time to time, but they do stop eating
for a few hours afterward. The canons Of
polite society frown on the lunch basket
continuous performance.
Among the poorer classes these canons
do not exist, and it tries my soul, to say
nothing Of my stomach, to watch the indis-
oretions OF young and old-but especially
Of the young-on the days outings, which
at this time Of year form so large q part Of
their social schedule. On suoh occasions It
Is eat, eat, eat, from the time the family
leaves home In the morning till 1t gets back
at night, and until the various members are
stuffed to repletion. I have often ssen Q
child shake his head and turn away from
. preferred slice Of cake or a sandwich or q
banana held out by q injudiaious mother,
whose ambition seemed to be to empty the
lunch boxes before home was sighted. no
matter how tho youngsters felt about 1t.
'Tmso full I can't eat any more Q little
boy at my elbow said dolefully the other
day on the return trip by boat from Consy
Island. His mother had offered him a big
ginger cookie. Near him sat a girl Of about
4 crumbling one In her lap, and o fodder
clingtng to his mothers slirts held a sugar
cookie he was not eating. Each OF the chil.
dren, It was plain to see. was literally packed
full Of food. Instead Of going homo bright
eyed and energetic. invigorated by q day
beside the sea, they were lethargic and dull
eyed.
THAT trip to the island was a revelation
to me, and ever since I have been preaching
abstinence to al. the mothers I cone across
doing much good, however, I'm
afraid. for II Is not easy to overcome q fixed
Idea that the moro q child eats the better IL
Is sure to be.
For instance, on the occasion ! speak
Of, my seat was right in the thick Of o bevy
OF mothers and aunts, eaoh accompanied
by two or three children, who helped carry
innumerable pasteboard boxes packed, I
presumed, with lunch. Pretty soon 1 knew
for certain. It was about falf past 0 when
t1e boat left the Harlem dock and nearly
at Coney Island. En- route hundreds Of
children, 1t seemed to me-, came aboard at
the other two river stops. most of whom
looked peevish and tired, for It was o sis- |
zling hot morning.
what most Impressed me was this: |
Nc sooner had the boat swung out from
che first landing than lunch boxes were |
opened and a continuous feast was IN
progress till the end Of the trip. A pale
faced little boy In skirrs-he was about 3 |
attracted my atten- |
ton. I first saw him with q fat banana. |
Next he wal munching a round cake, the
sort which sell for one cent in any bakery. |
After that in succession I saw him with a |
peach, q plum, a stick OF gaudy oo.ored |
candy.
'In another party children under S, as |
we'll as their mothers, ate hard boiled eggs, |
ham sandwiches, bananas and other fruit,
cake and candy; and they ate
l heard one mother remark,
The fine sea air has given Jimmie
o n appetite already And Jimmie was
not allowed to have his hands empty Of
food one instant on that trip. Later on I
the sarne youngsters sitting on the
beach making away with chunks Of sweet
popcorn. The pale faced three-year-old
sharing o dish Of raw CLAIMS with his
On the way back to the city lunch boxes
were again II active commission and I saw
the same continual feeding Of old and
young.
Cant you eat this, Katyi I want to throw
the box overheard ono woman asked q
little girl Of 8 years OF 30, just before the
Battery pier came In sight, this being Q
sandwich. The little girl shook her head
YEARLY. I can tell you that trip opened
my eyes to the fact that some New York
suffer far moro from too mu Oh
than from too little food.
sM~ h~rn. L. l.. y-.~u CtA- ~.l r A--- I