Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-01-18
FORCED TO SEEK RECREATION
IN PUBLIC PLACES.
Crowded and unattractIve Homes
Make Such Action Necessary
Have Legitimate Title to Fun
and Agreeable Society.
az MARGARET e. sANcsTER.

az MARGARET e. sANGsTER.
Anywhere on the east side Of New
York or In similar quarter in any
large commercial city, the streets
overflow with young people in the
evenings. If there happens to be a
park or bit of open space with an
occasional tree and benches here and
there, the student of social conditions
will note that a good deal of uncon-
cealed love-making is going on.
Young men sit unabashed, with
their arms around the waists OF girls
who do not seem embarrassed by the
smiles OF stares of spectators. Girls
and men stroll up and down, linger
on shadowy corners or In the glare OF
the electric lights. as If reluctant to
leave one anothers company. Cheap
theaters, circuses, ice cream saloons
and variety shows attract these young
folk who have never heard that a
chaperone is necessary, and who
would find the presence of one super
fluous. Their friends discuss them
and their affairs in fashion not
meant to be vulgar, which yet would
cause a shiver of disgust and elicit the
adjective common in more polite and
more fastidious circles.
"Sophy Is walking with her fellow"
Michel is treating his GIRL" are ia
miliar expressions as Michel leads the
way to table near a window and or
ders heaping saucers of pink ice
cream, while Sophy and her particular
| swain saunter slowly by.
There are not wanting severe critics
who frown ON this public display of
courtship, and who regard with deep
disapproval the manner in which work
| ing girls. children of foreign parents,
] or themselves foreign born. girls who
belong distinctly to the class that is
at the foot of the ladder and only. be-
ginning to climb, spend their evenings
Home is the place for young women
These girls should stay by their ia
theirs and mothers; when, their work Ii
over they should find enjoyment with
in their own doors. So in various de
grees of censure the verdict Is pro
nounced by fortunate outsiders who
realize nothing whatever of the condi
lions that obtain in the average tene
ment home. Should these girls sta,
there after a long hard days work
Would you do so in their place? LIE
us see.
The ordinary abode of thrift.
artisan, mechanic or laborer In New
York, the city with which | am mos
familiar, is either a five-room or
three-room fat. This fat is sand
WICKED by close squeezing and crowd
ing into house containing a numbe
of stories, each reached by dark an
narrow stairway in the middle OF tn
house. The halls are the meres
scraps and are usually dark. Some
times light comes from an airshaf
but not always. The windows at tn
front and rear admit air and ligh
but the middle rooms are dark an
! are generally destitute of proper vent
lation. The odors of tobacco, whisk.
onions and Irish stew with an ind,
scribable flavor of cabbage and chees,
mingle and linger In these homes {
poverty. If the housewife is notable
they are decently Clean If not, greas
dirt and vermin of all sorts have th
right of way. A family of SIX or eigi
persons is often housed in tire
room fat A family of the same siz
possessing themselves of five-rool
fiat take in a boarder or two or
married pair and a baby. The eco
2 omy of space and the closeness I
: sleeping quarters battle description
? Rents are SO out of proportion to Il