The Newtown bee., 1907-11-08
The Ncwtown Bee
 Newlown. Friday, November ;, lsos
HOME NEWS.  WORK IN THE SLUMS.
REV OTIS N. BARKER LECTURES
 IN COLT MEMORIAL.

The irht lecture ol ths hthapn betufr the Mems League of the Church of the Good Shepherd was given in the Colt Memorial parish house. October 1. the speaker being Rev Otis W. Barker of this city. formerly pastor of the Con gregatonal church in Newtown. His subject was "A Visit to the Jacob Riis and other Missions" The speaker said that cities had always demanded attention from the time of St Paul. whose work was done mostly in large centers of population. They hsve al- ways been strategic points for christi anity and their importance from this standpoint must be recognized in this country. On more than one occasion the Presidential electon in this country has been decided by the vote of that part of New York below Fourteenth street, a seat of riot where Is piled an element ready to defy law upon the slightest pretext.
 The cities growing at q treme ndous rate, so fast that to-day no one dares say that they will not come to rule the entire country. Legislators are aware of the fact and are endeavoring to check their influence but the time is coming when they will rise to sense of their power and then woe be to the country if they are not christianized.
 In the slums poverty, vice and sa- looms are seen as they are nowhere else and the combination is a danger ous one for the whole country. In the great cities the churches are'but little islands in great ocean but by and by the churches will do the work they ought to do. They will have great preachers assisted by great laymen who will give of their time and of their wealth to do the work set before them by the presence at their own doors of the foreign mission field.
 The speaker said that he once walk ed several blocks in that section of New York known as Little Italy with out finding single person who could speak English. His childhood, he said. was spent in what was then the we'll to-do section of Brooklyn where now the Italians hold feast days with fireworks and the carryng of madon- na in procession and where the knife and stiletto are altogether too com mon.
 Yet, after all, the outlook is hopeful as work in the slums is increasing ev- cry year. Women like Mother Bird and the "Tombs Angel' give their lives to the work and college settlements are increasing. Work even is being done in that section of New York near Elev- enth avenue known variously as "Hell's s Kitchen" and "San Juan Hill." There are upwards of 6,0OO people herded in a single block and it's difficult to make good christians of people who are fore ed to sleep five in bed and seventeen in room.
 In the summer of 1906, Rev MT Bar ker said he visited Jacob >Riis' mission, which is only two or three blocks from the Bowery and saw in its largest room dedicatory tablet to Elizabeth Riis. In another part of the building cook was preparing soup for those who should come in and, on an upper floor, was an old clothes room where gar ments given by guilds and societies are sold at a nominal price tp those who need them, small charge being made in order that the buyers may not be pauperized.
 The mission is situated in two houses which are joined for the purpose anc which were once tenanted by the best of New York's society. Across the street from it are tenements, eight nine and ten stories high with fire es capes swarming in hot weather while the street is filled with small children playing hours after children in the country are in bed. Nearby is Public School No. 1, occupying whole blocl where night schools are in session ant where Hebrews, Russians and Greeks are learning English and are alst taught in their own tongues.
 In conclusion Rev MT Barker told O. the Bowery mission on Canal street To cated near where men stand in line a 1 o'clck in the morning to get half ; loaf of bread each from the Fleisch mann bakery and where might be seer at time sir: college graduates scrub ping the floor and glad of the chance to do anything which would bring then a meal. T Hartford Courant.
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