Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-01
DIFFERENT BOHEM MAS
ONE WHERE GLITTER AND
GAYETY ARE UNKNOWN.
This Is East Side Bohemia of New
York, Where Poverty and
Tragedy Reign.

Though there are two BOhemiaS in the
metropolis. the great majority OF the
citizens, as we'll as the visitors to the
city. know of but one--the gay Bohemia
the land where nobody goes home"
This careless region Of gaiety. where all
is glitter and laughter and light and
display, where the popping of corks
blends all night long with the happy
tinkling music of the orchestras, where
there is no suggestion of the stern and
strenuous business life of the big city
this region naturally attracts attention
throughout the length and breadth of the
land. And all strangers who come to the
city wish to get glimpse of this Be-
hernia. the center OF which is the Great
White Way between the two Flatirons.
No visitors to the city on pleasure
bent, however, come to New YorkS sec
ond Bohemia, where there is no glitter
and display and little laughter, and life
Is anything but gay. This is the cigar
factory district, on the middle East Side,
a region of crowded teneNents extend
ing from the turbid shores Of the East
river to where the elevated trains rumthe
past on I'd avenue. The people in the
district are natives of Bohemia, but the
long hours of toll in the cigar factories
and the still longer hours of enforced
idleness when hard times smut down
these factories have robbed them of
many Of the care-free attributes which
the word Bohemia calls to mind. Bo-
hemiansm in this quarter, whatever it
may mean on Broadway, means toll, and
not infrequently. economic heroiSm
One seldom sees newspaper stories OF
the quarter for the people guard their
many tragedies and their few comedies
most ZealouSly, but the settlement work
ers and the public school teachers of the
district know incidents of heroic Sacri-
fees on which could be builded tales OF
exquisite pathos. Such an incident haS
i,,- hoo ri Ia6 IN,
shanty in the rear yard of one or the
East 74th street tenements.
Sacrifices Made.
A tired young woman, worn with the
burden of four small children and a con-
sumptive, epileptic husband, lives in the
shanty Two months ago the board Of
health decreed that for the sake OF her
health and that of her children her hus-
band must live away from her. The
couple loved each other, and, although
each realized that the parting was for the
best, it did not make their grief any
easier to bear.
The Immediate pangs of their sapara-
tiol had not been assuaged before one
of the charitable associations that had
been assisting the mother TO pay her
rent issued the ultimatum that she must
place her children, except the youngest
AN eight-month- old baby-in some
asylum. or else forfeit the financial as
sistance which she was receiving from
the organization
This was the final drop that filled the
woman's cup of bitterness to overlooking
and all the mother love in her rebelled.
you can stop paying my rent, Sac
said to the agent of the society who pre-
scented the proposition to her. Il love
my children. and as long as | am aple TO
bend over Il Washtub l Will cot De parted
from them.
The charitable association Immediately
dropped her from its list. Since then the
woman has struggled along eking out an
existence for herself and her babies BY
taking home whatever washing she can
obtain Her husband is staying in Brook
Ign with his family. who themselves are
in such straitened circumstances that
they can do nothing for the wife and the
four little ones in Manhattan. A feature
of this case. which is typical of the Bo-
hemian district is that the brave young
mother has made no appeal to any other
charitable organization since tile one
which formerly assisted her stopped pay
ing her rent.
Bear Their Burdens Stoically.
A few days ago. however, one OF the
visiting teachers from the Jones Me-
mortal School, which is maintained in the
neighborhood by the Childrens Aid So
ciety discovered the woman's predica-
ment and aided her in her heroic fight to
keep the children with her by giving her
small orders OH a grocery store and
butcher shop.
This pathetic case is only one of h,fn-
dreds in the Bohemian quarter. The peo-
pie there bear the burdens with stole
philosophy that places them in a class
ment dwellers. When they need charity
they accept it, but they seldom seek it.
And when conditions improve so that
they feel that they can get along wIthou;