New-York tribune., 1908-07-30
OF InfereSf ~
" TO WOmerl.
FOR SICK BABIES
The Pathetic Little Ones Brought
to the ChIdren's Mission.

oh doctor, do you remember that little baoy
what was so awful thin and its mother was in the
insane asylum? Well It died over sunday anu
here's the father outside. and says ne don hfo"
what do all with the dead BABY lie am
got no money to bury 1t, and he don't know where
to GO"
This was the Erewsome little tale that greeted
Dr. Mary E Butterworth when she appeared Tor
her Wednesday morning clinic at the SICK Chi-
drens Mission. at No. 2S7 East Broadway Inc
father of the dead child sat on the steps, MS nag
gard face buried in his hands. A comparative
stranger the country unacquainted with ali l's
ways bounded for months by poverty and unefn-
ployment. first his wife had gone crazy ana oee"
taken away to asylum, then his baby nad lalleh
sick and been sent to seaside hospital oy 'ne
mission, and now the baby had died ana ne haa
TO find out how ne was to get 1t under srouho-
The ten Offices of the Sick Childrens MISSION
conducted by the Chdren's Aid Society are Iuli oi
such dreadful little tragedies seventy -hVe
a week bring their sick children to NO Z8' East
Broadway and without exception the men nave
been ont of work or working part time Tor
months. And can hardly estimate the vast
mantle of sickness that broods over the East Side
Nearly every family has sick oapy- four'eeh
sick ba bies have. been brought by DR. Butterworth
in one morning out of one tenement house.
II don't think there is single baby on the East
Side that has not been SICK some time uuiihs '''
summer" said Dr. ButterWorth.
A Cherry street baby which is brought In at
that moment emphasizes her remarks The Cherry
street baby coughs. says his mother, and when ne
coughs he vomits Also he has a bad stonlnlck !;
also diarrhCea He has "a little sore on his back
Turned over and exposed to view. the little sore
proves to be an abscess. The Cherry street baby
has a Ianguid look, which is perhaps not strange
His mother also looks languid Likewise MS TWO
older sisters who just big enough 10 walk
The doctor notices that one of them has a tace
covered with sores. but inquiry the mother says
girl ts The babyS woes nave
overshadowed all the rest.
Annie Gates comes in next. with her youngest
eight months OF age, in her arms. How many more
has she? only five, says Annie Gates; the Oldest
nine The Gates baby has eyes as blue as fax and
arms lust like nice little sticks. She lies quite sui
IN her mothers arms and looks If she might die
pretty soon Annie Gates says another of her chill
dren has been sick. and her husband. too But ne
got better and worked at Washington Market all
last week. 1t the first weeks work in long
time.
<.she used to be so nice and Fat, and now she is
so tim This is the plant of Rachel, over her
Youngest Rachel is a fat, homely, patient woman,
and the baby, formerly fat, is also homely and
patient
Il got six girls says Rachel, all born in New
York Twenty years I been in New York, and
never once from the city oudt since vass come
NV husband he has two days work week on
nents coats Since tree months he had only two
days' work a week But my oldest girl shes a
bookkeeper: She helps oudt. And that little Won,
she's cash girl. She helps oudt. too" And one
thinks little drearily Of the bookkeeper and the
cash girl who have been keeping this family OF
eight through the not spell
Winifred and William the next patients ar
irving, with Mrs. F7aherty, their mother Winifred
has the whooping cough, and William has croupy
cough to which he is subject. At night he takes
the bass and Winifred the soprano Mrs. Flaherty
looks as if insomnia might have been her portion
The Irish and Americans take their troubles differ
emily from the Russian and Austrian Jews VINO
come in. The Jewish mothers have sad and
tragic air a depressed heartbroken look; they are
very hopeless very humble, grateful. The
Irish and Americans resent their troubles more.
They have a more dogged. sullen, angry look.
They are not so humbly grateful or so patient.
They look though somebody was to blame,
though who IT is they do not know
Mrs Gantchen brings in Rosie, and Rosie is
eleven months old. and wears gold earrings and a
red cord around her wrist The red cord is to keep
off misfortune but it does not to have been
working very hard. Rosie is very sick. and her
older brother Johnny, two and a half, don't eat
nothin' at all" A tall. nervous slip of an older
sister has come along 10 interpret; thin as a rail.
wriggIv as a snake and with flag tattooed on her
own Rosie came TO the mission first after treat
ment at some dspensary. There, having continual
diarrhCea she taken off milk diet and put on
one OF white OF egg. Mrs. Gantchen was told TO
nut a little brandy with the white of egg, and,
being of a generous turn of mind, she put tea
spoonful with each feeding AS a consequence
Rosie was "doped''-a continuous performance.
Wonder she didn't have D. T." says the doctor.
Becoming frightened at Rosies condition. Mrs.
Gantchen had brought her to the mission, insisting
that the other place had only made her worse
Being checked in her attempt to drive her daughter
to drink Rosie has returned 10 the paths OF
sobrety but is still very low in her mind
Sometimes the mothers cannot remember the
numbers their houses, and the weary nurse tolls
through tenement after tenement looking for them.
The nurse shows them how 10 make rice water and
harley water for the infant with whom milk does
does not agree; she shows them how to bathe and
ddress the baby how TO make cooling baths for it,