Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-30
COMMUNITY CLUB FOR
FOREIGN SECTION
[Continued From First Pagel

Continued From First Pagcl
story of some of the conditions and
needs was simply told and the plea
made that something might be done
to show by example to these boys and
girls what real living, real interest and
real love means. They know what the
street and saloon produce, for they
have daily examples of that
The Melting Pot
In this vicinity are found the Pole,
the Russian, the Italian, Hungarian,
Rumanian and others. They have
come to this country as to the Land of
Promise. They have brought with
them many of the habits and customs
OF the mother country. What would
you think, mothers of Harrisburg, if
your daughters, when they reached
the fourth grade, quit school to get
married and assume the responsible
ties of a home of their own. This is
not mere supposition but actual fact.
Two young foreign girls, Italians,
were married within the last year or
two from these grades. A young Ru-
manian girl who was in the third
grade told her teacher that she was
goin gto stop school. Her teacher told
certificate to work, whereupon the lit
tie girl said she wasn't going to work,
she was going to get married. When
the teacher asked her if her mother
knew about it, the child said, oh, yes,
nay mother knew a ladies once that
was thirty-five and had no mans and
she don't want me like that
How About Child Marriage Here
Child marriage in India and you
hold up your hands in horror. How
about child marriage in Harrisburg q?
We can show these children in our
midst what it means to prepare for life
in its truest sense.
Fathers, what would you think if
your boy in the third grade attended a
christening and drank so much beer
that he lost count at the twelfth glass
and didn't know who helped him
home, and that his little companion
of the first grade was almost in as
pitiable condition? Another custom
brought from the mother country.
Many Families Under One Roof
Several families live in one house
and these girls and boys have no place
70 spend their evenings except in the
room where often times the entire
family sleeps.
The speaker spoke of visiting a
home where a father and his four
motherless children, the oldest IA, the
downstairs, and the two other fami-
lies who lived in the same house had
to pass through this room to get to
their rooms.
"A German cobbler lived with his
two children in one room. A curtain
divided the room into two parts. The
front part was used by the man for
mending shoes, the back part con-
tanned the beds where they slept
The cooking was done on the stove
that heated the shop. Could any boy
make high type of citizen raised in
such an environment as this?
No Place But the Street
LAS the children grow older, where
are they to look for amusement?
Where are they to entertain their com.
panions? There is no place for them
now but the street,
These girls and boys are bright and
attractive, They are the future citi.
zens of this. our city, the future asso.
ciates of your sons and daughters
What are we going to do to make
them the kind of citizens. the kind OF
men and women of whom we shall be
justly proud?
"Our ancestors, only q few genera.
tions back were foreigners, unless we
| be direct descendants of the only true