The Monticellonian., 1916-05-25

The tenement houses where most of the flowers made of the worst type, with dark and shaky stairways. The crowded tenement houses of the "congested East side" of which so much has been said in print are palaces in compari- son to those rickety old structures And in them the children of sunny Italy spend their days and nights Ostensibly it is their inherent love for flowers that is drawing them to this work.
 It is not an easy matter to get the confidence of of the women and to make them answer questions. They are always suspicious that visi- tors are from the board of health with a mission to make trouble In some houses no amount of arguing or coaxng will bring results-not even the assurance of the children who return from school and appealed to-
 However there are some who quite willing to talk and to shed light the situation.
 They are not greedy, but they are very ambi- tious and 1t is their ambition that impels them to utzez every possibility of making money.
 Average $S a Week.
 Thy all honest, hardworking people. The children orderly and respectful, and there was a world of love in the mothers eyes on seeing them return from school and resume their work separating petals and pasting leaves on stems
 The earnings of heads of the families were found to average eight dollars week, which, according to the standard of living in that locality, is fair income. A good many of the men work in flower factories and from them they take work home. The others mostly shoemakers, bootbacks and pushcart peddlers
 One of the places where children were found at work after school hours had restaurant and pool room on the ground floor of the building in which the family lived When there are no diners in the restaurant the long dining table is covered with wreaths and punches of cherries and forget-me- nots. a mother and her children working diligently at them. The proprietor of this restaurant was also in the rag business
 In one place young woman Margarita Rozzoni, who looked quite different from the general type she being blonde and having blue eyes-was at work with her little girl. who seemed to be will ing and ambitious helper. Little Giovanna, three years old looked like miniature of her mother golden haired and eyes of the color of violets Il don't want her to help me- the mother said, but she insists on doing that" And she accentuated her words by bending over the child and kissing her with all the fondness of mother.
 The children one meets here in the streets are all pretty but their beauty fades before maturity. Their physical development is stunted by long hours of work and very little play. Their child hood does not last long. girl who is married at fourteen is no rare Here they make the step from childhood right to manhood and woman hood skipping over the period of youth and maid enhood.
 Why Tony Sells Flowers.
 Such child was Tony. who at thirteen became the breadwinner for the family, selling flowers real fowers-by day and helping his mother make artificial flowers by night. Tony was never boy: he never played in the streets with other children. never threw a ball in the air. Tony's father kept fruit stand on corner. where he also shned shoes