Evening star., 1925-03-02
THE PUBLIC
LIBRARY
ll--Neighbors: Experiments in
Social Service.

Jacob A. Riis was one of the first
who pictured the lives of our unfor-
tunate neighbors and his books gave
the impetus to many of the present
methods Of alleviation. Though hap
PLY much has since been done to
remedy the shocking conditions he
describes. How the Other Half
Lives" QG-R44h) will always be
considered an epoch-making book.
resulted in making real neighbors of
numberless persons and their expert
ments In community service makes
interesting reading.
How William George felt his way
In meeting the needs of his boisterous
young people brought out from the
slums of New York for fresh air
parties until he reaped the reward of
finding that the standard set up by
them was good citizenship. is graph
ically told in THE Junior Republic"
QFX-G2sD. 1t abounds in sound
knowledge of child psychology, in
humor and in incidents that go
straight to the heart of the reader.
The republic faced the problem of
pauperism and solved II effectively.
Dis BILL" said the young legislator
In introducing it. '9s pretty strong
against the feller what can work and
II
youse can work and won't youse can
starve to death! Say, what do youse
fellers say to dat bill.''' The ap-
plause which followed clearly showed
the sentiments of the legislature and
1t passed with rush and was soon
put In execution and pauperism be-
came thing of the past
X. X. Reeder. in an interesting ac-
count of How Two Hundred Chill
dren Live and Learn" UG-R254h),
describes thoughtful and scientific
method of caring for dependent chill
dren. In the diary of an eight-year-
old child is this record showing the
normal life that an orphanage con-
quoted on the cottage plan had de-
veloped. 81 picked dandelions and
earned cents. l played in the after
noon. I polished the hall and / slid
down the slide" II is pleasant to
read about the happy days of these
boys and girls, regulated so as to
give them opportunities for normal
growth, education and play.
Mrs. W. L. Taylor was persuaded
to take book to q boy in the
county jail and from that start did
large work with THE Man Be-
hind the Bars" UFP-T215m). Using
books as an introduction, she was
In many cases instrumental I'm help
Ing them to reconstruct their lives.
Mrs. Taylor made a painful discov-
cry which is a challenge for a diff
ferent treatment of these un-
fortunates. "One reason" she says.
why SO many of the incorrigibles
give me their confidence was owing
to the word passed around among
them, You can trust her; she is no
Christian That, of course. was not
the case, but her Christianity was of
n -
so-called Christians with whom many
of them had come in contact. The
mixture Of good and bad qualities In
the prisoners, their reaction to good
books and to human sympathy, are
brought out in the story of individual
men with whom Mrs. Taylor came in
contact.
This boy said visiting official
from a European country in meeting
youth in a Chicago settlement
house, belongs TO the lowest of our
subject races. We have ruled them
for 900 years. but. hayA not. really
conquered them. We have forced one
language upon them and they have
refused to speak It; we have forbid
den the use of their mother tongue
in the higher schools, yet they never
forget it and with each year they
become more and more Slayonic
I Ou take our re1use. our f0WeSt
classes, and in a generation you make
Americans Of them. How do you do
itT' Partly to answer that question
and partly to promote understanding
of the Immigrant, DR.. Edward A.
Steiner tells the story of his own
America nization. His experiences,
which he regards as typical, with
the sweatshops, the mills and mines
with their grinding labor, the lower
courts, the jail, the open road with
It's dangers, the American homo and
the Christian church are told In en-
crossing fashion From Alien to
Citizen" (E-St34S).
. The activities of settlement houses
are always interesting and are well
pictured in Miss Adams Twenty
Years at Hull House" UAS-Ad22D
and in Miss waId's House on Henry
Street GAS-w145h), the latter the
record of 20 years of vital work with
the people in the East Side OF New
York.