Children of the TenementsRiis, Jacob A. (Jacob August)
General
Children of the Tenements
Riis, Jacob A. (Jacob August)
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American; Tenement houses -- Fiction
Jim was lost, but how? His mother wept, and his father spent weary
days and nights inquiring of every one within a distance of many
blocks for a red-headed boy in "knee-pants" and a base-ball cap. The
grocer's clerk on the corner alone furnished a clew. He remembered
giving Jim two crackers on the afternoon of the storm and seeing him
turn west. The clew began and ended there. Slowly the conviction
settled on the tenement that Jim had really run away to enlist.
"I'll enlist him!" said his father; and the tenement acquiesced in the
justice of his intentions and awaited developments. And all the time
Jocko kept Jim's secret safe.
Jocko had troubles enough of his own. Jim's friendship and quick wit
had more than once saved the monkey; for despite of harum-scarum ways,
the boy with the sunny smile was a general favorite. Now that he was
gone, the tenement rose in wrath against its tormentor; and Jocko
accepted the challenge.
All his lawless instincts were given full play. Even of the banana man
at the street stand who had given him peanuts when trade was good, or
sold them to him in exchange for pilfered pennies, he made an enemy by
grabbing bananas when his back was turned. Mrs. Rafferty, on the
second floor rear, one of his few champions, he estranged by
exchanging the "war extra" which the carrier left at the door for her,
for the German paper served to Mrs. Schultz, her pet aversion on the
floor below. Mrs. Rafferty upset the wash-tub in her rage at this
prank.
"Ye imp," she shrieked, laying about her with a wet towel, "wid yer
hathen Dootch! It's that yer up to, is it?" and poor Jocko paid dearly
for his mistake.
As he limped painfully to his attic retreat, his bitterest reflection
might have been that even the children, his former partners in every
plot against the public peace, had now joined in the general assault
upon him. Truly, every man's hand was raised against Jocko, and in the
spirit of Ishmael he entered on his crowning exploit.
On the top floor of the rear house was Mrs. Hoffman, a quiet German
tenant, who had heretofore escaped Jocko's unwelcome attentions. Now,
in his banishment to the upper regions, he bestowed them upon her with
an industry to which she objected loudly, but in vain. Shut off from
his accustomed base of supplies, he spent his hours watching her
kitchen from the fire-escape, and if she left it but for a minute, he
was over the roof and, by way of the shutter, in her flat, foraging
for food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account