The Island of Faith By MARGARET E. SANGSTER 1921 To M's M and Chance Contents I. INTRODUCING--THE SETTLEMENT HOUSE II. THE QUARREL III. CONCERNING IDEALS IV. THE PARK V. ROSE-MARIE COMES TO THE RESCUE VI. "THERE'S NO PLACE--" VII. A LILY IN THE SLUMS VIII. ANOTHER QUARREL IX. AND ANOTHER X. MRS. VOLSKY PROMISES TO TRY XI. BENNIE COMES TO THE SETTLEMENT HOUSE XII. AN ISLAND XIII. ELLA MAKES A DECISION XIV. PA STEPS ASIDE XV. A SOLUTION XVI. ENTER--JIM XVII. AN ANSWER XVIII. AND A MIRACLE XIX. AND THE HAPPY ENDING I INTRODUCING--THE SETTLEMENT HOUSE There is a certain section of New York that is bounded upon the north by Fourteenth Street, upon the south by Delancy. Folk who dwell in it seldom stray farther west than the Bowery, rarely cross the river that flows sluggishly on its eastern border. They live their lives out, with something that might be termed a feverish stolidity, in the dim crowded flats, and upon the thronged streets. To the people who have homes on Central Park West, to the frail winged moths who flutter up and down Broadway, this section does not exist. Its poor are not the picturesque poor of the city's Latin quarter, its criminals seldom win to the notoriety of a front page and inch-high headlines; it almost never produces a genius for the world to smile upon--its talent does not often break away from the undefined, but none the less certain, limits of the district. It is curious that this part of town is seldom featured in song or story, for it is certainly neither dull nor unproductive of plot. The tenements that loom, canyon-like, upon every side are filled to overflowing with human drama; and the stilted little parks are so teeming with romances, of a summer night, that only the book of the ages would be big enough to hold them--were they written out! Life beats, like some great wave, up the dim alleyways--it breaks, in a shattered tide, against rock-like doorways. The music of a street band, strangely sweet despite its shrillness, rises triumphantly above the tumult of pavement vendors, the crying of babies, the shouting of small boys, and the monotonous voices of the womenfolk.