Poor -- New York (State) -- New York; Social settlements
"I tell you what used to make me mad; it was to have to wait for the others
to get through eating," said another. "When I hire a place I always look
first to see if the kitchen is big enough to pull the table from the wall
and sit about it. I don't think I ever had any hot dinner when I was
little, and it used to make me mad. When I had three children I moved just
to get a large kitchen; it ain't near so nice a place, but the kitchen is
big." There was not a woman there who did not have a grievance against her
childhood because there was not room. One of them with crimson cheeks told
how she remembered the sense of comfort that came to her after the death of
an older sister because she had a bed to herself; she said it was a long
time before she knew the cause, for she missed her sister's companionship,
but she was more comfortable; she enjoyed having the five nails at the foot
of the bed for her own clothes. The woman who spoke first interrupted: "I
never in my life had even a hook in the wall that was my own until I was
married. We were so near of a size we could wear each other's things, and
we did. The one who was quickest got the best of that size. You never knew
whose clothes you'd have to put on in the morning. I'll never have but this
child. She likes me. She hates being pushed and crowded. She has a bed and
bureau of her own. Never, never until my husband can pay more rent will we
have another child." She paid the penalty of death for this determination.
As one thinks of the number of human beings with all their belongings
crowded into the floor space of a tenement-house home, the marvel at the
endurance grows greater. Think of its limitations of conveniences!
To those who know the limitations of a tenement-house home, the criticisms
and suggestions that the superficially informed reformers make on and for
the hygienic management of these homes are at once the source of amusement
and indignation. When stress is laid on airing a bed every morning, and one
in imagination sees the only windows in another room with a breakfast table
between them, a room already overcrowded with things, the only room for the
mother and baby during the process, one wonders what the speaker would do
under the same circumstances. Then when the horrors of dust are revealed
and the necessity of keeping the floors clean by frequent washing is made
to be imperative, one sees the bed that just fits between the walls at the
head and foot, with half of its own space free in front of it, and again
comes the question, what would the expert do living under like
circumstances? What is needed everywhere is scientific knowledge in
conjunction with intimate knowledge of the evils inseparable from the small
dark rooms of even the best tenements, and then we will have suggestions
that the woman can use--can apply to her own family conditions--who must do
the work for a family within this space.
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