Poor -- New York (State) -- New York; Social settlements
The first visit was made to this house long before Colonel Waring had shown
what clean streets would do in the tenement-house districts. On the street
curb in front of the door stood three ash barrels filled within three
inches of the top, carefully covered with newspapers tucked in around the
edge of the contents. This indicates the standards of this housekeeper. She
hated dirt and disorder. She could not be happy where it was. She forced by
tact, coercion, persuasion, any and every means, her way to the heart and
home of every ignorant housekeeper who came under that roof. She taught
cooking by sending cake, bread, soup she had made to the tenants, and
arousing the desire in them to learn how to make that particular dish. She
instituted an exchange of skill among the tenants. The woman who could make
a dress and not a hat exchanged skill with the one who had been a milliner.
The woman who made bread and failed with cake exchanged skill with the
cakemaker. They even took turns in going to the theatre, the neighbor
staying home and taking care of the children.
The property was more valuable every year; no bill appeared at the door. It
stood apart from its neighbors for years. This housekeeper was compelled to
give up her responsibility and left the house, as she wisely said: "No one
would manage it in my way. I could not get on in peace." Six months after
every tenant had moved but the liquor dealer; and even his bar-room had
sunk to a lower level. A building in which many homes might be maintained
is now merely a place of shelter. People move in and out; no relations are
established; there is nothing to hold the tenant here above any other
house. The owner has sold the property, hating its present character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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