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ward the open door of alleviation.
The Element of Childhood.
Poverty is always a grim foe—wherever met its
visage is hard and despair clings to its footsteps;
but the pathos of poverty is most clearly seen and
most keenly felt where it lays its blighting touch
on the tender lives of young children. Under its
shadow these helpless victims lie powerless and
suffering; innocent of the slightest responsibility,
ignorant of all save the hardships of life—sur
rounded by its baser side, and yet mutely bearing
physical burdens from which the bravest souls
might well shrink. It is with these small atoms of
humanity that the New York Society largely
concerns itself. Through the medium of district
visiting, through the desired intervention of teach
ers and physicians and friends of the Association,
thousands of cases of sick or dying children are
reported, and never is a case passed without atten
tion. No time is inopportune, no hour too occu
pied for even a temporary postponement of the
kindly investigation which so often reveals start
ling cases of almost unbelievable misery.
Form of Help Given.
Carefully chosen is the form of help in each indi
vidual case—here a child may not be separated
from its mother, and it is watched in its own home,
the district nurse making daily visits to instruct
the willing but ignorant parent in the proper care
of the little one; again the case may demand hos
pital treatment, and the child is removed to a suit
able institution. Yet, again, it may simply be a
case demanding pure food and clean raiment, fresh
air and sanitary surroundings—in this case often
both mother and child, and maybe even small broth
ers and sisters are moved to Sea Breeze, the hand
some seaside home, hospital, what you will; an
earthly paradise, surely to these poor waifs of the
slums, who are there given their first glimpses of
the smooth places of life.
Sea Breeze as a Sanitarium.
It is only comparatively recently that American
physicians have learned the value of salt air in
the treatment of that subtle yet deadly disease of
childhood, bone tuberculosis—this ill which, in most
instances, is the direct result of unsanitary living,
causing intense suffering, and it is statistically
known that about 75,000 children in the country
are afflicted with it. The report of the Hospital
Department at Sea Breeze shows almost marvelous
cures of this disease, as well as invariable relief.
This one element alone should assure a permanent
support of this branch of the work of the New
York Association.
Adults at Sea Breeze.
But not only for the children is this resort de
signed, for, as has been said, jarents are often
given a much needed holiday of a week or ten days
during the long, hard summers, and in a profound
ly practical way are these weary women instructed
in many of the refinements of life, with the hope
that they may, in their own homes, apply what is
learned there.
Space forbids a more specific account of the
life at Sea Breeze, but it must be said that, in
addition to the thousands who have a summer
outing there of a week or more, there are many
other thousands who are taken on the day parties,
the sea trip and the ocean bath, the good dinner
and life-giving air serving as the most effective
tonic for bodies weakened by many years of un
remitting toil.
Other Activities of the Association.
One of the most beneficial steps taken by this
great organization is the crusade against impure
milk which has resulted in the saving of countless
lives in the city of New York. Then, too, the es
tablishment of free bath-houses at the river piers
near the poorer districts of the splendid metropolis
has proven a large factor in the preservation of
the city’s health. The “Amusement Piers,” sit
uated in this same locality, are also appreciated
“breezing places” for the multitudes during the
summer, and are patronized daily by hundreds of
families.
The Golden Age for October 11, 1900.
District Visiting.
Yet another feature of charitable work directly
under the supervision of the Association is that of
the district visitor or “visiting housewife,” whose
complex duties are outlined in the following ex
tract from a note book of one of these workers:
“Took six garments for new baby, swept two
rooms, and dusted, washed the baby and the baby
clothes.
“Washed Mrs. T , who was ill in bed, ar-
ranged bed, bought medical supplies and disinfec
tant.
“Washed two children, had their hair cut, wash
ed heads.
“Showed Mrs. B 'how to get washing
ready for tomorrow. Packed furniture and dishes
ready for moving. Carried some of them to new
rooms. (Woman sick.)
“Cleaned all the woodwork and scrubbed the
floor. Moved the bed from the dark room to the
light room (woman very ill), put house in order.
“Straightened up the room and stayed to help
until funeral was over. (Mother had died.)
“Swept and cleaned rooms, made bed, went to
store and got dinner ready for Mr. G—* and
the little boy (man sick, wife dead).
“Washed and dressed infant, got children’s din
ner ready, made good fire, bathed four children and
left house in order.
“Swept kitchen, bathed little girl, prepared food
for sick woman.
“Cleaned one room, polished the stove, took
little girl to the dentist at dispensary.”
The Sewing Bureau may be said to be another
branch of this department, and an enviable record
was made of 32,325 garments completed in a sin
gle year as well as 696 women given employment,
thus bringing needed incomes into many homes.
Joint Application Bureau.
Almost experimental in its tendency is the Ap
plication Bureau, designed primarily to ascertain
the number of men really desiring work and un
able to procure it. A large class of idle men in
New York City make this excuse for poverty, and
the Association desires to expose spurious cases, as
■well as to aid worthy and reliable ones. The
method adopted to subserve this purpose was to
print 28,000 cards addressed to “The Homeless
Men of New York,” stating that work could be had
on application; dispensary treatment in case of
sickness, or other urgent needs supplied. Os this
large number of cards distributed at the “bread
lines,” where hundreds of men stand nightly for
the free distribution of bread and coffee, at other
midnight coffee stands, missions, etc., only brought
305 direct appeals for aid, and each appeal was
met by a most practical response.
Thus, step by step, each link in the endless
chain of charitable work is forged—we could re
cite countless avenues along which aid is offered;
we could mention innumerable forms in which aid
is gladly received, and, alas! almost as many where
the ignorance is so dense and the conditions so
dark that even the sufferers scarcely realize
the acuteness of their need. The latter is, perhaps,
the most difficult class of all to reach, but it is
being gradually decreased by this constant and
unremitting effort, and it is a source of satisfaction
to know this great work is going on from year to
year, and growing in volume as the years increase.
Co-operation With Public Schools.
One special phase of activity in which the New
York Association for Improving the Condition of
the Poor, is of particular importance, is the hearty
co-operation which it gives toward compulsory edu
cation, and the unremitting effort it makes to
bring children into the schools. To accomplish this
end much more than the perfunctory services of the
“truant officer” is required, for children must be
clothed, and, in many cases, properly fed before
they are fit to partake of the great gift of a “free”
education. It was found necessary, therefore, to
establish a system of free breakfasts, to furnish
many little ones with free luncheons, and yet many
more with suitable shoes and clothing.
(Continued on page 5.)
Items of General Interest.
London cab drivers earn an aggregate of over
$40,000 a day.
Last year 5,500 native Christians were added to
the church in Japan.
Parliamentary Bluebooks were first issued in
1681, but not sold until the year 1836.
If kept going, the wheels of a watch, it is es
timated, travel 3,558 3-4 miles in a year.
Nearly 70,000 tons of cork are needed for the bot
tled beer and aerated waters consumed annually in
Britain.
The last South Australia vintage yielded 2,655,-
947 gallons, as compared with 2,045,478 gallons in
the previous year.
There are no paupers in the Gold Coast Colony,
and there is neither lunatic asylum, reformatory
nor poor house.
The first Japanese newspaper was published in
1863, only forty-three years ago, and it contains
some news translated from some of the Dutch pa
pers. Today Japan has 1,500 daily newspapers and
periodicals.
There are 10,700 pieces of wood, cloth and felt
and 1,180 feet of wire in a concert grand piano.
The earliest recorded public performance on the
pianoforte took place at Covent Garden, London,
on May 16, 1767.
Very numerous -are the patents that have been
issued to women on novelties in furniture. One
piece, which appears to be a school desk, also con
tains an ’organ. With simple manipulation, an
innocent looking sofa is converted into a bath
tub.
New York city boasts the oldest structure on the
hemisphere. It is the Egyptian obelisk, in Central
Park, first erected as an offering to the sun god by
Thotmes 111. Moses saw it when it was old, for it
was constructed more than 1,600 years before the
Christian era.
The paper bag with a satchel bottom, which has
proved so convenient to grocers and shoppers, and
the device for making it, are the invention of Miss
M. E. Knight. The wonderful little machine turns
out these bags with great rapidity and accuracy
of construction.
After the Torrey-Alexander mission closed in
Philadelphia a number of Christian men and wom
en banded themselves together to hold seven ser
vices a week. They go about in a gospel wagon,
never take up a collection, sing the Torrey-Alexan
der hymns and are personal workers.
It is not generally known that bread contains a
modicum of alcohol, but the fermentative process to
which bread is subjected by baking does produce al
cohol and Dr. O. Pohl has ascertained that ordinary
bread contains .0753 of a grain of alcohol for every
100 grams of bread, or a little more than 7 parts
in 10,000 —surely not sufficient to warrant fears of
intoxication!
It has recently been demonstrated that Christo
pher Columbus was not the first to note the decli
nation of the magnetic needle as there has just
been discovered at Innsbruck a sun-dial bearing the
date 1451. There is also an engraved line on the
needle indicating the declination at the time of
construction as well as other lines showing changes
of direction undergone by the needle in subsequent
years. The latter would indicate an even earlier
date than the one mentioned and the real inventor
remains utterly undiscovered.