-
Re
TENEMENT LIFE.
MARD TO KEEP BABIES ALIVE.
Stand the Heat.
“Oh! hot; 1
meltin' all away.”
A little boy about seven years old
it's so guess I'm
—
been out of worh for a long time
They used to live in the first floor of
this house, close to Mrs. Bacon, Mrs.
Bacon washes and hain’t got no
Do you know where 1 can get
he spoke and rested his burning head
bows tried to steady themselves on
his trembling knees,
was damp with perspiration, and his
hollow were streaked
dirt. Thin, bony
with coal dust,
seemed to have given
carry him along.
like a fan on the stones of the
walk, as if gathering up all
ness they could from their surface.
‘‘Are you sick, little boy !"’ I asked.
cheeks
and his bare
up trying to
the cool-
I just have
carry the
It isso hot in
two, and
it. doesn’t seem
It awful in
[ wish Summer would
and no body wants me.
nothing to do, and
dry,
have
so 1
the rooms, We one
to do much good. is
come,”
shifted the children and
straightened her slender back to sup-
port the burden better.
“You talk well.
never
She
Have you worked
but now the lady is
country and I have
There are seven of
“Oh, yes'm,
into the
to do.
sun, and where is your hat?”’
I took him by the hand;
and d
further, sank in
heap at my feet.
“I can’t do it, missus; my
queer like, and I feel as if I were a-
meltin’ into butter or somethin’.”’
No sooner had I lifted him in my
arms and carried him back of a higl
he rose
then
than there million children
about us,
were a
saloon-keeper to give you this
ili
a cent.”
“What did you have for break-
“Only tea and bread and butter.”
‘She down the street
ch
passed on
two bareheaded
her faded calico
and their scrawny bare
the ildren
+
i X
LO RISE YODS
flopped
ys s
Jineine
Ciinging
legs
“The tenement
poor summer in
was my order Alt] oh the
are regularly cleaned, since the poor
ing the summer months, live prin-
there is very lit-
having been
house districts; go
th :
streets
ini,
ou
r ottt of doors,
lifted her black and blue visage to me
and said with a kind of hiss that
sent the chills running all over me:
“Say, miss, would it be very wicked
if 1 wrapped it up in pretty red
shawl and dropped it in the river over
there?”
Although my
mouth at the
n
l
wns in
as 1
heart
suggestion
my
fol
out, and saw the water beyond so
cool and fresh, I conld not but think
and wonder, too, if it would be 80
very wrong.
I hurried over to the west
to the better districts, still all tene-
ment houses, More of the people
got to the Fresh-Air people and show
the advantage, but the
gide
older girls
while thinking about their bad luck.
Groups of idlers seek the sidewalks |
about These grow larger
as the sun goes down, and the
versation is generally on what
did or did not do during the day.
West H0th street is what tl
§ o'clock
CON
thie ¥
, 3
they call
truck street stables for the
horses line th sides of
oys and gir
frir 14
kerchief full of broker
money and hurry
me until we can g )
Who can get me some milk?
I know wh
fer you, missus,’
"Ten ce brought
milk, which the boy guiped down so
fast that he almost strangled. The
ice was wrapped in the handkerchief
and bound about his head. and with
corner of another handkerch
iped clean as the water
from ithe melting ice
re!
ye
4 »
cries,
nts a
cup of
the jaf
his face was
trickled 3
on his forehe:
“What do you think's the matter
uv ne, missus,’* he finally asked, as
he lay with his head resting on the
tattered coat of Johnny the
black.
“What it?’ ealled a strong
raw-boned woman, as she elbowed
her way through the crowd of chil-
dren. “This is my house, and what
are you crowded around here for?’
Finnley is tooken sick, and
leddy guy him some milk,”” vouch-|
safed a wee tot, evidently the pride
of some mother's heart, for his long |
curls had been freshly combed, and |
an attempt to wash his face was evi- |
dent. i
“Finnley, poor lad, what's happen- |
ed you ?’’ said the woman, kneeling i
and taking his hands tenderly in|
hers. I told you to come here for a |
bite when you got hungry, and I'll |
warrant you've had nothing to eat to- |
day. How is it, my boy ?"’
‘Oh, Mrs. Bacon, I dreamed my
mother came back and I had a lot
to eat, and when I woke up I said,
‘maybe she'll be home to-day.” So I
jes' waited, thinkin’ if she eame I
ought not to ask you for a bite so
much, You've boen mighty good to
me. Mrs, Bacon, and’’
With a moan his head fell on one
gide, and the motherly Mrs. Bacon
picked up the boy in her strong arms
and earried him up the ricketty stairs
to her own room, ‘I'll take eare of
him, lady,”’ she called back as she
saw me standing on the sidewalk
below. ‘I've been working every
day and have niglected to keep
an eye on him.’ She disap-
peared and the children who had
mah $0 noisy a short time
before wandered away silently, none
seeminy to feel like play ust then.
“Whois Finnley ?’ nquired of
a girl who was carrying two small
children, one under each arm.
“His mother lives on the top floor
aow
boot-
is
de!
of the rear house. His father has
and stale bread they
refuse,
seems so dreadful out
not think you would
children to coma out
* | remarked
med over
hat she held in her withered arms.
“It 1x better than the Louse We
out of the city even to get
on the fresh air boats, My daughter
washes, and it takes every day
us along. The children die
up in the house. You don’
your
house, to an old woman
a hall sleeping babe
cannot get
CATTY
-
Some
of us have but one window, and there
is not a breath of air to be got. W¢
stay in the streets until the police-
Do you wonder at
the men who sit all night in the park?
It much better than in thei
homes. My son has not been able to
sleep home for a week, ever since the
hot weather began. We women folks
must stay there but it is killing us,
One baby died last week, but this one
I hope to save by staying out with it
all day. Iam the grandmother, and
while the others are earning a fow
cents here and there, I am walking
the streets trying to save my baby by
doing the very thing you would think
would surely kill yours—keeping it
out in the san all day.”
The child looked bright and happy.
but a babe a few doors below lay
moaning in the arms of a woman
whese scarred face showed trouble
besides the great heat everybody else
was suffering.
is
and taking its bony fingers in mine.
“Of course it's ill; we are all ill
Jimmie is upstairs now dead. He sold
paper till he dropped down one morn-
ing like a horse. I only hope he has
gone where there is plenty to eat.
Poor devil, he had nothing that I
knew of for a week."
‘But the baby, surely you feed
17%
“Tea; nothing but tea. We can’t
afford milk, and tea is all it gets.’
“How do you happen to have toa?’’
“The missionary brings it, and
Molly begs bread from door to door.”
She looked into the face of the
child as it lay on her lap, and run.
ning her fingers softly around the
eyes, as if measuring the dark circles
Our babies
said one
id not have
id he feared he was
Two my
never tO
prog
fat it
had
away.
wo bean
he
of children
are
back
OI] (Pom
come
He wined his face and hastened
across the street, where he leaned up
against a wagon for support.
Children swarmed in the
and carts like bees They skipped
under the horses’ and Hitted
about, helping to burn the rubbish
shoe the horses, clear the shops and
unhiteh and hiteh to the carts,
Down further, between 20th and
{ith streets, are tenement
that hold in each a small city.
older girls parade the walks with
babies. have earriages and
some only cheese-boxes on home-
made wooden wheels, with a stick for
a tongue and a soiled feather pillow
for cushion. Litile mothers are thick
wagons
jeos
hotises
The
Some
Mothers come
6 o'clock and await the
“We don't ever have much ahead. ”’
“* We are much harder up
The
NOW many
than people give us credit for,
winter was hard, and
we do not need so much help. Our
fumnily is in greater distress than it |
has ever been before. We managed to |
stand the cold by wrapping quilts |
about us and keeping the children in- |
side. New we can't get away from
the sun, and the little ones are grow:
ing thinner and thinner until they
droop and die.”
The young girl stopped talking and
burst into tears. I had work until
last month, and now I have nothing
to do but walk the streets. 1 shall
ston! anything 1 ean get my hands
on that will help the children.’
* But you will be locked up if you
do wrong.”
“Maybe,” replied the girl sullenly.
“Jf run a risk, but I will take my
chances. I can’t see the children get
whiter and whiter and stand by and
not give them something, No, I shall
to-morrow if the boys
** What do you do all day?” 1 ask-
ed several people as they walked aim-
lessly along the walk or pushed ill-
naturedly everyone who happened to
in contact with them.
“1 wash,’’ said one, ‘when 1 can
get it to do.’ ** 1 sew for the shop
sirls who live in the next bloek.” *'l
said another whose face was
and her went far
head. Her hair was une
child in her
CYEN
0 her
combed, and
int
the arms
eried loudly.
What is the matter with it?”
“1 don't know. it
The landlord wants his
want 5
something to
born so.
and we
I can’t do
auything on account of the baby. :
I am blind
niony ping
wis
rent
eat,
said an old man, who
with
y yelling «
i118 cane
it two
yng for the beneht
mass about
sing
here?
money
auch
A QUEER FUEL.
PEAT
IS BURNED ALL OVER
What a Peat Bon 1s and How
Worked -Big Peat Bogs in This
Country.
Peculiar interest attaclies just now
to facts newly gathered by the De
partment of Btatq on ihe subject of
peat. The utilization of that natural
product in this country would
great deal of money for poor pec
who have to pay for conl whatever the
Trust may ask.
Peat used nearly
throughout Europe, wherever it
be obtained without expense
transportation. In large and
gities, as well as in rural districts,
ig utilized for fuel; in fact, in many
localities it is the only substance
ployed for heating
used also in factories
ment for driving
been abandoned, for fear
forest and field.
A peat bed is simply an accum
tion of the remains of plan
grew and decayed on the spot re
d. When the gre
ver of tl
BONO B
yp
is everywhere |
oan
for
13
small
i
it
purposes
but
locomotives
¢
Oi
3 iy valdy
itsen Pio
they are now foun
and growing upper ls
terial
59 to 66 per cent
is removed, one finds pent with
curt ¥
arisen
goes tl
makes up the p
Its ro
nd there was
y every face
I wonder ROPFFOW=
fully to the sad
as
of nnley.
Pocahontas, in Recorder.
“ Renewa! of Masonry.
Heult OP ration KIO ORR.
) recently in
renewal of the masonry front
on West Fifty-ninth
New York. without d
terior in any way, «ays the Philadel
phia Record The bullding was a
four-story residence with stone-trim-
med front. having a front of 33 feet
wide and NO feet high
trance porch and a four story bay
At the beginning of
work all windows and doors and the
sidewalk were covered bw 22-inch
plank, and a very stiff scaffold was
full width and height
3
was
omplished ti
of
house at reel
sturbing thein
window. the
built along the f
of the front, This scaffold was
gtories high and made with
five groups of posts conne ected by dia-
The posts were made
of two pieces of 8x8 inch timbers,
breaking joints and firmly bolted to-
sether. while the horizontal working
platforms were provided with guards
both sides. Hanging platforms
were also swung along the side of the
building The weight of the iron
roof. chimneys, cornices and cons
nected parts was removed from the
front wall and shores were set up to
carry the wall above the second story
sills. These shores were numbered,
wedged and constantly watched:
The old masonry was then taken out
and new brick and stone built in.
Ther the shores wers carried one
story higher and the operation was
repeated while the carvers and stone
cutters were at work below. This
was continued for forty-six days, when
the new front was entirely in place,
the work having been done without
entering the house, except at one
side of the fourths story, where one
old window was replaced by two new
ones. The cost wax about $42,000
and the work was done in such great
haste that there was no time for the
preparation of preliminary plans or
estimates, j i
eleven
gonal braces,
on
each
year
destr
Ty 4
must sis
we the
of peat.
intermed
composition
stage, col
the pen
roots
iH yee ry ed pent
#8 OO expose
It is
a contrivance resembin
after which it
broken up so
is
put
ine oven and thence conveyed
2
jasues in the for
a preas, whenee it
of smooth. shiny. dark-brown bricks
One machine of six-horse power can
the yt
Artificial drying is m
for the peat production.
Peat from 60 ner
§ to © per cent of
of nitro-
of oxygen
: [00
contains {0 to
of! earbon
and 1 to six per cent.
reapect to heating power,
In
60 pounds of hard coal. In Europe
peat is algy turned to account asa
fertilizer and as a building material,
being employed as a filler for vacant
spaces, separating layers for water.
fee houses, &c. By means of
a process recently patented, it has
been made to do serviee in tanneries.
The waste particles of peat, known
‘peat dust,” have been utilized
extensively of late ngs a material for
ftting up odorless vaults.
In the United States peat bogs of
chormons extent are found. Experts
are of the opinion that the article
conld be profitably produced in this
country, especially in localities where
distance from the coal mines makes
coal excessively dear. Nevertheless,
attempts already made in this direc.
tion have not met with success. In
works
ns
to dey and press peat fer market, but
it could not be turned out in this
form for less than 56 a ton. At any-
thing like equal prices,
compete with coal, possessing less
heating power, being very ashy, and
having a peculiar odor. Fite made
from it 1s not iasting. Peat is dug
for burning to a considerable extent
on the Island of Nantucket. Far-
mers in the United States use it to
some extent as a fertilizer,
A peat bog represents the earliest
stage of conl formation on a small
seale. The material of the coal that
j&« nsed by man to«day was chiefly |
contributed by mosses. But these
mosses wore of gigantic sire. Though
resembling in kind the low “club”
mosses of the present, they were for.
est trees. Their fossil trunks have
been foand measuring from 100 to
3 -
ip a large §
tion that
Washing
—— art
THE LOST MINE.
Story from the
Wilds of Alaska.
of 1876
search of it again, The
eral num sot forth In a small
schoone ith the miner for their
the many
in the o in tack-
ing against head winds, and the
winding course that necessarily had
with a the
guide, as § became The
crew began to doubt his and
giving up all hope of finding the
south of the creek that lead to the
goa), insisted upon a return. The
guide persisted that he would surely
find the place and insisted also that
the search be continued, when the
party became angry and threatened
to hang him to the mast. The search
was then abandoned.
A short time after their return to
Sitka the miner, or hero of the ** jost
rocker.” as it was now termed. was
taken sick and died, but to his at-
tendant during his illness, Mike
Powers, one of the pioneers of this
camp, he confided the secret of how
to find the rocker by the lake. The
rich find in Silver Bow basin back of
Juneau occurred soon after his death,
and Powers was one who joined inthe
stampede. Being a good prospector,
und lucky, he secured valuable claims
which demanded his attention, and
in
guide, through
5 ' na
changes made irse
taken schooner,
wore .
0 De
ost,
story.
ry
a
the ** lost rocker,” and after a time
the basin: and thus died the only
living white person who, unless by
accident, could find the lost lake, the
rocker, and the bleached bones of the
unfortunate miner who fell beside it.
To this day prospecting parties
every spring go in search of it. Big
rewards have been offered to Indians
te reveal the locality, but, through
fear of being implicated in the mur.
der or otherwise, they remain silent.
{Juneau (Alaskn) Mining Record.
AS
A light AUAPSWAION brid
at Niagara Is im §
moved in 1804
was built
and re
A rien Laplander sometimes keepy
4d many us (00 reindeer in his ser