The tramp at home

Front matter

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Chapter I. Adventures In New York And Brooklyn

CONDITION OF WORKING - WOMEN. — SUSPICIOUS OF GOVERNMENT AGENTS.

WHAT IS woman's " SPHERE ?" — THE POOR IN BROOKLYN. — MISTAKEN FOR AN INSURANCE AGENT. — A NIGHT ON THE BOWERY. — POLITICAL ECONOMY IN A BATH-TUB Page 1

Chapter II. Factory Life

THREAD A THOUSAND MILES LONG. — HOW LACE IS MADE. — GIRLS AT A COOK- ING-SCHOOL.— ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY GIRL-PRISONERS IN THE BROOKLYN PENITENTIARY. A BROOKLYN TAPESTRY- WEAVER. WHY A BAGGING MANU- FACTURER WANTS PROTECTION 21

Chapter III. In New England

HOW FACTORY OPERATIVES LIVE AND WORK ; THEIR HOME LIFE. — AN ITALIAN AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY COMPARED. — SMALL ECONOMIES. — A ONE-CENT ICE-CREAM SALOON. — CRUEL RESULTS OF CHILD-LABOR. — CONSUMPTION AND INSANITY ON THE INCREASE 36

CHAPTER IV. NEW -E^GLA-^B— Continued

THE KIND OF LITERATURE FACTORY PEOPLE READ. — BOARDING-HOUSE KEEPERS.

— I FIND A BABY IN THE WEEDS. — SAINTS AND FOUNDLINGS. LIFE OF THE

NUNS. — AMONG THE SHAKERS. — THEIR CURIOUS WORSHIP AND DANCES . . 48

Vm C(^ENTS.

Chapter V. In New Orleans

THE SNUFF-DRUMMER. A MANUFACTURER WHO WAS "aGIN THE GOVERNMENT."

CONDITION OF LABORERS IN NEW ORLEANS. A GLIMPSE OF ITALY AND THE

TEMPLE OF VESTA. WHY GIRLS DISLIKE DOMESTIC SERVICE. MISERABLE

PAY AND CONDITION OF SEWING-WOMEN. — INFLUENCE OF THE LOTTERY. — NO MONEY FOR BREAD, BUT ALWAYS A DOLLAR FOR THE LOTTERY. . . .Page 58

Chapter VI. Among Southern Farmers

AN ANCIENT ACADEMY. — TUSCULUM, NAMESAKE OF CICERO's VILLA. — LIVING

ON TWENTY CENTS A DAY. INDEPENDENCE OF THE MOUNTAIN FARMERS.

HOW COTTON IS RAISED ON SHARES. — SKETCHES OF FARM LIFE IN EAST

TENNESSEE. A RELIGIOUS MEETING WHERE THE WOMEN WASHED THE MEN's

FEET, AND THE MEN SWAPPED HORSES IB

CHAPTER VII. AMONG SOUTHERN FAUMEHS- Continued

THE "king of CORN COVE." LIFE IN THE MOUNTAINS. — THE 'SPRISE DANCE

AT SAMANTHA's. — WHY BILL CALLED HIM A SNEAK. MOUNTAIN ETI- QUETTE 82

Chapter VIII. A Night On The Devil's Nose

LOST ON THE MOUNTAIN. — MISTAKEN FOR A REVENUE- OFFICER. — IMPRISONED

IN A CAVE. — HOW I ESCAPED. A PIOUS MOONSHINER. — I RIDE INTO NORTH

CAROLINA , 88

Chapter IX. In Texas

A GIFTED LIAR. — HOW HE ASTONISHED LORD PALMERSTON AND THE QUEEN.— HOW HE FILLED GENERAL HANCOCK WITH WATERMELON AND SAVED THE REBEL ARMY. — TEXAS COWBOYS, THEIR WAGES AND ROUGH LIFE. — THE CAT- TLE KINGS OF THE PANHANDLE. — A TRIP INTO MEXICO. — CONDITION OF LABOR IN THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC. — THE CUSTOMS-OFFICERS ON THE FRONTIER. . 97

CONTENTS. IX

Chapter X. Labor Strikes And Unions

THEIR EDUCATIONAL EFFECT. — GREAT INTEREST TAKEN BY "WORKING-PEOPLE IN ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. — FALLACIES. — MR. POWDERLY AND THE BEER BOT- TLES. — THE HILLS AND HOLLOWS OF KANSAS CITY. — WHY "TREATING" FOSTERS DRUNKENNESS AND RUINS WORKING-MEN. — INTERVIEWS WITH ST.

LOUIS LABORERS Page lOY

Chapter XI. How Nails Are Made

A BIG STRIKE. — COAL-MINERS. — THEIR GLOOMY LIFE. — A MAN WHO BELIEVED

IN INSULATION. — WHY THE POLAR-BEAR FROZE. — THE LADY COOK. LIVING

BY ABSORPTION. — A NIGHT ON PIKE's PEAK. — A MORMON PEDESTRIAN. . 126

Chapter XII. Through The North-west Territory

BY BUCK - BOARD, BOAT, AND STAGE. — GOVERNMENT "REQUESTS." A CON- DUCTOR WHO WANTED TO EJECT ME. THE CHINESE GARDENS IN PORTLAND.

UP THE COLUMBIA. LOGGING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY. A FOREST

FIRE. WE HAVE TO CLEAR THE WAY, THE INLETS OP PUGET SOUND.

A FLOATING PHOTOGRAPHER 141

Chapter XIII. Adventures In Idaho And Nevada

A RED-BEARDED MAN WHO DEMANDED AN EXPLANATION. — CLOTH AND PAPER HOTELS. — ROUTED BY ROACHES. — RUINOUS INTEREST PAID BY WESTERN FARMERS. — A HARDWARE DRUMMER DISCOMFITED. — A HOLE IN THE GROUND

TWO THOUSAND FEET DEEP. AN ENGLISHMAN WHO HAD BIRD ON THE

BRAIN. WESTERN STAGE-COACH DRIVERS 155

Chapter XIV. California

THE " LABOR QUESTION " ON THE PACIFIC COAST. — UNSETTLED CONDITIONS. —

MILLIONAIRES, PAUPERS, AND DISCONTENT. GREEK SCHOLARS AT WORK SIDE

BY SIDE WITH CHINAMEN. A WAITER WHO DOES NOT PEEL POTATOES.

ENTS.

CHINESE LABOR UNIONS. — THEIR STRIKES AND BOYCOTTS. — PHOTOGRAPHING UNDERGROUND DENS BY AID OF ELECTRIC LIGHTS. FRIGHTENED MONGO- LIANS. AT A CHINESE FUNERAL. — BAKED PIG AND BIRDS' NESTS. MUST THE

CHINESE GO ? Page 167

CHAPTER XV. CALIFORNIA— Conf/nwed

THE MYTHICAL CITIES OP THE GOLDEN GATE. — HOW LAND IS MONOPOLIZED, AND

WHY WAGES IN THE FAR WEST ARE GROWING SMALLER. A PACK-MULE TRIP

OVER THE COAST RANGE MOUNTAINS. — A FRONTIERSMAN RIDING COW-BACK. — LOCATING A TIMBER CLAIM. — REAL-ESTATE SPECULATIONS ON THE SANDY

PLAINS OF SAN DIEGO. — CALIFORNIA HOSPITALITY. HYDRAULIC MINING. —

HUNTING BEAR WITH SIBERIAN BLOOD-HOUNDS 193

Chapter XVI. Sailors' Woes

RAILROADS VERSUS PEOPLE. — TWO OPPOSITE VIEWS. — ORIGIN OF THE LABOR BUREAU. — CARROLL D, WRIGHT, COMMISSIONER AND STATISTICIAN. — THE seamen's STRIKE. — HOW POOR JACK IS TREATED. — EXTRACTS FROM TESTI- MONY GIVEN IN THE OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION . 203

CHAPTER XVn.

A SAILOR'S STORY.

CRUEL TREATMENT AFLOAT AND ASHORE. BEATEN WITH A BELAYING-PIN AND

LOCKED IN THE DARK-HOLE. — HOW MEN ARE SHIPPED 215

CHAPTER XVin.

A SAILOR'S UTOJiY—Contimied.

PICKLING A CHINAMAN. THE CREW MUTINY. — ESCAPE TO A TROPICAL ISLAND.

WORK SECURED ON A SUGAR PLANTATION. — THE SAILOR BECOMES A LAW- YER AND WINS A WIFE 224

CHAPTER XIX.

A TROPICAL TRIP.

INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE. — A BURIAL AT SEA. THE PASSENGER WHO WAS

"a bit PUT ABOUT," AND THE TALL MISSIONARY. CURIOUS SCENE OFF THE

CONTENTS. Xi

SAMOAN ISLANDS. — LABOR 0\ THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. — EFFECTS OF THE CONTRACT SYSTEM. — ILLUSTRATION OF GEORGE's LAND THEORY.— LIFE AND LABOR ON SUGAR PLANTATIONS Page 234

CHAPTER XX.

TWO VOLCANOES.

A NIGHT ON THE VERGE OF SHEOL. — THE AWFUL FIRES OF KILAUEA. — IN THE

lAO TALLEY. THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS. — WE BECOME LOST IN THE

CRATER OF A VOLCANO „ 253

CHAPTER XXI.

AN ISLAND OF LEPERS.

WRETCHES BANISHED JROM THE AVORLD ; THEY DIG THEIR OWN GRATES, AND GIVE " COFFIN SOCIABLES " TO RAISE FUNDS WHEREWITH TO PURCHASE COFFINS. — FIGHT WITH A SHARK. — AH FOO'S EXPANSIVE FAMILY., . . . 264

CHAPTER XXII.

BANQUETING WITH A KING.

royalty's HULA-HULA GIRLS AND THEIR VOLUPTUOUS DANCES. — TROPICAL ORGIES. — A PIG STUFFED WITH THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND SILVER DIMES.

WHY THE CAUCASIANS REVOLTED. TRAVELLERS NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE

THE KINGDOM UNTIL THEIR DEBTS ARE PAID , . . . 274

CHAPTER XXIII.

Conclusion

LABOR BUREAUS SHOW, BUT WHO WILL IMPROVE, THE CONDITION OF LABOR ?

THE FIVE METHODS COMMONLY URGED FOR BENEFITING AVORKING-MEN

ONLY MAKESHIFTS. — THE REAL REMEDY 284

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

An Opium Den Frontispiece

Brooklyn Tobacco-strippers 13

The Brooklyn Cooking-school 23

Homes of the Poor 29

Foundling Children Eating Dinner 53

Shaker "Worship 66

A Poor Seamstress at Work 68

" Moonshiner's " Cabin on the Devil's Nose 94

Iron-workers , 119

Coal-miners Going to Work 129

The Signal-station on Pike's Peak ^ 137

Loggers in Winter • .' 149

California Girls Peeling Peaches 168

Lottery Shop 175

Alley in Chinatown 183

Chinese Merchants , 187

Railroad on a Sugar Plantation 245

The Water-flume 248

Crater of Kilauea , 261

Hula-hula Girls . . , 275

Hawaiian Female Costumes 281

THE TRAMP AT HOME.

Chapter I. Adventures In New Yoek And Brooklyn

CONDITION OF WORKING -WOMEN. — SUSPICIOUS OF GOVERNMENT AGENTS. — WHAT IS WOMAN'S "SPHERE ?" — THE POOR IN BROOK- LYN. — MISTAKEN FOR AN INSURANCE AGENT. — A NIGHT ON THE BOWERY. — POLITICAL ECONOMY IN A BATH-TUB.

Upon completing my report on the condition of working-men in Europe, I was deputed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at Washington to examine into the condition of working-women in large American cities. Brooklyn was the first city selected. Before beginning the investigation I delivered to the Knights of Labor in Brooklyn several letters of introduction that had been given me by members of the order in Washington. An appointment was made for me to attend an open meeting at the Knights of Labor hall on Fulton Street. I went, and found that the introductory letters had been unfavorably received. My arrival was the signal for hoots and jeers.

" We want no Government spies!" cried one man.

" You can't come in here !" cried another.

" They sneaked one man in on us last year ; it can't be done again, though !" shouted a third.

" There is some mistake," I said, as soon as the excitement abated enough to let me be heard. " I supposed your order was friendly to the Labor Bureau. The commissioner did not send me to you. He knows nothing of my purpose of coming here — " 1

2 THE TmMP AT HOME.

" You haven't told- Carroll Wright, eh ?" interrupted one of the men. " Well, you can tell that to the marines. We have no more faith in Carroll W^right than in any other Massachusetts man, and that is saying we have mighty little."

I endeavored to explain that all I wanted were suggestions as to where I had better begin the investigation — where I would find most working-girls. The Knights would not listen.

I fear labor investigations will be attended with more serious obstacles in the United States than in Europe. In Europe the men always seemed willing, even anxious, to talk with me. They freely told of their low wages, of their hard struggle, and in return listened to the stories I related of America. At home I have often found it difficult to win their confidence. American laborers are suspicious of anything connected with the Government, which they seem to believe is run entirely in the interest of the rich. Once, as I was leaving a large New England cotton-mill, whither I had gone to secure the names of some of the operatives with the purpose of interviewing them at their homes, an old woman who had given me her name and residence came running up.

" If you please, sir, I think I would like to have my name back."

I was a Government agent, and some one had cautioned her not to trust a Government agent. I gravely read from my note-book the name and address she had given me ; whereupon she returned to her loom apparently satisfied. Afterwards, when I called upon this same woman, she evinced surprise that I remembered her, and knew where to find her house after I had given back her name ! She seemed to think it vain to attempt to further evade so acute an investigator, and answered my questions quite freely.

The possessor of moderate intelligence is the hardest to deal with. A workman of first-class intelligence understands the value of statistics, and to assist in throwing light on the " labor question " will submit to what ordinarily might seem an impertinent examination into private affairs. On the other hand,

ADVENTURES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. 3

laborers of very limited intelligence — men and women who, through drudgery, have become mere machines — will answer questions as they will do anything else they are bidden. But from that portion of the community with just enough sense and schooling not to be automatic machines, yet not quite enough to comprehend the purpose of statistical inquiries — from this class it is difficult to extract any trustworthy information whatever. The flippant evasions, the would-be witty replies I received from this class would fill a volume.

"What is it all for?" one will ask. I explain. "Well, what does the Government want to know my wages for? It ain't the Government's business if my work ain't healthy."

"It will not harm, it may benefit, you to tell me about your work."

" I believe I would as lief not," they reply, glancing at me furtively, as if taking me to be the emissary of an enemy.

Experience made me expert in distinguishing this class. Often I could tell at a glance whether a man or woman would be willing to give information. I left with some of the working-girls printed forms with questions as to the effect of their work on the health, the average of wages, hours, etc. Here are a few specimens of the written replies made by shop-girls to those questions :

" Work makes me feeble, and troubled with corns,"

"Very injurious work. Gives me toothache, and rheumatism in my left ankle. I have to support my entire family consisting of twelve persons, not including my future husband."

" Weakly. Diagnosis of my case most miserable. Very weak around the ankles."

" Don't get any wages — live on love and fresh air. You forgot to ask what number of shoes I wear. Well, I will tell you. I am noted for my very small feet. I wear my father's old socks and my mother's shoes. It is below my dignity to wash dishes. I mind the baby instead, who is a darling boy with a beautiful mustache, and kisses too nicely for anything."

"If you want any information about me, come around some time when I'm out, and get all you can. It's none of the Government's business what wages I get."

4 THE T^^P AT HOME.

" Sanitary condition very bad, a young man being across the way resulting in my having palpitation of the heart. Make the Government pass a law to remove that young man, or else make him shave off his mustache. Otherwise I shall die of heart disease."

" Can't fool me. The Government ain't going to help us working-girls. It never did."

" My entire family belong to the Salvation Arm}^ Call to see my pa and he will tell you the rest, and set the bull-dog on you besides."

"Work is injurious to the rotary motions of my interior organs. My left eye has a fixed look, owing, no doubt, to my habit of squinting at the young man across the way. Am also afflicted with bandy-leggedness in pedal extremities, which I attribute to standing on one foot. Am gradually growing one-sided. To keep a straight appearance, am forced to stand on an oyster-can."

" If you want any information call some time when I am not in. I would be delighted to improve an acquaintance so agreeably begun ; likewise my pa, whose shot-gun is not yet out of order, and who is considered the best shot for miles around."

Such instances could be multiplied indefinitely, but the above sufiice to illustrate the point. Those girls doubtless giggled and were highly amused at the wit they imagined they were displaying. At the same time, if there really was anything injurious in their work, or if there were any evils capable of legislative remedy, no more effectual way could have been taken to choke off inquiry and prevent the probable benefits that might follow an accurate and complete knowledge of their condition. I believe I had less difficulty in Europe, because there I adopted the dress of a workman and lived with the working-class. Doubtless, had I gone to them as an agent of the Government, they also would have been suspicious and churlish. In Italy, where I began my tramp trip, I used frequently to fall in with strolling peddlers and mechanics. In answer to their questions I told them frankly that I was tramping merely to see the people. An itinerant umbrella-vender, whom I met on the way from Palermo to Rome, required to be told several times before he would believe that I was doing for pleasure the very thing he considered the hardest sort of work. Said he :

*' Amico mio — my friend — you are not crazy. You wish not

ADVENTUEES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. 5

the people to think you crazy. Well, do not tell that you walk from Palermo to Rome for love to walk and see people. You have a pack on your back ; say you sell umbrellas, but that they are all gone. Then people will not think you mad."

It may be that truth is not, like honesty, always the best policy. Certainly sometimes in Italy, when the peasants crowded too close to stare at the " mad American who walked about in the sun for nothing," it would have been more agreeable to have sought shelter under the humble but honest occupation of an itinerant umbrella-vender.

A great deal is said about woman's sphere. One declares it is in the kitchen ; another, that it is in the nursery ; another, in the parlor. It is in a dozen different places, according to the classifier's taste and imagination. Careful investigation in many lands has led me to the conclusion that whatever woman's sphere should be, it actually is about the same as man's ; and that is in the very front rank of the hard battle of life. That small class of idle, daintily dressed fine ladies to whom men pay most homage only furnishes an exception to the general rule. The aristocratic American feels disgraced if his sister or daughter engages in manual labor. In Europe the upper classes look down on men as well as women who work for a living. The Turkish gentleman owns his wives as he owns his dogs or horses, and, if rich enough, keeps them in idle luxury These idle and pampered women, however, are few in number in comparison with the women workers of the world. In America, in Europe, even in Turkey, where it is pretended women are so highly esteemed — where it is sacrilege for men to even look at their faces — the labor investigator will find that the great majority of women work for their daily bread, often working side by side with men. More than that, he will see woman, gentle woman, whose "sphere" is in the home, in the kitchen, in the nursery, doing hard and coarsening work, while her lord and master does some softer service, or perhaps lounges idle by her side.

I can never forget the astonishment, mingled with shame.

6 THE TR^P AT HOME.

which I felt the first time I gazed upon a woman harnessed by the side of an ox. It was on a lonely road in Switzerland, near the Italian frontier. Night had already set in, and the bonfires lighted by woodsmen hundreds of feet above my head gave scarcely enough light to pick my way over the rough, rocky road. I hurried on to reach the next village. In my hurry, and in the darkness, I almost ran into a huge mass of moving hay. A woman was pulling that hay, and an ox, not a man, was helping her. On that same road I overtook a number of women who looked like walking hay-stacks. Strapped to their backs were funnel-like contrivances, into which hay was stacked to a height of five or six feet. The husbands piled the hay into the funnels; the wives carried it. It is to be hoped such shameful sights will never be seen on American soil.

I secured the names of a number of the employes of a large Brooklyn rope factory, and on Sunday one of my assistants, a lady, went to interview them.

" When I called at the first house," said the assistant, " the girl seemed surprised.

" ' Where is the young man ?' she asked.

" She was dressed in all her finery, as if expecting a beau instead of a Government agent. At another place the girl's mother opened the door.

" ' Pshaw !' she exclaimed, ' isn't he coming ? I stayed on purpose to see him. I was going to a funeral to-day ; but when I heard the Government was sending young men around to talk with my girl I thought I'd better stay to home and see what was up.'

" She was very friendly, however, and insisted on my taking a chair and writing comfortably at the table. I did so. Very good. But when I arose to go it was very bad. The chair arose too. It had been freshly varnished, and stuck to my dress. The good woman was greatly put out. She scrubbed and rubbed my dress, pinned up the rents, and insisted on my staying to dinner by way of making amends for my torn dress.

ADVENTURES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. 7

I remained, and bad a working-family's Sunday dinner : soup, ham, potatoes, coffee, bread and butter, and pie.

" A poor rope - maker, after she bad read my credentials stating tbat * any assistance rendered would be valued as adding to the statistical information of the bureau,' looked a little troubled.

" ' I am right hard up,' she said, hesitatingly, * but I am willing to help what I can. Will twenty-five cents do any good V "

The poor woman thought the great, big, rich United States Government was soliciting financial assistance. It was perhaps comical, but also a little pathetic, her willingness to drop into its overflowing coffers her little mite of twenty-five cents. When she understood that information, not money, was solicited, she cheerfully answered the questions necessary to fill the blanks.

An old woman whom I met on the streets was carrying a mountain of cheap " pants " on her back. I spoke to her.

"Kann kein Englisch," said the old woman.

"Also, wir wollen Deutsch sprechen," I answered, addressing her in German, and told her I wanted to visit her and inquire about her work.

" Wollen mich besuchen?" — (Want to come to see me?) — her eyes opening wide with astonishment. " Was soil das heissen ?" — (What does that mean ?) " I don't know you."

"But I want to know you. I want you to tell me about your work, your wages. It is for the Government."

" For the Government ! Where, then, is your uniform ?"

In Germany every official, however lowly and humble, wears a uniform decorated with brass buttons. The old German lady refused to believe I was a Government agent, and marched off eying me suspiciously, and muttering, "Der naseweise Junge, cine alte Frau so anzureden 1" — (The impudent rascal, to bother an old woman like me !)

However, it is not difficult to find the homes of the " pants " makers. Passing along the streets, one knows their places by

8 THE THgpiP AT HOME the clattering of the sewing-machines. Here is the table of a Brooklyn "pants" and coat maker:

Condition. — Family of seven : mother and six daughters. Occupy four small rooms on the third floor of a tenement-house, paying $10 a month rent. Two of the rooms are very plainly furnished, the other two are mere closets. The mother works at heme finishing "pants," cooking, and keeping house. Two sisters work out, the others go to the public schools. By working from six o'clock in the morning until half-past six in the evening, one girl has made as much as $11.70 in a week. Ordinarily she earns from $6 to $9 a week. The higher figure, however, is made only when the mother helps.

Diet. — Breakfast : Tea or coffee and bread. Dinner : Bread and butter, fresh meat of some kind, potatoes, occasionally pie or pudding. Supper : Same as breakfast.

Amount earned by the two girls making " pants," per week, $16.

Cost of living for family of seven, per loeek :

Rent $2 50

Potatoes 56

Butter 30

Flour and bread 1 30

Tea and coffee 50

Fuel and light 1 00

All other expenses, religion, repairing furniture, etc 4 00

Total weekly expenses $15 46

Total weekly income 16 00

Total weekly savings $ 64

This would make the savings of this Brooklyn family amount to $28.08 a year — a small sum with which to meet sickness or other misfortune.

In the large cities, as New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, etc., wages appear to be higher than in small towns, though not sufficiently so to compensate for the greatly increased cost of living. In New York it is impossible for the average workman or woman to live in anything like comfort. Rents are high, provisions are high, every necessity is high. Few working-men get off with less than ten dollars a month rent, and it may

ADVENTURES IN NEW YOEK AND BROOKLYN. 9

safely be said that any habitation in New York City at that figure would be of the most miserable and squalid description. I have visited many tenement-houses, and found not a few cases where the children of a family, grown sons and daughters, occupied the same sleeping apartments. Not only will such crowding create physical disease, but it must necessarily destroy all natural delicacy and possibly deprave the morals. Still, there is nothing as bad in New York as the lodginghouses I have seen in Italian cities, where men and women, strangers to each other, often bunk together. The philanthropist who studies tenement life in large American cities will readily perceive the evils resulting from overcrowding, and seek some remedy therefor. Take, for instance, the Tenth Police Precinct in New York. In that precinct a large proportion* of the population dwell in a poor class of tenement-houses, and New York statistics of crime show a figure ten per cent, greater in proportion to population in the Tenth than in any other precinct where the number of tenement-houses is smaller. This of itself might not mean much ; but when careful inquiry in several large cities shows that there is uniformly a much larger per cent, of crime in districts where great numbers of people crowd in tenement-houses than in districts not so crowded, the fact, to say the least, is significant. I was unable to get the statistics of crime in European cities in this connection. Had they been obtainable, doubtless the same story would have been told. The poorer class of tenement-houses are usually filled by the lowest classes of society. It may be said that these low classes furnish a fertile soil for crimes and vices. Overcrowding in dark attics and damp cellars certainly will afford these

* The Registrar of the New York Board of Health writes, March, 1888: "A tenement-house, as legally defined, is one in which more than two families live independently ; but in this census no cognizance has been taken of what are called ' apartment-houses ' or ' flats,' but only of the poorer class — the houses commonly known as ' tenements ' — front door never closed. Total number of such houses, 31,534; total number of families, 250,105; total number of occupants, 1,016,135." 1*

10 THE TI^^P AT HOME.

unfortunates no cLance to improve their condition mentally, morally, or physically ; on the contrary, a perpetuity of vice and crime is assured. One hundred years ago less than a thirtieth of the population of the United States lived in cities of eight thousand and over. The census of ISSO showed that the urban population constituted 22.5 per cent, (or nearly a fourth) of the entire population. The tendency to crowd into cities still continues, and, if not checked, will result in producing the same squalid poverty that may be said to be the rule in Europe, but as yet is only " sporadic " in America.

Considering its size and proximity to New York, rents in Brooklyn are surprisingly low — low even as compared with smaller cities. I found a skirt and lace embroiderer on Lexington Avenue, Brooklyn, in a brown-stone-front house which might easily be mistaken for the residence of a well-to-do merchant or banker. The lace-embroiderer paid fifty dollars a month for this three-story stone-front house. She sublet the first floor for twenty dollars, and the third for fourteen dollars, making the rent of the second floor, which she occupied with her grandmother and cousin, sixteen dollars a month. The front room, overlooking the elevated railroad, was handsomely furnished — pictures, piano, carpet, etc. The cousin paid four dollars a week on this, and on her wages of ten dollars a week the lace-embroiderer supported herself and grandmother in comfort.

A comfortable two -story frame house can be rented in Brooklyn for $20 a month. I called on the family of a carpenter living in such a house. There were double parlors, a bath-room, closets, and other conveniences. The house was" nicely furnished, and the family were intelligent and well dressed. The father, a master carpenter, earns $900 a year. Two daughters in a straw-hat factory make, the one $400, the other $312 a year. A son twenty-two years old receives $21 a week as clerk in a wholesale house in New York. The total income of the family of eight is $2854 a year. Their annual expenses fall short of this amount by about $600, leaving a snug sum to lay aside for a rainy day.

ADVENTUKES IX NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. 11

A few days after my call on tins family I was at one of the New Jersey sea-shore resorts. To my surprise, upon entering the parlors of the hotel, there was the hat-maker, daughter of the carpenter, in a pretty white dress, her cheeks round and rosy.

" I am taking my vacation," she explained. " I have something to ask you," hesitating. "You will not tell how you came to know me, not tell that I am a factory girl ; they do not know it here. They think perhaps that I am a school-teacher. They would be unpleasant to me if they knew I was a factory girl."

She was not ashamed of her work, but she knew the snobbishness of the world. I observed her with considerable interest during my stay. Several of her friends came up from the city. One, a musician of no mean ability, was the son of a judge; another was a book-keeper; another a medical student. The hat-maker sang well. Accompanied by the judge's son, she treated the hotel to an excellent amateur concert.

It is gratifying to be able to note such cases as the lace-embroiderer and the carpenter's family, because they indicate the possibilities of thrift and industry in this country. Such cases can scarcely be paralleled in Europe, even among the exceptions. The reader, however, who imagines that even in America any large number of working men or women live in as comfortable a style as the two families just described will make a mistake. As far as I have observed, they are the pleasant exceptions to a very unpleasant rule.