COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE AVERY FINE ARTS RESTRICTED AR01 399497 ^^^- .r^Jf % Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Ex SItbrts SEYMOUR DURST -f ' yort nlemv t^m/ierclam. oj^ Je Manhatarus _ ._-_- }^-^ (ISIEW YORK) , 1651. IVhen you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." THE BETTER NEIV YORK A PRACTICAL HAND BOOK TO THE RESOURCES AND ^ PROGRESS OF NEW YORK 2JO Pages; 8y Pen and Ink Drawings Price 25 Cents, (paper) ( Postage 3 Cents ) 10 Cents Per Copy in lots of 500 or more Cloth Edition — Coated Paper^ J20 Pages Price $1.50 ( Postage 1 1 Cents ) I The Better New York may be ordered from American Institute of Social Service 287 Fourth Avenue, NEW YORK Or of K S. Leonard, Circulation Manager, 615 Temple Court, New York The American Institute of Social Service A CLEARING HOUSE FOR FACTS AND IDEAS ON SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT *' The possibilities of usefulness for the Institute are well nigh bound- less. I most earnestly hope that all philanthropists will, by personal work and, where they can, also with their purses, aid in pushing it forward, and thereby hasten the progress of civilization and the uplifting of humanity.'* THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Sustaining Members . . . |ioo yearly Commercial 25 " Co-operating Members . . 5 " *^ Social Service" Magazine . i " A subscription for ** Social Service" magazine is included in all gifts of $5 and over. Subscribers of ^5 or more may receive free, on request, Presi- dent Strong's new book, *' Social Progress," regular price J^i, postage 10 cents. There is a minimum, charge of 50 cents for ordinary inquiries from non-subscribers, and more in special cases. ORDER SLIP / enclose $. for to be sent to Namey- Address,. Date, Frontispiece— Divisions of the Better New York* The BETTER NEW YORK By DR. WM. H. TOLMAN Director American Institute of Social Service j Chevalier de la Legion D'Honncur; Corresponding Member of the Imperial and Royal Technical Trade Museum, Vienna j American Corre- spondent of the Musee Social, Paris j Etc.. Etc., and CHARLES HEMSTREET Author of " Nooks and Corners of Old New York," " When Old New York Was Young," *■'' Literary New York," Etc. Afterivord by JOSIAH STRONG Draivings by A. C. McHENCH ^«i JOHN WESTERBERG THIRD EDITION. NEW rORK: THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SERVICE HOW TO USE THIS BOOK The map on page facing title shows how the city of New York has been divided into eleven sections. Within each one of these sectional portions of the city, that which is described has been classified, so that the points of interest can be most conveniently reached. Under this arrangement the journeyer may start at the Battery, walk over the city, and see the Better New York without retracing a step, and therefore without loss of time. Or, one not desiring to go over the entire route may take up the journey at any point, simply glancing at the map to see what section one is in, and turning to that section of the book. NOTE The plan of this book often makes it necessary to mention one subject in half a dozen Divisions. It is advisable, then, when the reader is interested in any particular subject, that the General Index be consulted for complete information. / Copyright, 1904, by "I w' The American Institute of Social Service J(pj r\ ^ Q. New York, 287 Fourth Avenue ' J Third Edition DIVISIONS. DIVISION I. Page From the Battery to Canal Street 9 DIVISION 11. Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of the Bowery 39 DIVISION IIL Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of the Bowery 67 DIVISION IV Fourteenth to Thirty-fourth Street, West of Fifth Avenue 91 DIVISION V Fourteenth to Thirty-fourth Street, East of Fifth Avenue 104 DIVISION VI. Thirty-fourth to Fifty-seventh Street, East of Fifth Avenue 123 DIVISION VII. Thirty-fourth to Fifty-seventh Street, West of Fifth Avenue 140 DIVISION VIII. Fifty-seventh to One Hundred and Tenth Street, West of Fifth Avenue (including Central Park) 154 DIVISION IX. Fifty-seventh to One Hundred and Tenth Street, East of Fifth Avenue 172 DIVISION X. Above One Hundred and Tenth Street to Kingsbridge... 190 DIVISION XL The Bronx 203 General Index 217 Addenda 231 and 232 List of Illustrations. Page 1- Map Frontispiece 2. Where Finny Wonders May Be Seen 10 3. Where the Dutch Used to Bowl in New Amsterdam Days 12 4. A Seaman's Traveling Library 15 5. A Turning-Point in Boys' Success 19 6. McAuley Mission 20 7. How the Salvation Army Helps People 21 8. One of Jack's Snug Harbors 24 9. Jack's Floating "Gospel Shop" 26 10. New York's Chinese Theater 27 11. A Roof Playground of the Five Points House of Industry 29 12. The Service of Work at the House of Industry 30 13. Where Childish Voices Sing 31 14. A Life-Saving Station 32 15. A Bit of the New Five Points 33 16. A Line of Samples from the Diet Kitchen 34 17. St. John's Lane 35 18. Arms of the Janitors' Association 38 19. The Education of a Breakfast for Foodless Italian Children 40 20. A Bowery Social Center 45 21. Alfred Corning Clark Memorial House 51 2?. Christodora 55 23. At the Wilson Industrial 56 24. Cooper Union 59 25. Pleasure and Profit for the People in Cooper Union. 60 26. The Houses of Anna, Simeon and the Holy Child.. 65 27. How Grace Church Does It 68 28. A Good Bed for 20 Cents and a Square Meal for 15 Cents 71 29. Helping Men to Help Themselves at the Christian Alliance 72 30. Payment in Kind at the Industrial Christian Alliance. 73 31. Jackson Square Library 76 32. The Needle, the Sewing-machine and the Paste-pot. 77 33. The Extension of Useful Knowledge 78 34. A Portal of Practical Uplift; the Salvation Army.. 79 35. Where the Watchman Announced Fires in Green- wich Village 80 36. The Church of the Ascension 82 37. Where Grace Church Looks Out on Broadway 84 38. Some of Grace Church Social Centers 85 39. Church of the Holy Communion 92 40. Church of the Holy Communion 93 41. Church of the Holy Communion 94 42. In the Center of Chelsea Village 95 43. Salvage for Men and Waste 96 List of Illustrations. Page 44. Where the Y. M. C. A. Helps Body, Mind and Soul. 98 45. Applied Design 99 46. An Isle of Safety 100 47. How the Children's Aid Society Brings the Cripples to Its Schools 105 48. St. George's Parish House 107 49. A Cozy Corner in the Madison Square Church House 113 50. The Lich Gate of the Little Church Around the Corner 114 51. American Institute of Social Service — A Social Laboratory 119 52. Classified Experiences in Social Betterment 120 53. Where the Social Doctor Receives His Patients at the American Institute of Social Service 121 54. Social Laboratory, American Institute of Social Service 122 55. Technical Training at the Y. M. C. A 126 56. Brick Presbyterian Church 128 57. On Board the Floating Hospital 129 58. Where Some New York Children Play on the Roof of St. Bartholomew's Mission House 133 59. Possibilities of Americanization for the Chinaman.. 134 60. Church of the Covenant v 135 61. St. Thomas's Vested Choir 136 62. St. Thomas's Chapel on the East Side 137 63. Mrs. A. H. Gibbons 139 64. The Babcock Memorial 141 65- Where Good Americans are Made 148 36. At the Home for the Friendless 151 67. Grant's Monument from Across the Park 154 68. Bits of Nature in a Nearbv Park 155 69. Roosevelt Hospital 162 70. Where Marvels of Natural History are Housed 169 71. The Church at Work: St. Thomas's House 172 72. Practical Uplift for Cripples 173 73. At the Orthopaedic 174 74. At Close of Dav in the Orthopaedic 175 75. The New Education 176 76. The Education of Hand and Brain 182 77. The Real Thing in Practise 183 78. An Application Station in Hand Training 184 79. First Carnegie Library 185 80. Reading-room Young Men's Hebrew Association.. 188 81. Education for Eye and Ear 189 82. The Unconscious Influence of Art: Wadleigh High School 192 83. A New Use for a City Pier: Recreation Above, Freight Below 197 84. A Home for the Deaf and Dumb 200 85. Individual Care for Dependent Children 201 86. A New Use for a Car 211 87. The Final Evolution of the Car 212 88. Where the Friendless Children are Cared For 213 89. Not Altogether Friendless 214 90. The Canon of a City Street 215 SIGHTS AND INSIGHTS IN BETTER NEW YORK DIVISION I. From the Battery to Canal Street, When New Amsterdam was captured by the British from the Dutch in the year 1664, and its name changed to New York, there stood close by where Battery Park is now, a fort, which was the chief defense of the city. The British realized from the weak resistance the Dutch had made what a useless fort this was, so they very soon set about building a battery near the water's edge that should be more effective in time of war. Around this battery there was a small open space which in after years, when the battery had been demolished, continued to be called The Battery. For close upon 250 years, now, that little space has been getting larger and larger, by the process of filling in land along the water's side, until the result is the Battery Park of today. In the early part of the nineteenth century a tiny island in the bay, just ofif Battery Park, was fortified, when there were rumors of war, and be- came Fort Clinton. In the course of time, when it had come to be the year 1822, Governor's Island became the military headquarters, and Fort Clin- The Subway (5> Expre From the Battery to Canal Street ton ceased to be a fort and became Castle Garden, a place of amusement. It was the scene, in 1824, of the reception of General Lafayette, and in 1851 its name was heard around the world, when Louis Kossuth was received there and welcomed to America. The glories of the place faded in an- other five years, when it entered on a new life as a depot for the reception of immigrants. For this purpose it was used until 1891. Old Castle Garden, reconstructed internally beyond all knowing, but still retaining its familiar appearance of circular solidity, entered on a new stage in its history in 1896, when it became the home of the New York Aquarium. It was befit- ting that the historic old building should thus house the largest public aquarium in the world, an aquarium that contains not only the largest single collection of living fish, but also the finest collec- tion of tropical fish. Occupying the floor space are seven great pools, the largest of which is thir- ty-eight feet in length. Extending around the walls Where Finny Wonders May Be Seen. The Better New York on the ground floor, as well as in the circular gal- lery, are a hundred or more wall tanks, where tish, from the ordinary and familiar to the most rare and remarkable, are shown as though they were animated illuminated paintings. The Aquarium is the resort for the deep student of sea-lore and a revelation to those who would learn the remark- able shapes hidden in the depths of the sea. Beyond the Aquarium in the park is a life-size bronze statue of the Swedish-American engineer, John Ericsson, who, in 1833, applied the screw to steam navigation, and in 1862 invented the Monitor. He was many years a citizen of New York. The park has long been an engaging place for children, and in 1903 a special playground was set aside for them on a plot of ground under the structure of the elevated road where it crosses the park. This playground is fitted out with swings, ladders and every device for amusement. Few of the crowds hurrying across Battery Park know the meaning of the lunch wagon standing there day after day, where one can get a meal for ten cents. The Church Temperance Society, striving for the promotion of temperance, has among other aids a Woman's Auxiliary. It is this branch of the society that maintains the lunch wagon in the park, as well as seven others at different points throughout the city, seeking to do their part toward counteracting the evil in- fluence of the saloon. In the course of a year something like 350,000 ten-cent meals arc served from these wagons. The profit that comes is at once put out again by the society in the shape of free ice-water fountains in some twenty different quarters of the town, and in a coffee-wagon, from which in winter the city's fire-fighters are strength- ened while at their work. 10 From the Battery to Canal Street On State Street, facing Battery Park, is a row of houses whose ornate doorways and time-stained outer walls proclaim them of a period long gone. Though not at all in keeping with the architecture of a modern city, these houses are picturesque in their oddity. They are survivals of a half century or more ago, of the days when wealthy residents had their homes here close by the waterside. The first of this row, numbered i State Street, is occu- pied by one of the branches of the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society, and is called the Battery Station. Here seamen find not only a hearty welcome, but assistance, whether they want recreation, advice or employment. Here, too, they may leave their savings to be cared for, or to be sent to relatives in any part of the world. There is here, too, a seaman's branch of the Legal Aid Society, where the more serious mat- ters of men of the sea are looked after. Where the Dutch Used to Bowl in New Amsterdam Days. II The Better New York Another house in this row, Xo. 6, the Leo House, receives German CathoHc immigrants, and, for a small fee, cares for them until they can secure a position. Further along in this same row a house to be noted by the passer-by is Xo. 17. now the home of the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosarj*. Immi- grant Irish girls coming to America are met when they land at Ellis Island, and if there is no other friend to care for them, they are taken to the solid appearing old house on State Street and kept until relatives can be communicated with or until a posi- tion can be secured for them. Their sta}' is usually short, as it has come to be a place where those in want of hired help daily apply in such numbers that even the friendless girls in a new world are not long out of a position or a home. At Xo. 9 in this same State Street is the Im- migrant Girl's Home, where the Woman's Home Missionary- Society- of the Methodist Episcopal Church extends a temporary- shelter to women lately arrived in this countr^^ Seven or eight hundred are cared for during the year. This home diflFers from others of similar intent, because interest is taken in the future of the women, to whom it is ready at all times to offer advice or protection in case of misfortune or ill health. At 12 State Street is the Lutheran Emigrant House Association, where immigrants of all nationalities mav find board at nominal rates. 12 From the Battery to Canal Street During the course of a year more than 200.000 Italian immigrants are landed at Ellis Island. Most of them are wholly unfamiliar with the lan- guage and customs of the country. An eiTort to start them in the new world under proper condi- tions is made by the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, with headquarters convenient to the water front, at 17 Pearl Street. It puts the newly-arrived in communication with any friends or relations they may have, secures employment for some, and acts generally as a buffer between them and what might otherwise be a merciless world. Away back in 1769, when George III. reigned and when Sir Henry j^loore governed the Province of New York, the ^Marine Society of New York was formed. It exists still, and has a home at 19 Whitehall Street. In those early days the mas- ters of vessels gathered together to discuss mari- time matters, and by discussion and investigation acquired knowledge. There were vessel masters who felt that a day of distress might some time come to them, there were seamen to whom days of distress had already arrived, and there were widows and orphans of the sea who needed assist- ance. So the ]\Iarine Society gathered a knowl- edge of the sea, aided members in distress and cared for widows and orphans, and is doing the same good work today. Where Broadway begins is the Bowling Green, a tiny patch of ground that in early days was an open space in front of the fort. It became a bowl- ing green in 1733, and has been the scene of stir- ring events connected with the city's history. The railing which surrounds it has stood there since 1771, when it was brought from England to in- close an equestrian statue of George III. Al- though the statue was demolished in the days of the Revolution, the railing still stands, having fared no worse than to have knocked from its pickets the counterfeit presentments of the heads of the royal family of England that once sur- mounted them. All this .srround around the Bowling Green is historic. The towering building opposite to the 13 The Better New York west stands where the first public inn of New Am- sterdam stood; stands, too, where, after the inn was gone, was the house that Benedict Arnold used as his headquarters when he turned traitor to his country and sought safety within the British lines. In this modern building is the home of the Fed- eration of Churches, a Christian organization which looks to the bettering of family life. In making a close study of social and religious con- ditions, the city is divided into many districts. In each district a study is made of family life, from a physical, spiritual^ educational, economic and social standpoint. All this information is tabu- lated, and is then furnished to the churches in these districts, so that a church may be in pos- session of detailed information concerning each family in the parish. In this way each individual in a family is offered the opportunity of attaching himself to some church, not necessarily the church of the district, but to the church of his choice. The church to which this information is given is also instructed how the material may be used to the greatest advantage. Close by where the building numbered 45 Broadway stands now there were set up, in 1613, three or four huts. They were the first habitation of the white man on the Island of Manhattan. In this building that stands on the site is the main office of the De Hirsch Fund, which was estab- lished in 1899 by Baron de Hirsch, with a view to aiding Russian-Roumanian immigrants to be- come well-ordered and useful citizens of America, and, furthermore, to prevent their congregating in large cities. To carry out these views, immigrants are taught the English language and easily acquired trades, and, as opportunities afford, are furnished with transportation to places where their services are in demand. The fund, however, gives no alms. There are classes, too, maintained by the fund, where both day and night sessions are held for the proper training of adults as well as children. In Wall Street, at 'j^, is the American Sea- men's Friend Society. Since 1828 this organiza- tion has striven to improve the social and moral 14 From the Battery to Canal Street condition of men of the sea. Its works on prac- tical lines, for it finds for the American seaman, when he is in port, a proper boarding house, en- courages him in thrift, furnishes library facilities and reading-rooms. The seaman does not seek the society; he is sought. At thirty-six seaports in various cities of the world it has missionaries and homes. Shipwrecked men are clothed and cared for, and the destitute and ailing ones returned to their homes. A characteristic feature of the work is loan libraries, which are neat cases, thirteen by twenty-six inches, in which are put about half a hundred selected books of biography, of travel and adventure, of popular science, of history, of story and of religion, and which are furnished to sea- going vessels. During the forty odd years this society has been carrying on this branch of its work, more than ii,ooo libraries have been sent out, con- taining close upon 600,000 volumes. These are the new libraries, and as they have been shipped and reshipped, it is estimated that the volumes have been accessible to more than 995,000 seamen. Going from Wall Street towards the waterside again is a reading of history. Passing through A Seaman's Traveling Library, The Better New York ancient Pearl Street, the journeyer comes to Han- over Square, that was once the "Newspaper Row" of the town, when William Bradford published the first newspaper. Close by, at 88, in the same street, is the now neglected marble tablet that com- memorates the great fire of 1835, when 402 build- ings were destroyed. Across the street, at 81, a tablet shows where Bradford set up the first print- ing press in the colony. At the nearest corner, on the house numbered y^i, is a bronze tablet to tell that there, in 1642, was erected the first city hall of New Amsterdam. Jeannette Park, at Coenties Slip and the East River, came into existence in 1886. Some years before that the old water slip, which had lost its usefulness, was filled in with rubbish, and the ground so made became a hucksters' market. This came to be considered an unsightly nuisance, so the park was decided on. A landscape artist de- veloped the plans, and rich soil was brought from Brooklyn to cover the rubbish ground. The park was named after a daughter of the elder James Gordon Bennett. Close to Jeannette Park, at 21 Coenties Slip, is a pleasant reading-room, where gather men of the coastwise and trans-oceanic trade. It is another of the stations of the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society. During the summer months a tent of the station is set up on a nearby wharf, where seamen gather to hear reading aloud. From the waterside to City Hall Park is only a few minutes' walk. It is an interesting walk, too, if you go by way of Fletcher Street, a thorough- fare only two blocks long, but every foot of which is well worth studying. The houses there are curious in outward appearance, and within they are dingy and full of strange nooks and picturesque stairways that suggest readily enough that time, in 1694, when the governor after whom the street is named had his name linked with the pirate Tew. Surrounding City Hall is the last remnant of an historic plot of ground. Its history began in Dutch colonial days, when it was a clearing in the 16 From the Battery to Canal Street forest beyond the town of New Amsterdam, where cattle were rounded up in autumn days. It came, in the days of the Revolution, to be a gathering place for the Sons of Liberty, and a liberty pole was erected to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act. In 1812, when City Hall was erected, the park took its name from that building. The law's delay is dealt with in a practical way by the Legal Aid Society, where help is given to those who are too poor to engage the services of a lawyer. The conviction that legal justice should be within the reach of all men and women, no matter how poor and ignorant, is the fundamental idea of the society. It grew originally out of the knowledge of individual cases of wrong, of which immigrants unacquainted with the language and customs of the country were the victims. The home of the society is opposite the Park, 239 Broadway, and there are three branches in various parts of the city, through which pass each month from five hundred to six hundred cases, embracing all nationalities. The large expenses are defrayed by annual dues and contributions; but in order that the relation between the society and the applicant for help may be on a business and not a charitable basis, a retainer fee of ten cents is charged in each case taken up, and ten per cent of the money re- covered, if that amount be over five dollars. Before the door of the Tribune Building close by is a colossal bronze statue of Horace Greeley, the founder of the paper. This statue was exe- cuted by J. Q. A. Ward, and unveiled in 1890. The cost of it was defrayed by subscription. In this building is the headquarters of the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, which, for over a quarter of a century, has been working on a special idea for doing good, and which has been developed so successfully each year that it has grown to enor- 'mous proportions. The whole idea is a co-opera- tive one for giving the poor and sick children of the city two weeks' country outings, cared for and fed, not in one large house, but as guests in indi- vidual families of a country neighborhood. One 17 The Better New York of the strong points in the management is the small outlay for great results, and co-operation is the explanation. The idea was conceived in 1876 by Rev. Willard Parsons, of Sherman, Pa., who the next year provided for a two-weeks' country vaca- tion for some sixty city boys and girls among the families in his immediate neighborhood. So great was the appreciation with which this was received that, in 1878, Mr. Parsons gave up his charge to devote his entire attention to developing larger plans. From 1878 to 1882 the work was carried on through the New York Evening Post, but since then has been under the auspices of the New York Tribune. About 10,000 children yearly are sent to the country for a fortnight each at the small cost per capita of $2.77; besides this, some 28,000 other beneficiaries get comfort and recreation through days' outing, the expense of which is borne by private gifts, and does not come from the fund, though under the same management. From 1877 to 1902, inclusive, 202,478 children had the advan- tage of vacations provided in this way, at a total cost of $510,769. Much service is afforded through co-operation of the presidents, trainmen and porters of the great railways over which the children travel, and hosts and hostesses welcome their little guests in half a dozen different States of the Union. Andrew H. Greene, who had been called the Father of Greater New York, was the founder of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, which has its office in the Tribune Build- ing. This is a national organization to protect the natural beauty of the landscape of the United States from disfigurement, and preserve all things about which hover historic memories. Close by. in the Times Building, are the quar- ters of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, which works in the defense of public morals, and devotes its efforts mainly to suppressing the cir- culation of obscene publications. How well it suc- ceeds is shown by the fact that since its organiza- tion, in 1878, more than eighty tons of such un- 18 From the Battery to Canal Street lawful matter have been destroyed through the society's efforts. If, in walking along Newspaper Row, and see- ing the ragged boys selling dailies with so much energy, the thought comes that there is among them many a homeless child uncared for, walk on a block. Turn the corner of Duane Street, and in a few steps you will come to a square, solid-ap- pearing building rising six stories above the street. The sign that extends across the front, ''News- boys' Lodging House," does not mean much to the average passer-by, because he has not the interest to investigate its significance. If he were told that this is one of the six lodging houses of the Chil- dren's Aid Society, even that might mean little to him. In the busy, thoughtless city so much that is good escapes notice. He might never have heard, or he might have forgotten, that this society was organized in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace, and that it has been growing larger and larger with the passing years. Having for its motive the teaching of children how to help themselves, it now maintains nineteen industrial schools and kinder- A Turning Point in Boys' Success. ''^^^ #5^ttlQMSHIZ. The Better New York gartens m those populous districts of the city where poverty most prevails, besides vacation schools, evening classes, lodging houses, and the like. This particular lodging house was founded in 1874, and something over twelve hundred boys are cared for every year. They are fed, given the benefits of a school, of a gymnasium, of a library, and of entertainments in the evenings. Not only are these boys benefited for a day, but their whole lives are shaped for them. Some are sent to the society's farm school; those who desire are enlisted in the navy; for others homes are secured, and for others employment. So the Newsboys' Lodging House is not merely a place to sleep, it is a turning-point on the road to success. Set low in the slum district, between Cherry Hill and the waterside, the McAuley Water Street Mis- sion, at 316 Water Street, has for more than thirty years now been rendering help for the body and for the spirit to those whom many would have considered beyond reclamation — to criminals and to drunkards, women as well as men; for it is the special object of this mission to give help to those who are utterly unable to help themselves, to build * - vu fW''!^iii'!i;i.^- Salvation Army Helps People in the Way They Need up those who would never be able to rise at all unless some friendly hand were stretched out. Those who would otherwise wander homeless through the streets it lodges; those who are hungry and absolutely helpless it feeds and gives cause for hope. In many cases it aids in a practical way, with gifts of shoes and clothing. In one year alone more than thirty thousand men have been lodged there, and more than forty thousand meals served. The mission was founded by Jerry Mc- Auley, in 1872, for the most degraded and prof- ligate drunkards and criminals. Having once be- longed to that class himself, and having been transformed so that he became one of the most useful, most respected, and best beloved men in the city, he never despaired of the lowest; and by his efforts many abandoned men were reclaimed. Two blocks farther along, at Cherry and Oliver Streets, in the midst of this populous district, where poverty and wretchedness, vice and crime make outward show in ragged children, care- worn women and besotted men, is a Slum Post of the Salvation Army. The bright windows of the post decorated with potted plants, its large- lettered invitations to enter, its general atmosphere of friendly encouragement, are in strong contrast to the rest of the neighborhood. Such posts as this have been established in the worst social centers of New York, and the workers, who also live at the posts, are Army officers, known as Slum Sisters. 21 The Better New York They live in these slums, visit the sick and needy, and minister to the temporal and spiritual wants of the most degraded types of humanity, thus reaching the lowest economic stratum in ways of immediate and practical helpfulness. An interesting kind of Christian work is carried on among the Italian immigrants by the First Italian Baptist Church, at Mariners' Temple, I Henry Street. While looking to the moral and spiritual welfare of the youth and aged of a crowded district, special attention is given to the women. Mothers' meetings are held; then these mothers are also visited in their homes by a kindly worker, who does all in her power to cheer and teach them something of the principles which underlie the making of a happy American home. There is a Little Mothers' Club, also, where hun- dreds of children meet, who ordinarily have the care of their baby brothers and sisters. They are amused with games and taught something of the Bible. In nearby Oliver Street, at 21, under the charge of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, there is a place where destitute girls tind a home and are trained mentally and industrially until such time as they are able to go out into the world and sup- port themselves. There is a low, square, solid building at Madi- son and Catharine Streets that has stood there since 1854, a veritable lighthouse for seamen. It is Mariners' Church, maintained by the New York Port Society, and is one of the efforts of that society in its work of promoting the Gospel among the seamen who come to the city. In this same structure there is a reading-room where, besides books and periodicals, facility is given to seamen for corresponding with family and friends. Two pretty brick houses stand in Henry Street, close by Market, spick and span in appearance, in a locality teeming with tenement life. They are the home of the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Set- tlement, which takes its name from that ener- getic social worker who has told us so much of 22 From the Battery to Canal Street 'The Other Half." Nobody planned the work of this settlement; it grew and developed accord- ing to needs, and its home has grown by almost imperceptible stages to be the one bright spot in a neighborhood that ordinarily would not be consid- ered at all bright. It has come to be a real home for fourteen hundred persons, from childhood to old age, for a certain number of hours each week. The work of the social settlement as carried on, and the equipment, are considered to be above the average. A characteristic feature of the work is the Fresh Air Home, which is a large house on Twin Island, to which whole families are taken together from the tenement district to enjoy for a time the pleasures of country life. The house is furnished, and every detail carried out to make it an ideal fresh-air home. Half a hundred steps beyond, at the next corner, is a church building, a solid structure of stone — a restful place^ for there are trees beside it, aged and sickly trees indeed, but the only spot of living green to be seen anywhere about here, where the houses are piled so thickly upon one another, and so densely populated. In this place asphalted courts have taken the place of garden plots, and trees have been swept away as space-taking ornaments. This Church of Sea and Land is a building for a quiet country village, not for a densely crowded quarter of a great city. Indeed, it was in reality a country church in the year 1817, when it was built by Colonel Henry Rutgers on his farm, which then spread all about the region. Close by where the church stands, Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of the Revolution, was hanged in Rutgers' orchard. For almost a century the church has stood here, its congregation varying with the changing character of the neighborhood. It now ranks with the institutional churches, hav- ing a parish house, where, by means of clubs and classes, industrial and social work is carried on. Another place where sailors congregate when in port, where they find a housing place and a read- ing-room, and where they find those to assist them in securing employment on outgoing ships, is a 23 Jack's Floating "Gospel Shop." that is a home for those men of the sea to whom home is so shifting and unstable. Close by, in Pike Street, at 34, is the Mission House of the Society, one of the branches where the work is carried on. Where Rutgers Street touches East River is one of the smaller city parks. This spot of green is indeed one of the lungs of the great East Side. It looks as though it were dug out of the midst of houses, so high and thick are they piled up about it on either side. Consisting of less than an acre of improved ground, it is the one vision of green to b£ seen for blocks around. At 22 East Broadway is the marble building that houses the Chatham Square Branch of the New York Public Library. It is not only spacious and open to the light and air, but is pleasing to the eye, standing here in a district filled to overflowing with the small, close, dreary-appearing shops of mer- chants. This branch is almost entirely turned over to the use of children. Where East Broadway begins, the square, white building towering ten stories above Chatham Square is the Salvation Army Hotel. It is main- tained more especially for clerks whose very small salaries do not permit of their going to a first-class hotel, and who still do not wish to go to a lodging house. The hotel is modern in all particulars, the 26 From the Battery to Canal Street rooms are neat, light and airy, and a strong effort is made to surround them with a homelike atmos- phere. It is quite a contrast to the lodging house of the Army around the corner, at 21 Bowery, and shows the marked contrast between the modern lodging house and the lodging house of a few years ago. These Bowery houses are the conventional lodging place that so many homeless men have become accustomed to, and who really prefer them to the modern hotel life. To step from the Bowery into narrow Doyers Street is to plunge from noise and bustle and thunderous roar into a spot strangely quiet. Doyers Street is the gateway to Chinatown. In the Bowery you are in cosmopolitan New York. When you step into Doyers Street and mingle with the stolid, expressionless Chinese, the city seems far away. Conventional houses are here transformed, sometimes by an odd-shaped balcony, sometimes by an awning of unique design, sometimes by a congregation of red and blue signs, until the build- ings assume a quaint oddity to be found nowhere else. Even the shops, with windows full of strange toys and flowering garments — stores that are black as night beyond their doors — even these possess a picturesqueness. New York's Chinese Theater. JS^ ^ i A Life-saving Station. There is another institution close by, in the im- posing building just over the way, that has for more than half a century borne its part in the re- habilitation of this once degenerate locality. That home of the Five Points Mission stands on the site of the old Brewery, one of the rookeries of the Five Points of old. This institution was the pio- neer in this worst locality in the city, organized to work among the poor generally, but especially in the Five Points. During all these years it has kept steadily on with its task, educating the poor chil- dren, providing them with food and clothing, in- structing them in rudimentary studies. A unique feature of the work is the shoe club, which pro- vides shoes for shoeless children. Any one may be a member by contributing a dollar or one pair of shoes each year. Opposite Mulberry Bend Park, at io6 Bayard Street, is Sunshine Settlement, a center for the working girls of the neighborhood. It occupies part of a house, and while the work is done on a small scale, it is earnestly carried on. Close by is the Italian industrial school of the Children's Aid Society, at 156 Leonard Street, a school that is limited to the primary grades. The 32 From the Battery to Canal Street school was established in 1856, in an attic, with a class of thirty children. It is now housed in a handsome stone and brick building, four stories high, and there are more than 600 pupils. The Italian government furnishes a fund to pay the salary of a teacher, whose sole duty is to instruct the children in pure Italian, for the many dialects spoken make this necessary. The school is open day and night, and educates boys and girls, men and women. Printing is one of the branches taught the boys, and sewing, cooking and lace- making are taught the girls. A very valuable feature is a night school for adult Italians. In the public school at Mulberry and Bayard streets is seen the first departure from the old- time, formal buildings to the new style of architec- ture employed in recent years in the public schools. Hidden in the midst of the Tombs Prison, a work for good is carried on that is rarely heard of except by those interested, or by those unfortunate men and women who are confined there; and still for more than thirty years, in the present chapel set apart for religious services, the Gospel Mission to A Line of Samples from the Diet Kitchen. the Tombs has carried on its labor of giving hope and comfort. Its work is to carry simple gospel lessons to prisoners, and represents the combined Protestant churches of the city. On Sunday four services are held, and during the week the prison- ers are visited individually. In connection with the mission their are philanthropic societies at work, giving needed help to the families of the prisoners. There is conducted, in connection with the New York Dispensary, at 137 Center Street, one of the kitchens of the New York Diet Kitchen Associa- tion. The work of this Association, begun in 1873, has been devoted to the relief of the destitute sick by furnishing them with substantial nourish- ment, properly prepared. It has been found that a better mode of operating this charity is to make the kitchens adjuncts of the dispensaries, thereby securing the co-operation of visiting physicians who are in constant communication with the class to be relieved. A dispensary doctor finds many of his patients require nourishing foods rather than drugs, and the dispensary having no facilities for preparing such a diet, the kitchen work comes in. As a rule, pure milk is the article most called for. The Association has at present five kitchens. This one. the Wickham, was established in 1876. In Varick Street, close by Beach, stands St. 34 From the Battery to Canal Street John's Chapel of Trinity Parish. It was built in 1807 in a suburb of the city. By 1825 the vicinity had grown to be a quarter where wealth and fash- ion had their homes. Facing the chapel was a delightful park, filled with great shade trees ex- tending the length of the entire block. The neigh- borhood continued a select one for a quarter of a century, and then began to decline. In 1869 the park disappeared, and where it had been arose the big freight depot that still stands there. After that the vicinity gradually declined into a tenement district. Next door to the Chapel, on the north, in a vine-covered house, surrounded with grass plots and pleasant walks, is the Parish Hospital, where the wards are free, and where rooms are provided at a moderate rate. Close by the Chapel, at 34 Varick Street, is the Clergy House, which is the center for general church work. Connected with the Chapel is a» unique private charity of Trinity Parish, known as the "Leake dole of bread." In 1792, General Leake, a wealthy communicant of the parish, died, St. John's Lane. '"^^ '-''- ^"^"W^ The Better New York and by his will bequeathed to the rector and ves- trymen of Trinity $5,000, to be put out at interest, the income to be laid out in sixpenny wheaten loves of bread, to be distributed among the poor. The provisions of the will have been faithfully executed for more than a century. The distribu- ting station is at St. John's Chapel, where every Saturday morning, rain or shine, sixty-seven loaves of bread are distributed to poor women and chil- dren who come after them. Directly back of the Chapel of St. John there is a thoroughfare extending the length of a single block, called St. John's Lane, which was a by-path when the church was built. Since then a great city has gradually surrounded it and quite shut it in, leaving it a dreary, odd-looking nook. It is a bit of the old-time city, quite in contrast with the busy mercantile district that hems it in on every side. At 209 Fulton Street is the Mission House of the Trinity Church Association, which carries on charitable worK ni the downtown district. While the work is done more or less in connection with Trinity Church, the Association is independent of the Trinity Corporation, and is supported by the members and friends of the Association. St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Parish, standing at Broadw2Py and Fulton Street, is the oldest church building in New York. In 1764 the corner stone was laid, and although the building was completed in two years, the steeple was not added until 1794. It looks odd today to see the rear of the church on Broadway and the building facing the other way, but when it was erected, Broadway was little more than a lane, and it was deemed best to have the church facing the river, between which and the church building there was then an unobstructed view and a smooth, sandy beach. After Trinity Church had been burned during the Revolution, St. Paul's Chapel was used in its stead. Washing- ton attended church there, and the pew in which he sat is still preserved. Close by, at the lower end of the churchyard, there is now a Clergy House, in which are the executive offices of the Trinity 36 From the Battery to Canal Street Corporation, and which is the center of the work of St. Paul's Chapel. The land on which Trinity Church stands, and that around it for many blocks, is part of the Annetje Jans property, which was laid out as a farm in 1636. In 1670 this farm was sold to Francis Lovelace, the English governor, and he joined it with some other possessions of his^ and called the whole the ''Duke's Farm," after the Duke of York, owner of the province. In 1674, when the Duke became King James II. of England, the tract of land was called the "King's Farm." This name it retained until the accession of Queen Anne, in 1702, when it became the ''Queen's Farm." In 1705, Queen Anne granted the land to Trinity Corporation, and it became the "Church Farm." The Church Farm, now buried beneath the buildings of the city, is still controlled in great part by the Trinity Corporation, making it the wealthiest single church organization in the world. The present Trinity Church is the third of that name. The first, erected in 1696, was burned dur- ing the Revolution. A new structure, built in 1790, was torn down in 1839, and the present church built. Under the control of Trinity Parish are nine churches. Twenty-six ordained clergymen, besides a large number of teachers, deaconesses and assistants, carrv on the work of these various centers. The parish also gives aid to twenty other churches, all of which do missionary work in the poor districts of the city. Just beyond the church is a quaint old thorough- fare called Thames Street. Originally it was a carriage w^ay to the house of Etienne De Lancey, a Huguenot nobleman, when his home was built near the Broadway corner in 1730. Later, the house was occupied by his son James, who was then Lieu- tenant Governor of the Province of New York. In still later years the house became a hotel, and was, in 1789, the scene of the Inauguration Ball in honor of President Washington. The house was torn down in 1793. Where Thames Street crosses Trinity Place, a ^7 The Better New York block west of Broadway, is the Church House of Trinity Parish, where much of the institutional work of the parish is carried on along educational and social lines. Around the corner, at 112 Greenwich Street, is the St. Elizabeth Society, which provides a home for infirm and needy communicants of Trinity Parish. At 95 Washington Street is the Syrian Society, which provides educational advantages for Syrian and all Arabic-speaking immigrants. Here they gather to get advice and instruction from teachers of their own nationality, when otherwise they might wander about, aimless and friendless, in a strange land, where they have come to make their home. Near by, close to the water side, at 23 West Street, is another of the Slum Posts of the Salva- tion Army. Arms of the Janitors' Association. DIVISION II. Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery. On the eastern edge of the city a point of the Island of Manhattan projects into the water, just where the river makes a quick bend. These eight and one-hah" acres of open space make up Corlears Hook Park, a delightful spot, swept by the breezes from the river, and presenting a varied scene of passing craft of every sort. The making of this park cleared away a landmark that had been connected with the housing problem in the city. Almost in the center of this space, on what was then Water Street, there was erected, in 1833, the first house especially designed for more than one family. Land was becoming more and more val- uable year by year, and it was no longer profitable to erect houses for single families. INIany had been altered to accommodate several families, but this was the first real tenement built as such. It was a building of four stories, and provided for one family on each floor. A block north of Corlears Hook Park is the building at 314 Monroe Street, a model tenement which illustrates well the ideas of improved dwell- ings of that decade. This house, besides the ad- vantages afforded to tenants, is noticeable for its outward picturesque construction, having galleries let into the front wall, floor above floor. At 295 Henry Street is the Far and Near Club of the New York Association of Working Girls' Societies. The public school, at Henry and Gouverneur Streets, is a noteworthy example of advanced ideas in modern school architecture. It is English Gothic, and is built of red sandstone, with red brick in the upper stories. The carving is hand- some and tasteful, though not expensive. In a low, pleasant-appearing brick house, at 4 Willett Street, is an industrial school of the Amer- ican Female Guardian Society. 39 The Better New York Twenty years and more ago Miss Catherine L. Wolfe contributed funds for the erection of a sub- stantial building at East Broadway and Gouver- neur Street, for the Children's Aid Society. It was built, was called, and is still called, 'The East Side Industrial School," and is now one of nineteen such schools of the society which have been established from time to time in the tenement-house districts. In these schools are enrolled something more than 16,000 children. Industrial manual training is a feature. The work is limited to the primary grades, because the pupils, being children of poor parents, are forced to go to work at an early age. It is necessary, therefore, to crowd as much knowledge into these primary grades as possible, and the development of this early training is much greater in these industrial schools than in the pub- lic schools. To interest the children in elementary branches of education, they are combined with manual-training subjects, so when learning to read and write, the little ones are also taught cooking, dressmaking, carpentry, chair-caning, shoemaking and a dozen kindred things. To the very poor children, shoes and clothing are given, and, in some cases, food. Not alone are the children cared The Education of a Breakfast for Foodless Italian Children. Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery for, but their parents are looked after as necessity requires. Around the corner, at 299 Henry Street, is one of the kindergartens under the charge of the New- York Kindergarten Association. This one is called the George William Curtis, and has been there since 1893. It is supported by special contribu- tions from New York bankers and brokers. In 1893 two nurses moved into this tenement- house section, determined to make it their life work to serve the sick as nurses, believing that in so doing they would make the world brighter to many. They lived on the top floor of a tenement house for two years, and by that time their work had grown so that they were joined by other nurses, and thus began the Nurses' Settlement. After a time they moved into the large house at 265 Henry Street^ which they now occupy. Year by year the work grew larger; the nursing was ex- tended, and to the original idea were added clubs and social features. A home in the country was finally started where tired-out people were enter- tained, and outings given to the younger genera- tion. In three other crowded quarters of the city were established 'Tirst Aid Rooms," in each of which there are nurses in attendance who look after cases of illness that are not serious enough for hospital attention. Of course, the nursing work is the real reason for the existence of the settle- ment, and the general plan under which the work is carried on is to have one nurse each in a number of small districts, and each nurse in close touch with the Settlement House. In the course of a year something more than 3,000 patients are treated in their homes, more than 2,000 are visited, and about 12,000 treated in the ''First Aid Rooms." Next door is the Hebrew Technical School for Girls, which for more than twenty years has been daily pursuing its work of assisting poor Jewish children to make their way in life. Girls who grad- uate from the public schools are here given free instruction in stenography, typewriting, bookkeep- ing and other branches. Others who are so in- clined are trained for milliners and dressmakers. 4x The Better New York There is a branch of the Educational Alliance housed at 302 Madison Street, the outgrowth of a single class in history and social science. Young men and women, members of the class, determined to give those less happily situated an opportunity to improve themselves^ and formed classes, clubs and circles for children and adults, the teachers of which were members of the original class. Neigh- borhood work of a practical character is also car- ried on in a quiet way, and social intercourse brought about by entertainments, lectures and friendly gatherings. Another of the kindergartens under the charge of the New York Kindergarten Association, estab- lished in 1894, the Sibyl F. Hubbard, is at 310 Madison Street. At Gouverneur Slip, by the East River, is Gouverneur Hospital, one of the allied institutions of Bellevue Hospital, with a reception hospital for accidents, a dispensary, and ambulance service. As both Bellevue and Gouverneur are emergency hospitals, patients are interchanged between the two as necessity demands. In Cherry Street, close by Montgomery Street, there is a block of six houses that outwardly, in regularity of architecture and orderliness of ap- pearance, bear resemblance more to a public build- ing than anything else. These are model tene- ments, one of the earliest efforts in scientific im- proved housing in the city, and contain kindergar- ten-rooms, laundries and bathrooms. They were erected in 1887 by the Tenement-house Building Committee, and while they were a vast improve- ment over tenement houses up to that time, and are still desirable, many scientific advances have been made since then. In the next block to the south, 306 Cherry Street, is held to be the first real model tenement in the city. Dr. Felix Adler, head of the Society for Ethical Culture, and other influential men, be- gan an agitation which led to the building of these houses in 1880. They do not possess the qualifica- tions necessary to improved tenements of today, 42 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery but are of interest in studying the evolution in improved housing. In a congested tenement district of the East Side, a spot where squalor and poverty have fast hold, there is a house of such pleasing appearance that few pass it without stopping. Its chief out- ward characteristic is a doorway painted pure white. From this it takes its name, "the White Door." This house, 211 Clinton Street, is the Gospel Settlement, a settlement thoroughly re- ligious in character. Primarily it works for chil- dren and young girls, but, indirectly, it works for the good of parents and homes, because, through the children, the settlement comes in touch with more than a thousand families of the East Side. William H. Seward Park, at the far end of Canal Street, is a remarkably situated pleasure spot for the poor. Set in the heart of the densely pop- ulated East Side, it is a place where, within the space of a few hundred feet^ a dozen streets con- verge. This makes it the natural point towards which population tends. The park, which occupies the space of three city blocks, was acquired in 1897, but it was hve years before the massed buildings occupying the ground were razed, and the park opened. Now it is not only an attractive garden spot, with walks and playgrounds, set out with trees and grass plots, but almost one-third of it is set apart as an arena, where a nine-lap running track incloses a gymnasium, scientifically equipped. There is also a splendid rest building, an artistic and substantial structure of stone, which includes fifty baths of the most sanitary sort. At the park side, just where Jefferson Street touches East Broadway, is the main building of the Educational Alliance. This institution seeks to form good American citizens by giving to all classes the advantages of education, directing to- ward the way leading to moral improvement, and extending to all the means of obtaining social advantages. The work of the Alliance, centering here in a neighborhood inhabited chiefly by He- brews, concerns them for the most part, but its ad- 43 The Better New York vantages are open to all. The continued and con- stantly increasing efforts of the Alliance have been going on since 1889. In the building there are rooms and halls especially adapted for study and recreation. Each day there are held classes and lectures covering every branch of learning. There is a gymnasium fitted up with every appliance which science can devise, including every manner of bath. On the building's roof is a garden, where in the summer months alone more than 400,000 persons attend concerts. The building, too, houses more than sixty clubs, the number being limited only by the capacity of the structure. Here is one of the branches of the New York Library, with a good selection of books in Rus- sian and Hebrew. This was originally one of the branches of the Aguilar Free Library Society, which, in 1903, was merged into the New York Public Library. There is also connected with the Alliance the Baron De Hirsch Day School, which fits immi- grant children for the primary department of public schools. A legal aid branch mainly informs people as to their rights, and advises them as to the proper course to pursue. It acts also as arbitrator in disputes. The work extends beyond this main building, for there are two branches in other parts of the city, an athletic field in the country, and a summer camp for boys. Altogether it is estimated that the work of the Alliance in all its branches daily reaches more than 5,000 people. The very first road that extended the length of the Island of Manhattan and formed, as early as 1647, a means of communication between New Amsterdam and the farms or bouweries to the north, was called Bouwerie Lane. At the time of the Revolution the British army of occupation en- camped along this lane, which had at that time become a street; drinking shops and places of low entertainment sprang up to amuse the leisure hours of the soldiers, and when the army vanished, it left 44 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery its curse upon the Bowery, a curse that remains to a greater or less extent to this day. It was called the Bowery Road in those days. In the early part of the nineteenth century it became 'The Bowery," and so remains. Along this historic thoroughfare there are now many changes that contribute to the Better New York. At 83 Bowery is one of the social institutions of the Salvation Army — a lodging house for men, a clean, airy place, where a bed and a bath can be had for fifteen cents, with a strong effort to give the lodgers a touch of home comfort. Two blocks beyond, at 131, is the Squirrel Inn, a substitute for the saloon, conducted by the Church Temperance Society. Here a meal, whole- some and well cooked, can be had for fifteen cents. In connection with the Inn there is a free library and a free reading-room. During each week, too, there are entertainments of a simple, wholesome character that are free to all who care to attend. The Y. M. C. A.— A Bowery Social Center. L ^f^^m I ,-/ I -— ^ , .. I^L J^^^i %f% ^'^hMK^fW^^^ [ii- ' i^i^ti .1 1 mm *^f Vr^> The Better New York The work, which started as an experiment, has been so successful that it can well serve as a work- ing model for other communities. The Young Men's Christian Association carries on a work quite different from that of the other branches at the next corner, 153 Bowery, for here a special effort is made to feed and shelter men seeking employment. Through its employment bureau, which seeks to get these men positions, thousands find refuge from the street, and are able to keep up a presentable appearance while seeking a position. God's Providence House, in Broome Street, just east of the Bowery, has a busy round of work in the day nursery and its various outgrowths. In fact, what is styled the day nursery consists of four departments: the day nursery, the kindergarten, an afternoon session for children of school age who stay at the house from the close of school un- til their mothers return from work, and the vested choir^ made up of some twenty-four of the chil- dren, adding greatly in attracting to the Sunday evening services the day nursery families. There are large industrial school and gymnasium classes, boys' clubs, reading-rooms and a circulating li- brary. The work is supported by the New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society. There is a novel Children's House at 129 Chrys- tie Street, a "private home," and its host is David Willard, also principal of the Tombs Prison School, and probation officer in General and Spe- cial Sessions and Magistrates' Court. Mr. Willard has been at work among the street boys for some years, and many who come to his home have been in prison, some of them classed as incorrigibles. Mr. Willard, when he began his missionary work among them, realized that the majority had nat- urally drifted from street life to worse things, and his idea has been to have them meet in his pleas- ant house good men and women, under whose influence they begin to see life from a different point of view, and learn something of self-respect and a desire for better things. No matter what 46 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery his misdeeds, a boy is never refused admittance. These boys are guests for a few days or a few weeks, as employment is found for them as soon as it is possible^ with a home in a respectable fam- ily. Each boy is required to keep his room in or- der, and when possible a small price for room and board is charged. Some of the most pitiful cases among the boys come from the hospitals as con- valescents. Utterly homeless, and not strong enough to work if they could, this home becomes an in-between place for bracing up morally and physically. In the Bowery, at 222, is the Young Men's Insti- tute, a branch of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, which has been in existence more than fifteen years, and seeks to reach men who are self- supporting, whose employment generally leaves them some time to study, but whose education, perhaps, has not been sufficient to enable them to fill positions for which they are otherwise fitted. This lack is met by opportunities in the evening classes of the Institute for business training and other aids to self-help. The membership is de- cidedly cosmopolitan. In it are to be found rep- resentatives of the postofifice, fire department and police force. Here was inaugurated the first gym- nasium directed by a medical graduate, a feature that has been gradually adopted by the majority of the gymnasiums in New York. Near Stanton Street, at 243 Bowery, is another of the Salvation Army lodging houses, this one for working women exclusiveh^^ where a bed can be had for a nominal sum. The Salvation Army was quick to see the need of providing homes where the self-respecting woman, temporarily embar- rassed from lack of means, may obtain a low- priced, but comfortable lodging. There should be many more such homes. In Houston Street, a few doors east of the Bowery, is St. Augustine's, a chapel of Trinity Parish, one of the prettiest and most complete little churches in the city. Gothic in style, the building is surmounted by a steeple bearing on its 47 The Better New York summit a crystal cross, which on Sunday and feast- day nights is illuminated, so that it can be seen for a great distance. The interior is furnished in Queen Anne style. In connection with this chapel is a parish-house, where the institutional work of the congregation is carried on. A characteristic feature of this work, beyond clubs and classes, is a cooking and laundry school, in both of which the course is most comprehensive, and lasts three years. In Rivington Street, a block from the Bowery, is Mills Hotel No. 2., similar in all respects to Mills Hotel No. I, with six hundred rooms at twenty cents per night. In a social settlement a number of men and women, usually a small number, live together among manual workers in a neighborly and a social spirit. They live, as a rule, in a building which can be used for social or educational work, and from this building flows a continuous service of such work. The workers make their home in the set- tlement house, and for that reason are known as re.sident workers. To make more bright the life of each individual and of every family is the chief aim of these workers. They organize the people of a district, men and women and children, into clubs of a social and educational character, through which local reforms, moral, industrial and educa- tional, may be achieved, and this is done without regard to religious or political belief. These ob- jects are attained by a hundred different modes of activity. The science of physical health is taught through gymnasiums, games, baths, first aid to sick and injured, health talks to mothers. Ideas of thrift are inculcated by means of the penny savings bank. There are sewing classes, clay modeling; history and singing are taught, pointing the way toward aesthetic tastes; games and scientific playing lead to sociability. These are some of the activities of a social settlement, activities that are boundless in their scope. The idea of the social settlement was brought in fairly organized form to the United States from England, and in 1887 was started as the Neighbor- hood Guild, which has since taken the name of the 48 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery University Settlement, and is now at 184 Eldridge Street, the pioneer house in the United States. There are more than twenty-five of these settle- ments now in the city, without counting the in- stitutional churches, which in idea and develop- ment carry on work of a similar nature. The Janitors' Society, with headquarters at 103 Attorney Street, and a branch at East One-hun- dredth Street, is doing excellent service. Evening classes are held, which take up such subjects as English, citizenship, hygiene, physical culture, fire- extinguishing, rudimentary carpentry and plumb ing. On Saturdays and Sundays a school for girls from twelve to sixteen years old, daughters of the members, is conducted, when they are taught sewing, knitting, singing and elementary music. A mutual benefit branch of the Society enables free medical treatment to be given in the event of sickness, and also an allowance of three dollars per week for a period of ten weeks. These expenses are met by dues, voluntary contributions and the proceeds of two entertainments that are held annually. In connection with the Society there is also a free employment bureau, and one for legal aid for the members. In a plain, neat-appearing building, at 95 Riving- ton Street, in a district where venders of merchan- dise from push carts most congregate, is the home of the College Settlement. The College Settle- ment in scope is, generally speaking, the same as the social settlement, the object being to have a common meeting ground for educated and the less privileged classes. They have clubs for all ages, as well as resident and non-resident workers. Young college women, who want to know at first hand how their poor brothers and sisters live, and how they may be benefited, here get the practical dem- onstration. This is one of the earliest settlement movements in this country, the idea starting in London, where it was formally organized in 1890. The Pro-Cathedral, at 130 Stanton Street, a church settlement, as the name denotes, aims not only to bring the church to the people, but the people into the church. The services are held 49 The Better New York from daylight on Sunday until almost nightfall, in order to suit every age and every condition, in addition to the weekday services. There are a dozen resident workers, and some 150 men and women come from their comfortable homes all over the city to spend an afternoon or evening each week to help out the fifty or more organ- izations. The effort is always an uphill one, as the people reached are constantly changing, and it is the aim of the settlement to get their people to move uptown or out of town into better light and air, so that vacancies are constantly being filled from a lower and still lower level. There are some ten thousand people within a few feet of the church, and this is probably the most crowded dis- trict in the world. Among the special features are clubs of every kind for young and old, gymna- siums, baths, day nurseries, clothing bureaus, dis- pensaries, libraries and a volunteer choir of men and boys, also an out-of-town house for summer outings. In the heart of a congested tenement district, at 173 Rivington Street, is another school of the Children's xA.id Society, the Lord Memorial. The population hereabouts consists chiefly of Hebrews, living in such small and dismal quarters that the children find more comfort in the streets than in their cheerless homes. The school is made a home to them, and tries to counteract the effects of squalid surroundings by instilling beautiful thoughts into their minds and encouraging them with the knowledge of what has been done by great men and great women. Under the charge of the New York City Mis- sion and Tract Society is the De Witt Memorial Church, at 280 Rivington Street. Here is main- tained an English and Jewish sewing school, vari- ous boys' and girls' clubs, women's meetings and children's hours, a Chinese Sunday-school and evening school. In the midst of a neighborhood where the downward path, morally and spiritually, is broad and easy, this church has for years been proclaiming and pointing out a better way, and its cross-crowned spire, pointing heavenward, is sym- bolic of its mission. 50 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery Within a few blocks of the river, at Rivington and Cannon streets, is a substantial building which, because of its outward appearance, has come to be called the "White House." It is the Alfred Corn- ing Clark Neighborhood House, established in 1898 as a memorial to a most helpful citizen of New York, destined to assemble the children of the vicinity in one vast neighborly family, to educate and train them. The work designs to cover the surrounding district of about no acres, the popu- lation of which is, approximately, 600 people to the acre. A feature of this house is its perfect equip- ment of rooms for kindergartens, kitchens and gymnasiums. It has eight kindergartens, besides clubs for boys and girls, and classes in cooking and dressmaking. In the building is an assembly hall seating 400 persons, where are given free lectures and entertainments. It is estimated that 4,000 human beings enjoy these advantages, some of them making daily^ others weekly visits. Where Third Street touches the East River there is a long pier extending 350 feet out into the water. Built over this pier is a roof garden. It is fourteen leet above the pier floor, and is Alfred Corning Clark Memorial House. The Better New York covered over with a high arched roof, with the sides open to give an open-air effect. This is the first of the city's eight recreation piers; was built in 1897, and was the first of its kind in the world. These piers take the place of parks as recreation grounds in crowded localities, and, while less cost- ly, are benefited by river breezes, and in no way interfere with business. The first pier was built as an experiment, and proved so successful that seven others have been built in the intervening years. They are open to the public from IMay until No- vember, until after ten o'clock at night. During the day they are utilized by the Board of Educa- tion, for kindergarten classes are held in them, and in the evening there is music, which is enjoyed by thousands. At 125 Lewis Street is one of the industrial schools of the American Female Guardian Society. The largest school building in the world is sit- uated at Lewis and Third Streets, including within its walls two distinct schools, eighty-seven class- rooms, and four kindergarten-rooms, gymnasiums, baths and a manual training department. The building covers an area of 212 by 180 feet, and can accommodate 4,000 pupils. Based on the recommendations of the Mayor's Committee on Public Baths, at the foot of Riv- ington Street stands the first P>ee Public Bath, erected by the City of New York, and this was opened March 2-], 1901. During the first three months 160,700 men and boys, and 70,950 women and girls availed themselves of this opportunity for comfort and cleanliness. These baths are open from 6 A.M. to 9 P.M., except on Sunday, when they are closed at 12 J\l. In the year 1896 might be found on the east side of the city, between Houston, Stanton, Sheriff and Pitt Streets, two solidly built-up bloks, that came under the head of slum centers, where the popula- tion was fearfully congested, where misery and poverty dwelt, where crime was rife. In the midst of one of these was the dreadful hole called Bone Alley. In this year, 1896, after much discussion, the city acquired these two blocks, razed the build- 52 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery ings and began the laying-out of one of the small parks recommended. Today, where these two old slum blocks stood, is the Hamilton Fish Park, one part a playground with a gymnasium and a kinder- garten, fitted up in the most modern style for pastime and recreation; the other section a sweep of green lawns, with a stretch of inviting benches, and an imposing rest house, containing baths of the most improved sort. The German Branch Industrial School of the Children's Aid Society is at 272 Second Street, with such characteristic features as a vacation school and a playground. The Children's Charitable Union, which has its quarters at 341 East Fourth Street, has been, for close upon a quarter of a century, making strong efforts to do good work among the children of the poor. The Virginia Day Nursery is the pioneer insti- tution of this kind in New York, with its home at 632 Fifth Street, in a four-story building, espe- cially equipped with all modern scientific and hygi- enic requirements. This institution has been in existence since 1875. Children under seven years ©f age left here by their mothers during the work- ing hours receive two meals each day, have the advantage of kindergarten instruction, are given opportunities for amusement, are under a physi- cian's supervision, and may rest and sleep; all at the nominal charge of five cents a day for each child. A feature of this especial nursery is the playground on the roof, open and shaded by awnings. In the day nurseries, children of poor women are properly cared for and kept from harm and mischief, while their mothers are out at work. In some, kindergarten work is taught, in others there are trained nurses where sick children are cared for, and in still others only the smallest babies are looked after. The idea of the Day Nur- series came from France. It had its birth in America in 1863, when Miss Biddle opened the first one in Philadelphia. Sometimes they are 5^ The Better New York supported by voluntary subscriptions, sometimes by endowments, and in many cases they are main- tained by churches or charitable institutions. There are many in New York^ from the very large and prosperous ones occupying an entire building, to small ones maintained in a single room. At 158 East Seventh Street the New York Diet Kitchen Association maintains the Rusch Kitchen. In a building at 630 Sixth Street, erected in 1891 by an interested member of the Children's Aid Society, is one of the industrial schools of that organization. The singing, games and dancing in the playground attract the poor and forlorn chil- dren of the neighborhood, and these waifs often spend the entire day in the allotted work and play of the school. Beyond Avenue C, at 368 East Eighth Street, is another of the industrial schools of the American Female Guardian Society. Around in Avenue C, corner of Eighth Street, in a substantial structure, is the home of a circula- ting branch of the New York Public Library. It was formerly a part of the Aguilar Free Library Society, merged in 1903 into the New York Pub- lic Library. This branch is soon to be housed in one of the new Carnegie buildings, facing Thomp- kins Square, in which there will be an auditorium and many other facilities for extended work. Centering around the People's Home Church and Settlement of the Methodist Episcopal de- nomination, at 545 East Eleventh Street, are mani- fold religious, social and philanthropic activities. This settlement had its beginning in a Sunday- school more than thirty years ago in this same locality. Tompkins Square, that modern park and play- ground at Seventh Street and Avenue A, running to Avenue B, was a famous snipe ground in 1816, when it was a swamp far above the city limits. By the year 1866 it had come to be a parade ground, and was then paved with concrete. In later years 54 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery it has been remodeled and laid out as a modern public park, with a gymnasium and a kindergarten. In a nearby street is Christodora House. The co-(5peration between the residents, the club mem- bers, and friends who live in other parts of the city is the keynote of the success of this settle- ment. In 1897 the settlement was organized, when two young women rented an ordinary five-room flat, a cellar and the little back room of a store, and went there to live. An iron bedstead, mat- tress, a common kitchen table, three or four wooden chairs — this was the furniture of the apart- ment. With the first month's rent paid, they had $15 in their purse. These women sought, with this humble beginning, to bring together for good the 25,000 young women who earn their bread in factories and workshops, and who live in the vicinity. The years have brought success. The dark cellar has been left far behind, and the beau- tiful home at 147 Avenue B, opposite the breezy space of trees called Tompkins Square, has taken its place. Besides the winter courses of the Tompkins Square Industrial School of the Children's Aid Christodora. The Better New York Society, at 295 East Eighth Street, a summer school has been carried on with very satisfactory results. Its mothers' meetings, with talks on home conditions, have done needed social service. Caring for girls between the ages of five and fourteen, in cases where the poverty of their parents acts as a bar to regular attendance at the public schools, is the mission of the Wilson Indus- trial School for Girls, the home of which is in a square brick building opposite Tompkins Square Park. It bears the distinction of being the first industrial school in the city, and began its work in 1853. It was the first to introduce the kitchen garden. Here girls are taught simple ways of preparing food; taught how to set the table, and how to serve food in a proper manner. The idea of this sort of instruction came about naturally when it was found that the children did most of the cooking at home. Twenty-five years ago a dozen or more unruly boys in the neighborhood amused themselves during the afternoon by throw- ing missies at the school windows. One of the teachers induced half a dozen of these boys to Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery come into the school to demonstrate that a plain, substantial meal, followed by a few games that boys like, would give them a greater respect for it, if merely as a place where they could get some- thing for nothing. The boys enjoyed it. They came again. Out of these pleasant afternoons grew the big ''Boys' Club," now located in a splen- did building on the next corner to the north. The Boys' Club, occupying the corner at Avenue A and Tenth Street, is said to be the largest club of its kind, as well as the best equipped, in the world. Eleven thousand members are enrolled on its books. Starting in a small way, it grew by de- grees larger and larger, until now it occupies a handsome building erected exclusively for its use. It is composed of thirty-two small clubs, each hav- ing a college man for leader, and these combined clubs form the organization. A unique and char- acteristic feature is the fact that any boy can walk in off the street to the great room on the ground floor, remaining as long as he likes, playing any game he likes, and leaving when he likes. As many as three thousand in a single season have used this universal clubroom, free of expense and hindrance. This common ground is the recruiting point for the club, and those who go in simply as transient guests very soon become regular mem- bers. The large and handsome structure of the Olivet Memorial Church, at 59 to 63 Second Street, is maintained by the New York City Mission and Trict Society. A distinctive* feature is mothers* meetings, among which are some especially for German women, conducted in their own language. Opposite this Olivet Church is a cemetery of old New York, called the New York City Marble Cemetery, bought in 1832 by some merchants of the city. It has long been out of use, but looking through the high iron fence that separates it from the street, you can see its walks and graves neatly kept. There were buried among others, Thomas Addis Emmet, the great jurist; Robert Lenox, and President James Monroe, whose body was afterward taken to Virginia. 57 The Better New York In 1854, five women, who desired to associate in some practical form of benevolence, decided to make an effort to improve the condition of women prisoners, prison discipline and the government of prisons for women, and to provide support and encouragement for ex-convicts desirous of making a fresh start in life. A society was thus formed, with the name of the Women's Prison Association and Home. Good food and sanitary conditions in a cheerful home are provided for forlorn women just out of prison, and they are trained in laun- dry, housework and sewing till fitted for some employment in the outside world. Sixty-four county jails of the State^ six penitentiaries, three reformatories for women, and the State prison for women were visited last year. The present quarters of the Association are at no Second Avenue. The New York City Baptist Mission Society, at 162 Second Avenue, was incorporated in 1893 to further the efforts of the Baptist churches. It aims to maintain Christian churches in the poor and congested districts and amidst the foreign pop- ulation; also to found Sunday-schools and churches in new suburban parts. The society maintains the First Mariners' Church, at Chatham Square; the Second Avenue Church, at Second Avenue and Tenth Street, and the Harlem baptist Church, at 123d Street and Third Avenue. It also partly sup- ports eight other churches. Work among Hebrew children is also carried on at Mariners' Temple. A Settlement House has been provided at 328 East 125th Street in connection with the Harlem Church, to provide a home center for young people of the church and vicinity, and great good has been done by its Vacation Bible Schools. These schools were developed through a movement begun in 1901 to care for the city children through what are two of the worst months of the year for them — July and August. They are held in various church buildings, and supplement the work done through the public school, vacation schools, and playgrounds in providing some place of resort other than the heated streets. S8 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery The headquarters of the Volunteers of America, organized by General and Mrs. Ballington Booth, in 1896, are at 38 Cooper Square. This is a re- ligious body with military organization based upon the Constitution of the United States. A distinct- ive phase of its work is reclaiming men in States prisons, and the overseeing of their welfare after "serving time." Through Mrs. Booth's efforts excellent results have been achieved. Hope Hall, under her management, is a home where ex-pris- oners, awakened to a desire for a start on the right road, are housed and cared for and braced in health and morals till fitting employment is found. Where Fourth Avenue and the Bowery join is another historic point of the city. Two centuries and a half ago, when Peter Stuyvesant governed in New York (which was then called New Am- sterdam), he owned a farm hereabout. After the city was captured by the English, Stuyvesant came to live on his farm, and a little settlement grew up, to which was given the name of the Bouwerie Village. In this Bouwerie Village, Stuyvesant died. The plain brownstone building standing just ! Cooper Union. Pleasure and Profit for the People in Cooper Union. p stone's throw from these meeting streets is Cooper Union, erected by the Philanthropic Peter Cooper in 1857. Here was once his store. The one leading thought of his life was how best to give the working classes opportunity for self-culture. The brownstone building stands as the fruition of his idea. Free schools of science are main- tained, schools of art, reading-rooms and libraries. Day schools and evening schools are kept up at an expense of $50,000 a year, from the income of an endowed fund. Year after year thousands of pupils are taught. The small, triangular plot in front of Cooper Union is Cooper Union Park. The bronze statue of Peter Cooper in this park was unveiled in 1897, having been paid for by popular subscription. It is the work of Augustus St. Gaudens, a celebrated sculptor now, once a student of the Union. On a triangular block to tie north the Bible House has stood for half a ce.itury. The stained glass windows, the names of clergymen inscribed on office doors, fittingly suggests a sanctuary, as, in the uses to which it has been put, the building has gone hand in hand with church. The his- tory of the Bible House is the history of the insti- tution by which and for which it was built — the 60 Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery American Bible Society. The society was organ- ized in 1816, and, after being housed in several places downtown, this permanent home was erected in 1852. The building, which today wears a commonplace and antiquated look, was grand and imposing then, and was looked upon as being uptown. During the three-quarters of a century of its existence, the society has been helping to circulate the Bible throughout the world. It has distributed more than 66,000,000 copies in 240 dif- ferent languages and dialects. Many of these millions have been given away to those too poor to buy. A feature of the society's work is the printing of Bibles suitable for the blind. The New York Bible Society, also housed here, is an auxiliary of the American Bible Society since 1823, having for its especial object the supplying of Bibles to families and individual immigrants as they arrive, as well as to vessels, institutions, hotels and city missionary societies. In the Bible House is the headquarters of the New York Sabbath Committee, which, since 1857, has been seeking to unite all who would protect Sunday rest, whatever may be their religious views. Its members believe in Sunday as sacred to re- ligion, considering it as a day of rest, the corner- stone of public morality and happiness. The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Pub- lic Library, at 135 Second Avenue, was built by Oswald Ottendorfer, to be used as a German cir- culating library. About one-half of its 30,000 books are in German. In the early years of its existence more than half of its circulation was among the Germans, but now there is only about one-quarter. This was first a branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, but is now part of the public library system. Across the way from the library is the Second Avenue Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, formerly known as the German Branch, org^anized for the especial benefit of Ger- man-speaking young men just arrived in America. Gradually, however, it was found that there were thousands of German-Americans in this crowded 61 The Better New York section anxious for just such privileges; so, al- though it lost none of its old interest in German immigrants, the work extended and broadened. A distinctive feature is thirty-one furnished rooms and forty-one beds that are rented to young men at reasonable prices. Where Stuyvesant Street touches Second Avenue is one of the historic churches of the city, old St. Mark's. Here originally stood the Church in the Bouwerie Village, founded by Peter Stuyvesant. In after years, when the British had captured New York from the Dutch, Peter Stuyvesant came to this village to live, and his house was just north of where St. Mark's Church stands now. When he died he was buried in one of the vaults, and a memorial to his memory can now be seen in the church wall. Stuyvesant died in 1671, and the old church stood almost a century and a quarter after that. Then, in the year 1791, the present St. Mark's Church was erected. Two governors beside Stuy- vesant were buried in the nearby churchyard: Henry Slaughter, one of the English Colonial governors, and Daniel Tompkins, one of the early governors of the State of New York. Across the street from this old church, in Sec- ond Avenue, is the New York Historical Society, which, since its organization in 1804, has been collecting and preserving material relating to the history of the United States in general and to the State of New York in particular. Gradually dur- ing the passing years the possessions of this society have grown, until now they are of great wealth. Of the hundreds of features, particular ones are a gallery of almost 900 portraits, a rare collection of sculpture, the Bryan gallery of old masters, and the original water colors prepared by Audubon for his natural history. Around another corner in Stuyvesant Street is the Hebrew Technical Institute, a free trade and technical school for poor Hebrew boys. The ap- prentice system in this country being almost ex- tinct, the vast majority of workers, especially in the metal trades, are unable to handle more than 62 'Canal to Fourteenth Street, East of Bowery one kind of tool efficiently. In this school, after a course of instruction lasting three years, stu- dents are taught a thorough knowledge of the handling of machine tools. In order not to waste the boys' time by putting them to work at some- thing for which they have no ability, they are at a very early age instructed for two years in sub- jects that would be useful to them, whatever me- chanical pursuit they might take up later, and by the third year they are ready to follow whatever is their bent. A Training School for Christian Workers is conducted by the New York City Mission and Tract Society at 128 East Tenth Street. This work is non-sectarian. Not only is there thorough training in Bible study, but practical contact with the ignorant and superstitious people from foreign countries is afforded the students of the school. Some of the best missionaries have been prepared through this study for work in the far South and West. A Christian Workers' Home, in Tenth Street, just opposite, maintained by the New York City Mission and Tract Society, is occupied by the mis- sionaries and nurses of the society and those in the training school. In Third Avenue, at Eleventh Street, is the Chil- dren's Court, where all children arrested for trifling offenses are arraigned. This court has only been in existence since 1902, and was estab- lished by law only after much discussion. Here children are not brought into contact with older criminals, as formerly when taken to the police court, mingling there with the most degraded men and women. Under the system followed in this new court, the home environment of the child arrested is investigated, and the cause of its crim- inal tendency discovered, if there is a cause. A strong effort is made to remove any such crim- inal conditions and to reform the child. Some 8,000 children a year pass through this court. An oasis in the hard and grinding world of poverty is to be found at 225 East Eleventh Street. 63 The Better New York There are poor families, usually self-supporting, who sometimes need to be lifted over hard places and to whom the word charity has an unsympa- thetic sound. All such may safely turn to the Howard Mission, which, since 1861, has been searching out and caring for just such families. It assists the bread-winners by providing clothes and food, and aids them to secure employment; it saves the children from degradation by providing them with educational and religous training; it receives orphans and keeps them until such time as they are adopted. At the Elizabeth Home for Girls of the ChiK dren's Aid Society, 307 East Twelfth Street, part of the active service is a laundry, where the girls are taught to do thorough and suitable work which will fit them for positions in households or in pub- lic laundries. Evening classes are also held. In 1820 there was founded in New York an in- stitution which sought to give relief to such of the poor as were sufferers from diseases of the eye. During the first years of its existence it treated about 400 patients annually. Now this same institution, the New York Eye and Ear In- firmary, grown to immense proportions and hav- ing extended the scope of its work, occupies the splendidly equipped hospital building at Thirteenth Street and Second Avenue, where they treat free of charge more than 50,000 sufferers each year. In the Grace Church Settlement building, a three-story structure, long and low-lying, at 411 East Thirteenth Street, are held various boys' and men's clubs. There is one club for young men over eighteen, a large organization with a mem- bership of about 200, having athletic, military and other branches. The military section is particu- larly active, under a sergeant from Governor's Island. Within these walls, too, are housed a woman's section of the Grace Chapel Gymnasium, which meets once a week; classes for small boys and girls; a woman's social club; a girls' friendly society, and various other guilds and activities. In this settlement is held also the Industrial school, with its many departments. 64 The Houses of Anna, Simeon and the Holy Child. Grace Chapel, which is part of the settlement, extends through to Fourteenth Street. The dis- pensary is in the same building, where a clinic is held, and to those patients who are too ill to go out, a physician makes visits. Next to the chapel, on the Fourteenth Street side, is a hospital which includes a home for old men, old women and little children. This is an old use of the word hospital, meaning a place oi shelter or entertainment, and one section bears the quaint name of the "Houses of Simeon and Anna," where a new and keen interest has been given to those old men and women who still cling to habits of industry, through rug-making and other activities. The ''House of the Holy Child" is the little children's home, and the work of the nursery there is of an emergency character, and well fitted to the demands made upon it. The Grace Mission House is at 540 East Thir- teenth Street, where something of the settlement idea prevails in the fitting up in a homelike way of the guild room. Here a cordial welcome is 65 The Better New York given to young visitors every Sunday afternoon by the residents of the house. There is a class in kitchen-garden training, where little girls from eight to twelve years are taught after school hours, and where mothers and friends are invited to see in what a pleasant way useful information can be given. The clothing depository sells at small price all garments, new or old, sent by well-to-do parish- ioners for the purpose. How Grace Church Does It. 66 DIVISION III. Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of the Bowery. On the west side^ beyond Broadway and to the north of Canal Street, there is an Itahan colony, where the houses are low and hanging in decay^ the streets narrow and the nihabitants dirty. Here in this district, at 24 Sullivan Street, is the West Side Italian Industrial School of the Children's Aid Society. Here strong effort is being made to catch the spirit and essence of the Italian charac- ter. The children are taught to work effectively in the strong colors that they love so well, and to take old bottles and buttons and pieces of bright glass, making of them imitations of ancient Italian vases and urns. Close by where Charlton Street crosses Varick stood the home of Aaron Burr. It was an historic house, with a history that dated back to the year 1760. In that year all the land hereabouts was primeval forest, miles and miles above where the little city of New York clustered about the lower end of Manhattan Island. There was a rise of ground here, which in this year of 1760 was pur- chased by Abraham Mortier, commissary of the forces of George III. On this elevation Mortier built a house and called it, as well as the land about it, Richmond Hill. Sixteen years later, when it had come to be the year 1776, George Washington used this as his headquarters, until after the battle of Long Island, when the British took possession of the city. After the war of the Revolution, in the year 1797, Aaron Burr came into possession of the property, lived in the old house, entertained his friends in a most bountiful manner, and took great pride in beautifying the grounds. At Spring Street, just west of MacDougal, was the gateway that gave opening into the gardens, and it was through this that Burr walked on the morning of his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Within a few steps of where was the gateway 67 The Better New York leading to the Richmond Hill House of Aaron Burr, there is, at 239 Spring Street, one of the branches of the New York Kindergarten Associa- tion, the Frances Dana Walcott, established in 1892. Strangely enough, within a few doors of this kindergarten there is now the shop of a manu- facturing jeweler, whose business sign in the win- dow attracts immediate attention from one who knows the memories that hover about this district, for it reads ''Aaron Burr, Jeweler." In Washington Street, at Charlton, is another branch of the New York Port Society, with a read- ing-room convenient to the waterside that may be enjoyed by the men of the sea. A block further on is the Church of the Holy Comforter, nestling by the waterside, almost lost in a rambling group of buildings. This is one of the houses of worship maintained by the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society, enjoying the distinction of being the only church on the North River front, and here seamen gather, sometimes as many as two or three hundred in a day, often as many as nine nationalities being present in a sin- gle evening. At the foot of Christopher Street, pointing out into the Hudson River, surrounded always by great steamers, and hemmed in on every side by masses of shipping, is one of the city's recreation piers. Facing the Hudson River two or three doors above Tenth Street, and close by the docks of the important steamship lines, is a house unusual in its attractive outward appearance in this neighbor- hood where pleasing externals are few. This is a lighthouse for wandering seamen, and the main home of the Seamen's Christian Association. It is a library, a reading-room, a lodging house, an eating place and a house of worship combined; where in the course of a year 40,000 or more sailor men are influenced for good. The work extends beyond the building, for through it services are held on ocean steamers, and everything is done to better the condition of the men of the sea. 6R Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery Around the corner from this home of the sea- men is the site of the old State's prison, now occu- pied by a brewery. This prison was built in 1796 and remained in use until 1828, when that at Sing Sing began to be used instead. This early State's prison was remarkable for the fact that the first system of prison manufactures was organized in it. One of the convicts was a shoemaker, and, asking and being granted the use of his tools, he grad- ually made shoemakers of his fellow convicts, until every one in the jail was employed, to the profit of the State. The prison was at the edge of Green- wich village, which clustered about it, and, being several miles from the city, a line of coaches plied to and fro several times a day. The village was very old, older indeed than the city. It was an Indian village in 1609 when Henry Hudson first touched the Island of Manhattan, the first white man to set his foot upon it. In nearby Morton Street, at 59, a few doors above Hudson, is the Endeavor Club of the New York Association of Working Girls' Societies. Looking to the west, the journeyer can see just ahead of him a tall iron fence, and through the bars catch a glimpse of waving trees. This is St. John's Park, which occupies the Hudson Street plot between Le Roy and Clarkson Streets. Its well-kept gravel walks, ornamental rest-houses, playground lawns and boys' gymnasium give no hint of its early origin. Only a few years ago this was a graveyard, where, beneath the trees, the tombstones yellowed and crumbled with age. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century it was set apart as the burial ground of St. John's Chapel of Trinity Church, and called St. John's burying ground. No interments were made there after 1850, because of city ordinances preventing them. In 1897, after much discussion, the city bought the ground, the tombstones were buried, and the spot was transformed into one of the city's breathing places. A walk of five minutes takes you into Le Roy Street, where, at 18, is a modest-looking build- 69 The Better New York ing, with a brass plate on the door bearing the apparently cabalistic letters: — D. Y. N. T. HOME. This is the headquarters of the Doe Ye Nexte Thynge Society. This association was started in 1887, when a few voluntary workers met once a week and arranged to give sewing to poor women. The society grew until it was decided to limit the work to a certain district and come in closer touch with the people there. So the house in Le Roy Street was rented, and is now maintained as a settlement house in this locality where there are many poor and struggling families. In King Street, at 38, is the West Side home of the University Settlement. Ten resident work- ers make it their home and devote their efforts to the Italian and Irish population of this lower west side. At Bleecker Street and Sullivan is the Mills Hotel No. I, built in 1897, by D. O. Mills, who, being deeply interested in the question of housing poor men in large cities, sought a practical way of doing good. The main idea was to give the men the fullest possible equivalent for their money. So he provided the funds and erected this hotel, which has not only been a means of good, but has been a paying investment. It is in appearance an elegant hotel, with all modern conveniences and improvements, having 1,500 rooms, rented at 20 cents a night, or $1.40 per week. The meals are from ten cents upwards, and a regular dinner is served for fifteen cents. * In the rear of the Mills Hotel in Bleecker Street are the Mills tenements, at 183 to 185 Sullivan Street. They form a small block and house some forty families. The tenements are models, in that they offer the essential equipments to comfortable living. They are owned by Mr. D. O. Mills, and 70 A Good Bed for 20 Cents and a Square Meal for 15 Cents. pay four per cent on the money invested, showing that this class of property offers a safe investment for capital. Directly across from the Mills Hotel a large, square house on the corner bears a sign which ex- tends the length of its front, and reads "Industrial Christian Alliance." There are always, in a great city, men who, from one cause or another, are homeless and friendless, and who, through misery and misfortune, feel that every hand is against them, and have had the love of God driven from their hearts. To bring this class of men to feel that there is good in the world is the mission of the Industrial Christian Alliance. Realizing that something more is necessary that a night's lodg- ing and an occasional meal, or an exhortation to do what is right, a temporary home is given to the homeless, the sick are cared for, and their needs supplied. When their physical well-being is cared for, the men are put under Christian influences. Every one who comes to be benefited is given the employment for which he is best qualified. There is a department where brooms, brushes and feather 71 Helping Men to Help Themselves at the Christian Alliance. dusters are made, and one where chairs are caned; there is a carpenter shop and a tailor shop. Here a man is given the employment he might seek for in vain elsewhere, and receives aid which he need not look upon as charity. Down Bleecker Street, at 196, is one of the kin- dergartens in charge of the New York Kindergar- ten Association, known as "The Lawyers' Branch," established in 1890, and supported by special con- tributions from New York lawyers. In a building of attractive external and internal appearance, at 219 Sullivan Street, is the Sullivan Street Industrial School of the Children's Aid Society. Two blocks to the north is Washington Square. More than one hundred years ago, in 1797, when New York City was very small, a piece of ground was selected miles above the city to be used as a pauper graveyard. It was so used for several years, until there came to be a strong objection to it because it was on the line of a fashionable drive through the upper part of the island. So it was 72 Payment in Kind at the Industrial Christian Alliance, removed to where Bryant Park is now. The old graveyard remained unused and forsaken, a barren place, until 1827, when it was laid out as a little park and was called Washington Square. A fea- ture of the park is the seventy-foot high Wash- ington Arch which spans the main driveway. In 1889 this arch was erected in wood in connection with the Washington Centennial celebration. De- signed by Stanford White, it was so much admired that it was afterwards reconstructed in stone at a cost of $128,000, paid for by popular contribution. Opposite Washington Square is the Judson Memorial Church (Baptist), which has all the de- partments of a well-equipped institutional church. A distinctive feature is an apartment house of a superior sort immediately adjoining the church and built in architectural harmony with it. The in- come from the rent of this house is about $10,000 a year, and is used in the educational, philanthropic and missionary work of the church. In the next block, at 133 West Fourth Street, is the Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church, and beside it the parish house, where neat, 73 The Better New York attractive and economical lodgings may be had by Christian young men. At 26 Jones Street is the Greenwich House, under the charge of the Co-operative Social Settle- ment Society, organized in 1902, and working on a different basis from that ordinarily adopted by social settlements. It believes that the neighbor- hood about a settlement should be represented on the board of managers, and also believes in the co- responsibility of residents, workers and non-resi- dents. It is on these lines that the Greenwich House is conducted. At 89 Christopher Street the New York Diet Kitchen Association maintains the Hackley Kitchen for the benefit of the people of the district. .Thomas Paine, beloved of Americans when he furthered the cause of liberty by writing "Com- mon Sense," but detested when he argued against Christianity in 'The Age of Reason," died in Greenwich village. The country lane in which he lived in 1809 has now become Bleecker Street, and his house still stands four doors north of Grove Street, a tiny two-story building with a slanting roof. Abingdon Square, the open space at the junc- tion of Hudson Street and Eighth Avenue, where there is a tiny triangular park and a band-stand, has a history that harks back to the middle of the eighteenth century. All the land hereabouts was the estate of Sir Peter Warren, given to him by the city corporation in 1745, in recognition of the value of his services when he led the fieet against Louisburg. Not far from this square Sir Peter built a house which, for close upon a century, was the most imposing structure in Greenwich Village. Sir Peter had three daughters, and Charlotte, the eldest, married Willoughby. Earl of Abingdon. Upon Sir Peter's death, with that portion of the estate which went to this daughter, there was the open space where two countrv roads crossed. In honor of the Earl it was called Abingdon Place, 74 Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery and came in after years to be known as Abingdon Square. Sir Peter Warren, after many years spent in Greenwich Village, went to England, where he died, and where he was buried in Westminster Abbey. At 10 Horatio Street is one of the kindergar- tens of the New York Kindergarten Association, "The Daisy Memorial," established in 1892. As far back as 1857 the artists of New York City determined to organize a society which, through mutual aid, would benefit the families of members deceased, and also help any one who should be ill or disabled. The idea was suggested by the success of the Ranney Fund, which had been started for the purpose of assisting the widow and children of William Ranney, an American painter, who died in 1857. The idea developed into the Artists' Fund Society, to which any pro- fessional artist of good standing, and under sixty years of age, is eligible. The headquarters of the society is at 51 West Tenth Street, which is still known as "The Studio Building," in survival of the days when it was the only one in the city. In the same building is the Artists' Aid Society, whose members consist of professional artists and amateurs not over fifty years of age, a social and benevolent organization. A free bed in the Pres- byterian Hospital, which is controlled by the soci- ety, is frequently of service, and when not in use by its own members has been put at the disposal of the Artists' Fund Society. Opposite the little square, from which it takes its name, at 251 West Thirteenth Street, is the Jackson Square Circulating Branch of the New York Public Library. It was opened in 1888, with a fully equipped building specially designed for the purpose, the gift of George Vanderbilt. It circu- lates about 126,000 volumes a year, and its cheerful reading-room is filled day and evening with more than a hundred readers. An interesting feature to be noticed upon entering the main library is the glass-covered cases against the wall, where are placed clippings from the illustrated papers of the 75 Jackson Square Library. day, depicting subjects which are interesting to people of New York at the time. This is done weekly to create interest in current events, and after looking at the pictures any one can consult the librarians as to proper reading in connection with each subject. To help the musically inclined in the study of operas presented at the ^Nletropoli- tan Opera House during the season,, scores are lent for a period of three days each. The People's University Extension Society, which has its headquarters at 244 West Fourteenth Street, carries on a traveling educational work, in helping people to educate themselves. This is done by instruction in practical and industrial sub- jects. During the year hundreds of lectures are given, and individual advice offered to tenement dwellers on hygienic sanitation, housekeeping, cooking, sewing, dressmaking, care of children and other matters vital to everyday life. It co-oper- ates, too, with hundreds of small local societies that are striving to help the people around them, with settlements, missions, churches and work among the poor, telling them how to carry on systematic usefulness, and furnishing them free with trained teachers. 76 The Needle, the Sewing-machine and the Paste-pot. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, at 233 West Fourteenth Street, not yet two years old, has already shown excellent results in training young girls in the trades of sewing and fancy glue work. Each department has a scientific teacher, who is also a practical forewoman, with factory or shop experience. Plain sewing and foot machine work is first taught the girls in the sewing department and to this is added, later, full and careful train- ing in the use of machines run by electricity. In both trades the aim is to produce not only the best of work, but also the best type of working, and to train the mind as well as the hand. The girls must be over fourteen and not over seventeen, and as the opportunities the school offers are for the benefit of the poorest girls of the city, scholarships have been provided for those whose families can- not spare the small pittance which the girl would earn as cash girl, or as an inefhcient worker in a shop or factory. The Aletropolitan Temple at Seventh Avenue and Fourteenth Street, often called the Church of the People, is especially attractive because of a n The Extension of Useful Knowledge. vested choir of loo or more voices, an unusual feature in churches of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Several clubs for young men and young women, a literary circle and King's Daugh- ters and Epworth League meetings add to its interest for the young people, while a kindergar- ten, sewing school and classes in stenography and millinery are among its educational advantages. The towering structure of white stone in Four- teenth Street, close by Sixth Avenue, is the Na- tional Headquarters of the Salvation Army, that practical and charitable organization, the members of which devote their lives to the spreading of the gospel among the masses. In this human hive are the executive of^ces of the Army in America, and the many departments where are carried out those plans for reaching the unfortunate, unhampered by creed, sex, color or nationality. Here are orig- inated the nightly street services, the meetings in halls and homes; here is mapped out the relief work to be done in the slum districts and police courts, and here are devised the many other means 78 Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery of practical relief which give hope to the hopeless, employment to the unemployed, and homes to the homeless. A unique feature of one of the large department stores of the city is a school for its cash girls, conducted by James A. Hearn & Son, 20 to 30 West Fourteenth Street. The hours of the school are from eight to ten in the morning, which is counted from the firm's time, and every induce- ment is offered to join the classes. Elementary studies are taught, and an ignorant child, knowing scarcely anything of practical arithmetic, is in this way fully prepared for a position as high as that of cashier. Where Jefferson Market Prison stands now, with the square tower rising above it, a substan- tial monument marking the boundary where old Greenwich Village began, there stood for forty years, and until the present structure was erected, a watch-tower. In this tower hung a bell that was used to sound the alarms, calling for volunteers whenever the watchman in his nest beside it espied a fire in the distance. When the present building was completed, in 1876, the bell was set in the tower, but from that day to this it has never once been rung. There it hangs now, a five-ton weight, A Portal of Practical Uplift; the Salvation Army. Where the Watchman Announced Fires in Greenwich Village. that measures eight feet from tip to tip, but there are few persons who know it is there. For more than forty years the rooms of the Working Women's Protective Union, now at 9 East Eighth Street, have been a place of friendly refuge, where any story of wrong and fraud prac- tised upon defenseless working women has not only received sympathy and advice, but when nec- essary, good lawyers have been furnished, free of expense, for the purpose of righting the wrong and redressing the fraud. One day a week is known as ''complaint day," and the legal representative of the Union receives and examines the complaints which seem to warrant prosecution, though full care is taken not to enter any claim which seems to be unjust to the employer. An employment bureau gives practical aid to those women thrown out of work through the injustice or dishonesty of their employer, and much care is taken to place them with the right people. Many an expression of admiration is called forth by the beautiful flowers used to decorate banquet tables, adorn weddings and add an aesthetic touch to ballroom and drawing-room, but how many 80 Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery give a thought to what becomes of these flowers? There is an organization called the National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild, with headquarters at 70 Fifth Avenue, and one of its objects is to collect these flowers and distribute them to hospitals and poor families. This is only a small part of the Guild work, for it furnishes plants and seeds for vacant-lot farms, and for window boxes in tene- ment houses. Then, too, it distributes seeds and plants to increase the cultivation of flowers in towns and villages, and does all manner of things to encourage study and appreciation of nature. At 49 West Ninth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, is a house of attractive appear- ance and notable for its inner appointments. It is a boarding house for working women, main- tained by the Ladies' Christian Union. There are quite a large number of these boarding houses, and, as a rule, they have more applicants than they can receive. All these homes are under definite religious management, and the greater number are Protestant, although there are one or two Roman Catholic, and the Clara de Hirsch is Hebrew. To gain admision (the conditions are for the most part similar) some reference as to responsibility is required, and generally the small w^age-earner is given the flrst preference, though school-teachers and stenographers earning good salaries are also to be found in them. The price of board varies. Two dollars and a half and three dollars being the lowest, and five and six dollars the highest. One of the "things to see" is John La Farge's painting, "The Ascension of Christ," in the Church of the Ascension (Protestant Episcopal), at Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, occupying a space above the altar forty feet square. It shows a number of life-size figures arranged in ascending vaults on either side of the central figure of Christ. It is considered one of the most important works of its kind ever done in the United States. This Church of the Ascension, in addition to ordinary educa- tional and institutional church methods, arranges excursions to art galleries, factories and museums. 81 The Church of the Ascension. One of the very oldest libraries in America is the New York Society Library, which has its build- ing at 107 University Place. It came into being in the year 1700, when the Earl of Bellomont, then Governor of New York, established a reading- room in the city hall, which was then in Wall Street, at the head of Broad. The outcome of this reading-room was a regular library, incorporated in 1754, and called the City Library. George IIL, in 1772, granted the institution a charter, and it became the New York Society Library. It has grown larger and larger with the passing years, until now it is renowned for its accumulated litera- ture and art works. The People's Singing Classes afford an oppor- tunity for every man over eighteen, and every woman over sixteen years of age, to learn sight singing, with only the small membership dues of ten cents paid at each lesson, and with music and other equipment furnished free. The fundamental principle underlying the movement, begun in 1892, is that poor and rich shall have equal opportuni- ties in acquiring a means toward making life better and happier. The movement is, in fact, a co-oper- ative undertaking between teachers of music and 82 Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery music-loving people, to promote the love and cul- ture of good music among working men and women in a simple, yet thorough way. No exami- nation is necessary for membership, and it is not required to know a single note. The season com- prises a course of about thirty lesons, which be- gins in October and lasts until April. All ex- penses are paid by the dues of the members, and no outside financial help is asked. The services of the diretcors and teachers are given free, and Air. Frank Damrosch, the energizing force in the whole affair, not only selects the teachers, but keeps them in personal touch. The classes are held at various places throughout the city, and the head office of the People's Choral Union is at 41 Uni- versity Place. Elementary classes are held on Sunday afternoons. Other classes meet on dif- ferent evenings of the week. The Choral Union consists of members who have graduated from the singing classes, and now comprises over 1,000 well- trained singers. Grace Church (Protestant Episcopal), at Eleventh Street and Broadway, has its practical activities centered, for the most part, in the sepa- rate buildings of Grace House, Grace Chapel, Grace Mission, Grace Memorial House, Grace Clergy House, Grace Choristers' House, Grace Settlement Building, a Parish Laundry and a Hos- pital. At the Grace House, which adjoins the Church on the north, is the Training School for Deacon- esses, through which the corps of assistants make upwards of 6,000 calls a year in neighborly visits. In this building, too, is the Art Students' Club of about 2,000 members. Here also the city firemen and their friends visit one evening a week, under the leadership of the fire chaplain attached to the church. This chaplain visits in the course of the year hundreds of fires, to be on hand in cases of accidents, and to minister to the dying or injured. He also makes hundreds of calls at hospitals and firehouses. The Chorister School and Choristers' House of Grace Church forms part of the group of beautiful 83 'J^iJ 1 ;'.*"■■ ' ' ' Where Grace Church Looks Out on Broadway. gray stone buildings directly back of Grace Church, in Fourth Avenue, which includes the Clergy House, Grace Memorial House, Choir Vestry and the Choristers' House. Besides the educational ad- vantages of the school, this house affords a proper home and good care and food for boys of the choir who do not live in New York. The Memorial House is the home of the Day Nursery, where working women leave their chil- dren while at work. This is now one of the largest model nurseries of the city. Kindergarten instruc- tion has also been developed, and afternoon clubs for graduate nursery children who have gone out into the world. Not far away, at i8 East Eighth Street, close by University Place, is a somewhat exceptional feature of church work — a parish laundry. Some- thing like 150 women are employed there during the year. The lunch wagon standing in Astor Place is one of eight of a similar type stationed in different parts of the city. Close by is a drinking fountain of ornamental iron, one of twelve presented to the 84 Some of Grace Church Social Centers. city by Mrs. John Jacob Astor. There is also in the square a bronze statue of S. S. Cox, which, in 1891, was erected by the letter carriers of the United States as a mark of recognition of his in- terest in their welfare. At the western side of the square is Clinton Hall, the home of the Mercantile Library. This library was incorporated in 1823, and was first located in Nassau Street, but after- wards, in 1830, occupied its own building in Beek- man at Nassau. The first volumes were given to the library by Governor DeWitt Clinton, and in his honor the building was called^ Clinton Hall. When a new one was erected here in Astor Place in 1850, it kept the name, and now a third building of the name stands upon the site. It has well-equipped reading and reference rooms, and contains about 260,000 books, which it circulates to subscribers at five dollars a year, a slight reduc- tion, however, being made to clerks. More than one hundred years ago there was a pleasant garden, far out from the city, on the Bowery Road. It was owned by John Sperry, who cultivated flowers for his own delectation, and it was quite a country show place, where aesthetically inclined townsmen went to spend summer days. In 1799 Sperry sold his garden to John Jacob Astor, and at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 85 The Better New York tury it was leased by Astor to a Frenchman named Delacroix, who established the Vauxhall Garden as a place of al fresco amusement, that was popular for close upon a quarter of a century. In tune the city grew, and the Vauxhall Garden came to be part of it. In 1826 a street was cut through, called Lafayette Place. jMore and more the city grew, and the confines of the garden were more and more restricted. Now there is no trace of it, if you look for it where it once was, below Astor Place, be- tween the Bowery and Broadway. In 1849, when the Astor Library was incorporated, according to the terms of John Jacob Astor's will, in which he left $400,000 for the purpose, a portion of the old Vauxhall Garden was selected as a site for the library building. There on the east side of La- fayette Place it was built in 1853, and there the Astor Library still stands. In the early years of its existence it contained 80,000 volumes, but soon it became overcrowded, and in 1859 William B. Astor built the north wing. Again, in 1881, an- other addition was set up by John Jacob Astor. The institution had grown to be recognized as a general reference library of the highest order by 1895, in which year it was consolidated with the Lenox and Tilden foundations, and became part of the New York Public Library. A twenty-year-old student, Frederick Ozanam, began in Paris, 1833, the foundation of the great Society of St. Vincent de Paul, of which the New York Superior Council has today its headquarters at No. 2 Lafayette Place. Ozanam's work was begun through "conferences" with earnest col- leagues for the purpose of disproving to the un- believers of that time a charge made by them, that Christianity could no longer originate and sustam a great movement for the welfare of man. How well his purpose has been accomplished is now a matter of history. At present the society has a world membership of over 85,000 members, which are divided into some 5,000 conferences, each of which reports to a particular Council, which again reports to a Superior Council. The society in New York has a membership of more than 11,000 86 Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery men, each pledged to active interest in visiting and relieving the sick and the poor, and systematic performance of public and private religous duties. Bond Street Branch of the New York Free Cir- culating Library, now a part of the New York Public Library system, had its real beginning in 1879, ii^ ^ sewing class in connection with the char- itable work of Grace Church. The class was a small one, and as the girls showed an inclination to read cheap paper novels, one of the teachers pro- posed lending to each a book a week. In a short time other women became interested. About 500 books were collected, and a little library started in a room in Thirteenth Street, east of Fourth Ave- nue. It increased with wonderful strides, so that at the end of the first year about 1,200 books, all gifts, were on the shelves. The conclusion was reached that there was need for establishing a cir- culating library in various parts of the city, and this resulted in the formation, in 1880, of the New York Free Circulating Library. In March of that year the library was moved to two rooms at 36 Bond Street, where it remained until 1883, when it took possession of the entire buiding at 49 Bond Street (the present Bond Street Branch). From this time on branches were formed in various parts of the city, until the library was merged into the Public Library system. Strong and decided efforts are made day and night for the reformation of fallen women and young girls at the Florence Crittenden Mission, 21 Bleecker Street. Here the homeless may find a home and every incentive toward moral and edu- cational advancement. The New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society, with headquarters at 38 Bleecker Street, has, since 1831, been ministering to the poor and unfortunate. Some of its most efficient service has been in public institutions. Services are held by the society's chaplain in nine prisons, and he also regularly visits the prisoners in their cells. A chapel in the new Tombs Prison has been set apart for the use of this society. Under its 87 The Better New York care six other institutions have a weekly service, and the sick of ten hospitals and several homes for convalescents are ministered to in the same way. Work has also been begun in spiritual care for the patients in the smallpox and other contagious wards of Riverside Hospital and North Brother's Island. By combining the offices of clergyman and doctor in one, on the medical staff of the institu- tion, both soul and body receive attention. At the House of Refuge on Randall's Island the society is doing effective work. Not only do the boys and girls receive espe<:ial attention in va- rious services, Sunday-school classes and personal visiting, but they are kept track of two years after they are discharged, and in many cases employ- ment is found for them. Wherever the new home is they are put in communication with the local church, and as far as possible shielded from temp- tation. The society maintains a chapel at Bellevue Hos- pital, adjoining the Almshouse at Blackwell's Island, and one at 206 East Ninety-fifth Street; also the Church of San Salvatore, 359-361 Broome Street, with its adjoining Parish House at 127 Elizabeth Street; St. Barnabas' House, 304-306 Mulberry Street; God's Providence House, 330- 332 Broome Street; the Pro-Cathedral, 130 Stan- ton Street, and the North River Reading Room, 625 West Forty-second Street. Another field, not long opened, has been work among the men of this city who may be said to have no Sunday, such as trainmen on the elevated roads. To reach these, one of the clerical staff' of the society every Sunday rides over the elevated roads, leaving the day's service leaflet, with a few kindly words, to the men in charge of the stations and trains. St. Barnabas' House, at 304 ]\Iulberry Street, gives a temporary resting place to women who are destitute and orphan children. Here convales- cent women, without regard to color, creed or race, who are discharged from hospitals and friendless, are admitted and cared for until they regain full strength. There is also a dispensary Canal to Fourteenth Street, West of Bowery where any one may have medical advice free of charge. The house is maintained by the New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society. Connecting with this home is also a Clothing Bureau, the customers of which are many and interesting. They must have a letter of reference or a card from a city clergyman or missionary, who vouches for their honesty and their need. This is to protect the bureau from second-hand clothes dealers, and from people who would buy articles in order to pawn them. Not only half- worn garments, but also rugs, pictures, bits of china, a misfit perhaps in shoes, a fancy costume worn at some society function, and bits of left- over lace, carpet, curtains, pillows and linen be- come of inestimable value by the discriminating disposal of them through the bureau. Everything is paid for by the customer at legitimate valuation, and the money realized from the sales goes to help the work of St. Barnabas' House, excepting one-tenth, which is reserved for other worthy chari- ties. Besides the general daily sales to the poorer class, the bureau has opened its office for an hour on Saturday for women and girls who are refined in their taste and association, but whose earnings are too small to procure anything more than life's necessities. The Mott Street Industrial School, at 256 Mott Street, is one of the branches of the Children's Aid Society. Broome Street Tabernacle, at 395 Broome Street, is under the charge of the New York City Mission and Tract Society. Besides the religious services, the sewing school is very popular, and the cooking class largely attended. Added to this is a Little Housekeepers' Class, which instructs the children how and what to buy with a small amount of money, and some of the fundamental rules for good housekeeping. The pioneer bath for providing hot or cold water the year round was located in 1891, at 9 Center Market Place, near Grand Street. The People's Baths, as they are called, have been main- 09 The Better New York tained by the New York Association for Improv- ing the Condition of the Poor. They are open daily, from October i to April 30, from 6 A.M. to 9 P.M., except on Sundays, when the hours are 6.30 to 9.30 A.M. The fee for soap and towels is five cents, the only charge made. Many of the bathers are children accompanied by their mothers, and most effectual educational results have been obtained by these family visits. Since opening, upwards of a million and a quarter bathers have used the baths. The Italian immigrants of this city owe a debt of gratitude to the Italian Free Library, 149 Mul- berry Street, which was provided for them by Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes. Some 3,000 volumes in Italian are to be found in the large room set apart for the library purposes, and the reading- room contains daily papers, periodicals and illus- trated newspapers of Italy and America, where 250 readers, men, women and children, are to be found each day and evening, availing themselves of its privileges. Not content, however, with this phase of education, young Italian girls are taught sewing, and various children's and young people's classes and clubs are under the care, socially and educationally, of a headworker and fourteen as- sistants. In a new building, which stands at 361 Broome Street, in the midst of the Italian colony, is the Italian Church of San Salvatore, under the charge of the New York Protestant Episcopal City Mis- sion Society. The services are usually in Italian, with the exception of one or two English hymns, and the choir is composed of some twenty-five young men and boys of the neighborhood. An ex- ceptional fact to be noticed in the congregations which gather in this church is that the number of men attending is much larger than the number of women; the latter, however, make up in pictur- esqueness for what is lacking in number. The Parish House adjoins the rear of the church, 127 Elizabeth Street. Through mutual interest and the prompt payment of dues, a small sum of money weekly and medical attendance are pro- 90 West of Fifth Avenue vided for all members who are ill and unable to work. In the same way, funeral expenses are also met. For the lately landed Italians unacquainted with the country, the employment bureau of the church has been of great service, and during the summer over 200 children are given the benefit of country air and food. DIVISION IV. Fourteenth to Thirty-fourth Street, West of Fifth Avenue. Infirm and destitute women are cared for by the New York House and School of Industry, at 120 West Sixteenth Street. They are given em- ployment m needlework and are paid for their work, which is sold on the premises. Since 1850 the effort has been not to give charity, but work. The oldest institution of its kind in the city is the New York Hospital, incorporated in the year 1771, when George III. was king. It is a gen- eral hospital for medical and surgical treatment, where both free and paid patients are received. There is also a training school for nurses, and a branch hospital at Hudson and Jay Streets. The celebrated Bloomingdale Asylum, now at White Plains, is the department for the insane connected with this hospital. A religious order was founded in New York City, in 1886, by a few women who felt the need of arousing and bringing nito activity many idle and unused forces in womanhood. Since then the organization has grown into what is now known as The Better New York the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons, with members of all ages, in many countries, and not limited to any special religious denomination. Its original circle, composed of the founders of the order, with some additions, is now the Central Council, or executive advisory board, for the entire order. The organizations in each State are presided over by State Secretaries. In other countries the work is organized under the head of a national department, which elects its own officers; but all are branches of the Interna- tional Order, and in direct communication with the Central Council. One of the cardinal princi- ples of the order is actual service for humanity, and there is no escape from the obligation to undertake some work for others, for which no return can be expected. It does not urge the founding of new institutions, as its aim is to train intelligent workers to help those already estab- lished; it is, in fact, an educational as well as a religious order, and within its ranks are to be found some of the most earnest students of the Church of the Holy Communion. Church of the Holy Communion, highest and best developed systems of practical and discriminating relief. The headquarters of the New York Order are at 156 Fifth Avenue. In striving to promote total abstinence, at the same time carrying on a missionary work that en- circles the world, the National Temperance So- ciety has its headquarters in West Eighteenth Street, at No. 3. The lunch wagon standing at West Twenty- fourth Street and Pennsylvania Ferry is one of eight of a similar kind stationed in different parts of the city. The Church of the Holy Communion, at Sixth Avenue and Twentieth Street, was built in 1844, and the Rev. W. A. Muhlenburg was its first pastor. It was then, as now, a house of prayer for all people, absolutely free and open; supported by the voluntary offerings of the worshipers. As this church was established in the days of the almost universal practise of rented pews, this fea- ture of free sittings made it unique. The boys and men who led the singing are said to have consti- tuted the first choir in America. At the very beginning this church did work among the poor of the neighborhood. So squalid were their sur- 93 Church of the Holy Communion. foundings the sick often had to be moved to the Sisters' House, built in 1853 as a memorial, and adjacent to the church. There unknowingly were laid the foundations of the great St. Luke's Hos- pital. One of the outcomes, also, of the work of the Sisters was the development of the Day Nursery. These nurseries, which now represent one of the best ways of helping the poor, owe their origin to the necessity, first realized in 1874, o^ providing a place where poor women could leave their chil- dren too young for school. Such a nursery the Sisters provided. For about half a century the industrial school of this church has been in existence. Smiple methods were followed at first, but in 1889 there was formed a sewing school, where each teacher was expected to fit herself for the duties which her class might require of her. One new course of sewing was added each year. So great was the interest excited in this sewing school by the im- proved methods that the New York Association of Sewing Schools was formed. For nearly fifty years the parish maintained a library, which con- sisted of some 4,000 carefully selected books, with reading-rooms, but in 1893 it was considered wiser 94 West of Fifth Avenue to merge this in the New York Free Circulating Library. This branch has become the Muhlen- burg Branch, so named in honor of the Rev. Dr. Muhlenburg, the founder of the parish. At 29 West Twentieth Street is the Working- men's Club of the church. Upon the death of a member, as many dollars as there are members in good standing are paid to the nearest of kin. Upon the death of members' wives, as many half- dollars as there are members are paid. In illness a physician is provided. In the green lawns and the gray buildings of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the block between Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues, there is still some suggestion of the old Chelsea Village. The plot of green on which the buildings stand was given to the Seminary by Clement C. Moore, whose estate covered a large part of that quarter of the city. The corner stone of the east building was laid in 1825, and that of the west building, which still stands, in 1835. The Seminary, however, had been planned as early as 1817, and two years afterwards the first class, which numbered six students, received its first in- In the Center of Chelsea Village. The Better New York struction. Today more than loo young men are yearly prepared for the ministry of the church. At 516 West Twenty-eighth Street, under the management of the Charity Organization Society, is a woodyard which provides work for men, pay- ing for it in meals and lodgings or in cash. Here also are workrooms where unskilled women are taught sewing and housework, being paid for such labor as they do, in clothing or groceries. There is, too, a laundry where work is given tempo- rarily to women with families. Expert laundresses may also register at the employment bureau. A wonderful system of providing the unem- ployed with work is followed by the Salvation Army at its Industrial Home, 528 West Thirtieth Street. Under the management of the home, from all over the city, are brought together its waste bottles, rags, paper, crockery and furniture. From this debris is sorted out any article that can be made of service. Furniture is repaired, crockery mended, rags sewn; in fact, every possible use Salvage for Men and Waste. West of Fifth Avenue made of the apparently worthless leavings of a great city. Sixty men are given work in this way, and through definite occupation, wise instruction and oversight, are restored to self-respect and made ready for a place in the outside world. Pay- ment for labor is generally made through board and lodgings, but sometimes money is paid out in small sums. In Twenty-sixth Street, close by Eighth Avenue, is the Hudson Guild, which cares for the needs of the people of that neighborhood. For the very young children there is a kindergarten. For the older children there are clubs of all kinds, and for the boys, a back-yard gymnasium. Equal ad- vantages are afforded older men and women. Excellent work in caring for the welfare, dur- ing the evening, of very young girls just entering the wage-earners' life, who are employed as cash, stock, candy and factory girls, messengers and helpers to dressmakers, is done by the various branches of the older Working Girls' Clubs and the settlements. A pioneer mover in this matter was the Ivy Club of the New York Association of Working Girls' Societies, at 234 West Twenty- sixth Street. This club has had a junior branch for some ten years, the members ranging from fourteen to sixteen years of age. They have their own rules and regulations, but a member of the senior club is in charge. Many of the members of this club are cash girls who pay ten cents a month for the privilege of membership. They meet on Fridays socially. They also form classes for in- struction in domestic science, embroidery and physical culture, for which they pay two cents an evening. Plans are now being made to provide them with a two-cent supper on Friday evenings, if they like to come straight from the stores to the club. The members of the club are also as much as possible provided with holidays in the summer time through the Vacation Society. Working women may find a boarding house conducted on Christian lines in the Jeanne d'Arc Home, at 251 West Twenty-fourth Street, con- ducted exclusively for French girls. 97 The Better New York The Pasteur Institute, maintained by the New York Bacteriological Institute, especially for the study and gratuitous treatment of hydrophobia and tuberculosis, has established itself at 313 West Twenty-third Street. The treatment is similar to that used in Paris. The high structure on Twenty-third Street, West of Seventh Avenue, is the chief home in New York of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, that institution which looks to giving young men health, well-equipped minds, and strong bodies, and to surrounding those who are alone in the world with a home influence. It has a purpose so wholesome, its workings have become so com- plete, and its helpers so earnest, that it becomes more pronouncedly strong year by year. In the cases of young men coming from foreign coun- tries, they are met on their arrival and given in- formation as to the new land of their adoption, which they could only obtain otherwise by pos- sibly dangerous experience. A night school in- Where the Y. M. C. A. Helps Body, Mind and Soul. ^ brf IS lia I iImi •I 3i^l ii i School of Applied Design. 'H'W jr structs in almost every branch of study that will fit a man for commercial or artistic life. A gymna- sium and competent instructors give an opportu- nity for the upbuilding of a perfect physical condi- tion. In daily workingmen's meetings the spirit- ual side is developed. At Seventh Avenue and Twenty-third Street is the School of Applied Design for Women, which affords instruction enabling them to earn a living by the employment of their taste and dexterity in making designs for carpets, wallpaper, oil cloths, silks, chintzes, furniture, book covers and other branches involving the use of ornamental design. At 130 West Twenty-third Street is the Muh- lenburg Branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, organized in 1893 in the Parish House of the Church of the Holy Communion. It was named for the Rev. Dr. Muhlenburg, the first rector of the church. 99 •^^ r 1 An Isle of Safety. The latest gift to New York from the Munici- pal Art Societ}^ is both ornamental and practical — an isle of safety on Fifth Avenue in front of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The design, by Ciani, was selected from competitive plans. It is an en- during structure in stone and brass, raised to the height of the curb, and surmounted by a hand- some electrolier. This gift is in pursuit of the society's policy to select annually some one thing, both timely and practicable, which promises the greatest return in beauty and convenience for the least outlay. Maintained at 49 West Twenty-fourth Street is the French Branch of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, organized in 1889, with its special feature an educational department for teaching English to French-speaking young men, thus en- abling them to become self-supporting. At 15 West Twentv-fifth Street, just west of Broadway, is Trinity Chapel, one of the chapels of Trinity Parish, built between 1851 and 1856 for the accommodation of uptown communicants of Trinity Parish. It is a Gothic brownstone building, the interior especially noticeable for its richness 100 West of Fifth Avenue of color. It has a home for aged women, clubs, guilds and relief societies. The New York Colored Mission, at 225 West Thirtieth Street, though called a mission, is a sort of settlement. An employment bureau and a lodg- ing house connected with it are so well managed that they help pay the expenses of other parts of the work, such as physical culture classes, domestic science and classes in dressmaking. Boys as well as girls are taught cooking. There are three clubs for boys, one on each floor of a small building in the rear, and between the front and the rear build- ing is a large paved playground. The main build- ing of the mission was only a short time ago a wretched tenement, and the boys' club a humble annex. The improvement of the moral and spiritual condition of the policemen of the city is the aim of the New York Christian Police Association, 235 West Thirtieth Street. This was established some eleven years ago as a branch of the parent society in London^ and, through its various meet- ings and the personal interest of its staff, has done much to influence in the right direction the men of the force who come to its rooms. Much help is given through the co-operation of the morally strong policemen themselves, who try to interest their fellow workers in the Association, and also by their personal example in helping the younger and untried men to ''keep straight." At Thirty-fourth Street and Ninth Avenue is the New York Institute for the Blind, where blind children are received. The institute was incor- porated in 1831, and opened at 47 Mercer Street in 1832 with three pupils, removing to its present site in 1833. It now has an average of 200 pupils yearly. Pleasantly situated at 361 West Thirty-fourth Street is the Irene Club, for women. It is the pioneer club of the New York Association of Working Girls' Societies, the largest of its kind in New York, having between 300 and 400 mem- bers. It has grown to its present proportions lOI The Better New York since 1884, when it was begun in a small room of a tenement house. One evening the members invited Miss Grace Dodge to talk matters over with them. The result was the formation of this association of working girls' societies, which came into existence the next year. There are now in New York twenty clubs besides those outside the city. These club members are busy women and girls, who secure by co-operation means of self-im- provement, opportunities for social intercourse and the development of the higher life. All their club-rooms are pleasant places for social enjoy- ment, and connected with each there are classes. Each of these clubs strives to be self-supporting. Government is by the members, and each club is a co-operative rather than a philanthropic organiza- tion. Up to 1883, when the Working Girls' Vacation Society was formed, much fresh-air work had been done for little children and mothers, but nothing for working girls. The society is unsectarian, and its purpose is to give a fortnight's rest in the coun- try to any needy and overworked girl, which facts must be vouched for by proper authorities. The headquarters of the society are at 361 West Thirty- fourth Street. The large department store of R. H. Macy & Co., Thirty-fourth Street and Broadway, furnishes an example in several ways of what has been done in some of the best retail stores of the city to promote the comfort of the employees. A large recreation room, furnished with lounges and easy chairs, is open through the day, and adjoining this is a room for those taken ill during business hours, equipped with essentials, such as beds, lounges and rocking chairs, to afiford a quiet and comfortable retreat. Lavatory and baths are also provided. The employees' lunch-room is 60 by 200 feet, clean and well ventilated, where good, wholesome food is furnished; a sandwich, four cents; ice cream, three cents; with correspondingly small prices throughout the bill of fare. Cash girls, stock girls and parcel wrappers are furnished with a bowl of 102 West of Fifth Avenue tea or coffee, or a glass of milk, free, but other em- ployees pay one cent for each. That triangular bit of green surrounded by the tall iron fence below where Sixth Avenue and Broadway cross at Thirty-third Street is Greeley Square, so named in 1894, when the bronze statue of Horace Greeley was placed there. This statue was executed by Alexander Doyle for a post of the G. A. R. At the southern end of the square is a substantial iron fountain arranged for the ac- commodation of man and beast. On one side of it is an inscription "erected by the friends of Jerry McAuley," a constant reminder of the man who did so much in New York for the poor and the homeless. One block further up Broadway is another small triangular space. Herald Square. Here is a statue of William Earl Dodge, which in 1885 was set there by the merchants of the city in memory of a fellow merchant and a benefactor. Beside this square there stands a lunch wagon, one of eight of a sim- ilar kind stationed in different parts of the city. The private home for working girls of the Roman Catholic Church, at 117 and 119 West Thirty-second Street, today marking a great revo- lution, has been well named the House of the Transfiguration. Under the care of the Francis- can Sisters, this place, once known as the House of All Nations, with its Turkish^ Egyptian, Russian, French and Chinese rooms, filled with gorgeous furnishings, the home of splendor and vice for fifteen years, has indeed been transfigured, and now, leased to these Sisters, it has become, under their Christian care, a safe, pleasant and cheap home for working girls. 103 DIVISION V. Fourteenth to Thirty-fourth Street, East of Fifth Avenue. The lives of working girls and boys are made happier and brighter by the mental training sup- plied at the Cooper Settlement, 269 Avenue C. Here clubs and classes of all sorts have been in operation since 1889. A characteristic depart- ment is a shoe bank, where money is deposited in the smallest instalments and set aside to buy the necessary shoes for such children as cannot obtain them in any other way. The settlement is sup- ported by the provisions of the will of Miss Julia Cooper. A block toward the east and at the waterside stand the substantial buildings of the Willard Parker Hospital, one of the institutions of the De- partment of Health, a reception hospital for all persons ill with contagious diseases, and contain- ing isolation wards for the observation of doubt- ful cases. Here also are a diphtheria hospital; the main disinfecting station of the health depart- ment; the research laboratory_, vaccine laboratory, and the bubonic plague laboratory. The lot of cripples always seems pathetic — shut out from the activities of everyday life. There is one place in New York where not only is every- thing done to brighten these children's lives in the way of recreation and amusement, but a strong effort is made to have them feel that they are workers, by enrolling them in classes where indus- trial work of an elementary sort is carried on. A warm luncheon is daily prepared for them, and they arc brought from their homes and taken back in the evening in two specially built wagonettes. During the summer months they are given outings 104 Cripples Going to School. at a summer home. All this is done for them by the Children's Aid Society at the Avenue B Indus- trial School, 533 East Sixteenth Street. At 505 East Sixteenth Street is the Evening Trade School of St. George's Parish, where expert instructors in manual training of various kinds look after the shaping of the lives of the youth of the parish. In one of the old mansions of the city, the Sal- vation Army has opened wide the doors for fallen girls. To its shelter may come all in dire neces- sity, and within its walls is heard the first cry of many a helpless baby. The mother and child are cared for, and, of the number coming to the house, eighty-five per cent, by practical Christian aid and sympathy, have been set on the right road. When strong enough to work, a laundry, which is oper- ated in the house, gives occupation till some more permanent form of employment is found. In most cases the mother is placed in a household where she can have her child with her, and, through do- mestic service, earn an independent living. But the welfare of both is still a matter of care to the Rescue Home management, and if ever in need of advice or in ill-health, they may return to the home. Forty women at a time, beside the children, are provided for here, at 316 East Fifteenth Street. 105 The Better New York In a fine old house, a mansion of earlier days, with two great stone lions before the door, the Little Mothers' Aid Association has its home at 236 Second Avenue, close by Fifteenth Street. Here a strong and constant effort is' made to brighten the life of the child of the tenement, who, without thought of wage, labors all day long and sometimes half the night, the nurse and family drudge, doing in her own home what her mother -does in the homes of others. The association seeks to teach these little mothers to do what they have to do with the least possible labor and in the best possible manner. They are sometimes not more than six or seven years old, and while their mothers go out to work they scrub floors, wash, iron and take care of their younger brothers and sisters. The association is housed in the old Canda mansion, and classes are carried on both day and evening. There is also a day nursery, where the little mother may leave her young charge. It has a branch at 22 West Street, also a summer home at Hunter's Island, Pelham Bay, L. I., where ex- cursions are made every day during the summer. Close by St. George's Church, in East Sixteenth Street, is the five-story Memorial House, the seat of the institutional work of the parish, the distinc- tive feature of which is the trade school. It has an exceptionally thorough industrial trade school, which gives a three-years' course in carpentry, drawing, printing, plumbing and manual train- ing. The church maintains a cottage by the sea at Rockaway Park, L. I., and makes a special feature of running a car there each morning of the week during summer and back again in the evening. The importance of this feature will be realized when it is understood that more than half of the people connected with this church live in tenement houses. Sewing schools and kindergarten classes receive every attention, and little children are taught housework through kitchen-garden methods and tiny utensils. There is a church periodical club, which has formed the model for many other churches, whose mission is to remail all over the land any periodicals which members or friends send to the clergy for that purpose. 106 St. George's Parish House. St. George's parish has sixty-four district visitors whose duty it is to help and encourage the mental and moral welfare of the families in their districts. The Chinese Sunday-school accomplishes educa- tional good, as well as right training, among the Chinese who come to the parish building every Sunday afternoon. Beside all this, the parish has various working centers in other parts of the city, and something of the amount of work it handles can be realized by the sum expended, which is over $100,000 annually. In this same parish building there has been established a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society in America. There are other branches in Prot- estant Episcopal Churches of the city, but this one is the largest. The society, founded in England in 1875, extends now throughout the world, the largest society of girls and women in existence, numbering about 300,000. The first branch was established in New York in 1877. Throughout the whole society a large amount of educational work is accomplished, industrial, domestic and literary, as well as church and missionary work. Lectures covering every variety of subject are features, and young girls, weary and worn with drudgery of factory or shop, find quite another life in the recreative side of this society. Members are commended from one branch to another all over the world. As a practical example of the usefulness of the work carried on, it is on record that an English girl, who had no knowledge of the world, made the journey from her home to Ohio, by way of Liverpool, Montreal and New York, with ninepence in her pocket and without the 107 The Better New York slightest misadventure, through the branches of the society in each place, which took her in charge. Around the nearest corner, at 235 East Four- teenth Street, is the St. Elizabeth's Industrial School, which receives and cares for destitute fe- male children and teaches them useful trades. It also maintains a home for girls who are deaf mutes over sixteen years of age. It has been in operation since 1885. Much philanthropic and educational work is accomplished under the management of the Friends' Society, whose meeting house is at East Fifteenth Street, corner of Rutherford Place. An employment society, a mission school, a free kin- dergarten, a temperance union and a philanthropic labor committee, do excellent service among the needy poor, while the Friends' Seminary afifords an exceptional school, planned on the best modern methods, at reasonable rates, as there are no extra charges for lessons in any branch taught in the school. Self-reliance, self-control and regard for the rights of others are the ends to which the dis- cipline of the school is directed. The City Tavern, which, in 1798, occupied a position a little north of Trinity Church, on Broad- way, was, in that year, the meeting-place of earnest citizens interested in establishing the first Mater- nity Hospital on the Island of Manhattan, one of the city's oldest charities. The name, Society of the Lying-in Hospital of the City of New York, was adopted, and the constitution provided that pupils should be admitted by election for the pur- pose of receiving instruction in the art of mid- wifery. So a century ago the founders of this society realized the importance of providing a course of obstetrics, which today has become sucli a specialized science. From that time the society has carried on its work of giving proper medical treatment to poor women free of charge. Now it has on Second Avenue, at Seventeenth and Eight- eenth Streets, the finest hospital ever erected in this country, thoroughly constructed and magnifi- cently equipped. When it is considered that among the 600^000 aliens annually landed at this 108 East of Fifth Avenue port many of the women are entirely dependent on charity for proper medical attendance, it can be easily understood what a demand there is for the service of this wonderful institution, whose care for its patients does not confine itself merely within its walls, but extends to their homes, where food, clothing and the services of a caretaker are provided. The New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, at Second Avenue and Nineteenth Street, is the only institution of its kind in the city devoted exclusively to skin diseases and cancer, and has associated with it the highest specialized skill. The feature of the hospital is its outdoor patient department, which cares for a large proportion of the cases, as many of the patients with these diseases need not of necessity be in the hospital. The institu- tion has been in existence for something more than twenty years. On the next corner is the New York Post- Graduate Medical School and Hospital, which of- fers systematic courses in clinical instruction to graduates in medicine. Physicians from all over the country are, through the experience acquired, made much better able to do their work at home, as the attending physicians and surgeons are all of them specialists who are able to present the latest advances for the benefit of sufferers. Something more than 650 doctors attend the courses during a year, and the number of patients in the insti- tution is over 200. There is also attached to the hospital, in a separate building, the Margaret Fahnestock Training School for Nurses, which has usually about 75 pupils. A building especially built and equipped, at 216 East Twentieth Street, is occupied by the "Way- side," one of the model day-nurseries of the city. The work of this nursery was begun about eight- een years ago in two rooms, and the number of children cared for, increasing year by year, the quarters were enlarged, until now it occupies this magnificent building. An established feature here is the roof garden nursery, where there are awn- 109 The Better New York ings, hanging swings, sand gardens, boxes of earth for plants and seeds. Mothers' meetings are held once a month, when a doctor gives simple and interesting talks on hygiene, on the care of the home in general, and the care of children in par- ticular. At 335 East Twenty-first Street the New York Diet Kitchen Association maintains the Freeman Kitchen, and does good work among the people of the nearby district. The C. A. I. L.^ to which name the title of the Church Association for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor is sometimes shortened, was founded in connection with the Protestant Epis- copal Church in New York, in 1887, and now has its home at 281 Fourth Avenue. The associa- tion strives to interest clergy and laity in the problems of the day, and prepare them to act wisely in any exigency connected with these. This is done by means of sermons, addresses, lectures, literature and public meetings. The association has established a permanent board of conciliation and arbitration, has aided in minimizing the evils of the sweating system and tenement house abuses, and has assisted in factory and workshop inspec- tion. Through its efforts was also formed, in 1899, the Actors' Church Alliance, to improve the stand- ing and condition of the theatrical profession. Possibly the largest Hebrew relief association in the world is the United Hebrew Charities, which is housed at Twenty-first Street and Second Avenue. The tendency of this association is to give other than purely monetary relief. Permanent employ- ment is secured for deserving persons, and sums of money are advanced for the establishment of small business ventures. There is also a depart- ment through which deserving persons are given work in desirable places, where they are removed from the influence of the New York Ghetto. Note- worthy is the committee on tuberculosis, which is constantly improving the sanitary surroundings of consumptives, teaching preventive measures and providing suitable means of livelihood for numer- ous cases. no East of Fifth Avenue Calvary House^ at 335 East Twenty-second Street, is a resident house for clergy and workers of the Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church (Fourth Avenue and Twenty-first Street). Its in- tent is to bring the people of the neighborhood together in a social way. Other efforts are car- ried on by the church in the Galilee Mission, at 340 East Twenty-third Street, which is really the center of the work of this parish. There is a free reading-room where the men may smoke, and a circulating library. In connection with this mis- sion is the Olive Tree Inn, a lodging house for men, and a coffee house next door. There is also the parish wood yard and coal yard, which pro- vide work for the homeless and pay for it in meals and lodging. Another lunch wagon may be found at the foot of East Twenty-third Street. At the foot of East Twenty-fourth Street is one of the Recreation Piers. The Municipal Lodging House, where home- less men are cared for, is on First Avenue, close by Twenty-third Street, and is under the super- vision of the Health Department. In the base- ment there are spray baths and a disinfecting plant. Every man is examined with a view to excluding contagious diseases, and those needing medical treatment are sent to the hospital. Every lodger is given a bath, his clothing fumigated, and he is provided with a clean bed. References are investi- gated, and if he returns too often he is likely to be sent before a magistrate on a charge of vagrancy. There is a picturesque group of buildings at the foot of Twenty-sixth Street. From some points, and especially in the evening, they suggest an old feudal castle. These are the buildings of Bellevue Hospital, one of the city's great institutions. There are more than 700 beds, where cases of sudden illness and accident are treated, and where the outdoor poor are cared for. Connected with the institution is a training school for women nurses, and another for the instruction of men nurses. The great hospital looks all the greater III The Better New York when you remember its first home, in 1736, in a little structure, containing six beds, that stood in an open space where City Hall Park is now. In 1816 a hospital was built on the Belle Vue Farm, then far out in the country. This original build- ing still stands in the Bellevue grounds, a stately, gloomy structure, grown gray with age, pleasant to look upon outwardly, but in woeful contrast to the convenience and improvements of the later buildings that have sprung up about it. It was here that, in 1869, the ambulance service was started, the first service of the kind in the world. Bellevue also has three allied hospitals in dif- ferent parts of the city: the Gouverneur, in the lower East Side; Fordham Hospital, far uptown, and the Harlem Hospital, in the midway district. At East Twenty-sixth Street and First Avenue is the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, which was established in its present form through the union of the University Medical Col- lege and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. The building, which is a new one, was transferred to the New York University at the time these two schools were consolidated. It is six stories high, and on the ground floor has a clinic for out- door sick poor; and the Carnegie Laboratory ad- joins and communicates with the new college building. This was a gift to the Bellevue Hos- pital ^Medical College from Mr. Andrew Carnegie. St. Mary's schoolship is to be found at the foot of East Twenty-eighth Street. During the six warm months of the year the boys are at sea for nautical instruction; for the other six months at Twenty-eighth Street and East River, where they receive a common-school education. The school- ship receives boys residing in New York City, from sixteen to twenty, of good character and phys- ical condition, for two years' trainins:, with a view to service in the merchant marine. It was former- ly a United States ship of war, and its officers are specially detailed from the United States Navy Department. The ship is under the control of the Board of Education. An interesting spot is the Bethlehem Day Nurs- 112 East of Fifth Avenue ery, at 249 East Thirtieth Street, for children from one week to seven years of age, where working women may leave them to be cared for at the rate of five cents a day for each child. The work is supported by the Church of the Incarnation. At 246 and 248 East Thirty-fourth Street is the Warren Goddard House, the home of the Friendly Aid Settlement. Thirty clubs and classes have been formed under the leadership of a competent director. There is a gymnasium which is well pat- ronized, and a distinctive feature is a class in electricit}' for older boys. The parish house of the Church of the Incarna- tion is a building of striking architecture, extend- ing from 238 to 248 East Thirty-first Street, and perfectly fitted for the varied work carried on within its w^alls. The kindergarten-room is so arranged that it affords a social hall for evening entertainments. In addition to the educational work, a trained nurse and doctor are in daily attendance. At the northwest corner of Third x\venue and Thirtieth Street is a large, attractive building of brick, the church house and mission of the Madi- Cozy Corner in ]\Iadison Square Church House. 1^ i ^^ i 'S- V Lich Gate of the Little Church Around the Corner. son Square Presbyterian Church, where the insti- tutional work of the parish is carried on under every variety of educational and social activity. Among the social and educational centers seek- ing to counteract the temptations of life in a great city is the Students' Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, at 129 Lexington Avenue. A low brick building in the form of a Latin cross, picturesque in architecture and surround- ings, stands in Twenty-ninth Street, east of Fifth Avenue. This is the Church of the Transfigura- tion, usually called the Little Church Around the Corner. It took its name from the celebrated re- mark of Mr. Joseph Jefferson, "God bless the little church around the corner," spoken when the clergyman of a larger church refused to olificiate at the funeral of the actor George Holland. It main- tains a varied round of institutional work. "I wish I could have a club that would include every boy and girl in the parish, and by boys and girls I mean those that are all the way from seven to seventy," said the present rector, when inquiry was made concerning the scope of his work. The Mott Memorial Library, at 64 Madison Avenue, near Twenty-eighth Street, contains mere 114 East of Fifth Avenue than 3,000 volumes exclusively on medical and sur- gical topics. The majority of these were the property of Valentine Mott, M. D., with 800 vol- umes added from the private library of his son, Dr. Alexander B. Mott. A number of valuable works have also been given by families of deceased physicians. The building was erected by the widow of Dr. Mott, and everything about it is free to all. Above where Fifth Avenue crosses Broadway at Twenty-third Street is Madison Square, one of the parks of old New York. Just where this park is now, land was set aside in the year 1797 for a Potters' Field, but being close beside the main road that led from the city up through the country, the site in a few years was found undesirable, and so the paupers' graveyard was transferred to what is now Washington Square. On the site where Madison Square is now, in the early part of the nineteenth century, there was a military parade- ground, and this in turn gave way, in 1824, to the building of the House of Refuge, which stood there until 1839, when it was burned. The present Madi- son Square was laid out in 1849, at the suggestion of James Harper, then mayor of the city. It is now a delightful breathing and play spot, espe- cially for children. On the left, at the southwest corner, there is a bronze statue of William H. Seward; at the southeast corner, one of Roscoe Conkling, and at the northern end there are statues of Admiral Farragut and Chester A. Arthur. Beyond the limits of the park, to the west, is a granite obelisk, erected by the city in 1857, to do honor to Major-General Worth, whose body was there interred with imposing ceremonies in 1857. Signalizing what one determined man can do for social betterment is the well-equipped home of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, on the Madison Avenue cor- ner, above the Park. The great aim of the society is to educate people through sympathy with the laws by which cruelty to animals is forbidden. Its motor ambulances are of the most improved sort for the removal of disabled animals, and for the collection of abandoned dogs and cats, whose 115 The Better New York owners are no longer willing to care for them. Henry Bergh, the animals' friend, was a well- known figure in New York, and greatly interested in constructive as well as preventive efiforts. The work which he began in 1866 included the protec- tion of children as part of its work, but experience showed that a separate organization was necessary for that purpose. The rooms of the society are open day and night. The city beautiful is more than a mere phrase, and is daily gaining friends from all classes, who are beginning to take a pride in the city where they live. To afford the needful mechanism for the operation of all these plans, the City Improvement Society, at 42 East Twenty-third Street, seeks to promote in every possible manner the beautifying of the city, and the enforcement of all laws re- lating to the public welfare. Among the distinguished benefactions of Ameri- can citizens to their municipality, a gift of John S. Kennedy, in 1893, was the first of its kind and marked a radical departure from old-time methods. His gift was a great building to four non-sectarian charitable organizations, the Children's Aid Soci- ety, the Charity Organization Society, the New York City Mission and Tract Society, and the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. The United Charities Building, at Twenty-second Street and Fourth Avenue may be considered as a kind of power-house for the great organizations of charitable effort. From it, as a center, radiate to all parts of the world influences that are incal- culable for social and industrial betterment. It is impossible to get more than an impressionist view of the varied philanthropies in this building. In America the children and the oppressed should not cry in vain. Because of the helplessness of certain classes in the community, especially the children, all the experience of the past needs to be crystalized into the wisest and most permanent care for them. In 1853, Charles Loring Brace, the children's friend, despairing of reaching the adults, 116 East of Fifth Avenue turned his thought to the children, for whom he organized the Children's Aid Society. He became the secretary, and devoted himself solely to its in- terests. This great life-saving station for children is one of the oldest and best known philanthropic agencies in America. It is non-sectarian and non- partisan; it knows no distinction of creed, color or nationality; its first consideration is relief of the distress of the child quickly and tenderly; heart rather than head methods, but an experience of many years enables the society to lessen suffering and distress by the wisest, yet most efficient means. The poor always come first in all their plans. Nineteen industrial schools, kindergartens in poor and populous districts, vacation schools, evening classes and lodging houses are some means to self- help. Another feature of the society is the procur- ing of homes in the West for children of this great city, the idea being that the farmer's home is the best possible place to shelter and rear the home- less orphan or outcast child. It has placed in happy foster homes more than 75,000 boys and girls. Then there is a children's summer home and a cottage for crippled girls at Bath Beach, a health home at West Coney Island, and a farm school for boys at Kensico. (For the various branches of the society, schools, kindergartens and others, see general Index. To help remedy the existing adverse conditions among the poor, and by wise oversight and dis- creet giving, to ameliorate the results of such con- ditions, was the purpose of the Association for Im- proving the Condition of the Poor, formed some sixty years ago by Robert M. Hartley. The society has an honorable record in its efforts for better housing, public baths, wise legislation and successful settlement work. It has a Depart- ment of Relief, which promptly gives aid by free gifts when necessary, but when possible in the form of employment. It has a corps of exper- ienced workers, who go among the tenement districts of the city, and its fresh air work at Sea Breeze, West Coney Island, has been of admir- able service. Hartley House Settlement has been 117 The Better New York developed through the efforts of the society, and now stands among the successful movements of this kind in New York. The interest of the association in the matter of public baths, for the benefit of the working peo- ple, has existed since 1849, when the association spent $42,000 in building a public bath in T^Iott Street, near Grand. The reports of the associa- tion state that it was well patronized for eight years, and then in the following years the bathers falling in number, it was closed, and from that period until 1891 no attempt was made, either by public authorities or bodies of private citi- zens, to provide further bathing facilities for the people. In 1891, however, the association again took up the matter and erected the People's Baths, at 9 Center Market Place, at a cost of $26,000. These were at once enormously successful, every year since showing a large increase in the number of baths taken. Another of the People's Baths — Anderson Foundation — erected for the associa- tion by an interested patron, is to be shortly opened at 325-327 East Thirty-eighth Street, in the densely populated district east of Second Avenue. Beginning its work in 1822, the New York City Mission and Tract Society has now for some years had its headquarters in the United Charities Build- ing. It is a society which, with its efficient Woman's Branch, has held loyally to the truth that the redemption of mankind can only be based on the truths of the Gospel, yet at the same time leading in many of the changes of methods now counted by thoughtful people as most desirable. The first training school for nurses in this country was started by a leader of this society, who also placed under the society's management a graduate of Bellevue to do the first district nursing in America. At present, among its nurses, several have taken upon themselves the duty of attending the children in the schools of the city. One of the society's objects being to promote morality and religion among the poor and desti- tute of the city, house-to-house visitation is car- 118 East of Fifth Avenue ried on in a practical and tactful manner, and over 50,000 calls are made in one year by its mission- aries and nurses. Many Sunday-schools, nurseries, mission sta- tions and churches in the poorest parts of the city owe their establishment and maintenance to this society, and much special work is accomplished under its care in such churches as the following: Broome Street Tabernacle, De Witt Memorial, Olivet Memorial, Sea and Land, Spring Street and Bethlehem Chapel. Its Virginia Day Nursery at 632 Fifth Street, and its house for Italian services, meetings, and clubs at 194 Prince Street are each in their own way doing excellent service. A Training School for Christian Workers, with an adjacent home, is also part of the activities of the society. The American Institute of Social Service, hav- ing its home in roomy apartments on the ninth and tenth floors of this building, collects and in- terprets statistics and information regarding all forms of social endeavor for the improvement of American Institute of Social Service. A Social Laboratory. ^ii-r l-J]llf2.J|!l ,:'..rT( ! -au-" fir ' ^ ^ ' Classified Experiences in Social Betterment. social and industrial life. It concentrates in one body the results of the experience of thousands of individual workers in the field of philanthropic and social effort. Industrial classes, baths, play- grounds, workingmen's hotels, clubs, libraries, cheap dinners — these are a few of the items which are projected by the institute, set forth, however, with a perfect knowledge of all previous effort. With its store of well-arranged information the institute can guide the beginner in the right path, and warn him against the pitfalls that have engulfed his predecessors. In a broad way its object may be defined as *'A Search for the Good." It has received and arranged an immense amount of information in regard to social and industrial betterment, and has been able to furnish practi- cal advice to employers of labor and others who are desirous of improving their communities. The Charity Organization Society dates from 1882, its aim being to unite the independent so- cieties of New York, in order to prevent waste of effort and insure more careful investigation pre- vious to relief-giving. Its agencies are the invest- igation department, with a special corps of agents; a registration bureau, where a confidential record 120 Where the Social Doctor receives his patients at the American Institute of Social Service. is kept of all investigations made by the society, and of what has been done by way of relief; and an application bureau for either assisting appli- cants through the society's district workers, or directing them to the proper sources for relief. During June and July a summer school for the study of philanthropic work is open to college graduates and those who have had one year's experience in charitable work. The work of the school has been extended so as to provide a two- years' course. A tenement house committee works for the enforcement of existing laws. Pre- vention of tuberculosis has been attempted through the publication of information as to the character of the disease, and other remedial agencies. The Charity Organization Society's Penny Provident Fund is not a savings bank, but en- courages the saving of the smallest sums, from adults as well as children. Deposits of one cent and upwards are receipted for by stamps attached to a stamp card given to each depositer, much the same as in the postal savings system of England. When this sum amounts to a certain figure, the de- positors are advised to open an account in a savings bank, where interest may be obtained. Money may 121 ?^.y^.- ^ . Z-^-^// Social Laboratory. be deposited in this way at 300 local stamp sta- tions, at which there are some 79,000 depositors. Stations are opened in churches, schools, associa- tions, institutions, stores and clubs, on application to the cashier, from whom also a list of stations or sub-stations may be had. Through district offices in all parts of the city, this work is brought down to those most in need of it. On the eighth floor is the Congregational Home Missionary Society, the same society with a dif- ferent name from the American Home Missionary Association, originally inter-denominational. The Congregational Church Building Society, and the New York office of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, occupy rooms on this floor, as well as the American Missionary As- sociation, working among the negroes, mountain whites, Chinese and Indians. Visitors are wel- comed at these great societies, whose representa- tives are always delighted to explain their work and show the results of their practical efforts. Nearly twenty-five years ago the idea of the first kitchen garden was evolved by Miss Emily Huntington, now the head of the New York Cook- 122 East of Fifth Avenue ing School. At that time Miss Huntington began to instruct some of the children of the East Side in housework, by means of games and toys. This idea took practical shape, and the first kitchen garden association was formed. The work of the simple kitchen garden is divided into some dozen lessons. In the first the children learn how to light a fire, how to fold properly pieces of white paper which represent sheets, tablecloths and napkins. In another, sweeping and dusting are taught through marching exercises with a broom. To the question, "How do you dust a chair?" the rhyming answer is ''First the back and then the seat, Next the rungs and then the feet." Dolls' tea-sets, little wooden tubs and other dimin- utive implements are used in this instruction in housewifely duties. As the children scrub with imaginary soapsuds their dolls' garments, they sing the directions, and this same method is car- ried on through all the details of work. On the top floor of the United Charities Build- ing the activities of the New York Cooking School are many and varied. Evening lessons are given at small cost to girls occupied during the day. Day classes furnish instruction to women wishing to improve their knowledge of domestic affairs. Lessons are also given to women wishing to be- come volunteer teachers of cooking in settlements. The school itself is a model, and an afternoon could be agreeably spent in examining its various departments. The white list and the league label are guaran- tees to the thoughtful purchasing public that seller and maker are putting out a product manu- factured under fair and healthful conditions. The Consumers' League of the City of New York for a dozen years or more has sought to lead con- sumers to recognize their responsibility in the matter of bettering the condition of employees. It tries to show that it is the duty of the consumer to inquire into the conditions under which the articles they purchase are produced, insisting that 123 The Better New York these conditions shall be wholesome and just. The offices of this league are also in the Charities Building. The State Charities Aid Association^ in this building, too, was organized in 1872, for the pur- pose of bringing about much-needed reforms in the poorhouses, almshouses and other public char- itable institutions of the State of New York, through the County Visiting Committees, who in- spect county poorhouses, city and town almshouses and State charitable institutions, reporting their condition to the central association in New York City. A long record of things done attests the usefulness of this association. A society, with a capital of $275,000, and two other branches, carries on a general pawnbroking business, making loans on pledges of personal property, at a rate of one per cent a month, where- as, the ordinary pawnbroker charges three per cent. On all pledges redeemed within two weeks after date of pledge, only one-half of one per cent is charged, and on accounts over $250, ten per cent per annum. This helpful agency is called the Prov- ident Loan Society, which has its main office quar- ters at Twenty-second Street and Fourth Avenue. The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has its own building at Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue. Since its incorporation, in 1875, the society has prose- cuted all cases of cruelty to children under sixteen years of age. Almost every form of cruelty, in- cluding the most revolting, is included in these cases. During one year about 9,000 cases are thoroughly examined by the society. In this com- munity, thanks to the vigilance of this society, none may ill-treat a child with impunity; the crime will sooner or later be discovered and the guilty one brought to justice. It receives and cares for, pending trial or examination, all children under the age of sixteen held for crime, or as witnesses in criminal cases. Application for relief can be made at any hour, day or night. At Twenty-third Street and Lexington Avenue is the castle-like building which houses the College I2d East of Fifth Avenue of the City of New York. When it was estab- lished, in 1848, it was called the Free Academy. In 1854 it was endowed with collegiate powers and privileges, and was permitted to confer degrees and diplomas in the arts and sciences. The insti- tution is free, as are also the text-books and ap- paratus, and it is maintained at a cost to the city of about $175,000. It is soon to have a new home, for already a structure of magnificent proportions is under way at 138th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. The parish house of the Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church is beside the church building, at Fourth Avenue and Twenty-first Street, and here are the headquarters of the Maternity Society, through which baskets, well-filled with all that a family needs, are passed from the mother of one family to the mother of another. Here, too, are educational clubs for young men and girls. Connected with All Souls' Unitarian Church, at Fourth Avenue and Twentieth Street, is the New York Flower and Fruit Mission, which distributes flowers, fruit and delicacies to the sick in hospitals and tenement houses, and at Christmas time cheers the lives of ailing children, by sending them gifts appropriate to the day, and delicacies which they would otherwise never receive. As association which had much to do in creat- ing the popular sentiment which led to the estab- lishment of the State Reformatory is the Prison Association of New York, whose headquarters are at 135 East Fifteenth Street. It has also been more or less influential in other measures for im- proving the prison system of the State. In early days the space that is called Union Square was a meeting place for half a dozen dif- ferent roads, and the land was so cut up that when the city was built so far toward the north, it be- came a natural park, because there was not room in the divided-up space for building purposes. It was originally laid out in 1815, and enlarged in 1832 to its present size, when it was purchased by the city as a public park. At one side of it there is I2«? The Better New York an equestrian statue of Washington, of heroic size, modeled by H. K. Browne. On the southwest corner there is a bronze statue of Abraham Lin- cohi (also the work of Mr. Browne), erected by popular subscription shortly after his assassination, and there, too, is a bronze statue of Lafayette, erected by French residents in 1876, modeled by Bartholdi. The lunch wagon which stands to the east of the square is maintained by the Church Temperance Society. The Young Women's Christian Association, with its main building at 7 East Fifteenth Street, seeks to improve the temporal, social, moral and relig- ious condition of young women, particularly those dependent upon their own labor for support. It does this by procuring employment, finding them safe boarding houses, by religious meetings, libra- ries, and reading-rooms. It looks after them in Technical Training at the Y. W. C. A. 4^ ?■ f. East of Fifth Avenue. sickness, and in necessity procures food, clothing and medicines. To the west of the park, at 14 East Sixteenth Street, is the Margaret Louisa Home, maintained by the Young Women's Christian Association as a hotel for self-supporting Protestant women. This affords shelter for women whose stay in the city is temporary, and for whom ordinary hotels are too high priced. There is a well-conducted restaurant in connection with it. DIVISION VI. Thirty- fourth to Fifty-seventh Street, East of Fifth Avenue. The best approach to the people of a neighbor- hood rests largely with the children. Many hun- dreds of children of school age find easy escape from the public schools, and hang about the streets. It is with these that the settlement works especially. Within a radius of half a mile from the Phelps Settlement, at 314 East Thirty-fifth Street, there is a population of about 60,000, among whom this organization carries on its social activities. To establish medical missions all over the world, as well as to train young men and women to serve as missionaries under Protestant and evangelical missionary boards, is the object of the Interna- tional ALedical Missionary Society, at 288 Lex- ington Avenue, near Thirty-seventh Street. The training of artistic workers in the various branches of art industries by means of classes and practical suggestions to learners, as well as pro- viding a place for the exhibition and sale of women's art work, is the purpose of the Society of Decorative Art, at 14 East Thirty-fourth Street. 127 Brick Presbyterian Church. There is a pleasant significance in the name Park Avenue, that wide thoroughfare which, from its start at Thirty-fourth Street, shows a long line of parkway with finely kept shrubbery. There are agreeable green spots restful to the eye, serv- ing the purpose of disguising the tunnel extending through this street, which without this treatment would be an unsightly stretch of masonry. Through earnest and effective work for all forms of Christian betterment, the Brick Presbyterian Church and its branches^ the Church of the Cove- nant and Christ Church, have accomplished excel- lent things. The substantial building on Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street, with its hand- some interior, and the ready welcome extended therein to strangers, has long made the "Brick Church" a center of interest and filled its pews with a reverent congregation. At 501 Fifth Avenue is the headquarters of St. John's Guild, which relieves the sick children of the poor, without regard to creed, color or nation- ality. It was originally founded in Trinity Parish, connected with the St. John's Chapel, whence its 128 East of Fifth Avenue name. In 1874 the character of the work broad- ening, it withdrew from the direction of the Trinity Parish, and became non-sectarian. It now main- tains two floating hospitals and a seaside hospital on Staten Island, at New Dorp. The floating hos- pitals each carry 1,600 persons daily — mothers, chil- dren and sick babies. These hospitals minister to both sides of the city, making daily excursions, sailing twenty-six miles in the salt air during the summer months. The guild provides medical treat- ment, with hospital care by physicians and trained nurses. This began in 1873, when two excursions were conducted upon hired boats. The first float- ing hospital, which was also the first in the world, was equipped in 1875, and it made three trips a week during the summer. Half a block from here, towards the east, is the present Delmonico's. This name, now synony- mous with good eating the length of the land, was On Board the Floating Hospital. The Better New York first known to New York about the year 1828, through a dingy Httle store on the east side of Wil- Ham Street, between Fulton and Ann, and directly opposite the North Dutch Church. There were in it a half dozen wooden tables and chairs, and a board counter. The table ware was crockery, and the cutlery was of the commonest sort. John Del- monico was the chef and waiter. The excellence of the cooking, and the marked difference between the French and the Italian dishes served there, contrasted with the plain food of Knickerbocker families, drew custom which crowded the little store. In order to keep pace with his custom, Delmonico set up a larger shop at 23 William Street, but the great fire of 1835 swept it away. In 1837 he was conducting business on a still larger scalCj with his brother, at William and Beaver Streets, which establishment is still operated under the Delmonico name. His business and his repu- tation increased year by year, and his brother and sons, as well as himself, accumulated fortunes, and in time set up various establishments at Cham- bers Street and Broadway, Fourteenth Street and Broadway, Twenty-sixth Street and Broadway, and finally at the present location, Forty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue. The original Delmonico died of apoplexy at a deer hunt on Long Island, in November, 1842. The bronze doors placed in the three portals of St. Bartholomew's Church, at Forty-fourth Street and Madison Avenue, in memory of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by his widow and children, are of such beauty and richness of workmanship and design that all passers-by recall the marvelous doors cast by Ghiberti for the Baptistry at Florence, among the most beautiful castings in the world, and which Michael Angelo said were worthy to be the gates of Paradise. The doors of St. Bartholomew's are framed by a seventy-five foot colonnade supporting rich Romanesque arches and a frieze of sculpture in high relief. The central panels show an original conception of the four Evangelists, while in other panels are scenes or figures from apostolic history, representations of the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Via Dolorosa and the Descent 130 East of Fifth Avenue from the Cross. The tympanum above the center depicts the Coronation of Christ. Mt. Olivet, the Olive Branch, the Passion and Peace are the prevading ideas in the sculpture of the northerly door, whose casting, each half of which was done in a single piece, is one of the most successful undertakings of this character in the United States. The object of the New York Exchange for Woman's Work, with headquarters at 334 Madison Avenue, corner Forty-third Street, is to receive the product of women workers and sell it. There is also an information bureau, through which po- sitions are secured at a small registration fee, and also a postoffice for the convenience of any one whose address is not permanent. A railroad men's club, at 361 Madison Avenue, corner Forty-fifth Street, was organized in 1875. The first meeting place was in a basement-room of the Grand Central Station, when so much inter- est was shown, both by the men and the officials of the railroad, that in 1887 the Madison Avenue building was erected, again doubled in size in 1893. Everything is done to attract and make comfort- able the railroad men. There are lounging-rooms, open and free from restraint, baths, lunchrooms and dormitories. All classes of railway men meet as equals here, whether they be clerks, yardmen, baggage men, brakemen or the highest officials of the road. There are now five of these railway men's clubs under the care of the Young Men's Christian Association. A large factor in better New York, as well as in the higher life of every city, is the Institutional Church. A church that takes upon itself the duties of both church and home — such a church is called Institutional. When New York was younger, and population was smaller, there were homes for all the people, roomy houses in which were opportunities for nor- mal home life, for recreation, undisturbed study, seclusion, family gatherings; but as the city grew, and the population increased, there was no longer space for a house for each family. Then they hud- 131 The Better New York died together, until the time came when hundreds of families sometimes lived under a single roof. Conditions had changed; there was no longer room for real home life. Rent was of more con- sideration than people. Of changed conditions the Institutional Church is the natural growth. Finding that the people living in the neighborhood have no facilities for bathing, it provides free baths; finding that they have no social life, it arranges for clubs for old and young; it hnds that they have little opportunity or money for legitimate amusements, and provides for them concerts and entertainments; it finds that women and children possess no knowledge of household economies, and gives them sewing schools and cooking classes; as the people have little chance to obtain literature, it provides them with a library; if they lack opportunity for culti- vating the intellect, it provides classes and lecture courses for both day and evening; when they get little pure air, it organizes for them vacations to the country. So it will be seen that the functions of an Insti- tutional Church are educational, charitable and recreational. It is not reasonable to suppose that such activi- ties as are part of an Institutional Church can be carried on in a single church building. There must be special accommodations. For this pur- pose a special building is set up, a receiving and distributing station — a parish house — and under this one roof are concentrated the various organi- zations, thus keeping them together in harmony and economy. Illustrating concretely the Institutional Church, St. Bartholomew's Protestant Episcopal parish house, a great five-story building, is in Forty-sec- ond St-reet, a few doors east of Third Avenue. No other church enterprise covers a larger field. Within the walls of the parish house are clubs for girls, with a membership of nearly lOO. The members have the benefit of lectures and enter- tainments, physical culture classes; of classes in a dozen branches of education, besides dressma- 132 New York Children at Play on Roof of St. Bartholomew's Mission House. king, millinery, embroidery, sewing and cooking, thus having opportunities not only for free educa- tion, but instruction in some branch of industry by which they can earn their living. There are, too, clubs for boys and men, having something like 1,200 members, who enjoy the same advantages as the girls. There is in this same building a loan bureau, where more than $60,000 a year is dispensed, the amounts loaned ranging from $5 to $50, and paid back in monthly instalments. In the restaurant, food may be had for very small sums, but not for nothing. Hungry men may get tickets for food when they are willing to work, but they are not fed unless they show some will- ingness to make return. An employment bureau on thoroughly business principles last year secured situations for more than 2,000 persons. Then, too, there is a tailor shop. From the benevolent soci- ety, thousands of garments are distributed 'during the year; hundreds are sold at nominal figures. Besides these activities, there is an Oriental Mission, for the education of the Asiatic races; a Chinese Sunday-school, a Swedish Chapel, a Res- cue Mission for men and women, a Fresh Air Mis- 133 11-^ ^*4'"' II ; Americanizing Chinamen. sion, an office for out-of-town farmers, a seaside cot- tage, a provident fund for encouraging thrift, a system of tenement house investigation, kinder- gartens^ an eye and ear dispensary, a surgical cHnic, a free coal and wood bureau, library, gymnasiums and a dozen other features. Summarizing the more important work of the parish, there are eighteen different services on Sunday, 200 meetings each week; more than 300 girls are taken to the holiday house for a bit of country air and recreation; more than 2,000 out- ings are given to tired mothers and their children, each year; something like 2,500 positions are se- cured for the unemployed, and about 2,200 meai, boys, women and girls are educated and instructed. The attractive building at 310 East Forty-second Street is the home of the Church of the Covenant, affiliated with the work of the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. Originally known as the Covenant Chapel, it began its existence as a mission school over a stable on Fortieth Street, near Third Avenue, but when the old Church of the Covenant, at Park Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street was merged some ten years ago in the 134 East of Fifth Avenue Brick Presbyterian Church, the chapel work in its new quarters, in Forty-second Street, assumed its name and today takes its place among the institu- tional church bodies of the city. St. Patrick's Cathedral, at Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth Street, occupies an entire block, and is one of the finest and most imposing church buildings in the United States. It was planned by Arch- bishop Hughes, about 1850, and the corner stone was laid 1858. The architecture is of the decorated or geometric style of the thirteenth century. The building is of white marble, with base-course of granite. The massive columns which support the roof are of white marble, thirty-five feet in height. The altar is forty feet high, with a table that was constructed in Italy. It is lighted by seventy win- dows, thirty-seven of which are memorial. For more than thirty years St. Thomas's Prot- estant Episcopal Church, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-third Street, was particularly sought at each of its Sunday services for the beautiful organ and vocal music, largely due to the efforts of the late \ St. Thomas's Vested Choir. gifted organist and choirmaster, George William Warren. The choir at that time consisted of mixed voices, but some two years ago a vested choir of men and boys was introduced, which, still striving to keep up to the high standard of music of earlier times, has added to the dignity and ceremonial of the church service. But that the efforts of St. Thomas's Church are not merely con- fined to making the Sunday services worshipful and attractive to its large congregation is clearly attested in its Church House and innumerable re- ligious, educational, social and philanthropic organ- izations. This parish, in its work, seeks indeed the spiritual and temporal welfare of the poor of this great city as well as to minister to the needy rich. At 576 Lexington Avenue, corner of Fifty-first Street, is the Pascal Institute, organized in 1898, as a training school for girls obliged to leave school to become wage-earners. Here they are given an opportunity for learning a trade to their liking, enabling them to get better positions. They are trained in plain sewing and dressmaking; the course in dressmaking lasting nine months, and in- cluding an advanced system in cutting and fitting. 136 St. Thomas's Chapel on the East Side. The first meeting place of the Presbyterian Church in the City of New York was, in 1707, in a private house in Pearl Street, near the Battery, after which, for some three years, services were held in the City Hall; but by 1719 the first church building was erected in Wall Street. The direct forerunner of the present Fifth Avenue Presby- terian Church was the house of worship in Cedar Street, between Nassau and William, whose con- gregation subsequently worshiped at Duane and Church Streets, and later still at Fifth Avenue and Nineteenth Street. The permanent home, how- ever, has now been for many years at Fifth Ave- nue and Fifty-fifth Street. Today all phases of what is termed institutional work are to be found in its affiliated chapels, missions, schools, societies and summer home. The rapid growth of the crime of infanticide between the years 1848 and 1853 was brought to the attention of the public, and resulted in the establishment of the Nursery and Child's Hos- pital, now at Lexington Avenue and Fifty-first Street, by public-spirited and charitable women, as the first place planned to receive foundlings. Destitute mothers, with children under four years 137 The Better New York of age, are received and cared for till some perma- nent help can be found. Almost every nation is represented in the lying-in department, and little strangers, from a Japanese to an Indian baby, get their tirst view of life within its walls. For many years the hospital was supported through private contributions and by the net proceeds of that soci- ety function of younger New York, the annual Charity Ball. The Babies' Hospital, at Lexington Avenue and Fifty-tifth Street, is a handsome building of seven and one-half stories. A ver>' attractive feature of outdoor decoration are the window-boxes full of beautiful plants and hanging vines. On each of the principal ward doors there are five great win- dows facing south. The furniture of the hospital has some original features; for instance, the mat- tresses oi the beds rest upon a frame which can be adjusted to any height, and in this way a child can be raised for bathing, dressing or examina- tion without disturbing its covering. On the fourth floor are model nurseries and the diet kitchen. The seventh floor has one special attrac- tion, the pride of the hospital — a large solarium — which affords a garden and a playroom for older children well enough to be brought up to it, while a platform is placed around the north wall to re- ceive the baskets with the tiny babies. The hos- pital was incorporated in 1887 for the care of poor, sick children, with non-contagious diseases, under the age of three years. It now has a training school for nursery maids, the course of which ex- tends over eight months, and affords instruction in the diet kitchen and model nursery. A new ex- periment has been tried successfully in sendmg a visiting physician to the homes of the babies who are well enough to leave the hospital, but yet need wise care to establish permanent health. For this purpose the physician gives instruction in prepar- ing food, bathing, ventilation and many sanitary matters. At 301 East Forty-nmth Street, near Second Avenue, the New York Diet Kitchen Association maintains the Gibbons Kitchen. This branch is 138 Mrs. A. H. Gibtmns. (See Index) named in honor of Mrs. A. H. Gibbons, who was president of the association for twenty-one jears. A feature of the activity of the Madison Avenue RcforiTied Church is the Manhattan Working Girls* Society, at 440 East Fifty-seventh Street. Though non-sectarian, this society differs from the • rdinary working girls' chib in that not onh' op- ■; ---■■'- -'^s of education are afforded, but distinctly services are held. Some 350 girls join •'•^ life. It is not self-governing, but r the charge of a headworker, who 1^.-^ hy firm, yet gentle, influences to higher 5: A living. A weekly drill in gym- nastic ex. . . s given, to which are added the pleasures of the game of basket-ball. A roof- garden in pleasant weather is of great good to girls housed in their occupations through the day, and a vacation house is filled by the club members through the summer months. An historic spot in New York is occupied by Grammar School 135, at Fifty-first Street and First Avenue. It was on this site that the Beek- man House stood during the Revolution; where Washington had his headquarters for a while; and later it was occupied as a British headquarters. Major Andre slept there the night before he went on his fatal mission to meet Benedict Arnold. It was also in this house that Nathan Hale slept on the night before he was hanged, a martyr for his country-. IJ9 DIVISION VII. Thirty-fourth to Fifty-sc7'cuth Street, West of Fifth Avenue. The National Arts Club, at 2>7 West Thirty- fourth Street, is the outp^rowth of an absolute need for an organization with New York headquarters where artists, collectors and art lovers could get together. This club stands for the promotion of the arts and crafts in order to improve the quality of our manufactures and to stimulate interest in the embellishment of cities and public buildings. Under this roof the directors of the National Sculpture Society, the IMural Painters, the New York Municipal Art Commission, and those of the Municipal Art Societies of New York and other cities meet to confer. Various exhibitions of the arts and crafts are held, attracting thou- sands of visitors and doing much to stimulate pub- lic interest. The first of a series of mission chapels which the Trinity corporation erected in the poorer dis- tricts of the city was at Seventh Avenue and Thirty-ninth Street, St. Chrysostom's Chapel. It was completed in 1869, a Gothic, brownstone structure. At 423 West Forty-first Street the New York Diet Kitchen Association maintains the RaymcMid Kitchen for the benefit of the people of the ne:irby district. The lodging house of the Children's Aid Society, in the new building at 225 West Thirty- fifth Street, is the ripe fruit of the good seed sown over thirty-five years ago by Theodore Roosevelt, father of the President, and other philanthropic men, in efforts to secure for the newsboys of the city some comfortable place to spend their nights. In 1884 the late John Jacob Astor made a gift of 140 West of Fifth Avenue $65,000 to the Children's Aid Society for this same purpose. This was used to buy the site and erect the old home known as the Newsboys' West Side Lodging House, which has now been sold to the Pennsylvania Railway at such an advance that not only has a new house for the boys been built, at 225 West Thirty-fifth Street, but an extra school established, at 417 West Thirty-eighth Street. In the new lodging house the boys pay seven cents for a good meal and ten cents for lodging, and have their own private lockers. There are many bathrooms in the house, and a swimming pool in the basement. Manual training of boys receives particular at- tention where the institutional work of the Brick Presbyterian Church is carried on in the parish house adjoining Christ Church, at 226 West Thirty-fifth Street. The work of Christ Church House is cramped and crowded in its present quarters, and is to be moved into the Babcock Memorial Building, which will provide almost ideal facilities for all institutional church work. Babcock Memorial. ;igtii|ffiiij^MSp"'^MMIii'iiiiMii'i^^ -q' ini The Better New York On Tenth Avenue, near Thirty-fifth Street, is carried on much of the institutional work of the Broadway Tabernacle. A characteristic feature is a Chinese Sunday-school. The old Broadway Tabernacle was located for a great many years at Thirty-fourth Street and Broadway. That part of the city commonly called "Hell's Kitchen" was once one of the most lawless of communities, where murder and outrage ran nightly riot. Through the work of just such in- stitutions as the Sunshine Mission, 484 Eleventh Avenue, near Thirty-ninth Street, this section has been made one of decency and order. Close by the waterside, at the end of West Forty-second Street, is the reading-room of the New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission So- ciety, open day and evening for all who wish to make use of its advantages. In addition to the ordinary educational and so- cial opportunities offered by the West Side Settle- ment, at 458 and 460 West Forty-fourth Street, a boarding house is carried on which is peculiarly adapted for working women. As the settlement is under the charge of the Young Women's Chris- tion Association, many of the occupants come through the directory for board, found at its headquarters at 7 East Fifteenth Street. At 226 West Forty-second Street is a circula- ting library — the George Bruce branch of the New York Public Library. The building itself was set up in 1888 by Miss Catherine Bruce in memory of her father. This is one of the branches of the New York Free Circulating Library, whxh, in 1901, became part of the Public Library System. At the junction of Broadway and Seventh Ave- nue is Long Acre Square, connected with a great crisis in the affairs of the American colonies. On the Barrington Hotel, which is on the west side of th.e square, is a tablet commemoratmg the fact that on that spot General George Washington and General Putnam held a hasty interview. Putnam was in command of a small reserve force in the 142 West of Fifth Avenue city. The Continental Army had been disas- trously l^eaten on Long Island, had crossed the East River, and was in rapid retreat to Harlem Heights. The British Army, flushed with success, had halted to allow General Howe and his officers to accept the hospitality of INIrs. Murray, who lived on what is now called Murray Hill. General Washington was anxious to save the force under General Putnam, which was still in the lower part of the city, and held an interview with him, as told by the tablet. Later, Putnam marched out by way of the winding road, on the line of the present Eighth Avenue, and joined Washington, which he could not have done save that the British army was delayed by Mrs. Murray's invitation, tendered ^or that very purpose. Bryant Park is one of the oldest of the city's small parks. In 1823, when the Potters' Field at Washington Square was abandoned, a pauper's burial ground was established where Bryant Park is now, the land having been purchased by the city the year before. The Potters' Field remained there for about ten years, when it was removed further up the island. In 1842 a reservoir of Egyptian architecture was built in the park to re- ceive the water of the newly built Croton aque- duct. This spot was far beyond the city then, and citizens made excursions there for a day's holiday. In 1853, in the western portion of the park, was laid out the World's Fair, in imitation of the Crystal Palace, of London, intended as a permanent exposition, but the venture failed, and in 1858 the buildings were destroyed by fire. At that time it had been given the name of Reservoir Square. In 1884 the name was changed to Bry- ant Park. In 1899 began the tearing down of the old Egyptian reservoir, and there arose where it had stood a great, white marble building of Renais- sance architecture, with a 75-feet-wide terrace, ex- tending 445 feet along the front, the permanent home of the New York Public Library. This library was established in 1895 by the consolida- tion of the Astor, Lenox and Tilden libraries, and by the policy of the trustees it has become a great, free library system for the use of the people. 14.^ The Better New York Tn 1890 the New York Free Circulating Li- brary became a part of the Public Library system, and in 1901, when Andrew Carnegie gave $5,200,- 000 towards the equipment of fifty free cir- culating libraries, these also became a part of the great system. The Tilden Trust, which is part of the library system, was created in 1887 by the will of Samuel J. Tilden, wherein his entire residuary estate was given to trustees to establish a library. There were years of litigation over the estate, ending in a compromise^ under which the Tilden trust held $2,000,000 and the Tilden Library of 20,000 vol- umes. The books were placed in the Astor and Lenox Libraries, and the fund became a part of the New York Public Library. To provide for those children for whom the overcrowded public schools have no place, and to keep up a high standard of kindergarten work that shall serve as an influence and a model to others, this is the aim of the New York Kindergarten Association, which has its headquarters at 29 West Forty-second Street. At the present time the asso- ciation has twenty-three kindergartens under its charge, many of which are memorials, the neces- sary maintaining fund being paid each year to the association. Founded by William Cullen Bryant for the entertainment of artists and men of* letters, the Century Association now occupies, at 7 West Forty-third Street, a building of granite, marble, brick and terra cotta, Renaissance in style. There is a picture gallery forty feet long, with a water- color room at each end. The dominant elements of the association are literary and artistic, con- servative and aesthetic. There is a library which contains a number of books of art. Originally the club was called the Century, because it was intended to have only one hundred members, but that number was exceeded long ago. Close by, at 17 West Forty-third Street, is the home of the Academy of Aledicine, a striking structure of brownish-red stone architecturally 144 West of Fifth Avenue Romanesque. The Academy strives for the ele- vation of the standard of medical education. In the building at 19 West Forty-fourth Street is the American Institute, which since 1828 has encouraged domestic industry in the United States by bestowing rewards on persons excelling or ma- king improvements in anything affecting agricul- ture, commerce, manufactures and the arts. For many years it held a largely-attended annual fair in various parts of the city. The institute has a scientific library, a farmers' club, a horticultural section, a polytechnic association — discusses scien- tific subjects and examines new inventions; a pho- tographic section, which includes all matters re- lating to photography; also an electrical section. All these are open to the public. At 19 West Forty-fourth Street is the Public Educational Association, organized to study prob- lems of public education; to investigate the condi- tion of the common and corporate schools; to stimulate public interest in such schools, and to propose from time to time such changes in organi- zation and management as seem necessary or desirable. There is also In this building the City History Club, of New York^ which aims to stimulate in- terest in civic affairs, and to help the immigrant's child and the child of generations of loyal Ameri- cans to the responsibilities of citizenship. Instruc- tion is given by volunteer and paid teachers. An interesting and most popular feature of the work are the club excursions — visiting the various parks, museums and public buildings, and the scenes of events famous in the history of the city. Here, too, across the way in this street are the buildings of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. This society took up the work of education about the year 1820. When their school was first started, it was intended for the free edu- cation of poor members of the society and those who were left orphans. But it became so popular that other children were admitted upon the pay- ment of a moderate sum. After a time, however, 145 The Better New York the public schools seemed to make its existence unnecessary, and as a day school it was discon- tinued in 1858. But the next year the society es- tablished an evening school, to give instruction to those in daily occupations, and this school has now grown to great proportions, and classes are main- tained to furnish free instruction to young men in free-hand, cast and ornamental drawing (elemen- tary and advanced), in mechanical and architec- tural drawing, mathematics, clay modeling; also classes in physics; encouraging students to acquire a practical knowledge of some useful trade. The society also maintains nineteen free scholarships in the New York Trade School, which are awarded annually to deserving applicants. Free medical aid and sick-room supplies for the suffering and destitute, especially children, are provided by the New York Practical Aid Society, at 311 West Forty-fifth Street. This society also gives fresh-air excursions to the poor and aids them in securing employment. There are sewing classes and home talks for young girls, and a strong effort is made toward the rescue of the in- temperate and fallen. The society is non-sectarian. At 409-413 West Forty-sixth Street is the Hart- ley House, an incorporated neighborhood settle- ment, owning the three beautifully equipped build- ings which it occupies. It is considered one of the best settlements in the city. A distinctive feature is the aim of the headworker to keep in touch with each child who leaves the afternoon play classes and bc.Q^ins daily work of any sort. As they pass from childhood to girlhood much care is taken to get them to come to the settlement at least one evening a week. The greater numl)er of them care merely for the recreative side, and a dancing class of boys and girls of the same age has proved very attractive. The dues for this are ten cents a month. If a girl is more studiously inclined, she joins what is called the Travel Class, in which by means of photographs and simple descriptions some real traveler takes the girls to various points of interest. 146 West of Fifth Avenue At the foot of West Fiftieth Street, North River, is one of the city's Recreation Piers. The institutional work of the Fifth Avenue Bap- tist Church has its headquarters ni the West Side Neighborhood House, 501 West Fiftieth Street. The large and well-appointed buiding is the home, in fact, of a social settlement. Through the help of a head worker and able assistants, there is car- ried on a day nursery, kindergartens, classes in the gymnasium, and various young men's and young women's clubs, with educational and social features. The industrial side for girls is developed through cooking, dressmaking and millinery classes. The Fresh Air Fund provides for two weeks' outings for each guest at an out-of-town farm. A library and reading-room add to the ef- fectiveness of the work, and adjoining the neigh- borhood house is the Armitage Chapel, through whose services the religious side of the settlement work is emphasized. On the western edge of the city, between Fifty- second and Fifty-fourth Streets, beyond Eleventh Avenue, is De Witt Clinton Park. The buildings were removed from this park in 1902, and it is particularly noted for the fact that it was the home of the lirst Children's School Farm of New York City, conducted under the supervision of the school board. For the purpose a piece of ground of about 114 feet by 84 feet was plowed and laid out in small, numbered plots three feet by six. Water was put in at three places, and a fence three feet high inclosed the whole. Twenty-five children at a time, with tags corresponding to the number of the plots, were first instructed by a gardener in the process of making furj^ws, put- ting the seeds in and covering them. They were then allowed to go through the same process in their own bit of ground. Seven varieties of vege- tables were planted: corn in the center, and on either side string and butter beans, peas, radishes, turnips and lettuce, the whole farm being sur- rounded by a border of buckwheat. The farm grew to perfection under proper instruction, and the boy whose activity had been once merely de- 147 The Better New York structive was taught a valuable lesson in construc- tion and care. Through the efforts of those who successfully developed this first farm, the experi- mental stage may be said to have been passed, and the operation of like farms in the future will be a much simpler matter. A gymnasium was also erected in the park, equipped with everything needful for scientific exercise. More than 400 children a day attend the In- dustrial School of the Children's Aid Society, at 552 West Fifty-third Street. Lessons in cooking and carpentry are added to the usual primary teaching. That the baths and dinners provided have been appreciated is shown by the fact that about 3,000 baths have been taken in one year, and meals served in the same time have been over 36,000. In this same building there is an evening school for girls, where seven teachers are em- ployed among the 300 odd pupils, and hundreds of garments are made up in the dressmaking class during the year. Making Good Americans. West of Fifth Avenue At the Vermilye Mission, 416 West Fifty-fourth Street, are industrial classes and kindergarten, fresh-air summer work, mission committee, relief committee, woman's missionary society and the like. It is supported by the Collegiate Church, West End Avenue and Seventy-seventh Street, in conjunction with the Collegiate Church at Forty- eighth Street, and is in the Helping Hand Building. At 312 West Fifty-fourth Street is the Amity Baptist Church, and next door is Amity Hall, the home of Amity Settlement. Here are carried on, among other things, a daily kindergarten and monthly mothers' meetings. Here, also, are a hall for social entertainments and a school which affords free theological instruction to men and women anxious to fit themselves by broad and ear- nest study for missionaries or practical religious workers in various fields. This hall is also the headquarters of the Baptist Deaconess Society of New York, the object of which is to train young women as efficient teachers, nurses and spiritual helpers to the poor and needy, and to give them a home until called to a field of activity. At 141 West Fifty-fourth Street is the New York American Veterinary College, which became a part of the New York University, in 1899, through the union of the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American Veter- inary College, which was effected to advance the standard of veterinary education. Among the earliest free industrial schools for crippled children was one opened in October, 1900, the William H. Davis School, and now in excel- lent quarters at 471 West Fifty-seventh Street. As in the schools of the same kind maintained by the Children's Aid Society, it is demonstrated that crippled children can be taught not only amusing and interesting work, but that which leads to self- support. They have gradually advanced from bas- ket-weaving to most artistic work in fire-etching on wood and leather. Carpentry work and count- less practical and marketable articles are the work of their hands. A nurse is in daily attendance at 149 The Better New York the school, and a hot dinner is given each child. The care of the crippled children is not confined to the winter months. June, July and August are spent in the country on a farm with teachers and nurses. In 1867 a small work was begun under Chris- tian auspices for the benefit of medical students, and in 1887 a regular organization was formed with broad and progressive methods. This (called the Students' ]\Iovement) became a part of the Young Men's Christian Association the next year. This branch now owns its own clubhouse at 129 Lexing- ton Avenue and rents one at 328 West Fifty-sixth Street for its special use. Both these houses have dormitories, restaurants, baths and gymnasium, rooms for social meetings and reading-rooms. In this way it furnishes to the homeless student in New York a Christian home and fraternity life in the clubhouses. Medical students are perhaps still in the majority, but college, law, pharmacy and art men are all enrolled on its books. At 318 West Fifty-seventh Street is the West Side Branch of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, which has as special features a perfect gymnasium and an open-air athletic field, used even at night by the plentiful employment of pow- erful arc lights. Besides these, there are baths of the most approved pattern, and a restaurant. When the Young Men's Christian Association, of New York City, was formed, in 1852, one of its first efforts was the beginning of a library. This library has had successive homes since its lirst one in Stuyvesant Institute, at 659 Broadway, to its present abiding place, which is on the Fifty- sixth Street side of the building, which forms the quarters of the West Side Young Men's Christian Association. The library contains some 69,000 vol- umes, and is open daily. At 414 West Fifty-fourth Street is an industrial school, one of the twelve situat'^d in various parts of the city, provided by the Home for the Friend- less. (See Ind^x, American Female Guardian Society.) 150 Home of the Friendless. For the purpose of providing a permanent home for three societies, the Architectural League, the Art Students' League and the Society of American Artists, the Fine Arts Building, 215 West Fifty- seventh Street, was erected in 1891 under the supervision of the American Fine Arts Society, organized in 1889. The handsome building is four stories high, containing picture galleries, studios for instruction and offices. In 1892 Mr. George Vanderbilt gave the American Fine Arts Society land and necessary funds for the erection of the Vanderbilt Gallery, which adjoins the principal building, and is practically a reproduction of the Georges Petit Gallery in Paris. The Society of American Artists, which now has its home in the Fine Arts Building, was or- ganized in 1877, offering to artists an opportunity for a second exhibition of their work after that of the Academy, for which purpose it holds an annual exhibition. The society is also a promoter of social intercourse amongst its members, particu- larly artists of similar views and ideas. The Architectural League, incorporated i88r, another of the three original societies housed in T.=;x The Better New York the same building, has for its aim the advancement of architecture and allied arts. In its annual ex- hibition it does not limit itself to American ex- hibits, but welcomes those from all over the world. The third society of this original group, the Art Students' League, is an academic school of art, which furnishes a thorough course of instruction in drawing, modeling, artistic anatomy and com- position, with studies from life and from the an- tique. Men and women admitted as members must have adopted art as a profession, though its classes are open to all students who have reached the required standing in drawing. Besides the three societies, various others have their headquarters in the Fine Arts Building. One particularly worthy of notice is the Municipal Art Society. As an initiator in the movement for civic embellishment, this society was organized in 1893, and has gradually advanced in public recognition till it has now received formal official sanction, and is the acknowledged judge of the aesthetic forms which public improvements shall take. Through its work were provided the important mural deco- rations with allegorical paintings by Edward Sim- mons for the Supreme Court room in the Criminal Court Building, in Center Street, and to its experts was committed the designing of the street signs, to be combined with fixtures for lighting, now in use. To encourage original work for the adorn- ment of the city, the society undertakes to orig- inate and conduct competitions for works of art, though it does not pay for the actual execution, as, for instance, competitions were held and prizes awarded for the designs for the public shelter at Sixty-ninth Street and Broadway, and also for a drinking fountain and ornamental bronze standards for the City Hall. The Municipal Art Society has done much to preserve the beauty of the Palisades to New York, and it has vigorously opposed the use of objectionable signs and advertisements. Under its management was held, in 1902, the first Municipal Arts Exhibition in the United States. An active organization, devoted to maintaining a high standard of work in its field of art, is the IS2 West of Fifth Avenue National Sculptors' Society at this same address. It has also interested itself in municipal art, and has made a collection of works in bronze, known as the Warner Memorial, and presented it to the Metropolitan Museum. A union of societies, formed in 1895, holds its meetings in the Fine Arts Building. This is the Fine Arts Federation, brought together for united action among the art societies of the city in all matters of common interest, and also to foster and protect in the community all artistic interests. The branch of the Young IMen's Christian Asso- ciation, at 252 West Fifty-third Street, consists en- tirely of colored young men, who carry on the regular association work. The administration of the Health Department affects directly the physical well-being of every in- habitant of the city. The Board of Health of the City of New York was created b\' special statute in 1866. Epidemics were then frequent, and the average number of deaths annually was no less than ^s for every 1,000 inhabitants. A comparison of this rate with that under the active and efficient department of today, when the death rate is only 18.74 for the present City of New York, indicates clearly the necessity of such a department. The chief offices of the department are in a building in Sixth Avenue, at Fifty-fifth Street, and here also there are a dispensary, a chemical laboratory and a b? .ceriological diagnosis laboratory. Other branches of the department are a reception hos- pital at the foot of East Sixteenth Street, for infec- tious diseases; and quarters at 70 Elm Street, where there is a vaccination station. On North Brother Island, in the East River, opposite 138th Street, there is a hospital for the isolation and treatment of smallpox, scarlet fever and measles. 153 Grant's Monument from Across the Park. DIVISION VIII. Fifty-scz'cnth to One Hundred and Tenth Street, West of Fifth Avenue (including Central Park). In the matter of city parks there are three periods of development. The first marked by the creation of Central Park in 1853, the second with the laying out of Riverside Park in 1872, and the third by the commencement of the work of creat- ing small parks in 1887. Of course, there were parks in the city long years before the first date mentioned, but in those earlier days there was not the great need for them that arose when the pop- ulation of the city became congested. The first park space was the Bowling Green. The next was the spot that we now call City Hall Park, which, in the times that the English ruled in New York, was the common ground where cat- tle were herded. Washington Square now covers ground that was once a paupers' graveyard. Mad- ison Square and Bryant Park had the same origin. Central Park was first planned in the year 1850, when the people of the city realized that there was needed a great central recreation point. Riverside Park was laid out in 1872, when the citizens concluded that there should be a recrea- tion spot near the picturesque Hudson River, 154 Bits of Nature in a Nearby Park. which would otherwise be given over to factories and docks. In 1887 began the work of creating smaller parks in crowded localities where the masses were so closely huddled that they were never able to get proper light and air; for the larger parks were so far away that it took hours of travel to reach them. In 1897, Mayor Strong's Small Park Com- mission was appointed, and strongly advocated more of these playgrounds for children, and recre- ation spots for the people, and, as a result of their suggestions and their work, five additional parks were laid out and arrangements made for others. The more important features 1:1 park develop- ment during the last few years have been the kindergartens, areas for recreation, playgrounds, gymnasiums and band concerts. In connection with this last work a special effort has been made to have the music rendered by the bands of a char- acter elevating and instructive, as well as enter- taining. In the various parks of the city about 175 concerts are given in the course of a summer. New York, with a population of three and a half millions and 209,218 acres, has a park area of 6,837 acres. The expenditure for park main- lenance and operation is something over a million 155 The Better New York and a quarter dollars, and the assets in parks are $360,000,000. Central Park naturally comes first, as being the greatest of all the city parks. In 1850, a citizen wrote to one of the papers, calling attention to the need of just such a park. Ambrose C. Kings- land, then mayor, was so taken with the sugges- tion that he sent a special message to the Com- mon Council advocating it. In 185 1, through the legislature, the city was given the right to acquire ground, and a committee selected a plot known as Jones' Woods, on the far East Side, above Sixty- sixth Street. This plot, however, was rejected for one more central, and the legislature, in 1853, passed an act giving authority for the acquisition of the present Central Park. The site at that time was some distance beyond the city, a wild, primitive, rocky spot, part wood- land, part lakes, part meadows. There were some few houses in the region, but not a great man}^ The idea from the start was to retain the natural formation of the land. The area of ground is 83Q.921 acres. It is two and a half miles long and half a mile wide. Originally the land cost some- thing over $5,000,000; to cultivate and maintain it has cost $20,000,000. The value of the land is now estimated at more than $200,000,000. It has about ten miles of drives, and more than five miles of bridle roads, with thirty-one miles of walk. The grounds contain lakes, conservatories and a me- nagerie. The building called the Arsenal, which, during the Civil War, was really an arsenal, and years ago was turned over to the city, is used for the most part as the executive quarters of the Department of Parks. This Park Board establishes rules for the department's administration, and enforce rules (subject to the Board of Aldermen) for the care and protection of the park system generally. In this same Arsenal Building is the Meteoro- logical Observatory of the park department, which has been in existence since 1869. This was be- fore the United States Government used the Storm Signal Corps, and it was of this observatory that the Government asked co-operation in estab- 156 West of Fifth Avenue llshing the national organization. The detail work of the observatory has been continued all these years without interruption, not a day being missed, including all holidays and Sundays, and the records for all this period, obtained through various self-recording instruments, are available to the general public. There is a record for all this time of the direction of the wind for each day, the velocity of the wind, the force of the wind, the temperature, a record of rain and snow, and so on. One of the purposes for which the Park has been used in recent years is that of nature study by the people. Those who have taken up the study of birds, insect life or botany, here find every facility for pursuing their work, and the department does everything in its power to assist in this use of the grounds. Much thought has been given by the department to provide facilities for recreative purposes. In spring there are chil- dren's parties, when a quarter of a million children are present in a single day, coming from all parts of the city, and often from far beyond. The Park also afTords a great deal of healthful recreation: skating, lawn tennis, basket ball and other games. Tn Central Park, opposite the Eighty-third Street entrance, at Fifth Avenue, is the ]\Ietropoli- tan Museum of Art. It had its beginning in 1869, when a committee of citizens decided to found an institution for the purpose of cultivating a love of art. In its earlier years the museum was not permanently settled, until finally the legislature author^'zed the park department to erect a perma- nent home in Central Park, and set apart a tract of eighteen acres, when the museum was opened in 1880. The of^cers are elected annually by the corporation, and the controller of the city, the president of the Department of Public Works, and the president of the National Academy of Design are, ex officio, members of the board of trustees. Valuable works of art may be purchased, and very often whole collections ?ire donated. During the year 1902 there was opened, in ad- dition to the original building, what is called the east wing. This now constitutes the main entrance and the central portion of the building. It is beau- 157 The Better New York tiful and classic in design, having a great hall cov- ered by three enormous domes, pierced at the top to furnish light for its extensive corridors, gal- leries and exhibition-rooms. The notable gifts and loan collections at the Metropolitan Museum are the Marquand, Wolfe, Hearn, Menke and Vanderbilt, and, in addition, it contains many valuable individual gifts and loans. Something of Leonardo da Vinci's art is shown by a "Portrait of a Lady," and there are these paintings of Rubens: "Ihe Holy Family," "Su- sannah and the Elders," "Pyramus and fhisbe," "Cambyses' Punishment of an Unjust Judge," "Portrait of a Man," "Portrait of the Artist's Wife," and "The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt." A portrait of Velazquez, painted by himself, is a line representation of his style. Of Rembrandt's art there are four specimens, his "Portrait of a Man," illustrating the qualities for which he is famous. From Van Dyck's brush there are six paintings, notable among which is his famed portrait of "James Stuart. Duke of Richmond and Lenox." A general idea of Hol- bein's style can be seen in the panel picture of the "Archbishop Cranmer." Of the works of the inventors of oil paintings, Jan and Hubert Van Eyck, a few examples are to be found, among them being the "Virgin and Child," by Jan Van Eyck. Three of Cuyp's "Landscapes with Cattle," are to be studied, and Teniers' colormg and touch ap- preciated through a number of his paintings, also the landscape art of Claude Lorrain in "A Sea- port." Of the English Hogarth there is but one example, in a portrait of a child called "Miss Rich Building a House of Cards," but among pictures which represent the work of the great English portrait painters there are two portraits by Sir Peter Lcly, one by Sir Godfrey Kneller, one by Sir Thomas Lawrence, eight by the world-famed Sir Joshua Reynolds, and two portraits and a landscape by his rival, Gainsborough. Of later English painters, some rich work is exhibited in half a dozen of Lord J^^rederick Leighton's paint- int^s, one of Landseer's, several of Alma-Tadema's, Millais' and Boughton's. Turner's greatness is 158 West of Fifth Avenue appreciated in half a dozen of his paintino^s. Among many celebrated names of Continental artists, whose paintings could be enumerated, are the great Germans, Knaus, Scheffer, Israels, Van Marcke and Verboeckhaven. In the many French painters whose works hang on the walls of the Museum, fine examples of the latter-day paintings are to be seen, and among the earlier notable ones are such as "Joan of Arc," by Bastien-Lepage, whose realism almost created a revolution in the methods of the time. Of that famous woman Rosa Bonheur's art, there are some line examples. The huge canvas of her great early work, the "Horse Fair," quickly attracts the visitor, as the horses are life-size. From "Holland Cattle," and "Study of a White Cow," the work of Troyon, another of the greatest cattle painters, may be studied. The naturalist school is finely represented in many beautiful pictures by Rousseau, Corot, Dupre, Daubigny, and among Millet's pictures "The Sower" attracts great attention. Meissonier's technical achievement in minute work is shown in some dozen pictures, and among these his battle scene, "Friedland, 1807," is note- worthy from its unusual size. Several of the al- ways popular Bouguereau's pictures are to be found, and Domingo, Gerome, Detaille, Vibert, and a like host of fine artists, require special atten- tion. The remarkable individuality of George In- ness, the pride of New York, can be studied here in his paintings, "Autumn Oaks," "Evening," and ''Peace and Plenty." The earlier American por- trait painters, Gilbert Stuart, Daniel Huntington, Henry Inman and Thomas Sully are all repre- sented, and from Sargent's brush there is the portrait of Henry Marquand. Among the celebrated pieces of statuary are Rheinhart's beautiful "Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana" (before which is always gath- ered an admiring crowd), Powers' "Fisher Boy," and "California," representing the figure of an exquisitely proportioned woman; several notable female figures by Story, among which are Medea, Cleopatra and Semiramis; also Palmer's "White 159 The Better New York Captive," and ''Indian Maid"; Harriet Hosmer's majestic figure, "Zenobia in Chains"; "Nydia," by Randolph Rogers; "Sappho," by d'Epinay, a strong, well conceived and admirably executed work. A subject to be carefully studied is Auguste Rodin's bust of St. John the Baptist. Here also are to be found some specimens of the famous sculptor Canova's work, including "Napoleon I."; also a group by the famous noted French sculptor, Barye, entitled "Theseus and the Centaur Bienor." Among the plaster casts are absolutely accurate reproductions of some of the most noted speci- mens of ancient sculpture, beginning with the ear- liest Egyptian art. The collection of bronzes, in reproduction of those unearthed at Herculaneum not many years ago, form a valuable section by themselves. There are, too, reproductions of ancient archi- tecture. Among other beautiful specimens are the classic Parthenon, in its original purity and per- fection of outline; the Roman Pantheon, in the architecture of the da}^ — a combination of the Greek and purely Roman — and the church of Notre Dame de Paris, one-twentieth the size of (ihe original, perfect in finish, showing the famous square towers and the red door. There are antiquities from Egypt and Cyprus, possessing rare archaeological interest. The Ces- nola collection, from the Island of Cyprus, is of great interest from the point of view of the un- usual and the strange. Other rooms are devoted to porcelains, Ameri- can antiquities, pottery, fans, embroideries, laces and tapestries, old furniture and musical instru- ments of all nations. In Central Park, near the IMetropolitan Mu- seum, Fifth Avenue and Eighty-third Street, stands the great obelisk. It was erected in Egypt 3)500 years before Rome was built, and while the Israelites were m bondage. It was presented by the Khedive Ismail Pasha to the City of New York, and was brought here by a vessel specially fitted up for the purpose. The obelisk is cut from one solid block of granite seventy feet i6o West of Fifth Avenue high, weighing 40,000 pounds. It is covered with hieroglyphics ilkistrating the deeds and titles of the King of Egypt at that time. One of the spots of historic interest in Central Park is INIcGowan's Pass, on the eastern side, near the northern limit. There is a reminder of the year 1776, and of the day before the Battle of Harlem Heights. On that day a portion of the British forces landed from Long Island, at Thirty- fourth Street, in pursuit of the American army, v\^hich was in rapid retreat in the direction of Har- lem Heights, and encountered in their chase the farm of Daniel McGowan, which was almost de- serted, as its owner was then serving in the Amer- ican army. One son, however, Andrew, a boy of twelve, was still there, and was compelled to ac- company the British as a guide, to disclose the whereabouts of the American camp. The boy, with assumed gayet}^ led the British army across ^Manhattan Island, in quite another direction from that which the Americans had retreated. In this way, while they were floundering over the hills and swamps of the region, now Lower Riverside Park, Washington's army had time to reach its destina- tion, and prepare for the great victory of the next day. Near the same spot there are remains of earth- works used in the war of 1812, and the site of Lort Clinton is between io6th and 107th Streets, near Fifth Avenue. A pole on the top of the hill marks the spot, and near the pole are several old can- non. During the war of 1812, Fort Fish guarded McGowan's Pass on the west, and Fort Clinton on the east, but there is now nothing left of Fort Fish. There is, however, an old blockhouse on the west side of the Park near iioth Street. This was built in 1812, and was the most north- ern point of the fortilications of McGowan's Pass. At Sixtieth Street and Columbus Avenue is the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Under its charge are the Paulist Social Settlement, at Tenth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, the Guild Club House, at 17 West Sixty-first Street, Young Men's Society Rooms, 34 East Sixtieth Street; also day nursery classes and kindergartens; the Columbus i6i ■ — i-^"?"* m "iu jjT^r^R^ Roosevelt Hospital. Press for printing the literature disseminated by the church, and various guilds, associations and societies. Roosevelt Hospital, built by endowment, through the will of James Henry Roosevelt, occu- pying the block of ground between Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth streets and Ninth and Tenth Ave- nues, was opened in 1871. All the beds in the wards are free to those who have very limited or no means, but a reasonable rate is charged to such as can pay. A notable feature is the Syms Oper- ating Building erected by the gift of $350,000, equipped with the most modern appliances for the aseptic treatment of operative cases and consid- ered perfect in its character In addition a hos- pital known as a Private Patients' Pavillion, of hve stories, was opened in 1896. In 1899 the new Accident Building was opened, having on the first story an emergency department for the treatment of accident cases, and on the second story, a med- ical ward for children. There is a very efficient training school for nurses. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, stand- ing across the street from Roosevelt Hospital in Fifty-ninth Street, was chartered in 1807, and in i8gi became a part of Columbia University, which has made the medical department an integral part of the University system. The college occupies a group of buildings given by the late William 11. Vanderbilt, his three sons and by William D. Sloane. 162 West of Fifth Avenue Grace Institute, at 149 West Sixtieth Street, as founded by William R. Grace, is designed to fur- nish women and girls instruction in trades, in do- mestic arts and sciences, and practical knowledge of all kinds. Foundlings and other infant children of two years of age and under are received, cared for and educated at the New York Infant Asylum, at West Sixty-tirst Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The corporation has authority to procure adop- tion and to place the children at suitable employ- ments. Needy women of previous good character are received for confinement, and private rooms are provided for those who can pay. Latterly the City and Suburban Homes Com- pany has erected several improved tenements, and one, built, in 1902, designed especially for colored people, is called the Tuskegee, and is situated at 213 to 215 West Sixty-second Street. The Henrietta Industrial School, at 224 West Sixty-third Street, is one of the youngest of the schools of the Children's Aid Society. It was opened in a small building, but was soon found to be so crowded, a hundred pupils registering in one day, that it was at last housed in its present excellent home. Besides the elementary branches, cooking and sewing are taught, and the boys are much delighted with instruction in carpentry and basketry. Warm dinners are provided for the little people attending school by some especially interested friends, and the class of cripples has been fostered in its work through co-operation with a school society. This society pays for the wagonette to take the children to and from school; also for the dinners and surgical apparatus, and supports a nurse, who visits and cares for the chil- dren. A movement, started in New York more than a quarter of a century ago under the leadership of Dr. Felix Adler, which materialied in the Ethical Culture Society, has served largely to advance edu- cational and philanthropic efforts according to the best methods. Through the Society's United Re- 163 The Better New York lief Works, free kindergartens were first estab- lished, manual training introduced into the daily education of boys and girls, and district nursing- served its first probation. The Ethical Culture School, now housed in the fine building. Central Park West and Sixty-third Street, is a model of its kind. Its forms of education are applicable to children of all classes, and in this way a solution of the labor question is proposed, while the under- lying principle of the kindergarten, which is carried out through the higher stages of instruction and training, makes this school noteworthy The modern city is a laboratory for the student of social phenomena, and the larger the city the greater the opportunity for studying the infinite variations of the problems of human life. In no other city are these problems so important as in New York, the second largest city in the world, most wealthy in dollars and in cents, the cosmo- politan gateway of America. Here, therefore, the housing question, one of the gravest of these prob- lems, reaches the highest mark of importance. The tenement house evil had its beginning as far back as 1825, when New York increased rapidly as a commercial center, and the residential district began its migration uptown. The old houses in the lower part of New York, once aristocratic, have all fallen from their high estate. Throughout this district these old-time wooden houses may be seen; what was the garden is now occupied by a front house. From 1847 to 1856, 2,133,248 aliens came to New York. Of course, they lived in tenement houses. Immigrants were still pouring in and more room had to be made for them also. The rear tenement was the solution of the problem, and the houses were wedged in, garden, yard and court being absorbed by the house, till the only entrance was a narrow passageway between the two houses. It was soon seen that the rear space also could be built up, and that was quickly done. Now, it was absurd to let the front house be overtopped by the rear, so the suggestion was made to add to the front. This was done. 164 West of Fifth Avenue Even yet the worst point was not reached, for it was seen that if the houses could be converted into barracks, more people could be crammed in, affording more revenue to the proprietor. This, too, was done. Then the law stepped in to cry " hands off." The education of public opinion was begun; the worst tenements were condemned and torn down, and the ''model tenement" was born. The effect of the model tenement is seen on every side. To the wage-earner, good housing means better health, and consequently better earn- ing power. Bad housing is accountable for much that is physically, morally and socially bad, so everything which tends to properly solve the prob- lem of the housing of the great masses of humanity in a large city is of a truly philanthropic character. In 1896 the City and Suburban Homes Com- pany was organized, and has practically demon- strated that improved housing for the poor can be solved by economic methods. This company stands today for what has been styled investment philanthropy, that is philanthropy which, by co- ordination with a reasonable commercial dividend, becomes an attractive middle ground between pure philanthrophy and pure business. A few men, after making experiments, individually or in associa- tions, for the purpose of demonstrating the prac- ticability of improved housing, united, with a capital of $1,000,000, to carry out a practical program of operations. Improved housing, with a fair dividend on the invested capital of the rich, is not the only object for which the company works, however, for the shares are fixed at the low denomination of $10 in order to enable people of small means to make investments for their own direct benefit, with a sound security. Dividends are limited to five per cent, and whatever surplus accumulates is invested for the extension of opera- tions. It also endeavors to meet the needs of wage- earners, whose ambitions are to own a home, and who by thrift are able to meet small monthly in- stalments,, which will in a certain number of years enable them to achieve their wish. The first homes put up by this company were i6s The Better New York the group known as the "Alfred Corning Clarke," opened February, 1898, in West Sixty-eight and Sixty-ninth Streets, near Amsterdam Avenue. There is ample protection by fire escapes and plenty of window space. A resident superintend- ent cares for the interest of the tenants, while the rents are collected by friendly rent collectors, who come in personal touch with the family. In the first place, these tenements are models, because the size of the lot, 200 by 40J feet, makes a plan that would be impossible on an ordinary city lot twenty- five feet wide. Here, by means of transverse courts and the great central passages, cross-ven- tilation is possible, while the central courts in each group allow every window to open on the outer air. Each apartment is itself a complete and pri- vate home, planned to meet the actual social needs of sun, light, air_, ventilation, comfort and* privacy; in fact, every possible improvement has been pro- vided for the benefit, convenience, physical and moral betterment of the tenants, thus insuring healthful and beautiful surroundings. At 259 and 261 West Sixty-ninth Street is the Riverside Association, in a locality the center of an enormous tenement population. Here the ordi- nary work of a social settlement is carried on in an extensive manner. In the Boys' Club there has been adopted what is called the group system, the underlying principle of which is personal contact with each individual boy. Not over five boys are assigned to a worker, and only as many boys are received into a club as competent workers can be found to supervise. Each club consists of four managers and not more than twenty boys. Here, too, a circulating library, operated as an independ- ent library under the charge of the association, was turned over to the New York Free Circulating Library in 1897, and is now a part of the Public Library system. A.long the Hudson River, beginning at Seventy- second Street, and stretching northward to One Hundred and Twenty-ninth, is Riverside Park. IMie lordly Hudson washes its edge. Crowning its 166 West of Fifth Avenue heights is Riverside Drive, lined with fine trees, and by some of the most substantial and beautiful residences in the city. Across the sweep of waters are the Palisades. The land for this park was acquired by the city in 1872 and in 1876 it was placed under the control of the Park Department. It has been gradually added to until now it con- tains almost 140 acres, and is one of the most picturesque sections of the city. A monument to the soldiers and sailors who died in the service of their country in the Civil War was erected in Riverside Park in 1902, and was dedicated on Memorial Day with appropriate ceremonies. The platform is about 100 feet across, with side steps at the south leading to a terrace and lower platform. On the north, a long flight of steps leads to a belvedere with seats, overlooking the valley. The grounds are beauti- fully arranged about the monument, and the pave- ments are of brick, wnth marble borders. The whole structure is magnificent and commanding, and of itself is sufficient embellishment for that portion of the park. Further along, in the northern part of the park, opposite One Hundred and Twenty-third Street, is the tomb of General Grant. The monument covers a square of about 100 feet, not counting the steps and projection of the portico. It is built of large blocks of granite, in the Doric order of architecture. The entrance has a beautiful por- tico of double lines of columns, approached by steps seventy feet wide. A cornice and a parapet surmount this square structure at a height of seventy-tw^o feet, and the circular cupola, seventy feet in diameter, is surmounted with a top in pyramid shape, which has its apex at a height of 280 feet above the Hudson River. From an outer gallery a beautiful view of the surrounding countr}^ for miles about is to be seen. The great- est dimension of the interior is seventy-six feet. Piers of masonry at the four corners are connected by arches, the tops of which are fifty feet from the floor level, and upon these rests an open circular gallery, which culminates in a dome 105 feet above the floor. The decoration is in high relief 167 The Better New York sculpture, emblematic of the birth, life and death of General Grant. The sarcophagus, in which the body of General Grant rests, was formed from a single block of red porphyry. The expense of erecting the tomb was met by subscriptions from some 90,000 persons. Close by where Riverside Park has its start, op- posite the river at Seventy-second Street and Eleventh Avenue, is another railroad branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, opened in i8(S7, in what was termed the round house. In i88g the present building was erected and appro- priately furnished. Typical railroad men are al- ways to be found in these rooms, where comfort- able quarters for reading, study and recreation have been prepared for them. The American IMuseum of Natural History oc- cupies the square inclosed by Seventy-seventh and FJghty-first Streets, Central Park West and Co- lumbus Avenue. It was established in 1869, with the general object of providing for the public a means of recreation and popular instruction in natural liistor}^ and the kindred subjects. In 1874, Where Marvels of Natural History are Housed. /^ ,?, "Ste,#lNP 'i : r :'WUr,-- C! i ^ Til The New Education. especially adapted have been provided for the purpose. The evening school work is of the utmost im- portance, and the fact that more than 20,000 non- English-speaking foreigners attend these evening schools shows the extent of this branch of the work. A feature in modern educational history is the evolution of the vacation school, now held through the siunmer months in a number of the school buildings. More than fifty vacation schools are now regularly in operation. They are open three hours each morning, and up to this time have had an average attendance of about 450 each, all that can be accommodated, with a waiting list always. The average age of the children in these schools is about twelve. No text-books are used at these ses- sions, and no teaching in the ordinary sense of the word, except in the case of very young children, when kindergarten methods are used. Useful arts and employments are taught by specially prepared teachers, such as basket work. Venetian iron work, carpentry, cooking, waiting on the table, first aid to the injured, painting and such branches. Each child is invited to choose for himself the work he likes best. At the end of each season exhibitions are given, when the handiwork and craftsmanship of the children are displayed. 176 East of Fifth Avenue A system of adult education, in which the Board of Education was the pioneer for more than fifteen years, has been free lectures to the people. It differs from the ordinary lyceum course of lec- tures, in that it is absolutely free, a part of the pub- lic educational system, all cost being defrayed from the public treasury. The attendance at the lec- tures is a right, and not a privilege. It stands, in fact, for exactly the same idea as the free school, the free college, the free library, and the free museum. Almost all the audiences are composed of working people, and the lectures are given as near as possible, to their homes, generally in the school buildings. Centers for lectures in Yiddish and Italian were established at several of the pub- lic schools; also for lectures on musical and ethi- cal subjects on Sunday evenings. The subjects generally treated, however, have been science and history. During a year 4,000 lectures are deliv- ered by 400 lecturers, at 128 centers. The total yearly attendance is over a million. The first evening recreation centers to be estab- lished under the auspices of the Board of Educa- tion were started in 1899, in which year five were opened in schools on the lower East Side. The number has since been increased until now there are more than twenty. Most of these evening cen- ters are in the crowded districts on the East Side. Some are for boys, and some for girls. The ages are from fourteen to twenty. Clubs are formed at these centers, including literary, debating and athletic clubs, and a gymnasium with instructor, is often found. There is a library, and the eve- ning often closes with dancing. A room is set apart where studiously inclined boys and girls may go to look over their lessons, or if in school, to take up some subject in which they wish to im- prove themselves. There is always someone here to explain knotty points. Lectures are delivered once or twice weekly. A marked change has taken place in the archi- tectural beauty of the school buildings, and some of those that have been constructed within the last ten years, in outward harmony of line and mass and form, are among the finest in the world. The 177 The Better New York first departure from the old formal buildings was made in 1892, in the public school at Mulberry and Bayard Streets, when a structure in Roman- esque style was erected, and since then progress has been toward a combination of the useful and the beautiful. The question of economy has not been overlooked, however, for the public school buildings in New York, taking into consideration the number of children they accommodate, cost less by one-half than those of some other large cities; in fact^ much of the beauty of detail does not consist in mere expensive ornamentation, but in choice of color and materials. School interiors have also been greatly improved of late years through outside influence and assistance, by the use of framed reproductions of famous works of art. The average attendance at the Chinese Sunday- school of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, at 9 East Fifty-ninth Street, is thirty-five scholars, but this average is affected by the number of teach- ers provided. In connection with the school, there is a branch society of the National Organization of the Chinese Young Men's Christian Association. In the basement of All Souls' Church (Prot- estant Episcopal), Madison Avenue and Sixty- sixth Street, are the clubrooms where the in- stitutional work of the church is carried on. There are among other features, free kindergartens, edu- cational clubs for children and grown-ups, classes in cooking, kitchen gardening, and an auditorium for illustrated lectures. On Fifth Avenue, between Seventieth and Seventy-first Streets, is the Lenox Library, founded in 1870, by James Lenox, who gave the land and funds, together with a collection of rare Americana, Bibles and manuscripts. The library was intended for, and has always been a place rather of scholarly reference than a reading-room, fn 1895, by consolidation with the Astor Library and the Tildcn Trust, the Lenox Library became part of the New York Public Library. The second decorati\'e offering of the Munici- 178 East of Fifth Avenue pal Arts Society to the city, was the ''Hunt Me- morial," erected in co-operation with ten other art societies. This is a large marble bench and screen on Fifth Avenue, against the Central Park wall, opposite Lenox Library. The bench was designed by Bruce Price, and the two symbolic statutes which adorn it, together with a bust of Richard Morris Hunt, a distinguished architect who was the first president of the society, are the work of Dan- iel C. French. For more than thirty years the sick poor of New York City have been taken care of at the Presb3^terian Hospital, Madison Avenue and Seventieth Street, which gives medical or surgical advice to some 500 persons per day. Of these, ap- proximately two-thirds are unable to pay anything, and are treated free. In the dispensary prescrip- tions are made up for the small fee of ten cents, no matter what the real cost of the medicine, or with- out any charge if payment is impossible, and this timely advice and treatment helps thousands to go on with their daily work. A training school was opened in 1892. Opposite the hospital on the Seventy-first Street side, is St. James's Church, half covered with ivy, which is pointed out as the one so long in charge of the son of the author of 'Ten Thousand a Year." This church, with its daus^hter Church of the Holy Trinity, in Eighty-e.'ghth Street, mantains St. Christopher's House, where institutional work is carried on; a church orphanage at 400 East Fiftieth Street: a church settlement house at 419 East Eighty-third Street, and brotherhoods, guilds and societies for the advancement of the people. A distinctive feature of the work of St. James's Church is a branch of the Ministering Children's League, a large society originally started in England, for the purpose of interesting children in working for others. The results of their work are sold at an annual fair, and the proceeds go towards the endowment of a bed in the babies' hospital. At Seventieth Street and Park Avenue is the Union Theological Seminary, founded in 1836, 179 The Better New York Although this is under the charge of directors and professors who give their assent to the Westmin- ster standards, it is in a sense non-sectarian, and theological students of various denominations come from all over the world to study there. The students serve as pastors' assistants, in connection with the city missionary societies, settlements, work in public institutions, regular preaching and choir service. On Lexington Avenue, between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Streets, is the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes, intended for children, entirely or partially deaf, who cannot at- tend the common schools. Here they are educated at the public expense, such as can paying $300 a year, and are also fitted with trades, givino- them an opportunity of earning a livelihood. The in- stitution has been in existence for about seventy years. Well-equipped gardens in Sixty-eighth Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues, surround the buildings of the New York Foundling Asy- lum, which have stood there, added to from time to time, since 1869, and which now contain every facility for protecting unfortunate infancy. This asylum, which is under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity of the Roman Catholic Church, will always be known as Sister Irene's Home. It receives the foundling and deserted chilrlren of th^^ city of New York. In the asylum itself about 6co children can be provided for, and the house is usually well filled; but besides this there are cared for, outside of the building, about 1,300 others. These are looked after by respectable poor women with families, who are hired as nurses, and con- stitute the outdoor department of the institution. These children are brought back to the asyhim after a time, and with the others are given ewvy possible advantage of early training before they are sent out into the world. The Baron de Hirsch Trade School, in East Sixty-fourth Street, between Second and Third Avenues, teaches plumbing, carpentry, metal work- 180 East of Fifth Avenue ing, electrical work, mechanical drawing and sign painting, free of charge to Russian-Roumanian immigrant boys and young men. It also instructs in the English language. The present building was opened in 1899. The Clara de Hirsch Home and Training School for Working Girls, Sixty-third Street near Second Avenue, benefits immigrant working girls, and other unmarried women, by seeking to improve their mental, moral and physical condition; train- ing them for self-support, and aiding them to ob- tain suitable employment, at the same time pro- viding an excellent home at low cost. Within a few doors of First Avenue and Sixty- third Street there is a four-story building of brick which tells, by means of half a dozen signs, plainly to be seen by day and by night, that everyone who will may enter. Here is carried on the institu- tional work of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church Truly wonderful to those who have not made a study of improved city housing, and a practical lesson to those who have, is the great block of homes that extends from Sixty-fourth to Sixty- fifth Streets, along First Avenue, built in 1900 by the City and Suburban Homes Company. One feature here is characteristic — the disappearance of the clothes-line. Among New York's chief decorations have, from time out of mind, been the clothes lines strung from tall, ugly posts to the windows. Those who think that municipal art means only great public squares or noble buildings should visit this model tenement and learn how important is the abatement of the clothes-lme nuisance, which, heretofore, has defiantly tiaunted its banners in the faces of those attempting to make the city beautiful. In this building the clothes are hung on the roof, out of sight, giving an extra amount of light and air to the courtyard. The low group of buildings in First Avenue at Sixty-seventh Street, is the New York Trade School, which affords young men under twenty- two years of age practical instruction in plumbmg, 181 Education of Hand and Brain. bricklaying, plastering, sheet metal, cornice work, carpentry, steam and hot-water fitting, printing, blacksmith's work, house and sign painting, elec- trical work, pattern making, and drawing. Al- though a charge is made for admission, the terms are merely nominal, as the endowment which the school possesses enables it to carry out the object for which it was founded, — by the late Colonel R. T. Auchmuty, in 1881, — and the course of in- struction is so arranged that both the practical and theoretical branches of a trade are taught. In this way, not only is manual skill quickly acquired, but the scientific principles which underlie the prac- tical work are mastered. This is the first school to adopt this system, and the results attained by it have attracted attention in this country and in Europe, combining as it does the trade school and workshop. Over and over again, previous to 1879, reforms were agitated in the matter of tenement houses, and proper legislation proposed, but never carried out. At last a certain number of public-spirited citizens, not content to wait for new laws, held a mass meeting in Cooper Union in February, 1879, when it was determined to erect several 182 [\ :^^..h. i) JT^ ,^. The Real Thing in Practise. model tenement houses. In the following year, as a result of the recommendation of a Committee of Nine, the Improved Dwellings Association was formed, with a capital of $300,000. Several lots of land were purchased on First Avenue, from Seventy-first to Seventy-second Street, and there was erected an excellent block of houses, some- what similar in plan to those built by Mr. Alfred T. White in Brooklyn, in 1877, which were modeled after the Improved Industrial Dwellings Com- pany's homes in London. These buildings are in good condition today, nearly twenty-five years after, and have paid in all that time regularly five per cent, dividend. Underfed and ill-cared-for children crowd to overflowing the Jones Memorial Industrial School of the Children's Aid Society, at 407 East Seventy- third Street. The Bohemians are largely repre- sented, as the surrounding population consists chiefly of these. Among the truant children handed over to the care of the school much suc- cessful work has been done. A good hot dinner and proper bathing facilities always attract them, and, when comfortably clothed in the garments made by the sewing class and from other sources, a feeling of self-respect asserts itself and a new record begins. 183 An Application Station in Hand Training. At 446 East Seventy-second Street the Normal College Alumnae House, opened in 1894, is a social settlement in a crowded tenement-house neighborhood, and the work is carried on by the Alumnae and the undergraduates of the Normal College. The work here is almost entirely with the young, for it is the belief of the resident work- ers that a child is the only real democrat, and a settlement that begins its work for the welfare of children will find itself in the full tide of demo- cratic life. So successful has the work been that the number of children who are trained is only limited b}^ the number of voluntary teachers. The children are taken in small groups, each under one teacher, and are taught all those things that will tend to make a perfect foundation for practical living. A special efifort has been made to de- velop such children as are musically inclined. At the foot of Seventy-sixth Street and the East River is the East Side House settlement in a new building of brick and stone, forty by one hundred feet. A unique feature is its library. It docs not propose to turn the library into a museum, but to gather small representative and typical collections of objects to broadly illustrate departments of natural science and useful arts. It now has col- 184 East of Fifth Avenue lections of birds, nests and eggs, butterflies and other insects, minerals, physical apparatus, ana- tomical models, maps and photographs. A feature is made of loaning these specimens to teachers of the public schools for classroom work. Besides this, there is the ordinary settlement work, with kindergartens and cooking schools. At 222 East Seventy-ninth Street, between Sec- ond and Third Avenues, is the Yorkville Branch of the New York Public Library. It was organized in 1897, and sprang almost immediately into the front rank in circulation. It has the honor of being the first housed in one of the Carnegie buildings, and is one of the branches of the New York P>ee Circulating Library. First Carnegie Library. The Better New York The public-school building of Flemish architec- ture, at Madison Avenue and Eighty-tifth Street, was the first step in a regime which started about eleven 3^ears ago with the idea of developing beauty in school architecture. At 318 East Eighty-second Street is the Sister- hood for Personal Service, maintained by the Temple Emanuel, for relieving the sick and needy. Here, too, religious and industrial instruction is given to such as apply. Volunteer service is made part of the obligations of the sisterhood, and in their day nursery young Hebrew women of wealth take turns in helping the matron care for the children. The Church Workers' House of the Church of the Holy Trinity, at 419 East Eighty-third Street, is allied to St. James's Church (INladison Avenue and Seventy-first Street). Here is a residence not only for the church workers of the parish, under a house mother, but for young people temporarily in need of a home. It serves also as a meeting place for some of the social work of the parish. Along the East River, from Eighty-first to Nintieth Streets, extends the East River Park, overlooking Hell Gate. A generation ago this was countryside, far above the city, where wealthy townsmen had their country homes. Now it is one of the improved city parks. John Jacob Astor's home stood in the grounds where this park is now. At that time Washington Irving was often his guest, and here wrote the greater part of "Astoria." The trees that Irving sat under as he overlooked Hell Gate are there yet, though the wildness of country has given way to the sym- metry and artificiality of a city health spot. The water flows on, but Hell Gate has lost its terror since, in September, 1876, Hellet's Reef was blown up by the use of 49,915 pounds of explosives. The next explosion was in 1885, when Flood Rock was destroyed; 282,730 pounds of explosives were used. The real work of this gigantic task was begun, in 1867, on outlying ledges, and some eighty blasts of explosives in drill holes and about sixteen 186 1 East of Fifth Avenue blasts of explosives, resting on the rock, were made up to January, 1875. Some fifteen years ago the Methodist Episcopal Church adopted the plan of consecrating women as deaconesses for special religious work. The present Home, at 1175 JMadison Avenue, has a training school for the study of the Bible, for re- ligious development,, and practical work among the poor. At 350 East Eighty-eighth Street is the Rhine- lander Industrial School of the Children's Aid Society, where classes for crippled children are maintained, a warm lunch is provided, and the children are taken back and forth in a wagonette. During the year they are given outings at one of the summer homes of this society. The Church of the Holy Trinity, at 312-332 East Eighty-eighth Street, is in the Parish of St. James, and much of the home missionary work oi the parish is under its management. Next door, at St. Christopher's House, which is under the management of the Church of the Holy Trinity, boys' cubs are very flourishing, and much excel- lent service is accomplished, socially and educa- tionally, through their medium. Three classes in basketry do marketable work, and the money from ure of giving. A men's club is also prosperous, these sales is given to the fund for the day nur- sery. In this way the poorest boy learns the pleas- ure of giving. A men's club is also prosperous, and man}^ girls are interested through the sewing classes. There are a library and reading-room, a gymnasium and swimming pool. The East Side Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, at 158 East Eighty-seventh Street, which has been in existence for more than sixteen years, emphasizes social features and reaches men to whom such recreation would otherwise be unknown. At the Young Men's Hebrew Association is an employment bureau, conducted on modern lines, which looks carefully to the needs of employer and employee. This association, which is at Ninety- 187 Reading-Room Young Men's Hebrew Association, second Street and Lexington Avenue, seeks to im- prove the condition of young men morally, intel- lectually, socially and physically. The employ- ment bureau is free to all, and for the members there are classes in all sorts of studies calculated to fit them for the battle of life. Interesting and useful, indeed, is the East Side work of the Protestant Episcopal City Missionary Society, which is carried on through the Chapel of the Messiah, at 206 East Ninety-fifth Street. There is a Sunday-school attended by upwards of 800 children, and music is furnished by a vested choir of thirty-five men, women and boys. There are a Girls' Friendly Society, a Young Men's Club, Mothers' Meetings, and an Industrial School. The Fresh Air work is started every year with what is known as the "June Walk," when more than a thousand children and teachers, young men and women, mothers and fathers, march to the great north meadow of Central Park, led by a band of music, and a delightful day is spent on the green grass and under the beautiful trees. Ice cream and the more substantial luncheon are not forgotten. The five houses from 235 to 243 East One 188 Education for Eye and Ear. Hundred and Fourth Street, form the home of the Union Settlement Association. While there is no organic connection between the Union Theo- logical Seminary and this settlement, and while the relations between the two institutions are en- tirely unofficial, they are, at the same time, inti- mate and cordial. One of the chief aims of the organizers was to establish a settlement that would claim the interest and support of the sem- inary students, and give them an opportunity of studying at close range the social problems that present themselves in the crowded sections of a great city, and of gaining some acquaintance with modern methods of attempting their solution. The settlement has been in operation since 1895, and has grown from the second floor of a tene- ment house to these five buildings. Settlement activities, divided usually into social, educational and religious classes, are here pursued on a dis- tinctly religious basis. Tn an old house, but with a pretty garden in the rear, and flowers at the w^indows, with some half- dozen well trained nursery maids for the tiny 189 The Better New York children, and a kindergarten for the somewhat older ones, is the appropriately named Sunnyside Day Nursery, at 231 East One Hundredth and Fourth Street. At 303 East One Hundred and Ninth Street, in the midst of ''Little Italy," is one of the indus- trial schools of the American Eemale Guardian Society. At 174 East One Hundred and Tenth Street is the Aguilar Free Library, established in 1886 by those who were interested in Jewish communal afifairs. Four branches were opened in localities where the Jewish population was most dense, but in 1903 all these branches were merged into the New York Library system, and all lost their iden- tity except this one, which occupies the building erected by the Aguilar Free Library Society. The society got its name from Grace Aguilar, a Hebrew writer. DIVISION X Above One Hundred and Tenth Street to Kingshridge. The stretch of green at Madison Avenue and One Hundred and Twentieth Street, with a nat- ural rocky elevation in the center, called Mt. Morris Park, is the highest point on tiie island of Manhattan, in days ot old this point was called by the Dutch, Slag Berge, or Snake Hill. More than half a century ago, the bell tower which now crowns it, was put there. Harlem then was a village, and to the south were other villages — Yorkville, Bloomingdale and Manhat- tanville. After the tower had been erected, three bell ringers were appointed and a man sat night and day with a telescope in his hand on the outlook for fires. When the smallest indication 190 Above One Hundred and Tenth Street was noticed the bell was set clanging, a certain number ot strokes denotnig each district. To this call the volunteer firemen responded with all the alacrity possible, pulling their cumbersome appa- ratus after them. As times changed, and new methods for locating fires and giving the alarm were used, though the old tower was no longer needed, it was still under the direction of the fire department, as it is today. The pioneers of Dutch civilization, as it crept northward over the Island of Manhattan, had their eyes, as early as 1636, on what had been an Indian village just below Mt. Morris Park of today. The river close by had the same name as the vil- lage — Muscoota, meaning the flats or meadows. The thrifty Hollanders were attracted by the fer- tility of this section, and soon arose the little vil- lage close to Snake Hill (the spot that is now Mt. Morris Park), which proved the forerunner of the settlement known as New Harlem, a name which has always clung to that section of New York, although Richard Nicolls, the English Gov- ernor, made efforts to fasten the name of Lancas- ter upon it. The oldest city branch of the Young ]\Ien's Christian Association, quartered since its estab- lishment in 1868 in several places, is now pleas- antly located in a building of its own at 5 West One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street. The gym- nasium and athletic fields have proved not only places of recreation, physical development_, and good fellowship, but strong helps, leading to higher and more spiritual interests. Evening educational classes in commercial and scientific courses have also proved most successful, and hun- dreds of young men from homeless boarding houses find its social features just what is needed to keep them from the temptations of the city. At 218 East One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street are the headquarters of the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library. In 1892 a small distributing station was opened in Harlem, but the unusual demand for books there made it necessary to open a real branch. 191 The Better New York At the foot of East One Hundred and Twelfth Street is one of the city's recreation piers. In the midst of Little Italy, along the East River, between One Hundred and Eleventh and One Hundred and Fourteenth Streets, is one of the recently acquired small parks — a place of recreation and rest, w^ith beautiful lawns and long lines of benches; there is a modern gymnasium, band concerts, and everything that can brighten the lives of the people of the neighborhood. In the Wadleigh High School for Girls at One Hundred and Fourteenth Street and Lenox Ave- nue, with its very beautiful entrance of heavy oak doors in their natural color, is a good example of the French Gothic architecture. This school has all the modern appliances, laboratories, gymna- siums, baths and classrooms. At One Hundred and Ninth Street and Amster- dam Avenue is the National Academy of Design. The I.'nconscious Influence of Art; Wadleigh High School. Above One Hundred and Tenth Street in 1815, when Professor Samuel F. B. Morse in- vited a number of artist friends to spend an eve- ning at his home. Before the evening was over, they had agreed to meet once a week in a similar manner. This was the germ of the Academy, which was founded in 1826. Professor Morse was the first president, and was re-elected to the ofBce for sixteen succeeding years. Pie delivered be- fore the Academy the first course of lectures on fine arts in this country. The first exhibition was held in a single room in Broadway. Now it is the foremost art institution in this country. An exhibition of new paintings is held every year, when prizes are given ranging from $100 to $300. The school is open to both sexes, and the prin- ciples of art are taught chiefly through the study of antique sculpture and living models, and by means of lectures and composition classes. In the same building is the American Water Color So- ciety, instituted in 1866 with the object of further- ing the interests of painting in water colors by exhibitions, where works of distinguished mem- bers and other artists are displayed and sold. jMorningside Park, an irregular piece of ground of more than thirty-two acres, extends northward from the northwest corner of Central Park to One Hundred and Twenty-third Street, where it ends in a high blult. Here may be found the ruin of a blockhouse, one of the defenses, during the Revolution, to protect the city upon the north. The park contains many beautiful shrubs, and some fine trees. The massive stone battlements on the west supporting the bluff, and overhung with rich ivy, and the broad flights of steps lead- ing upward, form a picturesque old-world feature. To the east of IMorningside Park, in the square at the junction of Morningside and ^Manhattan avenues, below One Hundred and Fourteenth Street, is a colossal bronze statue of Washington and Lafayette. It was made in France under the direction of M. Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty. It is an exact reproduction of a group to be seen in the Place des Etats Unis, Paris. 10.^ The Better New York The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Protes- tant Episcopal), Amsterdam Avenue, at One Hun- dred and Tenth Street, will be, when completed, one of the finest in the United States. The corner stone was laid December 2'], 1892. The whole ex- ternal length will be 520 feet: w^idth across front, 192; across transepts, 296 feet; height of central spire, 445 feet from the floor. As the site of the Cathedral is loft3^ the spire will be in reality 545 feet above the level of the city. The nave will be 180 feet long. Services are now held in the cr3'pt^ and are attended by large congregations. On the heights above One Hundred and Thir- teenth Street is St. Luke's, a general hospital free to those certihed as being unable to pay and as worthy objects of charity, all others becoming pay patients. This institution represents the earliest effort in church work to provide a general hospital for the sick, without distinction of race or creed. The idea was conceived by the Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, in 1846, then rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, at Twentieth Street and Sixth Avenue. On a Sunday in Octo- ber, 1846, Dr. Muhlenberg announced to his con- gregation that of the offerings of the day, one- half would be set aside as the beginning of a fund for an institution, the object of which would be the relief of the sick poor. Thirty dollars were contributed that Sunday, and the work begun that day continued until 1851, when the board of managers announced that $100,000 had been raised. By that time the hospital had quarters in a trans- formed dwelling house next door to the church, at 330 Sixth Avenue, and there remained until t8.s6, when the buildings on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street were ready for occupation. There the hospital had a home until 1896, when it removed to its present magnificent site on Cathedral Heights. A palatial building, demanding at once the at- tention of the passer-by, is St. Luke's Home for old ladies of the Protestant Episcopal faith. This is on Broadway, at One Hundred and Thir- 194 Above One Hundred and Tenth Street teenth Street, and is monumental for this form of help to the older generation. At One Hundred and Twelfth Street and Am- sterdam Avenue, those who having been accus- tomed to the comforts of life and in their declining years find themselves left without adequate means of support, have a permanent resting place, in the Home for Old Men and Aged Couples, a Protes- tant institution, one of the very oldest in the city. On Morningside Heights are the buildings of Columbia University, whose history dates back more than a century and a half. Columbia Col- lege was founded in 1754, as King's College. In 1784, after the Revolutionary War, King's Col- lege became Columbia College. In 1890, the college which had served New York so long and so well became the modern many-sided university of which the old Columbia College was the foundation. In a new and fitting home on a site of great beauty and appropriate- ness, it has now quietly and naturally taken its place as one of the small group of truly national universities. The library of the university, archi- tecturally, is one of the most beautiful features, and now numbers more than 300,000 volumes. The term Columbia University is now used in two distinct senses. Technically it means the various departments of educational work carried on under the immediate jurisdiction of the trustees of Columbia College; educationally, and as the term is interpreted by the public at large, it includes the work of the Barnard College (college for women) and of Teachers College, now one of the greatest of pedagogical institutions in the country. A tablet fixed to one of the buildings of Colum- bia Univpt-ci'tv serves as a constant reminder of the Battle of Harlem Heights. These heights, now crowned by great educational structures, were in the days of the Revolution open fields, with now and again wooded spots commanding a view of the Hudson River and surrounding country. Here, in September, 1776, the famous battle was fought, which, by its unqualified victory for the American 195 The Better New York Army, served as a strong tonic to the depressed soldiers, whose spirits had been greatly affected by their recent defeat on Long Island. Just to the north of the ground of Columbia University, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, at One Hundred and Twentieth and One Hundred and Twenty-first Streets, are the fine new buildings of Teachers College. Founded in 1886, with four students in one small room, it has steadily increased, until, in 1894, it occupied its own buildings. In 1898 it became a part of the educational system of Columbia University for the training of teachers of both sexes, of specialists in various branches of school work, of principals, supervisors, and superintendents of schools. Con- nected with it is the Bryson Library, open without charge to students and teachers of New York City and vicinity. Students are required to demon- strate their ability to teach and judge of teaching, and to plan courses of study. The Horace Mann School, a large private school, close by Teachers College, and connected with it, furnishes every opportunity to observe good teach- ing, and to establish a practical standard of merit. Close by are the new buildings of Barnard Col- lege for women, occupying the block running from Broadway to Claremont Avenue, at One Hundred and Twentieth Street, and forming three sides of a square, open towards the south. This college is named in honor of President Barnard of Columbia and became a department of Columbia University in 1900. It is an independent corporation, but closely affiliated with the university, its examina- tions being conducted by Columbia instructors, or persons approved by the President of Columbia. It opened with nine students in 1899. The Speyer School of Teachers College, for practise work, is in Lawrence Street, just west of Amsterdam Avenue. The building follows the architecture of the German Renaissance, its high-stepped gable being particularly characteris- tic of the style prevailing in North Germany in the middle of the sixteenth century. The basement 196 Above One Hundred and Tenth Street contains a large and well-equipped gymnasium. On the first floor are the kindergarten rooms, the principal's oflice and two public libraries, one for children and one for adults. The second and third stories contain eight bathrooms, all well lighted and handsomely furnished. The fourth floor is devoted to special rooms for cooking, sew- ing, bench work, and other manual arts. The resi- dents devote themselves not to classroom instruc- tion, but to the direction of clubs for children and adults, and to other forms of school extension work during the afternoon and evenings. The roof serves as a recreation ground and gar- den for the children and residents of the school, and for the people of the community in general. Here is to be found a plot of earth for practical gardening, carried on by children of the primary grades. The leading purpose of the school is to furnish properly qualified students of Teachers College with the opportunity for actual teaching, under expert supervision and criticism. At Amsterdam Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street is the "Sheltering Arms," which was founded in 1864 for homeless children, for whom no other institution provides. A char- acteristic feature of the institution is that children are received temporarily, subject to the order of New Use for City Piers; Recreation Above, Freight Below. The Better New York parents or guardians, and are not surrendered to the institution. They are given a grammar-school education, and are trained to household and other work. At the foot of West One Hundred and Thirtieth Street, North River, is another of the city's recre- ation piers. The brown stone buildings, standing in the midst of a large and well-elevated wooded park at St. Nicholas Avenue and One Hundred and Thirtieth Street, are the Academy of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, one of the oldest and best known of the convent schools in this country. At One Hundred and Forty-third Street and Broadway is the Colored Orphan Asylum, for the benefit of colored children. Orphans of both sexes between the ages of two and ten are received and provided for gratuitously, except those intrusted to the institution by a guardian, who must pay seventy-five cents per week. All the children are instructed in home industries, and, at the age of twelve, are indentured into families or trades. A carefully organized system looks to making the children useful and able to take care of themselves when they leave the institution. From Broadway to the Hudson River, from One Hundred and Fifty-fifth to One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Street, is a pretty green spot with suburban cottages called Audubon Park. It takes its name from John James Audubon, the ornitholo- gist, who built a house here in 1840, living here with his family until his death in 1851. This home still stands, and close by in the Trinity Cemetery, which takes in part of the old Audubon estate, he was buried, and there may be seen a very mag- nificent monument to his memory. It was in this old Audubon house when Audubon was living, in 1843, that Professor Samuel F. B. Morse made a trial of the electric telegraph, and here the first message ever sent over a wire for any distance was received. In 1891, some of the young men of Washington Heights began to realize the need of a resort 198 Above One Hundred and Tenth Street which would attract the boys and young men of the neighborhood, and serve to keep them from the po.ol rooms and the saloons. As a result the Washington Heights Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association was formed. For a time it met in rented rooms, but soon the present build- ing at 531 West One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street was purchased. It has a gymnasium with a trained director, reading-room, bowling alley, shower baths, educational and Bible classes, social clubs and religious meetings. In nearby St. Nicholas Avenue, at One Hun- dred and Fifty-sixth Street, is the building of the Washington Heights Free Library, a branch of the New York Public Library. It was incorpo- rated in 1868, and in 1883 Mr. J. Hood Wright left the sum of $100,000 for the use of the library. There is no library in the city that, in proportion to the number of volumes, has so large a number of readers as this. Here at One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street is the beginning of the Harlem River Driveway, usually called the Speedway, one of the best and most picturesque driving roads in any American city. It has its starting point at One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, on the western shore of the Harlem River, and thence follows the winding of the river street above high-water mark for something more than three miles. Almost each rod of the way gives a different view. There are easy descents, level stretches and gentle, graceful curves, from which are caught unexpected changes of scene, sweeping by wooded slopes, deep ra- vines, steep cliffs, and under bridge arches. This road has a total width of from 125 to 150 feet, of which the roadway itself covers an average width of ninety-five feet, the rest of the space being taken up by walks on either side for pedestrians. Though the building of the Speedway was owing to the efforts in 1892 of rich men owning valuable horses, who desired some place to speed them, it is as free to the general public today as any other road in the city. A man whose horse is all he owns (if the horse possesses any speed) can try 199 The Better New York him against the most costly animal owned by a multi-millionaire. As the Speedway is easily ac- cessible by the elevated and surface roads, scores of pedestrians who admire good horses and pic- turesque surroundings are found along its foot- paths, and the weary can always find a seat on the low coping of the retaining wall. On an eminence near where the Speedway has its start, above One Hundred and Sixtieth Street, stands the Morris Mansion, noticeable at once as different from all the buildings that surround it. It is one of the colonial survivals, the home where, before the Revolution, lived Roger Morris and his wife — she who had been Mary Philipse, an early love of Washington's. Here, too, Wash- ington at one time had his headquarters. In after days it was the home of Madame Jumel, and here she married Aaron Burr. Half a mile beyond the Morris Mansion is a bridge of peculiar design crossing the Harlem River. This is High Bridge, built to carry the Home for Deaf and Dumb. ^^■icw \ 1 ;i— TirSlhlfeii Individual Care for Dependent Children. pipes of the Croton Aqueduct, which brings water into the city from the Croton Lake. To the north and south of where High Bridge touches the Manhattan shore, and extending along the bluff above the Speedway, is a well-wooded park, which the city's landscape gardeners have improved without detracting from its natural beauty. Uniquely and delightfully situated on a high bank overlooking the Hudson, at Broadway and One Hundred and Sixty-third Street, the build- ings, really magnificent as they stand grouped to- gether surrounded by beautiful lawns and fine old trees, is the only military school for the deaf in the world, and the first oral school for the deaf established in America. This is the New York Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, which accommodates 500 inmates and a free school for all deaf children of the State. A fee is charged for children not residing in the State. Every known instrument and aid which is of value in their education is used. The course of study is equivalent to that of common schools and academies, and in addition, a mechanical trade is given to each male pupil, while the girls are taught dressmaking and cooking. 201 The Better New York On the point of land known as Washington Heights, at One Hundred and Seventy-sixth Street and Amsterdam Avenue, is the New York Juvenile Asylum, commanding a magnificent view of the Hudson River, the Palisades, the Harlem River, Long Island Sound and of the country for miles around. The grounds contain nearly twelve acres. This institution is a reformatory for truant and disorderly children of both sexes, committed by magistrates or surrendered by parents or guardians. It provides hordes in the country for friendless, destitute and homeless children, first giving them an excellent education, and in many cases industrial training. It is the largest Protes- tant children's asylum in America, and since its organization in 1853 has influenced the lives of almost 40,000 New York boys and girls, and has secured homes in the far West for more than 6,000 children. A point of land, extending into the Pludson River at One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Street, is the most prominent part of Fort Washington Park in natural and beautiful wildness. During the War of the Revolution, Fort Washington was situated on this rocky point. Here General Howe of the English army made an attack soon after the battle of Harlem Heights. The American soldiers in the fort, of whom there were about 3.000, thought themselves quite secure in such a high and well-fortified position, and would prob- ably have remained so, had not one of their num- ber turned traitor, and told the British how the fortress could be best attacked, and how mnny men were within to defend it. The British stormed the fort successfully, and every one of the soldiers who had not been killed was made pris- oner. This surrender of Fort Washington proved, in fact, the conclusion of the actual fight for liberty in New York. Near historic Fort George, at One Hundred and Ninetieth Street and Amsterdam Avenue, is the Isabella Heimath, a home for the care and maintenance of aged persons of fair average Iiealth who are unable to support themselves, and 202 The Bronx who have no near relatives legally bound to care for them. There is no distinction in sex, creed, or nationality. It is also a hospital for chronic invalids, and a home for convalescents. Any qualified person, deemed worthy, is taken free of charge. It takes its name from Isabella Uhl, in whose memory her mother, Mrs. Annie Otten- dorfer, founded the institution in 1875. It was then located in Astoria, L. I., but grew beyond the small limits there until the present spacious building was erected in 1899. DIVISION XI The Bronx. A distinctive feature of the Borough of The Bronx (that portion of New York City above the Harlem River) is its system of parks, consid- ered among the finest in the world. Twenty years ago there were no parks at all in this district. In 1883 an act of the legislature was passed, under which the mayor appointed a commission of citi- zens to locate certain lands that would be desir- able for this purpose. This commission made its report in 1884, suggesting the land now St. Mary's Park, Claremont Park, Crotona Park, Van Cort- landt Park, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx Park, Bronx and Pelham parkway, Crotona parkway and Mo- shohi parkway, aggregating 4,000 acres, and this land was acquired by the city in 1888. Beginning with the most westerly park limit, Spuyten Duyvil parkway varies from 200 to 400 feet in width, and from the junction of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Hudson River extends to Van Cortlandt Park, thus forming the connecting link between the system of parkways in Manhattan and those of the Bronx. Van Cortlandt Park^ in area 1,132 acres, is the second largest park in the Borough of The Bronx, and is of interest because of the ground having taken a very prominent part in the War of the Revolution. Within its limits is the old Van Cort- 203 The Better New York landt mansion, erected in 1748, and occupied for a time during the war by General Washington as a headquarters. This park contains a parade ground, the finest in the State, which was devel- oped for the use of the National Guard of the State of New York, and comprises about seventy- five acres. Its lake is used during the winter season by as many as 15,000 skaters in a day, and its golf links by 1,000 players a day. The Van Cortlandt Mansion has been turned over to the Colonial Dames, and is famous as a museum for Revolutionary relics. Mosholu Parkway leads direct from Van Cort- landt to the Bronk Park. It is something more than 6,000 feet long and 600 feet wide. Bronx Park, with an area of 661 acres, derives its name from Jonas Bronck, who came from Hol- land in 1639, and purchased from the Indians about 500 acres of land above the Harlem River, there establishing a great farm, or bouwerie, which after his death was called Bronck's Land. The park may be divided into three sections, and the Bronx Rixer runs directly through it from north to south, varying in width from 50 to 400 feet. The northern section is occupied by the Botanical Garden; the southern section by the Zoological Garden, and the third section is the park proper. In the Zoological Park, an immense boulder, weighing probably 100 tons, is so bal- anced upon the rock where it was lodged by some glacier thousands of years ago, that a person by an ordinary effort can set it rocking to and fro. In 1898 the New York Zoological Society of the City of New York began the founding of an institution devoted to the exhibition of living forms of life. Active work was begun in 1898, and the following year the Zoological Park was for- mally opened. A few years ago, South Bronx Park, where the Zoological Park is now, was a wild and inhospitable wilderness, lacking every element of comfort for the visitor, and to a great extent unprotected. Today the Zoological Park is fenced and protected from destructive influences, contains four and one-half miles of walks, 5,850 204 The Bronx feet of macadam roadway^ and 1,900 feet of sewers and drains. Clean and wholesome ponds have taken the place of stagnant bogs. It contains 300 park settees, many pavilions, a reptile house, a primate house, a lion house and an aquatic bird house. All these are as liberal in design and rich in execution as the most critical could desire. In addition to these heated buildings, there are many open-air installations for animals, some of an im- posing character. There are the bear dens, repre- senting the latest development in the care of bears. The bears are grouped in nine large open yards against the side of a granite cliff, and the space allowed is abundant for exercise, both in running and climbing. There are wild sheep, goats, and ibex, to be found on Mountain Sheep Hill, a spot that a few years ago was an unattractive mass of boulders, old walls, and rubbish, but now converted into an imposing landscape feature, the natural granite rock 'having been utilized to the utmost in securing a landscape effect, and providing a natural home for the animals. It has been the effort of the society to give the king of beasts and his near relatives a home that should be in keeping with the dignity of their position in the animal world. The lion houses of Europe were carefully studied for this purpose, but it was found in connection with all, that the shadow of the iron bar was over them. It had been agreed that there w^as small satis- faction in beholding a large, fine animal im- prisoned in narrow, mean quarters, and it was thought desirable that the lions should have the greatest possible amount of space in which to live, in order that they might not seem to be prisoners. This for the comfort, health and convenience of the animals, the safety of the keepers, and the requirements of the public. The lion house of Zoological Park, therefore, represents the greatest effort of the society, and is the finest building in the park. Situated in a commanding position on a terrace, it conveys the impression of being a much larger building than it really is. The wealth of sculptured stone and terra cotta pre- 205 The Better New York sented, the realistic carving of large felines Im- presses the observer at once, and the impression is strengthened by the two life-size sentinel lions, carved in stone, which sit on either side of the main entrance. The structure is 240 feet in length, and more than 100 feet high. The in- terior cages represent a great innovation in the confinement of the largest animals. Instead of the heavy iron bars, hitherto in universal use, which cut off much of the view of the animals and sug- gest the prison idea, the fronts of these cages have been fitted with wire netting specially made. The mesh is rectangular, and nearly square, measuring three by four inches. The horizontal wires are those which are relied upon to resist the attacks of the animal. They are all of hard steel, size No. 5, and each wire has a tensile strength of about 4,500 pounds. Each end of each wire is wrapped around a heavy frame of round wrought iron, twisted tightly upon itself and the end soldered down. The whole of this iron work has been painted a dull olive green, to match the tiling in the interior of the cage, and the netting comes as near to being invisible as anything ever can which is strong enough to confine lions and tigers of the largest size. A special feature designed to facilitate the work of artists, sculptors and students is a spa- cious, well-lighted room at one end of the building, wherein twenty artists can be accommodated while working on living models. Against one side of this room a large cage has been constructed, with a roof of plate glass. From a trap-door in the floor of this cage a transfer car will deliver any animal directly into it from the cages. The ob- ject of this feature is to encourage and promote the work of serious-minded animal painters and sculptors, both amateur and professional. There are other magnificent houses for the four- footed animals — a great reptile house, a mam- moth flying cage for birds, which is one of the wonders of the park, and is an attempt to do for certain large and showy water birds, what has been done for the hoofed animals, that is, to give them a section of nature's own domain. The 206 The Bronx aquatic bird house is an attempt to solve an old problem in a new way — the care of large migra- tory water birds in the most uneven winter cli- mate on earth. The dens of the carnivorous animals contain many interestsing specimens, while the antelope house, the ostrich house, the prairie dog village, the otter pools, and those of the sea lions are all examples of the excellent management of the society. There are about 3,000 specimens in the collection. The New York Botanical Garden was incorpo- rated in 1891, when the legislature provided for the appropriation of 250 acres of Bronx Park for a garden and museum, for the collection and cul- ture of plants, flowering shrubs and trees; the ad- vancement of botanical science, the prosecution of original research, the exhibition of ornamental and decorative horticulture, and for the entertain- ment, recreation and instruction of the people. Since that time buildings have been reared and roads and paths laid out and improved. The land here is most diversified in character, and affords natural scenery unsurpassed in beauty in the vicinity of New York. The Bronx River traverses the garden. There are low meadows, marshy ground, woodlands and a great variety of soil. When the ground was taken possession of the different flora were examined, and found to contain not less than one thousand kinds of plants, exclusive of the fungi and lichens. The Botanical Museum building, the chief structure of the garden, is frank and dignified in architectural treatment, in the style of the Italian Renaissance, 300 feet in length, and its height to the top of the dome is no feet. This building, with all that it contains, is open free to visitors. There is a lecture theater, with a capacity of 700, where courses of lectures on botany are main- tained and illustrated by means of the stereopti- con and specimens of the living plants from the garden. The large conservatories are composed of fifteen houses, grouped in a quadrangle, con- structed throughout in accordance with the most 207 The Better New York modern principles, and forming what is consid- ered the most elegant glass house in the world. The vast collections contained in the museum, in the conservatories, and the surrounding grounds are brought together for the purpose of educating the people in everything pertaining to plants and their purposes. The grounds and buildings are open to the public daily, without charge, and all information freely given. The garden also affords special facilities for study and investigation to teachers, and those who are qualified by previous study to investigate the more profound problems of plant life. Columbia University has deposited in the mu- seum a fine herbarium, collected by the late Pro- fessor Corey, and valued at $175,000. Among other striking features are the specimens of trop- ical vegetation — noble palms, some of which are thirty feet high, and of imposing appearance. Bronx and Pelham Parkway is the connecting link between Bronx and Pelham Bay Park, a stretch 12,000 feet long, having a width of about 40Q feet. Pelham Bay Park contains over 1,700 acres with coastal indentations, including picturesque bays and inlets, an open water front on the Sound, the bays and the wooded margin of Hunter's Island, an aggregate shore line of over nine miles, and embraces territory which is unsurpassed for pur- poses of public recreation by any park in the world. This section has great colonial interests. City Island is close by, and was at one time in its early history laid out to take the place of what New York City is at the present day. Crotona Parkway is the connecting link between the Bronx Park and Crotona Park. Crotona Park has an area of 155 acres. Up to 1902, little attention was given to its improve- ment, but it has lately been drained, and beautiful shade trees and fine flowering shrubs have been planted in and about it. A new grand stand has been built in the part used for ball games. Band concerts are given at the music stand. 208 The Bronx Pelham Bay Park is largely undeveloped, but there are good golf links, a few other places of amusement and some forty bath houses have been constructed at the southern end^ which have been opened free to the public. Claremont Park is an area of thirty-eight acres. It lies on very high natural ground, with an eleva- tion of 100 feet in places, and gives an extended view of the surrounding territory. It is a fully developed park, every part being used by the pub- lic, and contains many tennis courts and ball grounds. With an area of twenty-nine acres, St. Mary's Park was formerly a portion of the estate of Gouverneur Morris, who took a prominent part in the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and who was also a delegate to the convention which gave the present Constitu- tion to our own State. He is buried in the ceme- tery beside St. Ann's Church, within a few feet of the park. An area of seventeen acres on the high ridge between Walton and Mott Avenues is called Franz Sigel Park. It was formerly called Cedar Park. In 1902 Poe Park was acquired. It lies on top of a hill just east of St. James' Park, and derives its name from the fact that the cottage where the poet Poe used to live is still standing close by on Kingsbridge Road. The total area of park lands in the Borough of The Bronx is 4,078 acres. The New York University, on University Heights, north of One Hundred and Eighty-first Street, was formerly known as the University of the State of New York, and was started by nine citizens of New York,, whose first meeting was held December 16, 1829. These founders were public-spirited business and professional men, and their plans from the beginning included nearly all the later developments. The charter for the col- lege was enacted in 1831, and the work for many years was carried on in Washington Square. In 209 The Better New York 1891 its present site was acquired through a move- ment inaugurated to enlarge the work. The University comprises eight distinct schools and the women's law classes, all endowed except three. At University Heights is to be found the Uni- versity College and the School of Applied Science, and during part of the year the Summer School holds its session there. The schools of peda- gogy, of finance, commerce and accounts and the women's law classes still remain at the Univer- sity building on Washington Square, while the Graduate School divides the work between the two places. The law school of the University, established in 1835, one of the oldest law schools in the United States, conducts its courses at Wash- ington Square. In 1900 $100,000 was given the University for a Hall of Fame, in which were to be enrolled the names of great Americans. Fifty names were chosen in 1900, and five more will be selected each succeeding five years through the twentieth cen- tury. The Hall of Fame is a half-round edifice, built almost entirely of granite, connecting two of the university buildings. It comprises a mu- seum of seven rooms on the ground floor, above which extends a beautiful colonnade of four hun- dred feet. Bronze tablets, upon which are in- scribed quotations from the works or sayings of America's great men, are set in the wall which forms the base of the colonnade, and through its arches are to be seen vistas of the Hudson and the Palisades, while below are the beautiful ter- races stretching from the base of the building, and, not far distant, winding here and there, is the Harlem River. In the public school at St. Ann's Avenue and One Hundred and Forty-seventh Street is demon- strated a totally new type of school building, show- ing that it is possible to erect schools in the mid- dle of a block instead of on corners, where, for the sake of light, it has been customary to choose the site for such buildings. This has been accom- plished through the *'H building," where two side wings are connected by the rear portion in- closing a central courtyard, behind an ornamental 210 The Bronx iron fence abutting on the sidewalk. By this means the requisite amount of light and air are obtained. This especial building is of the Renais- sance style. High up on an elevation overlooking the Hud- son River, where Sedgwick Avenue crosses One Hundred and Eighty-eighth Street, is Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders. It was equipped in 1891 by William Henry Webb, who gave an endowment for its maintenance in per- petuity. Its purpose is to afford free relief and support to aged and unfortunate men who have been engaged in shipbuilding in the United States, together with their wives or widows. Its char- acteristic feature, however, is to furnish to any young man, a native or citizen of the United States, who may upon examination prove himself of good character, a gratuitous education in the art, science and profession of shipbuilding and marine engine building. He is also given board, lodging, and the necessary implements and ma- terials while obtaining such an education. At the Mott Haven Junction a commodious new building has been erected^ called the John M. Toucey Memorial Building, for the railroad New Use for a Car. ,,..^.^^;:^=^^ '■-i ; I ?£: £b=ttJ j^ \ ,jn 1 / ' | ' f Final Evolution of the Car. branch of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. Mr. Toucey was for many years general manager of the New York Central Railroad. The hrst abiding place of this branch was for a long time in a railroad car. One of the most beautiful spots in upper New York, beyond Washington Bridge, where a hill surrounded by woods slopes down to the Harlem River, is the new Home for the Friendless, pro- vided by the American Female Guardian Society, and also serving as the headquarters of the organi- zation. This society had its origin in 1834, and was one of the results of a genuine religious re- vival which awakened a desire in a few earnest women to reach out to the afflicted of the city. During the years of this society's work nearly 35,000 homeless and neglected children have been cared for. In the new home, flooded with sun- shine and fresh air, the 150 or more children are surrounded with the practical comforts and tender care which fit them for useful and good lives in the homes to which they are sent or in their own homes to which they may be returned later. The home also provides twelve industrial schools in 212 Where Friendless Children are Cared for. various parts of the city to care for over 7,000 children a year, too poor and dirty to be ad- mitted to the overcrowded public schools. Here the children are washed, clothed, fed and taught. The work of these schools extends to the families, giving practical supplies or words of good coun- sel to the overburdened or demoralized parents. The Board of Education contributes a small share of the expense of these schools, but it is by the efforts of the Christian women who have man- aged this charity from the start that gifts of money, food and clothing make this work pos- sible. The children are taught, besides the usual branches, cobbling, basket-weaving, wood-carving, cooking, chair-caning, and thus they learn to earn and save money in an interesting and wholesome way. Some of these children are each summer given an outing in the society's two country homes. In the extreme northern section of the city is St. John's College. The property is a part of the old Dutch village of Fordham. The college was opened in 1841, having been founded by Bishop John Hughes, later the first Roman Catholic Arch- bishop of New York, and the first American Cardi- nal.^ In 1846 an act of incorporation was passed, raising the college to the rank of a university, with power to grant all degrees usually granted by any other university. The same year it was pur- 213 Not Altogether Friendless. chased by the Jesuit Fathers. The college estate now embraces seventy acres, and vast reaches of lawn and rows of fine trees surround its buildings. The aim of the college is to afford a complete lib- eral education by developing and training the mind and heart, and not merely to prepare young men for professional studies. It supposes that in business life, no less than in the professions, a young man needs habits of attention, application, and accuracy. These habits are developed and strengthened by the course of studies. Being under Roman Catholic direction, it makes a pri- mary duty of instructing the students in the doc- trine and practises of that Church, though this instruction is not obtruded on students of other creeds. The Catholic Protectory, at Van Ness Station, cares for three classes of destitute children: chil- dren under fourteen years of age intrusted for protection or reformation; those between seven and fourteen committed as idle, truant, vicious, or homeless by order of a police magistrate; those of like age and duly transferred by the Commis- sioners of Charities and Correction. In the boys' protectory, which is in charge of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, besides a suitable education, the boys are taught trades. In the girls' pro- 214 The Bronx tectory, in charge of the Sisters of Charity, sew- ing and other useful employments are taught. The work of preparing this guide book would have been almost impossible without the informa- tional resources of the American Institute of So- cial Service at 287 Fourth Avenue. In a work of this character anything like detailed treatment has been impossible; types have been selected and so described that the inquirer may gain a working knowledge of the movements they represent. The Better New York is not a directory or an ency- clopedia, but an introduction to the higher life of New York, pleasurably and interestingly effected. The documents and special reports on which the book is based are classified at the headquarters of the American Institute of Social Service, where they are available to all those desirous of obtain- ing details of the movements described in The Better New York, or of those in other American Communities, or in foreign countries. All visitors, students and investigators are cordially welcomed at the rooms of the Institute, where they will have every facility for pursuing their studies or in- quires. The Canon of a City Street. NnnnuuLlpbGr. Afterword. A great city is a little world. There are gathered together "all sorts and conditions of men" — a multiplicity of races, of languages, of customs, of religions, of occupations, of needs, of interests. Most dwellers in the city know only the stratum in which they themselves live, and but little of that. The city's ignorance of itself is responsible for many abuses, for much indifference, and for not a little pessimism. The Better New York has been a revelation even to those who knew the best side of their city. The reader no longer wonders at the many-handed philanthropies, as various as human needs, but admires the versatile ingenuity of the spirit of helpfulness, until he is convinced that, if New York is one of the worst cities in the world, it is also one of the best. He appreciates the fact that the better life of the city has not been dissected as in a directory and left as dead, as are all subjects of dissection. It is vital with human interest, and that interest has been sustained from first to last. It will, therefore, make real to New Yorkers scores of institutions and activities which heretofore have been only names. It will thus prove valuable to all who are inter- ested in human betterment, whether in the United States or Europe. JOSIAH STRONG. 216 INDEX. Abingdon Square, 74, Academy of Design, Na- tional, 193. Academy of Medicine, 144. Actors' Church Alliance, 110. Adler, Dr. Felix, 164. Adult Education in Public Schools, 177. Aguilar Free Library So- ciety, 44, 190. Alfred Corning Clark, Neighborhood House, 51. American Bible Society, 60, 61. American Female Guardian: Society and Home for the Friendless, 40, 52, 151, 172, 190, 212-214. Industrial School, 54. American Institute, 145. American Institute of So- cial Service, 119-122, 215. American Scenic and His- toric Preservation So- ciety, 18. American Seaman's Friend Society, 14, 15. American Water Color So- ciety, 193. Antiquities in Metropolitan Museum of Art, 158. lAquarium, Public, 10. Architectural League, 152. Architecture, Public School, 33, 39, 171, 186, 192, 210. Armitage Chapel, 147. _ Arnold, Benedict, Site of Home, 13, 14. Arsenal, 156. Art Museum, see Metro- politan. Art Societies, see Societies. Art Society, Decorative, 127. Art Students' League, 151. Arthur, Chester A., Statue of, 115. Artists' Aid Society, 75. Artists' Fund Society, 75. Arts Club, National, 140. Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, 90, 117. Association of Sewing Schools, 94, 95. Association of Working Girls' Societies, 40, 69, 97, 101, 102. Avenue B Industrial School, Children's Aid Society, 104, 105. B Babcock Memorial, 141. Baptist Deaconess Society, 149. Mission Society, 58, 59. Barnard College, 195. Baron de Hirsch Trade School, 180. Baths: Free, 90. Public, 90. Battery Park, 9. Park Playground, 11. The, 9. Beekman House, 139. Bellevue Hospital, 42, 111. Medical College, 112. Bethlehem Day Nursery, 113. Bethany Memorial, 172. Bible House, 60, 61. Society, American, 61. Society, New York, 61. Blind, Library for the, 170. New York Institute for the, 101. Society for the Relief of the, 171. Bloomingdale Village. 171. Board of Education, 112, 174- 178. Bone Alley, 52, 53. Botanical Garden, 204, 207. Museum, 208. ^ouwerie Village, 59, 60. Bowery, The, 44, 45. Bowling Green, 12, 154. "Boys' Club," 57. 217 Index. Brace, Charles Loring, 19, 116. Broadway Tabernacle, 142. Bronx Borough, 208. Parkway, 208-211. Bronze Doors of St. Bar- tholomew's Church, 130. Bronzes in Metropolitan IMuseum of Art, 158. Burr, Aaron, Home of, 67, 68. Calvary Church, 125. House, 111. Cash Girls' School, 79. Castle Garden, 10. Catholic Protectory, 214. Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 194. St. Patrick's, 135. Central Park, see Park. Century Association, 144. Charity Ball, 138. Charity Organization Soci- ety, 96, 120, 121. Chelsea Village, 95. Children's Aid Society, 19, 20, 41, 42, 117, 148. Elizabeth Home for Girls, 64. Industrial Schools: Avenue B, 104, 105. East Side, 41, 42. German, 53. Henrietta, 162. Italian, 32, 33, 67. Jones Memorial, 183. Lord Memorial, 50. Mott Street, 89. Rhinelander, 187. Sullivan Street, 72. Tompkins Square, 55. West Side Lodging House, 140. Children's Charitable Union, 53. Court, 63, 64. House, 46, 47. School Farm, 147. Chinatown, 28, 29. Chinese Sunday-school, 181. Chinese Theater, 28, 29. Choral Union, 82, 83. Christian Police Associa- tion, 101. Workers' Home, 63. Christodora House, 55, 56 Churches: All Souls', 138, 178. Amity Baptist, 149, 175; Association for the Ad- vancement of Labor. 110. Brick Presbvterian, 128, 141. Broadwav Tabernacle, 142. Calvary, '125. Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 194. Christ, 141. Fifth Avenue Baptist, 147. Fifth Avenue Presbyte- rian, 137, 181. Of the Holy Communion, 92-94. Judson ^Memorial, 73. Madison Avenue Re- formed, 139. Madison Square Presby- terian, 113. Of the Ascension, 81, 82. Of the Covenant, 128, 134. Of the Holy Comforter, 68 Of the Holy Trinity, 179, 187. Of the Incarnation, 113. St. Bartholomew's 130. St. George's 105-107. St. James's, 179, 186. St. Mark's, 62. St. Michael's, 170. St. Patrick's Cathedral, 135. Of St. Paul the Apostle, 161. St. Thomas's, 136, 137, 172, 173. Of San Salvatore, 90, 91. Of Sea and Land, 23. . Temperance Society, 11, 45, 46. Of the Transfiguration, 114. Workers' House, 186. Circulating Library, see Public Library. City and Suburban Homes Co., 163-165, 181. Hall Park. 16, 154. History Club, 145. Improvement Society, 116. Clara de Hirsch Home and Training School, 181. Clinton Hall, 85. 2l8 Inde:? Clubs: Far and Near, 39. Irene, 101, 102. Ivy, 97. Ivy, Junior, 97. Coffee Wagon, 11. College of Physicians and Surgeons, 162. Settlement, see Settlement. Of the City of New York, 125. Colored Orphan Asylum, 198. ^ Columbia University, 195. Conkling, Roscoe, Statue of, 115. Consumers' League, 123. Convent of the Sacred Heart, 198. Cooking School, New York, 123. Coopei Settlement, 104. Union, 59, 60. Union Park, 60. Co-operative Social Settle- ment Society, 74. Cox, S. S., Statue of, 85. Crippled Children, School for, 205. Crotona Parkway, 208. Davis, William H., School, 149. Day Nurseries, 53. Bethlehem, 113. Bethany, 172. Sumy Side, 190. Virginia, 53, 54, 119. Wayside, 110. Deaconess Society, 149. Deaconesses' Home, 187. Deaf and Dumb, Institute for the Instruction of, 200. Deaf Mutes, Institution for Improved Instruction of, 180. Decorative Art Society, 127. De Hirsch, Baron, Day School, 44. Clara, Home and Training School, 181. Fund, Baron, 14. Trade ^ School, 180. Delmonico's, 130. Department Store Better- ment, 102, 103. De Witt Memorial Church, 50. Diet Kitchen Association, 34, 54, 110, 139, 140. Doe Ye Nexte Thinge So- ciety, 70. Education, Board of, 112, 175, 178. Educational Alliance, 42, 43, 44. Association, Public, 145. History, 175-178. Ericsson, John, Statue of, 10. Ethical Culture Society, 42, 43, 164. Exchange for Woman's Work, 131. Eye and Ear Infirmary, 64. Farragut, Admiral, Statue of, 115. Federation of Churches, 12. Fine Arts Building, 151-153. Federation, 153. First Carnegie Library, 185. City Hall, 16, 17. Habitation of White Men, 14. Model Tenement, 42. Printer in New York, 16. Tenement House, 39. Five Points, 30, 32. House of Industry, 155 Worth Street, 30, 31. Mission, 32. Fletcher Street, 16. Floating Church of Our Sa- viour, 26. Floating Hospitals, 128. Flower and Fruit Mission, 125. Foreigners' Mission, 28. Fort Clinton, 9, 161. Fish, 161. George, 202. Washington, 202. Foundling Asylum, 180. Fresh Air Fund, Tribune, 17, 18. Friends' Society, 108. General Society of Mechan- ics and Tradesmen, 145. Theological Seminary, 95, 96. 219 Index. Geographical Society, Amer- ican, 169. Girls' Elizabeth Home for, 64. Friendly Society in Amer- ica, 107. Technical School, Hebrew 41, 42. Training School for, 136. God's Providence House, 46. Gospel Mission to the Tombs, 38. Grace Chapel, 6Q. Church, 83-85. Church Settlement, 66. Institute, 16S. Mission House, 67. Grant's Tomb, 168. Greeley, Horace, Statue of, 17, 103. Square, 103. Greenwich House, 74. Village, 68, 80. H Hall of Fame, 210. Hamilton, Alexander, Home of, 67. Hamilton Street, 24. Hanover Square, 15, 16. Harlem, 193. Heights, 195. River Driveway, 199. Hartley House, 146. Health Department, 104, 111, 153. Hebrew Charities, 110. Technical Institute, 63. Technical School for Girls, 41. Hell Gate, 186. Hell's Kitchen, 142. Herald Square, 103. High Bridge, 200. Historical Society, 62. Home for Old Men and Aged Couples, 195. Home for the Friendless of the American Female Guardian Society, 40, 52, 151, 172, 190, 212-214. Horace Mann School, 196. Hospitals: Babies', 138. Bellevue, 42, 111. Child's, 138. Floating, 128. Fordham, 112. Gouverneur, 112. Harlem, 112. Lying In, 108. New York, 91. Nursery and Child's, 137. Orthopaedic, 173. Post Graduate, 109. Presbyterian, 179. Roosevelt, 162. Skin and Cancer, 109. St. John's, 35. St. Luke's, 194. Willard Parker, 104. House and School of Indus- try, 91. Of the Transfiguration, 103. Hudson Guild, 97. Hunt Memorial, 179. Improved Dwellings Asso- ciation, 183. Housing, 39, 42, 71, 163- 165, 181-183. Industrial Christian Alli- ance, 71-73. Home of Salvation Army, 96, 97. School for Girls, 56, 57. Schools, see American Fe- male Guardian Society. Schools, see Children's Aid Society. Immigrant Girls* Home, 12. Italian, Society for the Protection of, 13. Italian, Work Among, 22. Temporary Homes for, 12, 13. Infant Asylum, 1G3. Institutional Church, What It Is, 131. Work of All Souls' Church, 178. Church of Sea and Land, 23. Brick Presbyterian Church, 134, 193. Broadway Tabernacle, 142. Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, 147. De Witt Memorial, 50. Fifth Avenue Presbyte- rian Church, 137, 181. Grace Church, 83, 84, 85. Tudson Memorial, 73, 74. Madison Avenue Re- formed, 140, 172. 220 Index. Pro-Cathedral, 50. St. Augustine's Church, 47. St. Bartholome w's Church, 132-134. St. George's Church, 105-107. St. Thomas's Church, 172-173. Institutions for the Instruc- tion of the Deaf and Dumb, 180, 200. International Medical Mis- sionary Society, 128. Order of King's Daugh- ters and Sons, 92. Isabella Heimath, 202. Isle of Safety, 100. Italian Immigrants, Society for the Protection of, 13, 21, 22. Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, 22, 23. Janitors' Society, 38, 49. Jefferson Market Prison, 79. Juvenile Asylum, 201, 202. K Kindergarten Association, 41, 42, 68, 72, 75, 144. King's Daughters and Sons, International Order of, 92. Kitchen Garden, 123. Ladies* Christian Union, 81. Leake Dole of Bread, 35. Lectures in Public Schools, 177. Legal Aid Society, 11, 17. Leo House, 11. Libraries:— Aguilar, 190. Astor, 143. First Carnegie, 185. For the Blind, 170. Italian, Free, 90. Lenox, 143, 178. Mercantile, 85. Mott Memorial, 114. Seaman's Loan, 15. See Public Library. Society, 82. Tilden, 144. Traveling, 170. Lincoln, Abraham, Statue of, 126. Little Church Around the Corner, 114. Little Italy, 268. Little Mothers' Aid Asso- ciation, 106. Loan Society, Provident, 124. Long Acre Square, 142. Lutheran Emigrant House Association, 12. Lunch Wagons, 11, 85, 93, 111. M McAuley, Jerry, 20, 21, 103. McGowan's Pass, 161. Manhattan Trade School for Girls, 77, 78. Marble Cemetery, 57. Margaret Fahnestock Train- ing School for Nurses, 109. Margaret Louisa Home, 170, 171. Marine Society, 13. Mariners' Church, 22. Temple, 22. Mechanics and Tradesmen, General Society of, 199. Medicine, Academy of, 198. Medical Missionary Society, International, 127. Memorial to Richard Morris Hunt, 249. Mercantile Library, 85. Meteorological Observa- tory, 156. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 157-160. Temple, 78. Mills Hotel, 48, 70, 71. Missions: And Tract Society, New York, City, 50, 57, 63, 89. Colored, 101. Episcopal, 142. Five Points, 32. Fresh Air, 181. Florence Crittenden, 87. Foreigners* 28. Galilee, 111. Grace, 67. House of the Trinity Church Association, 36. Howard, 64. Madison Square Presby- terian Church, 113. 221 Index. Of Our Lady of the Ro- sary, 12. .Rescue, 133. St. Bartholomew's, 132-134. Societies, 142. Sunshine, 142. Trinity Church Associa- tion, 36. Tombs Gospel, 33. Vermilye, 149. Missionary Societies, 127. Society, Congregational Home, 122. Society, Protestant Epis- copal Church, 11, 16, 23, 142, 188. Missions, Home, 122. Model Tenement, First, 39. Tenements, 39, 42, 71, 163- 165, 181-183. Monument to Soldiers and Sailors, 167. Morris Mansion, 200. Mosholu Parkwav, 204. Mulberry Bend, 29. Municipal Art Society, 100, 140, 152, 179. Lodging House, 111. Museum of Art, 157-160. Of Natural History, 168, 169. N National Academy of De- sign, 193, Arts Club, 140. Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild, 8L Sculptors' Societies, 140. Temperance Society, 93. Natural History, Museum of, 168, 169. Newsboys' Lodging House, 19. New York City Mission and Tract Society, 118. Hospital, 91. Port Society, 22. Trade School, 146, 181-183. University, 209, 210. Normal College Alumnae House, 184. Nurses' Settlement, 41. Training School for, 109. Obelisk in Central Park, 160. Olive Tree Inn, 111. Olivet Memorial Church, 57. Orthopaedic Dispensary and Hospital, 172-175. Paintings in Metropolitan Museum of Art, 157-160. Pascal Institute, 136. . i^ Pasteur Institute, 98. Pawnbroking, 124. Parks : Audubon, 198. Avenue Tunnel, 128. Battery, 9. Board, 156. Bowling Green, 12, 154. Bronx, 203-208. Bryant, 143. Central, 154-161. City Hall, 16, 154. Claremont, 209. Cooper Union, 59. Corlears Hook, 39. Crotona, 208. Development, 154. De Witt Clinton, 147. East River, 186. Fort Washington, 202. Franz Sigel, 209. Greeley Square, 103. Hamilton Fish, 52, 53. Herald Square, 103. Jeannette, 16. Madison Square, 115. Morningside, 193. Mount Morris, 190, 191. Mulberry Bend, 29, 30. Pelham Bay, 208. Foe, 209. Riverside, 154, 167. Rutgers Street, 26. , St. John, 69. St. Mary's, 209. Seward, 43. Tompkins Square, 55. Union Square, 126. Van Cortlandt, 203. Washington Square, 73. Zoological, 204-206. Bowling Green, 12. First City Hall, 15. In Bronx Borough, 203 209. Pelham Bay Parkway. 208. Penny Provident Fund, 121. 222 Index. People's Baths, 90, 118. Choral Union, 82, 83. Home Church and Settle- ment, 54. Singing Classes, 82, 83. University Extension So- ciety, 76, 77. Physicians and Surgeons, College of, 162. Playground in Battery Park, 11. Police Association, Chris- tian, 101. Port Society, 22, 68. Practical Aid Society, 146. Preservation of American Scenery, 18. Prison Association, 125. Pro-Cathedral, 50. Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society, 46, 87, 88, 142, 188. Provident Loan Society, 124 Public Baths, 90. Public Educational Associa tion, 145. Public Library, 26, 54, 86, 87, 144, 178, 185. Bloomingdale Branch, 170. Bond Street Branch, 87. Chatham Square Branch 26. George Bruce Branch, 142. Harlem Branch, 192. Jackson Square Branch, 76. Muhlenburg Branch, 93. Ottendorfer Branch, 61. System, 144. Washington Heights Branch, 199. Yorkville Branch, 185. School Architecture. 33, 39, 171, 186, 210, 247, 259. School, Largest in the World, 52, 139. Railroad Branch Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, 131, 168, 211, 212. Recreation Pier, 25, 52, 68, 111, 147, 192, ]98. Rescue Home of Salvation Army, 105, 106. Richmond Hill, 68. Riverside Association, 166. Sabbath Committee, 61, Sailors' Home, 23. Work for, 23. St. Augustin's Chapel, 48. St. Barnabas' House, 88. St. Christopher's House, 179. St. Chrysostom's Chapel, 140. St. James's Parish, 179. St. John's Burying Ground, 69. Chapel, 34. College, 213. Guild, 128. Lane, 35. Park 69. St. Luke's Home, 194. St. Mary's School Ship, 112. St. Paul's Chapel, 36. St. Thomas's Church, 135, 136, 137. House, 172, 173. St. Vincent de Paul Society, 86. Salvation Army, 21, 22, 26, 27, 78, 79, 96. Hotel, 26, 27. Industrial Home, 96. Lodging House, 26, 45, 47. Rescue Home, 105. School Architecture, 33, 39, 171, 186, 192, 210. School for Cash Girls, 79. School of Applied Design for Women, 99. School, Public, 24. School Ship, St. Mary's, 112. Seamen's Christian Associa- tion, 68. Friend Society, 15, 24. Search for the Good, 119- 122. Second City Hall, 16. Settlement, Alfred Corning Clark, 51. Amity, 149. Christodora, 55. College, 49, 184. Cooper, 104. Co-operative Social, 74. East Side House, 184, 185. Friendly Aid, 113. Gospel, 43. Grace Church, 64. Greenwich House, 74. Hartley House, 146. 22Z Index. Jacob A. Riis Neighbor- hood, 22. Normal College, 184. Nurses', 41. Paulist, 162. People's Home Church, 54. Phelps, 127. Sunshine, 32. Union, 189. University, 49. West Side, 142. West Side Neighborhood House, 147. What It Is, 48. Seward Park, 43. Seward, William H., Statue of, 115. Sheltering Arms, 197. Shipbuilders, Academy and Home for, 211. Singing Classes for the Peo- ple, 82, 83. Sisterhood for Personal Service, 186. Sister Irene's Home, 180. Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, 22. Site of Benedict Arnold's House, 13. Slum Post of Salvation Army, 21. Sisters of Salvation Army, 22. Social* Betterment, 119-122. Service, American Insti- tute of, 119, 122, 215. Settlements, see Settle- ments. Societies: For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 113. For the Prevention of Crueltv to Children, 124. For the Protection of Ital- ian Immigrants, 13. For the Relief of the Blind, 171. For the Suppression of Vice, 18. Library, 82. Of American Artists, 151. Of Decorative Art, 127, 128. Of the Lying-in Hospital, 108. Soldiers and Sailors* Monu- ment, 167. Speedway, The, 199. Speyer School of Teachers College, 196, 197. Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, 203. Squirrel Inn, 45. State Charities Aid Associa- tion, 124. Statuary in Metropolitan Museum of Art, 157-160. Statue of Abraham Lincoln, 126. Of Admiral Farragut, 110. Of Chester A. Arthur, 110. Of Horace Greeley, 17, 103. Of John Ericsson, 10. Of Roscoe Conkling, 115. Of S. S. Cox, 85. Of Washington, 126. Of Washington and La- fayette, 193 Of William H. Seward, 115. Studio Building, 75. Teachers* College, 196. Technical School for Girls, Hebrew, 41. Tenement House, First, 39. Tenements, Model, see Model. Thames Street, Origin of, 37. Theological Seminary, Gen- eral, 95, 96. Theological Seminary, Un- ion, 180. Trade School, Baron de Hirsch, 180. Of St. George's Parish, 105. New York, 146, 181-183. Trinity Church Association Mission, 36. Tribune Fresh Air Fund, 17. Trinity Chapel, 100. Trinity Parish, 34-38. Training School for Chris- tian Workers, 63. For Working Girls, 136. Travel Class, 146. U Union Theological Semi- nary, 180. United Charities Building, 116. Hebrew Charities, 110. MM Index. University Heights, 209. New York, 209, 210. Vacation Schools, 176. Society, 97. Society, Working Girls, 102. Van Cortlandt Mansion, 203. Vauxhall Garden, 86. Veterinary College, 149. Vice, Society for the Sup- pression of, 18. Volunteers of America, 59. W Warner Memorial, 153. Warren Goddard House, 113. Washington and Lafayette, Statue of, 193. Water Color Society, Amer- ican, 193. Washington Headquarters, 139. Heights, 202. Square, 73. Square Methodist Episco- pal Church, 74. Statue of, 126. Washington Arch, 73. Washington's Headquarters, 139. Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, 211. Wilson Industrial School for Girls, 56. Woman's Home Missionary Society, 12. Work, Exchange for, 131. Prison Association and Home, 58. Woodyard of the Charity Organization Society, 96. Working Girls' Clubs, 39,69, 97, 101. Homes, 97, 103. Societies, Association of, 39, 69, 97, 101. Society, Manhattan, 139. Vacation Society, 102. Working Women's Home, 14. Protective Union, 80. World's Fair in New York, 143. Worth, Major-General, Me- morial to, 115. Tablet, 142. Young Men's Christian As- sociation, 45, 46, 61, 98, 100, 114, 168, 187, 191, 198, 211, 212. Hebrew Association, 187- 189. Institute, 47. Young Women's Christian Association, 126, 127, 142. Zoological Garden, 204. Park, 204-286. Society, 204. qp Patteson Press New York 225 American Institute of Social Service 287 Fourth Avenue, near Twenty-third Street, New York. THE INSTITUTE. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr. Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Washington Choate Edgar E. Clark William R. Corwine R. Fulton Cutting Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson Lee W. Dodd Miss Grace H. Dodge Robert Garrett Franklin H. Giddings Richard Watson Gilder E. R. L. Gould P. C. Hale Miss Caroline Hazard Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst William B. Howland John S. Huyler James H. Plyde M. E. Ingalls Mrs. Darwin R. James William F. King Edwin A. McAlpine, Jr. Stanley McCormick Henry M. McCracken V. Everit Macy Robert C. Ogden Walter H. Page Isaac N. Seligman Albert Shaw Miss M. Carey Thomas Mrs. Wm. H. Tolman Spencer Trask Warner Van Norden Mornay Williams Talcott Williams Mrs. Mary E. Woolley Carroll D. Wright Josiah Strong Wm. H. Tolman ASSOCIATES. Miss Jane Addams Mrs. Tunis G. Bergen Mrs. Frederick Billings John Graham Brooks Grover Cleveland Charles W. Dabney Charles W. Eliot Henry W. Farnam John H. Finley James, Cardinal Gibbons Miss Laura D. Gill Daniel C Gilman Edwin Ginn David H. Greer Edward Everett Hale William R. Harper Howard C. Heinz Charles R. Henderson Archer M. Huntington J. W. Jenks B. F. Johnson George W. Jones 226 David S. Jordan Herman Justi John La Farge Frank Leake Hamilton W. Mabie J. Horace McFarland Charles D. Mclvor M. S. de Magny Mrs. Daniel Manning Darwin J. Meserole S. M. Patten Francis G. Peabody Clinton George Foster Peabody Henry Phipps Ira Remsen Theodore Roosevelt Gustav H. Schwab J. G. Schurman Mrs. Lorillard Spencer Graham Taylor Booker T. Washington Benjamin L Wheeler William P. Wilson Woodrow Wilson R. Woodruff OFFICERS. Josiah Strong, President Warner Van Norden, Vice-President William H. Tolman, Director Spencer Trask, Treasurer Lee W. Dodd, Recording Secretary 227 American Institute of Social Service COLLABORATORS. Distinguished students of social subjects are elected for one year by the Institute, on the recom- mendation of the Executive Committee, as Collaborators of the Institute. AUSTRIA. Wilhelm Exner, Vienna, Director Royal Technical Trade Museum. Adelbert R. Von Stibral, Vienna. BELGIUM. E. W. Waxweiler, Brussels, Director Solvay Institute of Sociology. Louis Varlez, Ghent, Jurist and Sociologist. Omer Lepreux, Director of the National Bank of Belgium. Fl. Hankar, Director General of the National Fund for Savings. J. Dubois, Director General of the La- bor Department at the Ministry of Industry and Labor. Valiere Mabille. Industrialist. Charles Morisseaux, Directeur General du Sec- retariat and des Affaires Generales au Ministere de rindustrie and du Travail. Jules Carlier, Brussels, Vice-President du Conseil Superieur de ITndustrie et du Commerce de Belgique. CHILI. Augustin Edwards, Valpar- aiso, Industrialist. DENMARK. N. C. Frederiksen, Copen- hagen, Author and Publicist. Victor Holmes, Copenhagen, Industrialist. Fernando Linderberg, Direktor det Sociale Sek- retariat and Bibliotek. ENGLAND. George Cadbury, Birming- ham, Industrialist. Wm. H. Lever, Port Sun- light, near Liverpool. Industrialist. William R. Court, Liverpool. John Burns, London, Member of Parliament and London County Council. Robert Donald, London, Editor and Publicist. Arthur Sherwell, London, Author and Publicist. Sidney Webb, London, Member London County Council. John B. Paton, Nottingham. Ebenezer Howard, Garden City Association. The Earl of Meath, London, President British Institute of Social Service. James Bryce, M. P., Lon- don. James Dangerfield, London. 228 FRANCE, PARIS. Jules Siegfried, Vice-President Musee So- cial; Deputy. Emile Cheysson, Vice-President Musee So- cial. Alexis Delaire, Secretary La Societe Reforme Social. Edouard Dolleans, Publicist. Jules Jusserand, Ambassador from France to the United States. Emile Levasseur, Author and Member of the Institute of France. Raphael-Georges Levy, Vice-President of the Phi- lotechnic Association. Leopold Mabilleau, Directeur Musee Social. Henri Mamy, Directeur Association des Industriels de France con- tre les Accidents du Tra- vail. Georges Picot, Paris, Secretaire Perpetuel de I'Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. Louis Riviere, Member of the Administra- tive Council of the Central Bureau of Charity. Ferdinand-Dreyfus, Paris, Avocat a la Cour d'Appel de Paris, President de la Societe Internationale pour I'etude des Questions d'As- sistance. Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, Paris, Senateur, Membre de la Cour de la Haye. Prof. Charles Gide, Paris. Georges Benoit-Levy, Secretaire Association des Cites-Jardins de France. GERMANY. Theo. Lewald, Berlin, Imperial Commissioner for the St. Louis Exposition. Emil Muensterberg, Berlin, President General Society for Public Charity. Max Richter, Berlin, Privy Councilor in the Im- perial German Home Of- fice. Dr. Zacher, Berlin, Head of the Imperial In- surance Department. Prof. Dr. H. Albrecht, Ber- lin, Mitglied der Verwartung der standigen Ansstellung fiir Arbeitswohlfahrt. Dr. Bielefeldt, Berlin, Senats Vorsit-zender im Reichsversi cherungsamt. Geheimer Regierungsrat. Dr. Klein, Berlin, Regierungsrat. Prof. Dr. Hartmann, Berlin, Dr. Waldschmidt, Berlin. Dr. Wagner Grossh, Darm- stadt, Ministerium d'Innern. Prof. Dr. Dunbar, Hamburg, Direktor des Hygienischen Institut. Dr. Wilms, Posen, Oberburgermeister. HOLLAND. J. F. L. Blankenberg, Am- sterdam, President Associated Char- ities. M. W. F. Treub, Amster- dam, Director Central Bureau of Sociological Advice. J. C. Van Marken, Delft, Industrialist. Willy Maartens, Hague. HUNGARY. J. G. Mandello, Budapest, Professor of Political Econ- omy and General Secre- tary Hungarian Economic Association. 229 IRELAND. Sir Horace Plunkett, Dub- lin, Founder Irish Agricultural Organization Society. ITALY. Count Tornielli, Italian Ambassador from Italy to France. Marquis Paulucci de Calboli, Councilor of the Italian Embassy in France. Ernesto de Angeli, Milan, Senator. On. G. Bacelli, Rome, II Ministro per L'Agricul- tura, L'Industria e il Com- mercia. Luigi Buffoli, Milan, Presidente Unione Co-oper- ativa. Prof. G. Dalla Vedova, Rome, Presidente Societa Geograf- ica Italiana. Luigi Luzzatti, Rome, Former Minister of Fi- nance; Deputy. Edmondo Mayor des Plan- ches, Italian Ambassador to the United States. Prof. Attilio Brunialti, Rome, Consigliere di Stato, Dep- utato. Prof. Carlo F. Ferraris, Rome. Prof. Guido Biagi, Florence, Bibliotecario Delia Med- iceo-Laurenziana E. Delia Riccardiana. Diomede Carito, Naples. JAPAN. Kotaro Shimomura, Osaka, Chemist. Baron Kentaro Kaneko, To- kio, Member House of Peers. Seiichi Tegima, Tokio. Heromich Shugio, Tokio. NEW ZEALAND. A. S. Paterson, Dunedin, Industrialist. SCOTLAND. Patrick Geddes, Edinburgh, Author and Professor of Botany, Dundee. Mrs. Dr. Kerr, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Social Union. John Mann, Jr., Glasgow, Secretary Workman's Dwellings Co. Dr. John Ross, Dunfermline, Solicitor. SWEDEN. Arthur Thiel, Stockholm, Sociologist. Miss Gerda Meyerson, Stockholm, Centralforbundet, for So- cialt Arbete. SWITZERLAND. Prof. Wuarin, Geneva, University of Geneva. 230 Uax Students 1! The Extension Courses for I,ay Students were established by Union Theological Seminary in 1901 for Sunday-School Teachers, parents, and other Christian workers and inquiring laymen ^ The courses given are in the English Bible, Sunday-School Teaching, Missions and New Testament Greek. r The Schedule consists of single courses of one hour a week each, which are from six to twenty- four weeks in length, and conducted between the first of November and May. "■ Matriculation may be made for either one or more courses as desired. ^ Classes are localized at the Seminary and various churches. ^ T Similar Classes, with the same privileges and longer courses, are conducted by the Director of the Seminary's Extension Courses at Teachers College of Columbia University, and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn. % The enrollment has been afctout four hundred and thirty-five persons every winter. ^ For printed announcement and further information, apply to Richard Morse Hodge, D D, Director of Extension Courses for I^ay Students, Union Theological Seminary, Park Avenue, 69th to 70th Streets, New York. 231 ^^I^% _ el^.a.^f "^--r ^#.A'.^ «-^. ^ ■pip^* A Group of Friends and Neighbors of "Living Water" Mission. At 136 Christie street is the IMission of the Living Water, founded in 1894. The work was for many years in charge of the first missionary, John Jaeger, a very able, but uneducated man, converted from a notoriously evil life. Its founder, though in feeble health, still lives in apartments over the Mission rooms, while the Mission is in charge of an acting missionary, assisted by earnest helpers from the neighborhood, who maintain the regular and well-attended meetings every evening and on Sundays. The IMission is essentially for the spiritual needs of the crowded neighborhood in which it is conducted, and has been supported since its founding by the voluntary contributions of Christian people. Omitted from page 46. 232 h'^>^- ■ ..■ 'Asa.'- -' '>;■ ■ '