EDITED BY Eobert a. WoQtis THE CITY WILDERNESS. A Settlement Study. South End, Boston. By Residents and Associates of the South End House. With colored Maps. lamo, J1.50, AMERICANS IN PROCESS. A Settlement Study. North and West Ends, Boston. By Residents and Associates of the South End House. x2mo, $1.50, net. Postage extra. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY Boston and New York AMERICANS IN / A SETTLEMENT STUDY BY RESIDENTS AND ASSOCIATES OF THE SOUTH END HOUSE EDITED BY ROBERT A. WOODS HEAD OF THE /house NORTH AND WEST ENDS BOSTON BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY (Clje 0i\jeri9itie |^re?3^, Cambdboe 1903 PROCESS /^0^ COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY ROBERT A. WOODS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published December^ rgoz St S. PREFACE Y" The study of North and West End life which ? -'^'V^ makes up the present volume had its beginning \ !k' ^^ ^^ investigation of South End conditions, the ^^ results of which were published four years ago in the book " The City Wilderness." It was found that much valuable material sought out for the ^ South End study was equally available for the 'kJ North and West Ends. The direct advantage of i such a presentment has been apparent in the ' South End. The task of each agency for local ""^ improvement has been made more distinct. By laying out the large exhaustive measure of the local community's possibilities and needs, a stronger ^.^-•::dlnion of forccs has been secured. It was felt ^v^ that a similar study of the North and West Ends ::;- would be of service to the scheme of social im- provement in those districts. In the practical work of the South End House, as its plan broadens, it is found essential that the forces existing in these other two downtown work- ^ insr-class districts should be understood and, so far T . IV PREFACE as possible, dealt with. There is a gradual drift of population, including all the different nationali- ties, from the northern to the southern border of the business section of the city. In its local work, the House is constantly compelled to take account of this movement of population and the causes which produce it. In certain large undertakings toward social improvement, covering the city in their scope, but having special concern for the three downtown tenement-house sections, residents of the House have been called into service. This service is partly in connection with voluntary or- ganizations and partly under the municipality. Certain special enactments, in the enforcement of which the residents of the House are much in- terested, have an almost exclusive bearing upon these three districts. In efforts toward the further development of such legislation, knowledge of the facts as found in all three districts is needed by the advocate of the cause of any one of them. A peculiar stimulus to the present investigation has come through the hindrance offered at City Hall by a certain mysterious political power in the West End to a great project of popular bet- terment for which the residents of the South End House, among others, have long worked and will continue to work until its success is assured. PREFACE V The South End study had its best use, perhaps, in aiding thoughtful people throughout Boston and its suburbs to discern the vital relation which exists between that district and the local commu- nities in which the prosperous classes reside. It is hoped that the present volume may further aid in making clear the responsibilities in which resource- ful citizens stand for the great immigrant popula- tions which are close at the city's heart. In Boston, as in other large cities, municipal and social reform are much embarrassed by the lack of any kindling realization, even in the minds of sagacious, disinterested persons, of the actual, present-day truth with regard to the urban com- munity in the thick of which the drama of their active life is set. The indifference of the so-called good citizen is largely because his best effort to produce a mental picture of his city in its essential human aspects results in something altogether vague, scattered, out-of-date. Many of the efforts toward better things reflect this lack of mental furnishing in being piecemeal, casual and beside the mark. The purpose of this volume, as of its predeces- sor, is to contribute toward building up a contem- porary conception of the city, as the groundwork of a type of municipal and social improvement VI PREFACE which shall be accurate in its adaptation to de- tailed facts and statesmanlike in its grasp of large forces and total situations. It seems to the writers that such a conception may best be gained by the analysis of affairs in one after another of the congested districts of the city, presenting those districts in their measure of separateness and in- dividuality as against the remainder of the city, while showing, not in the language of exhortation but in terms of ascertained reality, the complex connections which bring these districts and the other sections of the city into a living ensemble. The writers have, with one or two exceptions, had long familiarity with persons and affairs in the North and West Ends. The present study has been progressing during the time since the volume dealing with the South End was issued. Of course the writers do not have so intimate a knowledge of the life of these districts as of the section of the city in which most of them have for years lived and worked ; but some of them have re- sided during considerable periods amid the situa- tion covered by the present investigation. One contributor, Miss Beale, has for some ten years had unusual opportunities of close acquaintance with the inner life of the Jewish and Italian colonies. PREFACE VU The resources of observation and experience possessed by many whose field of work lies largely or entirely in these districts have been freely placed at our service, and have been largely drawn upon. To all the local agents of the Associated Charities, and to all the leading philanthropic workers in both districts, we are much indebted. The public school teachers, particularly Mr. L. H. Button and Miss Ellen Sawtelle, have done much to forward one of the most important parts of our inquiry. We have had much assistance from clergymen and other church workers ; especially we wish to thank the Rev. Reuben Kidner, of St. Andrew's Church, for his constant aid and encour- agement. For many valuable suggestions as to the social history of the North End, we are indebted to the late Henry B. Mackintosh, son of Peter Mackin- tosh, master of the Hancock School in the early part of the last century. The records and special knowledge of various public officials and bureaus have been put at our service, — the Police Depart- ment at the central office and the local stations, the Board of Health, the Board of Assessors, the State Factory Inspectors, the State Bureau of Sta- tistics of Labor, the Inspector of Immigration for Boston. The editor has again had the general assistance Vlll PREFACE of his colleague in tlie direction of the South End House, Mr. William I. Cole. Mrs. William L. Rutan, an associate in the work of the settlement during the past ten years, beside making her con- tributions to the text, has assisted with the proof- reading and prepared the index. Several residents of the House have helped with the collection of statistics and other data for some of the chapters, chiefly Messrs. Fred E. Haynes, Rufus E. Miles, Roswell F. Phelps and Everett W. Goodhue. While the study was in its early stages the writers received valuable suggestions from two books, both written by men now or formerly con- nected with Toynbee Hall and therefore from a point of view particularly suited to the present purpose. These books are " Italy To-Day," by Bolton King and Thomas Okey (Scribners), and " The Jew in London," by C. Russell and H. S. Lewis (Crowell). The double-page maps, which are brought down to the time of publication, are intended accurately to indicate preponderating conditions in each block. In the nationality map, where there is a double strip of color, it is to be understood that no single nationality is in a majority in the block, but that two nationalities are represented in proportions of from thirty to fifty per cent. each. In the map PREFACE IX showing industrial grades, a type of block is shown here which does not exist at the South End, — one in which the unskilled and the clerks are somewhat equally represented, while skilled workmen are hardly found. This state of things, which goes with the Jewish tendency to leap over the skilled labor stage in their haste to become shopkeepers, is marked by a new mixed color. In preparing the maps, the same detailed methods have been fol- lowed as those explained in the preface of " The City Wilderness." The district maps cover nearly the whole of two wards and a small portion of a third. The North End is substantially identical with Ward 6, so far as population is concerned. The West End maps cover practically all of Ward 8, with a narrow strip of Ward 11. In a few instances reference is made to " The City Wilderness " for a somewhat fuller treatment of topics which naturally called for greater em- phasis in that volume than in this. In one or two ^ases some repetition seemed advisable. The two books are essentially independent. It is the earnest hope of the writers, however, having pro- ceeded thus far, that these may be fitted together with the results of further investigations into a comprehensive exposition of social conditions in Boston at the beginning of the twentieth century. CONTENTS PAGE I. Metes and Bounds 1 Robert A. Woods. II. Before the Invasion 11 Elizabeth Y. Rutan. III. The Invading Host 40 Frederick A. Bush^e. IV. City and Slum 71 Edward H. Chandler. V. Livelihood 104 Robert A. Woods. VI. Traffic in Citizenship 147 Robert A. Woods. VII. Law and Order 190 William I. Cole. VIII. Life's Amenities . 224 Jessie Fremont Beale and Anne Withington. IX. Two Ancient Faiths . . .... 254 WiUiam I. Cole. X. The Child of the Stranger .... 289 Caroline S. Atherton and Elizabeth Y. Rutan. XI. Community of Interest 321 William I. Cole and Ruf us E. Miles. XII. Assimilation: A Two-Edged Swokd . . . 356 Robert A. Woods. MAPS FA6B I. Boston in Outline 2 II. Boston, 1722 24 III. Nationalities in the North End . . .40 Coinpiled by Frederick A. Bush^e and Rufus E. Miles. rV. Nationalities in the West End . . . .46 Compiled by Frederick A. Bush^e and Rufus E. Miles. V. Buildings in the North End . . . .70 Compiled by Frederick A. Bush^e and Roswell F. Phelps. VI. Buildings in the West End 76 Compiled by Frederick A. Bushde and Roswell F. Phelps. VII. A Type of Tenement-House Improvement . 90 VIII. Industrial Grades in the North End . . 130 Compiled by Rufus E. Miles and Robert A. Woods. IX. Industrial Grades in the West End . . . 136 Compiled by Rufus E. Miles and Robert A. Woods. X. Institutions in the North End .... 288 Compiled by William I. Cole. XI. Institutions in the West End .... 320 Compiled by William I. Cole. AMERICANS IN PROCESS CHAPTER I METES AND BOUNDS From Boston Common two blocks to the north begins a wedge-shaped open space, in whose extreme angle commercial respectability fades away into freak shows, burlesque theatres, palm gardens, and the like. ScoUay Square has so many radiating outlets to all corners of heaven that it might have afforded the original suggestion of Boston's some- what outworn municipal epithet. One street dips and then runs on as straight as these old streets ever run, into the heart of the North End. Another, having begun its winding course on the city side among great office buildings, loses itself in the square, but takes up the thread again at an un- expected point among the dubious resorts, as a West End thoroughfare. A third street is one of the approaches to the North Union Station. The station, with its broad stretch of tracks and the 2 AMERICANS IN PROCESS stream of traffic to and from it, all flanked by thoroiigMares to Charlestown and East Cambridge, sets off the North and West Ends distinctly from each other. At night, however, after the streets leading to the station become comparatively deserted, the districts are united by two steady processions jostling each other as they slowly move back and forth, — shoppers, theatre-goers, caUers, strollers. The North End is less than half a mile in any of its dimensions. It is a "tight little island," hemmed in by continuous and ever-encroaching currents of commercial activity. The station thoroughfares lead to the markets. The markets extend to the docks. The docks reach around from the markets to the railroads again. The West End, beginning at the North Station, — with whose traffic it is more concerned than the North End, — has another curving water front as a boundary. On the south. Beacon Hill makes an effectual barrier. The West End population is allowed, however, to take possession of the bleak northeast slope. It is also beginning to make its way by force around the foot of the hill on either side. The interior frame of the North End is that of one main highway to the East Boston ferry, with ROXBURY OUTLINE MAP OF BOSTON OMITTING SUBUEBjU^ DISTRICTS METES AND BOUNDS 3 a tributary street running on either side of it. The thoroughfare, Hanover Street, is cosmopolitan. Salem Street, toward the water, selected as a place of peaceful abode by Hebraist Puritans, is now, in the whirligig of time, turned over to the Hebrews themselves. North Street, on the side toward the markets, is, as it were, an Alpine pass through cold- storage warehouses into " Little Italy." These three arteries of travel open the way to a network of cross-streets, passageways and blind alleys. The West End has two squares serving as ganglia for its communication, one with the busi- ness section of the city, the other with the North Station. Beyond these squares go thoroughfares converging toward the West Boston Bridge to Cambridgeport. Most of the streets auxiliary to these are not so narrow nor so close together as the corresponding communicating ways of the North End. The situation in the West End is one of contrasts, — places as dark and noisome as any in the North End ; frequent rows of houses retaining an air of comfort and respectability such as has almost wholly passed from the North End. Often these contrasts represent the degenerate and pro- gressive extremes of life among the remnant of the former possessors of both districts, the Irish. The North and West Ends do not have the 4 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS advantage of being central and pivotal in their accessibility to tlie whole city, as the South End has.^ They stand curiously aloof, so far as social contact and intercommunication are con- cerned. The North End, shut in between the busi- ness section and the water, has no nearer neigh- bor for resident population — excluding the West End itself — than Charlestown and East Boston. The West End is almost as completely isolated. It touches other resident population only at the confines of the Beacon Hill quarter ; and this is the one point where any of the struggling people of these districts have the semblance of neighborly contact with prosperous and responsible Boston citizens. As the inhabitants of this part of the West End are chiefly negroes, it is to be feared that the only relation resulting from the propin- quity is a constrained political one, and mutually corrupting at that. Indeed, as so often happens, contact produces a recoil, — the black belt shuts off the West End from view to a considerable extent. On the other hand, the very distinctness of the North End as a community in itself constitutes part of the attrac- tion which it holds for the imagination. It is true, of course, that the history of the West End as a ^ The City Wilderness, p. 4. METES AND BOUNDS 5 poor district is somewhat recent, while the North End has for generations been Boston's classic land of poverty. To this day, though other parts of the city can show worse neighborhoods, economi- cally and morally, it is difficult for the elderly Boston citizen to set any distressing occurrence as- sociated with the life of the poor in other scenes than those of the North End. The North End combines in curious fashion the atmosphere belonging to distinct foreign colonies with that of many of the special historic associa- tions and mementos of old Boston. Its Revolu- tionary landmarks make it a source of pride to all intelligent citizens of Boston. There are few days in the year when some group of visitors in the city do not find their way to these interesting spots. They can hardly return through the North End throng without some anxious query as to the part which the most recent recruits will take in the American people's future history. Such coming and going also serves to give the immigrant some intimation of the better standards which mark the country of his adoption. The West End is more modern ; and being so near to the heart of the city contains a number of the institutions that are inseparable from the movement of a great city's life. Some of these b AMERICANS IN PBOCESS suggest care about its wreckage and tragedy, — the Charity Building, the Wayfarers' Lodge, several great hospitals, the county jail, the morgue. The public dignity of the community is present in the State House and the Court House, both of which reach back to the edge of this district. Naturally these different institutions bring a large number of responsible citizens back and forth in the West End, and contribute toward the existence of a human touch between it and more favored parts of the city. Even the indifferent among the rich are com- pelled on occasion to have a glimpse of the North and West End Lazarus. The way to Europe, if one sail from Boston, lies through the North End. The way to the North Shore and its summer charms lies through the West End. Before em- barking on train or ship, with all their wafting suggestion, there comes to many that challenge of responsibility for the common good, which is the very life of democracy, and without which, as recent solemn warnings have assured us, our great cities will rush to industrial and moral disaster. This feeling of responsibility, so far as Boston is concerned, has to a large extent been infused into the Boston mind as the result of half a century of endeavor directed toward meeting the needs of METES AND BOUNDS i the particular districts of the city which are under review in this volume. The constant change and growth of the problem as a result of successive tidal waves of immigration has made it impossible for the methods of the past to keep pace with the needs wliich they sought to remedy. Nevertheless, there was developed in these districts, before the days of scientific charity or preventive philan- thropy, that keen social compunction out of whose very failures those maturer developments have arisen. Fifteen years ago the organization of charity began to ripen into forms of action designed to shut off some of the need of relief in the indi- vidual and family life, and lift the people, espe- cially the young, to the level of fair opportunities of industry and happiness. But a final over- whelming incursion of helpless, inarticulate for- eigners swept in upon the North End, and in less degree upon the West End, necessarily postponing the larger growth of personal philanthropy, and precipitating sanitary, industrial and moral prob- lems so threatening that it became necessary to call upon the State for new and unprecedented forms of legislative action. The crowding of buildings upon land, and of human beings into buildings, became extreme and 8 AMERICANS IN PROCESS unendurable. There was much determined action on the part of the Board of Health, under the reassuring spur of an even more determined pub- lic sentiment. It was found, however, that the powers of the Board were insufficient. In London, the sanitary authorities had been granted power not merely to vacate but to destroy objectionable habitations, and certain great single areas had been demolished. New York had, so far as legis- lation goes, followed in the footsteps of England, but there had been as yet no satisfactory enforce- ment of the law. In Boston this most advanced form of legislation against the slum has for five years now been enforced with increasing grasp and effectiveness. The new immigrant population introduced a system of home industry tending quickly to degrade family life and to depress greatly the wage stan- dard of our people. Through adequate legislation, systematically administered, Boston has conducted an original experiment of the highest importance to the whole civilized world, resulting in the practi- cal abolition of that worst pest of city industry, the sweating system. At the same time, without special legislation, but by the direct pressure of public sentiment upon the police authorities, a telling blow has been METES AND BOUNDS 9 dealt at the different established headquarters o£ those degrading forms of prostitution which, in New York particularly, have grown to be the most serious threat of congested tenement life. By these searching reforms directed almost ex- clusively at conditions in the North and West Ends, the two districts have had some of the most unyielding factors eliminated bodily from their social equation. As a result, voluntary public service, through which the whole of both districts is kept under general moral surveillance and, in lesser degree, under influences of a personally inspiring and upbuilding sort, finds itself in a wholly new stage of incentive and opportunity. It is an even greater source of encouragement that the developments of private philanthropy seem likely to be far outdistanced by the ministry of social opportunity on the part of the municipality. The growth of communities of Continental immigrants in Boston was at first of the nature of a calamity to the city. The main action of the community as a whole was brought to bear, and the calamitous stage was erelong safely passed. Boston has contrived to erect dikes against its quota of the deluge of tenement-house evils with which New York and, in a different way, Chicago are still overwhelmed. Some years must still 10 AMERICANS IN PROCESS elapse before the two great metropolitan cities, witli their appalling difficulties, shall have come into a calm and steady era of reconstruction such as Boston has already reached. Meanwhile, the situation outlined in these chapters may more or less closely represent the problem of alien life which confronts the average large city in the United States. It is true that no city in the coun- try has the recuperative resources, in proportion to its size, that are available in the matured com- munity existence of Boston. It is, however, one of the chief distinctions of present-day American life in general that there is so great a variety of effort, municipal, commercial, philanthropic, for the advancement of general human weU-being among all our urban populations. CHAPTER II BEFORE THE INVASION Until the year 1630, the tract of New Eng- land soil that was to become the town of Boston lay a rough and almost uncultivated stretch of perhaps six hundred acres, uninhabited save for a solitary English farmer whose name is pre- served at the northern and southern extremes of his ancient squatter's claim in Blackstone Street and Blackstone Square. The territory was known by the Indians as Shawmut, and was in form a peninsula, connected with the main- land upon the south by a narrow neck. With broken, irregular outline, it extended into the harbor in a general northerly direction, terminating at the northeast and northwest in promontories at the points where the Charles and the Mystic empty into the bay. The fields sloping back from these promontories were the sections known to-day as the North and West Ends of Boston, and were separated at that time by a deep tidal inlet, covered with water at high tide, but at ebb presenting a 12 AMERICANS IN PROCESS dreary surface of mud flats, in extent about equal to the present Boston Common. These extremes of the city are often referred to as its oldest parts. In reality the western pas- tures lay almost untouched for a century, while the eastern extremity as a building site was only the second thought of the colonists. The latter lay due north from the narrow neck, directly across the bay from Charlestown. In a letter sent back to England by a young girl, one of the first boat- load of immigrants to land at Shawmut, is a de- scription of the locality. " A place very uneven," Ann Pollard writes, " abounding in small hollows and swamps covered with blueberries and other low bushes." Between the low northern tract, which these words seem to fit, and the higher lands to the south lay an almost impassable marsh, now marked by Blackstone Street, and it is to this feature that the district owes its earliest name, " The Island of North Boston." Over the marsh's narrowest breadth, a distance of about eight hun- dred feet, the waters of the inlet upon the west and those of a deep indentation known as the Great Cove upon the east mingled at high tide and cut off the land to the north from the main body of the peninsula. Except for an elevation of fifty feet close by the shore, now known as BEFORE THE INVASION 13 Copp's Hill, upon which the girl may have stood as she framed her description, Shawmut's north- ern acres were low and would easily come within her range. Looking beyond them to the south across the waters of the Great Cove on her left, she might see Fort Hill, to-day but a memory brought to mind by the name Fort Hill Square. Beyond the waters of the tidal inlet on her right, soon to be transformed into the Mill Pond, rose the three Ions: since diminished heads of Beacon Hill, the tri-mountain from which Boston gained her second name, preserved in Tremont Street. The company of English Puritans who pur- chased the territory just described landed at a point on the coast near the present Charles Kiver Bridge in the fall of 1630, and crossed the marsh, establishing their first homes in the neighborhood of Spring Lane. For a year or more, the chief business of their town government was the allot- ment of land. Only a very few assignments were made in the western pastures, but in consequence of the business possibilities suggested by the harbor frontage, shore allotments in the northern acres soon came to be looked upon as desirable. Al- though the low interior of the district probably did not appeal to the settlers at once as a site for homes, it was not long before its advantages were 14 AMERICANS IN PROCESS discovered. Its nearness to what soon showed them- selves to be future business parts of the town, the coast line and Dock Square, gradually caused it to find favor in the eyes of the artisans, with their long hours of labor and their frequent habit of combining home and shop. Between the first place of settlement and the point upon the coast nearest the opposite village of Charlestown a track was naturally worn to the ferry, and along this road and to either side of it sprang up the humble homes of cobbler, carpenter, candle-maker, cooper, and biscuit baker, — low cottages with shops at- tached, and in many cases with land at the back sloping down to a wharf. In a few years the main outlines of the old North End were those that may be seen to-day, a district but three streets wide, — Hanover, Salem, and North streets, — with Hanover Street, then as now, the middle and main thoroughfare, " The Way leading to the Ferry." Salem and North streets followed the coast line; and east and west from the highway ran connecting lanes, their crooked outlines, which more than two hundred years of travel have not made straight, taking shape according to the caprice of the home-builders. The first poor cottages that lined these quiet, country roads were no proof of the energy and BEFORE THE INVASION 15 ingenuity of their owners. The colony's scanty records afford occasional impressive glimpses of the determination that made the hamlet a town, and many of the efforts most important to the general welfare centred at the North End. A nineteenth century historian has exclaimed con- cerning Boston, " No other great city of the world has undergone such changes at the hands of man ; not a trace of its original outline remains." The beginning of this remarkable transformation may be traced to the measures taken to supply the early demand for mill facilities. Across the tidal inlet that separated the North End from the remote western pastures ran a ridge of land where Causeway Street now lies, that had been used by the Indians as a footpath over the flats. This ridge suggested a dam with the possibilities of water- power, and in a few years from the time of settle- ment the acres of useless, offensive flats had been transformed into a Mill Pond supplying power for tidal grist-mills, for years the chief mills of the town. A company of men who soon leased the Mill Pond privileges drained the marsh, digging a deep trench at the narrowest point and bridging it. The canal thus formed connected the Mill Pond and the Great Cove, and was known for a century and a half as the Mill Creek. 16 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Such changes as these, rapidly increasing as they did both the accessibility and the business impor- tance of the North End, resulted in the district's becoming before the end of the century the most densely populated part of the town, — a charac- ter it has never lost. In the burying-ground on Copp's Hill it is said that more than half of the inhabitants of the town during its first century were buried. That the population was fairly prosperous as well as numerous may be inferred from the building of the Second Church in 1650, the meeting-house of the famous Mathers on North Square. As the North End grew, this square be- came the centre of the district, both as a residen- tial quarter and a place of public assembly. The town pump was there, and one of the earliest mar- ket-places, and after the building of the church the residences of the most influential parishioners clustered about it or were built in the adjoining streets. The successive generations of Mathers all lived near the church, and men like Holyoke, the soap-boiler, father of the future Harvard pre- sident, plied their trades in the cottages round about. For the first half century, the North End con- tinued a growing, flourishing community. From what we may gather, that earliest society had BEFORE THE INVASION 17 a certain ideal character despite its grim defects. The settlers were largely artisans, but they were artisans of unusual quality and intense religious convictions, whose chief ambition was to make homes and establish an ideal state, where " magis- trate and minister walked hande in hande, dis- countenancing and punishing sin in whomsoever, and standing for the praise of them that do well." The homesteads of very few can be positively located, though here and there the memory of a man's residence and a glimpse of character sur- vives in the name of his property or the record of some public act. Thomas Marshall — keeper of the first ferry "• from Mylne Point to Charles- town," which lay at the foot of Black Horse Lane, later Prince Street — frequently appears in the old records. " Ferryman, shoemaker, select- man, land-owner, and deacon," he may be regarded as a representative citizen. His home and gar- den were on " The Highway leading from the Orange Tavern to the Ferry ; " and in 1652, moved by an idea that was perhaps shrewd as well as generous, he gave the town a roading across his land to shorten the distance to the drawbridge over the Mill Creek, just as Marshall Street now offers a short-cut from Union to Han- over Street. 18 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS This gift of a short-cut suggests also another story, that of the growth that had gone on at either side of the creek, too rapidly to be a sub- stantial one. Stores and dwellings were of poor, slight character, structures designed to meet a hasty need, and of inflammable material. A growth of this kind could not be long uninter- rupted, and between 1676 and 1679 the catas- trophe inevitable in a thickly settled community of such a sort took place. Great fires swept the northern end of the town ; the first, north of the creek, consuming the church on North Square and many dwellings roundabout ; the second, start- ing in Dock Square and spreading until eighty dwelling-houses, seventy warehouses, and several vessels lying in dock were burned. As nearly as it may be defined, the conflagra- tions of the last quarter of the century mark the close of the first period of Boston life, the dis- tinctly Puritan period. The rebuilding of the north- ern part of the town was accomplished by a people entering upon very different conditions from those affecting the men who first struck their spades into the rocky soil of the blueberry pastures. Grow- ing prosperity and a rapidly increasing population united with the change from colonial to crown government that came in 1685 to bring about BEFORE THE INVASION 19 marked alterations both in habits and ideals. English governors with their families and a train of servants and employees introduced a social life long distinct and alien from that of the Puri- tans, but none the less exerting a powerful and subtle influence. If Thomas Marshall, shoemaker and selectman, was representative of the first period, John Hull, merchant and mint-master, was as surely a type of the second. He, too, lived north of the Mill Creek, where a street still testifies to his position in the community; and it was in his home on Sheafe Street that the first mint was set up. It is John Hull who said of Endicott, " He died poor, as most of our rulers do, having more attended the public than their own private interests." Hull's virtues were after another order. He did not die poor. " He rendered fairly to the public, and in return he took his own." With the appointment of Sir William Phips in 1692, the story of North End life becomes more varied. Governor Phips had been a North End boy, apprentice to a ship-carpenter, and upon his return to Boston, enriched and titled, after many years of absence, he built a " fair dwelling " near his boyhood's haunts. It may have been the mansion house of Sir William and Lady Phips, 20 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS on tlie corner of Charter Street, tliat first turned the tide of fashion across the Mill Creek ; for at the beginning of the new century the sober streets of the North End were here and there re- lieved by the gay attire and free demeanor of men to whom court life was a familiar experience ; and mingling with the gossip of the North Church parish spread rumors of the doings of fashionable dames who were making the best of a temporary exile from English society. The buildings that sprang up after the great fire expressed both increasing prosperity and these changing social conditions. The flames had de- stroyed the hovels, and the new houses of brick and cement suggested hospitality, and had a com- fort and a beauty of their own. Many of the better sort were built with overhanging stories and clus- tered gables. These devices at once gave an imposing appearance and helped out the limited space of the building lot, and between each and its neighbor there was only room enough for "the privilege of eaves-dripping." This is but one of the many indications that the district was growing crowded. Early in the century building companies began to form, cutting new roads through such meadows as yet remained, and laying them out in house lots, narrow at the front but affording long BEFORE THE INVASION 21 gardens at the back ; and by 1708, when the first formal list of streets was made, there were found to be as many streets, lanes, and alleys around Dock Square and northward as in all the rest of the town. If the North End at this time is to be thought of as the centre of population and business, the South End, stretching from Milk Street out toward the Neck, held, perhaps, the suburban part of the town, while the West End still offered opportunity for residents who preferred isolation or homes par- taking of the nature of farms. The last was a section triangular in shape, and it had at the begin- ning of the seventeenth century but two roads cut through its pastures, — Sudbury Street, connecting it with the business centre, and Cambridge Street. Beyond were fields and pastures, which were coming to be called "The New Fields," as the eyes of the citizens turned speculatively toward them. What is now Bowdoin Square was known as Bowling Green, and fell away in a grassy slope to the Mill Pond. On a small eminence on Cam- bridge Street stood a windmill. At the point of the triangle were copper works, and in various parts of the fields were most of the ropewalks of the town, long, narrow sheds, sometimes over seven hundred feet in length, where rope and twine of all 22 AMERICANS IN PROCESS sorts were spun. The ropewalks became an im- portant industry in Boston, as many as sixty spinning at one time. Even at this early date there was great demand for their products both from vessels rigged for foreign service and from fishing and coasting craft demanding rougher sort of cordage. The district was very sparsely peo- pled, containing only an occasional farm and the dwellings of the proprietors of those little manu- facturing enterprises that demanded the stretch of ground the New Fields afforded. The land was in the hands of a few men whose names are handed down in the streets cut latei* on through their pas- tures. Phillips, Leverett, Lynde and Staniford, Chambers and Russell, were large property holders, while the Rev. James Allen at the beginning of the eighteenth century owned a far larger part of the territory of Boston than was ever held by any one individual save Blackstone, the pioneer. The history of the district is simply one of changing and increasing proprietors and their building enterprises, and can be almost completely traced up to the time of the Revolution in the names of its streets. This last may be said also of the North End, except for the difference that there is between its characteristics and those of the West End. The latter is the story of indi- BEFORE THE INVASION 23 vidual citizens of an established commnnity ; wMle the history of the North End, as told by the vary- ing names of its streets, is a tale of a town's in- ception and hard-won development. In the early Puritan times, the titles given the streets of the latter district are mostly of a cumbrous, descrip- tive character, as " The street leading up to the house of Sir William Phips, Knight." In Garden Court Street there still hngers a pleasant flavor of the descriptive custom ; but most of the old names that survive chronicle events rather than character- istics, and show the difference between the simple expedients of a hamlet and the exacting demands of a growing town. The more formal and perma- nent names of streets appear in the complete hst already mentioned as having been made in 1708. At that time Black Horse Lane ceased to be called after the tavern at its head and was known as Prince Street, while Fleet Street became the recognized title of Scarlet's Wharf Lane. The year 1700 may be said to mark about the middle of a half century in which New England life was in a transition state. " The Pilgrims had gone out," wrote Sewall, "and the large men had not come in." Intellectually this was Boston's dark age. The fervor of the religious life that animated the first settlers was going, and the 24 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS records of the churches show petty and revolting altercations. It was its mercantile importance, constantly increasing, that saved the social character of the town. So important a seaport could not be neglected by the mother country. The supervision of the colony's affairs demanded the services of clever governors ; the business openings offered by growing trade brought good blood from the old world to seek a younger son's uncertain fortunes in the new ; and many of the incoming merchants and crown officials chose their dwellings north of the creek. Before the century had completed its first quarter the sober, church-going North End was well started upon its bravest period, and for fifty years was to be known as the court end of the town. The pronounced change from exclusive Puritanism was plainly manifested by the building of Christ Church on Salem Street in 1723. Its congregation, without doubt, was mainly made up of the families of the new English merchants and the crown officials, and the demand for its existence shows the considerable size of the new society, as the style of the edifice the wealth of its members. North Square continued to be the social centre, and it represented both phases of life at their best. Side by side with the modest, substantial houses that were the homes of the attendants of the GHAliL \ BOS TON H A . R B B MAJOR PART OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON 1722 y. Mile .J.PETEBS 4 SON ENSBS., BOSTON. BEFOEE THE INVASION 25 churcli of the Mathers stood two mansions around the memory of which are gathered tales of splen- dor and ceremony in little accord with the tradi- tions of the Puritans. One of these, Governor Hutchinson's home, is inseparably connected with the Stamp Act troubles, for in 1765 it was sacked by the infuriated mob, its owner barely escaping with his life ; while around the house of Sir Harry Frankland linger not only tales of the young Port collector's luxurious tastes, but also the strange romance of Agnes Surriage, his peasant ward of Marblehead. These houses have long since dis- appeared, and the one landmark now remaining upon the square, in the low wooden house of Paul Revere, is a reminder of a very different life and spirit. The age-long drama of the Roundhead and the Cavalier was being enacted in New Eng- land as truly as it had been in the old. While a mimic London society gives color to the fifty years preceding the Revolution, a deeper, stronger life was developing among the plain people, which was doubtless broadened and rendered more effective in its final outbreak by the forced contact with the fashionable world. Names and phrases, well-worn to-day, were used then for the first time with no thought that they were to prove the imperishable catchwords of a great nation's politics. " Samuel 26 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Adams and twenty others, " writes an old historian, " used to meet and make a caucus.^' This is the first time this word is seen ; and from the fact that the meetings referred to were held in a part of Boston where the ship business was carried on, etymologists have agreed that caucus is a corrup- tion of calkers^ meeting being understood. A few years later, upon Washington's birthday, William Cooper uttered the famous words, " The spirit of the times ; " and on June seventeenth of the same year, 1774, there was coined in Boston the phrase " Continental Congress," when a term was required to show American union as opposed to the English king and Parhament. Boston was be- coming more than a colonial town, and the little North End held within its narrow breadth not only governing forces from an old world, but also the germs of a young republic. The days of Winthrop and Endicott, Sewall and Hull, were gone, but young men were being born and bred in Boston in whose greatness posterity has had even more reason to believe. Franklin had left his father's home at the corner of Han- over and Union streets before 1725, preferring to seek his fortune in another line than that of his inherited trade of soap-boiling and candle- making; but Adams and Hancock and Eevere BEFOBE THE INVASION 27 and Otis lived or worked at the North End dur- ing the middle years of the century, suavely and shrewdly conducting their business by day, while nightly they foregathered at the Green Dragon or the Salutation Inn, maturing plans of which the results were to help on the birth of a nation. This, however, was but an undercurrent for years, scarcely disturbing the calm surface of Boston's steady material development. North of the Mill Creek the streets grew crowded with dwellings, all of brick after 1711, when the law forbade the fur- ther use of wood. Side gardens became too valu- able for their owners to keep, and houses elbowed each other in their effort for frontage, or actually united in blocks. Another church had been erected, " seventeen substantial mechanics " forming a new society ; and on the site of the Eliot School of to-day had been established a "Latin Grammar School" for boys. Every sort of business flour- ished along the water line and about the Town Dock. In 1724 sixteen master ship-carpenters of the Thames were complaining to the King that their trade was being injured and their workmen were emigrating on account of the New England competition ; and six of the shipyards that were proving such formidable rivals to the mother coun- try lay just at the base of Copp's HiU. The great 28 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS gift of Faneuil Hall, made to tlie town by Peter Faneuil in 1740, established the gateway to the North End for the remainder of the century as the business heart of Boston. With this growth of business came increased population and constant demand for building lots having frontage upon thoroughfares. Under such need the West End, during the second quarter of the eighteenth century, grew rapidly to be a com- munity by itself. Leverett Street was cut through in 1730, forming a second highway to Cambridge, and by 1733 all the older thoroughfares had been laid out and named. The beginning of a local social life is seen in the establishment of the West Church in 1736. This church was put up on Lynde Street, opposite Cambridge Street, and from the day of its establishment throughout the century and a half of its existence it continued to represent in both pulpit and parish a most substantial type of Boston life, both social and intellectual. Cotton Hill, where crown officials formed an exclusive society, and the Bowling Green were the only centres of wealth in the westerly part of the town. The other streets were built up gradually with modest, comfortable homes, with compara- tively little business encroachment except the small shops and the increasing number of ropewalks, BEFORE THE INVASION 29 though these last fled before the homes mstead of the usual reverse result. In spite of court end traditions, of which the novelists make the most, and the alleged splen- dors of Cotton Hill, the pre-revolutionary life of Boston seems strangely simple. John Frizell, a wealthy merchant who lived on Garden Court the first quarter of the eighteenth century, and who owned much land in the neighborhood, was the first man in Boston to keep a carriage, and the first stable in the town was his on Moon Street. By 1768, the number of people to keep carriages was only twenty- two, and even at the end of the century they num- bered but one hundred and forty-five. Few houses were spacious enough to admit of large functions, and festivities of any size were held in one or two halls that could be hired for such occasions at the North End. Aside from the official life and a small group of large merchants, the prosperity of the town was represented by master mechanics and tradesmen. Toward the end of the century six of the wealthiest men of the town were bakers, three of whom, John White, Edward Edes, and Deacon Tudor, lived at the North End. At the time of the siege of Boston, the baker, Ebenezer Torrey, removed to Sudbury, and died leaving an estate of 8100,000. 30 AMERICANS IN PROCESS "When tlie discontent of half a century culmi- nated in the uncontrollable outbreak that became the War of Independence, the North End was the scene of exciting preliminary action, and the vantage ground from which the first decisive battle was watched. There seems to be no doubt that the plain people, joined by a scattering few of the wealthier class, formed the nucleus of Boston's patriotic party. Paul Revere, the versatile North Square goldsmith, has left on record, " In the fall of 1774 and winter of 1775, 1 was one of upwards thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed themselves into a committee for the purpose of watching the British soldiers and gaining every intelligence of the movements of the Tories." These days, in which the North End reached the height of its historic fame, were in their very nature the beginning of its decadence. When General Howe left Boston, on the eighth of March, 1776, he took with him nearly one thousand of the residents of the town. Such wealthy and impor- tant families as the North End had held were among these refugees ; and in the period of reconstruction that followed the war, the little Island of North Boston, though continuing to be the most populous district of the town, and containing within its nar- row confines one third of the whole number of BEFORE THE INVASION 31 inhabitants on the peninsula, did not again attract people of means and ideas of luxurious living. Its streets were narrow and crooked, its houses small and too thickly crowded to admit of new buildings. The tide of fashion turned westward and up the slopes of the trimountain ; and even the Puritan type, as it prospered and rebuilt, found the North End unsuited to its broadening tastes. Previous to the Evacuation, the largest congrega- tion in the town had been that of the New North Church on Hanover Street. Its subsequent decay is typical of the change in the whole district. In 1775, many of its members retired to the country, and upon their return to Boston did not renew their connection with the church. Says an old chronicler, " The young gentlemen who have mar- ried wives in other parts of the town have found it difficult to persuade them to become so ungenteel as to attend worship at the North End. Even the clergymen have abandoned that part of the town. There are six large congregations to the northward of the canal, and only one of their ministers re- sides there." Hanover and Salem streets and their lanes were left to folk of busy lives and lim- ited means who still prized the advantages of homes near the centre of trade ; and until the middle of the century they held a constantly decreasing 32 AMERICANS IN PROCESS number of thrifty mechanics and small merchants, with occasional families of means and culture who clung to their old homes. The loss in population which Boston sustained after the war had been made up by a new element coming into the city to take advantage of the fresh commercial openings. This consisted of wealthy country families, largely from Essex County, who quickly took a prominent part in both the business and public life of the town. Splendid mansions were built, exceeding anything that Boston had seen before in the way of homes ; many on Fort HiU, some on Beacon Hill, and others on the Bowl- ing Green, which in 1788 received its new name. It was at that time the seat of spacious old-time mansion houses, with beautiful grounds and fine trees, and most of the householders were weU- known men. By the beginning of the century, Bowdoin Square was the most important social centre at the West End, and it was almost the only spot at the time where any large number of wealthy or distinguished families built. By 1775 the cross streets in the vicinity of the square had most of them the outlines of to-day. Further west the greater part of the area was in its primitive condition of pastures, with the pest- house and the Province hospital located upon Grove BEFORE THE INVASION 33 Street by reason of the remoteness of the locality. In 1784 tlie whole West End held one meeting-house and about one hundred and seventy dwellings, and it was looked upon as rather a remote district, although it was regarded favorably as a pleasant and healthy one on account of its shelter from the east winds. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, its growth was rapid in every direction. In thirty years it had outwardly much the appear- ance of to-day, and socially the character that it was to preserve for half a century. To the west and north, streets were quickly put through, and by 1804 Pinckney and Hancock and Myrtle streets were crowned with pleasant homes. In that year the child population had become sufficiently large and democratic to demand a public school, and the Mayhew School was erected on the corner of Char- don and Hawkins streets. The social development of the West End was for many years in inverse ratio to the decay of the North End. Just as the former reached its best development, the latter, about 1850, was yielding up its last traces of the old American life. Its changes, however, after the first great loss of wealth in 1775, were gradual ones. Names still spoken in Boston are associated with the decadent period of the old court end. Hanover Street, 34 AMERICANS IN PROCESS though abounding in small stores, held a good many substantial families up to 1840. On Sheafe Street, Lyman Beecher and his famous family made their home ; and it is this street, with its old gardens at the back, which was the last to suc- cumb to the pressure of the immigrants. Its final surrender was dramatically sudden, according to the district's historian. Nine famihes who ate Thanksgiving dinner on Sheafe Street one year were partaking of it the next at the South End. North Street, long doubtful in character, sunk still further in degradation, and gradually infected its neighbors. One by one the quiet streets were encroached upon by the two fatal enemies of home life, the tenement and retail business; until for fifty years the North End has been simply a synonym for the first sheltering place of hordes of immigrants fleeing from oppressive conditions of the old world ; one race after another successively settling, prospering, and moving on. As of old. North Square is the centre of a social life ; but over the doors of houses where once stood the homes of English carpenters, coopers, and candle-makers, hang Italian patronymics ; and the quiet triangle resounds to the chatter of a people to whom the tongue of Holyoke and Mather is almost as strange as the famous Puritans' names. BEFOBE THE INVASION 36 As of old, the district is but three streets wide. The pressure of business buildings erected on the new land keeps the tenements within the old out- lines prescribed by the waters of the long-forgot- ten Pond, Creek, and Cove. The North End is no longer an island, no longer even a peninsula ; acres of made land connect its area with that of the West End, the promontory so many centuries divided from it by the tide-water and the Mill Pond. At the beginning of the last century, the Mill Pond was filled in ; in 1828 the water was cut off from the Mill Creek; and in 1868 came the final ob- literations of the island's early outlines, when the shore of the Great Cove was dredged and the Cove made solid land by the transference to its bed of the earth that had once formed Fort Hill. Boston's original distinguishing features, a histo- rian observes, were its hills and coves ; but in the course of years " its coves have swallowed up its hills." This development of the old district's possi- bilities had its effect upon the character of the neighboring West End, though the change was so gradual as to be hardly perceptible at any one time. For many years the district altered very little out- wardly, the vacant lots on the slopes of the hill filling up with tall, narrow houses overflowing with 36 AMERICANS JN PROCESS family life. Regular blocks were the exception, as householders were establishing their own homes for the most part, and each built after his own fancy so far as limited space would permit. The occasional wooden house of the first of the century gave up its garden to the square-cornered brick wedge that followed it as a model dwelling, and both were overshadowed later on by the four-story swell front that gained in favor after 1850. The important changes henceforth were the gradual, imperceptible ones incidental to the pressure from behind of business and immigration. As Bowdoin Square earliest became a social centre, so it first felt these encroachments which advanced quickly after the work of filling in the Mill Pond began. The square's existence as a fashionable quarter covered perhaps fifty years. Within that period its character changed from country homes to suburban estates ; these later giving way to city blocks of stone and brick, some of which still survive transformed into buildings for public use. After 1875, changes came rapidly, and old inhabitants began to look back upon a time when society was unmixed with the dreaded " foreign element." During most of the nineteenth century, the West End was a district splendidly representative BEFORE THE INVASION 37 of Anglo-Saxon American life. Upon the summit of Beacon Hill were the finest residences of the city, rapidly increasing in number after the com- pletion of the State House in 1798 ; and upon the streets just behind the State House to the east, Hancock, Temple, and Bowdoin streets, lived some of the most distinguished men in Boston's history. In sharp contrast, close by, on the slope of the hill, stood miserable huts tenanted by the most disreputable people of the city. At the end of Joy Street and straggling northward was a colony of negroes living in extreme squalor. Except for the portions occupied by these extremes of society, the West End was a comfortable, fairly well-to-do community, abundantly supplied with churches and public schools. It was cut off from the rest of residential Boston by the Common and business sections, and preserved the distinct local feeling and characteristics of a small town. Allen and McLean streets held the homes of the most privi- leged; Chambers, Stamford, Lynde, and part of Leverett streets were inhabited by the fairly well- to-do ; and the narrow houses on the steep hillside streets were owned or rented by thrifty, ambitious American families but one generation from the farm. The population was comparatively free from foreigners, and the public schools were filled 38 AMERICANS IN PROCESS with the children of typical New England homes, whose heads represented the substantial business life of the city, in all its grades. The English High School for boys was located at the west end of Pinckney Street. It was founded for the pur- pose of giving to boys who did not care for col- lege training a good English and business preparar tion, and the knowledge of the French language. When a High School for girls was projected, the best district in the city for the experiment was con- sidered to be that of the Bowdoin School on Myr- tle Street. Except upon the summit of the hill, the life was mostly the simple, democratic one ex- pressed by the public schools ; and so stable was the population that sometimes three generations of the same family received their elementary education in the same grammar school. The first enemy of the home life of the West End was not the one that earliest attacked the older dis- trict. It was the outcome, not of foreign immigra- tion, but of increase in native population drawn in by the growth of the city's trade. Boarding-houses, and not tenements, here put the homes to flight. Lads from sixteen to twenty-five, leaving the farm for the larger opportunities of the city, demanded shelter. Widows and spinsters of the West End opened their doors, thankful for this new means of BEFORE THE INVASION 39 bread-winning at a time when needlework and teaching were the only occupations for American women. The boarding-house life of the middle of the century is held often in pleasant and grateful remembrance by gray-haired business merchants ; and literary circles, that the reading world has come to think of with affection, existed within these narrow boarding-houses on some of the hilly streets of the West End. Their less worthy successors, the lodging-houses, still mark the advance of irre- sistible forces that are at last pushing all the earlier types of American life entirely outside of the confines of old Boston, CHAPTER ni THE 'invading HOST The North End, for its present inhabitants, has representatives of twenty-five different nationali- ties. Irish, Jews, and Italians are the large factors in the population, together making up four fifths of the whole. In 1895, the total population of the North End was 23,800. The census of 1900 shows that this number has grown to 28,000. The West End has had a later development than the North End, and shows a less variety of nationalities. Its population has never been of so foreign a character as that of the North End, although a large Jewish influx has poured into its streets during the past few years, and has changed the complexion of the entire district. At the pre- sent time, the West End may be divided, by a line running through Green and Allen streets, into two distinct sections. The section north of this line is similar to the North End in the character of its inhabitants, wliile the southern section re- sembles the South End. The total population of North Union Station JEWS ITALIANS PORTUGUESE MIXED Map Illustrating the Distribution of the PREDOMINANT RACE FACTORS in -the NORTH END, BOSTON. TBE INVADING HOST 41 the West End in 1895 was 28,000, nearly one half of which was made up of Jews and Irish. In 1900, the total population was approximately 34,500, and the proportion of Jews was greatly increased.^ The homogeneous character of Boston's popu- lation was first seriously disturbed by the Irish famine of 1846. For fifteen years before that date a fairly steady immigration of Irish, English, British-Americans, and Germans had made the foreign-born inhabitants of the North End number about one third of a total population of 20,000. Immigration into Boston for ten years following the Irish famine was so preponderatingly Irish that other nationalities may be practically disre- garded. The growth of the Irish during those ten years, including their children born in this coun- try, was over 100 per cent. Already, in 1850, the Irish formed about one half of the population of ^ The census of 1900 bring-s out the interesting' fact that, for the city as a whole, the older nationalities — the Irish, English, Scotch, and Germans — have decreased slightly since 1895. The British- Americans and Swedes have made steady increase, and the Italians and Jews have grown with astonishing rapidity. The Italians have grown from 7900 to 13,738, making an increase of 74 per cent, in five years : the Russians have grown from 11,979 to 14,995, or 25 per cent. ; and the Poles from 1221 to 3832, or 2 14 per cent. The greater part of this increase of Italians and Jews has been in the two districts under consideration. 42 AMERICANS IN PROCESS 23,000 in the North End, while the Americans numbered only 9200. Still, the Irish were closely packed away on the back streets, so that the gen- eral effect was Anglo-Saxon rather than Celtic.^ By 1855 the Irish had grown to 14,000, and the total population to 26,000. Fortunately for the health of the inhabitants, the North End has never contained a larger population than this. The Irish inhabitants continued to increase slowly up to 1880. Since that time, with the advent of other nationalities, they have rapidly diminished. In 1895 they numbered 6800. The Americans, mean- time, have dwindled to insignificant proportions. In 1895 only about 1500 persons remained whose parents were born in the United States, and half this number were children of parents born out- side Massachusetts. It requires diligent search to find any Boston family still clinging to its old home, in the midst of this motley mixture of races. In the West End, the Irish never had so great a preponderance as in the North End. In 1850 they formed about one fifth of a total population of 20,518, and in 1855 they formed a little less than one fourth of a population of ^ A city census of 1850 gives the nationalities by streets, mak- ing possible an exact comparison between that period and the present. THE INVADING HOST 43 23,500. A steady increase until 1880 brought their numbers up to 10,000, whicli gave them a lead of 3600 over the American residents. Before another census was taken the tide had turned, just as it had in the North End, and the decrease has continued up to the present. In 1895, the Irish, numbering 7200, were the leading nationality in the West End. During the past seven years, however, the Jews have displaced them so rapidly that the Irish probably no longer hold first place. A larger number of Americans live in the West End than in the North End. In 1895, 4800 resided there, though to a large extent they belong to the lodging-house class and do not represent American family life. The advent of the Irish brought about the first in a series of racial shiftings in the North and West Ends. About 1880 there came a marked change in the character of immigration. Since then, so rapid a transformation has been produced that even old inhabitants, daily witnesses of the scene, have been startled at times. In 1880, less than 1000 Italians lived in the North End, and only 125 in the West End. In the whole of both districts, only a few hundred Jews were to be found, and most of those were Germans. The Russians were outnumbered even by the Poles. In the pre- 44 AMERICANS IN PROCESS sent situation one can trace but little resemblance to that of 1880. The story of immigration into Boston for the last twenty years is for the most part an influx of Jews and Italians followed by more Jews and Italians. According to the census of 1895, the number of Italians in the North End had reached 7700. The Kussians and Poles, who, roughly speaking, form the Jewish popula- tion, numbered 6200, all but 400 of these being Eussians. Although it has been a popular belief that a greater mass of Jews than of any other sub- division of humanity will collect in a given space, a longer acquaintance with the Italians has forced one to abandon this idea. When the North End reached the point of human saturation, the less per- sistent material — that is, the Jews and the Irish — found its way to neighboring places, leaving the Italians in possession. In the West End, in 1895, there were 6300 Jews and only 1100 Italians, and migration to this section from the North End con- tinues to be more largely Jewish than Italian. At present, immigration from Ireland is just about sufficient to keep up the number of Irish homes in these districts. The excited, venturesome immi- gration of the fifties has now given place to a calm and confident arrival in response to invitations of relatives or friends. THE INVADING HOST 45 Besides the Irish, Jews, and Italians, some of the less important nationalities deserve mention. About 800 Portuguese were living in the North End in 1895 ; but removals to the suburbs have since thinned them out. British and British- Americans to the number of 1200 are scattered throughout the North End. In the West End, they are more numerous, as they centre in lodging- house districts. Some 1400 British and 2000 British-Americans are to be found in the West End, chiefly in the southern part of the district. About 3000 negroes also occupy a fairly well-de- fined area around PhiUips Street in the West End. A number of more temporary residents make themselves conspicuous in both districts. Sea-far- ing transients of many nationalities find harbor from the dangers of the deep in sailors' boarding and lodging houses, which are not without their own peculiar perils. At any given time perhaps one hundred sailors may be found in the district ; but the number varies. They go on a coasting voyage of from four to six weeks, and stay ashore till their wages are spent. This does not take long ; for the recreation of the majority of them includes some sort of dissipation. Besides these regular sailor inhabitants, a number of sailors from the steamships spend their leisure in the city while 46 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS living aboard their vessels. A larger number of tramps also seem to live in tlie cheap lodging-houses of the North End than in other parts of the city. They cling to the outskirts of the district, and ask for a drink or for a cent to get across the ferry. No tramp was ever yet on the right side of a ferry. The causes of the enormous influx of Jews and southern Italians during recent years are excep- tional, and deserve consideration. In the south of Italy emigration is confined chiefly to the peasants from the mountain districts, where the civilization of the coast regions has not penetrated, but where the tax-gatherer never fails to appear. The natural poverty of the country would be in itself a suffi- cient cause of emigration ; for artisans' wages are less in Italy than in Germany, and farm-hands re- ceive barely enough to maintain life, their wages not infrequently falling below twenty cents a day. ^ But the unbearable part of Italian poverty lies in the vicious system of taxation, which seems to be specially arranged to oppress the poor. " Progres- sive taxation topsy-turvy, " some one calls it, for it has been estimated that fifty-four per cent, of the taxes are paid by the poor and working classes.^ 1 See Italy To-day^ by Bolton King and Thomas Okey, p. 126. 2 Ibid., p. 138. Map Illustrating the Distribution of the PREDOMINANT RACE FACTORS in the WEST END, BOSTON. AMERICANS IRISH JEWS BRITISH & PROVINCIALS NEGROES ITALIANS MIXED THE INVADING HOST 47 The small farmer is perhaps most seriously affected. The land tax alone takes from twenty to twenty-five per cent, of the net profits of the farm, and in ad- dition to it he must pay income tax, succession duty, and communal cattle tax, beside the various indi- rect taxes which bear heavily upon the necessaries of life.i Not infrequently the profits of a farm are entirely absorbed by taxes, and improvements are not undertaken through fear of increased as- sessment. Poverty in Italy is also intimately associated with over-population. The birth-rate is high; in fact, for all of Europe, the excess of births over deaths is greater only in Germany, Great Britain, and the Scandinavian countries ; and parts of Italy are among the most densely peopled districts of Europe. One third too many laborers in the Po vaUey is the estimate of one writer.^ This sur- plus population is, of course, a serious impediment to the economic progress of the lower classes ; but the high birth-rate, especially marked among the very poor, seems to show that the over-population is rather the result of utter hopelessness arising out of economic conditions than the cause of those conditions. At any rate economic conditions and the surplus population together make Italy a coun- 1 Ibid., p. 140. 2 Ibid., p. 311. 48 AMERICANS IN PROCESS try to get away from ; and the stories of a returned emigrant or tlie persuasiveness of a steamship agent will be enough to start a considerable exodus. Sometimes the renting or selling of a farm will provide the funds for passage money, but many who are unable to raise a sufficient amount are assisted by friends in America. It will be easily understood, therefore, that they have little money to exhibit upon their arrival in this country. The emigration of Jews from Russia has been indirectly necessitated by the repressive action of the Russian government. The real cause of the trouble lies in the long and bitter contest which has gone on in that country between Jew and Gen- tile. At last many of the Gentiles, finding them- selves undermined by the subtle Jewish methods, organized riots and destroyed the property of those who, they felt, had undone them. The " May Laws " of 1882, following the anti-Semitic riots, revoked certain privileges which had been ac- corded to the Jews since 1865, and required the enforcement of previous laws restricting the residence of most Jews to fifteen provinces in the western part of Russia known as the Jew- ish Pale of Settlement ; and it furthermore pro- hibited their residing in the country districts. Those decrees have been enforced with varying THE INVADING HOST 49 degrees of severity in the different districts ; but the result has been to overcrowd the towns of the Pale and to deprive a large number of the Jews of even the bare means of livelihood. It has been through the benevolence of Baron de Hirsch that thousands who had no means of their own were enabled to reach America. Now, however, the influence of the administrators of his great trust is exerted to turn the tide of immigra- tion toward the Argentine Republic. To Jewish sympathizers the action of the Czar has seemed an uncalled-for persecution, an outrage against humanity. It has indeed involved much barbarous severity and a vast amount of unde- served suffering. It was not, however, as is often supposed, the outcome of mere meaningless hatred. The case of the Russian is summed up simply in the old story of the money-lending Jew. From the Russian point of view, the matter was an ur- gent one, and the remedy was thought to be, under the circumstances, a great piece of statesmanship. The Russian peasant was, of course, no match for the Jew in the instinct for sharp practice in trade. Even hedged in by a multitude of restrictions, the Jews have become an economic power in Russia — too often a grasping and relentless power. If they had perfect freedom, they would erelong control 60 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the material resources of the country. But such a triumph of a narrow and specialized economic instinct is a form of survival to which the Czar is inalterably opposed. He stands as the protector of his hundred million Russian subjects, and feels that the Jew must not be allowed to outwit them and hinder their natural economic development. The American sequel to these and similar pas- sages in the history of Europe during the past century has to do with imparting distinctive Amer- ican qualities to the individual immigrant type, and with bringing about a degree of common feehng among these diverse ethnic types in their immedi- ate relations one with another. Both these ends may possibly be attained by the same means, but not necessarily. It is easy to see that two nationalities may readily adopt American ideals and standards of life and yet not conform to each other. They may never be wrought into social unity. The Americanizing process is — up to a certain point — the less difficult of accomplish- ment. American ideals in time usually appeal to persons who have sufficient enterprise to emi- grate, although extreme isolation is likely to thwart such a tendency. To obtain complete social unity, there must be concrete common interests sufficient to insure active cooperation between the members THE INVADING HOST 51 of tlie different racial groups. All this means more than naturalization and casting a vote. To appreciate the difficulty properly involves an in- quiry Into every phase of social life ; though only some of the most important tendencies, as seen in Boston's chief Immigrant districts, can be noted here. A disturbed balance of the sexes is the inevita- ble result of any great movement of population. A significant characteristic of the North End lies in the abnormal excess of males over females, which, according to the census of 1895, amounts to 1500, two thirds of this excess being attributed to the Italians. This number, however, is doubt- less too small ; for the census was taken in the spring of the year, when the Italians begin to get work outside the city. It is pretty certain that a much larger number of single men than is indicated by the census returns resides in the Italian quarter during the greater part of the year, and the actual number Is still further augmented by transients, who are always a considerable factor in a colony of this size. Each nationality has some excess of males over females, with the exception of the Irish, British- Americans, and Portuguese. The excess of females In these cases is insignificant, save with the Irish, where it amounts to over 200. 52 AMERICANS IN PROCESS These facts mean a distinct majority of men in the tenement houses, with a slight preponderance of women in the lodging-houses. To the disproportion of the sexes in the tene- ments, a large degree of overcrowding and the crime resulting therefrom may be directly traced. A considerable, though a decreasing, proportion of Italians are temporary residents in this country, and they occupy provisional quarters. Their pur- pose is to save money, and they do it by maintain- ing the most niggardly kind of existence. Fami- lies having small tenements sublet rooms to them for their accommodation. Eight, ten, and some- times more men will occupy a single room. For the room, a fire, and perhaps some slight services in mending, each lodger pays twenty-five or thirty cents a week. A scant amount of cheap food takes a dollar more. But this small expense for neces- saries is sometimes supplemented by a large liquor bill. A number of men living together in idle- ness makes card-playing and beer-drinking com- mon and, for them, expensive modes of recreation ; and in this kind of life may be found the cause of most of the serious crime of the North End. Being an excitable race, the Italians resort to knives and pistols in quarrels over cards or from jealousies arising from the relationship of the sexes. THE INVADING HOST 53 But overcrowding among the Italians is not con- fined to single men. Many Italian families live in very congested fashion. The tenement-house cen- sus of Boston, taken in 1891, presented some very significant figures as to this point. At a time when there was a much smaller number of Italians than at present, two precincts, occupied chiefly by Italians, contained 154 families who were occupy- ing only one room each; and 459 families, or more than one half the inhabitants of the precincts, were living on an average with more than two persons to a room. Even families who could well afford comfortable tenements often show no incli- nation to give up their insanitary dwellings. But many of the Italians are beginning to seek some- thing better. They are now, in considerable num- bers, moving into the more desirable tenements to the west of Hanover Street ; and some families, especially of the second generation, are taking a more significant step in detaching themselves from the colony and settling amid pleasanter surround- ings. Meanwhile many new additions are being made to the colony, as the result of the establish- ment of a direct line of steamers between Boston and the Mediterranean. Jewish abodes in the North End are only a little less crowded than those of the Italians, but it is 54 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the crowding due to large families, not to numbers of adults. As the Jews become more wealthy, or in other words, as time passes, they do not propor- tionately enlarge their quarters. Still having the herding instinct of the ghetto, the overcrowding of their rooms occurs to them as an easy method of thrift. The uncleanly ways of the ghetto thus continue to find a pretext. But neither cramped quarters nor the absorp- tion of business affairs destroys Jewish home and family life. Married life is the normal state of the Jews, and they uniformly have large families. Their children are nurtured and trained with affec- tionate care. There is noticeable attachment be- tween the two generations, even outside the family circle. A mutual regard and confidence exists between old and young, such as is seldom found among other nationalities. Jewish boys associate freely with their elders, and the relationship is so natural as to show neither presumption on the one side nor patronage on the other. Small children may be seen tagging along after the patriarchs, who give a friendly welcome to their advances. And the freedom engenders in the young a respect for their elders, which is lacking among those na- tionalities in which the two generations are seldom united in free social intercourse. It is one of the THE INVADING HOST 65 sad and disappointing aspects of life for the older members of the Jewish community that, as time goes by, the language and customs of the new country become a serious barrier between their children and themselves. Jewish women are ten- derly cared for as mothers, though, true to ancient traditions, the men are superior in all things. Strangely enough, considering their family life, matrimonial alliances occasionally come to be busi- ness transactions, and professional matchmakers are not infrequently resorted to. In such cases trading ability is more valued in the spouse than domestic traits. The Negroes in the West End are not, on the whole, in a congested district, although instances where lodgers are crowded in with a family are not unknown among them. Such a practice is at best conducive neither to health nor to morality; but it is especially deleterious to the Negroes, for any indiscriminate mingling of the sexes serves only to increase their natural tendency to im- morality. Most of the tenements occupied by Negroes are poor, though they are generally kept clean. Single men among them are lodged in much less desirable quarters than white men who are receiving the same wages. Signs of prosperity take the shape of decorations of the person. 66 AMEBICANS IN PEOCESS Economy in home comforts and lavishness in out- ward display is often a characteristic of the poorer classes, but it is carried to its last extreme by the Negroes. The Irish of the North End, for the most part, do not represent the best qualities of their race. A small minority are of the more progressive kind. Such families remain on account of owning real estate, or because the young men have political interests ; but the majority are of the less enter- prising, who have not shown the ability to rise, — for the Irish in the North End are not recent im- migrants. Many, it must be feared, have joined the ranks of the permanently poor. But, being older residents, and speaking the English language, they stand to the later immigrants as the native type, unfortunately not always to the profit of the American reputation. The Irish in the West End are, in general, more intelligent and prosperous, and resemble more nearly those in the South End. They have made progress in every way, and by their remarkable race trait of adaptability they have con- formed in a great degree to American ways. The lodging-house population in the West End differs but little from that in the South End. Rows of brick houses with non-committal fronts shelter a population of all shades of character and THE INVADING UOST 67 interests. The men belong to the clerk and artisan classes, and are chiefly Americans, British- Ameri- cans, and Irish. They represent a class which is trying to maintain its social position under con- ditions which are no longer favorable. By post- poning marriage they succeed in keeping up an appearance of their old standard in an atmosphere which is careless of the individual, and in which the individual becomes careless of himself, because he has no strong guiding or restraining attach- ments. Lodging-house life is at best temporary and forms a poor substitute for the home. But even that takes the greater part of the lodgers' wages, and too often normal home life is never realized. Comparatively few marry later in life. Temporary unions are often the expedients of in- sufficient resources, and tend to become a sort of recognized institution. Numbers of the lodging- house class are simply being sacrificed industrially and morally because of their inability to conform to a lowered scale of living. Among the different nationalities the Jews are perhaps making the most rapid progress ; and this is not in material resources alone, for the advan- tages of an education are not ignored. Jewish children are among the brightest in the schools, and they study with a seriousness which is foreign 68 AMERICANS IN PROCESS to their Irish and Italian mates. High school and even college attracts a large number of those whose means permit. To most of the poorer Jews, how- ever, the desire for an education simply does not arise before the all-important question of making a living, and getting on. Boys go to school in order to get a license to sell papers ; while both parents devote their whole energy to increasing the family resources. The Italians have not been as successful as the Jews in gaining financial headway, but their pro- gress has been sufficiently encouraging. They are developing into skilled workmen following a variety of useful and productive callings. It is these specialized workmen who form the more permanent and desirable part of the North End colony. A small number of better educated Italians have not on the whole proved to be a very desirable class. They sometimes have more education than honesty, and manage to live as parasites on their inexpe- rienced countrymen. At the other extreme, the illiterate are a handicap to progress in the Italian colony. Next to the Portuguese and Spaniards, the Italians are the most illiterate of any nation- ality in western Europe. Comparatively few of the southern peasants can read and write their own language. This is doubtless one reason why they THE INVADING HOST 59 are so backward about learning English, although the nature of their occupations makes English less essential to them than to the Jews. It ought to be said that the cause of illiteracy in their own country is not so much a disregard of education on the part of the people as it is the absence of a persistent and rational policy on the part of the government. Among the Portuguese, poverty is an altogether too common characteristic. While this poverty does not amount to complete pauperism, assistance from charitable societies is very common. The most successful among this nationality are small tradesmen and artisans. Sea-farino^ Portuo^uese form a small part of the North End colony. Not a few families are dependent upon the labor of women, and their lot is a hard one. Yet in the matter of clean homes, the Portuguese stand in striking and happy contrast with the Jews. Por- tuguese of the first generation keep to themselves pretty closely. Their quarrels and their immorali- ties are not complained of, and consequently are, little noticed. Children of both sexes, however, desire to get away from the confinement of the home and work in factories. Thus in the second generation the isolation of the Portuguese is over- come. 60 AMERICANS IN PROCESS The Negroes are acted upon by conflicting forces. On the one hand, they are ambitious, imitative, and anxious to appear like other people ; on the other hand, certain animal propensities and the intoxi- cation of Northern freedom are continual impedi- ments to their progress, and tend to widen the breach between them and those white people whom they wish to resemble. As the better class of Negroes are leaving the West End, those that re- main are coming more and more to represent un- desirable types, such as are found in the lower part of the South End. A large majority of the Negroes are poor, and they are improving their condition very slowly. All except the oldest are possessed of at least the rudiments of an education. They are proud of all achievements in this line, for it makes them more like other people. The acquisi- tion of knowledge, however, though easy for the little children, becomes arduous after a few years, and many drop out before they have finished the grammar school course. Perhaps their assistance is needed for the support of the family, but the children themselves say they do not get marks high enough, and they do not like to go to school. Notwithstanding the Negroes' desire for assimila- tion, color remains an almost insuperable obstacle to them. Occasional marriages occur between THE INVADING HOST 61 colored men and white women, but they are of little avail in breaking down the barrier. Such couples are usually absorbed by the Negro race, although if they belong to the more educated class they enter into natural relationships with neither race. In regard to identification of interest and feel- ing among the different etlmic groups there are, aside from the Negro problem, many encouraging features. On the whole, of course, progress in this direction is slow. Irish immigrants during the early part of the century were a desirable class, and coming in smaller numbers they assimilated with native Americans pretty readily. Later the assisted immigration that followed the Irish famine brought an inferior type, and the influx into the North End was also too sudden. The Americans gradually moved to other parts of the city, and left the Irish in control. The religious question was the chief cause of ill feeling between these two races, and was the great hindrance to easy assimi- lation. When the Italians and Jews became noticeable factors in the North End, they were received with little tolerance by the Irish, who were then " old inhabitants." They were unwelcome interlopers, and became subjects of petty persecution. Direct 62 AMERICANS IN PROCESS molestations have ceased, but there is little inter- course between the groups. Less friction is noticeable in the schools than anywhere else, although a schoolboy's honor seldom extends beyond the limits of his own kind. In social clubs, which are more personal affairs, the nationalities seldom mix. The Jews and Italians get along with each other better than either does with the Irish. The dignity of Irish lads is somewhat compromised by associating intimately with Jewish or Italian boys, and their wit makes them schoolboy leaders. One Irish club voted an Italian boy a member because he was a "good fellow," and then upon further consideration voted him out again because he was an Italian. They feared that companionship with him would open the way to companionship with other Italian boys. Jewish boys in the same way would not vote an Irish boy into their clubs, and an Irish boy would not on his life be voted in. The seriousness that pervades a Jewish boys' club is depressing to the Irish spirit. This is aptly illustrated by the re- mark of a twelve-year old member who, becoming disgusted with an endless debate over parliamen- tary procedure, exclaimed, " I can't idle away my wastin' hours. If you want me to belong to this club you must do something." Social and philan- THE INVADING HOST 63 thropic institutions find it better to work with a single nationality, or at least to keep the nation- alities separate as far as possible. Political activities bring about association among the different nationalities, and in this the Irish manage to overcome their exclusiveness. The Irishman regards politics as a separate department of life. It is an end in itself, and is undertaken for its own sake. To be sure, he hopes by its means to be able to gain a living, but that is the stake of a game which has a fascination all its own. The political interest of the Irish people is shown not only in the large proportion of Irish voters, but also in the greater activity of those voters. They are not merely the most easily or- ganized of any nationality, but they are the most capable organizers. According to their own ac- count, this pohtical capacity is the result of the struggle for independence in Ireland. Oppression of the Jew has resulted in his being gravely deficient in civic sense. Business is his great concern, and politics is whoUy subsidiary to it. First interested in politics through his busi- ness associations, business interests still influence his vote. Although the percentage of Jewish voters is hardly more than half as large as that of the Irish, considering their short residence they 64 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS make a very creditable showing. They are kept from becoming organizers, however, by the mutual jealousies of their leaders. Consequently the Irish step in and attempt a task which proves a strain even to their ingenuity. In fact, the Jew is a thorn in the flesh to the Irish politician. The Irishman does not court the Jew because he loves him so, but because he wishes to convince his much doubting brother that, although they may differ socially and religiously and may be rivals in busi- ness, it is entirely possible to be friends in the party camp. At first the Jews so imperfectly understood the political game that they formed educational clubs to influence their people to be- come naturalized, without regard to the party affihations of the prospective citizens. Such con- duct is incomprehensible to Irish politicians ; yet it was several years before they could teach the Jews the art of naturalizing only such a person as would support the party. Even now, they assert, the Jews have not the constancy to foUow the lead of those true friends who have aided them to become citizens of the United States. The Italians are much more docile. Although they have taken little real interest in public affairs, they are ready to follow the lead of others and be- come American citizens. But most of the Italians TEE INVADING HOST 65 are not eligible for citizenship, and the law has been strained somewhat for their benefit. As the law confers the right of citizenship upon minors with the father's naturalization, Italians are often able to recollect, upon second thought, that they do ful- fill the proper conditions for the special privilege. Notwithstanding this liberal possibility, a smaller percentage of Italians than of any other nation- ality possesses the franchise, though a marked in- crease of Italian names on the local voting lists has recently been made. The English and British-Americans assimilate politically less easily than might be expected, consid- ering their high percentage of literacy and the simi- larity of their institutions with our own. This very similarity, however, awakens a feeling of rivalry which is not evident among other nationalities. While immigrants from continental Europe come here with a kind of preconceived belief in the per- fection of American institutions, English subjects have a distinct feeling that their own are superior, and are loath to become citizens of a country which they have adopted merely for economic reasons. British Provincials are seen at the polls less fre- quently than the native English, but this may be partly for the reason that a large number of them are only temporary residents here. 6Q AMERICANS IN PROCESS The Portuguese show almost as small a propor- tion of voters as the Italians. They have the ad- vantage of a somewhat longer residence in this country than the Italians, but on the other hand they are the most illiterate of all our foreign in- habitants. The Negroes, like the Jews, show the lack of a tradition of citizenship. They ignore their opportunities in political life. If they were in any sense an organized body, possessed of a fraction of Irish sagacity, they would be a more powerful and respected people in public life. Intermarriage among nationalities, as a rule, affords important indications of the fading of race distinctions. Measured by this standard, the Eng- lish and British- Americans assimilate most readily of all, not excepting the Irish. Both nationalities have entered into alliances pretty freely with the Irish and Americans, as well as with other races. The Irish, owing partly to the large excess of fe- males, have intermarried with almost all the nation- alities, but much more commonly with the English- speaking people. Other nationalities residing in these districts have thus far made comparatively few outside marriage ties. Italians, particularly the men, are beginning to form unions with the Irish and Portuguese, even difference of language THE INVADING HOST 67 not forming an insuperable obstacle. A case in point is that of an Italian wlio married a Portu- guese girl when neither could understand the language of the other. Such unions have their inconveniences ; and they must be especially disad- vantageous to the Portuguese, for their tongues are their most common weapon of defense. Marriages between Jews and Gentiles are not unknown, still they are infrequent enough to occasion com- ment whenever they occur. The most frequent cases are those in which Jewish men take Irish or American wives, although occasionally Jewish women marry outside the faith. On the whole, the sentiment is quite strong against the unions of Jews and Gentiles, and such unions are too excep- tional to be cited as evidence of any present Jew- ish tendency toward affiliation with other ethnic groups. The separateness of the Jew has always been a favorite theme, yet something might be said on the other side. They are not so compact a mass as is often supposed. Jews from different countries differ not a little from each other. The Russians are the most pronounced type, and are probably the most conservative of all. The Germans are more liberal, and give support to the reformed sect. A few who come to this country after living in 68 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS England bear a characteristic impress in their speech, and even seem to have caught a certain sturdy quality from the English environment.^ Both the German and the English Jews consider the Russians much inferior, while the Russians are shocked at the irrehgious deportment of their more progressive brethi'en. The isolation of this peculiar people, originating in their religion, is preserved by ever-present reminders in all their scheme of hfe that they are Jews. It is pos- sible, however, that under the dissipating force of freedom the Jews will lose much of their aloof- ness ; some of their peculiar traits will disappear, and others will be modified. They are begin- ning to enter a larger number of occupations, and are coming into friendly relations with out- siders in business and in politics. They drink beer like their neighbors, and sometimes sell it. They are less particular about their Jewish diet, and an increasing number are observing less rigor- ously many of the religious ceremonies they for- merly kept so strictly. As to their separateness in religion, the very term Christian has been to ^ English Jews are said to have a nearer resemblance to their Christian conntrjrmen than to the members of their own race who have recently poured into London from Russia. See The Jew in London, Russell and Lewis, p. 24. THE INVADING HOST 69 them so long a synonym for persecution, that the aversion which they have felt toward the Christian religion cannot be wondered at. Many of them, however, are coming to have a curious way of omitting and ignoring the hated term as applied to Gentile friends. On the whole, it may be said that the racial elements in the ^orth and West Ends are reluctant to mingle with each other, but tend slowly to con- form to American ideals. In the development of American patriotic feeling, two of the chief types leave little to be desired. No nationality can show more loyal Americans among its numbers than the Irish. Their hatred of the English, which they say is born in the blood, has made them love their adopted country the more. Al- though they always retain tender memories of their native land, the freedom with which they have gained access to American life has made their assimilation thorough and their loyalty complete. Among the Italians enthusiasm for their own country is always shown by fitting observance of their national holidays ; still the American flag always receives equal attention with their own in the decorations. The children, both in school and in the boys' and girls ' clubs, learn American traditions and come to love American freedom. 70 AMERICANS IN PROCESS There is sufficient ground for anxiety in tlie case of each of the racial groups in these districts. The residuum of the Irish are in danger of the extreme forms of degradation. It is unfortunate that the Italians are allowed to live in a way which tends to dwarf their simple virtues, and which offers fertile soil for the growth of crime. The Jews in their very process of conformity are los- ing some of their most desirable qualities. Virtue by tradition is failing to withstand the seductive clamor of the city's temptations. The Negroes, condemned to conditions which do not tend to ele- vate the race, too easily accept their lot. Through the social preference among them for personal ser- vice as against independent labor, they relinquish the last possibility of associating with the whites upon the same plane, and open wider the way to industrial and moral shiftlessness. In general, the danger of the situation in the North and West Ends is that a considerable proportion of the new- comers, instead of finding here opportunities of pre- paration for a more normal life, will be overcome by their own numbers and their isolated situation, and will settle back, accepting present conditions as their permanent lot. Map Illustrating the VARIOUS TYPES of BUILDINGS in the NORTH END BOSTON. ^m TENEMENT HOUSES 1^^ LODGING HOUSES im APARTMENT HOUSES I I STORES I I FACTORIES bi^li DWELLINGS OVER STORES ^^H PUBLIC CHAPTER IV CITY AND SLUM The first important sanitary problem to be faced in the development of a city is that of the drain- age. At the outset no special provision is made other than the utilization, in the simplest manner, of some neighboring stream or body of w^ater. In Paris, as late as 1750, open ditches had served all purposes of drainage. At that time the little stream into which many of these ditches emp- tied their foul waters was covered over, chiefly in order to make more building space. Up to a com- paratively recent period, the canals of Amsterdam were stagnant sewers. Hamburg's sewerage was carried into the Elbe and, until the cholera epi- demic of 1892, allowed to float back with the tide, polluting the water supply. The tendency of both European and American cities has been to adopt the cheapest, most temporary measure in sanita- tion until forced by epidemics to a provision both more costly and more adequate. In Boston, as late as the second decade of the 72 AMERICANS IN PROCESS nineteenth century, there was an open sewer cross- ing the centre of the city. Mill Creek, the outlet of the old Mill Pond, received the drainage of the higher ground of the North End, and with the increase of population became the first important public nuisance to be corrected by the town gov- ernment. Private drainage was unregulated. Each householder was at liberty to construct his own system and to dig ditches in the street at his own pleasure. Following the problem of drainage comes the problem of a pure water supply. Here again cities have usually waited to be forced by epidemics into proper sanitary provisions. At first public wells were sufficient. These were supplanted by private wells. Then, as the possibilities of pollu- tion from bad drainage became understood, water was brought from the nearest and most conven- ient course. With recent years the sources have been more carefuUy selected and guarded and the water filtered. The cleaning of the streets has been a matter of slower development. Not yet is the problem satisfactorily solved, although great improvement is manifest in the past ten years. And perhaps the most important sanitary problem of all, the proper housing of the people, has waited until CITY AND SLUM 73 the present century, with its enormous advance in urban population, to receive adequate recognition. Previous to the year 1800, Boston had few sani- tary regulations. The frequent epidemics came and went without teaching their lessons. There is record of at least twelve visitations of smallpox in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1722, of the 4549 inhabitants living north of Mill Creek, 2596 were victims of this disease and 281 died. The first Board of Health was established in 1799 by act of the legislature. To this board was given the power to enter forcibly any building or vessel, examine into all causes of sickness and all nuisances, " and the same to destroy, remove or prevent, as the case may require." ^ With the incorporation of the town as a city in 1822, and the advent of Mayor Josiah Quincy in the following year, came the beginning of a thorough and adequate treatment of sanitary prob- lems. A uniform system of drainage was estab- lished under a municipal " superintendent of common sewers." Steps were taken to insure a permanent and pure water supply, owned by the city and under its control. The Board of Health gave place to a single health commissioner, re- sponsible to the mayor and aldermen. After five 1 Shaw, History of Boston, p. 154. 74 AMERICANS IN PROCESS years of vigorous effort and struggle in the courts, the right of the city to exercise complete juris- diction in sanitary matters was established per- manently. Mayor Quincy paid especial attention to the problem of street cleaning. Previously the respon- sibility had been divided between the householders and the Board of Health, much of the work was done by private contract, and the results were very unsatisfactory. The mayor determined on an effective object lesson. He secured an outfit of carts and horses, expended $1400, and removed three thousand tons of dirt from the city streets at one cleaning. The result convinced the city of the need of permanent municipal control. The falling of the death rate of 1827 below the rate of any previous year, even below that of any city of equal population on record, was the crown- ing tribute to the effectiveness of the administra- tion. In order that the housing problem of later days may be understood, it is necessary that its roots in sanitary conditions should be made clear. Bad drainage, impure water, and unclean streets gave rise to epidemics ; these epidemics were most violent in overcrowded and improperly drained and ventilated houses. The attention drawn to CITY AND SLUM 75 such houses, usually inhabited by the poorest of the people, developed a more comprehensive study of housing conditions and an effort to remedy the defects. Some of the evils of bad housing have come only with the later growth of the cities, and could not have been foreseen. But the problem as a whole would never have become so serious had the people of Boston persisted in living up to the light which was given them in the early years of the nineteenth century. There are four well-defined periods in the his- tory of the sanitary and housing problems of the North and West Ends. These may be designated as the period of epidemics, until the last outbreak of smallpox in 1872 ; the period of constructive effort, from the clearing away of Fort Hill in 1867 to 1889 ; the period of detailed investigation, from 1889 to 1897 ; and the present period, with its enlarged municipal powers, beginning in 1898. As early as 1678 the Reverend Thomas Thacher put forth a broadside entitled " A Brief Rule to guide the Common People of New England how to order themselves and theirs in the Small Pocks, or Measles." It remained for another clergyman, the Reverend Joseph Tuckerman, minister at large from 1826, and founder of the Benevolent Era- 76 AMERICANS IN PROCESS ternity of Churches, to cry out against the over- crowded and miserable tenements and the inhabited cellars. When the smallpox appeared in 1824, and the Asiatic cholera for the first time in 1832, the city was already aware of the local causes that aided the spread of the contagion. Many years passed, however, before those causes were remedied. Fifty thousand dollars were appropriated to stay the first attack of cholera, and a general fast day appointed. But the overcrowding and filth re- mained. The census of 1845 gave the city a total popu- lation of 114,366. Wards 5 and 6, in the West End, had the fewest inhabitants to a house (8.4) ; while Ward 2, the eastern part of the North End, and Ward 8, the eastern part of the Fort Hill district, near by, had 17.79 and 19.15, respectively. The average for the city was 10.57. " Less than one third of the houses in the city and none of the houses in the North End took aque- duct water ; and many houses were not connected with the city sewerage system.'* ^ These facts made it easy to predict the territory which would be most afflicted by the next epidemic. In 1848 one of the city physicians published a statement which ought to have aroused the city. 1 Bushee, Growth of the Population of Boston. Map Illustrating VARIOUS of BUILDINGS TENEMENT HOUSES LODGING HOUSES limill APARTMENT HOUSES L I STORES I I FACTORIES ^^^ DWELLINGS OVER STORES CITY AND SLUM 77 He said : " Tlie dwellings of the poor are mostly filthy, often from neglect on the part of the land- lords, who get large rents and do not provide suit- able drains, privies, yards, etc. Municipal regu- lation is far from effective. We need a health commissioner who should be dictator and turn out any excess of population from houses and streets." In spite of these warnings conditions were not improved, and in 1849 the Asiatic cholera raged for the second time. According to the report of a " Committee on Internal Health " made after the epidemic had run its course, those sections of the city nearest sea-level, the least perfect in drriin- age, the worst ventilated, and the most crowded and filthy, were the most afflicted. Especial mention is made of the Fort Hill neighborhood, which is called the worst spot in the city. A nest of mis- erable tenements at the corner of Stilhuan and Endicott streets was described as " filled to over- flowing with a most vicious and miserable popu- lation." In the rear of 136 Hanover Street there were twelve deaths in two days out of 50 inhab- itants. Altogether there were about 114 deaths in the North End and 66 in the West End durinsf the four months of the disease. The whole num- ber of deaths throughout the city was 611. 78 AMERICANS IN PROCESS In connection with the report there is a vivid description of the cellar dwellings, 586 of which were then occupied, usually sheltering from five to fifteen persons in each. The police had reported one cellar as the sleeping apartment of thirty- nine persons. "In another," wrote the city physician, " the tide had risen so high that it was necessary to approach the bedside of a patient by means of a plank which was laid from one stool to another ; while the dead body of an infant was actually sailing about the room in its coffin. Many of the inhabited cellars are inundated by the back- water of the drains during high tides ; and being entirely below the level of the sidewalks, they are almost entirely without light and ventilation. But far from being considered a hardship, a residence in them is considered preferable to loftier apart- ments. They are said to be cooler in summer and warmer in winter, and consequently command higher rents." ^ Five years later, cholera appeared for the third time. Keith's Alley and the Fort Hill dis- trict were the centres of its greatest virulence. An attempt was made by the Board of Health, namely, the mayor and aldermen, who had dis- possessed the single health commissioner in 1850, 1 Report of the Committee on Internal Health, Boston, 1849. CITY AND SLUM 79 to remedy matters by vacating the most obnox- ious buildings. The tenants did not choose to be ejected, and there were many contests between them and the police in the effort to enforce sani- tary measures. As a result, such measures were not thorouglily enforced. The period of epidemics culminated with the fearful outbreak of smallpox in 1872. There was no suitable hospital for contagious diseases. The city officials charged three dollars for fumigat- ing one room and five dollars for a tenement. As a result, the most needy houses were neglected: 738 persons died of the epidemic in 1872, and 302 in 1873, out of a total of 3700 cases. It was made clear that the sanitary administration of the city was inadequate. Although the mayor and aldermen called upon an unpaid advisory board of physicians for aid in times of epidemic, they often took offense at advice ; and the physi- cians, finding that the measures they recommended were not carried out, refused to serve. Mayor Gaston led the movement for a separate Board of Health, independent of politics and composed of quahfied men. In 1873, under the pressure of the smallpox epidemic, the City Council was obliged to yield its opposition, and such a board was established. 80 AMEBIC AN S IN PROCESS The period of constructive effort in sanitation and housino^ bes^an with the removal of Fort Hill. The territory now bounded by Pearl, Milk, and Broad streets was cut down an average of twenty-five feet, the highest point being fifty feet above the present level. Although commercial reasons, such as the demand of business upon the district and the need of soil for the filling in of Albany Street, were the chief reasons for the improvement, yet the fact that for over twenty years Fort Hill had been pointed out as the most overcrowded and unsanitary spot in the city undoubtedly weighed heavily in favor of its removal. The work was be- gun in October, 1866, and finished in July, 1872, at a cost of 11,575,000. Previous to this time very little had been done in the way of improved tenement-house construc- tion. Dr. Tuckerman had advocated building suburban houses, thinking that by getting many of the poor out of the overcrowded districts it would be comparatively easy to care for those that re- mained. On the other hand, a committee appointed at a public meeting on June 12, 1846, to consider the expediency of providing better tenements for the poor, reported that the poor would not go out of the city, and that it was quite practicable to build sanitary tenement houses in the city which CITY AND SLUM 81 would yield a fair return on the investment. Beyond a few sporadic attempts with single houses, nothing seems to have resulted from either of these suggestions until 1871. In that year the Boston Cooperative Building Company was organized with a capital of 1200,000. Its object was to provide homes at moderate rates : first, by building new tenements ; second, by cleaning and remodel- ing old tenements ; and third, by erecting small houses in the country to be sold on monthly install- ments. It was probably expected that the third of these three methods of improving housing con- ditions would be the most successful. This has not proved to be the case; but the first two methods have been carried out with excellent results. Three estates owned by the company in the North and West Ends, including old houses remodeled as well as new houses especially con- structed, provide acconmaodations for eighty-four families, at a weekly rental varying from seventy- seven to eighty-five cents per room. In 1900 the net profit of one of these estates, based on the . . present valuation, amounted to seven per cent., and I I O ^^ of another eight per cent. The company has paid to its stockholders annual dividends ranging from three to seven per cent, in all but five or six years of its existence. The present rate is five per cent. 82 AMEBIC AN S IN PROCESS Another form of constructive effort is illustrated in the work of Mrs. Alice N. Lincoln, who has leased and managed various large tenement houses in the West End. One of the most important of these houses was taken in 1879, thoroughly cleaned and ventilated, and rented to the poorer class of tenants. By careful supervision, the house still continues to yield a fair return over expenses. Similar results have been achieved in other private enterprises. State legislation, at first in 1868 copied from a New York law of the previous year and later re- modeled, gave the new Board of Health ample power to regulate sanitary conditions. In 1885 was passed the act in relation to the preservation of health in buildings in the city of Boston, com- monly called the " Boston Health Act," and sub- stantially in force at the present time. It expli- citly prescribes all that is necessary in the matter of cleanliness and drainage, the removal of refuse, the care and ventilation of rooms and passages. It also regulates overcrowding and the habitation of cellars. But notwithstanding better machinery and strin- gent legislation, the slums of the city multiplied from year to year. Not yet had the remedies been sufficiently radical. The effort to clean up un- CITY AND SLUM 83 wholesome spots did not prevent evil conditions from constantly recurring. The time had come for a more thorough study of bad housing with a view to prevention. Boston entered in 1889 upon the period of investigation, and during the follow- ing nine years much light was thrown on its hous- ing problem. The first thorough investigation, apart from the somewhat superficial and sensational revelations of occasional newspaper articles, was undertaken in 1889 by Professor D wight Porter of the Insti- tute of Technology. With the aid of half a dozen students he conducted a careful inspection of 910 houses in six different wards, containing a popula- tion of about 12,000 persons. He found overcrowd- ing in 203 tenement houses, and made especial note of the condition of the Italians in the North End. Bad drainage and unclean water-closets were found to be very common. Special recommendations of the report were: the widening of the narrowest streets, the tearing down of rear buildings, the in- crease of the number of sanitary inspectors, the doing away with aU unventilated sleeping-rooms, the individual trapping of all sink pipes, the vigor- ous supervision of all plumbing by the Board of Health, the designation of the number of occuj^ants to be allowed in each house, the establishment of 84 AMERICANS IN PROCESS open squares in tenement-house districts, the restric- tion of the proportion of a lot to be covered by a tenement house, and the prohibition of the occu- pancy of cellars. It is an encouraging fact that nearly all of these recommendations have since been incorporated in state and city laws. Following this report, in two years came the elaborate annual reports of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1891 and 1892, made under the direction of Mr. H. G. Wadlin. They gave the number of families living in rented tenements in the city of Boston, the rentals paid, the number of rooms occupied, the sanitary con- dition of these tenements, and other similar data. This investigation was ordered by the legislature, and came at a time when public sentiment was awakening to the questions involved. Some of the facts brought out concerning the North and West Ends were of striking interest. The average number of people to a house varied from 17.81 in the precinct bounded by North Street, North Square, Prince and Hanover streets to 8.65 in the district between Chambers, Poplar, Spring, Allen, Blossom, and Parkman streets. Overcrowding was especially noted in old Ward 6, comprising the northern and eastern portion of the North End. Here 259 families were reported as CITY AND SLUM 85 living in one-room tenements, with an average of 2.67 persons to a family, and 1154 families in two-room tenements, with an average of 3.74 to a family. The corresponding figures for the whole city were found to be an average of 1.96 per family for the 1053 families in one-room tenements and 2.87 per family for the 5695 families in two-room tenements. Outside sanitary conditions — the cleanliness and size of neighboring spaces, the exposure of the house to the sun, and the drainage of the surround- ing district — were distinguished from inside sani- tary conditions, such as light, ventilation, cleanliness of water-closets and cellars. Every house was clas- sified in respect to both outside and inside sanitary conditions as either " excellent," " good," " fair," " poor," or " bad." The following statistics con- cerning the houses classed as " bad " in the North and West Ends revealed a situation that needed vigorous remedy : — North End. West End. Whole number of families 4942 4435 Number with bad outside conditions 199 lo7 Number with bad inside conditions 129 88 Number with all conditions bad 52 84 The specific location of nearly all the houses with bad inside conditions, an evil which, as Mr. Wadlin 86 AMERICANS IN PROCESS said, rests primarily upon the landlord, was as fol- lows : On Battery Street, ten houses ; Charter Street, fourteen ; Crescent Place, fourteen ; Merri- mac Street, thirty ; Norman Street, fifteen ; North Street, sixteen ; North Margin Street, fifteen ; South Margin Street, fifty-one ; Cusson Place, eight. Although the report did not disclose housing conditions as bad in proportion as those in New York City, yet it was clearly an indictment, and established the fact that the tenement houses of Boston had been too much neglected. The fact that 522 families were foimd in the city living in wholly bad sanitary conditions both outside and inside showed that the municipal authority to vacate unsanitary dwellings had not been suf- ficiently exercised. In fact, the official reports of the Board of Health reveal this ; for in 1891 only eleven houses were actually vacated; in 1892 none at all ; in 1893 twenty-one ; and in 1894 twenty- six. Public sentiment revealed itself in the formation in 1892 of the Better Dwellings Society for the purpose of aiding " in improving the sanitary con- dition of Boston, and especially of its tenement houses." For two years this society did good service in gathering and publishing lists of unsan- itary tenement houses and private alleys. As a CITY AND SLUM 87 result of a hearing granted to the society by the Board of Health, a considerable number of the worst houses, many of them in the North End, were ordered vacated. The City Council felt the pressure of public sentiment, and in 1895 and 1896 appointed com- mittees to report on the improvement of the tene- ment houses. The first of these committees went so far as to say that " In the North End the tenement houses are to-day a serious menace to public health." But no adequate remedies were suggested, and the superficial character of the re- port showed that the situation was not taken seri- ously. The report of the second committee was even less satisfactory. Private enterprise proved more efficient. In 1898 an investigation made for the Tenement House Committee of the Twentieth Century Club by Mr. H. K. Estabrook was in some respects the most effective for good results of all that had been undertaken. Several hundred houses in many parts of the city were visited, and sixty-eight of the most typical selected for description. A pamphlet was published giving drawings of the ground plans of many of these houses, with an account of their bad drainage, uncleanliness, and general condition when visited. 88 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS This report ^ attracted much attention, and was extensively copied in the public press. It revealed in an authoritative manner a situation which de- manded official action. Public sentiment was aroused by the report. The municipal authorities recoofnized that the time had come for a more rad- ical treatment of the slum problem. At a public hearing, granted by the Board of Health in June, 1898, to a considerable number of citizens who petitioned to have the slums that had been men- tioned in Mr. Estabrook's report, as well as others, effectively dealt with. Mayor Quincy ap- peared in person and told the members of the board that he would support an active crusade on their part. This was the beginning of the fourth period of enlarged municipal activity. Preparation had been made not only in the investigations of the previous twenty years, but especially in the new power to demolish unsanitary buildings, granted to the Board of Health by the legislature of 1897. The origin of this act of the legislature is to be found in the English " Housing of the Working Classes " Act of 1890. Previous to that year there had been much accomplished in English cities in the clearing of slum areas ; but it had always been necessary 1 Estabrook, Some Slums in Boston, 1898. CITY AND SLUM 89 for the municipality to buy the unsanitary property at exorbitant prices. The Act of 1890 remedied this defect and made it possible for local authori- ties to take such property by compulsory purchase, paying no more than a fair market value, less the amount necessary to put the property in good san- itary condition. A similar law was passed by the New York Assembly in 1895. With the new Massachusetts law of 1897 behind them, and the aroused public sentiment sustaining them, the health authorities proceeded to order demolished many of the worst buildings in the city. During the four years since the passage of the law, over 150 dwelling-houses and 80 stables have been torn down. So far no damages have been paid, and not until the summer of 1901 did an expro- priated property owner carry his case into the courts. By condemning only the worst buildings, the Board of Health has not yet found anything due the owners on account of the buildings, after deducting from their market value the expense of tearing them down. The result of clearing away or remodeling old and unsanitary buildings has usually been a per- manent improvement. This may be illustrated by three examples typical of the changes which are taking place in the crowded sections of the city. 90 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS The first method is that of opening up a play- ground or park where there has been a nest of overcrowded and miserable houses. A good illus- tration of this is the playground between North Bennett and Prince streets, adjoining the Paul Eevere School. In this space, now permanently cleared, were formerly twenty-five or more houses, nearly all of which had become unfit for habitation. A number of small alleys ran into this area from the streets mentioned ; otherwise almost the whole of the ground was covered. This undertaking involved the purchase of 11,384 square feet of land in addition to the schoolhouse site. Another instance was the clearing of the area north of the Copp's Hill burying-ground for the present Copp's HiU Terrace and North End Park. Here seven acres have been made available for purposes of rest and recreation. The second type of improvement is shown in the replacing of a group of unsanitary houses by a single tenement house or a tenement-house block. This is well illustrated on Fleet Street, between North and Hanover, where there was formerly a cluster of ten wooden and brick houses on either side of Clifford Place and the adjoining alley. Mr. Esta- brook, in 1898, described the houses on Clifford Place as follows : "In none of the houses is there AFTER #S 5 10 15 20 25 30 BEFORE Shop --^^r^u^^y^ ^*m Illustration of Housing Changes ( Second Type ) CITY AND SLUM 91 any tliorougli ventilation ; air shafts were not thought of when these houses were built. Though the sun shines into some rooms on the top floors, all the lower rooms are very dark. From cellar to roof, each house is very dirty and battered. In many rooms pieces of the ceiling have already fallen, and more is apparently about to fall. The wooden houses on both sides of the alleys shake so much as one walks about them, and their floors are so far from level, that it is surprising that they have not collapsed, in spite of the support given them by the adjoining buildings." ^ These buildings were ordered demolished by the Board of Health. The owner of the property obeyed the order, and upon the area thus cleared has erected one large five-story brick house with accommodation for forty families. This house is not what a building for so large a number of people ought to be. Its halls are narrow and much too dark, and there are but two main en- trances for all who live in the building. But in point of physical healthfulness there is undoubtedly a change for the better. A similar illustration of this type of improvement is the wiping out of Kenna Place, leading off Grove Street between Phillips and Revere streets in the West End. At the present time a block of apartment houses Estabrook, Some Slums in Boston, p. 16. 92 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS covers tlie area wliere formerly were wretched rookeries. The third type of permanent improvement is the remodeling of an unsanitary block so radically as to make it habitable. This is well illustrated in the notorious Keith's Alley, leading from North Street towards Hanover. In 1898 a block of three three-story brick houses on the left had no rear ventilation other than that gained by two small air shafts covered in at the top. Towering above the block in the rear were brick buildings four and a half and six stories high. Across the alley, about eleven feet distant, was a block of two three-story wooden buildings, whose only rear windows opened on a narrow crack between them and a five-story brick warehouse. The only water-closets for these blocks were in the open space at the upper end of the alley. The Board of Health ordered the houses vacated. The owners of the property then pro- ceeded to make radical changes. A large section was cut out of the centre of the brick block, giving light and ventilation to the rear rooms of the inner houses. The closets were taken out of the yard. New closets, with suitable plumbing, were put into each house and opened on the air shafts, which were themselves opened at the top to the outer air. Similar changes were made in the wooden block on CITY AND SLUM 93 the right of the alley. Both blocks may now be considered as at least out of the worst class. Cheap lodging-houses, which are more numerous in the North and West Ends than in other parts of the city, have of late years engaged the attention of the Board of Health, and some extremely salutary changes have been effected. Many of the most objectionable have been closed. By stringent regu- lations and constant supervision, the remainder are now fairly clean and well ventilated, and supplied with cleanly furnishings. Overcrowding has been to a large extent prevented by nocturnal visits on the part of the health authorities. The " lanes," " alleys," and " courts " of the city are, according to a recent report of the Health De- partment, " in a bad sanitary condition and subject to a great deal of complaint." The difficulty lies in the proper adjustment of responsibility for their cleanliness, since they are private property. Un- cleanly habits of their owners keep many of these open spaces in a most undesirable condition. Not until the street-cleaning department of the city shall have the entire authority to clean them at the abutters' expense will the difficulty be satisfactorily overcome. Some of the facts concerning disease and death in the city will indicate the present need of in- 94 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS creased sanitary effort. During 1900 Boston's population was 560,892, and 11,670 deaths were reported. This would make the city death-rate for the year 20.81 per thousand inhabitants, or one in each 48.06. This death-rate has been lowered in only four of the last fifty years, two of these four years being 1898 and 1899. Ward 6, in the North End, shows the largest number of deaths under one year of age, 184, or 8.74 per cent, of the whole number of deaths under one year ; and the largest number of deaths between one and five years, 177, or 13.7 per cent, of the whole number of deaths between one and five years. The death- rate in Ward 6 was one in each 41 ; in the whole city one in each 48. In Ward 8, of the West End, where the adult lodging-house population lowers the rate, it was one in each 58. In Ward 25, a suburban district, the rate was one in each 81. Wards 7 and 13 show a total death-rate slightly higher than Ward 6, though in the mortality of children under five years, the North End is far in excess of any other section. In the matter of specific diseases Ward 6 is not- able again in having the largest total number of deaths from pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid fever, and diphtheria; and the second largest number of deaths from cholera infantum and bronchitis. CITY AND SLUM 95 This ward also leads in homicides. In Ward 8 the mortality figures are not so striking, although its percentage for deaths of children between one and five years of age is exceeded in only two other wards. This ward leads in the total number of deaths from diseases of the heart, and is second only to Ward 6 in the total number of deaths from pneumonia. These wards do not have so large a number of deaths from consumption as do several other wards of the city. Consumption specially afflicts the Irish in the severe New England climate, and makes its greatest ravages where they are most numerous. Wards 6 and 8 lead with 1386 and 1033 births, respectively, out of a total of 16,351. Ward 11, in the Back Bay, reported only 238. That is to say, in Ward 6, of the North End, there was one birth to every 22 of the population ; in Ward 8, of the West End, one in every 28 ; and in Ward 11, of the Back Bay, one in every 81. It has been thought by some students of the housing problem that the tenement-house conges- tion in the North and West Ends would be relieved by the building of smaU houses in the suburbs and the cheapening of transit facilities. Dorchester and West Roxbury have shown great gains in pop- ulation since 1895, and a large number of small 96 AMERICANS IN PROCESS houses Lave been built in these sections. But it remains true that Ward 8, of the West End, in- creased in population during the same period faster than any other section of the city, except the two suburbs named. It now has the distinction of con- taining the largest number of persons to the acre, 173.6. Ward 9, in the South End, ranks second, with 132.2, and Ward 6 third, with 104.3. The relative growth of these two wards may be shown as follows : — 1895. 1900. Ward 6 27,860 30,546 Ward 8 23,130 28,817 60,990 69,363 The same figures for Dorchester and West Eox- bury are as follows : — 1895. 1900. Wards 20 and 24 (Dorchester) 39,768 69,682 Ward 23 (West Roxbury) 18,283 23,637 68,051 83,319 Let it be noted, however, that the acreage of Dorchester is 5590 and of West Roxbury 7660. There were in 1900 only 10.6 persons to the acre in Dorchester, as compared with 104.3 in the North End, and 3.1 persons to the acre in West Roxbury, in contrast with the 173.6 of the West End. Evidently the time is far in the future when the CITY AND SLUM 97 cheaper rates in food and the pleasures of asso- ciation with one's kind can be overcome by the attractions of healthier surroundings and suburban houses. The tenement-house problem of the North and West Ends is destined to be a vital one for many years to come. In this connection a few figures from the United States census of 1900 will be instructive. The percentage of Boston dwellings containing three or more families is 19.9. In 1890 it was 17.2. Ward 6 is reported as having an average of 3.3 families to a dwelling ; Ward 8, 2.8. These are the largest averages among the wards, the average for the whole city being 1.8. Of the whole number of families in the city, 41.3 per cent, live in dwellings containing three or more families, as against 37.5 per cent, in 1890. In Ward 6, out of 5843 families, 4754 live in dwellings containing three or more families ; in Ward 8, 3818 out of 5065 families live under similar conditions. The present condition of the tenement houses in the North and West Ends is not satisfactory from any point of view. The Health Department of the city has not succeeded in preventing over- crowding, or in compelling owners to provide the necessary ventilation and sanitary arrangements. Although a considerable number of the very worst 98 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS houses have been removed, a very large number of wretched dwellings are left. They are not quite bad enough to be condemned without pay- ment of damages, but they are entirely unfit for human habitation, according to the standards set by modern sanitary science and modern ideals of home life. In March, 1899, the consulting architect of the city reported to the mayor the result of his investigation of these unfit houses. He described dirty and battered walls and ceilings, dark cellars with water standing in them, alleys littered with garbage and filth, broken and leaking drain-pipes, interior rooms or closets and damp basements used as bedrooms and even then over- crowded, dark and narrow stairways, dark and filthy water-closets, closets long frozen or otherwise out of order, tenements inadequately lighted and unventilated because of high buildings closely sur- rounding them, and houses so dilapidated and so much settled that they are dangerous. In the fall of 1901 the Health Department ordered a comprehensive examination of all tene- ment houses in the city. Each inspector reported the details in regard to the sanitary condition of every house in his district. These reports have been filed with the department, though they have not been tabulated by streets and wards, as they CITY AND SLUM 99 should be if they are to be of the greatest value. A compilation of the reports of twenty-six tene- ment houses in South Margin Street, in the West End, reveals the following situation : — The number of tenements reported upon was 118, containing 350 rooms. In these rooms 540 persons are living, though the number allowed by law is only 446. Of the 197 bedrooms, 97 con- tain less than 600 cubic feet of air space. Thirty- eight of the bedrooms are dark rooms, and 33 of the tenements are reported as overcrowded. Six houses are said to have defective drainage. Six- teen have cellars that are damp or filthy or both. Eleven yards are in bad condition. Nineteen out of 20 garbage receptacles are reported as defective or insufficient or both. Seventeen out of 67 water- closets are in bad condition. The name of the owner is posted in only 9 of the 26 houses. It is to be said, of course, that the personal habits of the tenants are largely responsible for such conditions, and that these habits are not under municipal control. Undoubtedly many a suitable tenement house is turned into a place of misery by the ignorance and vice of its occupants. Beyond a certain point in sanitary regulation the health authorities of a city cannot go. Nevertheless the housing problem is one that cannot be dismissed as 100 AMERICANS IN PROCESS merely one of many incidentals under tlie care of the city. It must receive the attention it de- mands. Not only does the health of the city depend largely on the condition of its tenement houses, but the morals as well. Such a problem has become serious enough to require the most thoughtful attention of able men and women who have devoted their best energies to its solution. It cannot be properly handled by those who are compelled to make it subordinate to other duties. New York City has found it necessary to establish a separate Tenement-house Department. There are many good reasons why Boston, though a much smaller city, should do the same. Complaints against the present building laws of Boston have arisen from several quarters. Those who have been inclined to invest money in improved tenement houses are now deterred on the ground that first-class buildings, erected under present requirements and rented to families who cannot pay as much as sixteen dollars a month, would yield practically no return on the investment. Others complain that under the head of repairs the present laws allow old buildings to be recon- structed without conforming to restrictions applied to new buildings. This leads to the perpetuation in an increased degree of the evils of the old CITY AND SLUM 101 houses. Finally the Health Department, in its report for 1901, complains that the present build- ing laws over-emphasize the matter of fireproof con- struction and pay too little attention to light and ventilation, thereby permitting air shafts that are utterly inadequate and halls and stairways which are almost totally dark. Such complaints make it clear that there is need of a careful revision of these laws from the various points of view of fireproof construction, economical arrangement, adequate ventilation and light, ar- tistic architecture, and inexpensive accommodation. Such a revision should be made by a commission made up of architects, builders, physicians, and san- itary and philanthropic experts. A petition has been presented to the mayor of Boston by the Tene- ment-house Committee of the Twentieth Century Club asking for the appointment of just such a commission. Public-spirited citizens, whose opin- ions would carry great weight, have indicated their willingness to serve on a commission of this kind without other compensation than the opportunity to aid in improving housing conditions. Changes in legislation proposed by such a body would cer- tainly receive the most careful consideration on the part of the fnembers of the Massachusetts legis- lature. 102 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Meanwhile there are various lines of improve- ment which can and undoubtedly will be under- taken. The investigation of the tenement houses made by the Health Department in 1901 furnishes the data for much effective sanitary progress. The demolition of single unfit buildings continues, although the lack of funds retards activity in this direction. Having no money in hand for the pay- ment of possible damages, it is inevitable that the authorities should avoid condemning any building for which a claim for damages could be successfully established. This results, as has already been said, in the demolition of only the very worst build- ings. That more than this needs to be done is recognized by the Health Department, and the sum of $10,000 has been requested from the City Council as a sinking fund to provide against damage suits. It is essential that some such appropriation be made in the near future. The department has also recommended the widening and extending of certain narrow streets and alleys. " There are a number of congested districts in this city where improvements of this kind could be made to great advantage ; such, for instance, as Webster Avenue from Hanover Street to Unity Street, which could be widened and made a street, thus doing away with a lot of unsanitary CITY AND SLUM 103 dwellings and improving all the others. Another great improvement could be made by the extension of Hale Street, formerly Crescent Place, to South Margin Street." ^ Nor has the need of more open spaces been over- looked. In the report for 1900,^ the department recommended that " as Cross Street is to be widened in the near future, the territory bounded by Salem, Stillman, Endicott, and Cross streets be taken possession of by the city and made a breathing spot, thus doing away with a number of old, unsan- itary, and dilapidated tenement houses, and also abolishing Morton Street, which is one of the nar- rowest, dirtiest, and most unsanitary streets m the city of Boston." Such recommendations cannot long go unheeded. The housing problem has come to be recognized in England as the most vital of all municipal problems, and heroic efforts are being made to solve it. It is receiving in Boston the attention of an increas- ing number of those who are most intelligent con- cerning the needs of the city. The situation must be handled in a comprehensive manner, with ade- quate recognition of the future, and in a full sense of its bearing upon the city's welfare and progTess. 1 Annual Beport of the Health Department for 1901, p. 42. 2 Ibid., p. 42. CHAPTER V LIVELIHOOD In ways of earning their bread, as in other things, North and West End people stand out quite distinct from the remainder of the city's popula- tion. Something of their industrial civilization they brought with them. The city, from the nature of its growth, had made these districts the likely lodgment of struggling immigrants as they arrived. To a considerable extent it had also ordained the currents in which the local industry should run. This is particularly true with respect to the North End. The sharp limit of the water-front, with its docks, warehouses, and great traffic; the North Union Station and its approaches ; the markets reaching out toward the railroad terminal in one direction, and toward the harbor in another — effectually stamp their impress upon the district. The boundaries of the West End do not take a form so definitely commercial, but the section is much more affected by railroad activity than the North End, while it has easier access to the great centres LIVELIHOOD 105 of trade in the heart of the city. Beacon Hill prevents the growth of trade to the south of the district, while the bank of the river is not avail- able for commercial use on account of the draw- bridge tolls, added to the high cost of land. Be- tween the hill and the river is a narrow strip of territory which the West End population is gradu- ally invading. Here there are numerous stables, and the workshops of many jobbing mechanics and artisans. The northern slope of the hill, rejected by the prosperous as being exposed to all that is worst in the Boston winter, furnishes convenient location for two strongly contrasted grades of at- tache to downtown establishments, clerks and Ne- groes. There is not much large-scale manufacture in or near the North and West Ends. The only con- siderable plants are, one for the generation of illuminating gas, — which is soon to be removed, — the other for the generation of electric power for the transit system. These are both on the North End water-front. The North End has some tin factories and furniture factories, and in both dis- tricts there are large establishments for the manu- facture of confectionery and cigars. In general, land is too expensive in these parts for any in- dustrial enterprise requiring space. 106 AMERICANS IN PROCESS The great stores of the city, all of which can easily be reached from any point in these districts by walking, are related to them not merely as centres of employment and bases for household supply, but as markets for clothing made at home or in small workshops, and as headquarters for lay- ing in the materials for peddling. The direction taken by shopkeeping within these districts, even more than other aspects of their economic life, is largely a matter of nationality. The Italian and Jewish colonies are to a consider- able extent self-sufficient, with the full variety of trade in the hands of men of their own race. But in the Italian quarter the clothing trade is con- trolled by Jews, and the Jewish quarter is being invaded by Italian greengrocers. Here and there, ever more rarely, is a weather-beaten signboard with the name of some belated New Engiander, strug- gling to maintain his foothold against intruders on his market by offering to speak several sorts of foreign tongue. There are a few Jewish and Italian liquor sellers, but the Irish still hold their regrettable monopoly of that noxious trade. The saloons are the last commercial relic of Irish occupation. They are ex- ceptionally numerous because to these two districts are apportioned the full number of saloons sup- LIVELIHOOD 107 posed to be appropriate to the great crowds that are found near or within their boundaries during business hours. The business has been a very lucrative one in times past, and many well-to-do Irish families throughout the city owe their rise in life to it ; but this condition of things has changed. Not a few saloon-keepers, in fact, find it difficult to make their living out of the trade. In all parts of the city, even where the Irish strongly predominate, the cause of temperance is making headway, because it is the general testimony that the saloon business is noticeably falling off. There is additional reason for such falling off where Jews and Itahans are displacing a population of Irish ori- gin, both being more temperate races, taking milder liquors, and using them at home. The Jew seldom enters a saloon. Italians in considerable numbers patronize the saloons kept by their own country- men at the North End. Here they learn to drink beer instead of the Italian wines to which they have been accustomed. There is a special and permanent fitness in the Italians' choice of abode just next to the great fruit and vegetable markets. The citizens of Bos- ton owe a great debt to the Italians for organizing and developing the retail fruit trade throughout the city. The Italians have, in fact, created a 108 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS wholesome appetite for fruit among the mass of the people. Believing in their goods, they have special skill in selecting, arranging and caring for it. Even the newest immigrant, with his push- cart, makes his wares attractive, and unwittingly acts as the dietetic missionary of the back streets throughout the city. In their stores at the North End the Italians have striking displays of vege- tables in their season, red and green peppers having all seasons for their own. As has been suggested, the Jews seem to prize the Italians' taste and cleanliness as a purveyor of food. The contrast between the Italian and Jewish grocery would seem to be appreciable in every case to more senses than one. As to meat, however, the faithful Israelite still prefers the ceremonially even to the asepticaUy clean. The tendency of the Jew toward wearing apparel as his stock in trade is strongly shown by his ready recourse to the ped- dler's pack, and even by his falling back as a last resort upon " rags." The Jew's surprising power of making headway is seen in his very first essays. The Jewish immigrant has moral capital to begin with. He is seldom or never illiterate. He always has a friend who can loan him a shelter if not money. And he is not by any means always im- poverished when he reaches our shores. Borne LIVELIHOOD 109 forward by Ms indomitable pertinacity, armed with a few words of English, he shoulders his junk bag or his peddler's pack. Jewish peddlers in some cases start out on long circuits through New Eng- land, and are gone for months. They are not much seen in the immediate vicinity of the city. That route of caravan trade has been recently taken up by some Semitic cousins of theirs, the women of the new Syrian colony at the South End. The Jew's capacity for trade in cast-off utilities appears frequently, of course, in the pawnshops, " misfit parlors " and junk shops. These lines of trade are, however, not so successful as formerly. The charges of pawnbrokers are restricted by law to one and a half per cent, per month, and they are likely to suffer severely if they accept stolen goods. New ready-made clothing has become so cheap at the downtown stores that the demand for second-hand garments, except those of " Harvard students," has quite fallen away. Trade in junk has also suffered by the lessened cost of manufacture in various lines. It would appear, however, that every effort is made to exhaust the remaining pos- sibilities of the rag and bottle business, judging from the number and persistency of raucous-voiced Hebrews who file through the back alleys of vari- ous parts of the city. 110 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Tlie junk collector or peddler in a surprisingly short time is found as the proprietor of a small basement store, or the owner of a wagon in which he hawks vegetables or ice in summer, wood and coal in winter. The owner of a clothing or dry- goods store is in a more secure position, not deal- ing in goods that are so perishable or so limited to their season ; but these small merchants are constantly feeling the competition of the great department stores among their more thrifty cus- tomers, and of the installment stores among the less thrifty. There is, in fact, a new type of peddler, a man who, by a special understanding with a department store, sells its goods to customers on the installment plan. This is an alliance on the part of the small Jewish trader and the depart- ment store in order to meet the installment store with its own weapons. The more prosperous shopkeepers are German Jews on Hanover Street. Their trade is on a con- siderable scale, and they own their places of busi- ness. On Salem Street the property is still held by old Boston families. Clothing stores are the most conspicuous, and the dealers do not wait pas- sively within for their customers. Food supplies and household furnishings of the cheapest grades are all dealt in. An exception must be made in LIVELIHOOD 111 the case of the butcher shops. These have the trade of Jews from all sections of the city. They sell the better qualities of meat, and are especially careful about their supply of fish. There are three bankers on Salem Street, whose business seems to be chiefly concerned with foreign ex- change. In the West End, Jewish trade is increas- ing rapidly, but this growth, up to the present, takes the shape of innumerable small enterprises. Many of them must go to the wall before there can be any possibility of well-conducted and pros- perous establishments in the streets of which the Jews have taken possession. The sale of jewelry is a staple form of business among the more prosperous Jews of these parts of the city. For this, as for other sorts of trade, they prefer to be a little removed from the Jewish quarter, where they can have the trade of their congeners and of the world as well. There is some personal and incidental trade in gold and gems, as was characteristic of the Jews in the Middle Ages. A case in point was that of a kosher butcher who was also in a quiet way a dealer in diamonds. This survival is the more interesting because the Jew has come to realize intensely that he is at last in a country where he will not be com- pelled to flee at night ; that his treasure need no 112 AMERICANS IN PROCESS longer be such as can be tied in a napkin. The old land hunger has returned upon him in a pas- sion for "real estate." With a keen sense for earning his living by profit rather than by wages, and with the necessary capacity for strict attention to detail, this easiest and surest form of profit- making is to him an economic vision of hope and happiness. The increase of Jewish ownership in real estate during the past ten years has been amazing. The number of Jewish landlords is so large that the pioneers among them complain bit- terly that there are " too many in the business." A considerable number of Jews now give their occupation as " real estate ; "but even petty traders are property owners by the way. One man who has been a peddler for fifteen years owns two houses. A certain small shopkeeper in the North End is the owner of three houses, which accommo- date ten families besides his own. Jewish real-estate holdings are more numerous in proportion in the parts of the city under review in this volume than elsewhere in the city, but in the South End and Roxbury such holdings are rapidly growing. In the North and West Ends in 1900, estates with a total assessed valuation of 16, 344,700 were charged to persons of names unmistakably LIVELIHOOD 113 Jewish.! Practically every parcel of this property represents but a very slender cash investment, but it is managed so painstakingly and shrewdly that mortgages are rapidly reduced. The method of the new landlord is in nearly every case the same. He purchases an old building, tears out the plaster partitions, rearranging them so as to give a larger number of rooms, builds an ell so as to cover as much of the ground as possible, tears down the old front wall and erects a new one of showy yellow brick, which seems to be particularly attractive to tenants' eyes, and almost universally makes the front cellar do duty as a basement store. The old material is used as far as possible. New material is of the cheapest grade. The labor is provided by ill-paid recent immigrants. Such a develop- ment implies a large amount of money-lending on the part of brethren who have been particularly successful. The two most characteristic forms of small capi- talist that have developed among the Continental immigrants are the Jewish sweater and the Italian padrone. Originally the sweating system was a method on the part of small manufacturers to escape the cost of rent, heat and light by having the em- ^ The property of well-known downtown merchants is not in- cluded in this total. 114 AMERICANS IN PROCESS ployee do the work in his own home. The sweater also sets out to secure the advantage of the prin- ciple that a man's home is his castle, in order to avoid legislative regulation and official inspection. He seeks as his employees the most ignorant and helpless of the immigrants ; enlists all the mem- bers of a family, including little children ; pays them by the piece at cruelly low rates, so that very long hours of work are necessary, amid congestion that conduces surely to ill health and low morality. The scale of wages for other work-people is se- riously endangered. These evils, in their worst aspects, may fortunately be spoken of as things of the past in Boston. Ten years ago, as the result of public agitation, a law was passed by which work at home is under very careful inspection as to the sanitary surroundings in which the work is done. Licenses are given only in case of strict cleanliness in the tenement of the applicant, in the hallways leading to it, and in the yard at the back. A fine of fifty dollars is provided for the offense of giving out work to an unlicensed person. At present, licenses for home work in the North and West Ends are comparatively limited in number. They are held principally by Italian and Portu- guese women, who eke out a little in time spared from their domestic duties. LIVELIHOOD 115 The sweating system has thus, to all intents and purposes, disappeared from districts where it once flourished, and where all the local conditions for its growth still exist. The effect of the anti- sweating legislation was at first in some ways dis- astrous. The orders which had formerly been fulfilled in Boston sweat shops were immediately transferred to sweaters in New York. The local garment industry in its cheaper grades was for a time prostrated. Many garment-workers went to New York, some to Canada. In due time, however, a considerable share of the old industry was reorganized in separate work- shops, which are subject to factory inspection. There are certain attractive sides to this work. The Jew dislikes the military regulations which necessarily govern a factory. He enjoys the friendly intimacy of the shop. The master pro- vides, as far as possible, for his Sabbath rest and worship. The smaller shops are attached to a little tailor store — it is usually a "ladies' tailor " — and are scattered through various parts of thc^ city. When they work for private customers they are not subject to inspection. The larger shops are found in the North and West Ends, for the most part in warehouse buildings. The force in each shop includes from five to thirty men and 116 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS women. The men are chiefly Jews ; the women, Italians and Portuguese. Some of the evils of the sweating system still persist, — low wages, long, imcertain hours, evasion of sanitary regulations, very irregular employment according to dull or busy season, the competition of recent unskilled immigrants. It is from these shops that the unfinished clothing is given out to the licensed home-workers. The rise of the Jewish master tailor presents an instructive instance of the evolution of the capital- ist. He works endlessly, living with his family on an impossibly small expenditure. He lays by a small amount. He gets his landlord or his butcher as his security. He purchases a sewing machine and a pressing table on the installment plan. At first he makes less than his employees ; but by per- severance, by quick perception as to organizing and subdividing the industry into specialties, often by keeping up a human feeling between himself and his employees, he gradually develops his business until he can command the services of certain specially skilled workmen to act as leaders in his shop, and can present inducements to foremen in the large clothing stores for the sake of winning their patronage. Within the past three or four years, a considera- LIVELIHOOD IIT He business in the raw material of the garment industry has sprung up at the North End. There are- now eight small firms dealing in woolen goods. It is possible for them to compete with downtown wholesalers by keen attention to small considera- tions in buying, by paying low rents, and by han- dling poor grades of goods. Their business is not confined to the local garment trade ; they supply small Jewish tailors in different parts of New England. The Jew is narrow in the range of his occupa- tions. The growth of a class of mechanics and artisans has awaited the development of a class of smaU capitalists. Jewish real-estate ownership is already bringing an increase of Jewish workmen in the building trades. The Jews have the in- genuity and mechanical ability which would fit them for industrial crafts, and many of them have followed such vocations in Russia. The Italian represents a varied list of occu- pations. In the North End colony there are artisans, bakers, barbers, confectioners, musicians, tailors, scissors grinders, shoemakers, marble cut- ters, and workers in plaster. The Italians have discovered how much the average young clerk or mechanic, on occasion, enjoys having some one else polish his shoes. At a number of points through- 118 AMERICANS IN PROCESS out the city they have opened good-sized rooms wholly given over to bootblacking, and these rooms seem to furnish rather profitable occupation. Many Italian boys are bootblacks at large in the old-time way, making Boston Common their headquarters. An increasing number of Italian women, with a few men, engage in agricultural work in the mar- ket gardens of Arlington, Belmont, Lexington and other adjoining towns. The women bring some intelligence and endless assiduity to such work, and the market gardeners are much pleased with this new source of labor supply. A cluster of bright headdresses among the growing crops in a New England field is a distinctly novel sight. It is a thing, however, which brings a sigh for all in American tradition which goes against overbur- dened womanhood. Often, in addition to their field labor, these women walk the entire distance from the North End and back each day. Fully fifty per cent, of the men of the Boston Italian colony are engaged more or less regularly at heavy labor with pick and shovel, in railroad building or in the construction of gas and water works. Such toil always nowadays calls to mind the Italian. This is quite as true in various parts of Europe as in this country. The one-time con- queror of the world is now its slave. LIVELIHOOD 119 When the Italian laborer appeared among us, he was indeed in bondage, under a cruel taskmaster. The ItaHan padrone, in the days of his ascend- ency, took a disastrously large commission for the purchase of the immigrant's steamer ticket, upon his wages after he arrived, upon the rent of his miserable overcrowded abode ; and finally, in many cases, with the assistance of an Italian banker, ap- propriated his savings wholesale. The padrone's methods have been much limited as the years have passed. The Italian government, which for- merly looked upon all emigrants in the light of deserters, now takes a more liberal attitude, and has regulations in force to protect its citizens as they leave the country. The stranger arriving upon our shores now has friends, acquainted to some extent with the English language and with the ways of the country, who inform him as to wages and conditions of labor, and perhaps receive him as a lodger in their own little tenement. The absconding banker is becoming rare, especially as the Itahans are learning to put their savings in the old, well-established savings banks of the city. One of the Italian banks at the North End does business under a name recognizably Irish, — this in the hope of convincing Little Italy that it is an American institution. The American Express 120 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS Company lias recently established a branch near North Square, offering in Italian terms to send money safely to Europe. The Italian banks still appear to drive a thriving trade, if the lavish dis- play of gold and greenbacks in their windows may be taken as proof. Their close relations with the padrones is shown by their acting as headquarters for information about employment for groups of unskilled laborers at various points throughout the surrounding country. A few Italians have taken up the business of hotel-keeping, but the standards of these men have been so lax as to make them very objectionable in that capacity, — so much so that their progress in that direction has to some extent been blocked by the police. It must not be thought, however, that all Italian business enterprise is of the nature of preying upon the community. There are several successful Italian firms in the wholesale fruit trade. The manufacture of macaroni is a natural and growing avenue for Italian business talent. The making and selling of plaster casts of statu- ary, for which so large a demand has within a few years been created, is thus far an Italian monopoly. The number of Italian real-estate owners is very considerable. In the North End, in 1900, $2,325,- 800 worth of property was ascribed in the city LIVELIHOOD 121 records to persons having Italian names. A few artists, musicians and handicraftsmen of distinct ability have begun to appear among them, and there is prospect of many more in the rising gener- ation ; but such persons are likely to move to other parts of the city. A very large majority of the Irish in the North and West Ends are unskilled laborers. On the whole, they do not suffer as much as would be supposed under the competition of recent immi- grants. To a considerable degree the Irish and the Jews represent non-competing groups, their industrial capacities being so divergent. Then the large amount of work carried on by the municipal- ity, for which the Italians might be candidates, is restricted to American citizens. This, as well as labor under the great corporations, whose fran- chises come from the city government, is dispensed ahnost entirely as political patronage. As the politics of these two districts is still in the control of the Irish, men of that nationality practically monopolize these forms of labor so far as the North and West End population is concerned. It is prob- able that not less than one third of the families of Irish extraction in these districts have bread- winners that are employed through political influ- ence. 122 AMERICANS IN PROCESS There is among them a large number of dock laborers, freight handlers, and teamsters. The skilled trades have some representation. Members of the younger generation are very likely to seek mercantile employment. The Irish huckster is giving way to the Italian with his push-cart. The prosperous Irish citizens of these parts, omitting saloon-keepers and politicians, are a few substantial shopkeepers who still remain, and a few contract- ors, who for the most part might be classed as politicians. The Portuguese are sufficiently numerous to have some small supply stores of their own. Like the Scandinavians in the North End, they are primarily sailors and fishermen or longshoremen. They are found to some extent in skilled mechani- cal work, as pattern-makers or cabinet-makers. Some of the young men become barbers. The young women go out as domestic servants, though a few are shopgirls. The Greeks are in active and, so far as their numbers go, successful competition with the Ital- ians as sellers of fruit and sweets. Indeed, they are leaving their ancient rivals far behind. They are becoming noticeable for their achievements in developing the confectionery trade in the neighbor- hood of the great downtown stores which attract LIVELIHOOD 123 women purchasers. The Greeks know that the mother on returning home must always come bear- ing gifts. There are several small but enterprising Negro shopkeepers at the foot of the hill in the West End. A branch of Booker Washington's Business Men's League exists in that quarter. The vast majority of them, however, follow the menial occu- pations to which they are fated, — waiters, ser- vants, sleeping-car porters, bootblacks. Some occupy the more independent positions of janitor or elevator man. Occasionally a colored man em- ployed in a store combines the functions of porter and clerk. There are but few colored members of skilled trades, and even the barber's trade seems to be closing to them. A considerable number of burly Southern Negroes work in the markets, car- rying quarters and halves of meat on their backs. There are also a few colored teamsters. Persons of leisure are by no means lacking, supported by their wives, who go forth as laundresses or scrubwomen. Men of American and British American ante- cedents, found in the West End lodging-houses, are chiefly clerks in stores and counting-houses, though there are among them not a few mechanics and artisans, who, having only themselves to pro- vide for, manage to live in a somewhat more 124 AMERICANS IN PROCESS ambitious way than most of their fellow workmen. Here and there through the lodging-house streets are a few members of the learned professions, for the most part in rather doubtful standing. Each nationality among the tenement houses of both dis- tricts, including the Negroes, is gradually developing its quota of professional men. There is a notice- able tendency on the part of the brighter young men, especially among the Jews, to become lawyers and enter the lists for a general city clientele. Too often they seem to have an instinct for methods which do not lend credit to their calling. The lot of most immigrant women, so far as actual labor goes, is not so severe as it was be- fore they left their old homes. Factory develop- ment takes from them spinning, weaving, knitting, and to some extent even sewing. There are dis- tinct signs of leisure among the Italian housewives at the North End. It is this state of things which makes it possible for some of them to undertake agricultural labor, and for others to scour the city for wood, which they carry on their heads by the cart load, skillfully navigating through the most crowded streets. Italian girls and young women quite commonly work in the confectionery factories. Some of them, and some Jewish girls as well, are now found behind the counters of the depart- LIVELIHOOD 125 ment stores. But Jewish women seldom leave their homes to work. Marriage comes early, and unmarried women are as scarce as beggars in the Jewish community. Where there is a store, the family Hves adjoining it, and the wife and daugh- ters assist actively in conducting the business. A considerable number of Jewish and Italian women work with the men in the garment shops. Irish women have almost disappeared from the sewing trade in this part of the city, as a result of the disastrous competition of the newcomers. For many of them the change was a tragedy. Others have found more secure employment in the down- town factories and department stores. In the lodging-house district in the West End, there are of course many young women from the country and some from the British provinces, who have positions as saleswomen, stenographers and writ- ing clerks in large mercantile establishments. The pressure upon children to become wage earners as soon as the compulsory period of school attendance is passed, so as to supplement the fam- ily income, is, except in the case of Jewish girls, weU-nigh universal and very insistent. Office boys, cash boys and messenger boys in the city are largely Irish. Jewish boys monopolize the down- town newspaper trade. Italian boys are boot- 126 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS blacks. Colored boys are fortunate in beginning with the occupations which they will follow as men. Boys of other nationalities follow juvenile occupations, which in a few years leave them on the employment market almost as helpless, as far as experience and training is concerned, as they were when they left school. The evil effect of the streets is very apparent upon all children of these districts, but they are all having better opportuni- ties of education than their parents. Few will fall below the level of the immigrant generation, and an appreciable proportion of them, through special training and oj)portunities, are rising to a wholly new level of capability and resource. There is a much greater uniformity of industrial status in these districts than in any other part of the city. The North End is so particularly char- acterized by this sameness that it proved difficult to register on a map the slight shades of difference from block to block in that district. It is a great community of the unskilled — of those, on the one hand, who have not yet had time enough to rise, and those, on the other, who are the stragglers left behind by the more enterprising of their kind. As there are in these districts several large establishments supplying temporary quarters for homeless men, it will be understood that the tramp LIVELIHOOD 127 finds ample winter quarters here. The typical guests at these places subsist by street begging and petty thieving, with occasional jobs. The daily goal of their hopes is a night's lodging and strong drink as much as possible, with or without food. Their " change of air " takes the form of a few months down the harbor at the House of Correc- tion or the Almshouse. In the cheap lodging- houses, besides tramps, there are undoubtedly a few genuine " journeymen," traveling in search of work. Some sailors and fishermen also stop here during the interim of their voyages, — such as do not go to the special boarding-houses for men of sea-faring occupations. Among this floating popu- lation, and closely allied to it, is a considerable class of casual workmen. Their way of life is partly created by the uncertainties of employment that go with all dock and water-side industries, though as important a cause is the general degen- erating tendencies that spring out of tenement- house life. Specimens of this grade may be seen at any time lounging about or staggering away from the saloons on Commercial Street. It must not be thought, of course, that these degraded specimens constitute more than the residuum of the men en- gaged in the industries of the harbor. The mass of the men regularly attached to the dock and 128 AMERICANS IN PROCESS shipping interests find their employment more or less irregular, and there is danger always that this irresponsible class beneath, with its crude, ravenous desires, will offer to do their work at a lower wage than they in their more human way can live upon. During recent years there has not appeared any serious problem of the unemployed in these dis- tricts. There are, of course, occasional difficulties, as when the anti-sweating law went into effect, throwing many Jews out of work, or when by a change of city administration many Irish employees find themselves " on the bricks," or when within a few weeks there are several thousand newly ar- rived Itahans thrown upon the labor market. But ordinarily the permanently unemployed are a very small remnant. Many Italians may be seen loaf- ing about North Square, but as a rule they are simply waiting between jobs on large construction works. The Jews are not inclined even to wait between jobs, though they cannot turn so easily as formerly to garment-making or even to junk col- lecting, since those occupations have been placed under license, with special restrictions and regula- tions. On the whole, however, the only Jews who are not working are the white-bearded elders who sit on the synagogue stej)s. »" How people subsist when out of work is a ques- LIVELIHOOD 129 tion which is exceedingly difficult for the outsider to understand. Ordinarily families have some bit of savings to fall back upon. Then there are the small basement stores giving credit. There are occasional small jobs. Perhaps the wife can go out to work, or the children are pressed into employment. Relatives and friends often go to surprising lengths in supplying food and loaning money. There are successive journeys to the pawnshop. All the time subsidies of charitable relief are unfortunately more available than re- courses in the way of self-support. The lowest grade of regularly paid employment in these districts is garment work. It is done by the day or by the piece. In the shops, women earn from |3 to $5 a week, men from $9 to $12 and upward. The comparatively unskilled nature of the work, and the almost unlimited supply of operatives, make competition for employment very intense. Women sewing at home cannot earn more than thirty or forty cents in a long day. ItaHan gang laborers formerly received only $1.25 per day, but they are now freely offered $1.50 or $1.75. This is for work at a distance. They have to pay their carfare, and there are al- ways possibilities that their wages will be heavily drawn upon for their victualling and shanty accom- 130 AMERICANS IN FEOCESS modations. Considering how much time they lose during the year, they are probably no better off than the fruit hawkers, who make on the average $5 or $6 per week. Italian women on farms earn $1 per day. The Italian hurdy-gurdy grinder, with the tambourine girl in peasant costume, who as a rule hires his instrument by the day, has a somewhat larger income than this, and considers himself much superior to his horny-handed coun- tryman — a leisured aristocrat, so to speak. Among the Irish part of the population, the standard wage is f 2 per diem, the rate paid to the laborers in the city departments. For simi- lar employment on corporation works and in con- nection with building operations the wage is f 1.75. There is also a choice between the two sorts of employment in the number of months in the year during which men must lie off — the time being shortest in city work — and the amount of stren- uousness exacted, the city here being also the most indulgent employer. Teaming, cab driving, freight handling and dock work are paid for at rates a little lower. Longshoremen work by the hour at from twenty-five to sixty cents, the latter amount being for evening and Sunday labor. Sail- ors receive f 30 per month. Fishermen still have the old-time cooperative system of payment, — the LIVELIHOOD 131 ship having one fourth of the value of the catch, and the remainder, after expenses have been deducted, going to the master and the men. The North and West Ends are both singularly deficient in artisans and mechanics. Men of that grade of skill in the Irish population have to a large extent moved elsewhere, and the type has developed but httle among the Jewish and, as yet, among the Italian population. The specially capable and enterprising ones rise quickly out of the ranks of the unskilled, leap over the skilled-labor stage, and become clerks or shopkeepers. Most of the skilled labor class is found in the better streets of the West End, some of them being young men in the lodging- houses on the hill slope. Their wages run from $2.25 to 13.25 per day, with more or less loss of time during the year, according to season. Some of the Jews have a profitable type of skilled labor in cigar-making. The wages are from 815 to $25 per week, with little loss of time during the year. Jewish and Italian bakers receive about flO per week. In aU. trades which they enter, the Italians are still somewhat below the usual standard of wages. This is true of the barbers, for instance, who receive from 16 to |10 per week. " Italian labor " is a standing bugaboo among the working classes of the city, and only time can remove its 132 AMERICANS IN PROCESS meaning. Negroes engaged in personal service have comfortable incomes. The wages of waiters are of course often but the smaller part of their receipts. Sleeping-car porters are the magnates of the colored servant class. They often take in f 100 a month. Shopgirls receive $5 or $Q per week. Women stenographers and clerks in business offices have from $6 to $10 per week, and more in cases of special ability. The ordinary weekly wage of men clerks ranges from flO to $15. The mass of small Jewish shopkeepers do not make more than a bare Hving out of their trade. Many of the little basement stores are only auxil- iary sources of income. In some instances, even the basement store is a source of substantial gains. Under such circumstances the rent is very low and the prices correspondingly less. In one case of a basement store, this method of competition is so successful that, with the whole family emploj^ed, an annual business of f 10,000 is transacted, with a net profit of twenty-five per cent. This is the rate of profit on which all Jewish dealers calculate. Some of the woolen firms do a gross business of 140,000 or 150,000 a year. The question of times and seasons in the North and West End industry is a complicated and serious LIVELIHOOD 133 one. This is particularly true in the garment trade. There is a slack time of sometimes two months, from August to October, and another of equal length after Christmas. The Jews are em- barrassed with regard to the Sabbath. Kecently arrived immigrants lose both Saturday and Sunday, but after a time conscientious scruples begin to give way. The loss of both days is too heavily felt, and the employer, who is naturally under special pressure to have work finished at the end of the week, can ill afford to retain help which drops out at the moment of special need. So far as Jewish stores go, conditions vary between being closed during the whole of both days and being stealthily open during the whole of both days. The police, however, follow up with some degree of vigor the matter of Sunday closing. Garment work done at the homes cannot be regu- lated either as to days or hours ; and to some ex- tent work is carried from the shops by employees to be finished at home, against the chance of discov- ery by the factory inspectors. The workshops, be- sides coming uuJ/^r strict sanitary restrictions, are of course subject to the State regulation of fifty- eight hours as the maximum weekly working time in all manufacturing establishments. The limit of sixty hours for the week's work in mercantile estab- 134 AMERICANS IN PROCESS lishments, which was set a year ago by the State, will, when its enforcement is f ally organized, bring much relief to many employees in the small stores in this part of the city. For those who work in the large downtown stores, the working day is uni- versally not so long as the maximum limit allowed by the law. Italian laborers have their busy season during the spring and summer. As a rule they have no protection as to the hours of work, and their day ordinarily is one of ten hours. The dock and water-side laborers work by the hour at somewhat irregular intervals. Expressmen and truckmen have long and elastic hours. The city laborer, as part of model conditions, has the eight- hour day. The effort to classify the different industrial grades of these districts, and to make out the rela- tive numerical strength of each, is beset by special difficulties, and the result can only be broadly sug- gestive of the situation. The entire mass of the garment-workers, with the exception of a few men obviously attached to downtown tailoring establish- ments, must be included among the unskilled. Some of this large number already belong to the higher grade, and many will no doubt within a few years stand either among the skilled or among the clerks and shopkeepers. LIVELIHOOD 135 On the other hand, all of the trading class, with the exception of peddlers and organ grinders, may be included among the clerks. Many of these, so far as income is concerned, are no higher than the unskilled, but they represent in their personal history a step up from the level of unskilled labor and a step nearer the social condition of the shop- keeper class. The proportion of the dependent classes may be broadly estimated from the reports of public and private charities in these districts. Such reports indicate that about twelve per cent, of the popu- lation in the North End, and about nine per cent, in the West End, have received some form of charitable relief within the past two years. These proportions would include practically all of those who belong distinctly to the grades of casual and intermittent workers, together with tramps, loafers and semi-criminals. These three lowest types, judging from returns made by proprietors of cheap lodging-houses for the police records, may be esti- mated at three per cent, for the North End and two per cent, for the West End. The industrial character of the bulk of the population may be analyzed satisfactorily by means of the Assessors' List, which for purposes of iden- tification gives the occupation of each man over 136 AMERICANS IN PROCESS twenty years of age in the city. The list for 1901 for these districts contains 7853 names for the North End, 13,170 for the West End. A classi- fication and count of the occupations represented show that for the North End unskilled laborers, including garment- workers and a few other inferior trades, number 5068 ; skilled workmen, receiving standard wages, 1317; clerks, superior workmen and shopkeepers, 1239. Those entered without occupation, chiefly old men, foot up to 121, while to professional men and downtown merchants not more than 108 can be credited. For the West End the corresponding figures are : unskilled, 5603 ; skilled, 2431 ; clerks, 4699 ; without occu- pation, 197 ; professional and commercial, 240. These numbers for men in different parts of the districts represent slightly different totals for the entire population. The total is slightly larger in proportion in the lodging-houses than in the tene- ment houses, reflecting the large proportion of wo- men lodgers. Taking out the percentages already allowed to the loafer, casual and intermittent classes, and charging a majority of these to the unskilled laborers and a majority of the remainder to the unskilled workmen, we may distribute those without occupation, the veterans, proportionally among the three chief classes. Map Illustrating the INDUSTRIAL CHARACTER of the POPULATION In the WEST END BOSTON. LIVELIHOOD 137 The result for the North End is : the unskilled labor class, regularly employed, fifty-eight per cent. ; the mechanic and artisan class, earning standard wages, fourteen per cent. ; the clerk and shopkeeper class, fourteen per cent.; the profes- sional and mercantile class, two per cent. The result for the West End is : unskilled, forty-one per cent. ; mechanics and artisans, seven- teen per cent. ; clerks and shopkeepers, thirty-one per cent. ; professional and business men, two per cent.i The distribution of the narrow incomes of the vast majority of North and West End bread-win- ners so as to supply their large households with the costly necessaries of life is obviously a very anxious matter. An ignorant consumer, dealing with a grasping landlord and an often more or less ^ Of course full statistical value is not claimed for these figures. They are presented as affording from the best available data a sufficient indication of the economic complexion of these communities. Under this reckoning, about thirty per cent, of West End people, and about forty per cent, of North End people, are below the line of poverty as set by Charles Booth in his London studies. The part of the South End described in The City Wilderness stands a few points higher than the West End. In London there are about thirty districts, each having as many inhabitants as the North End, that stand lower than it on the scale of poverty, and nearly seventy that stand lower than the West End. 138 AMERICANS IN PROCESS fraudulent dealer, is heavily handicapped, even with the best use of his very limited resources. In many cases the one condition which makes the situation possible is that in which the housewife, charged with the responsibility of treasurer and bursar, devotes a degree of native intelligence to her expenditure, and to the care of the home and the preparation of the food after it is bought. Rent at the North and West Ends is somewhat higher than in any other tenement-house quarter in the city, because of the high land values ad- jacent to the city's great traffic. Two of the nationalities, on account of social prejudice, are compelled to pay somewhat higher rents than the others, — the Jews and the Negroes. Jews, in fact, seem to be willing to pay high rents, reducing the average cost by crowding the rooms of their tenements. They tend thus to make rents higher for others, Italians reduce the cost of the rent per person in the same way, without being so willing to pay more when the house has a showy front. In general, it may be said that families do not pay a larger share of their incomes for rent in the North and West Ends than in other districts of the city, but get less for their money. In the vast majority of cases, the amount of the rental charge comes between two and three dollars a week. LIVELIHOOD 139 A large part of the population is huddled into old houses originally built for the use of single families. Many of the smaller tenement houses are built in rear yards and courts. There are many large newly built tenement blocks, in which the evil devices involved in making over old houses are per- petuated in the new. This process is still going on at a rapid rate, particularly in the West End. The most recent new or remodeled structures generally take the form of apartment houses with some ap- pearance of privacy at the entrance, some modern conveniences and often but one family to a floor. The outer appearance is extremely deceptive, and a few years will work havoc with the flimsy mate- rials out of which these buildings are constructed ; yet for the present they represent an advance for the tenants. A somewhat poorer yet very worthy class is found in the large blocks of model tenement houses representing " philanthropy and five per cent." The Jews, inured through long centuries to over- crowding and uncleanliness, adjust themselves to such surroundings with unfortunate ease. The Italians, while not models in the matter of cleanli- ness and the reserves of life, seek to make their windows and narrow courts suggestive of the green world from which most of them have come, and in 140 AMERICANS IN PROCESS which a better order of living was not so over- whelmingly difficult. The Portuguese and the Negroes, not standing so high as neighboring types in the matter of the more serious sanctions of life, are both strongly inclined to cleanliness in their homes. There are actually streets in the West End where, while Jews are moving in, Negro house- wives are gathering up their skirts and seeking a more spotless environment. Much attention has been given by public authori- ties to the cheap lodging-houses in this part of the city, and some slight leveling up in their standard is apparent. There are a number of second-rate hotels in both districts, — some of them resorts of a degrading type, some better grade lodging-houses, some simply saloons with liberty to sell liquor on Sunday. The boarding-house does not seem to have passed away quite so com- pletely in the West End as in the South End, and there are not so many separate basement dining-rooms ; but the background of life on the slope of Beacon Hill beyond the State House is essentially the same as that of the respectable- appearing decadent streets of the South End. In spite of the fact that these districts are so near the city's best base of supply for meat and vegetables, the people trade at very small shops. LIVELIHOOD 141 and of course are compelled to follow the extrava- gant method of buying in small quantities. The Jewish meat supply is in the hands of a local Jew- ish monopolist, and the savage riots of the New York Ghetto were reproduced in the North End when the price of meat recently rose so high. The evidence was quite clear that the local wholesaler had undertaken to increase the momentum of ris- ing prices in order to secure special personal ad- vantage. The Jews' faithfulness to the dietetic code of the Mosaic law makes them no more strange and individual in their notions about food than are the Italians. They use but little meat. Crabs and razor fish are a staple. Occasionally they have chicken or pork. Beef is a rare luxury. The Ital- ians like their food greasy, highly spiced and fla- vored with garlic or onions. A dish so dressed will have for a body nothing more substantial than macaroni. With this they will have French bread, beer and some partly spoiled fruit or dried olives. Such a diet is inexpensive so far as first cost is con- cerned, but a sturdy growth cannot be made upon it. The frequency of rickets among Italian children, and the general high average of sickness among adidts, is owing very largely to their choice of food. Their liking for this strong-tasting but innutritions 142 AMERICANS IN PROCESS food is so deep seated that if they go to a hospital they consider themselves wronged when they are placed upon a diet of milk and beefsteak. As in the South End, there has been of late years a marked increase in the number of restau- rants, which are common along nearly all the chief streets. Hardly one of them is in the least clean or attractive. The little Italian eating- places in the North End have about them some of the atmosphere of the Continental cafe ; but in the West End restaurants, the hapless lodger finds not even that solace to counteract the poor quality of his food. Nearly all the Negroes continue to have some sort of home attachment, and they have good food when they can possibly afford it. Their comparatively high standard as to the conditions of home life probably reflects their hereditary associa- tions as servants in homes of the well-to-do. It is needless to say that a Negro does not neglect his clothes. Many young colored people from the West End, — as seen, for instance, at a band concert on Boston Common, — while showing an undue ex- penditure in clothes, are yet dressed becomingly. The Jews are also very fond of fine clothes, or at least of the appearance of such. The women, as family incomes increase, appear in cotton velvet or brocaded satinet, with colored feathers in their LIVELIHOOD 143 hats, mock sealskin coats and dubious jewelry. The Italians are more frugal, and do not cultivate an appearance of elegance. The women are satis- fied with simple fabrics in bright colors. The men do not affect broadcloth, as Jewish men do, but are contented on Sunday — if the day be marked by nothing more — with a gay necktie, curled and unctuous hair and a brilliant polish to their shoes. The desire for clothing of American cut is one that rises strong in the breast of the immigrant immediately upon his arrival, and the imported styles become less and less in evidence every year. Long beards among the Jewish men, and wigs among the women, are seen but little as compared with a few years ago. The inclination of the Jews to move away from the antiquated tenement houses of the North End into the new flats of the West End, where they have figured plush furni- ture, flowered carpets, and even pianos, is very marked. In such ways there is sometimes among the Jews, particularly on the part of the women, a distinct tendency toward extravagance. The secret of such an unexpected phenomenon is undue social ambition. Probably no nationality is so keenly alert as the Jews to the various marks that register gradual advancement to higher and higher social levels. 144 AMERICANS IN PROCESS All the nationalities at the North and West Ends make considerable contributions to the sup- port of religion, an outlay which, even from the most superficial point of view, is an exceedingly useful public investment. Parents are more and more putting themselves at pains and cost to secure the benefits of education beyond the grammar school for their boys, and, to some extent, for their girls. This is of course especially the case among the Jews, whose intellectuality is a distin- guishing trait. All classes spend some money upon the theatre — on the whole, beneficially. The Italians give much attention to public recreation. Considerable expense is incurred by them on feast days and Italian national holidays. Even microscopic incomes do not forbid to the Italians, much less to the Jews, the practice of thrift. Italians save to go back to Italy, or to bring friends over. Some save and become land- holders and small business men. Many of those who are diggers in the ditch put by one hundred dollars in the course of a year. Italians do not easily fall back upon charitable agencies ; but, for those who slip, determined spurring is needed in order to get them well under way again. Jews are not likely to need charity, but when they do they seem not to have much self-respect in the LIVELIHOOD 145 matter, looking upon such relief as another re- source to be availed of to the utmost limit. Among Jews there are two types of providence. One sort of person places his family upon the low- est possible line as to home conditions, food and clothing, in order to make the utmost margin be- tween his expenditures and his income. He intends some day to have things different, but he wishes to become a capitalist and make his living by profits rather than by wages, at the earliest possible mo- ment. His family is under degrading conditions ; he himself is ill nourished, and his children are dwarfed physically and morally. The other t3rpe is also eager to become a capitalist, but he wishes, from the beginning, to have his family under healthful and encouraging conditions. Instead of taking up his abode in some swarming, reeking court at the North End, he lives in a comfortable little flat at the West End. He does not save so rapidly, but he is in condition to earn more, to enjoy more, and to be an increasingly more suc- cessful man in the future ; his children, meanwhile, are laying the foundation of a fair education and a reasonably healthy physical and moral adult life. ^ The inhabitants of the North and West Ends have their obvious economic sins. The shame of a variety of underhanded methods in trade, not 146 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS easily punishable by law, must be laid at the door of a certain type of Jew. More serious than any of these things, however, is the danger that lurks in the low standard of wages and expenditure which all Jews and Italians bring in with them, and in which great numbers persist. So long and so far as this state of things continues, the new- comer remains an enemy to all that is best in American life, and cannot expect to be received into the friendly fellowship of American citizens. The American " standard of living and of life " is being intrenched in various ways, — by the com- monwealth and the municipality, by working-class regidations and sentiments. It has suffered seri- ously, and stin is threatened. The issue wiU depend on the effect of the total civilization of the city in amplifying the range of wants among these new peoples. In this way the energy, pro- ductive capacity and ambition of the mass of them will be brought to a higher point. At the same time, that base, passionate enterprise wiU be tempered which would ruthlessly sacrifice kindred and neighbor for the dream of ultimate prosperity^ CHAPTER VI TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP " After all, the predominating issue is — work." The congressional candidate had made a few flour- ishes about matters of concern to the nation, such as militarism and trusts. This was his way of arriv- ing at reality in the North End. He then pro- ceeded to explain that by securing from the national government an appropriation of millions of dollars to deepen the harbor at Boston, he would open up to the men whose humble abodes are near the har- bor docks an almost endless vista of jobs. The deeper harbor will lead to the erection of new docks, which men must needs be employed upon to build. Docks mean dockers. New ships will come and must be manned. This growth will imply new factories and new warehouses, which men must build, and which once opened will remain as well- springs of employment forever. The tendency to localize and domesticate the universal is one of the master motives of ward poli- tics. There is m the mind of the voter a marked 148 AMERICANS IN PROCESS absence of sucli faculty of abstraction as will en- able him to feel himself receiving advantage from the general action of the community in its large, ordinary functions. These are to him like the atmosphere. He wishes to see some new, divisible fruitage produced toward the enlargement of his meagre life. This feeling is so pervasive that the fulfillment of the individual voter's insistent need becomes the decisive test of political and public service. Honesty and special capacity in public officials is a virtue which has some value in campaigns, but even then it is usually so indiscriminately ascribed to all candidates as to make it the mere material of compliment and persiflage. A hundred times more worth while than general honesty in the eyes of the local electorate is fair play. The serious charge against an office-holder is not " he was dis- honest," but " he was greedy ; " he did not im- part to his constituency enough of the results of his influence and power. The remedy does not seem to the people to be that of the business man, nor yet that of the scholar in politics. Civil service reform means to them administration in the hands of a class that may be honest in an arid sort of way, but not serviceable or responsible, so far as they are concerned. The " greedy " politician can TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 149 be and is soon displaced by one who will be " fair." There is an ingrained and powerful feel- ing that the hope of the poorer and alien classes is in holding blindly together. The reformer is, in fact, looked upon with some of the distrust and fear in which in the Middle Ages the equally truth- loving heretic was viewed, — as one who would turn distraught humanity aside from the only way of salvation. Ordinary public standards of intellectual fitness count for little or nothing in these parts of the city. It is, in fact, a distinct hindrance in a candidate to have the air of training. Occasionally some young politician is charged with being a graduate of Har- vard ; and the charge is denied resentfully. One of the foremost political magnates, a man of un- doubted native abihty, who has held high elective office as a lawmaker, is yet unable, after several attempts, to secure admission to the practice of the law. Such a fact hardly creates a ripple of inter- est among the rank and file of his following. There are political virtues of different degrees, but the greatest of these is loyalty. Ward politics is built up out of racial, religious, industrial affilia- tions ; out of blood kinship ; out of childhood asso- ciations, youthful camaraderie, general neighbor- hood sociability. Party regularity is simply the I le50 AMERICANS IN PROCESS coalescence of all these. It is the brightest star in the crown of a political veteran to have been " always regular." The frequent petty insurrec- tions only show the power of this loyalty. They are family quarrels. The offending member is still more loved and even more trusted, so far as family interests are concerned, than any outsider. The very disinterestedness of the outsider makes the family recoil from him. The sudden way in which the most acrimonious political breaches are healed over shows the underlying fraternal bond. ' Ward politics is an amplified scheme of family com- - munism — a modernized clan. Some day it may perhaps become apparent to the historian, looking back, that this clan life in the midst of civilization went with the industrial and social confusion of the time. The poor in our cities have as fierce a contest with industrial conditions as the barbarians had against wild nature. The similarity of social formation, of ethical standard, goes with the simi- larity of the facts of the two kinds of life. The present-day barbaric outlook must be altered if we would impart truly civilized conceptions of politics or of life in general^ In these northern wards, as in the inner wards at the South End, one of the parties is so strong that there is never any contest, and the minority TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 151 party is of consequence only in general city elec- tions. The strain and conflict whicli go with politics occur only when there are faction fights. These are not uncommon, and while they last are more intense than any contest across party lines. Where the party nomination is equivalent to an election, it is natural that there should be keen com- petition within party lines. In the fierce glare of a faction fight, the true perspectives of ward poli- tics come out. The charges brought against leaders by their opponents, and the claims of service ren- dered which are made in reply, show the actual motive and trend of politics in the ward, f Sectarian feeling is appealed to by asserting that a certain leading politician used the church as a tool, and that he was dismissed from the altar by the reverend pastor. He is accused of having invited a non-Christian to officiate as bearer at a funeral. Racial feehng is goaded by the charge that a Jewish office-holder had expressed pro- fane contempt for the Irish ; and an Irish alder- man is denounced for not having rushed to the defense of his Italian constituents when they were classed with Negroes at a meeting of the board. That a certain leader is making use of politics for his own enrichment is sustained by the charge that he is treasurer of a corporation receiving numerous 152 AMERICANS IN PROCESS contracts ; that he is one of a real-estate syndi- cate whose land is assessed at one third of its value ; that he and his brothers own seven saloons among them ; that one of his lieutenants in the State Senate wronged and duped the voters of the constituency by taking money rather than patronage for his vote on a street railway bill. It is asserted that a prominent local political figure is not a resident of the ward, and packs the voting list with other non-residents. A poster calling atten- tion to these facts says : " Home Kule is the funda- mental principle of free government, which prin- ciple men died to establish. Why, therefore, should the people of this ward allow residents of Concord, Acton, Winchendon, Lawrence, Win- throp, Beachmont, East Boston, the South End, to govern them ? " This same tyrant and usurper has, it is said, secured the dismissal of many men from their work, and made " saddened and broken homes because heads of families voted as they thought was right." Not content with a relentless policy toward foes, he is, it is said, traitorous to friends ; and it is even hurled through the dense pipe-smoke into the teeth of the populace that one such victim of treachery actually died of a broken heart. The scene changes. Look on that picture and TRAFFIC m CITIZENSHIP 153 on this ; trace here the lineaments of the man whom King Demos delighteth to honor. He went on the hottest days to contractors and corporations seeking jobs for men in the ward. He was noted for the " conspicuousness of his presence when wanted." The people did not have to " play hide and seek " with him ; when they desired his services he could always be found. He represented his constituency " so earnestly, so successfully, so untiringly " in the search for employment for them. He voted for the abolition of civil service regulations that he might have more jobs to dispense. He voted to control corporations having contracts with muni- cipalities in such way as to make corporation patronage as valuable a political asset as that of the municipality itself. He opposed a measure to punish housewives who undertook to use milk cans or jars for any other purpose than that for which they were intended. He promoted a measure compelling ice companies to sell five-cent cakes of ice, and a measure requiring gas companies to sell their product for seventy-five cents per thousand feet. He urged the boarding out of neglected children in families of the same faith as that to which their parents belonged. He sought the re- laxation of some of the restrictions on the use of the Sabbath ; and, though his constituents might 154 AMERICANS IN PROCESS not acknowledge this as a special service to them- selves, worked for the abolition of dark cells and of the death penalty. Lastly, he supported an increase in the tax-rate, but only in order to give more em- ployment to laborers — not for the sake of provid- ing " high salaries for Back Bay dudes." The machine politician especially opposes reform measures like that of civil service restrictions and the secret ballot. These make it more difficult to organize and control the vote, to secure the appoint- ment of particular men, and, what is more exas- perating, to hold the allegiance of men after they have been installed in city jobs. It is not uncom- mon for political appointees whose positions have been placed under the protection of civil service regulations to throw over all obligations to the political machine, and even to move away to a re- mote suburban district. Such facts make it all the more important that the work of party organization should be pains- takingly done. In bringing out the votes of these wards, the ward committees may be said to exhaust the possibilities, to use everything and neglect no- thing, in order to produce results. Here, as in the South End,i the street-comer gangs and a variety of loosely organized clubs form 1 The City Wilderness, p. 114, sq. TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 155 poKtical groups, ready made to the hand of the ward heeler. In the North End certain political clubs leap into activity during campaign time. In the West End there is a remarkable political organization having rooms on the most prominent square in the ward. This club keeps up an active existence all the year romid, and is the headquar- ters for the entire business of machine politics of the ward. Apart from all formal organizations, each ward is divided into several sections, and local lieutenants are appointed to hold together, and bring to the front at the proper time, the vote of their neighborhoods. The local lieutenant devotes himself unremittingly to the people of his section of the ward. He keeps himself acquainted with their who]e round of life, and constitutes himself the adviser and helper of them all. By unresting vigilance, together with a careful and comprehensive system of pohtical account keeping and statistics, he knows within a few votes just how much strength his section holds for the party ticket. As campaign time approaches committees are appointed, who divide among them- selves the responsibility of seeing and making sure of all the voters in these sub-districts. The ardor of propagandism exhibited by these local commit- tees quite surpasses the proselyting zeal of any type 156 AMERICANS IN PROCESS of churchman. Indeed, the most aggressive soli- citors of trade could hardly equal them ; because if inducements fail, they have an organized power of constraint behind them which amounts almost to that of the tax collector or police magistrate. The care and shrewdness with which this work is done is illustrated by the fact that in the West End it is sometimes the custom to appoint one man to get out eight voters, and soon after to appoint two other men each to get out four of the same eight. In the North End every imaginable sup- porter of the party has his name enroUed in a card catalogue. Every such person is visited in advance of the caucus, and to the utmost limit of the re- sources of the machine — with its knowledge of each man's ties, obligations, ambitions, necessities — satisfactorily "fixed." At the caucus, and again at election, voters, as they appear, are checked off by party representatives. When proceedings are half over, trusty men are dispatched in every direction throughout the ward to chase in the tardy ones. " So run I not as uncertainly ; so fight I not as one that beateth the air " might be taken as the watchword of the ward politician. It is because he sends the arrow so straight to the mark, the axe so sure to the root of the tree, that the far less determined reformer fails to overthrow him. TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 157 Very special efforts have to be made to adapt political methods to the particular spirit and ne- cessity of the different nationalities in these cos- mopohtan wards. There is a constant tendency on the part of the Irish to move away to better favored parts of the city, where they will not be subjected to so crowded conditions and to unpleasant association with recent Continental immigrants. As the local political leaders are nearly all of Irish origin, and as the Irish are their surest and best reliance, they make determined efforts to retain in the ward the remnant of the Irish population. The Roman Catholic churches of these districts, which with enormous establishments are in danger of being left stranded, are working toward the same end. It is a fixed rule in Ward 8 that no man can receive a job without pledging himself to remain a voter in the ward as long as he holds the job. The Jews and Italians are gradually becoming voters under pressure of leaders of their own, who show them the advantages of so doing. Nowadays, the Jew junk collector must have taken out citizen- ship papers before he can get a license, and the Italian laborer has no prospect of being engaged on city work unless he be an American citizen. Peddlers, junk dealers, fruit sellers, organ grinders, 158 AMERICANS IN PROCESS sewing-women, clothing manufacturers, — all must have dealings with public officials. Everybody knows, too, that by mistake or otherwise the laws of a strange country are easily broken. Under such circumstances the value of an accommodating expert in public administration is soon realized. The newcomer, in establishing his home, finds that some credit is necessary. The gas company re- quires security. The politician — not unknown to corporations — gives it. The politician expects votes in return. He has ways of enforcing his displeasure if the votes are not forthcoming. In each identical bearing of the social mechanism where oil is needed, it is possible to put sand. Finer considerations are by no means lacking. It is coming to be a matter of racial pride and loyalty among Italians and Jews to place them- selves on an equality with those who assume supe- riority over newcomers. They wish to escape the contempt with which the ignorant treat foreigners ; they crave the full round of American experience. Soon they realize that their children are to be Americans, and this makes American citizenship more clearly their own destiny. ; As to party affiliations, both of these nation- alities, when first arrived in Boston, were inclined to be Republicans. They seemed to recognize in TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 159 the Republican party a distinctly American organ- ization. The word republican is one that the Italian is familiar with, and it has inspiring asso- ciations for him. The Republicans have not had the sagacity to take advantage of this situation. They have allowed these wards to be under a tjrpe of leadership which is certainly as corrupt as that of the opposite party, without any of the redeeming qualities that go with its strength. This state of things has conduced to the change in political alignment which has taken place. It was not a spontaneous movement. Neither the Jew nor the Italian, be it said, is instinctively drawn to the Irishman, nor he to them. [ The Irish have made great efforts to win the Italians to the Democratic party. They are co- religionists, and they can love each other for their common enmity to the Jew. At least half the Italian voters in the North End are now Demo- crats. They make good political workers. They organize effectively, and are quite disinterested. The chief difficulty about them from the political organizer's point of view is that they are split into many rival camps, according to the city or province in Italy from which they camej The leaders of these different cliques, in their claims to recogni- tion, are very prone to exaggerate the number of 160 AMERICANS IN PROCESS their naturalized followers. The Democratic lead- ers have managed also to secure a considerable following among the Jews. Were these districts not so overwhelmingly Democratic, the Jews could be kept more closely within the Republican fold. As it is, the poorer ones are very likely to be Democrats. They are made to see, in the machine's tangible, lucrative ways, the advantage of support- ing the local political powers that be. They are very difficult material for the politician. They are individualists, quarreling constantly among them- selves, each demanding to have as good a share as the most favored one. They do not act in a mass under impulses of loyalty. They are of that very uncomfortable sort who " have to be seen often." They demand stated and regular returns for politi- cal allegiance, or else their allegiance is gone. The Negro vote is for the most part gerrjrman- dered into a Republican ward. There is some com- petition between the parties for their suffrage. There are three classes of Negro voters, each class including a considerable number : those who are purchased at so much a head ; those who act under leaders for a consideration of some sort ; honest voters whose support is held by their being " recog- nized " in various ways. The inducements brought to the minds of the TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 161 voters in these wards, it will be seen, are of a concrete, unmistakable sort. Of outright bribery- it must be said that there is very little. Every political step, however, involves some sort of indi- rect bribery. The whole course of local political procedure is beset with trickery and fraud. There are specialists in naturalization, each of whom stands as sponsor to large numbers of newcomers, swearing falsely as to the length of time they have been in this country. They retain certain inter- preters to serve their purposes. The reading test is managed with considerable ease. Under a friendly registration officer, any rude attempt at pronouncing the words of the Constitution is con- sidered satisfactory. Immigrants, provided they are familiar with the Roman alphabet letters, after a little coaching, summon intelligence and courage to pronounce a series of English words, syllable by syllable, in an incoherent way ; and a North End wardroom is not the place for stiff academical requirements. It is perfectly true that there are often, if not always, some hundreds of voters in these districts who do not pretend to live in this part of the city. Many of the '^ boys " who have moved away from the North End still retain a " residence " there. They spend a night or two at a certain address at 162 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the first of May, rarely even complying with the letter of the law, and then have themselves regis- tered as voters from that address. It is quite pos- sible, in case of local faction fights, to decide the issue at a caucus, or in city elections to affect the general result, by this " carpet-bagger " vote. The choice of men to stand as candidates for party nomination at the caucus is subject to a variety of considerations. The foremost politi- cians have probably climbed the ladder of elective fame so far as ward politicians can. The West End boss, who has been to the top, deigns, like " the old man eloquent," to return to lower posts of statesmanship ; but he is exceptional. The usual plan is for the leader to put forward some specially trusted intimate, often a brother or a cousin, for the important nominations. Specially bright " talk- ers " are likely to be advanced for honors in the City or State legislative chambers. Faithful party workers are " rewarded " by a term in the Com- mon Council. It is the policy, also, in both dis- tricts, to " recognize '* the Continental elements by giving some of their number small elective offices. Some of these are beginning to rise above the Com- mon Council. One Jew and one Italian from the North End have served in the lower branch of the legislature. Every man selected to go before the TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 163 caucus is required to agree, in the presence of wit- nesses, that if he is elected to office he will act en- tirely as the ward organization directs. The filing of caucus nomination papers is every year the occasion of some absurd, disgraceful ex- hibition. A heeler gets into the party office by a window, or down through a skylight, in order to have his faction's list of nominees placed first on the caucus ticket. Or the announcement of the time for filing nominations, of which public adver- tisement is required, is placed in an obscure part of the first edition of the afternoon papers, and those in possession of the secret have their nomina- tions filed while their opponents are still waiting for the news. I As a rule, local contests in the North and West Ends never extend beyond the caucus, except in a merely perfunctory way. The West End is so boss ridden that there is rarely any public cam- paign at all. The democracy does not meet and reason together for the common good. Important elections take place in this district without a single meeting for a discussion of the issues involved. This seems to represent the extreme step in setting aside our American precedents, j The West End doctrine is that platform discussion is " hot air ; " that the newspapers are all " fixed " by corpora- 164 AMERICANS IN PROCESS tions'; and that the welfare of city and nation is neither here nor there to Ward 8. This does not mean that there is nothing to an election but the leader's fiat. On the contrary, the campaign in the shape of '' personal work " is carried to the bench and counter, the threshold and fireside, the saloon bar and the street corner, — wherever the voter is found. Exhaustive organization, not talk, is the West End style of canvass. In either district freedom of speech is sometimes subject to actual abridgment in the case of bolters. In the West End a dissenting faction had made all arrange- ments to hold a meeting in the wardroom, but arrived to find the lights out and the door securely locked. In the North End there was to be, under insurgent leadership, a special Jewish rally in a new synagogue which was practically completed. Influence was brought to bear upon the contractor to post a notice that the building was unsafe. At rallies, when there is a local contest, much time and attention is given to specific instructions as to the proper candidates to be voted for under each heading on the baUot, and careful warnings are given as to the proper sources of light, provided light is necessary. Indeed, a ward raUy at the North End toward the close of the evening assumes the character of a district school, in which the TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 165 pupils of different grades are given their different appropriate lessons by the chief political pedagogue, to be learned by caucus day. It is said that a peculiar sort of " crib " has been devised by which some of these pupils occa- sionally escape the mental burden of their lesson. For a certain office there are a number of inde- pendent candidates, whose fitness for the nomina- tion consists in the fact that their names are confusingly like those of the " regulars." A tooth comb is taken and the teeth removed, except those which are spaced so as to point to the names of the "regular" candidates on the caucus ballot, when the end of the comb is pointed at the name of the office to be filled ; or better still, a piece of card- board has oblong holes cut in it, which, when fitted over the list of nominees, leaves only the approved names in sight. Thus equipped the recent Italian immigrant may be enabled to vote " right " with an accuracy of which enlightened voters — whose eyes might wander — would be quite incapable. At this point political ingenuity comes within a hair's breadth of making the machine automatic. At the caucus itself instruction is still liberally and insistently dispensed ; though then, of course, false doctrine is likely to be even more loudly pro- claimed. In this case there is everything in the 166 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS voter's knowing tlie particular source from which the instruction comes. The officers of the caucus are on the alert for opportunities. There is a provision by which a voter who has any physical defect of hand or eye may seek help of the offi- cers of the caucus. Sometimes a halting intellect is symbolically bodied forth in a bandaged eye or an arm in a sling. Then it is important to have the right man ready to " assist." Some- times caucus officers exercise terrorism over cer- tain voters by assisting them against their will, particularly those who are under the influence of liquor. These actions, however, are very closely watched by the opposing forces at the rail, who loudly protest to the captain or heutenant of the police. Such an official is always present at this up-to-date folkmote, clothed with summary author- ity, and supported by from twenty to fifty rounds- men and two or three plain-clothes detectives. The faction leaders outside the rail give close vigilance to watching the line of voters as they pass in to the polling booths. When the " fight " is a warm one, a large number of votes are challenged. The ground of most of the chal- lenges is false registration, — covering the case of " carpet-baggers," whom every one knows to be non-residents, but whose failure to comply with TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 167 the letter of the law may be difficult to prove. Quite often Republicans are found voting in Demo- cratic caucuses. Occasionally a man is challenged as a repeater ; that is, as voting on the name of an- other man, who may be late, absent, ill, in jail, or dead. It is perhaps needless to say that the object of these challenges is not a disinterested desire to stop such corrupt practices. If the vote proves to be a close one, the challenges are followed up. As the caucus has now practically the same legal sanctions as an election, there are severe penalties involved. Usually, however, nothing is heard of them after- wards, and many people in the district come to look upon false registration, and even repeating, as part of the safe and profitable risk of the game of politics. After one caucus, in which the opposition made specially strenuous protests and entered many challenges, one of the local heelers was heard to remark, " WeU, we ran in a couple hundred of them, anyway." A voter is sometimes challenged simply in order that the faction leaders may know exactly what the nature of his vote is. It was the intention, under the secret-ballot system, to make it impossible for the politician to keep account of stock and know about the actual delivery of goods. This worthy intention is easily defeated. A voter 168 AMERICANS IN PROCESS is challenged just as lie is about to deposit his bal- lot. It is then necessary for him to identify his ballot by writing his name on the back of it. Con- federates of the faction leaders, when the count comes, can discover whether the challenged voter has voted "right." This method is operated so effectually, and the machine so severely punishes irregularity thus discovered, that the security of the secret ballot is to a considerable degree lost. It is only when a defeated faction refuses to abide by the result of the caucus that the full excitement of the campaign is carried beyond the primary and into the final election. Aside from such fraternal strife, there remains in general city elections the stimulus of supplying a large local vote for the party candidates ; and as both wards carry an enormous list of city appointees, this in- citement is always sufficient to keep the machine actively at work up to election time. The power of such political organization is in that it is incessantly at work. It hardly has a season in which it is more busy than at other times. It has no vacations. Election won or lost, the organization comes at once to the steady, all the year round task of keeping the forces together and, as far as possible, satisfied. After a victory each ward tries to secure the greatest share of the TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 169 spoils, and Wards 6 and 8 are noted for getting more than their share. In case of defeat various shifts are made to keep as many men as possible in office. There is at least a slight hold on power in the Board of Aldermen, or there are members of the legislature who can secure jobs from cor- porations. Many go back to their old trades. Loosely attached ones move away, remaining avail- able for " residence " purposes when needed. In general, the same interlacing of relationship and association which lifts the fortunate into city positions serves to break their fall in the event of party failure. In any case, everything is done to stimulate the voters to watch and work for the future. It is a strange fact that party loyalty seems to rise higher during the lean years than dur- ing the fat years. Bolters choose the times when the party is in power as the favorable time for their insurrections ; because, while many are provided for, more are not, and there are infinite possibili- ties for jealousies and bickering. As a City Hall official expressed it, " Every time I give a job I make one friend and ten enemies." The brother and lieutenant of the Ward 8 boss, when in the legislature, dismissed some very im- portant measure limiting the power of a certain corporation by saying that he was too busy attend- 170 AMERICANS IN PROCESS ing to securing work for the unemployed to pay attention to such matters. The task of placing a large number of men in city work is indeed a very engrossing and exasperating one. There lies in waiting the disappointment of seeing them all dis- charged. In Ward 6, at a recent political over- turn, 212 men were removed. No wonder that the boss in the ward campaign that followed the mayor- alty election, with a lenient and fostering air, stated that if there were any men still in the city employ who feared that they might lose their jobs by com- ing to the caucus, such men would be excused from coming. This announcement was the accompani- ment of whispered rumors that a child had starved to death, and a man had committed suicide. It can easily be understood, therefore, that there is a cer- tain solemn hush about the last campaign meeting before a city election, when the turn of events affects so deeply the well-being of so many of the families of the ward. Civil service regulations offer obstacles in the way of patronage, but the law is to some extent evaded. A boss secures the discharge of a large number of men " for the good of the service " or " for lack of work." After a little time he begins to draw liberally upon the civil service list, which he has been careful to have filled up in the mean TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 171 time by his own men. Sometimes it is possible to make a new classification of labor, to tiave men enter their names under this new head, and then to have a call sent from the city departments for workmen of the new description. It has been asserted that on one occasion certain politicians in the West End surreptitiously secured the civil service examination papers in order to make sure of landing their men. The story goes that one half of the questions were changed, with the result that all the West End candidates made a mark of exactly fifty per cent. There is immunity from these embarrassments in the placing of laborers with corporations that have close relations with the municipal government. This is more and more an integral part of the machine scheme. Contractors and tradesmen who deal with the city departments are also confidently looked to by political leaders as sources of employment. As matters of personal interest, of course only the larger stakes in the game concern the political chief and his aides-de-camp. Aside from securing a few well-paid appointive posts at City Hall, each ward expects that the teaming, street construction and other large city work carried on within its limits shall be done by some of its citizen con- tractors. These contracting firms are usually of 172 AMERICANS IN PROCESS an improvised sort, and are often only a name to cover up the operations of two or three politi- cians. Large profits are made in these ways. Matters are so arranged that when the administra- tion changes, the good-will and fixtures are trans- ferred to a firm ostensibly connected with the party newly in power, but the ownership probably remains the same. It is in connection with land transactions that the professional politician finds his special financial opportunity. Some of these schemes come near to the line of legitimate business. For instance, at the time when the new bridge to Charlestown was to be erected, there was intense rivalry betv/een two groups of local politicians as to which should de- termine the precise location of the bridge. One group had options on one row of buildings, the other on a different row. The successful group first secured a large amount of money for damages to their buildings, and then profited by the rise in value of their property after the improvements were completed. Such money-making exploits on the basis of inside knowledge of facts, and even on the basis of facts actually created for the pur- pose, are, of course, the commonplace of much of the large business enterprise of the present day. Without that degree of excuse is the practice TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 173 of managing the purchase of real estate by the city at a price greatly in excess of its real value, the amount in excess going as booty to the chief polit- ical agents in bringing about the purchase. At least two local poHticians have frequently been en- gaged in undertakings of this kind. "Land deals " are, in fact, so common that among old hands at City Hall it is taken for granted that no purchase of land by the city can be made without some official receiving his " dot." The relation between politics and local trade of every sort is close. Shopkeepers find that it is very necessary to be on friendly terms with the machine. Their trade may diminish otherwise. A provision dealer in the West End was placed under a boycott not long ago because he had a pohtical bolter engaged in cutting meat for him, but the provision dealer pluckily endured the tem- porary stress. The liquor trade is everywhere just on the edge of politics. But as the licenses are given by a State board, over which ward politi- cians can have but little influence, the relation of the politician to the saloon-keeper is simply that of two men who can give each other aid in for- warding their different projects. In several forms of Jewish trade and enterprise, the politician finds financial opportunities. The junk dealer seeks a ''174 AMERICANS IN PROCESS license. Theoretically it costs five dollars ; in practice it costs fifty. The jerry-builder seeks a license to make over an old building and crowd new additions upon the land. The pohtician can help him, for a consideration. After crowding the building over every possible inch of land, he wishes to gain more space by adding bay windows that jut out over the public street. In many cases the narrow streets in the West End, newly built up by Jewish landlords, have bay windows three feet deep reaching out on both sides, and almost continuous along the whole length of the street. A certain former Republican alderman, now holding a more important position, is said to have pocketed twenty- five dollars for each of these obstructions. As a result, among some of his companions he is called " Bay Window," by way of jolly nickname. It must not be thought, however, that the poli- tician never serves his constituency for naught. He has an endless number of thankless tasks laid upon him. He must see that this poor family's rent is paid ; he must secure legal assistance for that oppressed immigrant ; he has to arbitrate local disputes ; he must secure for the sick admis- sion to the hospital ; he is pressed to use his best endeavors to get ambitious but incapable girls into the high or normal school ; he must find places for TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 175 them as stenographers or teachers when they have finished their education ; he must put the poor, worthy and unworthy alike, in the way of receiving help from church or municipal charities ; he is besieged for opportunities of work by widows and helpless people. He makes it his business to befriend the culprit before the law, advancing bail, securing witnesses, getting the complaint smoothed down, the penalty eased. As a philan- thropist, under enlightened standards he could hardly be allowed to pass ; still, he is inclined to believe himself one, and many of his constituents share the opinion with him. He is certainly human in the variety, the universality, of his interests and service. Up to a certain point, also, the boss must necessarily be a man of character. As seen in these districts, the political chiefs, whatever may be said about their public morality, answer to the severest tests that private domestic rectitude may place upon them. Ward politics is largely an affair of young men. It brings them into some sort of equal association with persons of influence and power. Ambitious youths, with no one to help them to a professional or commercial career, and having prejudices to meet in those lines against their race and reli- gion, find an open, inviting opportunity in politics. 176 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS Middle-aged men do not care for its excitements, and cannot so well afford its risks. It is a difficult task to get the older men to come to the caucus and wait for hours in line. Still, the family claim is so strong that cases are not uncommon in which a successful young politician, holding an important position at City Hall, will find a place for his father as laborer in one of the city departments. The intricacies of family relationship have so much to do with holding the party together that the sentiments of women have telling force. Two minor politicians in the North End have recently found themselves discredited because they were saloon-keepers and non-churchgoers. The influ- ence which led to their undoing came chiefly from what was said here and there over the table at home. Either fault by itself might have been condoned, but the double delinquency could not be endured. No man need hope for votes from these constitu- encies who is known to be discourteous to women or inconsiderate of children. Politics, far more than any other interest, gives dignity to the larger social hfe in these wards. The man who succeeds in business moves away into pleasanter surroundings ; the man who succeeds in politics must, in effect at least, remain. Politics lifts and localizes at the same time. It is, there- TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 177 fore, on tlie political, not on the economic or edu- cational scale, that social dignities are registered. Politics forms a titled aristocracy. No consider- able social occasion is complete which is not illus- trated by some of these men of rank. The political affairs of a ward are nominally in the hands of a ward committee for each party, but aside from the difficulty of finding among the voters of the ward twelve or fifteen men of suffi- cient special capacity and experience to serve on such a committee, the situation is so complicated, requires such varied, flexible and instant action, both for the regulation of internal affairs and for playing the local forces in the large outer field of a mayoralty campaign, that the single powerful leader is a natural and inevitable development. Even the reformer, if he reaches his conclusions on the basis of the facts as they are, is compelled to admit that the conditions require some sort of boss. The boss, too, must be near his people, and, in essential respects, like them. " He 's our kind" is the keynote of loyalty to political leadership; and this, indeed, is usually as true, though the sentiment may be more subtly expressed, among the educated classes as among the working classes. The two leaders in Ward 6 and Ward 8 have, until about a year ago, been engaged in a relent- 178 AMERICANS IN PROCESS less duel with each other. The trouble began in a nominating convention. Charging that the Ward 6 man did not trade votes as he agreed to do, the Ward 8 man swore that he would let his right arm wither before he would ever take the hand of his professional brother. The two wards, being close neighbors, are in the same aldermanic and sena- torial districts. Each boss strove to organize sup- port in his rival's ward for alderman and senator, and every weapon in the arsenal of political chi- canery was put in commission. Each proceeded to organize a band of insurgents in the territory of the other. Each played defensive tactics against the other by bringing hordes of " carpet-baggers " into his ward. After such strokes had been dealt back and forth during successive campaigns, the Ward 8 leader was able to institute a deadly attack from the rear. This was done by means of an or- ganized, persistent policy of treachery to his party, through which he continued to retain a large share of his power after the opposition party had come into control of the city government. By placing at work men belonging to his opponent's ward at a time when all of his opponent's most loyal followers were being discharged, he effectually checkmated the enemy. The two bosses have now estabhshed a modus vivendi^ to the peace and quiet of the city TRAFFIC m CITIZENSHIP 179 as a whole. The capitulating Ward 6 man, how- ever, is now looked at somewhat askance by his " regular " colleagues in other parts of the city. These two men, strongly contrasted in personal traits and in some of their methods, yet are alike in representing the ward boss as no other political leaders in the city now do. There are other lead- ers as powerful or more so, but this is because they have gained large influence in the public coun- cils of the party or the municipality. There are no others who give such unremitting personal attention to the perplexing maze of petty affairs which makes up the internal life of their wards. In this respect the Ward 8 leader clearly out- strips the Ward 6 leader — so as to be known throughout the city as the man who, against ever- increasing obstacles, holds the vote of his ward absolutely in hand. His galvanic mastery of his followers is, in fact, so absolute that he can juggle with the votes of fifteen hundred men, throwing them, at the same time, for the regular candidate for mayor and for an unknown insurgent candi- date for street commissioner. Both bosses exercise that combination of auto- cracy and benignity, frankness and mystery, which goes with paternal sway. Both know how to bring out and give scope for capacity in the young be- 180 AMERICANS IN PROCESS fore it knows itself. Both know how to check and mar a career that is leading toward ends alien to their own. Both have their power balanced with an overwhelming load of responsibility. The anxi- eties brought about by the general pressure for place, the constant unrest and outright treachery of their following, the personal clashing of rival suppliants, — all these, vrhile outside foes may be clamoring, constitute a body of corroding care such as only the strongest men could endure. The Ward 6 leader, a man of nervous, impetuous type, some years ago found that the strain of living in the thick of all this became too great, and removed with his family twenty miles out into the country. Here, then, in the land of popular representative government, is the curious anomaly of a political leader of a large constituency, elected to every sort of office by them, who has for years made his home a score of miles away, under conditions in every respect different from their own. Every one knows the fact, but it is spoken of under the breath, ex- cept when an insurgent movement breaks out. It would be impossible for him to retain his hold but for the large family connection which the boss enjoys. One of the humors of a recent revolution- ary uprising in the ward was a burlesque pro- gramme of a play, in which the characters were TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 181 King Jolin and a long list of princes of the blood royal. This leader comes of the well-to-do Irish, most of whom have given up all connection with the North End. His family for many years kept an old-country grocery, including "bottled goods." He has had a fair education in the Boston schools. His executive force became apparent in connection with schoolboy interests during his course in the English High School. He was in politics as soon as he became a voter. His ascent was exceedingly rapid. He leaped from the Common Council to the State Senate, and thence leaped again to Con- gress, being almost the youngest member during his first session. He was elected to Congress by the odd rallying cry, " The people believe in rota- tion," displacing a man who had represented the district with special ability and distinction. The time came, however, when his rallying cry was due to be used against him. Since being, in turn, ro- tated out, he has become the editor of a weekly paper combining religion with its politics, which was formerly the possession of the only general municipal boss the city of Boston has yet known. "The young Napoleon of the North End" is not inaptly named. He is short, dark, sharp featured, with set lips. He has quick movements 182 AMERICANS IN PROCESS and an anxious look. His home life is said to be very attractive, and he is very hospitable to his city friends at his country establishment. His opponents accuse him of obviously making use of the church to further his ends ; his friends say that he has rendered the church very important aid. Certain it is that he is a loyal church- man, and that there is nothing in his private hfe to belie his profession. For keeping up his influ- ence in the ward, he is noted among the politicians of the city for vast and intense activity, for the acute and subtle manipulation of personal and social interests, and for successful dickering with other political leaders of his own party. He has apparently had a comfortable income, in and out of office ; but there are no signs of his having any considerable property. Though there is always more or less unrest under his leadership, the people of the ward are proud of his personal success, even when not held to him by the bond of benefits received. He has shown an aggressive interest in several very important movements at the North End for the bettering of the way of life among the people. The North End Park, a playground and swimming beach, is his "monument." He does not fail to make frequent public reference to his connection with these enterprises. In general, TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 183 he follows the type in making the central figure at public meetings, at charitable bazaars and in the columns of the papers. His grand, ambition is to attain the dignity of " His Honor, the Mayor." The king of Ward 8 utterly scorns all such vanities. Caring nothing for glory, living after the homeliest fashion among his own people, hav- ing no family, and only the semblance of other business, he rivets his attention upon his craft of ward boss. He is of the poor Irish, and there are touches of the cabin life of his ancestors in his plain, homely ways ; on the other hand, his name, a very unusual one, is that of an ancient Irish chieftain. He began life as a newsboy, but even then he used to take his recreation by going to the State House to listen to the legislative debates. He came to the front just as some of the last of the well-to-do Irish leaders were passing from the West End to pleasanter quarters. He has no tendencies toward any sort of dis- sipation, abstaining from liquor, and even from tobacco. He is said to have given as a reason for his abstinent life a promise long ago made to his mother. He is fondly attached to his brother, who wanders somewhat from his own chosen ways. He is punctiliously devout ; and though availing himself fully of church esprit de corps for his 184 AMERICANS IN PROCESS purposes, yet as a worshiper lie seeks an obscure cor- ner, not tlie foremost seats. He always distrusts the stranger, meaning by the stranger any one not of his own tried and intimate followers. It is this narrow, intense form of allegiance which he seeks and creates that makes him a sort of clan chief, hated and feared almost as much by the regular forces of his allies as by the enemy, but supported by the unquestioning loyalty of clansmen to their chief. The North End is split up into many gangs, and there a revolt is always imminent. The West End boss sees to it that there is but one gang, the membership of his ward political club. The annual incomes of municipal employees in the membership of this organization aggregate not less than $80,- 000 or 190,000. Under the peculiar West End system for being on both sides of the fence politi- cally, none of its members walk the streets all night in agonized suspense before an election, as city employees in the North End sometimes do. These facts suggest the indissoluble nature of the tie which holds the club together. The boss has his " real-estate " office in the club, and the mem- bers always know how to find him. In contrast with the North End leader, this man is stolid and unrefined. He looks darkly out of eyeglasses set against beetling brows. His chief TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 185 feature is his lower jaw, which is broad, square and protruding to the point of caricature. He walks with a dapper step, and has a rapid, choppy utterance, which gibe oddly with his large head and heavy features. He speaks but seldom, however. He will walk for blocks or drive for miles with one of his associates beside him and not utter a sylla- ble. He is without magnetism ; on the other hand, he is not arbitrary or domineering, though very severe and sudden with anything savoring of dis- loyalty. His personal mastery comes of his sheer executive force and strength of character. He is always in command and on the field in person. His easy seK-possession reaches its height at the caucus : the wonderful knowledge which he has of his ward is every moment apparent; even jaw- breaking Russian names he calls out before the clerks have time to consult the lists ; his manipu- lation of affairs suggests the compositor setting type with the linotype invention, and the result of it all is as surely his act. He is connected with no social organizations, though he provides in his scheme for the social ambitions of others, making use of such motives for his own ends. At bot- tom he is the financier. Thrift is the keynote of his life, and the real ambition of his life is that of the money-getter. He saved money when he 186 AMERICANS IN PROCESS was a city laborer at $1.1 b per day. He has numerous real-estate holdings, and is said to be worth at least $100,000. It is said that he desires to be a general city boss. If so, he seeks not the honors but the emoluments. He constantly inculcates thrift upon his follow- ers. He is also a stern advocate of a temperate, seK-controlled life. He gives the advantage always, in distributing patronage, to men of sobriety and steady character. Unmarried and accused of be- ing a woman-hater, he constantly urges marriage upon the young men of the ward. He very often gives his followers substantial aid in setting up a new household, and it is part of his code of laws for the ward political club that the club shall give each member who marries a generous present. Such a pohcy of social upbuilding in the ward does not displace the usual charities of the boss, but supplements them by something truly sagacious and far-reaching. This policy reaches its height in his special efforts to discover promising young men, encourage them with their training, launch them upon their careers, give them positions of confidence and power in the politics of the ward, and place them in high-salaried positions in the city government, or establish them as contractors, to win still larger sums from the public. TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 187 The fanatical fixedness of purpose with which this man insists on keeping up his patronage list and his representation on the appropriation and finance committees of the City Council, along with his peculiar narrowness of range and inability to trust the outsider, constitute him probably the most serious menace to good government that now exists in the city of Boston. There could hardly be a more curious and tragic instance of a man holding absolutely to a programme of right living in his personal life and standing with unwavering loyalty by his friends and neighbors, yet commonly sus- pected of exercising every ingenuity of unscrupu- lousness in public affairs, and even treating his own political party with barefaced treachery. He con- trols a sufficient vote, so that his party is compelled to bargain for his support. He is constantly creat- ing deadlocks in party conventions, in order that the vote of his ward may count for several times more than that of any other. The opposing party may nearly always win him for the proper price. There are times when this adept of ethical leger- demain sells oat to both parties, and by the help of disaffected elements in other wards actually delivers the goods. . The length to which he will go when kept back from any part of his booty was shown when Josiah 188 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Quincy was elected mayor a few years ago. Mr. Quincy considered his demands in the way of jobs, contracts and committee appointments altogether exorbitant, and refused to grant them. With his ablest lieutenant, he entered the State legislature. Here they combined with the opposite party to hinder Mr. Quincy's projects for improving the city charter. A youthful member of his staff, five- and-twenty, a miracle of brazenness, was placed, by means of a similarly treacherous alliance, in the chair of the Common Council. Here some of Mr. Quincy's most interesting plans for enhancing the health and happiness of the masses of the people were hopelessly blocked. Leading citizens, regard- less of dividing lines, sent in formal petitions. The whole organized force of the working people of the city, chiefly of his race, sternly demanded favorable action in matters so vital to them. Far- seeing leaders of his party saw here a signal politi- cal point of vantage. But with his ward in solid files behind him, and holding the balance of power between the two parties in the Council, he stood immovable. And all to satisfy the desire of ven- geance in the heart of this strange political Shylock, with his flinty exaction of human life as forfeit for his lost ducats. He has in his ward what might stand as " monu- / TRAFFIC IN CITIZENSHIP 189 ments," — the Charlesbank Gymnasium and the West End Branch Library. He takes little inter- est in these enterprises ; in fact, he hardly more than acquiesced in their establishment. They are now falling almost entirely into the hands of the Jews ; and he, though contriving to hold a following among that race, is secretly a bitter anti-Semite. In part, this may be because in their worst traits he resembles them ; " it is not the colors, but the shades, that hate each other." The chief reason is not a subtle one. The cement of clan has held together the foimdations of his power. Those foundations are being sapped. His own people are being displaced and scattered. The Jew is becom- ing omnipresent about him — as a spectre warning the Irish boss of his coming downfall. \ His supremacy will not pass away, however, be- fore he has drilled leaders of the Continental immi- grants in ways that are subversive of the American party system, not to speak of every holy tradition of our free Republic. The evil methods will remain; yet not because of him or any of his like. They exist because, to immigrant as to native humanity, liberty is an empty thing without the means of life. Machine politics provides for the purchase of op- portunity by the payment of freedom, jv CHAPTER VII LAW AND ORDER The North End, with the addition of the North Union Station and one half of the great market region near Dock Square, go to make up Police Division 1. From the first of December, 1900, to the first of December, 1901, the total number of arrests in this division for all offenses was 4300 males and 575 females, or 4875 altogether. Of these, 3124 were for drunkenness, 306 for assault of one kind or another, 232 for simple larceny, 37 for breaking and entering dwellings and buildings, 77 for offences against chastity, including night- walking and the keeping of a noisy and disorderly house, 75 for gaming on the Lord's Day and at other times and being present where gaming was going on, 3 for murder and being accessory to mur- der, and 6 for manslaughter. There were taken into custody, also, 203 suspicious persons, and 37 vagrants and tramps of both sexes ; 87 disturbances were suppressed ; 368 sick and injured persons were assisted, and 32 dead bodies were cared for. LAW AND ORDER 191 But the North End is bordered and crossed by- great highways of travel and traffic from one part of the city to another. Therefore the figures given represent a much greater population than that which makes its home in the North End. A sepa- ration of almost any one of these groups of figures into residents and non-residents would give some surprising residts. As a matter of fact, of the entire number of persons arrested in this division, fully two thirds live outside the limits of Boston. Naturally, the majority of these non-residents are arrested for drunkenness or immorality of some kind, since a great number of men, and some wo- men, from neighboring cities and towns, especially from those to the north of the city, resort to the North End for purposes of wrong doing. If the remaining third of the total number of arrests is separated into residents of the North End and those of other parts of the city, there is another surprising result. On the basis of a care- ful estimate, no less than one half belong outside the North End. For what offenses these non- residents are arrested it is not easy to say; but probably for drunkenness and immorality in gen- eral, as in the case of those living away from the city. Thus it appears that out of the 4875 persons 192 AMERICANS IN PROCESS arrested in the division during the twelve months ending December 1, 1901, fully 3250 did not belong in Boston at all, and only about 825 resided at the North End. In view of the fact that this last-mentioned number comprises all who were arrested for any offense whatever, including drunk- enness, in a population of nearly 30,000, it seems astonishingly small. According to the police show- ing, therefore, the North End, so far from being exceptionally lawless, is, on the contrary, law-abid- ing to a degree that is not generally supposed. Certain measures recently taken by the police in the North End have had an important bearing on the moral welfare of this section of the city. One of these was the closing of the last of the dance halls in the spring of 1900. These dance halls for a number of years before they were shut up had been the sole survivals characteristic of that period in the history of the district when the moral tide was at its very lowest ebb. This period, which covered fifteen or twenty years from about the middle of the century which has just closed, pre- sents a picture of vicious and criminal activity that seems incredible to one familiar with the North End of the present day. " Jilt shops " — those resorts under the name of brothels into which the sailor was enticed merely for robbery — were strewn LAW AND ORDER 193 thickly along Ann Street, now North Street. There was a rat-pit where sporting men from all parts of the city gathered, and where fights among the spectators were of the most frequent occurrence. In the saloon above this rat-pit the drinks were served by girls with painted cheeks and in low- necked dresses. Entertainments of the lewdest character were given in a resort off North Margin Street and elsewhere. The " North End Block " sheltered a swarming population of thieves, mur- derers, prostitutes and gamblers. In and around Richmond Street was gathered a mass of depraved Negroes and white people who constituted what was known as the " Black Sea." A stranger ven- turing too near this " Black Sea " was very likely to be engulfed by it, only to be tossed back later, robbed and stripped, if not lifeless. The dance halls had come into existence early in the century ; but during this period they reached their greatest number and sank to their lowest level. Those that survived the period, while less and less open, and having a constantly diminishing patronage, remained essentially unchanged to the very end. Indeed the charge on which they were closed, that of being houses of ill-fame, might have been brought with equal propriety against them during the eighty or more years of their existence. 194 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS Licenses were not required, since admission was free and no liquor sold. The women were paid a small fee by the proprietors in addition to what they, received from their victims. The proprietors, who bore all the running expenses, including the cost of the music, ostensibly derived their profits from the sale of the so-called " soft " or non-alco- holic drinks. No private rooms were connected directly with the halls, but such rooms were to be found on the floors above or elsewhere in the immediate neighborhood. That the proprietors controlled some of these rooms there is no doubt. The closing of the dance halls really registered the moral change that had taken place at the North End within the last quarter of a century. The conditions out of which such resorts had sprung, and upon which their continuance really depended, had ceased to exist. During their later years the dance halls had been more and more of an ana- chronism. A rapidly decreasing number of their women hahituees, and a smaller and smaller per- centage of their patronage, came from the neigh- borhood. At the same time, local public sentiment was growing constantly stronger against them, as being a disgrace and a menace. ', Thus the shutting up of these dance halls may be said to mark the end of a long and interesting LAW AND ORDER 195 chapter in the history of the North End, — a chap- ter of moral decline to an almost inconceivably low point, and of at least partial moral recovery./ I But after all, it is the narrative of what has taken place on the soil of the North End rather than in the hearts and minds of the people ; for the changed moral situation has been due, for the most part, to the change of the population. The moral decadence began with the incoming of the vicious and crim- inal of all races to take the places left vacant by the departure of the people of the better grades ; with the coming of the self-respecting and indus- trious foreign immigrant began the moral revival. In other words, the history of morals at the North End is at bottom little more than the his- tory of the social changes that have taken place here, ; This should not be construed as meaning that religious, educational and coercive agencies have not been at work all along, or have been ineffective. On the contrary, they have done much to keep the North End from sinking to any lower point of moral degradation, and to aid it in its moral recu- peration. The work of the churches and schools is described in other chapters of this book ; that of the police only is in point here. Even in the most turbulent days of the North 196 AMERICANS IN PROCESS End, police activity was by no means lacking. Haunts of vice and crime were broken up, law- breakers of every sort were driven away or taken into custody, and life and property were safeguarded. Li 1851 a single descent of the police on tlie no- torious Ann Street resulted in tlie apprehension of 165 persons guilty of every sort of vice and crime. In another raid on the same street a few years later, 51 street-walkers and inmates of houses of ill-fame were taken into custody. The police annals of this whole period are fuU of tales of sensational encounters with burglars, murderers and other desperate characters. As late as 1870 or later, it was not considered safe for a police officer to go alone through certain quarters. Two officers went together and also took care to walk in the middle of the street. Nevertheless, the police force in this part of the city was far too small for the situation that it tried to meet. In 1854, when the Police Department of the City of Boston superseded the Boston Watch and Po- lice, there were in the North End division one captain, two lieutenants and thirty-three patrol- men. To-day the force in practically the same division numbers ninety. A recent event that has had an important bear- ing on the moral welfare of the North End was the LAW AND OBDEB 197 loss by one of the hotels of its innholder's license. An innliolcler's license, it will be remembered, carries with it the privilege of ser\4ng liquors with food at any and all times excepting between the hours of eleven at night and six in the morn- ing. Unlike the dance halls, this hotel, as it was conducted, had never been rooted in local con- ditions. With others of the same general class here and there in the city, it owed much of its business to the breaking up, by the police, of the organized houses of prostitution throughout Boston. Women frequented its spacious cafe on the second floor, where they were known to be present and could easily be found. Men and women also came in company. Some of the women lived in the house, hiring their rooms by the week, month, or for a longer time ; a few drifted in from the near-by dance halls before these were closed. The waiters had each a favorite among the habituees, for whom they solicited custom, and shared in her illicit earnings. Practically none of the women belonged in the North End, and nearly all of the male patrons were non-residents. The loss of its innholder's license involved, of course, the loss of those pri\^leges of selling liquor on Sundays and holiday's, upon which the pros- perity of such an hotel depends. As a result, the 198 AMERICANS IN PROCESS character of the house was completely changed. The cafe was made into a general dining-room, which, together with a similar room on an upper floor, was visited by a constituency of a distinctly Letter grade than that of former days. The hotel held merely an ordinary bar-room license. But this change proved fatal to its financial interests ; within a few months it has been obliged to assign. Prostitution was not wholly banished from the North End by these two events. Finding the doors of their former haunts shut against them, some of the women established themselves in near-by tenements or took to the street. Yet they did not long escape police vigilance, and were taken into custody or compelled to leave the district. At the present time there are no disorderly houses at this end of the city and but little street-walking. That prostitution no longer exists here cannot, of course, be affirmed. There is an imwritten law of the local hotels which points unmistakably to its continued presence. This law is that a woman who comes with a man, presumably her husband, and remains over night, shall not be allowed to depart alone until her companion has been seen and gives assurance that his valuables are intact. Thus the unpleasant consequences of a reported LAW AND ORDER 199 robbery in tlie house are avoided. But prosti- tution no longer flaunts itseK openly. On tlie contrary, whatever of it still remains here is well under cover and avoids rather than seeks attention. J The immigrants, who form the characteristic resident population of the North End, have brought certain evil ways of their own ; they are also in- evitably affected by the moral contagion in their surroundings. The Italian men, especially those of the so-called lower classes, are as a rule very lax morally, and the younger Jewish men are be- coming so more and more. Dispensary doctors are able to give evidence of the serious inroads of sexual immorality among their Italian male pa- tients, and to a less extent among their Jewish ones. Several Italians who are unmarried or with- out their wives may live with a common mistress, ostensibly the housekeeper of the group. This woman may be American or Irish, but is never an Italian. The women of both races, on the other hand, are chaste with comparatively few exceptions^ In the cafe of the hotel described, a Jewish girl rarely appeared, and an Italian girl almost never. No girl of either race frequented the dance halls. In the case of the Jewish women, chastity is due to religious and home influences ; in that of the 200 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Italian, there is, in addition, the special protect- ing and avenging arm of the male members of the family. Any man attempting to lead an Italian woman astray is liable to be visited with a severe penalty from her father, brother or other male relative. Within a few years an Italian was murdered in the North End to prevent his return- ing to Italy, where he was likely to take up again an illicit relationship in which he had involved a kinswoman of the murderer. The custom still obtains among the Italians that a girl, especially if she is of marriageable age, shall never appear upon the street without a chaperon. The loyalty that goes with race seems to afford the Jewish girl, in a negative way, something of the same protection, for when she does lose her virtue it is seldom or never through a man of her own race. .Although many of the Jewish men are bigamists, or at least are supporting more than one woman — one in Bos- ton and one in New York or elsewhere — there is probably no instance in the North End where a Jewish woman is living with a man to whom, in her opinion, she is not properly married. / The number of liquor licenses held in Police Division 1 is 128. Of these, 10 are innholders' licenses, and the remainder, with the excep- tion of 21, are ordinary saloon licenses. The LAW AND ORDER 201 21 excepted are distributed among the drug- gists, grocers and wholesale classes. Thus there are in this division 97 bar-rooms, including those in the hotels. Apportioned equally among the inhabitants of the division, these would give one saloon for about every 309 men, women and chil- dren. But with the exception of the Italian saloons, few of them derive any considerable part of their trade from people living in the North End. Indeed, should all but the Italian saloons suddenly become dependent upon strictly local patronage, the larger number would go out of ex- istence at once. The Jews, who with the Italians constitute the great mass of the population, are not frequenters of the saloon. Moderate drinking is very general among them, but it is carried on for the most part in their houses and places of social meeting. Up to a few years ago, no Jew engaged in the liquor business, at least directly. At the present time, however, two or three large saloons are carried on by Jewish proprietors. Irish and Scandinavian bartenders are employed in them to draw in the trade of the Irish and Scandinavians. The Italians, though they are be- ginning to drift into the American saloons, patron- ize chiefly the saloons of their own people. These saloons, which are distinctly Italian in character, 202 AMERICANS IN PROCESS are situated on North street and one or two adjoin- ing streets, and are resorted to for social as well as drinking purposes. Indeed, gaming rather than drinking seems to be their chief attraction. A man buys a glass of light wine or beer, and sitting down at one of the little tables, with which these saloons are well supplied, passes two or three hours in some game of chance with his companions, or in watching the play that may be going on. The great bulk of saloon patronage at the North End, as has been said, is by non-residents. The prohibition enactment in places on the north side of Boston sends into the North End by the ferries and the railroads entering the North Union Station a great crowd of people after liquor. These fur- nish the great majority of the men and women arrested for drunkenness. According to the aver- age ratio between resident and non-resident offend- ers who fall into the hands of the police here, all but about 450 of the 3124 persons taken into custody for drunkenness during the twelve months ending December 1, 1901, had their places of abode outside this section of the city. Here, as well as throughout the city, the number of arrests for drunkenness is falling off appreciably year by year, the result, to some extent, of a more lenient policy on the part of the police in dealing LAW AND ORDER 203 with " drunks." Whenever circumstances permit, a man under the influence of liquor is put in the care of friends or quietly sent home, instead of be- ing taken to the station house, whence he can be discharged only by the courts. Yet there seems to be an actual diminution in the amount of ex- cessive drinking. This is due, in some measure at least, to the increased consumption of beer in place of harder liquors. ! Observation tends rather to confirm than to dis- prove the correctness of this estimate, low as it appears. Excessive drinking is not a characteris- tic either of the Jews or of the Italians. Indeed, instances of it among the former are extremely rare, and by no means common among the latter. The 3124 arrests for drunkenness referred to in- cluded no arrests of Jews and only five or six of Italians. \ This moderation in the use of alcoholic drink is easily explained as part of the general frugality that characterizes both races. In the case of the Jews it has a further explanation in the habitual seK-control of this people. Perhaps, also, the enlightenment of the race in the matter of health, resulting from the inculcation and observance of their dietary and other hygienic laws, serves as an additional restraint from immoderate drinking.] 204 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Among the Jews and Italians alike, beer has displaced to a very large extent the home-made wines and the light wines of Europe ; but among the Italians especially, stronger liquors are begin- ning to displace both. In the Italian home the bottle of " rock and rye " is seen with increasing frequency by the side of the bottle of Chianti. While this change in the direction of more intoxi- cating drink is due more or less to mere imitation of American ways, it is also a result of the demand for stronger stimulants created by the severer strain of life in this country. With the increase in the use of ardent spirits, the amount of drunkenness will of course increase, and in time sobriety may cease to be a characteristic of the Italian citizen. There are no gaming-places, strictly speaking, in the North End. Men play for drinks or even for small sums of money in the pool-rooms and in some of the saloons ; but gaming-places with rou- lette wheel or other implement of chance, or where large sums are staked at cards, are not to be found at this end of the city. Consequently, whatever gaming is carried on here is of a comparatively harmless character, and is confined for the most part to the resident population. Groups of boys, especially newsboys and boot- blacks, may be seen at almost any time in side LAW AND ORDER 205 streets, doorways and elsewhere, shooting craps or engaged in some other game of skill or chance. The public playground adjoining the Paul Revere school is a favorite gathering-place of these youth- ful gamesters. Here they congregate in consider- able numbers, especially on Sunday mornings, sta- tioning sentinels on the street at either side to guard against surprise by the police. But this and other similar precautions do not always avail, for occasionally the police make a descent upon the boys and take one or more into custody as a warning to the rest. Of the seventy-five persons arrested in this section of the city for gaming dur- ing the year 1901, the majority were juveniles. The gaming spirit which shows itself in the boys is conspicuous on all sides in the men. Generally speaking, the Jews and Italians are habitual gamesters. Necessarily, the stakes are small, but the play seems to lose none of its zest on this account* Unlike the Jews, who shun publicity in this as in most of their other diversions, the Italians frequent the Italian saloons, where they wiU play hour after hour, perhaps merely " for the drinks." Every evening during the week, and many an afternoon, especially in winter, any one of these saloons is crowded with men sittinsf at the tables over their wine or beer, intent upon a 206 AMEEICANS IN PROCESS game of chance played with the fingers. Cards are not allowed in the saloons, but are very gener- ally played elsewhere. Those who play at home take their table out of doors if a suitable place is at hand and the weather permits. A group of these open-air players may not infrequently be seen on a pleasant summer afternoon in the courts leading off Hanover and North streets. Here the bits of bright drapery flung over the galleries of the surrounding houses, the plants in the windows, and the gayly colored head-coverings of the women moving about give a foreign air to the scene. While the Italians engage in '' finger play " in their saloons, and gather about the card-tables in the open air, the Jews carry on their play in the privacy of their homes, shops and clubrooms. "Pinnacle," the favorite of their card games, seems never to lose its fascination for old or young. One passing along Salem Street may see in the rear of one shop after another a group of men, some of them quite venerable in appearance, en- gaged in this game. ! Now and then, especially among the Italians, a quarrel results from some turn in the play, which brings what is going on to the attention of the police ; but the gaming itself by either race is seldom of a character to warrant police interference.' LAW AND ORDER 207 f Strangely enough, crime at the North End, while comparatively small in amount, is to a considerable extent of the most serious character. Between such minor offenses as drunkenness, simple larceny or gaming, and the greatest of all crimes in the eye of the law, there are few gradations. During the last eight years twenty murders, whose perpetrators were found out and convicted, have been com- mitted in this section of the city. Of these mur- derers fourteen had their homes here,/ During the twelve months so often referred to, three men were arrested for murder and four for assault with intent to murder — all residents of the North End. \ Thus a population that on the whole is orderly and law abiding almost to an exceptional degree includes an element of a strikingly different n character.j \ But these murderers and would-be murderers are of a single race, — the Italian, and of the Sicil- ian or Calabrian branch of that race ; and they by no means are representative of the population, or even of the Italian people. Moreover, while some of them premeditated their crimes, the majority acted on the impulse of the moment ; hence are homicides rather than murderers^ Of the twenty convicted of murder within the last eight years, only one was convicted of murder in the first 208 AMERICANS IN PROCESS degree. Some of tlie murders were to satisfy a blood feud perhaps of long standing, or to avenge an insult or injury to a kinswoman of the mur- derer. Indications of the Mafia are to be found at the North End, but none of the murders here have been traced directly or indirectly to that organization. Although the Italians often exert themselves in behalf of a guilty countryman, they do so in order to save the Italian name from the disgrace that his punishment would cast upon it. Their action does not mean that they condone the offense or even have any special regard for the individual. Un- fortunately, such efforts are having a most perni- cious effect upon the more ignorant of their country- men in lessening respect for law and in creating amons" them at the same time an erroneous im- pression as to the protective power of money. Not infrequently an Italian undergoing search in the police station is found to have a roll of bills on his person, which he keeps, as he says, to use when he gets into trouble. ^ To remove one cause of so many murderous acts by their countrymen, a number of Italians several years ago petitioned the governor to revive and enforce the law against carrying concealed weap- ons. With the revolver and stiletto out of reach, LAW AND ORDER 209 they believed whatever fierce passions might be aroused woukl in most instances subside before a crime was committed. But on the general ground of individual freedom, the governor refused the request ; and nearly every Italian, as soon as he arrives in this country, procures a revolver, which, together with his stiletto, is always at hand tot resent an affront or to avenge an injury. ^^ f^ Other than murder, and assault with intent to murder, there is but little serious crime at the North End. Of course, where so many saloons stand open to the passing throngs, there are more or less assaults — 289 in the year of which the police statistics have been given. Burglary is of infrequent occurrence, a district of this description offering but few inducements to the professional thief. Italian boys, and to a less extent Jewish boys, steal junk whenever an opportunity presents itself, and commit other minor offenses. In the Italian rising generation especially, an increasing spirit of lawlessness is very noticeable. Gangs of these boys are beginning to present a serious prob- lem, the so-called " American spirit " appearing to have peculiar possession of them. ; The Jews seldom fall into the hands of the po- lice, but they cannot be called a race " void of offense against the public order and welfare." 210 AMERICANS IN PROCESS They are especially prone to contentions with one another, as well as with their Gentile neighbors. No other people come to the police station so often to make complaints and demand redress. The ground of their grievances is usually that of abu- sive or threatening language or some form of per- sonal violence. In nearly all cases their feelings have been hurt more than their bodies. Either side will produce witnesses to almost any number in support of its affirmations or denials. The readiness of the Jews to commit the crime of per- jury has passed into a proverb in this part of the city. But the characteristic thrift of the race does not desert the complainants even in the heated recital of their wrongs, real or fancied ; for unless they see in the satisfaction which they demand some pecuniary gain to themselves, they usually drop their accusations. Isolated and aggravated cases of arson and swindling and other serious crimes with a similar motive have occurred among the Jews in both the North and West Ends. There are occasional instances of such crimes which suspicion ascribes to them, but where evi- dence has been skillfully covered up. f In general, the law of the land is feared rather than respected by Jewish immigrants ; and a considerable propor- tion of them show a tendency, in many petty ways, LAW AND ORDER 211 to violate its spirit while formally observing the letter. On the whole, however, the Jewish commu- nity is law abiding to a marked degre^ That portion of the West End under review lies wholly within the bounds and comprises about four fifths of the territory of Police Division 3. Inas- much as it includes nearly all of the characteristic part of the division, the police statistics for the division as a whole may be taken as a trustworthy guide to the criminal tendencies here. During the year ending December 1, 1901, there were 4192 arrests in the division, including 2804 for drunkenness, 261 for assault, 8 for murder and being accessory to murder, 6 for manslaughter, 12 for robbery and assault to rob, 50 for breaking and entering dwellings and buildings, 165 for simple larceny, 124 for offenses against chastity, including night-walking, 13 for keeping a noisy and disor- derly house, and 47 for gaming, being present where gaming implements were found or keeping a gaming-house. In addition, 248 suspicious per- sons and 11 vagrants and tramps were taken in charge, 514 sick and injured persons were assisted, 135 disturbances were suppressed and 28 dead bodies cared for. The West End, as well as the North End, is traversed by great thoroughfares to the North 212 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Union Station and to adjacent cities and towns. Moreover, the variety theatres and dime museums on Bowdoin Square and Court and Howard streets bring throngs of people into the district. Hence, as at the North End, much of the wrong doing here is by strangers and sojourners. Of the 4192 per- sons arrested in this division in 1901, 2338 were residents and 1854 were non-residents. On an average, between two fifths and one half of all offenders have their homes elsewhere in the city or altoo^ether outside Boston. This ratio falls below that in the case of " drunks," since the sa- loons clustered about the West Boston and Craigie bridges and the North Union Station derive no little amount of their patronage from the suburban places, especially those in which prohibition is in force. It is rumored that the proprietors of some of these saloons contribute annually to the no- license campaign funds in the city directly across the Charles. / Like the North End, the West End to-day is in a state of moral recovery, although it never reached such a point of degradation as the North End forty or fifty years ago. Its moral regeneration like- wise, so far as this has come about, has been due to similar causes, — the breaking up of centres of vice and crime and, in those sections where morality was LAW AND ORDER 213 at its lowest ebb, the displacement of the vicious and semi-criminal population by Jewish and Italian immigrants. Within the last three years seveiL- hotels of the same general type as the North End hotel described have been closed by the police, with excellent results. But this movement in the direction of moral betterment has had less local support than at the North End, chiefly because of the large lodging-house population here. Pro- verbially, lodgers concern themselves but little about neighborhood conditions. Hence the West End presents a better field than the North End for the observation of what may be done by po-; lice measures in making " vice difficult and virtue^ easy." -■--^' That section of the AYest End between Green and Allen streets and the North Union Station differs but little in the general character of its population from the North End, and may be re- garded as an extension of that part of the city. With a few rather unimportant qualifications, what has been said of the criuiinal tendencies at the North End applies equally well to this particular region. Occasionally a crime is committed here unlike any that is apt to occur at the North End, as, for instance, burglary. Prostitution is to be found under particularly hideous forms in the West 214 AMERICANS IN PROCESS End. Certain of the Italians marry abandoned women of other nationalities for the sake of shar- ing, the proceeds of their shame. In the vicinity of Green Street a dozen or more of these men with prostitute wives have established themselves, each couple occupying a separate lodging or tene- ment and carrying on usually a " speak-easy," or kitchen bar-room. The extreme difficulty of get- ting convicting evidence against these places serves as a sort of protection to them. Whether the husbands have other occupations or not, they spend much of their time in soliciting for their evil resorts. This sort of traffic, however, is not con- fined to the Italians, but is the branding mark of " lovers " of whatever race. The " lovers," both white and black, constitute a numerous class in the West End. They are gen- erally well dressed and not unattractive in appear- ance and manner. In fact, their success depends very largely upon the maintenance of a pleasing address. The majority have no employment but subsist wholly upon the money provided by their mistresses. When this is not enough for their wants, they do not hesitate to resort to abusive treatment in order to get more. "A bit of the strap " is not an uncommon method for inciting a girl to renewed efforts in her calling of shame. In- LAW AND ORDER 215 deed, the terrorism which the " lovers " often ex- ercise over these women, and the heartlessness with which they will desert one favorite for another, deepen beyond measure their infamy. Neverthe- less, however brutal he may be, a man of this sort seems to have no difficulty in finding a woman to support hmi. Formerly the police were wont to belabor with their clubs such a character wherever found ; this irregular though not uncommendable treatment is no longer permitted. Groups of this class, well dressed, well fed, and smoking cigars, stand about on the streets or loiter over the pool- table or bar ; while the girls who support them are urged on by fear lest their earnings fall short of the sum demanded, and violence or, what they fear even worse, desertion, be the penalty. A few well-known houses of ill fame, and certain other houses of a suspicious character, still exist in the West End. Real-estate interests, and some- times even public sentiment itseK, stand in the way of closing them. At one time the police were about to succeed in breaking up the oldest and best known of these houses through keeping a persistent watch upon it ; but the neighbors ob- jected so strongly to a continuance of the surveil- lance, because of the annoyance to themselves, that the attempt had to be abandoned. However, the 216 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS number of such places is far less than formerly. Access to those that do survive is closely guarded. Strangers cannot gain admission unless satisfactorily vouched for. Solicitation from windows or door- ways is practically unknown except in the lowest haunts of the Negroes. Street-walkers may still be seen, but their every movement is watched by the police. The moment one of these women is seen attempting to ply her evil trade, she is warned, if not at once placed under arrest. Some of these street-walkers are "badgers," or women whose business it is to entice men to rooms where they may be robbed by accomplices. While pros- titution is still carried on here, its methods have changed within recent years. Instead of the parlor house there is the variety theatre, the low- priced cafe, and especially the hotel. With one or two exceptions. West End hotels are houses of assignation. "Lovers," or "runners," are also taking the place more and more of women seeking their own victims. The places of amusement which centre about Court Street between Hanover Street and Bowdoin Square have already been spoken of as bringing into the West End throngs of people living elsewhere in the city or in the suburbs. They serve also, of course, to bring into this part of the city great LAW AND ORDER 217 numbers of men and women of the theatrical profes- sion who furnish their entertainment. Now while such people are as a rule orderly and well be- haved, they call around themselves, in the hotels and boarding-houses, and in the theatres, an objec- tionable class of both sexes. These hangers-on — young men about town, prostitutes, gamblers and crooks of various descriptions — give much of that character to the professional quarter and sur- rounding region popularly attributed to it. How- ever well deserved this character may have been, it no longer holds to the same extent ; for within the last few years the Howard Street neighborhood has undergone a distinct change in the upward direction. Fights are much less frequent than formerly ; and in the number of vicious and criminal acts there has been a marked falling off. One cause of this improvement has been the closing on Howard Street of three hotels through the withholding of their liquor licenses. The Negro quarter at the West End includes among its population a class of the vicious and semi-criminals, both black and white. This ele- ment is larger relatively than once it was, through the removal of so many of the respectable and well- to-do colored people to Cambridgeport, the South End and elsewhere. Yet poverty and social de- ^ Sexual immorality, the characteristic shortcom- 218 AMERICANS IN PROCESS gradation are no oftener synonymous in the case of the Negro than in that of the white man. Close by some of the worst haunts on the back slope of Beacon Hill are blocks and sections occu- pied by decent and law abiding, though extremely poor families. l. ing of the race, is made by many of the Negroes directly or indirectly a means of gaiia^ There are numerous women who seek white men as well as those of their own color on the street ; and instances are not uncommon of colored men, often with white wives, following the inhuman ways of the Italian husbands who have been referred to. Even among apparently respectable families, prosti- tution is indirectly made an additional source of revenue through the rental of rooms by the even- ing or night. Robbery often accompanies prosti- tution, and not infrequently is the chief motive in it. j In the section given over to the Negroes, alley leads off alley, with perhaps a narrow passage to a different street from that by which the first alley was entered. Sometimes these unsuspected exits wind between high buildings, or, in one instance at least, go directly under a building. From this particular underground passage open the doors of LAW AND ORDER 219 a number of tenements, apparently the only means by which the tenements can be reached. A curi- ous group o£ wooden houses at the corner of Phillips and Anderson streets has recently been torn down. Between the buildings ran wooden walks — now on one elevation, now on another, the different elevations reached by flights of steps — and bridges extended from the upper story of one house to the corresponding story of another, and from roof to roof. It suggested to the visitor the scene of the flight of Bill Sykes from the police, and his subsequent suicide, as described by Dickens in '' Oliver Twist." Now the very opportunities for vice and crime that this general section affords must draw thither the vicious and criminal. Wherever wrong doing can be carried on comparatively free from obser- vation or with small danger of apprehension if detected, there the wrong doers will congregate. The stage of real life seldom waits long for actors to carry on the play for which the scene is set. Dens for infamy will sooner or later become dens of infamy. Moreover, the dark and unsanitary dwellings, of which there are many, and the over- crowding, which is to be found here and there, combine to foster, if not to call into existence, tendencies to immorality. Moral ills as well as 220 AMERICANS IN PROCESS physical ills spring from unwholesome surround- ings. Therefore the first remedial agencies here should be light, air and sanitation. Not until the housing conditions have been radically im- proved can the community be reclaimed. If Gar- den Street Arch, Grove Street Terrace or Strong Place is to be brought up to a uniformly decent standard, the initiative must be taken by the Board of Health. When the conditions of a moral life have been provided, then will come the time for the churches and other moral and religious agencies. As at the North End, gaming has been nearly stamped out. What survives is carried on behind closed and carefully guarded doors. The game is invariably poker, since the implements for roulette or faro could not be concealed quickly and effectu- ally in case of a visit from the police, or easily removed to another place when flight becomes necessary. Forty-seven arrests for all offenses in- volving gaming is the record for the year ending December 1, 1901. Policy, likewise, while not suppressed completely, is kept well "on the run." Chances are sold in and around the hotels and saloons and on the street, but with every precaution against attract- ing the attention of the police. While this evil LAW AND ORDER 221 has peculiar attractions for the Negroes, it is by no means confined to them. The saloons at the West End, of which there are eighty-eight, differ but little from those at the North End, excepting the Italian saloons among the latter. Like the North End saloons also, they have a very large non-resident patronage. For this the numerous places of amusement described, as well as the thoroughfares to Cambridge and the North Union Station, divide the responsibility. Here, as elsewhere in the city, a drunken man is seen with surprising infrequency when the enormous number of saloon patrons is taken into account. I There is comparatively little serious crime, as at the North End. Of the nine persons arrested for murder achieved, attempted or alleged, a number were fugitives from outside the city. Members of the under world gravitate in this direction rather than to the North End, because of the places of amusement here. Certain bar-rooms and hotels, especially in the vicinity of Howard Street, are more or less gathering-places of this class. Here and around the theatres and on the streets the police would look for a "suspect," rather than in any particular lodging-house block or section. Indeed, no particular lodging-house street is espe- cially given over to crooks of any kind. 222 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS As to life and property, both districts are safe to a degree. In nearly every case tlie victim of an assault or robbery is partially to blame for what befalls him. The well-behaved can come and go at any and all times in either of these districts with little or no fear of molestation. Of course the man looking for adventure is very apt to find what he seeks. As regards gaming, both sections are practically closed ; and, in respect to prostitution, are far from being "wide open." The old dance halls have gone, and though a few new ones have appeared, they are not of so low a type. Saloons are numerous in each, but excessive drink- ing is rather on the decrease than on the increase. With the exception of an occasional murder or murderous assault among the Sicihans, crime of a serious nature is of comparatively infrequent occur- rence. Although the number of arrests year by year, with the exception of those for drunkenness, has not fallen off very noticeably during the last few years, the offenses for which the arrests were made are increasingly of a minor character. Whatever may be true of individual patrolmen, there is no evidence that the police in general are protecting prostitution or any other form of vice or crime. Indeed, most of the signs point in quite the contrary direction. Connivance with wrong LAW AND ORDER 223 doing there may be on the part of a man on the beat here and there, but it does not extend far up in the force. A prominent member of the under world has declared emphatically that he could do no " business " with the captain at the West End. Nevertheless, there are men who sometimes suc- ceed in collecting considerable sums of money from wrong doers by representing themselves as influen- tial in police circles, if not the direct agents of police authorities. These " middlemen," as they are styled, merely trade on some chance acquaint- ance with a member of the police department, and as a rule work solely in their own interests. There are instances where they have been so bold as to actually assume the name of some prominent offi- cial. In most cases they soon come to grief through the failure of their victims to receive the exemption ^rom police interference guaranteed. I At the North and West Ends alike, an up- ward moral tendency is more and more apparent, hastened in the case of the former by a constantly growing public sentiment. Whatever other causes this tendency may have had, it is due in no small measure, especially at the North End, to the sup- planting of the low and vicious element by people of cleaner lives and higher ideals. \ CHAPTER VIII life's amenities The outer aspect of great cities, even of con- trasted American and European cities, grows less dissimilar year by year. Nevertheless, enough of the Old World can yet be found in some sections of the North and West Ends so that the stranger coming into these parts almost forgets that he is in America. The language heard on every side is in a foreign tongue, and the palpitating interest and variety of the street life give one a feeling that he is having a glimpse into some far-off town or village. A wealth of song and story is brought to mind by some word or gesture, a Neapolitan lilt or two belligerents biting thumbs even as did the ill-fated Montague and Capulet. The light-heartedness of the Italians, and their keen love of pleasure, make an atmosphere so full of gayety that a spectator for the time is led to overlook the many discomforts which must natu- rally fall to the share of a people so closely crowded together. But perhaps these discomforts affect the LIFE'S AMENITIES 225 Italians less than any other race, for they love the^ open air and the general fellowship of their kind, and every possible moment is spent beyond the confines of the house walls. The first glimpse of spring brings with it thronging streets, crowded doorways and well-filled open windows. With uncovered heads, the women and girls saunter up and down the sidewalks, or with their bits of cro- cheted lace, intended for home decoration, sit in some doorway or at an open window, where they may gossip with a neighbor or join in a gay street song. Here too may be seen the curved knitting needle used by the older Italian woman as she rounds out the stocking for the coming winter. The men crowd the curbstone or open street, dis- cussing the politics of their country, their personal injuries or the possibilities for assisting some less fortunate brother. Groups of men and boys, num- bering fifteen or twenty, congregate in some street or square, and immediately there is such emphatic utterance, fiery denunciation, violent gesture and all-pervading excitement as would convince the unaccustomed that a mass meeting was discussing the wrongs of a nation, rather than that a casual group of neighbors was exchanging gossip. The street offers much to vary what is otherwise often a life of mere monotony and toil. The street 226 AMERICANS IN PROCESS piano, which is an ever-present, ever-welcome en- tertainer, starts the children dancing. Their feet have already forsaken the steps of Italy. It is not any peasant dance through which they flit, with the native lightness and aptness of their rhythmic land ; it is the prancing, burlesqued grace of the Afro-American cake walk. The hurdy-gurdy is played by Italians of the south, and each instru- ment is usually accompanied by a man and a woman, the latter's deft handling of her tambourine often calling forth enthusiasm from the onlookers. These women retain the full peasant costume as a dramatic property. The short, full skirts are usu- ally made of some cotton stuff. The kerchiefs worn about the shoulders, of the brightest yellows, the richest browns and purples and the most brilliant reds and greens, bordered with bands of colored flowers, are not in the least dimmed by the bright blues, magentas and Roman stripes of the aprons, which are always a part of the street dress. Even the folded kerchief thrown over the back of the head, as a protection from the rays of the sun, is more or less gay. The arrangement, however, of these bits of color is often of the very crudest. The kerchiefs, the quaint jewelry, the long ear pendants and the talisman worn about the neck are much coveted bits of decoration, highly prized LIFE'S AMENITIES 227 by the possessors and passed down from genera- tion to generation. Nowhere out of Naples can a truer picture of southern Itahan life be found than in the home of the street piano and its grinder. While on the street these people are really working, caught in the whirl of American life ; but when they have turned in for the night, and all the hurdy-gurdies have been housed, the performers are free to re- lapse into their native temper. The court in which a large number live is transformed as if by magic, and the Bella Napoli, with all its gayety, its lights and shadows, suddenly stands out upon the scene of the North End of Boston. Everything is there, — the song, the tambourine, the accordion, and lastly the dance and the glass of Chianti. There, indeed, the tarantella, the favorite and famous dance of southern Italy, is performed exactly as it is among the crags of Capri, or at sundown beside the in- hauled fishing nets of Sta. Lucia. Nothing is wanting — the dark, rich coloring of the skin, the heavy hair, the bright touches of color in the dress, and the sturdy peasants whirling, balancing, tread- ing the many figures, while the accordion plays on in rapid time until one after another drops out exhausted and fresh dancers take the floor. These bits of home country life are enacted in the streets 228 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS and courts unfrequented generally by the outside world. It is to the familiar visitor of the byways that one must turn for guidance if he would really know the people in their most care-free moments. The loyalty of the Italian to the land of his birth, and his love of the dramatic, make him seek every opportunity for a folk festival. The anni- versaries of the various benevolent and secret soci- eties are often celebrated by processions of men and children carrying gay banners. These, together with the bright sashes of the little ones and the insignia worn by the men, cause one to feel that the Italians are truly a nation of children, born to turn their world into a stage, with every-day life as the sufficient material of the play. Although they can- not be said to be a people of deep religious feeling, the historic associations of their church, and its unequaled pageantry, appeal to their emotional na- tures. Easter is the greatest festival of the entire Christian year. The long gloom of Lent quickly re- cedes, and Easter Sunday is truly a gala day alike to the rich and the poor. Mass is attended on that day by all who are able to leave their homes and who are within the pale of the church. For church decorations, potted plants are coming into favor, taking the place of the paper flowers and tinsel ornaments which have given such a tawdry air to LIFE'S AMENITIES 229 altar dressings. Images of the Virgin and Risen Christ are often carried in processional with " music and banner." These processions are frequently seen in the streets, as they pass from the school buildings to the churches. The various classes in the Sunday-schools, and the different church socie- ties, are conspicuous by reason of their particular ornamentations, and with the banners and various religious symbols the whole makes an impressive sight. Easter is also a favorite time for the cele- brating of weddings, as the Catholic Church pro- hibits the solemnizing of any marriages during the Lenten season. The dinner on Easter Day is one of the great events of the year. The entire family is collected, and certain dishes, peculiar to the sea- son, are prepared with great care ; ravioli, a kind of pastry, together with macaroni in some form, are usually among the dinner delicacies. The de- coration of the table is perhaps of as much interest as the food itself. This is peculiarly true so far as the children are concerned, for their places are indicated by confetti and sugar toys, the latter of the gayest colors. This Easter dinner is usually followed by a dance. Indeed a succession of many large dancing parties is given at this time of the year. The more elaborate of the candy toys used at 230 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the holiday seasons are the work of the Neapolitan confectioner of North Square, whose reputation as an artist in sugar has made it possible for him to secure for his work prices that are not dreamed of by other shopkeepers. Many tales could be told of these gay bits of sugar : how they are used first to decorate the festal board, how they are after- wards carried by the children like a favorite doll, until the bright color has been replaced by dust and grime, and how they are finally broken into fragments to sweeten the breakfast cup of coffee, — - thereby combining thrift and aesthetics in a charac- teristic if not felicitous way. A visit to this rare workshop and salesroom, all in one apartment, is well worth while, particularly at the Christmas and Easter seasons. For weeks in advance the confec- tioner has been at work, and the variety and gayety of his wares are unequaled. He has grown very proud of his skill, and though deeply grateful for the admiration shown by sight-seers, he scorns to betray this weakness. With the simplicity of this childlike race neither the candy-maker nor his neighborhood customers find any incongruity in rendering, alike with the flowers and fruits, the doves and lambs of Eastertide, — loftier symbols of the holy and happy season. Barley sugar to them is a material not more or less profane than LIFE'S AMENITIES 231 wax or ebony or gold. A sugar saint excites no astonishment, nor does a deftly moulded figure of the Christ upon the cross, done in translucent pink and amber sugar, suggest to these people any un- seemliness. It is one of the great resources of the Italians that they can extract pleasure from the humblest and most commonplace events. The simpler enjoy- ments are entered into with quite as much zest as the greater. The hot summer evenings are made delightful by their readiness to avail themselves of the ferry-boats, whole families getting cool, fresh air in this way. The roof parties are perhaps the most popular summer gatherings. The weeding of the tiny herb gardens that are to be seen upon the roof of almost every Italian tenement house, and the making of the brilliant tomato conserve, when accompanied by friendly chat, cease to be labor. This is also true of the many excursions into the country in search of dandelions, mushrooms and other table dainties. The family picnic in one of the breathing spaces of the city again shows their quickness to get pleasure wherever pleasure may be found. Such a group enjoying supper on the Common on a hot afternoon is a sight familiar to all. On a fete day the houses from cellar to roof are 232 AMERICANS IN PROCESS decked with the red, green and white of Italy, as well as the Stars and Stripes. Everywhere some effort is made toward holiday dress. Chinese lan- terns, too, often play a large part in the decorations. During a recent visit from a distinguished guest, North Square was brilhantly lighted with colored electric lights, showing the readiness of the Italian people to adapt themselves to modern methods. In winter the streets are comparatively quiet. Doorstep and window chats are transferred to the living-room. Small quarters do not limit sociabil- ity. It is rare that a family is permitted to spend the evening alone. Some lodger or boarder friend from the neighborhood drops in, and over the glass of wine or mug of beer tales of the home country are told. The men of the family enjoy the life of the neighboring saloon, where, aside from the social drink, various games can be played. It is at one of these saloons that the favorite game of peasant Italy, "bocce," is played almost every evening, and as this is the one place in Boston where it may be found, there are many spectators. The older peo- ple rarely mingle with people of another national- ity, except the better educated ones, who sometimes go to enjoy a good play at one of the uptown thea- tres. The operas, too, and many of the best con- certs are attended by those who can afford such LIFE'S AMENITIES 233 luxuries. Those who saw the hearty and apprecia- tive welcome which her countrymen in the upper gallery gave to Signora Duse will never forget it. The Italians have no theatre of their own. Occasionally traveling showmen with marionettes have stayed for a season in the North End and then gone their way. Amateur theatrical perform- ances are not infrequent. These busy people find time after the long hours of the barber or tailor or candy shop to learn their parts, attend rehearsals, and finally to give their play in some hall of the city ; and a very creditable performance it is, though the play may be the most stilted and old-fashioned of dramas. An air of domesticity pervades the audience. Mothers bring their babies, and the performers converse with friends before the raising of the curtain. The members of the orchestra are invited by name to dispense their music with more liberality. "Pipe up, Tony," says one friend to another, and they scrape and pound and blow till flesh rebels and they turn upon their too apprecia- tive and too urgent following. The desire for amuse- ment and excitement among the younger men and boys is not always satisfied with these more whole- some pleasures, and some of them, though in no large numbers, find their way to the cheaper thea- tres and museums. The Italian girl, however, 234 AMERICANS IN PROCESS unless she has stepped beyond the confines of mo- rality, is rarely seen in any public place of amuse- ment save in the company of an older person. No daughter is more carefully looked after than the child of Italian parents. In a ballroom the wall seats are occupied by the many matrons in attendance, whose beaming faces show the delight they take in the good times enjoyed by their charges. Many of these older people show their newness to this country by the style and arrange- ment of their dress. The three-cornered kerchief tied over the head, and the gay shoulder shawl, are not an infrequent sight in the dancing haU, while the daughters of these same mothers appear in gowns made in the latest fashion. Sometimes these young people regret the lack of hat or bonnet in the street costume of their parents, for they are desir- ous of having them dressed like the "American lady." As yet the Americanizing of these young % Italian 2:irls has not taken from them their refresh- ^ng naturalness. Their cards are filled before they I iiave had time to remove their outer wraps, and at the first strain of the music the floor is filled, and they fairly dance into the arms of their partners, and this with no touch of immodesty. The guard- ing of the unaffianced is, however, lax as compared with the restraint exercised after her betrothal, and LIFE'S AMENITIES 235 indeed often after her marriage. By nature tlie Italian is most jealous and demands of his mate, not only absolute devotion, but often abstinence from almost the commonest civilities from other men. These punctilious demands are not confined to the better classes ; they are quite as carefully obeyed in the humblest families. A certain fruit vender, who cannot aspire to a push-cart, but must conduct his business from a basket carried on his shoulder, can tell, with as much pride as the owner of a fruit market in the Back Bay, how for two whole years, during his daughter's engagement, she was never seen on the street, except in company with her mother on the way to and from church, until the day of her wedding. Her fiance, he will explain, was not in Boston, and they were anxious to give him no cause for suspicion. Nor does the bestowal of the dowry and the family jewels belong to any one grade of society. The poor fruit ped- dler's daughter received from her father a dowry of two hundred dollars. Her mother's gift to her on her wedding day was six pairs of ear-rings and six finger rings, all of quaint design and of the purest gold. No one has really made the acquaintance of the Italian people of our city, or indeed of any city, until he has seen them in the art galleries. A 236 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Sunday afternoon in the Museum of Fine Arts shows them at their best. Whole families, many of them unable to speak English, find their way here. They walk through the rooms as if treading upon sacred ground. Undoubtedly they recognize in some of the statuary copies of familiar objects in art-loving Italy. The Italian standard of beauty is not always high or even correct, but love of beauty as they perceive it is a vital part of their lives. If they often rejoice unwisely in what is gaudy, it is nevertheless true that none more than they, and few as much, draw deep and genuine de- light from the best that our public galleries have to offer. Jew and Italian are near neighbors in the North End. The two neighborhoods touch, but the line between them is sharp, the atmosphere of each absolutely alien to the other. The genial, care- free expression of the men in the Italian district is suddenly missed when the border-line into the Jewish quarter is crossed. There we find the shrewd yet ingratiating look which so often means financial gain at any cost, even at the cost of seK-respect. This, in the long-bearded Jew of the older generation, is clothed with a cover of conscious martyrdom. Then, too, from the Italian woman, always hard worked, yet thoroughly alive LIFE'S AMENITIES 237 to varying interests, we turn to the forlorn, almost degraded woman of the Jewish household, whose every action reveals the narrow, oppressive atmos- phere which she has breathed for so many genera- tions. The great intellectual gifts of this race have been far from equally shared between the sexes. Book learning for the Jewish woman has in the past been thought unnecessary, and the lack of education is keenly written in the faces of the older women. Resemblance between these two localities lies merely in the crowding of the streets and the inces- sant trading thereon. While there is much that is of peculiar interest in Jewish life, there can be, where there is so much squalor, but little real beauty. On the streets the commercial instinct is everywhere evident. The dangling old clothes, the pawnshop windows filled with everything that could possibly be turned into money, the baskets, barrels and carts of foul-smelling fish, do not add to the charm of the scene, and are hardly offset by the boxes of green vegetables and ripe fruits which border the sidewalk ; but the human element, the owners of the shops and wagons, with their forlorn expressions of anxiety to sell, the patriarchal old men, the intent, purchasing housekeepers and the energetic young salesmen who do not hesitate to 238 AMERICANS IN PROCESS drag customers into the shops, are of never-fail- ing interest. The general dinginess of the locality- is perhaps centred in the unattractive Jewish res- taurants and meat shops. The windows of the former are filled with indifferent eatables, and from the grimy ceilings often hang festoons of long sausages, while the meat shops display a great vari- ety of fresh meats, some of the most loathsome parts of the fowls and carcasses being placed on the counters in such quantities as to lead one to sup- pose that they are in great demand, if not looked upon as delicacies. These eating saloons and meat shops contrast strangely with the occasional corner or basement where second-hand Hebrew books are sold, and where the beautiful parchment and leather bindings tempt one to dream of their scholarly- past. Fine old brass candlesticks are often for sale in these places. It is to such bits of bright- ness that this region owes much of its small aspect of cheer. During the warm weather the streets teem with life. Every doorway is crowded with the older people, while the sidewalks and highways are popu- lous with children, some in an almost undressed condition. They are all great lovers of music, and the advent of any musical instrument sets the youthful feet at once to dancing. The Jewish LIFE'S AMENITIES 239 children dance as if by instinct, and their correct ear for music makes them apt pupils in the side- wall?: branch of the art. There can be no greater contrast drawn be- tween Jews and Italians than in their several ways of celebrating holidays and feasts, — the Italian seeking the air and sun on every occa- sion, the Jew finding sanctuary in his home for festival and rite ; yet it is during the various holidays that the Jewish quarters appear to best advantage. These seasons first make themselves apparent to the Christian world by the festal gowns of the women and children. Among the older Jewish women, especially among those belong- ing to the Orthodox church, the married ones are easily distinguished by the coarse brown wig often made of some material other than human hair, the absence of which after marriage was formerly looked upon as a mark of immodesty. At times a kerchief or a piece of black cotton lace is used to take the place of the wig ; but like many other customs, this of covering the head is disappearing before the general Americanizing tendency. * While the Jews are a people having large fami- lies, their inborn love of money-making leads them to crowd into the smallest quarters. Families having very respectable bank accounts have been 240 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS known to occupy cellar rooms wliere damp and cold streaked the walls. Yet it is in their homes that the Jews rise to their best level. The family life is usually worthy of admiration. The parents are devoted guardians. The father feels strongly the responsibility of instructing his sons and daugh- ters in the laws and customs of the faith. The mother is the affectionate and interested companion of her children, big or little. ^ Even in the homes of the poorest, candles are always lighted for the Friday evening service, and the family assemble for the beginning of the Sabbath. On Saturday, after returning from the synagogue, the day is spent in visiting or receiving calls. The neighbor, with the ever-convenient shawl thrown over her head, comes to have a chat and a glass of tea from the steaming samovar. Many of the living-rooms of the Jewish people are furnished with beautiful specimens of hand-made copper dishes and brass candlesticks, all of which are brought from the old home country. The great need of increasing the family income often makes it difficult for the immigrants to keep these fine pieces of copper and brass. Strange as it may seem, one of their own countrymen usually stands near, ready to offer to these financially stranded ones a sum not one quarter of the market value of their treasures. LIFE'S AMENITIES 241 As a result, these interesting objects are gradually- finding their way into the houses of well-to-do Amer- icans, while the Jewish kitchens are becoming more and more filled with iron ware such as is sold in all of our house-furnishing stores. The Jews have some social life in their various benevolent organizations, culminating in an oc- casional dance ; but their intensest interests of this sort centre about their many religious ceremonies. In every home the circumcising of the newly born male child, the betrothal and the wedding of a son or daughter, are occasions of great moment, and are looked forward to as times of feasting and merrymaking. The wedding is perhaps the most interesting of these three functions. The cere- mony is rarely performed in the bride's home, the lavish hospitality of the occasion necessitating the hiring of some hall for the reception, even when the pair are married in the synagogue. The ori- ental love for splendor and display is everywhere seen. Since it is possible to hire all things, even the wedding gown and veil, these are often, by the desire of the bride, mere temporary finery, in order that the money saved thereby may be used to increase the general gorgeousness of the oc- casion. The hospitality is unbounded. Not only are parents and brothers and sisters constantly on 242 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the alert to see that the guests are cared for, but the bride herself omits no effort for their comfort and enjoyment. Entire families are among the guests, from mothers with nursing babies to grand- fathers and grandmothers, and all share the com- mon joyousness. At the ceremony, the father or mother of the bride accompanies her to the canopy under which she stands, facing the east. She is followed by an attendant, who is the wife of the best man. The lights carried by the friends of the bride recall to memory the wise and foolish virgins of Holy Writ. The rabbi tells the pair that they take their vows as descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; gives them a dissertation on married life, and his blessing. After they have tasted the consecrated wine, the groom crushes the goblet under his heel to show to the world his determi- nation to overcome aU evil in the new life upon which they are entering. Dancing foUows the ceremony, and lasts long into the night. Every- body tries to make everybody else happy. Young men and young women dance with small children as well as with each other, and pay an exquisite deference to their elders. The wedding supper is served at many tables, so that all can sit down to the feast. The men often take their seats LIFE'S AMENITIES 243 before the women, and always eat with their hats on. At the ceremony of the circumcision, great honor is conferred upon the man chosen to hold the child, such a one usually being high in author- ity in the church. He has no further duties toward the chUd. Such ceremonies are followed by feasting and dancing, — home-made wine, cake and conserves being provided in abundance. This free-handed hospitahty is never accompanied or followed by intemperance. The Jewish year has many holidays, from the New Year, which comes in the early autumn, to the single national holiday, which is celebrated as a day of thanksgiving in the early summer. At the Feast of Booths, green bowers are erected on roofs or in back yards. The Feast of Lights brings into use whatever wealth of candlesticks a family may possess. A feast is often preceded by a fast. Purim follows closely upon the Fast of Esther, and its coming is characterized by masquerade balls, the exchanging of gifts, and festivities generally. The holiday which entails the greatest preparation is the season of the Passover. It is then that children are everywhere seen munching the un- leavened bread, while huge packages of it are piled in every grocery shop. 244 AMERICANS IN PROCESS The amusements and merrymakings of the Jewish people cannot be described without further mention of their great love for music. The operas are largely attended by Hebrews, many being will- ing to undergo some sacrifice to hear a great artist. They are also devoted to the theatre, and as the best are too expensive for the poorer people, they go in great numbers to the cheap places of amuse- ment. This is peculiarly true of the boys and girls ; and an evening spent in the Dime Museum, the Nickelodeon or the music hall will confirm the observation. There is no regular Jewish theatre in Boston, but several times during the year Yid- dish plays are given in one of the up-town houses by a company imported from New York. These plays are pictures of family life, usually Russian in character, and are exquisite in their simplicity. The acting is of an artistic quality rarely seen in our playhouses. The audience at such plays is most interesting. The familiar scenes, the old joys, the old wrongs and restraints touch deeply ; progress is measured by departure from old cus- toms. The vigor with which the Americanized Jewess applauds revolutionary sentiments with regard to the overbearing husband in the play is very significant. f No class of people in Boston has perhaps less op- LIFE'S AMENITIES 245 portunity for recreation than the Portuguese immi- grants from the " Western Islands," as the Azores are popularly called. They come to us from their island homes, hoping to taste of riches, the sup- posed reward of all who go to America, only to find themselves swallowed up in the heart of a large tenement district, their homes the closest and darkest, and their outdoor life gained only at the expense of long hours of toil. The pride of the former landholder will not allow them to go out of their homes to work, and as a consequence the usual occupation of the women is the finishing of men's clothing. They easily obtain licenses for the work, as they are the neatest of housekeepers ; but it is, of course, one of the poorest paid in- dustries. Even when the clatter of the sewing machine has ceased and the living-room is deserted for the better air of the street, the work of sewing on buttons and picking out bastings does not cease. Indeed, the latter is often assigned to children of five years or so, while the older people, as all who have reached the age of thirteen years are consid- ered, undertake the more difficult work. With the early autumn comes the yearly exodus to the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod. This is a season of work and pleasure, looked forward to with the greatest delight. It is like a great 246 AMERICANS IN PROCESS family reunion, for here they meet their kinsfolk who have settled on the Cape, as well as many relatives and friends from the city whom they rarely see in their cruelly over-worked lives. And after the busy day of picking, screening and mea- suring the cranberries is over, — which begins with the drying off of the dew on the vines and ends with the setting of the sun, — they are ready for an evening of genuine relaxation. The great frame shanties, where many workers are housed, afford opportunities for the exchange of many a bit of gossip and for many a game and dance. A cran- berry-picking in our sparkling September weather is a sight never to be forgotten. It has sometimes been compared to the hop-picking in Kent, which affords many a Londoner the only country outing he ever gets ; but just as the Londoner can offer no such richness of color in skin or hair or costume as can these children of the sun, no more can the mild moistness of the English autumn be com- pared to a brilliant September day on Cape Cod. The great poverty of the Portuguese prohibits many gayeties ; indeed, it almost prevents the simplest hospitality. The glass of wine and the home-made cake so familiar in the home of the well- to-do are rarely seen in the homes of these island- ers, yet their cordiality and sweetness of spirit are LIFE'S AMENITIES 247 manifest. Constant privations have led to some evils, their conjugal irregularities being attributed to poverty. A woman abandoned by her husband sees no necessity for the expense and trouble of any legal steps before accepting a second spouse. She marries again, regardless of the existence or whereabouts of the deserter. Church festivals vary the monotony of their lives to a small degree, and the occasional dance or picnic gives to these temperate and unusually industrious people a little of deserved good cheer. They have their benevolent societies, whose treasu- ries must be replenished from time to time, and this can best be accomplished by means of an entertain- ment. The West End has ever been the great habitat of the colored race in Boston, and in spite of the exodus of the past few years to the South End, to Cambridgeport and to the suburbs at the north, many yet remain, while the churches and the so- cial gatherings bring back others who no longer have an abiding-place there. The chief recreation of the colored people of the West End centres about their benefit or secret societies. The aver- age city Negro belongs to many "orders," "circles" or societies, which hold frequent meetings. They are usually carried on in the homes of members, 248 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS and at these meetings business and festivity blend. Then there are balls and receptions, which are often most elaborate. A marked feature of these events is the large number of visitors from distant cities. There is a characteristic note about every such affair. Whether it be due to the high degree of skill gained from years of training in domestic service, their inborn love of the ornate or simple ebullition of animal spirits, there is certainly an air of effulgence and exuberance about a social gath- ering of colored people to which no other race can attain. Yet here as everywhere, by one of the paradoxes of fate, the Negro, who is the tragic figure in our national life, is called to play a com- edy part. Barred out from the society he most admires, his mimicry only excites mirth, and when he touches the white race on grounds of social equality it is the meeting of outcast with outcast. Back of some of the haunting scenes of vice in the West End stalks the spectre of race prejudice which has shut off from their kind once respectable persons who have married members of the black race. On the other side of the shield we see in the faces of refined and cultured colored men and women the triumph of nature over the degrading relations which slavery enforced. It is surely as unjust to judge the colored race by its worst as it LIFE'S AMENITIES 249 would be so to judge the whites ; while on the other hand, the story of the ascent of the black man is unparalleled in rapidity by that of the more favored race. Among the educated class the re- markable evolution of the woman's club of recent years has played its part, and in the State Fed- eration of Working Women's Clubs there are no more earnest and intelligent members than a group of young colored women. The Negro has dwelt with us long ; but so fixed are our notions of his character and limitations that it is with a shock of surprise and wonder that we come upon a gath- ering of the best of the colored race, differing not one whit in manners, in taste or in appearance, save for the richer color of the skin, from any simi- lar group of white people. The traditional traits of the Negro, dearly loved by story-tellers and playwriters, the florid manner, the brilliant garb, the autics and the inconsequence are not far to seek ; but what has been achieved by the few may be achieved by the many, and the hfe of the com- munity may yet be made greater by the awakening of this youthful, untried race.\ The Irish are, of course, the most numerous of our foreign-born population ; but they have been with us so long and so intimately that they have become more closely identified with the native life than 250 AMERICANS IN PROCESS have other races. The more ambitious have, as a rule, moved away from their first homes in the North and West Ends, pushed out by the invading Jew and Italian. (A very great number of people are still attached to the Irish Catholic churches. A degree of social life centres in the churches. They furnish only a single bit of pageantry to the streets. The processions of children crowned with wreaths and wearing colored sashes, which are to be seen in the Whitsuntide season, with the banners, mottoes and little images which are carried, suggest the spectacles dearly loved by the peasants over-seas. Aside from church relations, there are dances for some unfortunate brother, or the annual balls and picnics of labor organizations and of the innumer- able social clubs. The Hibernian is first, last and always a social being, and this instinct does not fail him even in his times of distress and bereave- ment. For this reason, genuine grief and sympa- thy are not incompatible with keen appreciation of a convivial touch in the wake and of the pomp and drama of the funeral. The near-by summer resorts draw crowds from the Irish- Americans every Sunday or holiday or evening off. In the winter the theatres attract large numbers of them. In some cases they become regular subscribers to the less expensive playhouses of good repute. The LIFE'S AMENITIES 251 distinguishing characteristic of Irish- American so- cial gatherings is, of course, their pohtical signifi- cance. The theatre and things theatrical fill a large place in the life of the people of the North and West Ends. Not only is there a very numerous theatre-going population, but in the district between Scollay Square and Bowdoin Square there exists a world almost untouched by any outside life. The hun- dreds of performers in the cheap theatres and museums thereabout come and go, taking no part in our common life. The crowding of the " profes- sion "is so great, and competition is consequently so fierce, that to keep pace they must rehearse and retouch and embellish their " acts " during their spare moments. Their stock in trade is some phy- sical peculiarity — a flexible spine, an iron jaw, a brazen voice — or some gift in the way of dancing, dreary repartee or mimicry. They form partner- ships — conjugal ones, too — for business ends, and sever them when it seems desirable so to do, with no thought of their relation to the community. They have few acquaintances beyond the walls of the theatres, and as their specialties pall or rivals crowd them out, they one by one drop from the ranks and are submerged in the crowd. In spite of the irregularity and irresponsibility of their 252 AMERICANS IN PROCESS lives, mucli that is innocent may be found in them. There is no glamour about the stage for these peo- ple. Their daily round is just so much work to be done, with the hope, often unfulfilled, of another job in the future. As to the character of their per- formance, there is much that is harmless, a part that has actual merit, and a part that is positively bad. The audiences are drawn not only from various parts of the city, but, in the more notorious places, from all parts of New England. The rural visitor who wishes to plunge into dissipation in Boston hies to these hunting-grounds of the thief, the prosti- tute and the gambler. The several places of amusement attract differ- ent kinds of audiences. One of them — the Bow- doin Square Theatre — is the home of sensational melodrama free from indecency. Another appeals to a morbid love of the abnormal, and " freaks " of all kinds may be found there. At the others the performance consists of a medley of innocent accomplishments, inane chaff and the grossest vul- garity. Too many of the younger people of foreign extraction are finding their way to these places ; but it is doubtful if as yet they form an appreci- able proportion of the audiences. There is one note always discernible in the daily life of the foreign peoples of the North and LIFE'S AMENITIES 253 "West Ends, and nowhere is it clearer than in their moments of leisure. In spite of the survival of types, in spite of the inevitable longing for the home country, in spite of all the differences of race and tradition, the strongest and most impel- ling of motives, the most cherished of ideals, is that of becoming American. Color, melody, comfort and content — indeed some of the sterner virtues themselves — are sacrificed before this Goddess of Democracy whose protecting arms, these people from foreign lands have been led to believe, will afford them and theirs a share in the joys of life. Not so ugly as it seems at first glance, then, is the ready adaptability with which the newcomers take on the least commendable of our customs. The Italian girl who forgets her cadenza and sings the most nasal of street songs, her mother who prefers the scrubbing of offices to the handicraft of her ancestors, her father who forsakes his native wines for beer, are unconscious idealists ; and be- neath one and all of these humble acts lies a mean- ing which we who are born to our inheritance would do well to prize. " 'T is not the custom of the country " is a phrase that is changing the manners of the centuries and shaking the beliefs of ages past. CHAPTER IX TWO ANCIENT FAITHS Between the early religious situation at the North End and that of to-day, Christ Church, whose house of worship stands on Salem Street, is the single connecting link. When it was organ- ized in 1723, it was the second church of the Episcopal faith and order in Boston. At the Old North, Increase Mather was ending his long pas- torate, and Cotton Mather, his son and colleague, was in the height of his power. Peter Thatcher was occupying the pulpit at the New North, his caU a few years before having been the cause of a remarkable dissension in the church. The New Brick Church had been recently organized by one of the factions in this quarrel. Conveniently located by the side of the Mill Pond was a little wooden structure in which the frowned-upon Bap- tists were worshiping. An especial interest attaches to Christ Church because of the stately and now historic building which it has occupied from the first. In the TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 255 steeple of this edifice, according to tradition, were displayed the signal lanterns of Paul Revere which warned the country of the march of the British to Lexington and Concord ; from its tower General Gage witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill; and in one of the burial vaults beneath its nave the re- mains of Major Pitcairn reposed until transferred to Westminster Abbey. Indeed, the historic associations connected with its house of worship have served to keep the church where it is, notwithstanding the decreasing number and wider and wider scattering of its adlierents. Of the hundred or more communicants on its rolls to-day, less than twenty reside within the limits of the North End, and a good part of the fifty or sixty members of its Sunday-school come from East Boston and Charlestown. The Sunday morning service — the only service of the week which is regularly maintained — brings together a small congregation made up chiefly of sight-seers. Other Protestant survivals are three agencies of different denominations for religious and social work among the sailors. Sea-faring men have been a class more or less numerous at the North End ever since the days when the town dock was where Faneuil Hall now stands and wharves reached out into the water from the present North Square. 256 AMERICANS IN PROCESS All three agencies hold religious meetings, give aid to seamen in distress, provide lectures, entertain- ments and suppers, maintain a reading-room and visit among the sailors in their homes and boarding- places and on shipboard. The Mariners' House, under Methodist management, provides a home where seamen can obtain board at moderate rates. If in circumstances of need, they are received and cared for free of charge. The Baptist Bethel restricts its efforts less than the others to the sea- faring class, carrying on a Sunday-school and sev- eral educational and industrial classes made up of children and young people from the neighborhood. It spreads its net wide by calling itself " a church for seamen and landmen, " and now employs an Italian missionary to look after people of his own race living round about. Not aU the Protestant religious agencies in the North End to-day are survivals of the past. In 1894 a Methodist Episcopal minister of Italian birth began work among his countrymen. The following year a church of seventy members was organized, which five years later had a total enroll- ment of over five hundred, of whom one hundred and seventy-five constituted its actual resident membership. One reason of this growth, which came exclusively from the Roman Catholics, was TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 257 to be found in the social and educational privileges provided by the church. Unfortunately, however, the logic of the come-outer has appeared in a di- vision of the church itself. Part of the people, with the pastor, have taken up the Congregational form of organization. Certain specially degraded conditions of life, formerly more characteristic of the North End than now, brought the " slum corps " of the Salva- tion Army to their relief. A small mission for Scandinavian seamen, and one more survival of other times in a single personal representative of the " Society for the Employment of Bible Head- ers in Boston," fill out the number of Protest- ant religious agencies. With the exception of the two Italian churches, all nine minister chiefly to sojourners or to social outcasts and the extremely poverty stricken, leaving the more stable and nor- mal classes, who make up the bulk of the popula^- tion, practically untouched. Even in the case of the Italian Protestant fragments, they include unattached and shifting individuals rather more than family groups. The serious truth is that if any or all of these Protestant agencies should drop out completely, the general religious situation in the North End would be affected almost not at all. 258 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS At the West End there has not been, of course, so long a religious history as in the North End, and there are no survivals of old-time church life. Several of the old buildings, including that of the West Church, associated with great names in its pastorate, are still standing, but have been turned to other uses. There is in the West End a larger constituency available for Protestant ministrations than in the North End. This is true chiefly on account of the colored population. A Negro church, the Zion Methodist, is the oldest existing religious organization in the West End. It dates from 1836. Through the removal of so many Negroes from this part of the city, barely a third of the moderate number of its at- tendants live in the vicinity of its house of worship, on North Russell Street. The rest have their homes in the South End, Cambridgeport, Charles- town, and even farther away. There are three other congregations of colored people in the part of the West End covered by these studies, — the Revere Street Methodist, the Twelfth Baptist and St. Augustine's. Not far away is the Charles Street Methodist. With the exception of the last, they are small — the Revere Street Church comprising scarcely a hand- ful — and draw but a minor part of their audi- TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 259 ences from the immediate vicinity. Among them there is no cooperation and but little common ac- quaintance. Indeed, an association of the colored churches of the district would be very distasteful to the Negro. In his religion, as in other things, he would forget, and have all others forget, that he is colored. He will never of his own accord draw the line between himself and the white man. St. Augustine's is a missionary outpost for col- ored people, sustained by the Church of St. John the Evangelist. It possesses an advantage over the other Negro churches in that it has a white rector and a corps of white assistants, for white religious workers are more acceptable to the colored peo- ple than religious workers of black skin. This is due partly to the higher moral character that as a rule white preachers and missionary visitors pos- sess, and partly, also, to the aggressive feeling of equality between one Negro and another that is characteristic of the colored race. The women helpers of St. Augustine's are members of the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, a religious order of the Episcopal Church, whose headquarters in Bos- ton are in Louisburg Square, a short distance away. The rector is one of the group of Cowley Fathers who constitute the ministry of the Church of St. John the Evangelist. 260 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Alone of tlie five churches mentioned, St. Augus- tine's is establishing vital points of contact with its neighborhood. Indeed, it is the only one of the five whose removal would involve serious loss to the Negroes of this section of the West End. Even those who have no connection with the church often turn to it when they need the offices of a minister or desire personal counsel. But this local activity is only a part of the work of St. Augustine's. The majority of its one hundred and fifty communicants, with a proportion nearly as large of the attendants upon its services, are scattered throughout the city and suburbs, espe- cially in Cambridgeport. Among those recently removed to the South End, a branch Sunday-school, with occasional religious services, has been estab- lished. St. Augustine's, with all the authority it can command, endeavors to hold its followers to a reasonably high standard of morality. Although it is not always successful, moral lapses are per- haps no more frequent among its adherents than among those of many a white church. Aside from the hold it has on its own members, it exerts a marked restraining influence from wrong doing upon the entire colored population. Of course the Negroes of the West End do not confine their church-going to organizations of their TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 261 own race or to the district in whicli they live. In fact, within half a mile or more of Beacon Hill, there are few churches, not excepting the Roman Catholic, into which they fail to find their way. The considerations which guide them in the selec- tion of a place of worship are by no means pecul- iarly their own. Too often, as with men and women of another complexion, their motives may be resolved into the desire for social distinction. The woman who can claim membership in Trinity parish is apt to feel socially superior to her female neighbor attending the Zion Methodist or Twelfth Baptist. St. Augustine's itself wins and holds many of its followers less by its ritual than by the social prestige it is thought to confer. Those who go into the Roman Catholic Church do so because here, as they believe, black and white will be treated as equals. A considerable part of the colored people have no church affiliation whatever. Nor, with the single exception of St. Augustine's, is there any religious agency trying to reach this class of the unchurched, which includes, of course, the vicious and criminal element among the Negroes. Prob- ably no section in Boston calls for wise and ener- getic religious work as does the colored quarter of the West End. Here the missionary will find, if 262 AMERICANS IN PROCESS not the largest opportunity, at least the most urgent need. The Church of St. John the Evangelist, with its monastic clergy, holds a unique place among the Episcopal churches of Boston. From the character of its worship and discipline, it appeals to Episco- palians of extreme ritualistic tendencies scattered throughout the city. Thus it is the church of a special class rather than of a particular locality. The opposite extreme to the elaborate ritualistic worship at St. John the Evangelist's is the service at the Second Keformed Presbyterian, or " Cove- nanter," Church on Chambers Street. Here the use of a church organ is not tolerated, and only the psalms in a metrical version are sung. Psalm singing. Scripture reading, prayer and a sermon make up the order of worship. The membership of this church is composed of Scotch people from the British Provinces, having their homes for the most part outside the city. The building where they meet was a chapel of the Old South Church when that society worshiped in the historic edifice on Washington Street. The First Methodist congregation is another example of a fairly prosperous church which touches at only a few points the life of the neigh- borhood in which it worships. Of its four hun- TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 263 dred enrolled members, fully one* half live at a dis- tance from tlie church building, although a some- what larger proportion of the attendants upon its services come from within a radius of half a mile. The church missionary on her roimd of calls visits in Forest Hills, Revere, Brookline, Somerville and Charlestown, as well as in the West and North Ends. In the local work among the white people, three organizations are striving to meet their needs in some direct and systematic way. Bulfinch Place Church, which represents Unitarian effort, ante- dates by some years the other two, having occupied its present building since 1869, when it removed from Pitts Street. Although its policy has been from the first to retain under its care all who have been numbered among its adherents, even after they have removed from the neighborhood, it is actively engaged also in building up a local con- stituency. About two hundred families and indi- viduals living in the vicinity are ministered to in some regular way, many of whom are without church affiliation of any kind. Under the leader- ship of its present pastor, the church has insti- tuted a number of changes in the direction of a social ministry. To a slight extent this unsectarian work touches Jews and Italians. 264 AMERICANS IN PROCESS St. Andrews is a dependency of Trinity Churcli, and was organized through the efforts of Phillips Brooks in 1876, when its attractive house of wor- ship was built. It has about one hundred and fifty communicants, and nearly as many members of the Sunday-school, including the officers and teachers. Besides the usual services, prayers are read daily at five o'clock in the afternoon, with an attendance varying from twelve to fifteen persons. At all of the services the number of children present is notice- able. A parish house adjoining the church building furnishes convenient quarters for the social activi- ties of the church, which include a medical dispen- sary for women and girls and a mutual aid society with insurance benefits. A number of social clubs for boys and girls are formed chiefly though not exclusively out of the membership of the Sunday- school. Space is provided for a kindergarten in charge of the city, and a playroom is carried on in the summer time. A unique branch of St. Andrews is a mission for deaf mutes, established in 1892. Through the minister in charge and lay readers, this mission has carried the gospel to deaf mutes in other Episcopal dioceses of New England, and to-day has congre- gations in Maine, New Hampshire and Ehode Is- land. About thirty communicants are cared for by the original mission. TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 265 When St. Andrews began its work twenty-five years ago, the section of the West End in and around Chambers Street was the home of a iarge number of English-speaking Protestants, — peo- ple from the north of Ireland and the British Provinces, interspersed with some Americans. To- day nearly all of these have disappeared, and their places have been taken by the Jews from the North End, This complete change in the character of the population has given an embarrassing check to the work of the church ; but it holds many of the results of its effective efforts in the past, and is on the alert for whatever forms of human service the needs of the new situation may demand. The Tabernacle Baptist Church, like the Bul- finch Place Church, makes special efforts to reach the lodging-house class. In common with the other downtown churches of the city, however, it has a scattered constituency. Hardly more than a fourth of its five hundred members live on Beacon Hill, the remainder having their homes as far away as Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, East Boston or Dor- chester. This non-resident portion of the church includes nearly all of the families, while the un- attached individuals live in lodging-houses in this general section of the city. Unlike the Bulfinch Place Church and St, Andrews, it engages in few 266 AMERICANS IN PROCESS forms of social activity, but is a people's cliurcli conducted on distinctively religious lines. If its results in numbers are not large, tbey are quite substantial. In that part of the West End where the social outcasts of both sexes congregate, or through which they pass, four rescue missions and a corp of the Salvation Army have established themselves. A large restaurant is carried on in connection with one of the missions, where good food is sold at extremely low prices. The room used for the res- taurant purposes is below the line of the sidewalk, and is bare and dingy. There is no attempt at decoration, save a few Scripture mottoes on the waU. The floor is thickly covered with sawdust. The deal tables are without cloths. Cleanliness in the preparation and serving of the food is notice- able, however. As many as eighteen hundred men have been fed here in the course of a single day. Low as the prices are, the place meets its expenses and provides in addition the funds for carrying on the mission, including the rent of the rooms and the salary of the superintendent. Without doubt these agencies succeed now and then in the reclamation of some man or woman, but their chief service is rather one of witnessing to the existence of a real need than in meeting that TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 267 need. The Salvation Army ceased long ago to excite opposition, and is fast ceasing to excite even passing interest. Its meetings are attended by comparatively few outside the number of its direct following. Taking the West End as a whole, therefore, it is quite clear that Protestantism is passing. From the North End, to all intents and purposes. Pro- testantism has already passed. The religious issue, in all its depth of meaning to personal and public welfare and progress, so far as it concerns the actual constituent life of these two districts, lies with the Roman Catholic and Jewish systems. Five Roman Catholic churches have their places of worship in the North End and one in the West End, — three Irish, two Italian and one Portuguese. St. Mary's, an Irish church, is the oldest as well as the largest of them all, and the second church of the Roman Catholic faith established in Boston. The site of its house of worship on Endicott Street was purchased by the Roman Catholics for a church building as early as 1834, and two years later a completed structure was dedicated. The present building, erected about twenty-five years ago, is an imposing edifice with a seating capacity of about eighteen hundred. Since 1847 the church has been in charge of the Jesuit order, which has two other churches in the city. 268 AMERICANS IN PROCESS St. Mary's is a mission ; hence, tliougli serving as a parish church, its ministry is not restricted to those living within its parochial bounds. Visual evidence of this is given by the throngs that pour through the doors of its sacred edifice after a Sun- day morning mass and scatter to other parts of the city. The procession of these returning worshipers going over the new Charlestown bridge presents a truly impressive sight, extending from one end of the bridge to the other, a compact moving col- umn, and occupying a considerable time in passing. Indeed, the non-resident following of St. Mary's offsets more or less the shrinkage in its local con- stituency caused by the removal of the Irish from the North End. Fully five thousand people still attend its various Sunday services. After a recent mission, forty-four hundred came to its confes- sional, and there were many attendants besides who visited the confessionals of other churches. In addition to its ministrations to its own congrega- tion, St. Mary's maintains chapels at the city penal and pauper institutions on the harbor islands. St. Stephen's, which shares with St. Mary's the spiritual care of the Irish Roman Catholics in the North End, is a parish church merely. Hence it has been affected much more than St. Mary's by the moving away of the older and more prosperous TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 269 Irish families. Nevertheless it is still a large and important church. As the distinctive and influen- tial parish church of the North End, it has a spe- cial attraction for local politicians who wish to use its social and charitable organizations as so many additional means of advancing their interests with the public. St. Joseph's, on Chambers Street, cares for the Irish Roman Catholics at the West End, with the exception of those who attend the mission church of St. Mary's. Formerly its number of communicants was so great that on special occasions the spacious building could not hold all who came, and the broad steps leading up to the doors, and even the sidewalk itself, would be crowded with kneeling worshipers. To-day no congregation that comes is too large for the accommodations, so greatly has the Irish population at the West End fallen off. These churches, Kke nearly all Roman Catholic churches, include among their organizations sodali- ties of adult members for religious instruction and the promotion of a stricter observance of the sacraments, and a conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, to care for the poor of the parish. In common with the Roman Catholic Church in general, they seem to be realizing the demoralization caused by drink among their people, 270 AMERICANS IN PROCESS and are increasingly aggressive against it. St. Mary's and St. Stephen's provide some opportunity for secular culture in a Reading Circle. Each has also in its parish building a spacious hall for social and other purposes. St. Mary's Hall is equipped with stage and scenery for dramatic performances. St. Stephen's, aside from its parish interests, is taking an active part in promoting the general welfare of the North End. Under its leadership an organization of prominent citizens, including Protestants and Jews, has been formed to cooperate with the pohce and other departments of the city government in securing better conditions through- out the district. The Italian Roman Catholics have had a place of worship on Prince Street since 1874. Their present church home consists of an older part dedi- cated in 1890, and a newer part recently added. The church is known as the Church of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, and from the first has been in the charge of the Brotherhood of St. Francis. Its in- terior adornment includes some beautiful work done and contributed by parishioners. Peculiar interest attaches to St. Leonard's because of its shrine of St. Anthony. Roman Catholics from aU parts of Boston, irrespective of race or social condition, visit this shrine to make some request, usually for TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 271 physical healing, in behalf of themselves or their friends. Tuesday evening a special service is held for the visitors, when a relic of the saint is shown. At this service the scene around the altar suggests what one might see on a larger scale at St. Anne de Beaupre, or even at Lourdes, — a motley crowd of young and old, of poor and apparently well-to- do, of " the lame, halt and blind," pressing for- ward to kiss the relic and receive the blessing of St. Anthony. The church derives a good part of its income from the gifts of these visitors and from the sale of smaU articles relating to St. Anthony. Dissatisfaction on the part of some communi- cants with the Franciscans' management of St. Leonard's led to the establishment of a second Ital- ian Roman Catholic church in 1895. Those who came out of the Prince Street church bought, of their own initiative, a building on North Square for the use of the new society. This edifice had been the scene of a religious and social work among sailors conducted by "Father" Taylor, well known as an eloquent Methodist preacher. The title to the property is still held in the name of a committee of the church, although the church itself is under the direction and authority of the diocese. A situation as unusual as this, from a Roman 272 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Catholic point of view, was brought about only by a special concession from Rome, and has but one or two parallels in this country. The Church of the Sacred Heart is the name given to tliis second congregation. Within its house of worship an interesting scene is presented whenever a service is going on. At the farther end of the audience room, presenting a brilliant contrast to the dingy walls and rough woodwork of the rest of the place, rises a richly adorned altar, the lofty reredos of which fills the entire space between the galleries. Kneeling figures of angels, one on the right and one on the left, keep guard over the altar, while a shrine occupies either corner under the galleries, before which burn great clusters of candles. Every seat on the floor and in the gallery is taken, and all avail- able standing room is crowded almost to the point of suffocation. The dark eyes and swarthy com- plexions of the worshipers, the gayly colored head coverings of the women, their large gold or brass ear-rings, and, indeed, the whole aspect of the place, might easily lead one to believe that he had wan- dered into a chapel in the outskirts of Genoa or Naples. The Roman Catholic Sunday-schools are largely attended, but seem to be of no great value. They TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 273 are not much inferior, however, to the Sunday- schools connected with most of the Protestant centres of these districts. In the case of the Catholics, insufficient care about religious training in the Sunday-school is abundantly made up in the parochial school. At St. Mary's and St. Stephen's, where alone in the North and West Ends, until recently, parochial education was provided, the schools gather in practically all the children of those parishes. The parochial school at St. Mary's is the oldest in the city. It was established as the result of an incident which occurred in 1859, when a boy of the parish was punished by a public- school teacher for refusing to read a passage from the Protestant Bible. This present year, both Italian churches have opened parochial schools for their own children. The Irish and Italian Roman Catholics differ one from the other in certain broad respects, aris- ing from differences in the religious traditions, as well as in the temperaments, of the two races. The Vatican's hostility to Italian unity has created a conviction more or less widespread among the Italians that the church is the enemy of the people's liberties. Wherever this exists, there is an accompanying feeling of estrangement from the church, for the Italians are " patriots first and 274 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS churchmen after." A considerable number of the immigrants retain a sincere piety, especially those from districts where the priests' authority is still unchallenged, but the majority are indifferent to their inherited faith. Some entertain toward it a feehng of actual hostility. The Irish, on the other hand, have found the church the very bulwark of their liberties. Through it they have maintained such nationality as they possess, and to be included within its fold gives them dignity in their own eyes and in the eyes of the world. Religious feeling, also, is much stronger in this people than in the Italians. Hence, generally speaking, the Irish are far more devoted to their church than the Italians, and sub- mit much more fuUy to its authority. But this difference does not show itself in the matter of mere church attendance. Indeed, it would be hard to say which race goes to public worship more generally, the Irish or the Italian. In the motive of church going, however, the difference appears. The Irish go to church more especially for reasons of devotion ; the Italians for social reasons. Of course there are many exceptions among both races ; all the devout Roman Catholics are not Irish, nor are aU the indifferent ones Italians/) Both kinds of motives run off more or less into super- J TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 275 stition. Tlie extent of this cannot be traced in either nationality, but it is safe to say that among the Italians its influence is the more general. The social atmosphere which the Italians cast about public worship appears in the scenes in Prince Street and North Square on Sunday morning. Those coming out from mass, or waiting until the hour for the next mass, congregate in large num- bers, fiUing street and sidewalk alike, all talking and gesticulating. This open-air conclave has be- come so great an institution that those working at a distance return whenever possible in order to be present at it. The Portuguese Roman Catholics differ little from the Itahans. They have, however, a deeper, perhaps more superstitious, regard for their church, and very generally attend religious services. But the corrective and restraining influence of the church on their lives is certainly no more powerful than in the case of the Italians. The strength of Roman Catholicism in the North End is in the Irish rather than in the Latin churches. It is not too much to say that St. Mary's, from the charac- ter of its ministry and the loyalty of its followers, is the most important agency for righteousness in this part of Boston.^ 1 For some estimate of the influence of the Roman Catholic 276 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS Nearly all of the Jews living in the North and West Ends are, or recently have been, of the orthodox faith. Their chief and largest house of worship, which is the headquarters of orthodox Judaism in Boston, stands in Baldwin Place, off Salem Street. This structure, built originally by the Second Baptist Society, has been occupied by the Jews for about twelve years. Next to this in size and interest is a building erected quite recently on a site adjoining Baldwin Place. A third im- portant meeting-place is in Smith's Court, off Joy Street, on the north slope of Beacon Hill, in a building which was relinquished a year or two ago by St. Paul's Church, the oldest congregation of colored people in Boston. The change in the ownership of this building within so recent a time registers the curious social displacement that is coming about in that part of the West End. Besides the congregations worshiping at these three centres, there are smaller congregations meet- ing in various halls. A number of families from the same province or city in Europe unite to form a synagogue, to which in many instances they give the nam.3 of the place from which they come. These smaller or " neighborhood " synagogues usu- Chureh on the personal and family life of its people, the reader ia referred to The City Wilderness, pp. 202, 221, sq. TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 277 ally combine the functions of religious worship with those of a benefit order to provide against sickness and death. The rooms in which they meet are used also, to a certain extent, for social pur- poses. Connected with each synagogue, and main- tained by it, is a school for instructing the children in the Hebrew language. Additional schools are supported by the synagogues in common, especially for the poorer children. Between the older and the younger Jews there is a marked difference as regards loyalty to the faith. The grandparents, and among the later immigrants the middle aged, cling to the old cus- toms and traditions with passionate tenacity, while each succeeding generation is more noticeably break- ing away from them. One of the men of the Jewish colony told the whole story of the growing infidelity among his people when he said, " My father prays every day ; I pray once a week ; my son never prays." But the attendance at religious services is probably, on the average, as great as among Protestants. Unlike that of the Protestants, it is predominantly of men, for according to the Jewish system the women are not under the same obligation as the men to be present at the worship of the synagogue. Their more important religious festivals are still 278 AMERICANS IN PROCESS very generally observed, even by those who pay little regard to the ordinary round of religious duties. The Day of Atonement, especially, is a rallying time for the indifferent and devout alike, ushering in the most solemn period in the Jewish year, — the period when, according to the Jewish belief, the good or ill fortune of each one is fixed for the next twelve months, and the lists are made up of those appointed to die and of the souls des- tined to be born. Therefore it is a period to be observed with fasting and prayer, with attendance upon the services of the synagogue, and, during certain of the eight days of its continuance, with abstinence from aU secular employment. As the hour of sunset draws near on the even- ing which marks the beginning of the festival, all the Jewish places of business are closed. Throngs of Jews of all ages and both sexes fill the streets on their way to the various places of worship ; for he would be an apostate, indeed, who voluntarily absented himself from the synagogue on that even- ing. Evidence that large nimibers of the Jews seldom if ever attend public worship throughout the rest of the year is furnished by the fact that during the Atonement season the usual s)magogues cannot begin to accommodate the crowds, and additional halls and rooms are brought into use. TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 279 Within the Baldwin Place synagogue the scene is strange and impressive. The entire floor of the place is a solid mass of men and boys, while the galleries are crowded with women and girls. All heads are covered, and in addition every male has over his shoulders a "prayer shawl," — a scarf of silk or linen with curiously knotted fringe at the ends. The older men are clad also in long garments of white linen, the robes of their burial. Upon a raised platform around the reading-desk are grouped the readers who have been called up from the congregation, the cantor in his raiment of white and gold, and the members of the choir, wearing black robes and turbans. At the right and left of the "ark," in the "chief seats," sit the president and other officials, or " rulers," of the synagogue. An ever-burning lamp, symbol of Jehovah's pres- ence, hangs high over all. As the service proceeds, the sacred books from which one reader after another has read, or rather chanted, in a high pitched voice, are rolled up and returned to the " ark " in solemn procession. At a given signal the whole congregation rises and breaks into some repetition, in the Hebrew tongue, uttering the words with great rapidity and swaying their bodies back and forward in rhythmical accom- paniment, the more venerable the worshiper the 280 AMERICANS IN PROCESS greater his earnestness. The confusion of sounds subsides, and the cantor takes up the service, his voice swelling out in lamentation or dying away in a sob ; now rising in a shout of triumph, now sinking down to a whisper that seems to be the utterance of hope and peace. At frequent inter- vals the choir chimes in with strong, well-trained voices, singing the words to some melody that has come down from the remote past. Next to the Day of Atonement in importance and in the generahty of its observance is the Feast of the Passover. This substitutes rejoicing for humiliation and confession. The scene of the sup- per itself is the home, not the synagogue. It is, indeed, the patriotic and home festival of the Jew- ish year, a combination of the American Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Sabbath observance is fast becoming confined to the older people. Each year fewer stores and work- shops in the Salem Street neighborhood are closed on the seventh day. When, a year or two ago, by a special police concession the places of business in this particular section that were closed on Satur- day could be kept open on Sunday, many of the Jewish proprietors saw in this only an opportunity to gain an additional business day. While shut- ting the doors and drawing down the shades of TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 281 their places of business on Saturday, they would remain near for any chance customer. This abuse of the concession led finally to its withdrawal. Such incidents would seem to mark a serious de- parture from the standards of Sabbath observance in the stronghold of orthodox Judaism. It is a striking fact of Judaism that it re- mains a race bond even for those who have lost its spiritual impulse. Nationality is still a mould in which their scheme of the moral life is cast. The patriarchal elder sighs for a handful of the sacred soil of Palestine on which to rest his dying head, and even many emancipated youth look with devo- tion to the Holy Land. Zionism as found in these districts is not identi- fied with extreme orthodoxy, but includes among its advocates many who are far from strict ob- servers of their religion. There is quite a general agreement that its aim and motive is to establish a refuge in Palestine for the persecuted of their race. In fact, here as elsewhere it has more " the character of an enthusiasm than of a reasoned policy." Five or six societies of Zionists have their headquarters in this part of the city. Here they meet for social purposes, and maintain a forum for the discussion of current events. The ardor of many of the members of these societies 282 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS carries their thoughts beyond the bounds of a mere racial utopia and makes them socialists. At the North and West Ends, Roman Catholi- cism and Judaism, existing side by side, present a sharp and dramatic contrast to each other. Never is this more apparent than when, as some- times happens, the season of Easter and that of the Passover are coincident. While the Roman Catholics are thronging their churches in sorrow and penitence because of a betrayed, crucified and buried Saviour, the Jews, gathered in family groups about the Passover supper, joyously recite the story of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and renew their faith in the coming of another deliverer, one who wiU be greater than Moses. In the Roman Catholic churches, the figures on the altars are shrouded in token of the dead Christ ; in the Jewish home the door stands open for Elijah, the herald of the Messiah, and the cup of wine is ready for the longed-for guest. On Easter Day the Roman Catholics have re- moved the emblems of mourning from their altars, and are rejoicing with the rest of Christendom over the resurrection of Christ from the dead ; but the Jews have sadly closed the door opened in vain, and poured the wine from the untasted cup. During this period, if ever, it is natural to sup- TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 283 pose that the two religious elements would clash ; but strange as it may seem, aside from the cry of "Christ-killer," with which a Roman Catholic child now and then greets his Jewish fellow, few expressions of bigotry are to be heard on either side. In common with the Jew, the Roman Catho- lic is constantly experiencing some disadvantage on account of his religion, and this makes him more or less tolerant of his Jewish neighbor. The Jew, on his part, has learned patience and long- suffering through ages of oppression. In too many cases on both sides, however, this forbear- ance arises from lack of reKgious earnestness. In one very curious way they are actually brought together by their religious difference, for many Roman Catholic boys make a business of lighting and caring for the fires in Jewish homes on the days when the Jews are enjoined by their religion from engaging in manual labor of any kind. " Fire, fire ! " is the cry that may be heard throughout the Jewish quarter on the morning of such days, as the " fire-lighters " go about seeking customers. While these boys render a needed service, they are, nevertheless, held in contempt by their employers. Indeed, the ignorance and stupidity of the " fire-lighters " has passed into a proverb among the Jews. 284 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS The Italians make the saints' and other church days occasions for out-of-door decorations and pageantry as well as of church going. In the morning, mass is very generally attended, and in the evening, after the lanterns are lighted, a pro- cession is formed which, headed by a native band, parades through the principal streets of the North End. The Jews confine their religious celebrations to the synagogue or to the privacy of their own homes. Indeed, one might walk through the Jewish quarter on the Day of Atonement or of the Passover and, aside from the number of Jews going to and from their places of worship, fail to detect any sign that a festival is in progress. The Jewish religious system intensifies the family life. Its personal moral code is without doubt the secret of the astonishing vitality of the race. The quality of the affection which exists in the home seems almost enough to atone for the narrow life of the wife and mother, whose range of duty is simply to bring up her children weU, keep a kosher house and be kind. The intense inner life of the persecuted has developed in many of the Kussian Jews a fine emotional nature. This ingrained type of family and clan religion, how- ever, has tended to prevent friendly feeling for TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 285 outsiders. The Jew prides himself upon his acuteness, upon the high tone of his family life and upon what he deems the special enlightenment of his form of faith. Considering himself superior to Christians, he is very likely to misjudge and distrust them. The Roman CathoHc Church exerts a powerful constraining and disciplinary power among its fol- lowers, many of them detached from their social and even from their domestic moorings. This is particularly true of recent immigrants, like the Italians and Portuguese, in a country utterly strange and bewildering in thought, speech and ways of life. That these nationalities have on the whole maintained so creditable a morale is largely owing to the Church's overshadowing presence and its familiar, insistent appeal to the moral imagi- nation. What the effect of the new life will be upon this influence is yet to be determined. With the Irish, the Roman Cathohc Church has had more time in which to provide for the new situation. Its influence in safeguarding the family is distinct and determined, affording an indispensable check to the corrupting influences of the local life. The Church thus preserves the force of that enthusiasm which is one of the chief distinctions of the Irish race, and affords direction 286 AMERICANS IN PROCESS and steadiness to an often mercurial and contradic- tory temperament. Roman Catholicism and Judaism, widely sepa- rated as they are in aU outward aspects, yet funda- mentally meet on common ground. Their systems of ethics, coming down out of the long past, have brought with them a large traditionary element which includes prescriptions and observances that once fulfilled moral needs but do not sufficiently lay hold on life in these fast-moving days. AU the underlying principles in these great systems have their profound force and meaning, but both put a disproportionate emphasis upon special observ- ance as against daily conduct. In the ghettos and cloisters of the past, religion must needs create a world of its own ; but the open world of to-day, with aU its new challenge to the souls of men, pre- sents the living issues out of which real religion must grow. In both Roman Catholicism and Juda- ism, punishment is looked upon as something extra- neous to sin, imputed to it by solemn outward decree, rather than like unto it and coming out of its very heart. Roman Catholicism, by placing its awards in an unseen world, to a degree suggests the inward personal quality of the punishment of sin. In Orthodox Judaism the penalties of diso- bedience are represented as falling mainly in this TWO ANCIENT FAITHS 287 world, — he who eats bread during the Passover shortens his days. A system of restrictions whose scope is narrower than the normal contemporary life leaves, as all history shows, the alternative between a mechanical formalism on the one hand and irreligion on the other. Among Roman Catholics skepticism has gained but little ground ; but the artificial charac- ter of the attachment of a considerable and in- creasing proportion of its adherents is hardly open to question. The opportunities of the new life lead the Jew to make short work of his tradi- tions, and throw him out of the pale of religion altogether. The danger is that the very fineness which Judaism has created may only make him the more open to all the subtle undermining influences of city life. In the Rorjian Catholic Church, the crisis has not yet come in the contest between a negative, protective rehgious policy and the ever- expanding life of the people. When the crisis does come, there will no doubt appear a new and interesting programme of adaptation to facts on the part of this most flexible of historic institutions. In any case, there is much hope in the increas- ing activity among well-disposed men and women of various religious connections toward building up the outer intrenchments of the spiritual life by 288 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS the improvement of personal, family, neighborhood and municipal conditions. The better understand- ing which arises between Protestant and Catholic, between Christian and Jew, when they work to- gether thus on common ground, will give that sense of human unity out of which vital forms of religion in the future must come. North Union Station Map to show the CHIEF INSTITUTIONS and MEETING PLACES ORTH END, BOSTON. • PUBLIC HEALTH * AMUSEMENTS • + CHURCHES ETC. SOCIAL RECOVERY '■" ^» -° CHAPTER X THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER Crowded between narrow byways that run nortliwest from Hanover Street stand some half dozen large brick buildings that perhaps appeal to a visitor as marking the centre of public life in the North End. If the stranger chance to be from over the sea, and about to settle upon this populous edge of the new country, the first impression that these buildings make is justified by the part they later play in the lives of the children for whose sake the parents may have ventured to the unknown land. Within them is located the seat of govern- ment for the local child world — a world more in need of special government here than in other parts of the city, in that its little citizens are speak- ing a different tongue, acquiring different habits and daily developing different ideas from the grown-up world to which they are akin by blood. The present inquiry as to the public-school sys- tem has to do with its local limitations and pecu- liarities and the special significance which it has 290 AMERICANS IN PROCESS for children chiefly of foreign birth and wholly of foreign parentage. fAt the North End of Boston, the public schools have to deal with a child popu- lation of which more than ninety per cent, is of Hebrew or Italian blood. Certainly half these children were born on foreign soil, while the re- mainder come from homes scarcely touched by American influences, and where^he English lan- guage is only imperfectly known. J The universally significant facts among such a school population are only those incidental to the elementary schools, and an attempt to picture the local school life can hardly overstate the impor- tance of these grades, or paint their meaning to the child in too vivid colors. There is no high-school building in the schoolhouse group that lies to the northwest of Hanover Street, nor is there need of one. " From the kindergarten to the master's class " defines the entire school career of a child who, in comparison with his fellows, may be looked upon as having received a thorough education. A sketch of the years included within these limits is practically all that is required in an effort to show the relation between the public school and the immigrant child. The goal of the master's class, to which compara- tively few attain, is reached by two converging THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 291 paths: by the regular course of promotions, fol- lowing the kindergarten through nine primary and grammar grades ; or by a less well understood period of instruction, known as " ungraded class work." The distinctive peculiarity of school work at the North End is the ungraded class for newly arrived foreign children. This is a characteristic neces- sity in a district where a master may say of his graduating class, " Twenty-seven out of forty-two were born in Russia ; and from three to five years ago not one of those twentj^-seven could speak Eng- lish." Another remark made by the same master shows more fundamentally the need and nature of ungraded work at the North End : " We have five fresh from the steamer to-day. They go into the ungraded classes for special language work, and they will be pushed ahead as fast as possible toward their proper grades." Pouring constantly into the ungraded classes are European children of the most impressionable age, whose first acquaintance with American life and whose only hope of a good command of the English tongue lie in the public schools. Nearly all of them, of course, have had more or less school train- ing in their native language ; but, for a time, they are as speechless, for all practical American pur- poses, as newly entered pupils in the Horace Mann 292 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS School, for deaf mutes, at the other end of the city. The devotion and skill with which the North End teachers perform their task of making the dumb to speak strengthen the parallel. Their suc- cess is astonishing, even with the average child; while the occasional, phenomenal results are almost beyond belief. " Land on Saturday, settle on Sunday, school on Monday, vote on Tuesday" is a proverb among the teachers ; and one is inclined to take the saying literally after conversing with a Eussian girl sixteen years of age who, leaving the steamer the first of March without a word of Eng- lish at her command, is explaining to a visitor by the middle of May that her only real difficulty in seventh grade work is with the text-book of United States history, which seems to her written in another language from the one she is learning to speak. " And the English these children give us back," says an enthusiastic master, " is our own English." Enthusiasm is found everywhere among the in- structors of foreign children, and with it is a cor- responding fervor of belief in the ability of their pupils, especially the Hebrews, who are said to '' rush through the grades as soon as they get the language." THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 293 The process of getting the language is worthy of attention, particularly in its beginning. Side by side in an ungraded class sit little women of seven or eight, miniature European peasants in dress and bearing, and older girls, for whom a fort- night has sufficed almost to eliminate Russian or Italian peculiarities of costume. These children are ungraded as to years, but all are of one grade in speechlessness and in eagerness to learn the strange tongue of the new land. Their progress is sugges- tive of dawning intelhgence in babies, and the sur- prised happiness of one face after another, as each in her order of quickness catches an idea, is inde- scribably touching in its almost infantile sponta- neity. Over and over, in quiet pleasant tones, the teacher repeats every-day words and simple sentences, accompanying them by explanatory ges- tui-es, until at last " Rise " and " File " and " Put your pencil ^?^ your desk " and " Put your pencil on your desk " have accomplished their purpose, and the class is ready for more abstract ideas. It is not language alone thaf these new little citir zens acquire in the early days of public-school life. Not the least important result of the speedy transi- tion from ship to school may be traced to the fact that the schoolhouse steps lead to a practical know- ledge of law as well as letters. " Fresh from the 294 AMERICANS IN PROCESS steamer " is no figure of speech, and the short time that elapses before the immigrant child be- comes a registered member of the school world gives him little opportunity to fall into the lawless- ness that naturally attends a change of environ- ment. The school's neighborhood representative, the truant officer, does much, directly and indirectly, to bring about this speedy enrollment in the blue book of the school ; yet he is not always obliged to take the initiative. The parents' own preconceived idea, that America means education, is usually aided by the quickly volunteered information of more experienced neighbors that the place for children is in school. An interesting sight in the office of a North End school is a flock of frightened little foreigners under the kindly guardianship of an Americanized relative ; or, more pathetic still, shepherded by an equally frightened, speechless mo- ther, who can make known only by signs that she wishes her offspring started upon the right road. Probably neither children nor parents have any idea how stringent 3nd far-reaching is the jurisdic- tion under which they are now coming. By means of teachers and truant officer, the school practically dictates the conduct of the child during his waking hours. The precision with which the complicated school machinery moves, in a district where its ob- THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 295 stacles are of the most unique and baffling descrip- tion, is a tribute to the imagination, as well as to the diligence, of the executive force. Not a child shall be lost seems to be the motto, — and it is a practically accomplished ideal. Chevan Panhasky, as occasionally happens, in her enthusiasm for things American, may elect between terms to be known henceforth as Celia Smith. The school does not dispute her right even while deploring her taste. Her disappearance must be accounted for, however, though it mean weeks of effort, and until Celia Smith has explained her identity, search for the missing Panhasky is not given over. Such is the beginning of school life for a large part of the children who will quickly be the Eng- lish-speaking, and therefore the influential, resi- dents of the North End, — the more disciplined, and therefore the controlling, members of the community. As a general result of these years of training, there is an ability on the part of the children to speak a fairly pure English tongue and to understand a purer one ; to comprehend the penalty of broken law, if not to feel the beauty of law preserved. A glance at the dialect of some realistic novel whose scene is laid in an East Lon- don slum gives a vivid idea of the difference it might make, to both state and individual, were these 296 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS same little foreign people left to acquire a street vernacular and limited for life to such a feeble, squalid vehicle as that ; while only a slight obser- vation of any crowded immigrant quarter brings a menacing conception of what a future generation would be were it bred in American freedom with- out American law. At the other end of the path, to which many find their way through the ungraded class, is the master's class, with its hope of the grammar school diploma. This, as has been suggested, is the de- finite educational goal of the children of this quar- ter of the city. To attain it is to " graduate,", an achievement which ranks here, in popular regard, with graduation from the high school in another district, or the obtaining of a college degree in yet more favored circles, — though neither high school nor college is entirely unknown or unsought. Each September, indeed, a surprisingly large number of boys, and a handful of girls, go up to the high schools at the South End, carrying their grammar school diplomas as certificates of admis- sion. Not infrequently the boys have in view college or professional training. That the girls never have, and that the proportion going further than the grammar school is so small, is due, not to lack of ability or inclination, and not wholly THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 297 to straitened means, but to the custom of early- marriage, whicLi is particularly strong among the Hebrews. It seems truly unfortunate that girls who show both talent and desire should be denied the privilege of higher studies ; but the more serious evil is that so few children, boys or girls, should have the training of the entire nine grades of the elementary- schools. These high school candidates are favored representatives of an already picked corps, and their existence does not detract from the statement that the facts incidental to the elementary schools are the only ones of universal significance. The gradu- ating class of a grammar school is a small part of the children who entered some six years before. The law requires that children between seven and fourteen years of age shall be in school ; but at every stage in the course these immigrant children, so unevenly started, are attaining their sad ma- jority. Where two hundred enter, only about fifty graduate. The master's class ranks in school nomenclature as ninth grade. Between it and the grade below there is no appreciable diminution in numbers ; but between the seventh and eighth grades the difference is pitifully great. Only about half the children who leave the seventh grade in June reappear after the long vacation to enter the 298 AMERICANS IN PROCESS eighth grade. The reports of the schools composed largely of the children of immigrants show approx- imately that seventy-five per cent, of the pupils never reach the eighth grade; that a fraction of this seventy-five per cent., moreover, are unable to keep up in the regular course, and are given instruction in what English educators call " special difficulty classes " ; and that of those who do com- plete the nine grades, one half the boys and four fifths of the girls do not go further. Such statis- tics bring out clearly the vital meaning of the elementary schools in districts like the North End, and the imperative need of a curriculum specifically adapted to children who mus^ get all the educa- tional training they will ever get in the public schools and before their fifteenth year. Pupils leave school for a variety of reasons. A broad division of these reasons might be made under the heads of poverty and lack of interest* Instances of the first in the cases of pupils of unquestionable ability are many and touching. To alter this is a hope of the future. The im- mediate concern is to secure a school curriculum that will remedy the second condition, and at the same time give to those to whom the first applies the best training the few years admit ; to make school life so practical and attractive that an effort THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 299 to keep the children in school will be made by the parents and will not be resisted by the boys and girls. The necessary routine of language, geo- graphy and arithmetic is a heavy burden for chil- dren who cannot in any way connect these studies with their home lives. Something is needed to help float the load, — something that will both enliven school hours and bring them more closely into relation with the homes and e very-day expe- riences. Various expedients are tried, and most hopeful among them is industrial training of differ- ent sorts. In this work the children are happy ; the parents understand and approve it ; and ob- servant teachers state concerning it that the actual working power of the pupils seems increased by the relaxation and pleasure of the change. The special importance of industrial training in the im- migrant districts is emphasized by a glance at a list of parents' employments, taken from the records of an ungraded class, — 27 laborers, 1 clerk in bar-room, 3 barbers, 1 dressmaker, 3 tailors, 4 peddlers, 1 housekeeper, 4 organ grinders, 1 stone cutter, 1 harness maker, 1 rag picker, 1 rabbi, 2 shoemakers, 1 undertaker, 1 clerk, 2 fishermen, 2 bricklayers, 1 blacksmith, 1 baker, 1 painter, 1 graved igger, 1 fruit vender. \ "I am weary," says Ruskin, "of seeing the 300 AMERICANS IN PROCESS subject of education treated as if education meant only teaching children to write and cipher. The real education, the only education which should be compulsory, means nothing of the kind ; it means teaching children to be clean, active, honest and useful." Out of twenty-five school hours a week, the time devoted to pursuits specifically in line with the great man's ideal is given as follows in the Course of Study for the Boston Grammar Schools published in 1899 : — • Moral training, one half hour a week. Physical training and recesses, three hours a week. Manual training, two hours a week. To this should be added, in a discussion of the North End, the time allowed in the Paul Revere School for a weekly bath. The new building of this school is a marked result of the increasing responsibility the city feels towards its child population and their special, local needs. The school's spacious basement is lighted by electricity and furnished with shower baths. Here six hundred little children are bathed each week ; and by one who knows anything of North End tenement houses the question of the necessity of public bathing facilities will not be raised. Not long since a kindergarten teacher THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 301 had occasion to remove a child's frock for the purpose of trying on a garment. The child was found to be completely encased in woolen rags sewed securely around its body. Upon the teach- er's applying the scissors to some of the stitches, the child screamed : " Don't do that, my mamma's got me sewed up for all winter ! " From the standpoint of the foreign mother there was nothing reprehensible in this, but it is plain that the con- venient sewing-up system must vanish before the introduction of the public bath. It is close by the Paul Revere school that the city has reserved a lot of land for one of its public playgrounds, and in some of the neighboring school buildings the plan of leaving schoolyards open for the chil- dren's use is also being tried. The North End schools are fortunate in being in close connection with two philanthropic enter- prises, the North End Union and the North Ben- net Street Industrial School, and the buildings of both are so near as practically to form a part of the great pubKc schoolhouse group. Both these insti- tutions supplement the training of the schools by clubs and free classes. In the day of its founding, the North Bennet Street Industrial School had no parallel among the public schools of the city in its methods. That industrial training is now given 302 AMERICANS IN PROCESS throughout the city is largely due to its founder, Mrs. Quincy Shaw, and the noble example she set in its establishment. The Eliot Grammar School has not yet facilities for manual training, but once a week its boys are sent down the street to the Industrial School, where, through Mrs. Shaw's liberality, they receive more varied and ex- tensive training than is given by the city. A choice is offered between modehng, carpentering, printing and leather-work, and the boys are divided about equally in their tastes. One of the results of both these institutions is that pupils once in the day classes are likely to follow up their work after business hours in the evening classes. The industrial training given in the grammar school is received with intelligent appreciation by the boys and girls of the three upper grades. For the girls the term implies instruction in sewing and cooking. The latter is perhaps the more popular occupation, and the girls regret so keenly being obliged to give it up upon entering the master's class that a special arrangement has been made in the Hancock School by which the pupils of the ninth grade are given an opportunity several times dur- ing the year to prepare and serve a dinner for the teachers. The work that goes on in the charming upstairs kitchen of the Hancock School really TEE CHILD OF THE STBANGEE 303 should be dignified by the name Domestic Sci- ence. That it implies something far more serious than even the important art of cooking will be granted when it is understood that there are some among the girls of each successive class who, from religious scruples, never taste what they painstak- ingly and happily prepare ; and there are many others who will eat only a limited number of dishes. It is the ways of healthful, happy homes that the girls catch a glimpse of during the two hours a week that for two years of their school life they spend in the upstairs kitchen. A woman who comes into unusually sympathetic relations with the daughters of immigrants says, as a result of her years of experience, that she is convinced that it is not the acquisition of facts but cultivation that the foreign girls need for their future happi- ness and usefulness, — correct ideas of life, and freedom from superstition, rather than definite knowledge about trade winds and syntax. Within two or three years of leaving school, sometimes sooner, these girls are wives and mothers. If the object of education is to fit for life, it seems hardly an open question whether industrial training under skilled, cultivated direction does not contribute as much to the desired end as the more academic branches. One far-reaching, desirable function 304 AMEBICANS IN PBOCESS it certainly fulfills, — that of a connecting link between school and home. The girls can discuss sewing and cooking with their mothers when they have no language to discuss trade winds and syn- tax ; and they constantly demonstrate the mate- rial results of their training in a fashion highly acceptable to the whole family. It does not seem improbable that marriage might be delayed a year or two if fathers and mothers could see that a further school course would mean definite training for the life that is to them the only life a girl should look forward to. The question of difference in ideals has an important bearing upon any discussion of the early training that best fits for life. The daughters of Kussian and Italian immigrants do not look upon teaching, bookkeeping, stenography or shop-tending as aims of life. They simply and openly desire a sound mind, so far as they under- stand it, within a sound body, that they may make good wives and present their husbands with healthy sons. The mere fact of graduation is urged strenu- ously by the teachers, even when there is no hope of the high school for pupils, because of their belief of the important effect it has upon the children's after-life. A grammar school diploma, framed and hanging upon the wall, confers academic dig- THE CHILD OF THE STE ANGER 305 iiity upon a home. The possession of it entitles the owner to various social privileges. One advan- tage that comes from graduation is the right of membership in the old graduates' associations. There are a number of these at the North and West Ends. Thus far they have been composed largely of those who made their homes in the dis- trict in its more prosperous days. Recent gradu- ates are becoming eager to join as soon as they are so circumstanced as to afford the entrance fee. The associations hold occasional reunions in addi- tion to their business meetings, and they show their love for the old school in various practical ways. One society supports a library in the school build- ing, and in addition to this pleasant aid to school work, it has recently added a fine stereopticon, which is in constant use. Each school building is a social centre in the chance which its " public days " afford for reunions, and it is the pupils who have achieved graduation who are apt to come back, feeling sure of welcome and recognition from the teachers. Graduates' clubs, made up of members of individual classes, are well-known features of the neighborhood. In their organization and func- tions they are a credit to their schools, and they show the force of a master's statement that the ninth grade illustrates the survival of the fittest. 306 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS A study of these yearly survivors, their condi- tions and their victory over conditions would be intensely interesting were there time for such an examination. The members of the graduating class and the grade below it hold their places, as a rule, through ability and force of character, and not infrequently, it should be noted, as a result of great sacrifice on the part of their parents. It is no easy matter for fathers and mothers limited as to language and educational traditions, and for- ever under the galling conditions of precarious employment, to allow a boy or girl capable of add- ing to the family income to spend five hours a day in school and one or more in home study. The wonder is that it is ever done ; for while the attain- ment of a grammar school diploma is an honor, failure to attain it is not looked upon as a disgrace. To be without it, in the eyes of the parents, is hardly a deprivation. The children themselves show independence and business enterprise in the struggle. In the Eliot School alone three hundred and fifty boys are licensed newsboys and bootblacks. But it is still likely that the lists of graduates would diminish in the face of such obstacles were it not for the encouragement of the teachers and their interest in individual pupils. If children show ability they are pushed through the grades as fast THE CHILD OF THE STBANGEB 307 as can be done conscientiously. This is in order that they may reach the eighth grade at least before the age limit is attained ; for at the eighth grade begins a sort of home stretch where chil- dren and parents have caught their second breath, and become able to endure to the end. The meaning of school life to some of those who have been thus hurried on may be read in the stirring autobiographies that the graduating class of one school is each year asked to write. Refu- gees from Russian persecution tell in eloquent, well-chosen words personal experiences holding all the elements of tragic drama, and they picture vividly the contrast between the conditions of their European homes and the school privileges of Amer- ica. The intelligent appreciation and the fre- quent literary merit of these records are among the things that place the foreign poor and their pos- sibilities in an entirely new light, and arouse the devotion and enthusiasm of those who come in con- tact with them in the schools. In a survey of the immigrant quarter of the city, where the combi- nation of foreign habits and extreme poverty results in such deplorable conditions, it must not be for- gotten that dwelling in the midst of these conditions there are those capable of rising above them, not only from sporadic ability, but also by reason of 308 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS naturally inherited powers. Tlie determination that has kept Judea a name for two thousand years, the fire that made Italy one and free, are in our North End schools being developed and directed by what the City provides. Side by side with sluggish Sicily sits eloquent, ambitious Lombardy; while among the Hebrew children are the sons and daughters of men of learning, whom only a foreign tongue keeps in such narrow circumstances. Thus it is not surprising that there is real ability among the holders of the grammar school diplomas, and it seems beyond question that their after-lives jus- tify the effort of the attainment. " The Jewish boys will take from a third to a half of our prizes right along," writes an English High School teacher. " Out of thirty Franklin medals awarded in 1897, 1898, 1899, five were awarded to boys from the Eliot School at the North End. The results of the awarding of Franklin medals in June, 1900, show that five of the ten were given to Jewish boys from the North and West Ends." The prize winners do not all stop here. On the rolls of the law and medical schools of Boston and Cam- bridge are increasingly recorded Russian and Italian names ; while already in the city there are men of foreign birth and North End breeding who have made their way through high school and uni- THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 309 versity, and are now practising their professions close by the schools from which they received their first diplomas. From such statements as these, and from a visit to the schools, one might be led to suppose that the shifting of population has left the district en- tirely Continental in its racial character. This is not quite true. Though the Irish race is being pushed out of its old home by the new immigrants, the change has not taken place as entirely as the appearance of the public schools would indicate. Some twelve hundred children, of whom the larger part are of Irish birth or descent, are cared for by the parochial school system of the Roman Catholic Church. St. Mary's School, in the old armory building on Endicott Street, numbers 630 pupils; St. Stephen's School has 550. The schools accom- modate both boys and girls, though they are not coeducational in their plan. The instructors are all women. The lady in charge, and the teachers under whom the girls are placed, are sisters of a religious order. The boys are in charge of lay teachers, graduates of church schools. In both these schools the preference is given to Irish chil- dren. St. Stephen's school is still almost ex- clusively Celtic, but St. Mary's is feeling the change in population, and dark Italian faces are 310 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS thickly sprinkled among the fairer children of the earlier inhabitants. Each parochial school in- cludes the regulation nine primary and grammar grades, and a " receiving class " somewhat cor- responding to the public kindergarten. For un- graded classes they have as yet no need. St. Stephen's school has an additional three years' course of high school work for girls. The gradu- ating class of the grammar school consists of about fifteen boys and girls. The grade work of the parochial schools is very similar to that of the public schools, though from lack of funds it is necessarily limited to bare essen- tials. The diplomas of both schools admit boys to Boston College, a Jesuit institution, but not to the public high schools. Boys who intend to go further are preparing for the most part to enter the former institution, at which St. Mary's school has four scholarships. Alike as the public schools and the church schools are in many ways, their dissimilarities are yet marked and interesting. Church symbols and ecclesiastical uniform, in the parochial schools, everywhere lend their own subtle charm and influence to the modern schoolroom atmosphere. In the daily work, certainly as much time as the public schools allow for their nature study and industrial work — both of which the parochial THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 311 school is obliged to forego — is taken up in the lines that specially distinguish the parochial school system, — religious exercises and instruction. One half hour of religious instruction is given each day. School sessions open and close with devo- tional exercises. Every half hour, at St. Mary's school, little heads are dropped for a moment of prayer. The books used are partly those of the public schools ; but some are, of course, special in their nature. The school reader is markedly eccle- siastical in its tone. One aspect of the public school system of the North End is too interesting to be passed over, though it has little connection with the child life of the district, — and that is the work of the even- ing classes. Very few children attend. The six hundred pupils who meet in the Eliot School for five months in the year are mostly men over eighteen years of age, recent immigrants who come to school to learn the language. The plan is practically that of the ungraded classes already described. The Italians are the predominating race ; next to them come the Kussian Jews. Between the adult pupils of these two races there exists the most childish and unreasonable antagonism, which at times be- comes so violent in its expression that it is not feasible for them to mix in class work. Offense 312 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS is taken upon the slightest occasion. The oppro- brious epithets of " Dago " and " Sheeny " are apparently the earliest and easiest of English words. A class of Italians is said, not long since, to have got into such an uproar that the pre- sence of the head master was necessary to quell the incipient riot. The teacher, a man of German extraction, proved unequal to the emergency, and was ignorant of the origin of the outbreak. When quiet had been restored, and inquiries were being made, the class insisted, in the face of the Ger- man's protestations, that he had called them " Dagos." After much discussion the mystery was cleared up. The teacher, in course of in- struction, had repeated the familiar conjugation of " to go." His Teutonic accent had transformed the innocent plural into the unfortunate sounds of " We go, you go, Dago,''^ and his class, to a man, had furiously resented the insult. As in the case of the children of the day schools, the Hebrews are far cleverer with books than the Italians, and do more advanced work. With either race considerable determination is required to face the discomforts attendant upon evening school instruction. The session begins at 7.30. Most of the men come direct from work, thus going without their suppers tiU half THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 313 past nine. The rooms are close and crowded ; the teaching force, though of excellent quality, is inadequate as to numbers; and the men, some- times gray-headed, and as often as not middle-aged, are painfully squeezed between seats and desks planned for children anywhere from nine to fifteen years of age. Quite the most interesting class in the building is a roomful of Greeks, — strong, good-looking young fellows, most of whom have received a fair education in their own country. Some among them are university graduates. Two years ago the Greek class chanced to be made up of fifty young Spartans. Now the membership is from various parts of Greece. The distinction of the class lies in its teacher, — a young Greek who has been several years in this country and has volun- teered his services to his countrymen as instructor in the language in which he has become fluent himself. The class is conducted in good modern Greek, used as a medium of instruction in Eng- lish. Most of these men are fruit venders and, except for a few months in the winter, are roaming about the country in various capacities connected with the fruit trade. The importance of making still further use of ample school buildings, situated in such a densely 814 AMERICANS IN PROCESS inhabited district, lias for a long time been keenly felt by the North End teachers. One master, with a number of his assistants, has formed a corps of instruction, serving without pay, to meet in the evening the more advanced day school pupils and assist them with the preparation of their lessons and in other ways. Pupils who wish only to come and read by themselves are encouraged to do so. During the latter part of last winter the North End was one of the two sections of the city in which the School Board began a new and admirable experiment in the way of making the schoolhouse a centre for evening instruction in certain interesting forms of handicraft as well as for popular lectures and various forms of social recreation.'^ The possible significance of an ideal school life perfectly adapted to the needs of a locality cannot be overestimated; the actual significance of any school life is great and, with rare exceptions, im- plies happiness and growth. These are general truths, and their force is increased when applied to children for whom school is not simply the most important interest, but usually the only daily in- terest representing high ideals and development. It is too much to expect of youth that it will fully appreciate its privileges. Yet it is clear to a care- ^ The board has also begun to provide vacation schools. THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 315 ful observer that school life is on the whole en- joyed, notwithstanding much adult misapprehension, which too often expresses itself in undiscriminating and sweeping criticism. Just as all life has its dreary spots, so school life is not exempt. A com- parison of the mere creature comforts of the schoolroom with the average home of the poorer districts, an acquaintance with the attractive de- vices used by teachers to lighten the burden of the elementary studies, and especially an intelligent appreciation of the spirit and skill of the in- structors, must bring any fair mind to the convic- tion that the public school, with all its defects, is the happiest, most hopeful part of child existence in the North End. The discouraging statements of truancy may be urged against this position. The question of truancy, however, has many sides. The line between culpable and excusable absence is hard to draw, and often confirmed truancy is a habit resulting from repeated discouragements that lie neither at the door of the school nor at that of the pupil. A drunken mother, a dying baby sister, a chance for work compelling both parents to be away from home and throwing the care of some haK dozen younger children upon the shoulders of a boy or girl of twelve, — these are conditions, reported by the truant officer, that force a teacher 316 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS into reluctant charity for even such flagrant of- fenders as truants, and cause her to feel that too harsh reproof may be outraging a child's finest instincts. Children of the school age are profoundly af- fected by imagination and ambition. The school appeals to both these qualities, though more suc- cessfully, as yet, to the latter. The spirit of emu- lation is strong in the public schools, and while it occasionally may be forced to excess, its general results are good and productive of sound growth. Children value the visible symbol of success, and the ingenious teacher takes advantage of this feeling The position of monitor, even though the duty im- plied be nothing more than sharpening pencils ; the possession of the little flag, loaned to the line that goes through the gymnastic exercises with the most military precision, — such distinctions as these are stimulating in possibility and give much joy when attained. To be head boy of the fourth or fifth grade is an honor as keenly appreciated as municipal preferment of a later day. To hold two hundred fellow pupils spellbound while one thunders the speech of John Adams from the plat- form, with only a suggestion of Italy in one's ac- cents, is j)erhaps as intoxicating as any success of after life. Moreover, it is an incentive to manly THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 317 bearing to file in and out, upstairs and down, a big brick building several times a day feeling that the eyes of great men are upon you, as master and assistants watch your progress and note your pos- sible forgetf ulness to doff your cap. Such influences as these are calculated to work toward manliness and patriotism, though just here lurks a possible defect of public school education — one that must be recognized to be averted. " You taught me language," mocks Caliban at his master, " and my profit on't is, I know how to curse." The patriot is preceded by " Young America" in the little citizen's development. It will depend much upon the work of the elementary schools whether Americanism stops with unprinci- pled partisanship and bombastic jingoism, as em- bodied in ward politics, or develops into genuine, intelligent love of country. Certainly the change which comes over the children is a swift and ap- parently spontaneous one. A little girl of foreign birth and stammering tongue, in one of the lower grades, tells an English visitor that the beautiful portrait of the Father of his Country, hanging upon the schoolroom wall, is Buffalo Bill. This is the beginning. A few grades higher a group of boys of foreign birth are celebrating Washing- ton's birthday. In mimic scene they reproduce 318 AMERICANS IN PBOCJESS the proceedings of the last Continental Congress, statesman after statesman answering as his name is called. The gentleman from Virginia delivers himself of his great utterances, hardly able to await his turn ; the gentleman from Pennsylvania protests in vain ; all at last agree vehemently to hang together or to hang separately, and they affix their names to an imaginary Declaration of Inde- pendence, their audience cheering the while with excitement and joining with the patriots later in singing fervently and unquestioningly "Land where our fathers died." It is deliberate choice on the part of both boys and girls to ignore their foreign origin. They are American, and at times disappointingly Ameri- can. Their very names become unlovely to their Anglicized ears, and the result is often a bewilder- ing change that asks neither the advice of elders nor the consent of the law. Their taste in amuse- ments undergoes a similar change. Should the student of comparative folk-lore pursue his re- searches in the North End, he would be met by the familiar strains of " Sally Waters," and he would find the polyglot Russian boys preferring to dis- cuss " craps " in English, rather than to conduct some European game in their inherited Yiddish or Slavic tongues. If a dramatic club is formed, the THE CHILD OF THE STRANGER 319 children clioose American plays; and in all en- tertainments their national airs give way to the street songs of the city and the patriotic hymns of the school. The Hebrews have had no country ; the Italians have found a better one ; the new land is large enough for both : and while Hebrews affiliate with Hebrews and Italians with Italians, there seems to be no recognized antagonism be- tween them more serious than a strong feeling of class superiority on the part of each racer) Such a state of things during school life is bound to have its influence upon future conditions, the more so because the direct influence of the elementary schools is not soon outgrown. Even to the boys and girls who go higher, the gram- mar school remains the most tangible object of affectionate loyalty. Children cannot spend from five to ten years in one locality, with one set of interests, under leaders better known and of more immediate importance than the President and his Cabinet, without strong ties being formed; and these ties, as the school course nears its end, are made closer by charming devices. The story of the master's class is a tale by itself. Boys and girls who reach that stage of advancement, who go through the impressive ceremonies of gradu- ation, who leave the big brick schoolhouse carrying 320 AMERICANS IN PROCESS a grammar school diploma, take out into tlie world not only tlie sense of dignity that comes from attainment, and from possession of the rudiments of knowledge, but also sentiments, memories and traditions, enriched by a consciousness of warm and enduring friendship with masters and teachers, which deepen as the years go by. Map to show the CHIEF INSTITUTIONS and MEETING PLACES in the WEST END, BOSTON. • PUBLIC HEALTH • AMUSEMENTS + CHURCHES ETC, -* SCHOOLS ■ SOCIAL RECOVERY Aifloclated Chan CHAPTER XI COMMUNITY OF INTEREST Philanthropy, as it is now understood, must work with rather than for those whom it would help. Defective parts of human society can never be repaired from without like parts of a broken machine ; they must share actively in working out their own salvation. On the other hand, any part of society that needs regeneration is little likely to accomplish the task by itself. Social reform, to be in the highest degree sound and permanent, must spring from the cooperation of all classes. Yet nearly all efforts at social reform lean to one side or the other. They are predominantly either exer- tions of certain public-spirited individuals in be- half of others, or else spontaneous unaided efforts of the mass in its own interest. In a few cases — and here lie the greatest possibilities — the two elements are combined more equally. Enterprises designed to secure and maintain the indispensable conditions of a wholesome life, with- out which a person can hardly be expected to stand 322 AMERICANS IN PEOCESS on his own feet, are almost inevitably of the first sort — efforts for people. They may fairly be called remedial, in that they strive for a state of social health in which all individuals shall be capable of self -direction and self-support. Not only the ordi- nary material relief agencies, but those providing medical aid, care of children and proper housing conditions are of this kind. f The spontaneous form is seen in the effort to satisfy sometimes widespread desires, sometimes merely private, local wants. Such are trade imions, social clubs, patriotic orders among the Italians, benefit orders and Zionism among the Jews. The third form, the cooperative, finding its op- portunity after the remedial has supplied the abso- lute essentials, and reaching out with intelligent sympathy to all sorts of popular association, en- deavors to lead to higher levels of thought and life. It includes, therefore, the church, the school, pri- vately established educational experiments and the social settlement with its varied programme of local improvement. This classification implies no judgment. The three classes are not three levels, one above an- other; they simply represent different kinds of work demanded by different circumstances. An enterprise in any one of the three divisions may COMMUNITY OF INTEBEST 323 do really constructive work in the sense of achiev- ing some fresh adaptation of the community's means to its needs, of making some distinct gain, more or less permanent, in guiding social energy toward the accomplishment of useful social ends. Never- theless, the most effective philanthropic work is that directed by disinterested intelligence which seeks the cooperation of those to be helped. In districts like the North and West Ends, where a large proportion of the population is foreign in habits of life and thought, even when not in birth, and quite unacquainted with the ideas of modern democracy, it is to be expected that most of the social effort should come from without. The im- migrant from Russia or Italy, accustomed to the tyranny of the Czar's police or to the exactions of the tax-gatherer, naturally devotes aU his ener- gies toward making some place for himself and his family in the whirl of new life into which he has plunged. Had he the aptitude for concern about the common welfare, he lacks the time. Further- more, the idea of his having any influence upon the conduct of public affairs is bewilderingly novel; the possibility, too, of combining with his neigh- bors even for purely private purposes is a privilege not at once appreciated. Remedial agencies, there- fore — effort of outsiders for the district — have 324 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the most imposing equipment and present the great- est array of activities. Since the needs to which they minister are for the most part concrete and easily distinguished, the methods of dealing with them are correspondingly well reasoned out and higlily developed. It happens that in a single building in the West End most of the large relief-giving organizations of the city, both public and private, have their headquarters. The Charity Building on Chardon Street, under the management of the Overseers of the Poor, furnishes offices to some fifteen charitable societies, rent free, except that they share the run- ning expenses of the building. The municipal provision for poor relief is in the hands of two boards, — the Overseers of the Poor, who have charge of outdoor relief ^ and tem- porary lodging and meals, and the Pauper Insti- tutions Trustees, controlling the two almshouses. The outdoor relief of the Overseers is intended only to furnish partial support ; the entirely depend- ent are cared for by the Pauper Institutions. In the last twenty-five years, though there has been a slight increase in the total amount of outdoor re- lief, the number of families aided has been reduced ^ Outdoor relief is aid furnished to families in their homes, in distinction from the indoor relief of the almshouses. COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 325 by one half, thus doubling the average amount per family. The inference is that each family receives more effective treatment than formerly. The Overseers also have the administration of private trust funds for various designated purposes, amount- ing to three quarters of a million dollars. Under the direction of the Overseers, too, the Tempo- rary Home on Chardon Street and the Wayfarers' Lodge on Hawkins Street furnish for short periods shelter and food, — the one to women and chil- dren, the other to men. The women perform the household duties of the Home, while the men work in a woody ard. It is upwards of twenty years ago that Boston did away with the old system of giving temporary lodging in police stations. At that time some 60,000 men sought such lodg- ing in the course of a year ; now, owing to the increasingly strict rules of the Lodge in the mat- ter of cleanliness and sanitation, and its steady insistence on the work equivalent for lodging and meals, the number of tramps has greatly dimin- ished. A fair proportion of those who come to the Lodge are young or middle-aged able-bodied men, neither professionally vagrant nor vicious, but moderately able workmen. Industrial disturbances over a wide area are felt in the fluctuation of num- bers at the Lodge. 326 AMERICANS IN PROCESS If all the private relief agencies including the city in their scope were to be enumerated in these pages, this chapter would be converted into a di- rectory ; for more nearly than any other American city, Boston resembles London in inheriting from the past a legacy of charitable societies. Out of the long list a few accomplish the most of what is done, especially in the North and West Ends : the Associated Charities and the Provident Associa- tion, the Federation of Jewish Charities, the St. Vincent de Paul, and several smaller societies which devote themselves to the needy of a partic- ular race or creed. Some of these aim to be more than relief dispensers, and endeavor, by getting at the main causes of need, to effect a permanent remedy. ( The Associated Charities organization, which now has twenty-five years of activity behind it, de- clares its main objects to be " to raise the needy above the need of relief, prevent begging and im- position and diminish pauperism.". To further these ends it strives " to secure the concurrent and harmonious action of the different charities in Bos- '"ton," and " to encourage thrift, self-dependence and industry through friendly intercourse, advice and sympathy.") In effect, the society is a clear- ing-house, referring cases to the appropriate special COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 327 agency or, if none such is available, itself assuming charge. As an organization it furnishes no direct relief, but procures it, when necessary, from others. Its mechanism is well known : the city is divided into districts, each of which is cared for by a paid agent in cooperation with a group of people willing to do what they can in the way of personal service. The agent does most of the investigating and executive work, while the volunteers undertake the friendly visiting. The negative objects at which the society aims are of course less difficult of accom- plishment than the positive: it is much easier to " prevent begging and imposition " and, to a less ex- tent, to prevent the duplication of effort than " to raise the needy above the need of relief " and " to diminish pauperism." Accordingly, the society has been the more conspicuously successful in the former tasks. Four of its conferences share the responsibility of the North and West Ends. Con- ference VI. cares for the territory lying north of Prince Street and east of Salem and Hanover streets. Hence its work is largely among the Italians. Con- ferences VII. and VIII. include within their districts those parts of the North and West Ends which constitute the Jewish quarter, and Conference IX. presides over the section where is congregated prac- tically aU the Negro population of the West End. 328 AMERICANS IN PROCESS The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is the great Roman Catholic relief -giving agency. It is repre- sented at the North End by conferences at St. Mary's, St. Stephen's and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and at the West End by a conference at St. Joseph's. Like the Associated Charities, this organization lays considerable stress on friendly visiting. The Federation of Jewish Charities includes the Hebrew Benevolent Association, the Leopold Morse Home, a free emplojrment bureau and sev- eral other societies with special objects. For newly arrived Jewish immigrants the Baron de Hirsch fund makes provision. This fund may be devoted to trad^ instruction, establishing men in business, forwarding families to friends or to where employment may be secured, or, in case of inca- pacity for self-support, to returning them to Eu- rope. A home on Cooper Street affords tempo- rary shelter. The Hebrew Benevolent Society aids those who have been in this country for more than a year. Perhaps three fourths of its work is done in the North and West Ends, and most of the remainder in the South End. As compared with the Associated Charities, it is more of a relief -giving organization. Its policy may be de- scribed as that of giving relief in such a way as to COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 829 prevent further necessity for relief ; it provides for whatever subsidy may set breadwinners upon their feet, — temporary removal of children, temporary relief or transportation to another place where work is to be obtained, — while the Associated Charities lays the stress upon personal influence. The remainder of the agencies make it their chief business to dispense material relief, for the most part visiting only enough to guard against fraud. The various churches, of course, also carry on more or less desultory work of this kind. Among the larger organizations there is consid- erable combined effort and division of labor. The Overseers care for those in chronic poverty ; the Associated Charities for those who show some prospect of getting upon their own feet ; the Pro- vident, the Hebrew Benevolent and others, often at the request of the Associated Charities, supply temporary support ; the Jewish Federation and St. Vincent's Society, as far as they can, care for their special constituencies. The information possessed by each is at the service of the others. The experience of these societies in dealing with the conditions that confront them throughout the city leads one to look to them for certain facts which indicate the part taken by the North and West Ends in the city's problem of poverty. No 330 AMERICANS IN PROCESS complete statement can be made, but from the few available records of the leading societies some bints may be gleaned. Together the two sections contain about 11 per cent, of Boston's population. From them the Long Island Almshouse, which has six sevenths of the city's indoor paupers, draws 18 per cent, of its in- mates ; of the persons aided by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 12 per cent, live in these districts and receive 13 per cent, of the relief ; the Provi- dent Association distributes 16 per cent, of its coal and groceries here ; and the Associated Charities for five or more years has found 30 per cent, of its cases in this section. These districts appear, therefore, to be receiving aid in proportion greater than that of their population, yet perhaps not in such excess as might be imagined. With an in- crease of 20 per cent, in the population of the dis- trict between 1895 and 1900, the percentage of coal and groceries received by it from the Provi- dent since 1890 has fallen off from 28 to 16. In the same period, the number of persons in the en- tire city receiving aid from the Society of St. Vin- cent de Paul has increased 50 per cent., while in these districts the increase has been slight. Paral- lel with this there has been for the whole city a small increase in the amount of relief; for the COMMUNITY OF INTEBEST 331 North and West Ends, a slight decrease. These figures, so far as they go, indicate that the dis- tricts are at least not increasingly dependent. To this result the Jews contribute not a little. Through their Federation, they succeed in provid- ing for the bulk of their poor, very few of whom fall to the care of the Overseers. In the North End, as nearly as can be ascertained, out of about 120 families aided by the Overseers in 1901, per- haps a dozen were Jewish, and half of these were aided only temporarily. The conference of the As- sociated Charities which deals most with them has not over twenty-five per cent, of its cases from that race. That is to say, the addition of the Jews to the population of Boston has resulted in little per- manent direct increase of demand upon the city's relief resources. Indirectly, of course, their mere presence has contributed to the industrial pressure which has forced others to apply for aid. Among the Italians there are one or two relief societies, which, however, are in the main mutual insurance orders, paying sickness and death bene- fits. Their general charitable work, limited as it is to their surplus funds, is necessarily of small extent. In many cases where Italians ask for aid it is because sickness has exhausted the little hoard accumulated in the summer for maintenance during 332 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the idle winter months. When they obtain aid from the Overseers, work is required at the Way- farers' Lodge, where they often believe themselves on a " City job." Most of the aid given them is temporary. Out of the 120 families already men- tioned as being aided by the Overseers of the Poor at the North End, about 25 were Italian, and only 7 of these have received continuous relief. The Associated Charities last year, on the other hand, found three quarters of its 279 North End cases, of which 103 were new cases, among the Italians. Though the total number of cases relieved through Conference IX. of the Associated Chari- ties was 309, the number of colored families receiv- ing assistance was but 35. This is accounted for not so much by prosperity — for there is much poverty among the Negroes — as by the forms of mutual aid that exist among the people of this race. Nearly every respectable Negro belongs to a sick benefit association, which he values, when in health, for its social opportunities, and turns to for aid in time of need. By elimination we come to a conclusion, also verified by positive experience, that the Irish race furnishes the bulk of the dependents in the North and West Ends. Of the families in the North End aided by the Overseers, sixty per cent, are Irish COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 333 or Irish-American ; of the admissions to the Long Island Almshouse from that district, half are Irish or Irish-American. And ordinarily it is not the lately arrived immigrant that faUs back on charity, — it is either those who have been in this country a long while or an American-born generation. So far, then, as the North and West Ends are dependent districts, immigration is not immediately and directly responsible. The newcomers, while many are poor enough, are usually here in order to better themselves ; most have not lived in large cities, nor have they an extensive acquaintance with charity. It is rather the stragglers left be- hind by the earlier immigrants that are iinequal to the task of self-support. , Years of residence in a poor, crowded quarter, association chiefly with their own countrymen and contact with American life only at isolated and often the least salutary points undermine their self-respect and make them liable to become alms receivers. Systematic care of children necessarily works in intimate association with other kinds of organized effort. The specific work of this nature in Boston is divided between the City and several private societies. The City conducts all juvenile work through the Children's Institutions Department, which takes in charge not only dependent and 334 AMERICANS IN PROCESS neglected children, but also truants and juvenile lawbreakers. Boy criminals are sent to tbe House of Reformation at Eainsf ord Island ; the truants are sent to the Parental School at West Roxbury ; while the dependent and neglected children are placed out in selected homes in various parts of New England. In the placing-out work, the chil- dren are assigned to families of the same religious faith as the parents. On February 1, 1902, the end of the recording year, 860 children were in charge of the Placing-Out Division, of which num- ber 319 were boarding and 320 in free homes ; the remainder were in institutions, chiefly the Massa- chusetts School for the Feeble-Minded. It is the policy of the Children's Institutions Department not to admit children to its care if any private agency is available. The most extensive of these agencies is the Boston Children's Aid Soci- ety, which does comprehensive and thorough-going work with both destitute and wayward children. Its methods are, in brief : first, investigation and, if likely to prove sufficient, advice; if further treatment is required, it refers the case whenever possible to some other and special agency ; when this is not feasible, it retains supervision itself. Its work in all three ways is elastic and personal. The Bureau of Information and Counsel, although COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 335 less conspicuous than tlie other departments, is especially valuable because its work is so largely preventive ; its importance will appear somewhat from the fact that it rendered service in over 750 instances during the past year, — a larger number than was credited to any other department. The Placing-Out Department has under its supervision at any one time an average of over 250 children, scattered over New England in private homes. Destitute and abandoned children are also cared for through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. For the most part, this society does not continue a systematic supervision, but places the children in Roman Catholic institutions. Out of 368 variously placed last year, 293 were consigned to such insti- tutions and 69 to private families. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil- dren protects neglected or abused children, chiefly by legal means. It effects this in the homes of the children if possible ; otherwise, it removes the children. The day nurseries, of which there are two — one at the North and one at the West End — not only provide during the day better care for young chil- dren than they are likely to receive at home, but allow mothers opportunity for work or for recovery from sickness. In connection with the North Ben- 336 AMERICANS IN PROCESS net Street Day Nursery, at the North End, older girls are taught cooking, table work and care of children, mothers' meetings are held, and enter- tainments are given for both fathers and mothers. The matron visits in the families of the children, and by suggestion and encouragement tries to in- crease the sense of responsibility in the mothers, and to help toward healthy, prudent home life. This nursery is entirely free ; at the West End, the payment of five cents a day is required. At the North and West Ends, as in the city at large, resources for medical aid are comparatively abundant. Perhaps no form of charity is given or received with more satisfaction. Given, it meets an evident need ; received, it produces little of the demoralization often consequent upon material relief, although not even medical aid, of course, escapes being imposed upon. In the West End there is particularly easy access to such resources, as it contains the Massachusetts General Hospi- tal ; the Boston Lying-in Hospital ; and the House of the Good Samaritan, where care and medical treatment are provided for white women and girls, and for young boys ; the West End Nursery and In- fants' Hospital ; St. Monica's Home, a hospital for colored women and girls ; the Vincent Memorial Hospital, for wage-earning women and girls ; the COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 337 Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary ; the New England Eye and Ear Hospital ; and in Haymarket Square, the Relief Station of the Bos- ton City Hospital. A branch of the Mount Sinai Hospital has recently been erected by the Jews for the better accommodation of the patients of that race. Eight or more prominent hospitals situated elsewhere in Boston are open also to the sick of these districts. The House of the Good Samari- tan, the out-patient departments of the other hos- pitals, and the Relief Station are entirely free, but with these exceptions the hospitals make some charge whenever the patients are able to pay. Dispensaries are connected with nearly all of these hospitals, and a number of independent dis- pensaries are to be found here and there in this part of the city. In connection with one of the latter a hospital is maintained at the South End. The Epworth League maintains a medical mission in the North End. Two doctors and two nurses are kept busy answering the calls of the neighbor- hood, chiefly among the Jews and the Italians. A small fee is charged for prescriptions, and a mod- erate charge is made for visits to the homes. In the North and West Ends, though not to the same extent as in the South End, the sign " Dispensary " is occasionally hung out to attract 338 AMERICANS IN PROCESS practice for a quack doctor, or is applied to wliat poses as a charitable institution in the announce- ments of " benefit " performances, while it more than covers exiDcnses by its charges for medicine. Under the classification made at the beginning of this chapter, a few enterprises stand on the border line between the remedial and the coopera- tive. They furnish a much needed form of chari- table aid, but it is their purpose to use business methods as far as possible. / The Industrial Aid Society, the remainder of whose corporate name reads " for the Prevention of Pauperism," is a free employment office for both men and womeni It makes special efforts to secure situations in the country. Of its applicants at present about one half of the men and one third of the women — these often with children — are sent to be employed out of town. Nearly twice as many positions are found for women as for men. " The men and women," says a late report, "for whom we seek and find work are very largely drawn from that class of the community who are helped by private charity, and are liable at any moment to become recipi- ents of public aid and thereby become veritable paupers." This society has for some time at- tempted to cooperate with the City's Wayfarers' Lodge and Temporary Home, in the case of the COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 339 latter with more success than in that of the former. The men interviewed by the society's agent at the Lodge, while they appeared "tem- porarily out of a place and willing to work if work could be found for them," proved in many instan- ces to be " wholly indifferent to their own welfare, caring only to obtain a shelter for the night and something to eat." For a number of women from the Home, places have been provided by the society. Another small private charity of similar nature is a society which is connected with Conference VII. of the Associated Charities. This society gives out plain sewing to women, and sells the com- pleted garments at a reasonable rate to the poor. It is intended to be educational in its influence, helping the women to a permanent trade. From the density and character of the popula- tion in the North and West Ends, one would sup- pose that here, if anywhere in the city, is the place for efforts at model housing. The only organized attempt of the kind, however, is that of the Bos- ton Cooperative Building Company, two of whose five estates are in these districts. Neither build- ing was erected by the company, though a new addition was made to one of them. The tenements are kept in a sanitary and not overcrowded condi- 340 AMERICANS IN PROCESS tion, and proper moral standards are insisted upon. Tlie limited extent of this company's effort in the North and West Ends is due to the law which requires that a house containing more than three families shall be thoroughly fireproof. A recent report of this company declares : " Careful esti- mates of the cost of model tenements make it clear that such a house cannot be expected to make a good return upon the investment. ... It is clear that as far as the North End is concerned it will not much longer be a residential district. The encroachments of business, especially since the building of the new Union Stations, have raised the price of land to such a point that it becomes impossible for us to supply good new tenements at low rentals." In the West End the colored people are being crowded out by " the Jews, for whom we need not build, as their own people supply all necessary accommodations." The upshot is that this company is locating its new buildings on the edge of Roxbury. By individual initiative, however, a few addi- tional attempts in this direction have been made. Among the houses privately owned or leased and conducted upon improved methods may be men- tioned several on Chardon Street and others on Norman Street and Church Place. COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 341 Jewish landlords, as the report of the Boston Cooperative Building Company points out, are building tenement houses, but the accommodations which they furnish comply with the law by the narrowest possible margin. Such structures tend to throw the burden of maintaining tolerable hous- ing conditions upon the Building Department of the City and the inspectors of the Board of Health. Extensive as is the equipment and organization of all these remedial agencies, and imposing as is the array of their activities, all combined they succeed in accomplishing little more than enabling the com- munity to hold its own in the struggle for social health. Their work is negative ; it strives merely to prevent the weaker parts of the community from succumbing to forces too strong for them. So far as ifc is successful, it gives people the bare oppor- tunity to make what they can of themselves, but does little to aid them in the process. Of the spontaneous efforts at seK-improvement, the trade union, one of the most familiar, seems to be of less importance in the life of the North and West Ends than elsewhere, at any rate among the more recent immigrants. In trades like the gar- ment-makers, the Jews form the majority of the union membership ; the Jewish bakers are organ- 842 AMERICANS IN PROCESS ized separately ; in a few trades there are some Italians. In the Jews the racial combination of the communistic and individualist tempers, now one, now the other uppermost, prevents effectual cooperation. Often ready enough to organize, they with equal readiness break up on a division of inter- ests. The Italians commonly do the most unskilled sort of work ; this, in addition to the jealousy felt toward each other by natives of the different sec- tions of Italy, renders concerted action difficult. Both Jews and Italians, being unaccustomed to liberty, are at a loss how to use it. The Irish of the district, on the contrary, are natural organizers, and have been in this country longer than either of the Continental peoples. Probably a fairly large proportion of them belong to unions. But these represent mostly unskilled trades, demanding no very high grade of ability ; and the organizations, being no more stable than the members composing them, form on the whole no influential part of the trade-union world, on which, indeed, they some- times bring discredit by hasty, ill-considered action. There are many Socialists among the Jews, and a few among the Italians. At present they are not to any great extent banded together in active or- ganizations. No doubt good times largely account for the absence of aggressive social unrest. In any COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 343 case, extreme types of Socialism, imported from amid Continental proletarian conditions, soon be- come much modified by American influences^ The form of organization which seems to have struck the fancy of the Jews is the benefit order. Some of these are exclusively of Jewish member- ship, like the Brith Abraham and the Sons of Benjamin, which extend throughout the country ; others — and these seem to be in even higher favor — are lodges of familiar American orders, such as the Knights of Pythias. The social features of these societies constitute, of course, no small part of their attractiveness. The Italians have a number of benefit orders. Some of these are lodges of national organizations like the Foresters and the Knights of Columbus. They also have several military societies. They belong in greatest numbers to the religious societies connected with the various churches. Demanding little from members in the way of dues or duties, appealing to traditional sentiment in the perpetu- ated celebration of festival days, and providing social intercourse in many ways, the religious soci- eties have, especially among the Southern Italians, a well-nigh universal following. Among both Jews and Italians there are small local clubs for purely social purposes. These are 344 AMEBIC AN S IN PEOCESS apt to be rather short-lived, springing up among groups of young people that happen to be thrown together, and dying out when their interests begin to diverge. The masters of the North End schools are encouraging the formation of associations among their graduates, in an attempt to make social inter- course more permanent and to have it centre around educational influences. The importance of the spontaneous efforts often lies not so much in the external, concrete effect they succeed in producing as in their disclosure of real wants. It often happens that the more neces- sary a reform is, the less able are those in need of it to carry it out. But wherever there is a persist- ent endeavor for a certain object, no matter whether or not the endeavor succeeds, there exists a want which the best intelligence of the community must reckon with sooner or later. Here is the point at which social energy put forth will count for most, because at this point it will meet with most cooper- ation. In the enterprises which we have termed in the broadest sense cooperative, we find the desire to improve met half-way by the desire to help. In them the community's best intelligence is set to guide aspirations to their fulfillment, — the ideal form of social service. Its greatest embodiments COMMUNITY OF INTEEEST 845 are the church and the school, which are, in spite of their imperfections, the most powerful institu- tions in human society aside from the family. There must be a continual readjustment of profes- sional methods, but this form will always remain the ideal, — the expert in the service of the many. Perhaps the most conspicuous example of this sort of organization in the districts under review is the North Bennet Street Industrial School. The name designates a group of very effective enter- prises more or less independent of one another, but housed in one building. Founded some twenty years ago as a mission, before long it began to be de- finitely educational in purpose. Its workers became convinced that the greatest need of the district was training in industry, and accordingly they began experiments, the success of which did much to force that training into the public schools. For fifteen years classes have been sent from the public schools to its different departments ; its present public school classes, some fifteen in number and comprising about nine hundred pupils, are in- structed in modeling, sloyd, leather work and print- ing. In addition it has its own evening classes in millinery, dressmaking, cooking and sewing, to- gether with gymnastics for both girls and boys. Besides the Industrial School proper, and en- 346 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS tirely unconnected with it, there is in the same building the day nursery akeady mentioned and a kindergarten, from which a number of clubs have grown up. By intimate acquaintance with the families, it aims to cooperate with them in the training of the children ; at the same time it is careful not to diminish the parents' responsibility. Bearing only indirectly upon the local life, there is a normal training school in sloyd, of whose grad- uates about one hundred and fifty are now teaching in various parts of the country. A branch of the Public Library in the building does much to stim- ulate and supply a local desire for good reading, especially among the children. Its quarters, how- ever, are really inadequate ; there should at least be separate rooms for adults and children. This group of enterprises is an example of intelligent adaptation of means to needs. Discarding several departments — an employment office, a relief sta- tion and others — when they proved ill advised, it has progressively met the wants of its district. A reading-room on Hanover Street, while not con- nected directly with the North Bennet Street In- dustrial School, derives its support and direction from the same general source. This pleasant re- sort, which is for men only, is open afternoon and evening. Representatives of many nationalities COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 347 and types of employment avail themselves of its privileges. Generally similar in character to the industrial department of the North Bennet Street School, although designed specifically for a single race, is the Hebrew Industrial School on Allen Street. Here the work is chiefly among girls and young women, who are taught cooking, sewing, the care of the home and other kindred branches. The aim is less to train them to become wage earners than to fit them for the duties of domestic life. A single club of boys, numbering twenty-five or more, engage in the study of history and in debates upon current questions, to the end that they may take an intelligent part in public affairs and become good citizens. The school follows the best Jewish ideals. Two other agencies for social improvement are at work chiefly among a single nationality. The Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants aims to insure new arrivals from Italy against deception and villainy, and also to instruct them in the English language and to give them some knowledge of the institutions of this country. Ed- ucational classes are held at its headquarters on Hanover Street. Like the Hebrew Industrial School, this society is conducted by representa- tives of the same race as that of its constituency. 348 AMERICANS IN PROCESS They both include among their supporters numer- ous public-spirited citizens of Boston birth and traditions. The Civic Service House, on Salem Street, is a settlement having Jewish young men for its residents, some of whom have grown up in the North End. It is intended primarily for Jews, but includes Italians also within the scope of its efforts. Political enlightenment is the underlying purpose of its clubs, classes and courses of lec- tures. Hence it reaches chiefly boys and young men. Its financial support is from non-Jewish sources. The oldest of the settlements established at the North and West Ends is the Epworth League House, to whose medical work reference has al- ready been made. Next in importance to this kind of service is its effort in the interest of ad- vanced education. Two literary clubs, one of young men, the other of young women, Jews and Ital- ians, have been carried on for a number of years with signal success. Several members of the young men's club have taken partial or complete college courses, and some have entered professional careers. These received not only encouragement but much of their actual instruction from residents of the Epworth League House. There is a distinctively religious atmosphere about aU the work of this COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 349 settlement. A Sunday-school has a regular place on its programme. No aggressive attempt is made at proselytism however. The North End Union, under the direction of the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches, is hardly a settlement in the full sense. During the school year it rents much of its room to the city for school and kindergarten purposes. In two trades, printing and plumbing, a sort of trade school is carried on ; only those, however, already engaged at the trade may attend. The school aims to sup- plement the practical knowledge gained by daily work, not to teach beginners. Its classes are re- cruited from the city at large. In other ways the Union touches more nearly the life of the neigh- borhood. A gymnasium and a bath are at the ser- vice of all on simple conditions, and a reading and recreation room is open to boys certain hours of the day and evening. There is also a Sunday af- ternoon school broadly ethical in its aims. A flower mission is an important part of the summer work. For the accommodation of the children, a separate house is provided a few doors away. Here sew- ing and other classes for girls are held. There are two settlements in the West End, both having women residents only. The work of the Elizabeth Peabody House centres about the 350 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS kindergarten and the influence upon home life which may grow out of it. The House is situated in one of the most thoroughly foreign spots in the West End, where the homes stand in great need of the domestic standards inculcated by the resi- dents. The Willard Y. Settlement makes a spe- cial point of the provision of quarters for working girls, although it also devotes considerable atten- tion to the children of the neighborhood. Con- nected with this settlement is a summer playground for children. Very much in the spirit of the settlements are the home libraries of the Children's Aid Society, scattered throughout the district to the number of twenty. Since the first of these libraries was established fifteen years ago, the plan has won wide recognition, and has been adopted in many other cities. The system, which is now familiar, consists in placing a small library in some home, with one of the children as custodian, and with a volunteer visitor in charge. The library group, ten in number, meet the volunteer director once a week in the home, talk over the books which they have read, play games or plan for any activities which the group may carry on. From this centre influences branch out in all directions, and the possibilities are limited only by the personal re- COMMUNITY OF INTEBEST 351 sources and capacity of the leader. The children belonging to these libraries are usually under fif- teen years of age. The Stamp Savings or Home Savings Society affords a natural introduction to a neighborhood. It at once gives the collector an occupation with which he may be identified in the minds of his public, and puts in his way many opportunities for friendly service. There are collecting stations at the North End Union, the Epworth League and Elizabeth Peabody Houses and St. Andrew's. A number of independent collectors have lists of fami- lies whose savings they call for at weekly intervals. Aside from its work through such agencies as its Building Department, Board of Health and Street Cleaning Division, the City contributes to the health and enjoyment of people in its crowded quarters through its pubhc baths, gymnasiums and playgrounds. The North End Park, which lies along the water-front at the foot of Copp's Hill, combines a beach bath with a general pleasure re- sort. Here on either side is a solidly constructed building containing dressing quarters, one of the houses being for men and boys, the other for wo- men and girls. A double recreation pier extends well out into the water, affording a delightful view of the harbor. A portion of the beach is reserved 352 AMERICANS IN PROCESS for girls and young children, where swings, see- saws and piles of sand are provided. Space is fur- nished also for quoits, hand ball and other games in which the boys like to engage. The play, as well as the bathing, is in charge of attendants and instructors in the pay of the City. Band concerts are occasionally given, and the season ends with a water carnival, at which prizes are offered for pro- ficiency in swimming. Everything is entirely free with the exception that a small fee is charged for the use of bathing suits and towels. In the case of children, even this charge may be remitted. The popularity of this park may be inferred from the number of bathers during a single summer. In 1901 this amounted to 280,000, the larger part of whom were from the immediate vicinity. The North End Park is in charge of the Depart- ment of Public Baths. At the West End, similar opportunities for health and recreation are provided in the Charlesbank, a park extending along the river-front the whole distance between the Craigie and West Boston bridges. This park is under the direction of the Municipal Park Commission. There are no out- of-door bathing facilities, but hot and cold baths are furnished the year round, the two sexes occupying separate buildings. An open-air gym- COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 353 nasium adjoins each of these bathing establish- ments ; and the women may continue athletic ex- ercises through the winter in a gymnasium under the same roof with their bath. The women's gymnasium, as well as a spacious playground for children, is in charge of the Massachusetts Emer- gency and Hygiene Association. The Charles- bank includes a pleasant resort with shaded walks and seats and an attractive view of the river. In the West End Branch of the Public Library, the City has made local provision for needs of another character. The stately old West Church building was purchased in 1894 for the purpose, and has been admirably adapted to its new uses. Here three hundred or more reference books may be consulted, and selections may be made from twelve thousand other volumes for reading on the premises or for use at home. In addition, the two reading-rooms, one for adults and one for chil- dren, are well supplied with periodical hterature. Each year sees a marked increase in the number of people availing themselves of these privileges. In 1900, 131,522 books were taken out for reading at home ; in 1901, 137,713. The reading-rooms, with a combined seating capacity of 350, are often crowded, especially on Sunday. Among this great number of patrons, the Jews are the most largely 354 AMERICANS IN PROCESS represented; the Irish come next, and there is a considerable proportion of Negroes. Very recently a combination of interests has been formed with the general improvement of the North End as its object. Its significance lies in the fact that it undertakes to be an alliance of all citizens in sympathy with its object, and in- cludes Roman Catholic clergy, local politicians and settlement workers. The churches were the prime movers, driven to such exertions by the menacing fact that the better members of their congregations are leaving the district for more de- sirable residential quarters. Already something has been accomplished in the way of securing cleaner streets and better order. It is through concrete effort based on familiarity with the detailed facts that this attempt promises to be effective. Slight as this enterprise is, it represents a suffi- cient conjunction of forces to rouse the hope of distinct and permanent gains in social conditions at the North End. It is carrying toward a logical conclusion the motive in which the best type of social service, as seen in these districts, is under- taken. By means of allied action on the part of all their centres of influence, whether of a normal or an exceptional character, the great bulk of the population of each district could be drawn into a COMMUNITY OF INTEREST 355 common loyalty and trained to a collective initia- tive. Every helpful agency would be enabled to make its full contribution to the local well-being with only a minimum of loss on account of isola- tion or cross-purposes. Each would have its stand- ing as a recognized constituent factor in the total life of its district. The best inherent possibilities of the people would be brought to light by such developments of mutual aid. It v/ould then be easy to secure from the municipality further large measures designed to meet district needs. In gen- eral, through the growth of district public spirit, the North and West Ends, as compact units, would be enabled to draw far more deeply upon the vast resources of the city's civilization. CHAPTER XII ASSIMILATION : A TWO-EDGED SWORD There is somewhere a parable tliat narrates how a dread disease appeared in the lodge of a great estate. The manor-house was far in through wind- ing lanes. Yet one day the scourge, spreading this way and that, leaped over the distance, smit- ing the firstborn and future master. Thus was it burned into the souls of those in the great house and those in the cottage that there is one human family. At the city's gateway lie two communities stricken with the evils attendant on toil and deprivation, and kept aloof by alien birth as well as by poverty from prosperous, indigenous citizenship. In the simpler round of domestic life and friendly inter- course, the people are to a surprising degree with- out reproach ; but the larger social life tends to drift as it will. There is a measure of vicarious public spirit sustained for these districts by men and women whose sphere of influence would ordinarily lie elsewhere. These persons also strive to broaden ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 357 and strengthen character among the people against the stram of an untried, distracting existence. The ultimate issue for individual and common well- being lies in the counter-currents which are bring- ing these communities into the full vital circulation of the city's existence. The North and West Ends, along several im- portant Hues, provide a large share of the labor force required for the city. They are also rapidly opening avenues of small trade auxiliary to some of the city's principal business enterprises. The development of skilled workers is slow and needs encouragement. Not so with the shopkeepers. In- deed within a comparatively short time many of them will be found in the ranks of the downtown merchants, while their children are even now for- cing their way upward into the professions. Yet the path of success is blocked to many of those who feel in themselves the capacity for better things. To them America has represented great hopes. Democracy meant a breaking down of the barriers that confined them ; but they discover this to be true only as affecting the technical frame- work of democracy, — the administration of gov- ernment. Baffled in other directions, men with initiative and mental grasp give rein to their power and ambition in the field of politics. These 358 AMERICANS IN PROCESS leaders develop an unscrupulous system of con- trol over local interests, public and private. The spread of this system to all similar districts has made it to a large extent dominant in the pub- lic administration of the city. The prosperous classes have begun to find that a demoralizing political regime, bred in the midst of an alien, iU- favored way of life, is getting its hold upon the affairs of their pleasant residential districts, and even at times threatens important downtown busi- ness interests. Here begins the application of the parable. Among the most respectable suburban population to be found within the boundaries of the city there is a startling instance of political contagion. A man holding great political power, formerly in high office, determined to hold still higher, stands practically convicted of misappropriation of public funds. Notwithstanding this fact, it is only by the most earnest and persistent efforts of high- minded citizens that he is kept from full politi- cal control of the district. What is the secret of his mysterious power? This man, a Republi- can, of New England origin, now living in the same fashion as his suburban neighbors, began his political career not many years ago as a resi- dent of the West End, under the tutelage of the ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWOBD 359 Democratic boss of that district. The West End Democratic boss secured his nomination and elec- tion as a Republican to the State legislature. This same boss assisted him to an important appointive office under a Republican mayor. On removing to the suburbs he at once proceeded to put in force the policy of his master, adapted somewhat to dif- ferent local conditions. The two men continue to maintain an offensive and defensive alliance, with utter disregard of party lines. It is as if in the Civil War there had been two bands of guerrillas, ostensibly on opposite sides in the contest but really acting in unison, caring nothing for the issue at stake, and only for booty. In the City Council it is now and then possible to see this alli- ance in actual operation. There are times when some disgraceful scheme has been so thoroughly exposed as to draw off all members who have any healthy fear of public opinion. At such moments, when the smoke of conflict clears, a group of the West End type of Democrats and certain Dorches- ter Republicans are often found standing together^ held by the honor which obtains among such. This combination greatly aids the boss of the West End in postponing the effects of the incur- sion of an alien race into his ward. The North End leader has been studying how he too, under 360 AMERICANS IN PROCESS similar stress, may make to himself friends of the suburban mammon of unrighteousness. He is, in a different way, proceeding to lay a long base line for general municipal operations. He has decided to give up his home in the country and establish himself as resident boss in one of the Dorchester wards, just beyond South Boston, whose leader died recently. This ward presents a promising future to him, as it is fast becoming Democratic. His brother will remain as regent in the North End. The North End ward and this Dorchester ward, in the near future, will be found acting in rigid unison. They will exercise a combined lev- erage at City Hall equal to that of three or four wards acting separately. Supposing the present political working unity between the North and West Ends to continue, the two districts pictured, forth in this book, each with its surburban satrapy, will determine the public policy of the city of Boston. Political conditions in districts like the North and West Ends are the occasion of much of the corrupting influence which certain corporations ex- ert upon the City Council and the State legislature, though the blame of the corporations is not less but greater on that account. The bosses of these two districts are frequently mentioned in such ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 361 connections. There is striking evidence tliat cor- poration leaders accept, use and fortify the ward machine system. A recent flagrant case before the legislature, involving a matter profoundly and obviously affecting the well-being of the congested masses of the people, was at last disposed of sat- isfactorily only by a powerful veto message from the governor. At every stage the representatives of the North and West Ends voted like automata in support of extortionate corporation demands. The explanation is, of course, that so many cor- poration jobs and other favors have been dispensed in those districts that their representatives were completely in the power of the corporation. If a prominent corporation leader aspires to the gover- norship, with its saving veto power, the ease with which he secures control of the political resources of Wards 6 and 8, and similar districts, is the prime element of strength in his candidacy. The time must come when the honest citizens of Dorchester, who find themselves hard put to it to crush the viper in their bosom, shall open their eyes to the fact that the political problem of Dorches- ter cannot be disposed of except by including the North and West Ends in a combined attack. Back Bay citizens with some of the old-time Boston public spirit, who are amazed to discover college mates t62 AMERICANS IN PROCESS and fellow club members confronting them in their reasonable efforts to protect the pubHc interest, must begin to devote an important part of their attention to the enemy's base of supply for alder- manic and legislative votes in Wards 6 and 8 and similar little known sections of the city. Saga- cious business men, demanding that the legislature shall treat corj)oration franchises precisely as a business firm would, must not only scrutinize the propositions which the corporations set before the legislature, but must deal with those determining factors in the background, where legislators from the crowded districts have their walk and conver- sation with their constituents, which prevent their making a good bargain for the public and cause them so easily to acquiesce in arrogant corporation demands. It may be doubted whether evil communica- tions are much worse than no communications at all. There is a strange, ever-increasing reaction upon the life of affairs and upon social morality in Boston as a result of the rift in society between the native and immigrant stocks. In affairs the distinction, speaking roughly, is that between busi- ness and politics. The successful business classes are filled with contempt for the entire political personnel. Membership in the City Council im- ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 363 pairs 9j man's business credit if he has any. It is literally true that among business men an apology seems to be called for when one is seen in City Hall. In Athens it was the mark of the aristocracy that they governed the city, while the newly en- franchised class attended to its provisioning. In this latter-day democratic city, the situation is pre- cisely reversed. This means that the large majority of those men in Boston who are making the fullest use of American economic opportunities are fast dis- missing from their minds the civic responsibilities which form the just and essential balance to those opportunities. Considering the serious nature of our municipal needs, the question may fairly be raised whether the average business man in Boston is any worthier pillar of a democratic municipality than is the average politician. 1 On the moral side, the working classes, strikingly illustrated by the two districts under review in this volume, are not held together with the established and comfortable classes in a single great spiritual communion standing ever for common humanity. The two sections of society are in separate and opposing religious bodies. The force of these di- vergent loyalties is distinctly anti-social. Religious cleavage, coinciding very closely with racial and industrial lines of distinction, tends to make the 364 AMERICANS IN PROCESS old-establislied Protestantism of the city a mere middle-class religion. To Protestantism, and to Protestants as such, this means exclusion from the most essential moral function of the church in a democracy, and ultimate apathy and atrophy in the face of public moral needs. ! So far as informal social intercourse goes, the native part of the city's population has been con- stituted a separated aristocracy, in spite of itself, by the coming of the immigrants. There is some- times a saving human relation between classes where they have the same blood and the same traditions, as in Scotland. Here, on the contrary, the favored class, except by special exertion, has little if any common experience upon which to base common understanding with those who make up the city's industrial population. Even when persons from one side come in contact with persons from the other, there are special obstacles to that by-play of acquaintance which softens and uplifts the motives of life, and serves particularly as an antidote to the temptations of the prosperous. It even begins to appear that the absence of the means of social intercommunication is a serious hindrance in the conduct of business. To the employer, the ease of coming to terms and keeping on terms with his la- bor force is an increasingly important factor in his ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 365 success. Many thoughtful business men are con- scious of the fact that the character of the growth of the city's population has left them particularly at a loss in this respect. It is clear, therefore, that the problems of the North and West Ends cannot be considered alone. In the more obvious point of view, the needs of these districts, in themselves, are so great as to call upon the whole city for remedy. When the situation is looked into more deeply, the reflex influence of these communities upon the city as an entirety is so pervasive as to challenge the collec- tive efforts of citizens and the corporate action of the municipality and the commonwealth. There has already been governmental procedure against unsanitary dwellings, against a degrading form of industry, against base amusements, which has lifted the whole material and moral scale of living. Steps toward the public supply of positive social opportunity are now being taken. The two waterside playgrounds for summer sports are soon to have their complement in two public indoor gym- nasiums with baths, one for each district. This, with the provision of baths in the new school build- ings, will furnish satisfactory public facilities for cleanliness and physical exercise. A beginning has been made in the public use of school buildings, out \ 366 AMERICANS IN PBOCESS of regular hours, for special forms of education and recreation ; this movement will, without doubt, be rapidly extended. At no distant date there must be in each of these districts a kind of local town hall which shall serve as a highly attractive centre for technical and artistic training, for the popu- lar ministry of good music, good books and good pictures, and for every sort of friendly gathering ithat includes large numbers of different racial types of the people. Such an institution may, (■ without hesitation, be said to be a necessity to the ' Americanization and general progress of such com- munities. ) Along with new forms of municipal enterprise, there is still need of further penetrating action in the better care of the streets, in the establishment of a still higher standard for the condemnation of unsanitary dwellings and in further restrictions upon the alteration of old houses into flats and tenements. It is much to be hoped, in the inter- est of the North End population, that the day may soon come when the business of the city will re- quire the opening of new streets which shall cut through some of its congested areas to connect the North and South Stations. The development of a far-sighted, human mu- nicipal policy will add greatly to the health and ASSIMILATION : A TWO-EDGED SWORD 367 happiness of North and West End people. It will have an indirect result which will be hardly less important. Such municipal action, coming close to the needs of the people, will create among them a realistic civic sense. It will give them some ac- tual experience and training in the privileges of democracy. It will constantly illustrate to them, in such ways that they will themselves feel the distinction, the relative effects of good and bad administration. While such a programme will not destroy boss power, it is certain that abstract re- form is impotent to produce that result in these districts. What may be hoped for is the gradual rise of a higher type of political leader, one who will seek popular support through the promotion of such public services as have been mentioned, rather than through various dubious forms of pat- ronage. A quite unideal politician of this more progres- sive type may well have the cooperation of those who are seeking the next step, not the ultimate height, in municipal and social improvement. Poli- ticians who persist in turning their eyes away from the light, who show no sense of their public re- sponsibility, and no purpose to raise the condition of the entire mass of the people in their districts, must be pilloried as public enemies. Here again 368 AMERICANS IN FBOCESS there must be a general movement throughout the city if actual results are to be achieved. The power of all the local politicians is, to a large extent, sustained and increased by combinations formed in the Board of Aldermen. The total number of responsible citizens throughout the city could assert their will if the aldermen were nomi- nated and elected at large, and the records of all candidates for the board placed under the scrutiny of the whole city.^ The Public School Associa- tion, after a few years of determined effort, has been able to change the character of the School Board. Having won in this preliminary skirmish, municipal reform must now proceed to the far more serious task of providing the city with a re- sponsible group, if not majority, of men in its chief legislative chamber. The high standard which has been kept for the mayoralty would thus be made much more secure ; but, what is especially to the present point, the possibility of drawing upon public resources and wielding public influence as material of ward machine transactions would be greatly restricted. ^ Recent legislation looking- toward the abolition of nomi- nating conventions makes the chance of success in this matter much greater than it has been at any time before. These con- ventions are often used to defeat the popular will. ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWOBD 3G9 In support of this attack, front and rear, in City Hall and among the tenement houses, against the worst phases of municipal corruption, there is urgent need of action on the part of business organizations, on the one hand, and the church, on the other. The commercial and moral weKare of the city is certainly deeply involved. But aside from politics, the situation in the North and West Ends, and other similar districts, calls for large enterprise on the part of these interests, each act- ing within its own sphere. There are ways of economic service for the sake of the city and the nation amid such popu- lations, affecting their housing, their food, their industry, their recreation, in which there is ur- gent need of the best business method and the best business skill. Young men in commercial callings, who under different circumstances would aspire to fulfill some honorable official public duty, may thus find opportunities which to the discern- ing mind are quite as interesting and rewarding. As to the churches of the well-to-do, — which, speaking broadly, means the Protestant churches, — it has been made clear that in their formal doc- trinal capacity, they can touch only the fringe of the situation set forth in these chapters. Not far from one third of all the people of Boston fall into 370 AMERICANS IN PROCESS the same general category as tlie inhabitants of the North and West Ends, — heavily handicapped by material conditions in every struggle for char- acter and the more abundant life, held in religious associations chiefly made up of themselves, and therefore impotent to lift the load/ Numerous forerunners have indeed gone forth out of the re- sourceful, separated churches of the prosperous city districts ; but there must come out of these comfortable congregations a large, free, adventu- rous movement which in the name of the one God and a common humanity shall address itself to this greatest of all the city's spiritual needs. It is a melancholy reflection that when any serious moral crisis arises in the thick of the Boston working classes, the old-established religious life of the city is almost utterly without authority or power among them in shaping the issue. Yet there are a thousand human ways, aside from the region of sectarian strife, in which such moral influence can be establishedy For the larger work of social uplift among the people of the North and West Ends, the foregoing studies indicate the main lines of action. The popu- lation may be broadly separated into three different strata, each having needs quite different from those of the others. There is the residuum at the bottom, ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWOED 871 characterized by some chronic form of dependence or degeneracy. There is the aristocracy of labor at the top, those who are likely to rise out of work- ing-class life altogether, including all who are born with special capacity, whatever their surroundings may be. Between the two levels is a great middle class of labor, the working class proper, made up of those who will neither rise nor fall out of their gi-ade, and most of whose children will not pass above it. Among those who make up the residuum, much more thoroughgoing methods are needed than those now in force. The tramps, or roving paupers, who are very common in these districts, especially in winter, ought to encounter in Boston a work test that would be sternly reinforced by the police and by an awakened public sentiment. The Board of Overseers, by a daring, determined policy in con- nection with the Wayfarers' Lodge, could effectu- ally remove Boston from the tramps' road map, and thus abolish the roving pauper so far as Bos- ton is concerned. The early stages of resident pauperism, drunkenness, prostitution and crime should be met by patient counteracting treatment ; but their more advanced phases ought all to be dealt with after the manner of the cumulative sentence leading up to permanent seclusion. By 372 AMERICANS IN PROCESS removing these specially difficult factors from the poverty equation, it would be much easier to conduct forms of relief for those who have hon- orably fallen out of the struggle for subsistence, temporarily or permanently. There would be free scope for broadly devised, private, cooperative and municipal measures of assistance to families over- come by some domestic catastrophe, to workmen forced into the ranks of the unemployed and to industrial veterans who have worthily ended their term of service. All such effort, since early Chris- tian days, has had its dignity from the side of human compassion. Modern economic science lias given added meaning to it by showing the impor- tance of saving the wastes of labor force, and of shielding the superior grades of labor from the disastrous competition of those who, for one reason or another, are driven to a desperate fight for bare existence. For those who stand contrasted with the strag- glers of the industrial army, whose native capaci- ties mark them out for the higher levels of work and an appreciation of the finer things of fife, it is of the greatest public importance that a cramp- ing environment should not be permitted to shut them off ^ from opportunities on the plane of their talents. One of the most serious obstacles that ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 373 confronts the ambitious youth from the North and West Ends takes the form of certain racial dislikes felt by men of power in the city's business affairs. Whatever ground there may be for such feelings, they are comparatively groundless as affecting the rising generation. An attitude of this sort, where there ought to be opened up to the bright young Jew the full range of industry, is condemning him, somewhat as in the Middle Ages, to certain narrow lines of trade. It leaves to enterprising young Irish-Americans httle recourse aside from the ever open path into corrupt politics. Fre- quently they go into ward politics in order to get a start in business or the law, and are held for life by its lucrative but ignoble inducements. The Italians cannot be kept from entering a very wide range of occupations, but their rise in their call- ings is often hindered by that caution on the part of employers which is akin to prejudice. There must be a wider entrance for the children of the newcomers into the great constructive activities of the city. J This is a matter of serious moment to the comniercial progress of the city, as well as to the young men of the immigrant nationalities. The waste of ability and genius — one of the sadly prominent phenomena of North and West End existence — is coming to be recognized as a 374 AMERICANS IN PROCESS dangerous form of public profligacy.^ The pro- ductive capacity of a nation or a city is the fun- damental source of its wealth. In the city of Boston, three brilliant races are bringing forth a new brood. The Irish, for the first time in their history, are having a just opportunity to work out their destiny, held by emulation of the Anglo- Saxons, but no longer driven to the wall by their sheer aggressive force. The Jewish race has an immemorial record as the prolific mother of genius. The Italian strain has historically outstripped aU others by being thrice — once politically, once religiously, once intellectually — the dominating power of the world. Yet it is almost a matter of haphazard whether children of these races among us, who may be born with the highest order of capacity, do not have the spirit within them quenched by a childhood spent in dismal, degrad- ing streets. Even after such capacity has begun distinctly to manifest itseK, we are content often to throw it away by not making unfailing pro- vision for necessary training and apprenticeship. In England and France it is now publicly recog- nized as essential to the general advancement in wealth and welfare that the education of specially capable boys and girls should not be hindered by 1 Marshall : Principles of Economics, Vol. I, 2d. ed., p. 272. ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 375 such an adventitious circumstance as the poverty or ignorance of the parents. There could hardly be a more profitable investment of public funds than by the establishment of scholarships under which the successful grammar school pupil, other- wise kept by poverty from going farther, should have the opportunity of continuing his education along academical or technical lines, until he had received the best development and training which his talents justified and the community could sup- For the vast majority of the people in the North and West Ends, between the submerged grades at the bottom and the aristocracy of labor at the top, the sound policy is to encourage and mould every helpful form of association. They are not, on the one hand, goaded by necessity, nor on the other incited by ambition. They constitute the working class proper. They are coUectivists ; and loyalties of various kinds are the determining: forces amons: them. Indeed the whole movement of present- day society makes it essential that they should cling together. It is of vital consequence to all concerned, however, that such forms of attachment should be tempered by intelligence, and by toler- ance toward other types of people in the com- munity. 376 AMERICANS IN PROCESS Trade unionism is indispensable to a fair stand- ard of life in such a population. Organization for tlie protection of wages is a step to which the more recent bodies of immigrants may well be urged. This would prevent them from establish- ing for themselves and tending to fix for others a scale of living which is deleterious to the inter- ests and prospects of the city and the nation. A compact and enlightened form of political organi- zation among the more recent immigrants will be the means of securing them such individual con- sideration as they need from public authorities, and will teach them the more advantageous as well as nobler way of seeking the general bettering of the local life rather than joining in a scramble for patronage and spoils. In stimulating such organized action, as well as leavening with better purposes the whole local scheme of mutual aid in the home and of friendly intercourse in the neighborhood, the settlements and other similar centres play an increasingly im- portant part.^ The Roman Catholic churches, which ^ The public value of such work is beg-inning to be capable of statistical demonstration. The report of the Institutions Regis- tration Department for 1901-2 shows a falling o£B in juvenile arrests of from twelve to twenty per cent, throughout the city during the past ten years. The cause of this improvement is ascribed tentatively to the better provision for special cases of ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 377 until recently have kept to their one great task of direct appeal to the inner personal nature, are catching something of the same spirit. Too high praise cannot be given to the plan of the newly- formed North End Improvement Association, which was orsranized at the instance of some of their clergy, and includes representatives of all the lead- ing agencies for social improvement in the district. In the training of the mass of the children, with their average abilities, there is profound need of instruction directed specifically toward their best future usefulness. It is a curious anomaly that the public school should send its pupils forth into the world presumably to earn their livelihood, but with no training for any sort of vocation. Manual training for boys and domestic instruction for girls are being introduced under the stimulus of private philanthropic enterprise. It is to be hoped that they wiU take up much more space in the pubHc school curriculum, even if a much shorter list of studies should be made necessary as a result. The importance of industrial education is, how- ever, coming to be felt by all observant persons. The vital question of moral education remains neglected and dependent children, and to " the manifold individ- ual and associate efforts to improve the environment of chil- dren and to direct their youthful energy within law-abiding channels." 378 AMERICANS IN PROCESS strangely in abeyance. It cannot long remain so ; it must soon become a burning issue. The Roman Catholic Cburcli stands alone in its proper insist- ence upon such education ; but by maintaining separate schools it serves to keep alive prejudices in its own and other followings which injure the cause of religion as well as the cause of patriotism. The time must come when the public school author- ities must make it possible for different religious persuasions to provide their different types of in- struction in harmonious relation with the public school system. In this way the values which the Roman Catholic is rightly intent upon would be secured, while the dangers wliich the Protestant rightly fears from any connection of Church and State would be reduced to a minimum. Among the different racial types found in the North and West Ends, there are two which pre- sent problems that are exceptionally difficult, though hardly at all involved with any question of foreign immigration. The Negro in the Northern cities may, in time, present difficulties comparable to those which he stands for in some of the agricul- tural regions of the South. So far as the slum is to be a permanency in Boston, it will exist in a chain of black neighborhoods, each having a penumbra formed by mixture with the offscouring of other ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWORD 379 races. There is much encouragement to be found in the advance made by many colored people ; but for a considerable proportion of them, as against the barriers of almost ineradicable race prejudice, there is little hopeful prospect. f The lodging-house population, an increasing mass of men and women of American or nearly related origin, without the restraint of family ties, ground in the highly organized machinery of great business establishments, the men's wages lowered by the competition of the women, and the women hoping to marry the men whose incomes they have unwittingly undermined, constitute a situation that seems to epitomize the industrial and moral com- plications of city life. Some slight efforts are being made to make good the peculiar social depri- vations of these people ; such efforts must be greatly increased. The state of things is likely, however, to be worse before it is better ; and real improve- ment must await certain changes in the underlying causes which produce it. The sentiments of people generally must be altered with regard to the desira- bility of mercantile employment as against skilled manual work ; and there must be a less regard for appearance in the establishment of home life. The time has hardly yet arrived for any safe estimate of the psychological traits which the dif- ^380 AMEBICANS IN PROCESS ferent immigrant nationalities will contribute to tlie future type of Boston citizen.- Amalgama- tion has hardly yet begun. It is clear enough, however, that they are, each in its different way, making valuable contributions to the city's eco- nomic and moral weKare.; The Irish, holding to Celtic clan traditions, ad- vance in a body. Their progress is slow, but quite general. The North and West Ends contain a considerable number of them who have proved incapable of rising, but throughout the city their steady ascent in the scale of well-being is one of I the obvious facts of the city's life. It is true that j as voters many of the Irish can hardly be said as i yet to be Americanized. To an observer situated so as to measure subtle changes in their social standards, a higher type of pubhc spirit is clearly seen to be spreading among them. Such progress will be more rapid when public spirit among the native population inclines to seek the cooperation of the best leaders among the Irish in making the city government more fully serve the local public needs of the more congested wards. In the matter of liquor drinking, the past few years have wit- nessed a distinct veering of sentiment on the part of many Irish citizens, and the Irish clergy in Boston are fast coming into line for organized opposition ASSIMILATION : A TWO-EDGED SWORD 381 to the saloon. The beneficial results of such a change of attitude among the leaders of the Irish population will be inconceivably great. In the North and West Ends, within a few years the last signs of the supremacy of the Irish must pass away, and there will be only degraded rem- nants of them left stranded in odd nooks and corners. The North End, so far as the encroach- ments of trade allow it to continue as a place of abode, is to be an Italian stronghold. The West End will pass quite fully into the possession of the Jews. The more progressive members of both nationalities will gradually leave these colonies and scatter themselves throughout the city and suburbs. Thus bereft, and not being so much under the observation of people of other types, there will be danger in both colonies of a relapse. The baser sort among the Italians will feel them- selves under less restraint against deeds of disorder and violence. Many of the Jews will inclose them- selves in an inhuman sordidness. The violence is no greater evil than the sordidness ; there will be need of penetrating measures against both. It is impossible to doubt, however, that each colony in its characteristic way will maintain a predominantly worthy character. In both there will be a high degree of industry, sobriety and domestic peace. 382 AMERICANS IN PROCESS In one the goal of effort will be prosperity ; in the other the simple joys of life. There is already ground for hope that many of the enterprising spirits, who leave their immigrant neighborhoods for the larger theatre of the city's activity, will find satisfaction in seeking the welfare and pro- gress of the local communities in which they and their countrymen were introduced to the ways of American citizenship. The immigrant nationalities are abeady adding variety and fresh impulse to the city's industrial and social interests. It is essential that the estab- lished civilization of Boston should much more fuUy lay hold upon the body of feelings and tradi- tions which are represented at the North and West Ends; The motive should be to have them affected by the American spirit, but also to have the Amer- ican spirit affected by what is real in them. The loyal American, honoring and seeking to preserve much in the genius of each nationality, will thus stimulate each racial type to seek for what is worthy in all the others. There is a growing conviction that democracy is not merely a political system, but an ethical philo- sophy. In either view it requires for its existence a large measure of social coherence. This must not be of the nature of a formless solidarity, but must ASSIMILATION: A TWO-EDGED SWOBD 383 provide for the perspective that comes of having genuine identity in every type of mind and char- acter, and in every form of association which men make on the basis of their heredity, their work, their recreation, their moral ideals. The political framework of the country is a federal union, estab- lished in sacrifice, preserved at an appalling cost. In an equally profound sense, the better social order in which the American life of the future will be gathered up must be a federal unipn also. ) INDEX Adams, Samttel, 26. Agricultural work, 118. Aldermen, Board of, 169. Alleys. See Streets and alleys. Almshouse, City. See Boston, Pauper Trustees. Americanization, 50, 61 ft., 253 ; of children 291 f., 317 ff. See Na- tionalities, Immigration. Americans, 42 f. Amusements, Chap. viii. See Na- tionalities. Ann Pollard, 12. Arrests, North End, 190 ff., 196, 202 f. ; West End, 211 f., 220 f. See Crime, Police. Art galleries, 236. Artisans and mechanics, Colonial, 14, 16, 17, 27, 29 ; Irish, 121 ; Ital- ian, 117 ; Jewish, 117 ; Portu- guese, 122; Statistics of. See Assessors' list. Assessors' list, 135 f. Associated Charities, 326 f ., 329 fif. Banks and bankers, 111, 119 f. Barbers, 122 f. Baron de Hirsch Fund. See Jew- ish Charities. Baths, at North End Union, 349 ; public, 365 ; school, 300. Beacon Hill, 13. Better Dwellings Society, 86. Blackstone, first settler, 11, 22. See Streets. Boarding houses, 38 f., 140. See Lodging houses. Bootblacks, lis. Boss, political, 151 ff., 171, 177, 359 f. See Political types. Boston, Almshouse, 127, 330 ; Com- mon, 1, 37; Cooperative Build- ing Co., 81, 339 f. ; Health Act, 82 ; House of Correction, 127 ; incorporation of, 73; Island of Boston, 12, 35. Bowdoin Square, 21, 28, 36. Bowling Green. See Bowdoin Square. British-Americans, political tem- per of, 65. Building Company, Boston Co- operative. See Boston. Buildings. See Legislation, Tene- ments. Burglary. See Crime. Carpet-baggers, 162, 166. Catholicism, compared with Juda- ism, 282 ff. ; Irish and Italian compared, 273 ff. ; Portuguese, 275 ; methods of, 376. Caucus, methods, 165 ff. ; nomina- tion papers, 163. See Parties, Politics. Cellars, 78, 82, 84 f., 98 f. Census. See Population. Charity, Chap. xi. See Philan- thropy. Charlesbank. See Parks and Play- grounds. Child Labor, 118, 125 f., 306. Children, Chap. x. ; training of, industrial, 299 ff., 377 ; moral, 300, 377 f. See Child labor. Philan- thropy. Children's Aid Society, 334 f. ; Home libraries, 350. Churches, Catholic, Chap, ix.: North End, St. Mary's, 267 ff. ; St. Stephen's, 268 ff.; Sacred Heart, 271 f. ; St. Leonard's, 270 f. ; West End, St. Joseph's, 269. See Catholicism, Eeligious work. Churches, Jewish, Baldwin Place, 276 ; Smith's Court, 276. Churches, Protestant, Chap, ix.: 386 INDEX North End, Baptist, 254 ; Christ, 254 f. ; Congregational, 257 ; Italian, 257; Methodist, 256; New Brick, 254; Old North, 254, see Mathers; West End, Baptist Tabernacle, 265; Bul- finch Place, 263 ; Charles Street ; Methodist, 258; First Metho- dist, 262 f. ; Eeformed Presbyte- rian, 262 ; Revere Street Metho- dist, 258 ; St. Andrew's, 264 f. ; St. Augustine's, 259; St. John the Evangelist's, 262 ; Twelfth Bap- tist, 258 ; West Church, 258 ; Zion Methodist, 258. See Pro- testantism, Religious work. City Council, 362 f. City Hall, 363, Civic Service House, 348. See Jews. Civil Service, 154, 170 f. Clerks, 123, 134 ff. See Shops. Clubs and gangs, political, 155, 184; social, Negro, 249; school graduate, 305, 343 f. Confectioners, 122, 124. Contractors, 122. Copp's Hill, 13, 16, 27. Corporations, employment by, 121 ; power of, 361 f. Crime, Chap. vii. ; at North End, 207 ; at West End, 213 1, 221 ; statistics of, 146, 190, 209 ; treat- ment of, 371. See Arrests, Drunkenness, Gambhng, Mur- der, Police, Prostitution. Dance halls, 192 ff. Day nurseries, 335 f . Death rate, 74. See Disease. Democracy, essentials of, 382; limitations of, 357. Dependent classes, 135. See Charity, Philanthropy. Disease, 72 f., 75 ff., 93 ff. See Death rate. Dock Square, 14, 18. Docks, 2. Dorchester, Democratic party, 360 ; political problem of, 361 ; Republicans, 359. Drunkenness, 380. See Arrests, Crime. Dwellings, earher, Chap. ii. ; mod- ern, see Lodging houses, Tene- ments. Education, Chap. x. See also 144. Elizabeth Peabody House, 350. Endicott, John, 19. Epidemics. See Disease. Epworth League House, 337, 348. Estabrook, H. K., 87. Evening schools. See Schools. Factories, 105, 124. Faneuil Hall, 28. Ferry, 46 ; earUest, 17. Fires, 18. Firelighters, 282. Fort Hill, 13, 35, 80. Frankland, Sir Harry, 25. Franklin, Benjamin, 26. Fruit dealers, 107 f., 120. Gambling, 202, 204 ff., 220. See Crime. Gardens, 21, 27. Garment trades, 106, 110, 115 ff., 133 f., 157 f. Gaston, Mayor, 79. Government, colonial, 18 ; crown, 18 f. Grammar schools, importance of, 293, 304, 307, 314, 319. See Schools. Great Cove, 12 f., 15, 35. Greeks, 313 ; industries of, 122. Grocery trade, 108. Gymnasiums, at North End Union, 349 ; public, 351 ff., 365. Hancock, John, 26. Hanover St., 14, 289. Health, Board of, 8, 73 f., 78 f. ; powers of, 82, 88 ; recommenda- tions of, 102 f . ; reports of, 86, 93. Hebrew Benevolent Society. See Jewish Charities. Hebrew Industrial School, 347. High schools, 296, 308. See Schools. Home libraries, 350. See Chil- dren's Aid Society. Hospitals, City, 337 ; Epworth League, 337 ; House of the Good Samaritan, 336; Lying-in, 336; Mass. Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 337 ; Mass. General, 336 ; Mt. Sinai, 337 ; St. Monica's, 336 ; Vincent Memorial Hospital, 336. Hotels, 120 ; loss of license, 197 f. ; West End, 216, 221. See Li- censes, Restaurants, Saloons. Hours of labor, 133 f. Housing, model, 339 f. ; problem of, 74 f., 103. See Disease, Lodging- INDEX 387 \^^ \ ^ bouses, Overcrowding, Tene- ments. Hull, John, 19. Immigrants, limited opportuni- ties of, 357, 373. Immigration, 5, 7, 34, 41 ff. ; better class of, 195 ; causes of, 46 fC, ; protection of immigrants, 119 ; results of, 7 f., 146, 199, 382. Incomes, 137. Industrial Aid Society, 338. Industrial training, 299 fl., 349, 377. Industries, Chap. v. ; list of, 136 f. Institutions, Itegistration Depart- ment Report, 376, footnote. Irish, 41 flf., 56 ; development of, 379 f. ; festivals, 250; genius of, 374 ; mode of life, 70 ; political temper, 63, 159. Italians, 44, 46 ff.; benefit socie- ties, 331, 343 ; characteristics, 117, 143, 199, 204, 214, 224 ff. ; genius, 374; development, 58, 380 ; festivals, 228 ff., 284 ; mode of life, 52, 70, 83, 139 ff. ; political temper, 64 f., 157 f., 162 ; children, 290, 312 ; women, 234. Jewelers, ill. Jewish Charities, Federation of, 328. Jews, benefit orders, 343 ; charac- teristics, 67 ff., 108, 142 ff., 199 ff., 205, 209 f., 237; children, 290, 312 ; development, 57, 301 ; fes- tivals, 239, 278 ff. ; genius, 374 ; landlords, 113, 174, 341 ; mode of life, 53 ff., 70, 137, 238 ; political temper, 63 f., 157, 162. Judaism, 276 ff. ; compared with Catholicism. 282 ff. ; festivals, 239, 278, 280, 282 ; synagogues, 276. Junlc shops, 109 f., 157 f. Juvenile lawbrealcers, decrease of, 376, footnote. Kindergartens, 291 ; North Bennet S t., 346. See Elizabeth Peabody House. Kitchen bar-rooms. See Saloons. Labor, Statistics, 84 f. See La- borers, Unemployed. Laborers, 118, 121 f., 126 ff.,371 ; un- skilled, 134 ff., 299, 342. See Labor, Unemployed. Land deals, political, 172 f. Landlords, Jewish. See Jews. Legislation, building, 100 f. ; moral, 8 f., 82, 88 ; sanitary, 7 f., 73, 82 f. 88 f., 99, 101, 365. Leopold Morse Home. See Jew- ish charities. Licenses, liquor, 173, 197, 200 f. See Hotels, Saloons. Liquor traffic. See Hotels, Li- censes, Saloons. Little Italy, 3. Lodging houses, 39, 56 f., 93,140; Social influence of, 379. See Boarding houses. Manufacturing. See Factories. Markets, 2 ; great, 107 ; Jewish, 108, 111, 141 ; political boycott of, 173. Marshall, Thomas, 17, 19. Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association, 353. Mathers, clergymen, 16, 25. Medical relief, 336 ff. Merchants, 136. Middlemen, 223. Mill Creek, formation of, 15; water cut off of, 35; drainage into, 72. Mill Pond, formation of, 15 ; filled in, 35. Murder, 207 ff. See Crime. Nationalities. See American, Brit- ish, Greeks, Irish, Italians, Jews, Negroes, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Syrian. Also Assimilation, Population, Immi- gration. Naturalization, 161. Negroes, 4, 37, 45 ; benefit orders, 332 ; characteristics, 60, 142, 248 ; churches, 258 ; mode of life, 55, 70, 140 ; occupations, 123 ; recrea- tions, 248 ; political temper, 66, 160; vicious class, 21 7 f. North Bennet Street Industrial School, 301, 345. North End, Chap. ii. ; boundaries and thoroughfares, 1 ff., 14, 20 f., 31 ; character, 2 ff.,222 ; growth, 16 ff. ; labor force, 357 ; moral de- cline and recovery, 33 f., 193 ff. North End Improvement Associa- tion, 354, 377. North End Park, 182, 351. North End Union, 349. North Square, 16, 18, 24. 888 INDEX North St., 14. Organ grinders, 135, 226 f. Overcrowding, 7, 52 ff., 80, 83, 139 ; prevention of, 93, 99; protest against, 76; statistics of, 84 f., 96 f. See Legislation. Overseers of the Poor, 324, 371. Padrones, 113, 119. Parlis and playgrounds, 90, 103, 351 ff.,365. Parochial schools, 273, 309 ff. Parties, political. Chap. vi. ; affili- ations to, 158 fl., 167 ; candi- dates of, 162; loyalty to, 169; nominations of, 162 ; organiza- tion of, 154 fiE., 163 f., 168 f. Pauperism, causes of, 333. See Dependent classes. Pauper Trustees, 324. Pawnshops, 109. Peddlers, 108 ff., 135, 157 f. Philanthropy, Chap, xi.; allied action, 354 f. ; child relief work, 335 ff. ; division of labor, 329; private relief work, 7 f., 326 ff. ; public relief 9, 324 f. ; statistics of relief, 330 ff. ; three forms of relief, 321 f. Phips, Governor, 19. Police, Div. l, 190, 196; Div. 2, 211 : intervention, 192, 196 f., 222 f. Politics, ward, Chap. vi. ; 147 ff. ; as a career, 357 f. ; carpet bag- gers, 162, 166 ; clubs and gangs, 155, 184 ; fraudulent registra- tion, 166 ff. ; land deals, 172 f. ; leaders and methods, 151 fl., 157 f., 161, 165, 169 ff., 177 ; natu- ralization, 161 ; non-resident voters, 161 ; quarrels, 178 ; ral- lies, 164 f. ; woman influence, 177. See Americanization, Caucus, Political corruption, Political types. Political corruption, 358, 361 f. Political types, 179 ff., 183 ff. Population, early, chap ii. ; recent, chap. iii. ; growth in, 76, 95 fl. Porter, Dwight, 83. Portuguese, 45 ; characteristics of, 59, 122, 140 ; mode of life, 245 ; festivals, 247 ; societies, 247. Professions, 124, 136 f. Prostitution, 9, 57, 197 f. ; Italian, 213 fl., Negro, 218, See Crime. Protestantism, 257, 267 f. ; a class religion, 364 ; inadequacy, 370. Public library, 346, 353. Public School Association, 368. Public spirit, 6 ff., 88, 101, 223, 300, 366 ff. Puritan Society, 13 ff. ; change from, 18 ff. Qulncy, first mayor, 73, 89 ; third mayor, 188. Kallies, political, 164 f. Reading-rooms, 314, 346. Real estate, business, 112 f., 117 ; owners of, 121. See Building, Housing. Registration, 166 ff. Religious cleavage, 363. Religious observance, chap. Ix., 144. Religious work, Catholic, Sunday- schools, 272 f. See Churches, Parochial schools. Religious work, Protestant, Bible readers, 257; Mariners' House, 256; Salvation Army, 257, 266. See Churches, Protestantism. Rents, 138. Restaurants, 142. Revere, Paul, 25 f., 30. Revolution, 30 ; landmarks of, 5; pre-Revolutionary life, 11-29. Ropewalks, 21 f., 128. Sabbath observance, 280. Sailors, 45, 127, 255 f. Salem Street, 14. Saloons, at West End, 221 ; Ital- ian, 106 f., 140, 201 f.; kitchen bar-rooms. See Hotels, Licenses. Sanitation. Chap. Iv. ; moral ef- fects of, 218. See Disease, Housing, Legislation, Over- crowding, Tenements. Scandinavians, 122. Scholarships, 375. School buildings, use of, 313, 365 f. Schools, Chap. x. ; Bowdoin, 38 ; Eliot, 27, 302 ; English High, 38, 181 ; evening, 311 ff. ; Girls' High, 38 ; Hancock, 302 ; " Latin Grammar," 27; Mayhew, 33. See Grammar, High, Parochial schools. School statistics, 297 f. Scollay Square, 1. Settlements, 348 fl., 376. Sewall, Samuel, 23. Sewerage, 71 fl., 74, 76, 82, 87, 99. Sex disproportion, 51 f. INDEX 389 Shipyards, 27. Shops, 106, 110 f., 122, 132; Shop- keepers, 136. Slums, growth, 82, 88 ; social con- dition, 356. Socialism, 342 f. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 335. Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 328, 335. Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, 347. Stamp Savings Society, 351. State House, 37. Station, North Union, 1 ff. Stores, 106, 125. Streets, colonial. Chap. ii. Streets and alleys, 3, 90, 93, 218 ff. ; widening of, 102. Street cleaning, 72, 74. Surriage, Agnes, 25. Sunday observance, 133. See Sabbath. Sweating, 113 ff. Syrians, 109. Taverns, 23, 27. Temporary Home, 325. Tenements, 34, 39, 100 ; improved, 80 ff., 89 ff. ; investigation of, 83 ff., 98, 102 ; past state of, 77 f. ; present state of, 90 f., 97 fl., 139. See Housing, Legislation, Over crowding. Theatres, 144, 217, 232 f., 244, 251 f. See Amusements. Trade Unions, 341, 376. Tramps, 46, 123, 371. See Unem- ployed. Twentieth Century Club, investi- gations of, 87 f. ; petition of, 101. Unemployed, 123, 126 ff., 136, 170. See Tramps, Laborers. Unskilled. See LaborerSo Ventilation, 74, 82 f., 91 f., 97 f., 101. Voters, non-resident, 161. Wadlin, H. G., 84. Wages, 116, 129 ff., 137 f. Water-closets, 77, 83, 92, 98 f. Water-side industries, 127. See Sailors. Water supply, 72 f., 76, Wayfarers' Lodge, 325, 332, 338 f. West End, boundaries and thor- oughfares, 1, 3, 11, 28, 32 f ., 212 f. ; character of, 2 ff., 213 f., 222; labor force, 357; moral dechne and recovery, 35 fif., 212 t; Police Div. 3,211. Women, occupations of, 118, 122 fif. ; political influence of, 157, 177 ; relief work for, 339. Words coined in Boston, 26 Zionism, 281. Electrotyfed and printed by H. O. Hojighton &' Co. Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. \) '^ %■%