Lights and Shadows of New York Life

J >> James D. McCabe >> Lights and Shadows of New York Life

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The "washes," "lotions," "toilet fluids," etc., are generally apt to
produce skin diseases. They contain, in almost every instance,
substances which are either directly or indirectly poisonous to the skin.
The "tooth washes," "powders," and "dentifrices," are hurtful. They
crack or wear away the enamel of the teeth, leave the nerve exposed, and
cause the teeth to decay. If you are wise, dear reader, you will never
use a dentifrice, unless you know what it is made of. The principal
constituent of these dentifrices is a powerful acid, and there are some
which contain large quantities of sulphuric acid, one single application
of which will destroy the best teeth in the world. The "hair dyes,"
advertised under so many different names, contain such poisons as nitrate
of silver, oxide of lead, acetate of lead, and sulphate of copper. These
are fatal to the hair, and generally injure the scalp. The "ointments"
and "unguents," for promoting the growth of whiskers and moustaches, are
either perfumed and colored lard, or poisonous compounds, which contain
quick lime, or corrosive sublimate, or some kindred substance. If you
have any acquaintance who has ever used this means of covering his face
with a manly down, ask him which came first, the beard, or a troublesome
eruption on the face.

Dr. Harris, the recent Superintendent of the Board of Health of New York,
has frequently pointed out the evils resulting from the use of these
compounds. Dr. Sayre mentions several cases of fatal poisoning by the
use of hair dye, which came under his notice.

The newspapers frequently contain such advertisements as the following:

A RETIRED PHYSICIAN, OF FORTY YEARS' practice, discovered, while in
India, a sure remedy for consumption, bronchitis, colds, etc. Having
relinquished his practice, he has no further use for the remedy, and
will send it free on receipt of a three cent stamp to pay return
postage.

Sometimes the advertiser is "A lady who has been cured of great nervous
debility after many years of misery." Again, the advertiser is a
"Retired clergyman," or a "Sufferer restored to health, and anxious to
benefit his fellow men." In whatever form the announcement is made, the
advertiser is usually one and the same person--an ignorant knave, who
lives by his wits. He advertises largely in all parts of the land,
spending thousands of dollars annually, and it would seem that even an
idiot could understand that the most benevolent person could not afford
so expensive a method of "benefiting his fellow men." Letters come to
him by the hundred, from simpletons who have "taken his bait," asking for
his valuable recipe. He sends the prescription, and notifies the party
asking for it, that if the articles named in it cannot be procured by him
at any drug store convenient to him, he, the "retired physician,"
"clergyman," or "nervous lady," will furnish them, upon application, at a
certain sum (generally averaging five dollars), which he assures him is
very cheap, as the drugs are rare and expensive. The articles named in
the prescription are utterly unknown to any druggist in the world, and
the names are the production of the quack's own brains, and, as a matter
of course, the patient is unable to procure them at home, and sends an
order for them with the price, to the "retired physician," "clergyman,"
or "nervous lady," and in return receives a nostrum compounded of drugs,
which any apothecary could have furnished at one half the expense. In
this way the "benevolence" of the quack is very profitable. Men have
grown rich in this business, and it is carried on to an amazing extent in
this city. It is done in violation of the law, and the benevolent
individual not unfrequently falls into the hands of the police, but, as
soon as released, he opens his business under a new name. As long as
there are fools and dupes in the world, so long will the "retired
physician" find an extensive practice.

LXXIX. YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

The letters "Y.M.C.A." are familiar to every city and town of importance
in the Union, and are well known to be the initials of one of the most
praiseworthy organizations in the world. It is needless to enter into
any general account of the Young Men's Christian Association, and I shall
devote this chapter to a description of the means employed by that body
to carry on its work in the metropolis. A writer in _Harper's Magazine_
has aptly described the headquarters of the Association as a "Club
House." "For such it is," he adds, "both in its appliances and its
purposes, though consecrated neither to politics, as are some, to social
festivities, degenerating too often into gambling and intemperance, as
are others, nor to literature and polite society, as are one or two, but
to the cause of good morals, of pure religion, and of Him who is the
divine Inspirer of the one and the divine Founder of the other."

The building thus referred to is located on the southwest corner of
Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street, and is one of the handsomest and
most attractive edifices in the city. The locality is admirably chosen.
It is in full sight of the Fifth avenue and the neighboring hotels, and
but one block east of Madison Square. On the opposite side of
Twenty-third street is the beautiful Academy of Design; diagonally
opposite is the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and immediately
across Fourth avenue is the splendid structure of St. Paul's Methodist
Episcopal Church. It is but three minutes' walk from the stages and cars
on Broadway, and two of the most important lines of street cars pass its
doors. No better location could have been chosen.

[Picture: YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION HALL.]

The building is five stories in height, and is constructed of dark New
Jersey sandstone, from the Belleville quarries. It covers about
one-third of an acre of ground, and has a frontage of one hundred and
seventy-five feet on Twenty-third street, and eighty-three feet on the
Fourth avenue. The architecture is of the French Renaissance style. The
trimmings are of light Ohio stone, but the brown stone gives to the
building its general aspect. The ground floor is occupied by handsome
stores, and the fourth and fifth floors are devoted chiefly to artists'
studios. These bring in an annual rental of about $12,000 or $13,000.

The second and third floors are used exclusively by the Association. At
the head of the grand stairway which leads from the main entrance in
Twenty-third street, is a large hall. On the left of this stairway is
the main hall or lecture-room, one of the handsomest and most convenient
public halls in the city. At the upper end is a fine platform with every
convenience for lectures or concerts. The floor is provided with iron
arm chairs, arranged after the manner of those in the parquet of Booth's
Theatre. A large gallery extends around three sides of the hall, and is
similarly provided with seats. The hall is two stories in height, is
beautifully decorated, and will seat with comfort fifteen hundred people.
On one side of the platform is a retiring room, and on the other is a
large and handsomely decorated organ. This is one of the finest
instruments in the city, and is a novelty in some respects, being
furnished with a drum, a triangle, and a pair of cymbals. Organ
concerts, lectures, and concerts by celebrated performers are given
weekly during the fall and winter. On Sunday, religious services are
held in the hall, the pastors of the different city churches officiating
at the invitation of a committee of the Association in charge of these
services.

On the opposite side of the main hall is the Reception Room of the
Association, at one side of which is a door leading into the office of
the Secretary, who is the executive officer. Adjoining the Reception
Room are the Social Parlors and the Reading Room, in the latter of which
the leading journals of the country are on file. The parlors are used
for receptions and other social reunions of the members. From the
Reception Room a flight of stairs leads directly down to the gymnasium
and bowling-alley, where are to be found all the appliances for the
development of "muscular Christianity" in its highest form.

On the third floor, which is on a level with the gallery of the Lecture
Room, are rooms for prayer meetings, Bible classes, and week day classes
for instruction in modern languages and other studies. Adjoining these
is a handsome Library Room. The collection of books is increasing
rapidly, and promises to be both valuable and useful.

[Picture: THE LIBRARY.]

Taken altogether, or in detail, the building and all its appointments are
palatial. It is already the centre of a great and useful work, and
offers many inducements to young men, especially to those who are living
in the city, away from their homes and families, and in the demoralizing
atmosphere of the hotels and boarding-houses. The Association, however,
does not content itself with merely offering these inducements to those
who will seek its doors, but sends its members forth into the haunts of
suffering and vice, and endeavors to win back those who have gone astray
from the paths of virtue, and to alleviate the misery of those who are in
distress.

LXXX. CASTLE GARDEN.

Nine-tenths of the emigration from Europe to the United States is through
the port of New York. In order to accommodate the vast number of
arrivals, the Commissioners of Emigration have established a depot for
the especial accommodation of this class.

The emigrant ships, both sailing vessels and steamers, anchor in the
river after entering the port. They generally lie off their own piers,
and wait for the Custom House boat to board them. As soon as this is
done, and the necessary forms are gone through with, preparations are
made to land the emigrants, who, with their baggage, are placed on board
a small steamer and conveyed to Castle Garden, a round building which
juts out into the water at the upper end of the Battery.

In the year 1807, work was begun on this building by order of the General
Government, the site having been ceded by the city. It was intended to
erect a strong fortification, to be called Castle Clinton, but, in 1820,
it was discovered that the foundations were not strong enough to bear
heavy ordnance, and Congress reconveyed the site to the city. The
building was then completed as an opera house, and was used for several
years for operatic and theatrical performances, concerts, and public
receptions. It was the largest and most elegant hall in the country, and
was the favorite resort of pleasure-seekers. Jenny Lind sang there,
during her visit to the United States. It was used for public amusements
until 1825, when, the wealth and fashion of the city having removed too
high up town to make it profitable, it was leased to the Commissioners of
Emigration as a landing-place for emigrants.

[Picture: THE BATTERY AND CASTLE GARDEN.]

This commission has the exclusive charge of the Landing Depot and its
inmates. It is composed of six Commissioners, appointed by the Governor
of the State. The Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, and the Presidents of
the Irish and German Emigrant Societies, are members _ex-officio_. They
are responsible to the Legislature for their acts.

The Landing Depot is fitted up with quarters for the emigrants and their
baggage, and with various stores at which they can procure articles of
necessity at moderate prices. As most of them come provided with some
money, there is an exchange office in the enclosure, at which they can
procure American currency for their foreign money. Many of them come
furnished with railroad tickets to their destinations in the West, which
they have purchased in Europe, but the majority buy their tickets in this
city. There is an office for this purpose in the building, at which the
agents of the various lines leading from the city to the Great West are
prepared to sell tickets. No one is compelled to transact his business
in the building, but all are advised to do so, as they will then be
fairly treated; while they are in danger of falling into the hands of
swindlers outside. Attached to the establishment is an official, whose
duty it is to furnish any information desired by the emigrants, and to
advise them as to the boarding houses of the city which are worthy of
their patronage. The keepers of these houses are held to a strict
account of their treatment of their guests.

The majority of the emigrants go West in a few days after their arrival.
Some have already decided on their place of future abode before leaving
Europe, and others are influenced by the information they receive after
reaching this country. Should they desire to remain in this city, they
are frequently able to obtain employment, through the Labor Exchange
connected with the Landing Depot, and by the same means many obtain work
in other parts of the country--the Commissioners taking care that the
contracts thus made are lawful and fair to both parties.

As we have said, the greater number of the emigrants arriving here have
money when they come. Others, who have been able to raise only enough to
reach this, to them, "land of promise," or who have been swindled out of
their funds by sharpers in European ports, arrive here in the most
destitute condition. These are a burden to the city and State at first,
and are at once sent to the Emigrant Refuge and Hospital.

[Picture: EMIGRANT HOSPITAL.]

This establishment is located on Ward's Island, in the Harlem River, and
consists of several large buildings for hospitals, nurseries, and other
purposes. It has a farm of one hundred and six acres attached to it.
The destitute emigrants are sent to this establishment, as soon as their
condition is ascertained, and cared for until they either obtain
employment, or are provided for by their friends in this country, or are
sent to their original destinations in the West at the expense of the
Commissioners. Medical attendance is provided at the Landing Depot, and
is free to all needing it. Serious cases are sent to the hospital on
Ward's Island, where good medical skill and attendance are furnished.

The number of emigrants at the Refuge sometimes amounts to several
hundred of all nationalities. The Irish and German elements predominate,
and these being bitterly hostile to each other, the authorities are
frequently compelled to adopt severe measures to prevent an open
collision between them. In the winter of 1867-68, the Irish and German
residents on the island came to blows, and a bloody riot immediately
began between them, which was only quelled by the prompt arrival of a
strong force of the City Police.

The Commissioners adopt every means in their power to prevent the inmates
of the Landing Depot from falling into the hands of sharpers. Each
emigrant in passing out of the enclosure for any purpose is required to
apply for a permit, without which he cannot return, and no one is
allowed, by the policeman on duty at the gate, to enter without
permission from the proper authorities. In this way sharpers and
swindlers are kept out of the enclosure, inside of which the emigrant is
perfectly safe; and when he ventures out he is warned of the dangers he
will have to encounter the moment he passes the gateway.

The majority of the emigrants are unable to speak our language, and all
are ignorant of the country, its laws, and customs. This makes them an
easy prey to the villains who throng the Battery in wait for them.

Approaching these poor creatures, as they are gazing about them with the
timidity and loneliness of strangers in a strange land, the scoundrels
will accost them in their own language. Glad to hear the mother-tongue
once more, the emigrant readily enters into conversation with the fellow,
and reveals to him his destination, his plans, and the amount of money he
has with him. The sharper after some pleasantries meant to lull the
suspicions of his victim, offers to show him where he can purchase his
railroad tickets at a lower rate than at the office in the Landing Depot,
and if the emigrant is willing, conducts him to a house in Washington,
Greenwich, West, or some neighboring street, where a confederate sells
him the so-called railroad tickets and receives his money. He is then
conducted back to the Battery by a different route, and the sharper
leaves him. Upon inquiring at the office, he learns that his cheap
tickets are so much worthless paper, and that he has been swindled out of
his money, which may be his all. Of course he is unable to find the
place where he was robbed, and has no redress for his loss.

Others again are led off, by persons who pretend to be friends, to take a
friendly drink in a neighboring saloon. Their liquor is drugged, and
they are soon rendered unconscious, when they are robbed of their money,
valuables, and even their clothes, and turned out into the street in this
condition, to be picked up by the police.

All sorts of worthless wares are palmed off upon them by unscrupulous
wretches. They are drawn into gaming and are fleeced out of their money.
Dozens of sharpers are on the watch for them, and woe to them if they
fall into the hands of these wretches.

Women are prominent amongst the enemies of the emigrants. The
proprietors of the dance-houses and brothels of the city send their
agents to the Battery, to watch their opportunity to entice the fresh,
healthy emigrant girls to their hells. They draw them away by promises
of profitable employment, and other shams, and carry them off to the
houses of their heartless masters and mistresses. There they are drugged
and ruined, or in other ways literally forced into lives of shame.

LXXXI. WORKING WOMEN.

It is said that there are more than forty thousand women and girls in New
York dependent upon their own exertions for their support. This estimate
includes the sewing women, factory girls, shop girls, female clerks,
teachers, and governesses. They all labor under two common
disadvantages. They are paid less for the same amount of work than men,
and being more helpless than men are more at the mercy of unscrupulous
employers. The female clerks and shop girls receive small wages, it is
true, but they are generally paid regularly and honestly. The sewing
women and factory hands are usually the most unfortunate, and these
constitute the great bulk of the working women of New York. Many of
these are married, or are widows with children dependent upon them for
support.

The life of the New York working woman is very hard. She rises about
daybreak, for she must have breakfast and be at her post by seven
o'clock, if employed in a factory or workshop. At noon she has a brief
intermission for dinner, and then resumes her work, which lasts until 6
o'clock in the evening. You may see them in the morning, thinly clad,
weary and anxious, going in crowds to their work. They have few holidays
except on Sunday, and but few pleasures at any time. Life with them is a
constant struggle, and one in which they are always at a disadvantage.
The sewing girls are in the majority, and there are two classes of
these--those who work in the rooms of their employers and those who work
at home. The former we have included in the general term of factory
hands. The factory girls earn from two to four dollars a week, as a
rule, a sum scarcely sufficient to keep body and soul together, but they
get their wages promptly and consider themselves fortunate. Men doing
the same work would receive about twice as much.

[Picture: THE SEWING-GIRL'S HOME.]

The sewing women who work at home are worse off. They live in the poorer
class of tenement houses, and are surrounded with discomfort of every
kind. They work as hard as, if not harder than their sisters in the
factories, and are even worse paid. They have not the advantage of being
compelled to undertake the exercise of walking to and from the factories
which the latter enjoy. They sit in their wretched rooms all day, and
often late into the night, sewing for a miserable pittance, and for some
scoundrel who will perhaps swindle them out of their hard earnings. For
making blue cotton shirts, or "hickories" as they are called, a woman
receives six cents apiece, and must furnish her own thread; for making
linen coats she receives from fifteen to twenty cents apiece; for men's
heavy overalls she gets sixty-two cents a dozen; for flannel shirts one
dollar a dozen. These prices are not paid by the Jews alone, but by
reputable Broadway dealers, men who style themselves "leading merchants."
No wonder they pile up such large fortunes.

Now, in order to pay the rent of her bare and cheerless room, the sewing
woman must make two whole shirts a day. Then she must do work enough to
provide for her other expenses. She has to buy fuel in the winter, and
kindling wood costs her three cents a bundle and coal fifteen cents a
pail. Perhaps she has children, or a sick and helpless, or, worse still,
a drunken husband to provide for. All out of her beggarly wages. Her
food consists almost entirely of bread and potatoes, and sometimes she
treats herself to the luxury of a cup of tea without milk or sugar. If
she owns a sewing machine, and very few do, she can earn more than one
who sews by hand, but constant work at the machine means a speedy
breaking down of her health and a lingering death, or a transfer to the
charity hospital.

Small as are her wages, the working woman is not always sure of receiving
them. Some rascally employers--and one of the institutions to be
mentioned further on, could give a long list of them--will, upon
receiving the work, find fault with the sewing, and either deduct a part
of the poor creature's wages for the alleged fault, or refuse point blank
to pay her a cent. Others again will demand a deposit equal to the value
of the materials taken home by the sewing women. Upon the return of the
completed work, they will not only refuse the promised payment, alleging
that the work is badly done, but will also refuse to return the money
advanced by the woman. The wretch well knows that the woman is weak and
helpless, and that she is ignorant of the mode of protecting herself.
More than this, she has not the money to go to law.

These are simple facts, and not "sensational items." The records of the
"Working Women's Protective Union" will corroborate them, and will
furnish many others.

"Among the employes of a certain Israelitish manufacturer of straw goods
in New York was a poor French woman, who, with her three small children,
occupied apartments in a rear tenement house in Mulberry street. What
renders this case of more than ordinary interest, is the fact that the
lady had once been in affluent circumstances, and at one period of her
life moved in the wealthiest circles of Paris. Misfortune befel her in
the death of her husband, who was accidentally killed upon a railroad
train. The bulk of the property of her deceased husband was seized upon
by her creditors. The widow, however, succeeded in saving from the
general wreck a few hundred dollars, and with this she emigrated to
America, arriving here in the spring, and bringing with her three little
children. Here she anticipated she would be enabled, with the aid of her
superior education, to provide for herself and family. For several weeks
her efforts at securing employment proved unavailing; but just before her
last dollar was expended, she succeeded in forming a class in French,
which she instructed for two months, at the expiration of which time she
was deprived of this her only support--her pupils leaving her for the
purpose of a summer's holiday at the fashionable watering-places. Other
efforts were made to secure the position of teacher of languages (with
several of which she is conversant), but all to no effect. Finally,
reduced to absolute want, the lady was obliged to resort to manual labor
in order to provide herself and little ones with bread. Unused as she
was to toil, her efforts to obtain employment were attended with little
or no success. Day by day her case grew more desperate, until, at last,
unable to pay the rent of her miserable attic apartment, she and her
little ones were thrust into the street. Homeless and friendless, with
not sufficient money wherewith to purchase a supper for herself and
famishing little ones, the lady was forced to beg; which course, up to
this time in her unfortunate career, she had looked upon as barely
preferable to death itself. She had a few acquaintances among the
parents of her former pupils, and to these she resolved to apply for aid.
Her efforts in this direction were but a repetition of the old, old
story. Her friends, who, during her prosperity, were lavishing their
attentions on her, now that misfortune had overtaken her, refused to
recognize her, and thrust her from their doors without a penny. Fortune
relented one day, and rewarded her efforts with a situation in a
manufactory of straw goods. To be sure, the compensation was small;
still, as bread enough might be secured in this manner to keep the wolf
from the door until something better might present itself, she resolved
to accept the terms of the straw manufacturer, and entered upon her
duties. For a week or two the sum earned by the unfortunate lady was
faithfully paid her, but on the third week the pusillanimous nature of
the Jew cropped out. She had bargained to manufacture straw hats at
eighty cents a dozen, or six and two-third cents each. At this rate, she
managed to earn two dollars and fifty cents per week. Upon applying for
her wages at the close of the third week, the employer informed her that
he had discovered that six and two-thirds cents apiece was too large a
compensation, and that from eighty cents he had resolved to reduce her
pay to seventy cents per dozen, and accordingly presented her with her
weekly payment, first deducting one dollar and forty cents from her
wages. Pressed as she was for money, the lady refused to accept these
terms, and at once set about seeking legal redress. Learning that at the
'Working Women's Union' of Bleecker street legal advice was furnished
free of charge to such as herself, she laid her grievances before the
officers of the institution, who at once placed the affair in the hands
of their legal adviser, who soon brought the rapacious Israelite to
terms. At the time of her application to the institution the lady stated
that she had been without fire, and, with the exception of a small loaf
or two of bread and what few potatoes her children were enabled to gather
from about the stalls in several of the markets, without food for several
days."