Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/675

 INCREASED USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY 659

To the child so situated the close of school is a time of peril. As there are those who seek to improve the condition of the less- favored children through statutory regulations of hours of em- ployment, safety, and sanitation, so there are those who strive to improve the condition of these children of the street through higher ideals and more wholesome surroundings. Long observa- tion of these children has discovered that they are lacking in the appreciation of the beauty of nature, and of the cleanliness of self and surroundings; that they have no development of manual power or constructive genius. Observation has likewise shown that the instinct of beauty and of workmanship only needs the opportunity of gratification and cultivation. To supply these needs, the schoolhouses are being opened during the summer months.

There is another demand made upon the public-school build- ings. The social-settlement idea has become contagious until, on the encouragement of public-spirited individuals and clubs, the people are asking that the schoolhouse be made the social as well as the educational center of the neighborhood. A knowledge of some districts of the great cities discloses a sad need of a whole- some social center. There are ten nationalities in one small group in a certain neighborhood in Chicago. There is no common tongue, there are no common traditions, no sympathies, no com- radeship. The impersonality and namelessness of their lives rest like a weight on all their social instincts. Within the dull-brown houses are a few small rooms of bare walls and uncovered floors. Through the smoke- and dust-covered windows scarcely enough light struggles to reveal in one case a babe of one year and its caretaker, a girl of five, asleep in rags. From many of these homes the mother is gone from seven o'clock in the morning until evening. The minds and hearts of these people are as poverty- stricken as are their unfurnished homes. These are the homes of many a young woman who yearns in her heart for the com- panionship of other young people. Having seen other homes that are more attractive, she is ashamed of her own. Many a young woman who dresses fairly well, and who works in some shop or store, will contrive many a scheme to prevent an acquaint-