Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/651

. ; DAY AT IH 'I.L HOUSE

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friends with whom the house has summered and wintered. These receive help as freely as they would give in their turn.

Now the house is like some creature slowly awakening from sleep. It begins to put out its hands, touching, it is believed, with

humility as well as hopefulness and trust the lives of those about it. By nine o'clock the visiting nurse may be seen packing her bag from her supply chest with the little mercies of lint and salve and baby food. The workers whose province lies outside, who see sick children, study racial needs through manners, foods, and customs, visit the police stations in search of the astray girl or boy, or minister to some special necessity, are beginning their rounds. In the octagon, which is a kind of open sanctuary, the heads of the house are attacking, with a patience born of long usage, the immitigable mail of the morning.

By two in the afternoon the kindergarten training class is filling the largest room <>1 tin children's building, the lively and