THE LITTLE ITALIAN ORGAN-GRINDERS.
Among the various rounds I was in the habit of making in the poorest
quarters, was one through the Italian quarter of the "Five Points."
Here, in large tenement-houses, were packed hundreds of poor Italians,
mostly engaged in carrying through the city and country "the everlasting
hand-organ," or selling statuettes. In the same room I would find
monkeys, children, men and women, with organs and plaster-casts, all
huddled together; but the women contriving still, in the crowded rooms,
to roll their dirty macaroni, and all talking excitedly; a bedlam of
sounds, and a combination of odors from garlic, monkeys, and most dirty
human persons. They were, without exception, the dirtiest population I
had met with. The children I saw every day in the streets, following
organs, blackening boots, selling flowers, sweeping walks, or carrying
ponderous harps for old ruffians. So degraded was their type, and
probably so mingled in North Italy with ancient Celtic blood, that their
faces could hardly be distinguished from those of Irish poor
children--an occasional liquid dark eye only betraying their
nationality.
I felt convinced that something could be done for them. Owing to their
ignorance of our language and their street-trades, they never attended
school, and seldom any religious service, and seemed growing up only for
these wretched occupations. Some of the little ones suffered severely
from being indentured by their parents in Italy to a "Bureau" in Paris,
which sent them out over the world with their _"padrone,"_ or master,
usually a villainous-looking individual with an enormous harp. The lad
would be frequently sent forth by his _padrone,_ late at night, to
excite the compassion of our citizens, and play the harp. I used to meet
these boys sometimes on winter-nights half-frozen and stiff with cold.
The bright eyes among these children showed that there was mind in them;
and the true remedy for their low estate seemed to be our old one, a
School.
Rev. Dr. Hawks, at this time, brought to my attention a very intelligent
Italian gentleman of education, a Protestant and patriot, who had taken
refuge here-Signor A. E. Cerqua. I will let him tell his own story of
the formation and success of the School:
THE ITALIAN SCHOOL--THE FIVE POINTS SETTLEMENT.
"Coming up Chatham Street and bending your course to the left, you turn
into Baxter Street, a dark, damp, muddy street, forming one of the Five
Points. On each side of the way are stores of old clothes and
heterogeneous articles, kept by Polish and German Jews. Numerous
'Unredeemed Goods for Sale,' in the shape of coats, vests, and other
unmentionable garments, are suspended on wooden stands in front of the
doorways. There are also junk-stores, rags, bones, and old metal depots,
and two Italian groceries, one opposite the other. Advancing farther,
you reach the centre of the Five Points, synonymous of whatever is
degraded and degrading, loathsome and criminal. Hero Park Street runs
parallel to Chatham Street and crosses Baxter Street at right angles,
thus forming four of the Five Points. The fifth point is formed by the
junction of Worth Street, leading from this common centre in a northerly
direction. This locality is very dimly lighted, and the few lamps
scattered around only add to the repulsive nature of the place. The
pestiferous exhalations of the filthy streets, and not less filthy
shanties, inhabited by the lowest and most disreputable characters, are
disgusting beyond any description. Scattered over this neighborhood,
densely settled by the most depraved classes of all nationalities, there
lived, and still live, some fifteen hundred of the poorest class of
Italians, who traditionally cling to that locality. They are generally
from the Ligurian coasts, which are over-populated. When the farms
require working, the inhabitants usually have something to do; but, at
some seasons, want of employment compels them to turn elsewhere. Men,
women, and lads went in ordinary times to the largest cities of Northern
Italy for temporary occupation, leaving behind their children to the
care of relatives or acquaintances, who, owing to their business,
inability, or carelessness, neglected in most cases to exercise over
them parental duties. When the hand-organ came into vogue, they found it
the easiest way to employ their unoccupied time. Seeing, afterward, that
they could realize more by the organ than by the shovel, they went
grinding all the year, and spread all over Italy at first, then over
Europe and America. Some of the children left were sent for, while
others were hired out to those who proposed a grinding-tour to America.
Those who arrived here first having done well, others followed, and the
tide of the organ-grinding emigration set in on a gradual rise. The
failure of the Revolutionary movements of 1848 and 1849 having
impoverished, to a greater or smaller extent, the several Italian
provinces, gave a great impetus to this emigration, and it was not long
before the Five Points were crowded to overflowing. Accustomed as they
were to agricultural pursuits and out of the reach of better social
influences, and totally ignorant of the language, they formed a separate
colony, associating only with those of their own country in the Five
Points. Had they displayed the vices or criminal inclinations which
prevail to a deplorable extent among the low classes of other
nationalities, they would soon have been brought to public notice and
taken care of by our benevolent and religious societies; but they cannot
be reproached with intoxication, prostitution, quarreling, stealing,
etc; and thus, escaping the unenviable notoriety of the criminal, they
fell into a privacy that deprived them of the advantages of American
benevolence; and there is no instance of any visitor having ever been
appointed to explore this fruitful field of operation.
OPENING OF THE SCHOOL.
"Early in December, 1855, the writer, with Mr. Brace, visited several
families. Our reception was not such as to promise success, although,
considering their distrustful and suspicious disposition, consequent
upon their isolated existence, they did not treat us disrespectfully.
Having thus prepared and informed them, on the evening of the tenth of
the same month we opened our School in a room kindly furnished by Rev.
Mr. Pease, on the north side of the Five Points' square.
"On the first night of our operation we had an attendance of ten boys,
six girls, seven young men, four young women, two men, and one woman
(thirty in all), attracted, as may be evident by the age of the
attendants, more by the novelty of the undertaking than by any definite
purpose. Of that number, only two could read a little in Italian--not
one in English; hence I formed a single class of the whole in the
alphabet.
"By more frequent visiting, the attendance was, after a little while,
nearly doubled; but toward spring it dwindled to such an insignificant
number, that it was deemed expedient to close the school.
"Instead of being deterred by this discouraging feature, we determined
to examine the field more carefully, and endeavor to discover the
immediate cause of the unexpected check our hopes had experienced.
Proper exertions in visiting, and cautious and timely investigations,
soon brought out the fact that some absurd rumors had been circulated
among them to the effect that our purpose was to turn them away from
their own church, alleging, as conclusive evidence, that our school-room
was used for Sunday religious meetings. These mischievous insinuations
called for the utmost prudent activity on our part, for, although these
people are not fanatics in religion, they, at that time, still clung
with tenacity to the infallibility of their priest. I say at that time,
because the unnatural and unchristian attitude assumed since by their
spiritual guides toward Italy has forced even the uneducated class into
a certain use of comparative rational freedom, and, beyond the
spiritual, they will not follow their religious leaders. Meeting with
only partial success by persuasion, I then promised shoes and clothing
to pupils who would attend for three months consecutively; and having
thus prepared the way, and without ever failing to visit the most
unapproachable, it was deemed advisable to reopen the School in
November, 1856. The attendance increased by some thirty, with a minor
sprinkling of men and women. Shoes and clothes were distributed in
March, but the number soon after commenced diminishing, until June,
1857, when the School, as in the previous year, had to be closed for a
second time. Two great advantages had, however, been developed. Their
ready acceptance of shoes and clothes given and distributed in our room
was a powerful argument in my hands to answer their objection to the
room; and among the floating attendance I had noticed a score or so of
regular pupils upon whom I concentrated my best attention and every
possible encouragement, in the conviction that the result of my efforts
in that direction would prove efficacious to attract others. And, in
fact, when the improvement of these twenty attendants became known, it
was found comparatively easy to persuade others to school.
"It had now become evident to me that, with adequate exertions and
inducements, the School could be established on a permanent and working
order; and on the following September we recommenced operations with
better promise. But a narrow-minded opposition partially marred our
success this year. An Italian priest, called Rebiccio, from the
confessional and from the pulpit, flung ferocious anathemas at all who
permitted their children to attend our School. He even went from house
to house to use his influence in the same direction. I sent a deputation
of my oldest scholars to remonstrate with him and correct his
misapprehensions by assuring him that we had no sectarian teachings.
These same boys I took with me in visiting a number of the most
superstitious families, and for the same purpose, but in both cases of
no avail; only, instead of justifying myself, I found that these boys
were equally suspected of complicity, some even assuming that they had
already been converted. I felt disheartened, not because I did not hope
to overcome all obstacles by patience, prudence, and perseverance, but
because I could scarcely realize the actual occurrence of such an
unflinching, unprincipled, and unjust persecution, or, what was still
worse, of such credulous stupidity as was shown by the very people we
intended to elevate.
Prompted by these feelings, I then wrote a letter to that worthy priest,
inviting him to assist me in teaching, to take my place, to teach these
poor children himself--in short, to do what he pleased, provided they
were furnished with proper means to better their condition. The letter
was couched in the most unexceptionable terms, and closed by entreating
him to desist from his unjust attacks, and not to compel me to appeal to
the public through the dally press, the last resort in this free
country. Discouraged by the suspicious reception I met with from the
majority of these people, and by the fruitless result of my aforesaid
letter, I was then preparing a statement for the newspapers, when the
whole opposition scheme exploded. Under the false pretext that he was
going to hire a building to open a school for these children, in
connection with a church, which he proposed also to build for them, this
worthy priest had collected considerable money in the Five Points, when
all at once he disappeared, and it was only after months that he was
heard of in affluent circumstances in Italy. A natural and desirable
reaction then took place among our people, and since then the School has
been yearly in operation for eleven months, and with gradual prosperity.
In June, 1866, desiring to extend our work and absorb all children
exposed to the bad influences and examples of the streets that attended
no day-school, we added also successfully a day session, so that now,
with two hundred and twenty-eight (228) names on our books since October
1, 1867, we have a daily average of sixty-five (65), and one hundred and
eighty-six (186) for day and evening sessions respectively. By these
figures it will be seen that, while in other schools the proportion of
the average to the names entered is, at the best, seventy-five per
cent., nearly all our pupils on the roll-book attend regularly one of
the two, and several both sessions. The attendants vary from five to
twenty-two years of age, averaging about nine and a half. A little less
than one-half of the whole are females.
MENTAL IMPROVEMENT.
"Whoever has not associated with this class of Italians before our
School was opened cannot form an adequate idea of the result attained
both in moral and mental improvement. Out of the whole number entered
since the commencement of operations, say, in round numbers, eight
hundred and fifty (850), not over forty had a little and imperfect
knowledge of reading the Italian, and only about ten had a slight
acquaintance with the English. My first endeavors were directed to
induce them to attend day-schools, and during the first three years over
twenty became pupils of Public Schools. Later on, this number received
accessions, amounting at one time to about fifty.
"Our course of study comprises the gradual series of English reading,
spelling, and writing adopted in most of the Public Schools; geography,
arithmetic, history, and grammar. The class in the last two branches
this year is very small, as the students thereof, being mostly adults,
cannot well attend regularly.
"Some twelve years ago, and for a time after, there were only two among
them who had some knowledge of letters, and on them the whole colony had
to depend for writing and reading letters in Italian and interpreting in
English, on payment of charges varying from twenty-five to fifty cents.
On becoming acquainted with this fact, I resolved upon teaching also the
Italian to the most advanced in the English, which addition met with
general favor, for, a year after, the pupils who could and did
gratuitously perform the offices of the two literati increased to such
an extent that one was usually found within each family or a circle of
relatives. The time being limited, these studies are, of course, taught
alternately, and the progress therein is not as speedy as would be
desirable; but, everything considered, they show remarkable
intelligence, aptitude, and willingness to learn. I might quote from
reports of the principal press of this city on our last examination;
but, as the School is free and always open to visitors, I will content
myself with inviting our friends to look into the subject for
themselves.
How gratifying when I enter the School to see the oldest of the
attendants, but a few years ago illiterate and totally ignorant of
everything around them, reading papers, and quoting, discriminating, and
discussing the topics of the day, and forming a more or less correct
idea of the state of things in the land of their adoption and in other
parts of the world! Gratifying, indeed, to see these children, but a few
years ago without any idea of patriotism, without any other principle to
guide their judgment and actions than the natural impulses of a degraded
selfishness, exchange intelligent views upon the moral standing and
tendency of the political parties in this and in their native country!
Many times I have been astonished at the extensive information and sound
opinions they display in commenting upon contemporaneous events. The
MORAL IMPROVEMENT.
which has been accomplished is still more extensive and sensible. At
first sight the visitor is enabled to draw a line between old and new
pupils by noticing the intelligent and clean appearance, quick
perception, and admirable behavior of the former, and the dull,
downcast, rough, and thoughtless countenances of the latter. It is
surprising that all these children were accustomed to wash their faces
only on Sundays, and it takes even now some time to induce them to do it
daily. Still, it is undeniable that, as a class, they possess an earnest
appreciation of good habits, only it is, to say so, an abstract idea as
yet with them, and needs development.
"When the School opened, and for some time after, the attendance was
generally composed of organ-grinders and beggars, which vocations they
indifferently acknowledged to follow, whenever asked, by analogous
gestures. To redeem them from those ignoble vocations was, in my
opinion, of paramount importance, and to that end I devoted part of my
time in visiting their parents, to impress them with a sense of
self-respect and human dignity, and talk them into the apprenticing into
trades their offspring. As, however, these boys brought home from fifty
cents to a dollar per day, it was quite a difficult task to persuade
them to give up this source of income for comparatively nominal wages.
With guardians and relatives my efforts remained entirely fruitless. I
then concluded that if we could show them practically that trades in the
end would pay better, it would become easy to accomplish our purpose. I
concentrated, therefore, my exertions on three families, the most
approachable, and succeeded. One consented to place a boy of fourteen in
the Printing Department of the American Tract Society; another soon
followed in the same line: the third, a boy of thirteen, entered a
machine-shop. All three did very well, and at the end of two years they
were earning five and six dollars per week. Their success caused a moral
revolution, and had I been able to place all, not one would at this day
be blacking boots, which many do for want of better employment. It is a
fact that speaks very highly of these Italians, that in every instance,
whenever one has been employed, Italians are preferred. I have seen
certificates given by manufacturers to some of them, speaking
enthusiastically of their honesty, industry, and faithfulness. There are
also instances of extraordinary interest taken by employers in their
behalf, and in no case has any ever been discharged for any other reason
than for want of work. A large number of girls also find occupation in
artificial flowers and confectionery. All now look with scorn upon their
former vocations, and the term '_pianist_' is ironically applied to
newly, landed organ-grinders. Now it is a fact that can stand the
strictest scrutiny, that _all_ those who follow decent vocations or
attend day-schools, public or otherwise, either are or have been our
regular attendants for years and that _all grinders, beggars,_ and
_vagrants,_ in general, are not and have not, attended at all, or at
most a few weeks, attracted only by the hope of getting shoes or
clothes.
"Without mentioning the many present pupils who are engaged in honorable
pursuits, I can readily name about fifty old attendants who have left
school, now employed in this or other States as printers, confectioners,
jewelers, shoemakers, machinists, carpenters, waiters, carvers, and
farm-hands. To these must be added two who keep and own a neat
confectionery and ice-cream saloon in Grand Street; a shoemaker in
business for himself; another, one of the first three above-mentioned, a
foreman in the very machine-shop in which he served as an apprentice;
one a patented machinist in a steam chocolate manufactory; and, lastly,
one who for the last three years has been foreman in a wholesale
confectionery. I omit to mention those who have gone back to Italy and
are doing well. As a rule, they all remember with gratitude their
friends, to whose efforts and liberality they acknowledge they owe their
present position. From every State in which they settle we receive now
and then encouraging news from some boy; and not long ago we heard, for
the second time, from a boy in Italy, who, after having mentioned that
he was studying Latin, etc., gives vent to his feelings by conveying his
most hearty thanks to all the teachers, mentioning them one by one--to
Mr. Brace, to Mr. Macy, and, not remembering the name of our good
friend, John C. Havemeyer, Esq., he adds, "also to that kind gentleman
who has an office at No. 175 Pearl Street." His letter is very touching,
and reveals noble feeling and mind.
"Nor are parents less grateful and ready to acknowledge the good of
American benevolence. I was conversing one evening with a widow woman,
while her boy was writing to her father in Italy, and called her
attention to the advantage her son had derived from our School, adding
that I still remembered how indifferently she received at first my
advices. She felt a little mortified and replied: '_Caro Maestro_ (Dear
Teacher), having never received any good from anybody, but plenty of
harm, we could not believe that all at once we had become worthy of so
much kindness. We used to have hard treatment at the hand of everybody,
had no friends; even our countrymen in better circumstances despised us,
and, to tell you the truth, we had made up our mind that we would find
charity only in the other world.'
VISITING.
"I will not attempt to give an idea of the difficulty attending visiting
in the Five Points, nor can I dwell at length on the extensive suffering
and wretchedness that have fallen under my observation. Notwithstanding
my comparative familiarity with those places, I cannot dispense yet with
a guide and a light, and, in many instances, two of both. The rickety
shanties, with crumbling stairs and broken steps, undergo as many
changes in the interior as may be suggested by the wants of the
successive inmates. The rooms have been partitioned and sub-partitioned
a good number of times, and now and then I have found even part of the
hall, and the whole thereof on top floors, taken in by new partitions.
Small wooden rear buildings are mostly tenanted entirely by Italians,
but in large tenement-houses there is generally found a good Irish or
Jewish mingling. Visiting, in the latter case, is often attended by most
unpleasant occurrences, owing to intoxicated and troublesome persons
that are usually found in the stairs and halls. But to relate some of my
experience:
"On Christmas-day (1866) a woman with five children--the oldest three
our pupils--coming from church, fell, breaking her arm and giving
premature birth to a sixth. Hearing of this sad case, I took a few yards
of red flannel and went to see her. I found the poor woman in the
deepest agony and almost frantic from suffering. Her husband kept a
fruit-stand in Nassau Street, but this accident, as she expressed it,
had entirely stupified him, and she suffered to a great extent, also,
morally, from the hopeless condition of her young family. The stove was
as warm (or cold) as every piece of furniture in the room, and the poor
patient and the two smallest children had to manage to keep warm by
lying on the same bed, with a pile of old clothes and carpets over them.
Presently, however, the three elder children came in, half-frozen and
barefooted, scarcely able to talk, and discharged near the store the
contents of their aprons and bags, the result of their coal-picking
tour. Leaving to their father the care of reviving the fire, they, as of
a common consent, started for a closet, and drawing out a good-sized tin
pan full of boiled corn-meal, commenced a furious onslaught thereon. The
outer room measured some twelve by fourteen feet, and had no beds, but
its floor afforded sleeping accommodations to the five children. The
inner room was scarcely large enough to admit a middle-sized bedstead
used by the parents. When I left, the young ones had taken their places
for the night, and the man, having made a good fire, proceeded to assort
a barrel of apples, and his wife said it was the fourth time '_that
stupid man had gone through the same process without having done
anything._'
"Among guardians, especially, the custom was prevalent of fixing the
amount the boy or girl had to bring home in the evening. But not seldom
fathers were prompted by avarice to act still more cruelly against their
own offspring, and while the former punished the shortcomings of their
wards by furnishing them with meals of microscopic proportions, the
latter, on the presumption, I suppose, of paternal right, went so far as
to whip and even expel from home the son or sons who failed to come up
to their greedy expectations. At present, however, such cases are almost
unknown, owing to the sense of independence felt by the growing
generation and to our influence on the parents. But as late as three
years ago I had observed that a boy of twelve, who was very anxious to
learn, now and then was absent. One evening I called on him for
explanations, and he related that he was _'taxed'_ for eighty cents a
day, and every cent short of that amount was balanced by a proportionate
dose of cowhiding on his bare body. He entreated me most earnestly not
to say a word to his father on the subject, otherwise he would fare
still worse. Whenever, therefore, he failed to earn the eighty cents by
his boot-blacking vocation, he would not go home. This unnatural father
did not stop here; he did not care in the least how long his son would
remain out sleeping under market-stands and in newspaper rooms, but he
insisted on the boy paying over to him, when he would return, at the
rate of eighty cents per day for all the time of his absence, without
any allowance for food, etc.
"The case was really heart-rending, especially as the boy was developing
fine moral and intellectual qualities, and had to be treated with
uncommon prudence. At first I told the boy to call on me for whatever he
was short, and he did so on two occasions; but somehow or other the
transaction was reported to the father, who, rather than desist from his
pretension, as any other man would certainly have done, increased the
_tax_ to one dollar, with the remark that _'it would make no difference
to the teacher, twenty cents, more or less.'_ The very same night this
happened, seeing the impossibility of curing this man in any other way,
I paid him a visit, which seemed to have surprised him to a great
extent. I spoke to him calmly but determinedly, as I never had occasion
to do before, but without eliciting any answer, and I left him with the
assurance that if he did not desist at once from the vile abuse of
parental authority I would have him arrested. After a few days he moved
to Laurens street, and in about six months from this occurrence
returned, with the whole family, to Italy. I never could learn anything
afterward concerning his interesting son.
"The filth prevalent in some of their abodes is really appalling, and in
some cases incredible. In ---- Baxter Street there is a bedroom, nine by
twelve feet, occupied by four children and their parents. The door,
hindered by the bed behind it, opens scarcely enough to give admittance
to a person of ordinary size. At the foot of the bed there is, and was,
and will be as long as they stay therein, a red-hot stove, between which
and the window stands an old chest; opposite the stove a table. The
fetid air inside I would have thought to be beyond human endurance. The
woman, at my request, opened the window, remarking 'that she did not see
the use of burning coal inside, if the freezing air was to be permitted
to come in freely.' The children sleep on the floor; that is to say, one
nearly under the bed, another under the table, a third by the stove, and
the fourth is at liberty to roll over any of her sisters. I could not
help noticing an old greasy piece of print, of no distinguishable color,
hanging around the bed, and performing, as I learned with satisfaction,
the function of a curtain to keep out of view its occupants.
"During the last ten years some fifteen of our girls, and nearly as many
boys, married--mostly, I ought to say, intermarried--and as the greater
portion of them have children, say from four to eight years of age, in
our school, I visit also occasionally among them, the new generation.
And how different in their habits of cleanliness! Floors, walls,
ceiling, windows, everything faultlessly clean, their persons neat, so
that their rooms are really an oasis in that desert called
tenement-houses; and the cordial civility they extend to me carries
still farther the comparison by making me realize in their apartments,
after a visiting tour at the Five Points, all the satisfaction the
traveler derives by the fertile spot after a fatiguing journey across
the burning sand.
"I will omit many sad scenes witnessed at the death-bed of several of
our pupils, it being my aim to dwell only on such facts as may convey an
idea of the nature of the difficulties we had to overcome. But the
monotonous scenes of suffering under its various forms are, however,
succeeded now and then by others peculiarly exciting.
"Often, of my own choice, but sometimes entreated by the pupils'
parents, I paid visits to billiard-rooms. Those are placed in the
back-room of groceries, of which there are three in that neighborhood,
and have, therefore, communication with the yard. Whenever I deemed it
necessary to go on such errands, I had to organize previously an
expedition of ten or twelve of our oldest scholars, who, in accordance
with my instructions, would at a signal prevent all means of egress from
windows and doors. I would then go in from the front, and a wild rush
for the rear would ensue; but, finding themselves surrounded, all the
boys I was looking for, had no other choice but to follow us to school,
escorted as deserters. Now, it is more than probable that ninety-nine
out of one hundred of billiard-keepers in New York would not allow such
proceedings against their interests, for our _descents_ did not
particularly improve their profits. Still, those Italian grocers not
only countenanced and aided my endeavors, but gave me also all the
information I previously demanded. Little by little, by repeated
expeditions and an occasional _peeping_ in these places before going to
school, I succeeded in nearly breaking up their vicious habits in this
respect, and it is only a rare occurrence that one of our boys on
Saturday nights will go in to _look_ on a game. In corroboration of
which success I may mention that early last winter (1867), one Saturday
evening, the police made a regular and truly formidable descent on these
billiard-saloons, arresting, among others, in all twenty-seven Italians,
I believe, of whom eleven were boys from seven to fifteen. Next evening
I had an application to interfere for their release, as it is usual for
me to do whenever circumstances warrant it, and in looking into the
subject carefully I found that of them only two--namely, the youngest
and the oldest--belonged to our school, and that both had gone to buy
groceries, and, while the grocer was weighing and wrapping the
provisions, they had walked to the door between the store and the saloon
to look in, and were under that circumstance arrested. Upon my
conviction that such was really the case, I applied for and obtained
their discharge. The other boys mostly belonged to families newly
arrived from Italy and directed for California, to which State these
people generally move if unable to make a living in New York.
"Now I will only add that the Maestro (teacher) at the Five Points has
become an indispensable personage among them. He is assumed to be a
lawyer, medical doctor, theologian, astronomer, banker--everything as
well as a teacher. A boy is arrested for throwing stones in the street;
the Maestro is applied to and the boy is released. One has fifty dollars
to deposit; the Maestro is consulted as to the soundness of the
savings-banks--and so on. But, to better appreciate their feelings on
this subject, it must be known that these poor foreigners have for a
long while been victimized by the grossest impositions. I have heard of
as much as one thousand dollars lost by one family, through the sharp
practice of a man (an Italian) who, taking advantage of their ignorance
of the English, and of their confidence, deposited and drew in his name
the money which was intended as part payment for a farm they had bought
in Massachusetts, and gave them to understand that the bank had failed.
And this is one of the many cases they had related to me on the subject.
Nor less shameful imposition they suffered at the hands of the
"shysters" whenever some juvenile delinquent was arrested for trifles.
They had to pay from fifty to one hundred dollars, and, what was worse,
often without obtaining their release. In order to explain the process
by which poor people possess such cash amounts, I must say that in
extraordinary circumstances they help each other with the most
disinterested and prompt liberality. Some of those who go to California,
having borrowed the money here, remit it generally in drafts payable to
order of lenders, who, being unknown to the bank, are refused payment.
The Maestro then, of course, is applied to, and for the first two or
three cases I found it hard to make them understand that I did not do it
for money. They would insist on my receiving something for my trouble in
procuring payment by the drawees, and one, especially, on having paid a
draft of one hundred and sixty dollars gold, followed me for a block,
with a coin piece in his hand, insisting that I should take it. 'My dear
man, keep your money,' I would say; 'I am very glad to have been able to
render you this service.' 'No, Maestro, no. Well, take _at least_ these
five dollars' (gold). That _at least_ struck me that he must have been
laboring under the impression that my services were worth considerably
more, and I addressed him in that sense. In answer, he explained that an
Italian, who has gone away from New York, charged him and others ten per
cent, for cashing drafts to order.
"In conclusion, the Maestro is called upon for every emergency;
Questions undecided between two or more dissentient parties are referred
to my arbitration. Family quarrels are submitted to my adjustment. It is
no exaggeration to say that the good which could be effected by thus
visiting among this class is immense--in fact, far beyond the
expectation of those who might take as a basis of comparison the result
of visiting among the low classes of other nationalities.
OUR FRIENDS.
"As the work was done in a most quiet way, our patrons were at first
few, and for six years all Americans. After that period, the few
distinguished Italians in this city were applied to with favorable
result. But it was not until the end of 1868 that their co-operation
proved efficient, and relieved considerably the Children's Aid Society
of the pecuniary burden. Previous to that time, five or six of them,
headed by the Italian Consul-General, Signor Anfora, visited us, to look
into the working of the School, and, becoming satisfied that a great
good was being accomplished, later on, at the invitation of the Trustees
of the Society, organized themselves into a _Co-operative
Sub-Committee,_ consisting of Prof. V. Botta, President; E. P. Fabbri,
Treasurer; G. Albinola and V. Fabbricotti, Esqs., and Dr. G. Cecarini.
The Treasurer, Signor Fabbri, with that kind and unassuming liberality
for which he is distinguished, to his annual subscription has added
fifty tons of coal to the most deserving, thus relieving their
sufferings to a great extent, and establishing a powerful inducement for
indifferent parents. The Committee also reported to the Italian
Government what was taking place for the advantage of its destitute and
ignorant subjects in this city, and obtained some subsidy and other
encouragement from that quarter. At the head of the Ministerial
Department for Foreign Affairs was, at that period. Cav. M. Cerruti, a
gentleman of learning and most enlightened views, who has done much in
Italy to popularize public instruction as the speediest and surest means
of promoting the prosperity of the nation. This gentleman having lately
been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary from his to this country,
visited, last October, our School, and met with the hearty reception he
deserves as one of our patrons. His visit elicited the following letter
from the distinguished Italian statesman to Rev. C. L. Brace, Secretary
of the Children's Aid Society:--
"'CLARENDON HOTEL, October 29, 1867.
"'DEAR SIR--I beg leave to be allowed to express, in behalf of the
Italian Government and nation I have the honor to represent at
Washington, the most heartfelt thanks for the Christian and noble
undertaking unpretentiously assumed and most successfully prosecuted by
the Children's Aid Society for the improvement of the poor class of the
Italian population in your city. My visit to the Italian School under
your charge, on the 23d instant, was to me a source of high
gratification, and convinced me that, by your efficient and humane
exertions, hundreds of poor Italian children have been redeemed from
vagrancy and turned into industrious and useful members of the
community. The cleanliness, mental training, and admirable behavior of
the one hundred and fifty pupils assembled on that occasion, impressed
me with a deep sense of gratitude toward the friends of the Children's
Aid Society, and to you personally, for your unsparing efforts in
devising and forwarding such a useful institution. I can only hope that
your Society may ever prosper and continue its charitable work in the
vast field of its operations with that truly Christian and benevolent
spirit which distinguishes this glorious undertaking.
"'Believe me, dear sir,
"'Yours respectfully,
[Signed]"'MARCEL CERRUTI,
"'Minister Plenipotentiary from Italy at Washington.'
GENERAL REMARKS.
"For brevity's sake I had to omit mentioning incidents which speak very
highly of our pupils. Nor have I space to describe the many cases of
articles and money found by them and handed to me for investigation as
to the rightful owner; and their spontaneous liberality and hearty
contributions to the Garibaldi Fund in 1859, to the New York Sanitary
Fair in 1864, and to the relief of the orphans and wounded of the late
war of Italy and Prussia against Austria. Suffice it to say that our aim
is to render them useful, honest, industrious, and intelligent citizens.
In that direction we have been laboring, and with what success has been
seen."