During the Lawrence strike, in the winter of 1911-12, the striking
weavers deemed it proper to send away their children to comrades in
other places. The men and women understood that the children should be
kept away from the carnage then going on.
Arrangements were soon completed and the children sent away to New York
in charge of a few reliable people. But on the second transport the
charities took a hand in the proceedings and compelled the Mayor and the
Sheriff to stop the exodus. The pretext was that the children were being
taken away from their mothers, to whom they belonged, and who should
take care of them. To intimidate the workers a few of the parents were
arrested and kept under lock and key "to show an example."
No human being could forget the spectacle when the poor little ones
arrived. Pale, haggard, starved, cold, naked, with shoes torn,
bareheaded, they passed along Fifth Avenue. The ladies and gentlemen
lined themselves on the edge of the sidewalk. A woman kept a pet dog in
her arms and when she saw a little girl shivering she cuddled the
animal to her body.
Could any one forget the first meal the children had. It looked as
though they would eat up the spoons and forks. They were afterwards
distributed to those who applied for them, to keep them until the strike
was over.
It looks very reasonable, does it not? Not to organised charity. They,
who insult and torture, got busy and investigated and reported to the
Gerry Society. Got the papers busy on the subject and made life
miserable for every one who had a Lawrence child. Were they afraid that
the workers had wakened up to their own misery? Were they afraid
organised charity was going out of business? Were they afraid to lose
the fat positions, or was it simply the mania for investigating? Simply
the desire to augment the quantity of records? The most pressing local
cases were put aside. Everybody was employed getting the children of
Lawrence into the clutches of organised charity. They met with very
little success, but to me, who knew them thoroughly, their cant of
"protect the children," was disgusting.
One of the boys was found alone in a working-man's home. The
investigator got busy with so many questions and insinuations (he was
Italian and the people keeping him were Jews) that the poor boy ran
away, fearing his life was in danger. The Jews needed his blood! He
wandered aimlessly on the street. A policeman noticed him, brought him
to the station, the reporters got a story:
"The child ran away because he was ill treated." He was ill treated by
the investigator who poisoned his soul. They wanted the children of the
Lawrence strikers in their clutches, in the clutches of charity. Thank
God, they were saved.
"THE HOME"
The husband dead and she left with four small children, the woman had to
apply to charity. An investigator was sent and she found the family on
the verge of starvation. As she was speaking to the applicant an old
man, with grey beard and bent shoulders, came in.
"Who is he?"
"My father," the widow answered.
Further questions brought out the fact that the old man had lived in his
daughter's house since his wife died; that he was too weak and old to
earn his living and consequently fed on his daughter's fare. The
investigator insinuated that the old man would have to be placed in a
"Home." The widow cried and vowed that she would never part with her
father, and the children surrounded their grandfather as though he was
in actual danger of his life. The result was to be foreseen. A week's
hunger brought the widow to the office, where she agreed to part with
her father, so that her children might live.
The old man took no active part in the controversy concerning his
future. Apathetic, he would sit near the open window and read the
Psalms. He said no word when his daughter announced to him what the
outcome was. A few minutes later he asked: "When am I to go?" Then he
packed his belongings, the "Tefilin" prayer books, and was ready.
Thus are the people of woe ready to wander. He has been in many lands
and many a time he has had to leave his abode, go from east to west,
north to south.