Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

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82 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE which needs must meet three times a week in order to accommodate the many of varying ages who belong. Probably the most enjoyable department in the whole building is the " rough-house ' ' room, where young America is not restricted by such words as "don't," "steady, now," and "less noise, boys." A "roughhouse ' ' room without noise would be a horrible travesty upon justice. Accordingly, noise is expected. That it should, as far as possible, be a harmonious noise, there was organized, a few years ago, a brass band of sixty pieces, which practices diligently, wears red and blue uniforms, marches about Chicago in great state, and in summer gives open-air concerts in the Hull House court and at the Gad's Hill camp. The latter is a delightful spot up on the lake, where, each year, five hundred boys, who have saved enough money* to cover expenses, spend two weeks, at the nominal cost of one dollar a week. In the tenements and ramshackle dwellings along many of the near-by streets, where whole families of eight and ten persons are herded into one or two dark, unsanitary rooms, the close proximity of a quiet place to study and to get social help in their lessons is an invaluable boon to hundreds of boys who avail themselves of the privileges of the library and study room. Here 1,000 volumes are at their disposal, and the rooms are so far removed from the ' ' rough-house, ' ' game room and bowling alley that even the beat of the bass drum and clash of cymbals is unheard. The girls are not forgotten, by any means. They are to be the future home-makers, and upon them largely depend the health, the morals, in fact, the entire future of the great mass of humanity clustered in that part of Chicago. Not only the rising and the future, but the present generations benefit by what the young girls and the children learn at Hull House. ' ' There are nine of us at my home, ' ' said twelve-year-old Lucia, a sweetfaced little Italian girl from Polk street. "My stepmother has to mind the baby. He's sick all the time. Me and my sister does the cooking. ' ' A visit to the home had revealed cooking conditions quite beyond description, and utensils limited to a frying-pan, tin pail and two knives. At frequent intervals a red or a blue sign, telling of disease, appeared upon the door of the two-room apartment. But that was long ago. Lucia has now learnt to cook. The girls' cooking club of Hull House demonstrated to her the value of cleanliness and the proper preparation of food. Her various working brothers and sisters have been persuaded to contribute proper utensils for cooking and eating. She has learnt the value of scalding and disinfecting, and how to launder clothes. The stepmother and all of the children have benefited by the training of the little girl. The sanitary conditions of their home have been improved by the frequent application of hot water and soap, so that the general health of every one in the building is much better. The children are better clothed, for Lucia's sister belongs to the sewing class. She gravely passes her instruction on to her married sister, her aunt and her stepmother. They, in turn, put the precepts into practice by making and mending the clothing of their respective families. It is a great pleasure to do laundry work at Hull House, everything is so convenient, the instructress is so pleasant, and there is so much space in which to flap wet garments about and to carry portable tubs and boilers. There are no crying children under foot and no scolding stepmothers or drunken fathers to interrupt the joy which the average little tenement girl finds in "mussing" in suds. The sewing class is not so exciting, but it has its devotees, for children flock to Hull House as bees about a hive. They feel that they have a share in its ownership, and they look to it for every happiness and advantage that is to come into their povertystricken and hard-working lives. The spirit of emulation is a great incen