--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Sarah Whalen collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 11 published: 1901-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Sarah Whalen, "The Angel of the Tenement," *Improvement Era* 4, no. 11 (September 1901): 835–839.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0411unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0411unse start_page: 835 end_page: 839 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0411unse publication_year: 1901 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1901, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Angel of the Tenement THE ANGEL OF THE TENEMENT. BY MISS SARA WHALEN, TEACHER IN THE STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, OGDEN, UTAH. "Annie of Tharaw, my true love of old. She is my life, and my goods, and my gold. Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, We will stand by each other, however it flow. What e'er I have bidden thee thou hast obeyed. Whatever forbidden thou hast not gainsaid. It is this, my Annie, my heart's sweetest rest. That makes of us twain but one soul in breast." It was hot in New York City, hot is the only word that ex- presses it, the mercury having been playing around the 100 mark for some time, and the people were sweltering, some, in truth, dying. From the elevated road one could look into the upper stories of the tenement houses and see the misery and squalor there, which was revealed through open doors and windows. As the train sped along, there was first to be seen a poor woman lying sick in bed and panting for the want of fresh air, then children crying and fretting in the pent-up atmosphere, and further on, a tiny piece of humanity stretched on the floor half asleep, with the flies buzzing around it. Some of the little ones were naked, or nearly so, and all in a state bordering on despair at the long- continued hot wave. Alex Brinton, with his sweet wife Annie, occupied a few rooms in one of these tall houses; and, time and again, Annie's tender heart ached to see the children suffering, and so it finally occurred to her that sTae might give them a brief respite from 836 IMPROVEMENT ERA. their misery. Alex was poor but very industrious, and he had brought his young wife as a bride from the interior of the state to reside in one of those lofty tenements; and, although Annie was not entirely pleased with the life, still, as a devoted wife, she said nothing, trusting that time and the Spirit of the Lord would wean her husband from his great love for the city. When she had thought out her plan in regard to the chil- dren, she ventured to divulge it to Alex. "0, my love," she said, during one of the hottest evenings that had prevailed in that section, "I feel so sorry for the poor, dear children in this house; how they are suffering. You should have seen the little Scott girl, during the morning, sitting by the window, with her thin, bare arms resting on the sill, and her head hanging half-way out as she tried to catch a breath of fresh air from the bay. And her mother tells me that the little thing stayed in that position all night, half-dozing, until the noise of the drays and the bustle of business woke her fully to the consciousness of another hot day. It is truly pitiful, and do you not think, Alex, it would be a good plan for me to take the children to Madison Square for a day? It is only nine blocks, and I know a nice bakery near Union Square where I could get some cookies for them; and when we reach Madison Square, we can get some cool water from the fountain there, you know the one I spoke to you about; it is not the Croton water, but a delicious spring bubbling from the earth. I walk that far nearly every day just to take a drink of that water. It reminds me so of my own home in the country, and it is so different from the Croton water which I do not relish very much. Then I could bring them back to Fleis chmann's place, and let them look in at the green garden there. Mr. Fleischmann de- serves well of his fellow-beings for keeping that little spot so green in the midst of this city of brick and stone. Then we could walk to St. Paul's churchyard, which is a cool spot, and, going down to the foot of Wall Street, we could cross on the ferry where they could, for a few minutes, get a breath of air from the river. Now, after the day in Madison Square and the ride on the ferry, I think they would feel better. I should like to do more for them, but I realize our circumstances." He made no comment until his wife had finished detailing her THE ANGEL OF THE TENEMENT. 837 plan, when, with a heart full of emotion, he exclaimed: "I wish I could afford to take you into a better part of the city, Annie, this life is too sad for you, sweetheart." "No, no," she insisted, "I do not care now, but if ever the stork should bring a child to our door, Alex, remember what I have always said, that the child should not be brought up in New York City." It hurt her a little to make this assertion to her husband, as she knew how his heart was wrapped up in the events of the great city. Bred as he had been in the very heart of it, every fiber of his being clung to it, and it would cause quite a heart-wrench to tear him away from it. "Just as you like," he replied, repeating to her the couplet: "Annie of Tharaw, my light and my sun. The threads of our two lives are woven in one." "But remember, my dear, I would not go down near the Battery. I have cautioned you about that several times." "I never go there," she answered. The next day, while going to his work, he pondered over the plan of his wife, and thought what a loving and true wife she was; and his heart swelled in sympathy with her endeavor to brighten even for only one day, the lives of those little ones, and so uncon- sciously was she exerting an ennobling influence over those with whom she came in contact. After getting a seat in the Fulton Street ferry, which was usually crowded in the early morning, he drew from his pocket a little book which contained gems of the most beautiful thoughts, and these he read and re-read until the boat reached her slip on the opposite shore. Although bred in the midst of vice and misery, although poor and oblig^,d to work day by day for his daily bread, nevertheless, Alex Brinton found time in the midst of a busy life to read from the little book, which he always carried, some gem to enhance bis daily living. Whether on a crowded Broadway omnibus or a downtown ferry, he always found a few minutes' time to store up the thought in his mind, and how little^ perhaps, did he realize that while making those thoughts a part of himself, incorporating those gems into his very being, he could, and did, transmit to future generations the power and vigor of 838 IMPROVEMENT ERA. mind which makes for a''more beautiful manhood and womanhood. Annie Brinton, upon approaching the mothers in the block, learned that she had to convince them, first, that she was earnest in her desire, and then that she did not mean to do any harm to them. The poor, suspicious mothers, reared in an atmosphere of imposition, could scarcely credit the fact that the sweet lady in- tended to do them no harm. And, like mothers of all ages and conditions, they were afraid lest some harm might befall their off- spring. "Do you raley mane it, ye swate crature?" asked Mrs. O'Hal- loran, as she paused in the midst of her weekly washing and wiped the perspiration from her face. "Here, take a sate, me lady," she continued, dusting off a chair with her apron for the lady to sit on. "It is just this way: Me husband, Pat, is that bizzy, he niver gits toime to take the childer anywhar, why we see him that scarce the childer hardly know him when he comes home, but take him for a stranger, lady, now, wud ye belave me? He has to go airly on Monday mornin' and he niver gets back until so late in the night that the little ones are in bed. Poor dears! And ye raley mane it, bless yer swate face? Well, thin, I'll have them ready for ye, betimes in the mornin', and I know they'll enjoy their- selves, and may the Lord bless ye for it." On visiting a mother on the top floor of the building, whom she found out, as she had to clean a big office buildingiand could not return until it was late, Annie waited, and again^was her tender heart torn with anguish to see the poverty and misery in the midst of all the wealth of the vast city. Although she had very little squeamishness about her, still she felt impelled to shrink away from the corners of the room where dirt abounded, and gather up her dainty skirts from contact with the insects which infested the place. The mother, a stalwart Pole, doomed |to work outside all day to gain a scanty living for her family, at last arrived, and Annie made known her errand. The woman could speak very little English, but she at last comprehended the fact that her children were not to be kidnapped but taken to the park for a day, and she consented. "We toil, we groan —the cry for love Mounts upward from this seething city; THE ANGEL OF TEE TENEMENT. 889 And yet, I know we have above A Father, infinite in pity." When everything was in readiness, she started out with her motley crew; for, in many instances, they were bedecked like Joseph of old with coats of many colors; and as for shoes, some had odd pairs and some had none at all. But they were all happy, for were they not going out with the "nice" lady? And even if some of them had walked through Madison Square, they had never spent a day there, and had a "party;" and some of them, in- deed, had never seen the place. True to the plan of arrange- ments, a stop was made at the bakery to get the cookies, which purchase pleased the little party almost as much as going for the day. But it was the fact of being taken, of having some one to whom they could appeal, that enhanced the day's enjoyment; since, in many instances, these children, mere babes themselves, had the care and responsibility of younger ones upon their shoulders, until they were old long before their time. To many it may seem a trifling thing, and perhaps of not enough consequence, to arrange a day's outing in the simplest way for children, but we should all remember that the heart of a child is easily reached and matters which seem slight to us are big with importance to them. Annie Brintons, in the person of father, mother, elder brother, and sister, followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, may arise in any part of our broad land and arrange a simple entertainment for their fellow-creatures. Such a kindness will oft-times touch the heart of the recipients where a more elaborate one would not. The day was enjoyed very much by the children. It was one of the green spots in their memory, and when they returned that evening, tired from the trip, their rest was better, even if it was taken in a hot tenement of a hot city. It would not be true to state that Annie did not find con- siderable to do that day, but she did it with a brave heart, and it is to her the following lines have a deep meaning: "For the right, then, be thou steadfast, Though thou labor without meed; Thy reward shall be the knowledge. Thou hast done a noble deed."