The house on Henry Street

by Lillian D. Wald

The House on Henry Street

THE HOUSE ON
HENRY STREET

BY
LILLIAN D. WALD

With Illustrations from Etchings and Drawings by
Abraham Phillips and from Photographs

NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

Copyright, 1915,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

November, 1938

Printed in U. S. A.

TO
THE COMRADES
WHO HAVE BUILT THE HOUSE

PREFACE

Much of the material contained in this book has been published in a series of six articles that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly from March to August, 1915. And indeed it was due to the kindly insistence on the part of the editors of that magazine that more permanent form should be given to the record of the House on Henry Street that the story was published at all.

During the two decades of the existence of the Settlement there has been a significant awakening on matters of social concern, particularly those affecting the protection of children throughout society in general; and a new sense of responsibility has been aroused among men and women, but perhaps more distinctively among women, since the period coincides with their freer admission to public and professional life. The Settlement is in itself an expression of this sense of responsibility, and under its roof many divergent groups have come together to discuss measures “for the many, mindless, mass that most needs helping,” and often to assert by deed their faith in democracy. Some have found in the Settlement an opportunity for self-realization that in the more fixed and older institutions has not seemed possible.

I cannot acknowledge by name the many individuals who, by gift of money and through understanding and confidence, through work and thought and sharing of the burdens, have helped to build the House on Henry Street. These colleagues have come all through the years that have followed since the little girl led me to her rear tenement home. Though we are working together as comrades for a common cause, I cannot resist this opportunity to express my profound personal gratitude for the precious gifts that have been so abundantly given. The first friends who gave confidence and support to an unknown and unexperimented venture have remained staunch and loyal builders of the House. And the younger generation with their gifts have developed the plans of the House and have found inspiration while they have given it.

In the making of the book, much help has come from these same friends, and I should be quite overwhelmed with the debt I owe did I not feel that all of us who have worked together have worked not only for each other but for the cause of human progress; that is the beginning and should be the end of the House on Henry Street.

Lillian D. Wald.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	The East Side Two Decades Ago	[1]
II.	Establishing the Nursing Service	[26]
III.	The Nurse and the Community	[44]
IV.	Children and Play	[66]
V.	Education and the Child	[97]
VI.	The Handicapped Child	[117]
VII.	Children Who Work	[135]
VIII.	The Nation’s Children	[152]
IX.	Organizations within the Settlement	[169]
X.	Youth	[189]
XI.	Youth and Trades Unions	[201]
XII.	Weddings and Social Halls	[216]
XIII.	Friends of Russian Freedom	[229]
XIV.	Social Forces	[249]
XV.	Social Forces, Continued	[270]
XVI.	New Americans and Our Policies	[286]
	Index	[313]

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
The House on Henry Street	[Frontispiece]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
Lillian D. Wald and Mary M. Brewster in Hospital Uniform, 1893	[6]
With Prayer-shawl and Phylactery	[22]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
The Nurse in the Tenement	[28]
A Short Cut over the Roofs of the Tenements	[52]
And their Ecstasy at the Sight of a Wonderful Dogwood Tree	[78]
It Has Been Called the “Bunker Hill” of Playgrounds	[82]
The Children Play on Our Roof	[82]
The Kindergarten Children Learn the Reality of the Things they Sing About	[90]
Uses of the Back Yard in One of the Branches of the Henry Street Settlement	[162]
Here and There Are Still Found Reminders of Old New York	[170]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
Esther	[182]
Drawing by Esther J. Peck
The Neighborhood Playhouse	[186]
Drawing by Abraham Phillips
In a Club-room	[192]
Drawing by Abraham Phillips
After the Long Day	[204]
Drawing by Abraham Phillips
An Incident in the Historical Pageant on Henry Street, Commemorating the Twentieth Anniversary of the Settlement	[214]
The Older Generation	[218]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
Prince Kropotkin	[234]
Babuschka, Little Grandmother	[242]
The Synagogues Are Everywhere—Imposing or Shabby-looking Buildings	[254]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
A Mother in Israel	[268]
Etching by Abraham Phillips
The Dramatic Club Presented “The Shepherd”	[272]
A Region of Overcrowded Homes	[298]
At Ellis Island There is a Stream of Inflowing Life	[308]
Photograph by Louis Hines