BABIES OF A NEW YORK DAY NURSERY
The mothers of all these babies work away from their homes.
In a personal letter to the writer, Mr. Roscoe Doble, Clerk to the Health Board of Lawrence, Massachusetts, says: “Relative to the high infantile mortality, I can only say that ignorance in the preparation of food, illy ventilated tenements, and, in many cases, unavoidable neglect occasioned by the mothers being obliged to work away from the homes, often leaving their babies in the care of other children, seem to be the prime factors in the high mortality among children.” Similar testimony has been given by physicians and nurses wherever I have made inquiries, indicating a general consensus of opinion among experts upon the subject. A striking instance of the ignorance of these little girls to whom infants are intrusted was observed in Hamilton Fish Park when one of them gave a baby, apparently not more than four or five months old, soda water, banana, ice cream, and chewed cracker—all inside of twenty minutes.
In several factory towns I made careful investigations of the home conditions of a number of families where the mothers were employed away from their homes, noting particularly the rates of infantile mortality among them. The following typical schedule relates to five cases noted in the course of a single day in one of the small towns of New York:—
Schedule
| Name | Age | Average Weekly Earnings | Husband’s Work, Wages, etc. | Total number of Children Born | No. of Children having Died | No. of Children now Alive | Nationality of the Parents | Age of Youngest Child | How Children are cared for while Mother Works | General Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. M. | 43 | $7.00 | Mill laborer. Wages $9.00 week but is often sick. Drinks heavily. | 5 | 5 | Mother, Irish; Father, Scotch. | All five died under 18 months of age; three of them under 6 months. All the children were cared for by other children while mother worked. Three died of convulsions, two of diarrhœa. | |||
| Mrs. K. | 38 | $6.50 | Laborer. Often unemployed. Average wage the year round not more than $7.00 a week. | 7 | 5 | 2 | Mother, Irish American; Father, Swede. | 10 months. | By girl, aged 9 years. | All five that died were under 12 months of age. Two of them died of convulsions, one of acute gastritis, two of measles. The baby is a puny little thing. |
| Mrs. C. | 34 | $7.00 | Deserted wife. | 6 | 4 | 2 | Mother, German; Father, Austrian. | 18 months. | By oldest girl, aged 9 years. | One child was scalded to death while mother was at work; one died of convulsions and two of bronchitis. |
| Mrs. S. | 29 | $6.00 | Sick two years and unable to work. Was a laborer formerly. | 6 | 3 | 3 | Mother English; Father, American. | 2 years. | By father and girl of 7 years. | The first two children and the last born are alive; the third, fourth, and fifth are dead, each of them dying within the first year. Mother says they were poor, puny babies. Causes Of death: Debility, 2; convulsions, 1. |
| Mrs. H. | 41 | $6.00 | Dead 6 months. Was a laborer, often sick and unemployed. Widow does not think he earned $6.00 a week the year round. | 8 | 5 | 3 | Mother, American; Father (deceased), French-Canadian. | 20 months. | By oldest girl, 11 years old. | The first two and the eighth born are alive; the five intervening are dead. Four of these died within the first year. Causes of death: Debility, 2; intestinal dyspepsia, 2; bronchitis, 1. |
It will be observed that out of a total of 32 children born only 10 were alive at the time of the inquiry, and that of the number dead no less than 18 were under one year of age, the cause of death in most cases being associated with neglect and defective diet. Of the ten children surviving, six were decidedly weak, and the mothers said that they were “generally sick” and that somehow it seemed as if they “took” every sort of disease, a well-known condition of the undernourished child.
In the same town the case of a poor Hungarian mother was brought to my attention by one perfectly familiar with all the details, a witness of unassailable veracity. This poor Hungarian child-wife and mother was barely fifteen when her baby was born, but she had been working fully three years in the mill. When the child was born the father disappeared. “He was afraid he could never pay the cost,” the wife said in his defence. On the ninth day after her confinement she returned to her work, leaving the baby in charge of a girl nine years old.
A GROUP OF CHILDREN WHOSE MOTHERS ARE EMPLOYED AWAY FROM THEIR HOMES