A SOCIAL SETTLEMENT IN CHICAGO.*
HULL ROUSE is a woman's settlement which 'Miss Addams and her friend, Miss Starr, founded in Chicago early in 1889. It is not easy to define the purpose of these undertakings. One object is to better the social conditions of the place in which they exist ; another is to provide a sphere for altruistic activities. The latter is especially prominent in a woman's settlement. Miss Addams is very emphatic in her pronounce- ments on the need that there is for openings in this direction. We may quote a story which she tells, because it is repre- sentative of cases without number. " Happy girl that you are," said a mother to her daughter, "you can give your whole time to developing your genius for music. When I was of your age I could give only half an hour to sly practice." The- girl knew enough to be sure that she had nothing like genius. Her hours of practice wearied her; the half-hour would. have been a delight if it had been 'a recreation from real work. And of real work there is no lack in Hull House. Miss Addams tells us about the region in which it stands and about the people who surround it. The description of the neighbourhood does not give us a high idea of municipal government in Chicago. " The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of schools inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, the street lighting bad, the pav- ing bad and altogether lacking in the alleys and smaller streets, and the stables foul beyond description." This was written some years ago, but the author speaks of it as still " sym- pathetic and correct." The people,, it must be allowed, are not easy to govern. They change : the " more prosperous Irish and Germans " give place to Russian Jews, Italians and Greeks ; but they are always non-American. Possibly the Italians predominate, and they are peculiarly difficult. " She was my eldest kid," said one of them to a lady who sympa- thised with him on the death of his daughter, and now I shall have to work "—he was not more than thirty-five or so. And what did the dwellers in Hull House do? It would be easier to say what they did not do. Cla.sSes for reading—one of the earliest things , was a reading party in " Romola "- sewing classes, cookery classes—economical schemes for utilising food were not always welcome, many agreeing with the woman who liked to eat " what she'd rather "—classes, in short, of all kinds. And there were humbler duties. " We were asked to wash the new-born babies, and to prepare the dead for burial, to nurse the sick, and to ` mind the children." But to get any real idea of the work our readers must go to Miss Addams's admirable bPok.
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