第167章 THE FOREIGN CHILD AT A ST.LOUIS BRANCH(4)

Among the Jewish people the word "radical"is in high favor --it is the open sesame to their sympathy.For the ordinary layman,radicalism,for some unexplained reason,is associated with the words Socialism,Anarchism,etc.The deep dyed conservative,to whom comes the picture of flaunting red at the mention of the word,would be surprised to learn in what simple cases it is often used.We have,for instance,an organization meeting once a week under the head of the "Radical Jewish School."When the secretary came to us for the first time we asked him what new theory they intended to work out.Their radical departure from custom consisted only in teaching to the children a working Yiddish in order that the Jewish mother might understand her amazingly American child,in order to lessen the tragedy of misunderstanding which looms large in a family of this sort.They are setting at defiance the old Jewish School which taught its children only a Hebrew taken from the Talmud,a more perfect but seldom used language.Not so terrifying that.

Children who are forced to forage for themselves from a very early age,as most of our youngsters are,develop while yet very young a sense of responsibility and a certain initiative seldom found in more tenderly nurtured children.It is the normal thing in the life of a girl in our neighborhood when she reaches the age of eight or nine years to have solely in her charge a younger brother or sister.When she jumps rope or plays jacks or tag she does it with as much joy as her sister of happier circumstances--but with a deftness foreign to the sheltered child she tucks away under her arm the baby,which after six weeks becomes almost a part of herself.Often we will fearfully exhort her to hold the baby's back,etc.Invariably the child will smile indulgently at us,as at a likeable but irresponsible person,and change the position of the infant not one whit.She is really the mother,she feels,with a mother's knowledge of what the baby needs;we are only nice library teachers.Their pride in the baby and their love for it sometimes even exceeds that of the mother who is forced to be so much away from the little ones.From five years of age the boys are expected to manage for themselves--to fight their own battles,literally--and to look out for themselves in general.Naturally they possess a self-reliance greater than other children of their age.We come into contact with this in the library in the child's more or less independent choice of books and his free criticism--often remarkably keen--of the contents.Another place where the children show initiative is in the formation of clubs,which is a great diversion of theirs.Seldom does a week pass without a crowd of children coming to us petitioning for the use of one of the club rooms.Often these clubs are of short duration,but some of them have been in existence for years.Sometimes they are literary,sometimes purely social--but more often dramatic.In the dramatic club the children,starved for the brighter things of life--can pretend to their hearts'content,and their keen imagination can make it all vividly realistic for them.They choose their own plays,draw the parts,make their costumes and carry out their own conception of the different roles.Astonishingly well they do it too.Is it any wonder that with their drab unhappy lives in mind,fairies and beautiful princesses figure largely?It seems to me that a singularly pathetic touch is the fact that yearly the "Merry Making Girls Club"spends weeks and weeks of preparation for an entertainment given for the benefit of the Pure Milk and Ice Fund for the poor babies of St.Louis,they themselves being the most liable to become beneficiaries of the fund.

A very small thing is sufficient to fire their imagination.The most trivial incident will suggest to them the formation of a club --a gilt crown,an attractive name,etc.An amusing instance has lately come up in this connection.Several boys of about thirteen or fourteen asked the use of one of the club rooms for the "Three C's."Very reticent they were about the nature of this organization.Finally amid rather embarrassed giggles the truth came out--a picture show in the neighborhood had distributed buttons bearing the picture and name of the popular favorite,which buttons were sufficient reason to form the "Charlie Chaplin Club."When we think of many foreigners of different nationality together,there comes to most of us from habit the idea first suggested by Mr.Zangwill of amalgamation.I think most of us at Crunden do not like to feel that our branch and others like it are melting pots;at any rate of a heat so fierce that it will melt away the national characteristics of each little stranger--so fierce that it will level all picturesqueness into deadly sameness.Rather,just of a glow so warm that it melts almost imperceptibly the racial hate and antagonism.