It is better far to sleep under the
stars than in a stuffy room with ten or twelve other persons.
Let the reader climb the stairs of some of the tenements in
Elizabeth Street, or go through those in Union Street,
Brooklyn, and he will get firsthand evidence. This is
generally true of the lower class of Italians throughout the
United States, whether in the city or country. They live
under worse conditions than at home. You may go through the
railroad camps and see twenty men sleeping together in a
one-room built of lath, tar-paper, and clay. The writer knows
of one Italian laborer in Massachusetts who slept in a
floorless mud hovel about six feet square, with one hole to go
in and out by and another in the roof for ventilation--in
order to save $1.75 per month. All honor to him! Garibaldi
was of just such stuff, only he suffered in a better cause.
In Naples the young folks are out all day in the sun. Here
they are indoors all the year round. For the consequences of
this change see Dr.
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