There were five widows. The
average number of children was three in a family. Thirty-nine of the
mothers had four or more. Three of them had six children, and six of
them had seven children apiece. These women ranged between the ages of
twenty-five and forty, and more than half the children were less than
seven years of age. Most of them had babies of one, two and three years
of age.
At the risk of repetition, we quote one of the typical cases reported
by Miss De Lima with features practically identical with the individual
cases reported from Rhode Island. It is of a mother who comes home from
work at 5:30 every morning, falls on the bed from exhaustion, arises
again at eight or nine o'clock to see that the older children are sent
off to school. A son of five, like the rest of the children, is on a
diet of coffee,--milk costs too much. After the children have left for
school, the overworked mother again tries to sleep, though the small son
bothers her a great deal. Besides, she must clean the house, wash, iron,
mend, sew and prepare the midday meal. She tries to snatch a little
sleep in the afternoon, but explains: "When you got big family, all time
work. Night-time in mill drag so long, so long; day-time in home go so
quick." By five, this mother must get the family's supper ready, and
dress for the night's work, which begins at seven. The investigator
further reports: "The next day was a holiday, and for a diversion, Mrs.
N. thought she would go up to the cemetery: `I got some children up
there,' she explained, `and same time I get some air.
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