﻿Edmondson : Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime 23 



even in the hottest parts of the summer they can be seen on the 

 streets in heavy black woolen skirts and white waists. Only 

 the younger women and those most advanced in the process of 

 Americanization wear corsets. In their eagerness to adopt Amer- 

 ican fashions of dress, some ludicrous effects are achieved — such 

 for example as the wearing of white or gay-colored satin party 

 dresses on the streets in broad daytime. 



The women in the home learn English very slowly. The 

 men feel that they have to learn the language of the country, 

 but the mothers seem to have little desire to learn. They seem 

 to fear the ridicule of their children, who as very little tots acquire 

 a knowledge of at least the one universal English word "sure' 5 

 which they us3 on every occasion in answer to every question 

 put to them in English whether they understand it or not. 



These women do so many things for themselves that American 

 women have long ago given up. They bake their own bread, 

 half-sole their children's shoes, make their own sauerkraut in the 

 fall, and otherwise prepare for the winter. Many of them make 

 beautiful crocheted lace, executing the most intricate patterns 

 very swiftly. They crochet little jackets, bedspreads, scarfs, 

 pillow-cases, lace insertion and edging. 



Children are taught in the home many things concerning the 

 mysteries of human life. While such things are talked of fieely 

 and quite plainly, they are not talked of unnecessarily, and the 

 discussion is never accompanied by giggling and silly actions. 

 One family had lost a baby oa shipboard on the way over from 

 the old country. The little girls in the family were so happy 

 when they were tDld that a new baby was to come into the home. 

 It was beautiful to see them help their mother with the little 

 clothes, and very pathetic to see their heart-broken grief and 

 disappointment when the baby lived only a few days to wear 

 the clothes. 



These New Immigrants, especially the younger ones, are eager 

 to become Americans and to be so regarded. It is altogether 

 unfortunate that in the process of so-called Americanization 

 they should take on so many of the less desirable qualities of 

 « our native born Americans at the expense of so much that is 

 fine and beautiful in their own natures, so much that is worth 

 preserving ia their native manners and customs. Nothing is 

 left untouched in the process. Their very names suffer by the 

 change. The beautiful Roumanian name Paraschina Rotarin has 

 become Pearl Rotar; the Croatin family name Millocivich has 



