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Riis, Jacob A., 1849-1914

"The Making of an American"

One of the editors of _Scribner's Magazine_
saw my pictures and heard their story in his church, and came to
talk the matter over with me. As a result of that talk I wrote an
article that appeared in the Christmas _Scribner's_, 1889, under the
title "How the Other Half Lives," and made an instant impression.
That was the beginning of better days.
Before I let the old depart I must set down an incident of
my reporter's experience that crowds in with a good hearty laugh,
though it was not the slum that sent me to the Church of the Holy
Communion over on Sixth Avenue. And though the door was shut in my
face, it was not by the rector, or with malice prepense. A despatch
from the Tenderloin police station had it that the wife of the
Rev. Dr. Henry Mottet was locked up there, out of her mind. We had
no means of knowing that Dr. Mottet was at that time a confirmed
bachelor. So I went over to condole with him, and incidentally
to ask what was the matter with his wife, any way. The servant who
came to the door did not know whether the doctor was in; she would
go and see.


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