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Since these 26 farms came into the possession of the North Italians the number of farms with 25 to 50 per cent of the land tillable has increased from 1 to 12, and the price per acre has increased about 16.7 per cent. Practically all the land that is now tillable is being cultiated. This shows that the Italians have spent some time and money in clearing their farms and making improvements. The price of land less than one-fourth tillable has also increased.

The table which follows shows the average number of acres anú the value, in 1909, of the 24 farms included in the Commission's inquiry which had been purchased by North Italians.

TABLE 42.-Condition of land, size of farms, and average value of 24 farms owned by North Italians, South Glastonbury, Conn.

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The next table shows the value of the property brought to South Glastonbury by the 26 North Italians under consideration, and the net value of property now owned by them, with the number of years since first lease or purchase. Five, or practically 20 per cent, had less than $50 on their arrival in this locality; at present one of these has between $1,000 and $1,500, three now own amounts varying between $1,500 and $2,500, and one has made over $5,000. This shows how Italians who came with nothing have succeeded. In the majority of cases not cited here the increase in the property accumulated by the Italians during their residence in the locality has been in the same proportion.

TABLE 43.— Value of property brought to South Glastonbury by North Italians, net value of property now owned, and number of years since first lease or purchase.

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Table 44 shows the value and amount of live stock kept by 25 of these farmers; while the numbers and valuations are not large, the supply is enough for the demand. The cattle and hogs are raised principally for food, saving the Italians many dollars each year. of the farms studied by the Commission reported no live stock.

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TABLE 44.-Classification of live stock kept by 25 North Italian farmers, South Glastonbury, Conn.

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The Italians wear American clothes made in American fashion. Their clothes do not fit as well as those worn by Americans, nor do they look as well, but the Italians buy garments that will give good service.

The women, as a rule, think it necessary to wrap the head in a coarse shawl whenever they move out of doors; the young girls go from house to house with light scarfs wrapped about their heads, while some of the children are seen at play wearing heavy knit mufflers over the head, securely tied around the neck. The cold climate and the abundance of stones in the fields are responsible for the fact that the South Glastonbury Italian wears his shoes more constantly than his fellow-countrymen in the localities farther south. As has been stated before, the houses are all two stories high with cellars built of stones obtained from a near-by quarry. Frequently the second story is unfinished or is made into a large open attic. The first floor consists of a kitchen, which is frequently used as a combined dining room and living room. Two or three of the houses have a parlor; this is generally filled with plush furniture, gilded pictures adorn the walls, the floor is covered with homemade rugs, and at the windows are hung cheap lace curtains. This room is opened only on Sundays and state occasions. The walls are all plastered, and sometimes the parlor has been painted or papered. The inside woodwork is painted, and the interiors of some of the houses present a most cheerful appearance. Two of the houses are equipped with both hot and cold water in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Some of these houses are well furnished, are kept neat and tidy, and compare favorably with the general run of farm houses in this immediate neighborhood. On the other hand, some of the houses are extremely dirty and ill kept. The kitchen is used as a living room as well as a dining room; dirt covers the floor; the dining table is not cleared of crumbs after a meal; the walls though plastered are blackened from the smoke of the stove, for wood is used almost exclusively for fuel; the windows are dirty and it is impossible to distinguish the original color of the molding or window casings. Frequently the bedrooms are dirty, the beds remain unmade during

the day, the bed clothing is soiled and seems to be very seldom washed.

Some of the dwellings of this unkempt type are owned by the more prosperous men in the locality; they seem to care very little about home comforts, preferring to spend their money on barns, sheds, and farm machinery. The Italian women know very little about housework, and seem to think that the house can care for itself. Cooking, washing, and giving a little care to their children include the total of their household responsibilities.

The Italian's garden during six months of the year furnishes his table with vegetables. Numerous chickens, occasionally a pig, and other farm animals provide most of his meat. A favorite Italian dish is a stew made of beef, tomatoes, beans, peppers, and other vegetables. Sometimes this stew is prepared early in the week and constitutes the bulk of the food three times each day for the rest of the week. At mealtime a part of the stew will be poured into a bowl and placed in the middle of the table. Then the whole family sits down or stands around the table and eats from the single bowl. The Italian bread, made in long narrow rolls and baked once a week, with plenty of crust, is served with this stew, and furnished the second of the two chief articles of diet in the poorer Italian families. During the fruit season the women and children help in harvesting the fruit. The smaller children and the women are better able to pick the strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries than the men. When the peaches are ripe, the women attend to the sorting and packing of the fruit. Frequently they pick the fruit that can be reached from the ground, leaving the higher limbs for men with ladders.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT.

The opportunities for outside employment for the men and women in this locality are numerous. During the harvest season many men are employed picking apples and peaches and earn $1.50 per day of ten hours. During the winter months a few men chop wood or hew railroad ties, making from $1 to $2 per day. A near-by stone quarry furnishes employment to a few quarrymen; wages range from $1.50 to $2.50 per day. Some men are employed during the winter hauling lumber or ice, for which for man and team they are paid $3 to $4 per day, depending on whether they use one or two horses. Occasionally an Italian finds employment in Hartford, and comes home Saturday night to spend Sunday with his family.

Midway between South Glastonbury and Matson Hill is a woolen mill which employs many Italian men, women, and young boys and girls during the winter. The men and women are employed as weavers or spinners and earn from $1 to $1.50 per day; others less skilled receiving less, the wages varying from $4.50 to $8 per week, depending on the character of the work. The Italians always walk back and forth to their work, whether they have a horse in the barn or not, and no matter what the weather may be.

One of the Italians conducts a small fruit store near the end of the car line in South Glastonbury and four of them are engaged in the sawmill business. Two have portable sawmills, while the other two men own and operate a fully equipped lumber camp and sawmill. These Italians make contracts to cut into lumber the timber on the

wood lots in the neighborhood and make very profitable returns from their mills. Other Italians find employment at these lumber camps and work side by side with American lumbermen.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

Very little of the Italian's time is spent in social recreation. On Sunday afternoon families call on their friends, spend an hour or two in friendly gossip, and then move on to the next neighbor. At each house the host has a pitcher of cider or sour wine to serve to all his visiting friends.

The young men of the neighborhood have organized an Italian band, which adds to the social and recreative enterprises of the community; they meet for practice two or three times a month.

They are good neighbors and very accommodating; whenever an American wishes to borrow farm tools or desires any little service, his Italian neighbor is willing to accommodate him. Natives in the neighborhood now speak well of the Italians, although the latter at first had to make their way through a thick wall of prejudice. Merchants consider them among their test customers, and state that they always pay their bills promptly.

Mr. J. H. Hale, the noted peach grower of Connecticut, decided to employ an Italian on his farm twelve years ago. Now this Italian and Mr. Hale are joint owners and active partners in a 400-acre orchard project. Mr. Hale says that in less than ten years hence the 400-acre orchard, on land that had been given up as being too difficult to cultivate on account of rocks and stumps, will be worth $100 an acre, due largely to the energy and industry of his Italian partner. This Italian came to Mr. Hale and suggested that the land would make a good site for a peach orchard if properly cleared of stones. Mr. Hale looked at the land and thought differently, but at last decided to let the Italian try his hand. Since then he has been willing to trust to the judgment of his Italian partner when it comes to the clearing of new land.

The Italians are located practically by themselves, for each year one or more of the old-time American families that in some cases have held their property for generations sell out to these newcomers and move elsewhere, leaving the Italians in possession. In a few years, they will, beyond a doubt, occupy the whole neighborhood.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS.

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All the Italians in this group attend the Roman Catholic Church at South Glastonbury, where services are held every Sunday. present priest, although an American, can speak Italian and Polish, and he hears confession and pronounces the marriage ceremony in the native language. Sermons, however, are delivered in English, since practically all the attendants can understand enough English to derive some benefit from the service.

The present priest once stated that it would be a matter of a few years only before his entire congregation would be Italian, for the present Catholic members of the other races are moving into other localities and leaving only Italians behind.

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EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS.

In Connecticut schools are supported by local districts. During the first few years of the Italian influx into the locality the newcomers had to be content to have their children attend school in an old and dilapidated schoolhouse. Every year they tried to have the district vote enough money to buy land and erect a new building, but the Americans controlled a majority of the votes and each time voted down this proposition. Finally one of the Italians donated the land on Matson Hill, where the present schoolhouse now stands, others contributed money to buy the necessary lumber, a few contributed their labor, and in this way a new schoolhouse was obtained. The present teacher is an American and a graduate of the local high school. She took this school after graduating and has now been its teacher for four years, having had remarkable success with the Italians. In this school the pupils are all Italians, as it is right in the midst of the Italian section. Twenty-eight pupils were enrolled in January, 1910. The other school in the locality has a majority of Americans on its rolls, there being only six Italians who attend.

There is a tendency in this locality (and this is commonly true in foreign communities), for the parents to allow their children to drop out of school as soon as they have passed beyond the age limit required by the laws of Connecticut, consequently very few of the Italian children pass through the grammar grades. Two of the Italian children are now in the South Glastonbury high school, and one has attended a business college in Hartford, but this is practically the extent of the higher education so far attained by the Italians. These children are members of the leading Italian families and associate with the Americans more than the other Italians do.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS.

In this settlement there are probably 75 men of voting age, but according to the books of the assessors not over 15 have secured their final naturalization papers. The majority are property holders, yet they have no desire to participate in the town or city elections. One hears a good deal of talk about their desire to secure their papers, and they all say they would like to vote; but very few Italian names are to be seen on the voting list.

Information was secured by the Commission relative to the political condition of 26 of the South Glastonbury Italians, all of whom had been in the country 5 years or more and who were 21 years of age or over at time of coming. Eleven of these men had been in the United States from 5 to 9 years, but none had taken even the first step toward securing naturalization papers. The remaining 15 men had been in the country 10 years or over, and of these 7 were fully naturalized; 4 had first papers only, and 4 had made no move toward citizenship. This substantiates the statement that the Italians in this part of Connecticut care very little for politics, and it is said that none of them desire to hold office.

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