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extremely so, and by reason of much papering and painting the
rooms generally have a bright and pleasing appearance. The beds
and bed-clothing are almost invariably clean and neat, in contradistinction
to the same properties and belongings of the neighbouring
English. Outside their own rooms, however, the Italians
are not so clean or tidy. The staircase or the yard or area of such
houses is often unclean. Rubbish is left about, and sanitation
generally is neglected. There is one further point which may be
mentioned—namely, that Italian mothers feed their infants more
wisely than their English neighbours.
Many of the Italian children attend St. Peter's Public Elementary
School (Roman Catholic) in Clerkenwell Road. This school has 500
Italian scholars and 250 English and Irish scholars. None of the
teachers are Italian, and the language is not taught during the day.
There is a night-school held, from 5 30 to 7 30 p.m. during the
week, for children to learn Italian, and this evening school is
superintended by an Italian Committee, and taught by Italian
teachers. There is a Continuation (evening) School carried on here
three nights a week, under the London School Board, for Italians to
learn English and for English persons to learn Italian. The
present day-school was opened 25 years ago, but there was a public
elementary school for some 20 years previously.
In reference to the Italian ice-cream makers, it should be remembered
that they live and work on the same premises. A
padrone, or general " boss," rents a house, and lives in it with his
family and his assistants. The latter are the men, generally young
men and sometimes boys (all Italians), who are at work in the early
morning soon after four or five o'clock, obtaining ice from the local
depot, and freezing the previous day's mixture in the freezers.
When the substance is made they go out with the barrows to
various parts of London. A padrone may employ six or a dozen
such young men. They sleep together, live and work together, and
share in the common life of the family. Or the padrone rents two
or four small cottages, using two rooms for himself and his family,
two for his assistants, one as a common room for meals, and another
as a store-room for the materials of his industry. The process of
making the cream is carried on in the yard, which contains four or