The Bohemians in Chicago
Chicago: C.F. Gates, 1886.
Softcover. Very good. 5.75 x 3 inches, 10 pp, accordion folded pamphlet. Some creasing; very good. The main body of this densely printed text reprints an article from "The Interior" by Kelsey, a Lake Forest University Professor. He argues for the need for mission work among Chicago's Bohemian (i.e., Czech) population, which was estimated to number 35,000 at the time, most of whom were very recent immigrants. He reports that most Bohemians are living in a neighborhood in which sanitary conditions are "wretched" and "vice and crime are shockingly prevelant," yet "the Bohemians are, as a rule, industrious and law-abiding" and "spend far less on drink than some other classes of foreigners among us." That said, "their religious condition is most pitiable" and "must be helped or they will suffer. They need not simply ministering of physical and spiritual wants, they need sympathy and encouragement in good works." Kelsey's call to action is reinforced in the remainder of the pamphlet by Gates, who deems the Bohemians "industrious, intelligent...economical and thrifty" people who should be educated on American principles and converted to Christ before they "lose whatever sympathy they have with us" and become "a menace to our civilization and all that we hold dearest." Not found in OCLC.
Item #20879
Price: $65.00