[Illustration: "The MM Co."]

[Illustration: Jacob A. Riis]

THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN

BY JACOB A. RIIS

AUTHOR OF "HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES," "A TEN YEARS' WAR," "OUT OF MULBERRY STREET," ETC.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

To LAMMET

TO THE READER

The papers which form this autobiography were originally published in _The Outlook_, the chapter telling of my going "home to mother" in _The Churchman_, and parts of one or two others in _The Century Magazine_. To those who have been asking if they are made-up stories, let me say here that they are not. And I am mighty glad they are not. I would not have missed being in it all for anything.

J. A. R.

RICHMOND HILL, N.Y., October, 1901.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I THE MEETING ON THE LONG BRIDGE

CHAPTER II I LAND IN NEW YORK AND TAKE A HAND IN THE GAME

CHAPTER III I GO TO WAR AT LAST, AND SOW THE SEED OF FUTURE CAMPAIGNS

CHAPTER IV WORKING AND WANDERING

CHAPTER V I GO INTO BUSINESS, HEADLONG

CHAPTER VI IN WHICH I BECOME AN EDITOR AND RECEIVE MY FlRST LOVE LETTER

CHAPTER VII ELIZABETH TELLS HER STORY

CHAPTER VIII EARLY MARRIED LIFE; I BECOME AN ADVERTISING BUREAU; ON THE "TRIBUNE"

CHAPTER IX LIFE IN MULBERRY STREET

CHAPTER X MY DOG IS AVENGED

CHAPTER XI THE BEND IS LAID BY THE HEELS

CHAPTER XII I BECOME AN AUTHOR AND RESUME MY INTERRUPTED CAREER AS A LECTURER

CHAPTER XIII ROOSEVELT COMES--MULBERRY STREET'S GOLDEN AGE

CHAPTER XIV I TRY TO GO TO THE WAR FOR THE THIRD AND LAST TlME

CHAPTER XV WHEN I WENT HOME TO MOTHER

CHAPTER XVI THE AMERICAN MADE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Jacob A. Riis

Our Stork

The Meeting on the Long Bridge

Ribe, from the Castle Hill

The View the Stork got of the Old Town

The Domkirke

Within the Domkirke

Mother

The Deserted Quay

Downstream, where Ships sailed once

A Cobblestone-paved Alley

Father

My Childhood's Home

Down by her Garden, on the River Nibs

The Picture her Mother gave me

Brady's Bend as I knew it

"I found the valley deserted and dead"

"The dead were much better company"

Lunching at Delmonico's

The Fight on the Police Station Steps

"There I set my traps"

Our Old Pastor

When I worked in the Buffalo Ship-yard

"One end of the town was burning while I was canvassing the other"

"I went to hear Horace Greeley address an open-air meeting"

"The wide world seemed suddenly a cold and far-off place"

"Hard Times"

Brother Simmons (_the Rev. Ichabod Simmons_)

The Letter

Elizabeth's Mother

Elizabeth's Home--"The Castle"

Elizabeth as I found her again

"I was face to face with my father"

Bringing the "Loved-up" Flowers

"Out into the open country, into the wide world,--our life's journey had begun"

Mulberry Street

_Tribune_ Police Bureau

"In which lay dying a French nobleman of proud and ancient name"

Our Office--my Partner, Mr. Ensign, at the Desk, I in the Corner

"About that interview, now," he drawled

"The carriage went on"

"The General said never a word"

Dr. Roger S. Tracy

General Ely Parker (_Chief of the Six Nations_)

The Lodging-room at the Leonard Street Police Station

The Church Street Station Lodging-room, in which I was robbed

The Yellow Newspapers' Contribution

The Mulberry Bend as it was

"The tenants bolted through the windows"

Lodgers at Five Cents a Spot

Bandits' Roost--a Mulberry Bend Alley

Bottle Alley, Mulberry Bend. Headquarters of the Whyo Gang