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Jane Addams Essay

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Jane Addams founded Hull House in 1889, along with her friend Ellen Starr. Jane had a very compassionate heart from the time she was a young girl. Everywhere she went, Jane had a desire to help people less fortunate than herself. Jane's father helped shape her to become more charitable to others less fortunate. Even as a young girl Jane wanted to know why all people did not live in nice homes with yards like her own. One day she saw a part of town that was run down and she could hardly believe that people could live in such "horrid little houses. That day Jane decided that she wanted to live in a large house in the middle of an awful place as she had seen. Jane wanted to do this so she could make a difference in the lives of people …show more content…

It was there that Jane saw a sight she would never forget. The poor swarmed around the peddlers offering every penny they had for the left over food. The peddlers were selling food that was moldy, bruised, and dirty, but the people did not care, many of them sat right there and ate it anyway. Jane wondered if there was anyone around to help these people. While in Europe Jane studied the German, Italian, and French languages.
While Jane was in Germany, she saw women carrying large beer canisters on their backs across snowy walkways. The beer was steamy hot and would splash onto the women's faces and hands. Many of the women had scars on them from the burns. Jane could hardly contain herself, ran to the brewery, and yelled at the owner. The owner did not care, and told Jane to mind her own business. After several years in Europe, Germany, and Spain, Jane decided it was time to do the dream of her childhood. She would return to Chicago and open a large home in an impoverished part of town. At last, her dream would become a reality.
In September 1889, Jane and two of her friends fixed up an old house on Halsted Street. Gardens and oak trees once owned by a Charles Hull had surrounded the old home. Now the home was surrounded by some of the worst slums in Chicago. Jane considered all who lived around her new neighbors and wanted nothing more than to help each of them. From the beginning Jane invited women over for tea,

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