"I Scrubs"

This time Riis took aim at the poor children, specially those who were already working at a very young age.

Similarly to the purpose of his previous book, Riis wanted to alert people to the creation of better conditions for the children of the poorer classes.

He calls some of the girls from his pictures, "little mothers", because despite their young age they already had responsibilities similar to grown ups.

[2][3] Riis explains in his book that "little Katie", the girl depicted in this picture, lived at West Forty-ninth Street, in New York, and was 9 years old.

On the top floor of a tenement... she was keeping house for her older sister and two brothers, all of whom worked.