New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-12-21
NEW PUBLICA 2YONS.

TIE purpose Of this volume is one tnat cnai
lepses the interest of the phanthropist and poht'
cal economist, as we'll as those who delight IN the
perusal Of lightweight narratives oil human ex'
psrience. Although its materials have been en-
beIhshrd by the active imagination Of the writer,
Who rs Understood 10 be distinguished American
pee, il il founded on scenes IN real lie, WEIGH
present such deep and somber coloring az can
sssre+l, be exaggerated in fictitious representation
II il intended 10 direct attention 70 the pro nnent
evils Of city life, in eonnexion With the wretched
Household arrangements of the poorer class. RePui-
siye as the subject may be deemed ty tastes polite,
il is Of too urgent importance to be- shufled as lie
with indifference or disgust. TIE author has laid
the community under obligations TO his pen for
the fearless and impressive manner Ill which he
has drawn the vail from the haants OF misery,
While be has not obtruded on the public gaze those
scenes which are too loathsOme to be removed
from concealmeDt The general character Of the
locality to which these pages are devoted, may be
nderstood from the following extracts:
There were many strange occupants in the old
houtes which formed the row called "Foeys Bar
Iaoks, fronting on street IN the eastern quarter OF
the city. SIX buildings joined eide by SIC Q, 10
Sorm this row. and Oh the ground floor Of every build
ing were four rooms. Through each building ran a
passage way four feet in width and on either side of
this passageway doors opened into the four rooms.
Every building FIVE stories in hight and each
Aoor was a duplicate in plan Of tue che below or
above. Tbroug the Elk budingsran the six passage
WAYS TO a rear court well Of twelve feet in width,
separating the six front buildings from six MAR ones
in the rear. In the front of Foley Barracks
were iweuty-four apartments on q io,r, ard IN the
rear twenty lour upon floor ard in both bulldings
ten floors; consequently there Were four nun red
-ltaIt
of these we're closets without light air, in winch the
tenants of Foley's Barracks were supposed 70 seep-
70 the NUMBER probably, OF one Thousand persons-
men and women, and CHILDREN of every age.
Ii may well be supposed, theD that variety OF
people dwet in such populations; some whose meth
ods OF life questionable or precarOus, or alto
gether bad: Others who toed necessarily, AID more
who dl. time and begged their s,anty Of SUBJ
tistence. IL is plain, also, that hundreds OF little
children must xell In such a crowded locality, chl
dren 9TH voices varying from babes thin treble to
The changing tones o: adolescence.
i, wOuld be curious to speculate as to places and
society bnd habits, whence each family had emerged
lOJg since, before its members became tenants of
Foley Barracks. What strange lfe-nistores would
be thereby unvailed what changes of iortuue =!
what aIfu alt atOns of mort al suffering But
is only Historian who readeth unerrDgly tae in
trca,e trets involved in the existence OF His hum
blest subjects. Suffice it that leaf is bOtted no
recorded word erased OF all the muttudnOus cbrOnl-
eles Of the lowliest poor
Nevertheless dear Human Heart that beatest ten
deIy for thy kind, will 90 together-thou aud Ito
the pavement Of Foley Barracks, and descend to its
above, the ikenesses of their Maker dwell in dens
unfit for brutes. Go down those broken steps, where
the green mold collects in every crevce and pass into
dark, cold vault, with water submergiog its rotten
C ODg. Step with care, now; treading from brick To
brick Of placed their edges, to form sort of
from the cellar entrance TO arch in the
year, where lies a straw bed, spread upon two
thin boards which raised by bricks above the
UafG - lave snUpn he
darknes may be less when you look again, and then
glance toward the straw bed.
But your ears baye already caught the cry of new
bern child another soul ushered into the world upon
that bed Of straw, in cellar submerged with water.
You advance, and your vision, little more accus-
TONED TO the Obscunty discovers that the new born
babe cliDgs to The breast Of dead mother! Tue
woman died last night OF cholera. Turning 10 the
rig0t you will zee two other cOrpses-that OF nus
band and son OF the orphan babes mother. Presently
The policeman VIII arrive ana discover the dead, and
bear away the infant-soe remnant OF q family Of
paDptrs.
A picture from life that may be easily recognized,
s given in the description of
KOLEPHAT COLLEGE.
The gltteripg garniture of snow which covered old
roofing and concealed dilepdated walls in the square
81 tOterpg ten ant houses of which Norteca koephat
was proprietor, and Peleg Ferret agent ana col,
ector of rents aid not ana could not hide the squao
misery contained within its gloomy precincts Already
though it was yet early morning, ano the grocery at
the corner Lot open ~ Its poverty customers
here were evidences of life stirring 10 the pureus OF
" Kolephat College There was dirty track IN the
Snow leading from the street TO an open front door,
and thence up staircase dark and steep, con-
Quoting to small confined apartments, ventilated only
by broken panes of gass. This track had been made
by the passing of many feet since daylight OF rag
pckers and bope-gatherers Salying out to root and
dig under the snow for cas-away scraps winch were
10 them the material of existeLee; feet OF beggar
children and old men, gong forth 10 pi3d through
A. ~ rio there
10 toicit a customary doebarTier between them and
alton; feet of Ight-toilers or unhappy drunk
ards and sreetH anderers, creeping home at dawn 10
SILVER into scantcovered beds; feet OF hard-workng
shop. eirs ard seamsresses, and women, hur-
ryng 10 labor with sngls crust TO stay their hungry
stomacbs. zee long before Peleg Ferret opened ms
grocery door aud took down his wlndow-shutters,
y elb.aten peth way, begrimed by dirty ieet, had
marked the iDgress and egress OF holephat College
tenants. .
Peeg Ferret was tolerably well-to.do in the world,
and Looked up TO accorciIg y as Thriving ehsndler
md good cit Ills "store" was very dirty, and
patronized, not only by the pIomNcuous
population uuder his peculiar charge, but 10y variety
Of escrpt customers, who dwelt in several pima
lanes and crooked passages which INTERVIEWED between
his PARTICULAR locality and the jurisdiction OF Dutch
man, who kept an opposition grocery at squares
distance. Peeg was known as stirring politician of
his ward, and hkewise as hard creoitor-st attending
primary meetings punctusly and presenting weekly
bills promptly. He priced himself upon being a
I" bluLt man. and quoted freely from the anolents
such aIhorsms as Be Just before you are generous,
and charity begins at home" He was the resident
agent of Mr.. Koephais property in and around
Kolephst College, and it was in fact, his own dali
cate fancy which had bestowed this name upon the
square OF tunbling.down .enements that his equally
happy satire dignhed with the name of dwelling
houses forming dingy close from end to end OF a
brick paved alley, running beside his cornerstone
Mr. Ferret rented these tenements to be sure rather
pgomiscu sly, as lie ives wont TO observe when o-
Cose-beDg only particular upon one essential point,
namely that every applicant should exhibit the pos
session Of sufficient goods, chattels, &C., as might
warrant security for the payment of months rent,
expense &C settling" included. In consequence OF
l,