St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1861-03-07
He led the way to one of the garres

He led the way to one of the garrets,
where there were moro signs of misery
still. and this. he told US. was his
"house." The dead cinders had oozed
out Of the CRATE ipto the room; an emp
ty saucepan stood on the table by the side
Of "A piece Of soap; Q cracked :casup was
On the Ao6f: an old collapsed bedstead,
seese,1a With a apnethiag Ike a Jagged
mat, stood in onsr corner ard the .aisu,al
aspect of the place was heightened by
two or three aower-pots. full of black
earth and dry sapless sticks. The boys
mother was a poor shirt-inaker. deserted
by her husband, and left with this one
child
In the next garrct was a shoemaker
and his family, q wife and three chill
dren. The room was tidy. and even
comfortable. though the work-bench un-
der the window was idle. The rent of
this apartment was thr shillines a
week. although the roof had been broken
in half dozen places BY the SHOW
The man, upon being questioned why he
lived in such lvle at such rent, with
the ceiling scarcely higher than his head.
spoke about his long residence in the
parish. his familiarity with its people
and its ways, and his dread Of going
into another nelghborhood, which he
said would be Ike foreign country"
to him.
This dislike of going amongst stran-
gers is the feeling which keeps up rents
and keeps the working population hul-
died together. and poor. In another
room was c"nsnmptive tailor. working
on Shoph"ard under the window; faced
by his wife, who was ais" employed in
the same trade. One chic. was playing
between them on the board. another on
the floor. and ti+c more were in the
street The man was almost bent dou-
hle with disease and long STOPPING: and
bad as he was. he was only like hun
ireds of his class.
Seen dinly through the garret windows.
opposite were many more similar work
meE, and many garrets in the neighbor-
hood contained half q dozen yellow.
crooked workmen. stitching themselves
into their graves rs they sit cross-leggsd
on the floor. His employment, like that
of most of the tailors IN this district, comes
chiefly from the West End houses. and he
has to live in the acighborhood to be with
ia reach of his masters He was working
painfully at SEINE tough piece of army
cloth.
In another small street. called New
l. G.
ems, was little brokers' shop. which look
ed miserxbly bare of stock An old oed-
stead and one or two small articles stood at
the door, but the interior WIS empty
The room at the lack of the shop. where
the uwner and his wife lived, with seven
children. was also nearly empty. for the
bed>tcad at the door was almost the last of
their own domestic furniture. The man
was a nch-p"lisher out of work, and
bit by bit his little home had been broken
to pieces aud sold to passers-by.
1t was suggested that an application to
the parish was proper thing under the
circumstances bat the wife proudly de-
cliued to ask for such charity saying they
were we'll known in the ncighborhood, and
after poor-aw relief they would never be
able to hold up th..ir heads This is a
very common feeling, especially among
poor-rate payers. The most singular hole
and corner in the district. is No. 6. Hus-
band street. l. is small yard contain
ing dust bin. water tank, compile of
lower rooms or cellars, that look like con-
demned cells, and number of rooms with
black wooden exteriors, reached by
ladders, and supplied with rude balconies.
The population of each room on each
fiat can lcok Owe, into the yard from these
balconies. which help, in some degree, to
vsntilate the place. Each room is crowd
ed with a distinct family, having many
children and one room contains a moth
er-in-law, in addition to the usual family.
In one of the small garrets in all old char
woman, living by herself. who is going to
the infirmary in few days; and in the
other garret is a widow with three chill
dren, who supports herself as tailoress.
Her few goods were seized for rent at her
last lodgings. and she is now left without
single article of furniture, except a few
rags for bed.
The children were squatting on the bare
boards, and she was standing up stitching
at piece of scarlet cloth at the window.
One advantage of living ''tenements." as
it is called. is that the poor come together
and help each other, or their lot would Of
ten be harder than it is. The miserable
lodser who has nc fire can sften run up or
down and sit with one who is more co,u-
fortably situated; and many hungry
mouth is filled, or naked form partly cloth
ed by those who have little more than
few crumbs to share
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