The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-11-17
The London Poor.
FIR m "Once a Week =

II III OuCo q Veok-
The little creatures never know what it
is to possess legitimate pIaything A
broken shovel or knife, and lid of a tin
saucepan, are their ordinary toys. A few
months ago | went into remarkable dirty
house, and in one of the rooms, tenanted by
a slovenly woman and four children, saw
on large bedstead a child, eighteen months
old. His features were so begrimed With
black dirt that he looked quite lite ruff
fan, and hardly human, and his thick
long hair hung matted over his forehead
and about his cheeks. In his left hand be
held upright, like a sword or sceptre, a
long rusty, but unbroken carving knife !
| asked his mother if he would not hurt
himself with such dangerous plaything
mo, mum, she replied 81 don't think
he'll hurt hisself He's routed that out O.
the dust ole this mornin', and he's been
very busy with it ever slnce-aln't you,
dear 2" left him motionless on the bed,
glariDg after me like little wild animal,
with his carving knife still erect. The moth
er did not take it away, and | dare say, if
it has not yet run it into him, (while his
mother is busy and he himself is fractions
and requires diversion, he still continues to
sit upon the bed with his carvingkni
Another of his brethren perhaps, relieves
guard with shovel, or saucepan, in his
turn of tantrun,s. Surely, some Of our own
children's broken toys would be more eigi-
BILE than these dangerous implements of
amusement A bigger child will amuse it :
self by porting over low paper filled with
vile pictures, and portraits OF personages
and actors in scenes which our own never
1. L Of he
baby boy is troublesome to manage one OF
these wretched papers is held out before hls
gaze, and he is diverted or frightened out
of his RACES by the edifying spectacle of
an execution of the pirates, or something OF
like complexion. Give him few of your
old TOYS, and the small London pauper will
want to play with neither carving knife
nor shovel, and will be cleaner and better
tempered in his bed, as his visits to the
dust-hoIc in quest Of playthings will be no
longer necessary. Pictures of sacred SUBJ
iects are highly valued by the poor, and, as
I have before observed, especially among
the old women who cannot read. Some Of
our old women possess the most extraordi-
nary executions of art anywhere to be seen,
How they come by them l cannot tell, for
some are foreign; picture and frame, too.
One of my old ladies has rude daub of
the crucifixiou, in an old carved frame
At the base is written "ES dSt VotJge-
br1cht.' | have seen another of the same
subject, but better production in the way
of art and understood it was gift from
a volu,r Iady. The owners do not always
know how these precious relics come to
them; they are very fond of these and their
chimney ornaments, and even when starv-
ing, will neither pawn nor sell them. a One
old woman told me she hides them when
the .hofficer." as she calls him, comes from
the workhouse to spy out the nakedness OF
the land. some day mum, he seed them,
and said, 'Why don't you turn these into
bread p I'd rather lie and starve, mum, L
would and when he comes again, I'll be
bound he don't see em no more" She said
this to me, crying and moaning, as if they
were her grandchildren that che had been
ordered to consume for food. She tells me
she watches EN- at night, and they quite
talk to her when she can't sleep" andlhas
her rushlight burning on the table. A
plaster cast, the size Of newborn baby,
stands on her mantel-piece, and always
-looks,as if it wonld fall on her old head some
day. 1t is meant for Napolean |. The uni
form is picked out in green and red {; the
best part of the white figure is the cock
ed hat. 1t has been her property some
years, and is unbroken. She had been
drawing my attention to her pictures and
little figures on the mantel-piece, and tell
ing me what they were At last, said
well, who is that figure at the end r
"Oh he's either the Dock, Bouyparty or
Nelson, / don't know which, but he's one
of 'en know" I satisfied her for the time
he was s'Bonyparty." But she will not bear
this in mind she has been so long a time
vague in her ideas respecting the identity
Bof this plaster gentleman, The aged i've
in the past, the aged poor especially Inc
impressions of youth alone are lneitaceapie.
Were anv one tomorrow to ask her who it
was, she would go through with her heroes
again and finish with 81 don't know which
but its one Of 'em. !" pa
Ticknor & Fields, Of Boston, are going
into the magazine business largely Be-
sides the AtLantac and the North AnrerieGf',
they are going to start a new magazine for
boys and girls, to be under the charge Of
two popular authors, a lady and q gentle
man Many Of the prominent contributors
to the atlantic Monthly, in prose and verse.
will write regularly for the new Juvenile
monthly, the name of which is to be "Our
Young Folks; an Illustrated Magazine for
Boys and Girls" '