Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-25
Please Sir, Give Me a Penny -.

We find the following in the Albany KnicE,
er6ocher, but it is equally well calculated for
the meridian of this and other large cities:
Train up child in the way he should 90"
was the maxim of the 'wisest man the world
e'er saw" There are in this city public
schools enough, and a fair proportion of indus
trial schools, where children are, at least kept
Oil the Streets and are certainly taught to read
and write, and do such work as may be remu.
nerahve to a certain extent. But with all
these facilities for education and industry.
there Is at least one out of every twenty
children in the city who is being trained as a
beggar, and who is open to the snares and
terrible temptations which invariably &C.
company such an occupation. Let man but
stop to hail a stage or car, and he is an
preached by shivering little girl about five
years old, with ''Please, sir, give me a pennyr'
Let him stand for moment at the box-ofice
OF theatre, he hears the same cry; not
plaintive, not sorrowful, not even with that
professional whine of beggars in general, but
a persistent demand for the penny. Suppose
he gives 1t, the little feet patter off to the next,
and the little hand is stretched out with the
same demand, ''Please, sir, give me penny!'
Some make show Of selling ballads, some of
matches, and some of other trihing articles
but the inevitable demand of "Please, sir,
give me penny!' is upon the tongue of all
As we were coming down from the Common
Council Chamber last night, we were accosted
by the same appeal, ''Please, sir, give me a
penny, to buy bread But 1t is in the drink
ing saloons that this cry is heard more fire.
quently. There, while a party of eight or
ten are slipping their mint iuleps, or their
glass Of cordial, one of them suddenly feels a
tug at his coat, and looking down, sees a
tiny little creature with her eyes fastened on
his features, and saying, "Please, sir, give me
penny" This, however, is only the scene
on the stage. Go behind the curtain, !. e.,
outside the door, and standing at some little
distance is stout female, supposed to be the
mother of the child, who stands waiting for the
result, and whose m-blossomed face plainly
shows the use to which the pennies picked
up by the child are put. AS soon as the latter
collects four or five pennies, she may be seen
running towards the woman and handing her
the produce of her labor The recipient, if she
does not get enough, soon hurries the little
creature back, with a slap in the face, and
thus 1t goes on to the end of the chapter. But
the most fearful partof this whole business is
IN relation to the future Of the child who is
thus trained. Hearing all kinds of language,
IN public houses and other places, she becomes
hardened and Infatuated to it early. The
druHItea eaass..Ple ef clio l,o.ro4ts has It's
bhghtng influence. The child becomes too
lazy to work, gets accustomed to scenes of
drunkenness and brutality, is drunkard her.
self before she reaches the age of puberty and
at length, ere she is yet woman becomes a
thing too fearful to name. Children who thus
run round bar-rooms and public places, with
PLEASE, sir, give me penny, are encouraged
too much by individuals of feeling who respond
to the call. In most cases it would be more of
charity to withhold than give, and an insti-
tuition where all such begging pupils might
be sent-by force, if necessary-would be
blessing.