St. Mary's gazette., 1866-05-03

some showing Inc LUIS ot siC "e-NA 80
some the naked heels The feel OF men,
women and children all asleep.
Beyond these feet, the eye might have
distinguished. in the shadow of the she'd,
bodies, dropping heads, forms stretched
out lazily, bundles of rags of both sex
es, promiscuous assemblage, a stranga
and revolving mass Of life. The acee
mod: ton Of this, sleeping chamber was
open to all, at the rate of two sous per
week. On stormy night the rain fell
upon the feet, the whlrling snow settled
on the bodies of those wretched sleepers.
Who were these people: The un-
known. They came there at night, aud
departed III the morning. Creatures of
this kind form part of the social fabric.
Some stole in during the darkness, and
paid nothing The greater part had
scarcely eaten during the day. a i kinds
Of vice and bascness, every sort of NOR
nj infectiour every species OF distress We're
there. The same sleep settle down upon all
ip this bed of filth. The dreams of ali
these companions in misery went on side
by side. \ dismal meeting place, where
misery and weakness, half-sobered de-
bauchery, WEAKNESS from long walking
to and fro, with evil thoughts, in quest
of bread, pallor with closed eyelids, re-
morse, envy, lay mingled and fostering
in the same miasma, with faces that had
the look Of death, anl dishcvelled hair
mixed with the filth and sweeping. of
the streets. Such was the putrid heap of
life fermen'ng i'll this dismal spot.
An unlucky turn in the wheel of for
tune, q ship arrived on the day before,
q discharge from prison, or the dark
night, or some other chance, had east
them here, to fnd a miserable shelter.
Every day brought some new accumu-
lation of such misery Let him enter
who would, sleep who could, speak who
dared for it was = place of whispers. $
The newcomers fastened to bury them
selves in the mass, or tried to seek OBJ
livion in sleep, since there was none in
the darkness of the place They snatch
cd what little of themselves they could
from the jaws Of death. They closed
their eyes in that confusion of horrors
which every day renewed. They were
the embodiment of misery, cast up from
society, as the scum is from the sea.
1t was not every one who could even
get share of the straw More than one
figure was stretched out naked upon the
flags. They lay down worn out with wear
mess aud awoke paralyzcd. The well,
without lid or parapet, and thirty feet III
depth, gaped open night and day. Rain
fell around it; filth accumulated about, and
the cutters of the yard rnn down and fil-
tered through its sides The pail for
drawing the water stood by the side
Those who were thirsty drank there; some.
disgustcd with life. dro wncd themselves III
it--slippcd from their slumLpr in the fiji
thy shed into this profoundcr sleep. In
the year 1919, the boly Of 3 boy, four
teen years old, VAS taken up out Of the
well.
To be safe in this house, It was nccessa-
~ to be of the right sort the unuia-
tel were regarded witA suspicion.
Did these miserable wretchcs, thyn, know
c&ch other No Yet they scented out
the genuine habitude Of the .Iacrc,Sadc
The mistress Of ;he house was a young
aud rather pretty woman, wearing cap
trimmed with ribbons. She washed her
self now and then with water from the well
She had a wooden leg
At the break Of day, the court yard be-
came empty. Its inmates dispersed.
An old cock and some other fowls were
kept in the court yard, where they ral<ed
among the filth of the place all day long.
4 long horizontal beam, supported by
posts. traverscd the yard-a gibbet-shap-
co erection, not altogether out Of keeping
with the associations Of the place. Some
times, on the morrow Of q rainy day a silk
dress, muddcd and wet would be seen
hanging out to dry upon this beam, It
belonged to the woman with the wooden
leg.
Over the she'd, and like it, surrounding
the yard, was story, and above this sto-
~ loft. \ rotten wooden ladder. pas
sing through hole in the roof ofthe shed,
to this story; aud up tlis ladder
the women would climb. sometimes stag
gering while is crazy rounds creaked be-
meath her.
The occasional dodgers, whether by the
week or the night, slept in the court
yard the regular inmates lived in the
house
Windows without pane Of glass, door
frames with no door fire places without stoves
such wcrehc chief features Of the
interior. You might pass from one room to
the o'hcr inlitTcrentlv, by long square
aperture which had been the door. or by
triangular hole between the iosts of the par
ttion. The fallen plaster Of the ceiling CLAY
about the floor 1t was difficult, to say how
she old house still stood erect The high
winds indeed shook it The lodScrs as
crnclcd as they could by the worn and slip
perry Steps of the ladder Everything was
open 70 the air The wiutry atmosphere
was absorbed into the house, like water
INTO sr'nee The nul,!,ule Of spiders