The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1869-10-08


Hall, Cincinnati, for the Pnr.
pose Of DcVising Ways and
Means 10 Alleviate the SuT-
erings OGthe widows and Or.
phans Of Deceased Soldiers.
A report made by Gen. Burnett,
to a meeting held in Pixies Hall,
Cincinnati, on Wednesday evening
last, to take into consideration the
starving condition OF the widows
and orphans, made by the late civil
war, shows a terrible picture Of des
titutlon and neutrality-suspicious.
mothers and two hundred and fifty
nine childron-thc widows and Or
phans of soldicrs-starving. The
average, the report says, Of chill
drcn is nearly three TO each family.
Average age Of children, about eight
and one-half years. a large major
ity, nearly thresfourths Of the FAM
lilies, reported for caro-, arc without
pensions and about the same pro-
portion of the families, perhaps
little larger proportion, say four
fifths, 1--we IN third>stories, in single
rooms III the most uncIcan and OBJ
icctionablc portion Of the city, at
rents varying from $3.50 to so II
month.
When the heads or these families
went to tho war, large promises
were made that their families should
be cared for and supported. How
this has been done, the tcrriblo
scenes of want and suffering, which
the report discloscs, is iho hearts
rcndng answer
Among the gentlemen invited 90
be present, and to address the meet.
ing, were Gov. Hayes and George
II. Pendleton. Tho former sent
brief regret in consequence Of other
engagements. Mr.. Pendleton was
present, on his crutches, still suffer
ing from his broken ankle, and ad~
dressed the meeting as follows
Mn. PRESIDENT AND fellow CITIZENS
| came here this evening with consid-
cradle pain and difficulty 10 myself, in
order that ! might testify by my pres
cncc rather than by anything | could
say, to my heartfelt sympathy with the
objects of this meeting. You can rea-
Oily see that ! am in no condition to
detain you long, and if were could
add no hing to the force of the appeal
which has already been made to you
by the Mayor, and have been present
ed to you so eloquently by the gentle
man who has charge of this movement
Three hundred and fifty poor, patient,
toiling widows and helpless orphans in
our midst, suffering for all the necess-
aries of life three hundred and fifty
women and children made widows and
orphans, not by the ordinary casuali-
ties of life, but by death in battle or
the hardships endured during the war,
badly clothed, badly housed, badly fed,
living gentlemen, not living, but
dying on the scan'y support of the in
sufficient wages of the mother, earned
at the needle or at the wash tub
Cheers, And this is summer, when
the weather is warm, when the provi-
sions Of life are abundant and compar-
atively cheap, Gentlemen, you are be-
ginning to draw on your overcoats, and
you are beginning to build your fires.
The cool air Of the morning and the
evening warns you that winter is close
at hand and / ask you, if these wo-
men and children have suffered so du-
ring the summer, what will be their
misery when the winter blast drives
sleet and snow through every street
and alley, and through every creyicc
of their miserable homes
1t has always seemed to me that there
is something particularly touching in
the suffering of childhood. Suffering
then forms the character for all the
future suffering then molds the man
and woman for mature years suffer-
ing then fixes the destiny of life in
time and in eternity When the gen
tie, patient voices Of children plead -
even in silence they plead with naked
bodies and disheveled hair and torn
and tattered garments, plead by emac-
lated and attenuated forms-to be re-
moved from noisome alleys and dank,
dark homes and pestilential atmos-
pheres, into open ground and purer air
and fresher breezes, in order that un-
der better influences, in order that un-