Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-02-02
DICKENS DANCE OF DEATH" ;"


fiercely, but it was never at the pains O
assuming a disguise 1t played on n
dulcimer here, was crowned with n
flowers, waved no plume, minced in NJ
flowing robe or train, lifted no wine cup
sat at no feast, cast no dice, counted NJ
gold. 1t was simply bare, gaunt, fam
ished skeleton, Staying its way along.
The borders of Radcliffe and Stepney
eastward of London, and lying on th'
impure river, were the scene of this un
compromising Dance of Death upon,
drizzling November day. IA squalil
mass of streets, courts and alleys of mis-
cradle houses let out in single rooms. A
wilderness of dirt, rags and hunger, A
mud desert, chiefly inhabited by trib,
from whom employment has departed, ,lo
to whom it comes but fitfully and rarely
They are not skilled mechanics in an,
wise. They are but laborers. Docl
laborers, water-side laborers, coal port
ers ballast heayers, such like hewers O
wood and drawers Of water. But they
have come into existence, and they prop
agate their wretched race.
| turned down a narrow street to look
into house or two. 1t was a dark
street with dead wall on one side. Nearly
all of the outer doors Of the house stood
open. / took the first entry and knocked
at a parlor door. Might come in? ]
might, if l plased, sur, The woman OF
the room Irish had picked up some
long strips of wood, about some wharf
or barge, and they had just now been
thrust into the otherwise empty CRATE to
make two iron pots boil
There was some fish in one, and there
were some potatoes in the other. The
fare of the burning wood enabled me to
see table and a broken chair or so,
and some old cheap crockery ornaments
about the chimney piece. 1t was not
until had spoken with the woman few
minutes that | saw horrible brown heap
on the floor in corner, which, but for
previous experiences in this dismal wise,
/ might not have suspected to be "the
bed. There was something thrown upon
it, and / asked what it was.
=" 'Tis the poor craythur that stays
here, sur, and tbs very bad she is, and
= tis very bad she's been this long time,
and tbs better shell never be, and It's
slape she docs all day, and It's wake she
docs all night, and It's the lead, sur. r
" The WHAT"
. The lead, sur Sure tbs the lead
mills, where the women gets took on at
eighteen pence a day, sur, when they
makes application early enough, and is
lucky and wanted and It's lead-poisoned
she is, sur, and some of them gets lead
poisoned soon, and some of them gets
lead-poisoned later, and some, but not
many, niver, and tbs all accordingt to the
constitooshun sur, and some constitoo-
shuns is strong and some is weak, and
her constitooshun Is lead-poisoned as bad
as can be, sur, and her brain is coming
out at her ear, and it hurts her dreadful,
and that's what it is, and niver no more,
and niver no less, sur. ri,.rf
The sick young woman moaning here,
the speaker bent over her, took bandage
from her head, and threw open a back
door to let in the daylight upon it, from
the smallest and most miserable back |
yard | ever saw. i
That's what cooms from her, sur,
being lead-poisoned, and it cooms from
her night and day, the poor, sick cray |
thur, and the pain of it is dreadful. and |
God knows that my husband has walked |
Lhe sthreets these four days, being la
Dorer, and is walking them now, and is
,eady to work, and no work for him, and |
40 fire, and no food but the bit in the pot,
md no more than ten shillings in fort
hight. God be good to us, and it is poor
We are, and dark it is, and cowld it is,
ndeedp
Not many doors from here l went into
! room on the first aoor The woman
Ipologized for its being in an untidy
ness. The day was Saturday, and she
vas boiling the children's clothes in a
aucepan on the hearth. There was
lothing else into which she could put
hem. There was no crockery, or tin
rare, or tub, or bucket There was an
Id gallipot or two, and there was
roken bottle or so, and there were some
rOken boxes for seats. The last small
craping of Goals left was raked together
n a corner of the floor. There were
ONE rags in an open cupboard, also on
be floor. In corner of the room was
crazy old French bedstead, with man
ring on his back upon it in a ragged /
ilot jacket, and rough oilskin fantail !
at. The room was perfectly black. 1t '
as difficult to believe, at first, that it {
as not purposely colored black, the {
alls were so begrimed.
As stood opposite the woman boiling
he ehildren's elothes-she had not even {
piece of soap to wash them with-and /
Naln 1zfr har /
Ike in all these things without appear t
e to notice them, and could even cor 8
,ct my inventory. Ihad noticed, at the I
rst glance, some half pound of bread C
/ the otherwise empty safe, an old red, 7
lgged crinoline hanging on the handle i
the door by which ] entered, and GER \
in fragments of rusty iron scattered on t
lie floor, which looked like broken tools, $
nd piece of stovepipe A child stood P
oking on. On the box nearest to the D
re sat two younger children; one a del a
ate and pretty little creature whom the p
her sometimes kissed. t
This woman, like the last, was wofully 4
abby, and was degenerating to the d
Osjesman complexion, But her figure, 8
ID the ghost of certain yivaoity about a
II, and the specter of dimple in her a
Ieek carried my memory strangely
.ck to the old days of the Adelphi
heater, London, when Mrs. Fitzwilliams p
as the friend of Victorine. b
-" May | ask what your husband is2"
He's coal-porter, sir, with a glance b
ID sigh toward the bed. d
" Is he out of work. 81
%, yes, sir, and works at all times "
ry, very scanty With him, and now he's ty
ID up. san va a. e. W
" It's my legs, said the man upon the hi
d. "Tll unroll them" And immedi-
ely began.
" Have you any other children3' d'
"I have a daughter that does the g
edlework, and / have a son that does Sc