The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-12-06
THE PooR-A SAD STORY.

ses of Metropolitan life-the Poor =
The poor women who make shirts for
ten cents a piece; the poor men glad
to earn FIVE or six dollars 4 week the
poor clerks who sweep out stores for a
pittance and keep up appearance with
a paper shirt collar the thousands
who pass up and down Broadway
morning and night, shivering in their
scant clothes; the other thousands
who under the glare Of the gas lamp,
look at you with hollow eyes and have
the imprint of shame written all over
hardened faces. The Romance and
Reality-both are blended in the pic
ture. In many of the saloons and
restaurants of the city, you will see
hanging among the photographs on
the wall, the face of a beautiful wo-
man, SO strikingly lovely that the at
tention of the observer is at once ar
rested, and the question follows
"Who is she?" The answer is briefly
given. Three or four years ago q first
class villain inserted an advertisement
in n of the city papers requesting a
correspondence with young ladies as a
means of pleasantly passing the time
away. Pure, virtuous, the light of a
luxurious home where she was sur
rounded by all hat could make life a
pathway of flowers, the young woman
in a spirit of reckless fun answered
the advertisement and received a re-
ply. Fascinated by the language and
style of the letter she wrote again and
again, until at last yielding to some
magnetic influence which none of us
will understand this side of the "Gol-
den Gates" she accorded to her I'M
known correspondent an interview
Ruin and desertion followed. She
went upon the stage, assumed a fancy
name, and as I said before, her face
is now the common property of the
multitude This is but one of the
thousand similar cases constantly oc-
curing, and that too, through the ad-
vertising agency of those New York
journals which are loudest in the cry
for Reform. The heart-throbs OF the
agonized women they have helped to
debase, are not half as consequential
as the migratory movements of the
meanest curbstone politician of the
town.
4 MANIA FOR CRIME.
Crime of all kinds, indeed has full
swing here. Every morning paper
has il red lettered chronicle of blood
shed in or around New York. Muir
dered men, and murdered women /;
children poisoned or smothered by
unnatural parents ; unrecognized bod
les of suicides mutilated and CHASTITY,
lying on the marble slabs at the
Morgue; tori and bloody faces at the
Tombs; dying victims in the hospitals
all these tell their story of human
passion, and a species of human de-
moralization that has well nigh as
sumed the form of mania. Perhaps
there are laws which explain these
things, but we know about as much
concerning them as we know of the
stars.
TIE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THE PIC.
TURE.
And yet, with all such drawbacks,
how nobly New York redeems herself,
when the great public heart is touch-
ed Witness her magnificent contribu-
ton to the Chicago sufferers and think
of the millions that have been expend-
ed upon other charitable projects
True, much of this is the result of i'm
pulse, for, to use a vul gar illustra-
ton, W hen the bell-wether leads, the
flock is sure to follow ; yet, the I'M
dercurrent of human nature is richly
freighted with good intentions, and
faith is made sublime by good works.
The religious fervor of the Metropoli-
tans in its external exhibitions is quite
demonstrative as their charity.
AMONG TILE CHURCHES.
This is due of course, to the various
pulpits and churches which are made
fashionably attractive and "draw'
better even than the theatres. The
trade for notoriety driven by many oil
the reverend Chadbands is immense.
First the subjects of the ermon are
fancifully named and advertised in
the Sunday morning papers; and
secondly, the crowd are sure to be
entertained with outrs observations
and rhetorical verbosity and manner
isms which are only seen elsewhere
behind the foot-lights. In n of the
fashionable Protestant churches up1
town the initial services are rendered
interesting by professions with BAN
ners and lights which perambulate
among the aisles. while the Worship
pers, make their apologies to Heaven
and take their receipts for an hour of
gilt edged devotion. There is a vast
amount OF genuine religion however
among other classes, and the good
done is incalculable. In the "Church
of Strangers" for instance, where the
pews are all free, and the preaching
is effective, there are two organizations
ONE known as "The Fraternals +"
and the other as "The Sisters of the
Stranger" The object of both of
these societies is to render aid to any
stranger in the city who may be in
distress, and they have conferred in
this direction, untold benefit.
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