The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-05-05
A London Suburb,

| a London Suburb.
Tie intelligent and brilliant French
writer, M. Taine, thus describes his visit
to Shadwell: 81 have seen the bad omar
tiers OF Marseilles, of Antwerp, of Paris.
they do not come near to it. Low houses.
poor streets Of brick under red tiled roofs
cross each other in every direction. and
lead down with dismal look to Che river.
Beggars, thieves, harlots, the latter es.
pecially,; crowd Shadwell street. Ono
hears u grating music in the spirit-cellars
sometimes it is a negro who handles the
violin through the open windows one
perceives unmade beds, women dancing.
Thrice in ten minutes l saw crowds col
| lected at the doors fights were going on,
chiefly between women enc of them, her
face bleeding, tears in her eyes, drunk,
shouted with sharp and harsh voice, and
wishes to fling herself upon a man. Tie
bystanders laughed; the noise caused the
adjacent lanes to be emptied Of their occu-
pants ragged poor children, harlots-it
was like human sewer suddenly dis
charging its contents. Some of them have
relic OF neatness, a new garment, but the
greater number are ia filthy and unseem-
ing tatters. Figure to yourself what a
during three or four years from head to
head, having been crushed against walls,
having had blows from fists they received
them. I noticed blackened eyes, bandaged
noses, bloody cheek-bones. The women
gesticulate with extraordinary vehemence
but most horrible of all is their shrill,
acute, cracked voice, resembling that of
an ailing screech owl. From the time of
leaving the tunnel, street-boys abound
bare-footed. dirty, and turning wheels in |
order to get aims. On the stairs leading
to the Thames they swarm, pale faced,
more deformed, more repulsive than the
scum of Paris; without question, the eli
mate IS worse, and the gin more deadly.
Near them, leaning against the grassy
walls. or inert on the steps, are mea in
rags; it is impossible to inag-
inc, before seeing them, how many layers
of dirt an overcoat or a pair of trousers
could hold they dose, or dream OPEN
their faces are begrimed, dali,
and sometimes strea&ed with red lines. 1t
Is in these localities that families have
been discovered with no other bed than a {
heap of SCOT; they had slept there during 4.
several months. For creature so wasted
and Jaded there is but one refuge-drunk-
'nness. - Not drink ~ said desperedo
1t an inquest. " 1t were better for them :,
20 die at once" A tradesman said to uae, )
. Look after your pockets, SIR" and po-
lceman warned me not to enter certain p
anes. l walked Through some of the a.
broader ones all the houses except one or a.
wo are evidently Inhabited by harlots Il
'ther small streets, dusty courts, reeking
nth smell of rotten rags, are draped
&
~. Children swarm. In a moment, ia a =
arrow court, 1 saw fourteen or fifteen +
round me- dirty, barefosted, the little sis
'r carrying sucking child in her arms
ie year-"ld nurseling whose wlitish head
ad no hair. Nothing is more lugubrious
air, these flabby cheeks encrusted with
ID dirt They press together, they point
1T tue gentleman with curious and eager n
estures. The motiOnless mothers, with an <
,hausted air, look out at tho door. One "
'serves the narrow lodging, sometimes
10 single room wherein they are huddled
tie foul air. The houses are most fire.
lently one storied. low, narrow-a den FU
which to sleep and die. Whet q place
residence in winter, when, de-ing weeks
continuous rain and fog, the windows
e shut! Aud in order that this brood Fr
ny not die of hunger, it is necessary that
9 father should not drink, should never
idle, should never be sick. Here and
ere is dust-heap. Women are laboring 81
pick out what is valuable from it. One, Soi
1 and withered, had a short pipe in her the
,utl. They stand up amidst the muck FE
look at me; brutalized, disquietine faces
Eahoos; perhaps the pipe and glass of
, is tue last idea which floats in their a
otto brain. Should we find there any -
ng else than the instincts and the appe n
es OF savage and of beast of burden?
black eat, lean, lame startled, ~
tches them timidly out of the corner Of u
eye, ana furtlvely searches in q heap of
'oish. 1t was possibly right in feeling co,
easy. The old woman, muttering, fol- &c
red it with a look as wild as its own.
, seemed to think that two pounds
lght of meat was there. 1 recall the W
9yS winch run into Oxford street. stifliDD all G
es encrpsted with huu,on o~hoiot;aa. FL
90. 90 - ~. uA"" IHna'aIions time
ups VA pdlo children nesting the w
ddy stairs the seats on London bridge, des
ere families, huddled together with MS III n
oping heads, shiver through the night our
ticularly the Havmarket and tbo StSonI price
he evening, every hundred steps one
les twenty harlots; some of them ask 1903.
q glass of jim, others say, "It's to pay a,
lodging" This is not debauchery az
ch haunts itself, but destitution-aud D
destitution! l.
pom the above the editor of the Phila-