Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-02-26

whvrs they Come from-A sOrrowfuI
Picture.
from the New York World

From the New York World.
lam nineteen years old. Oh, that's
the truth II / do look older. 1 look
younger than that when I'm made up.
l was born in LOndOn,in the Minories.
You know where that is? Then you
remember Moses & Sons shop on the
corner? Many's the time I've bought
baked potatoes OF an old man on that
corner, and run down to Aldgate
pump for a drink afterWard. My IA
ther drove q cab, and my mother took
in washing. Mother was good to me
except on Saturday nights, when she
and father used to get a quart Of gin
and drink every blessed drop Of II be-
fore Sunday morning. Me and my
brother Sam used to catch il then.
Father and mother would get to
quarreling, and he'd beat her and
she'd beat US. Father was always a
bad lot, but mother was real good.
He died when l was about eleven
years old. Sam was two years older.
Mother, she married another NAL and
went to live in Manchester, putting us
children out to work in LondOn.I don't
know where she is now, I've written
to her lots of times, but never got any
answer. l never saw her after she
went away, and 1 suppose she must
have died. l was put to work at pa
per-folding in q book bindery, and
lived with some other girls who
worked at the same place. 1 worked
hard, and got mighty little for it. l
didn't like it. You wouldn't have
liked working from six in the morn
ino fill civ of niuhf ond onnooff.ooo
three or FOUR hours more, for just
money enough to keep soul and body
together. l never had a holiday ex-
cept Sundays, when l used sometimes
to take a sail on the river in a penny
boat. l never went anywhere with
the boys, and / didn't like them.
Where was Sam? Oh, he ran away
and went to sea. He's drowned now,
was drowned somewhere in China
Constantinople, l believe, was the
place. l stopped. at the bindery till /
was fifteen. / had got so sick Of this
that l was ready to do almost any
thing to leave it. The way / came to
leave it was this-I heard there were |
girls wanted to work in a music hall, |
so l went and got a situation. 1t
was g little place in the Strand-not
one Of the swell places. 1 had to
hand round drinks and cigars, just as
the girls do in the saloons here, l
/ used to get a shilling a
which 1 thought wasn't bad
pay. Did l like IL? No, / can't say
l did. 1 didn't like the smoke, and /
didn't like the men that came there.
They used to be impudent, and /
didn't know how to chat them. The
proprietor wouldn't allow rs to be in
but young men used to come
there drunk and brighten me. I was
there six months, and then I went to |
swell place, where they had a bal
let. The Casino ives the name of the
place, in Oxford street. 1t wasn't the
HOlborn Casino, but a small music
hall. I was in the ballet. How had
learned to dance? Bless you, 1
iidn't know anything about it then;
was in the corps de ballet-you I'M
ierstand-and Ihad Lothing to do ex.
,ept to march round and do the heavy
standing about. / was there for a
rood while-nearly a year, 1 think
md only left 1t because l got a chance
go to the Alhambra. That's the
Jest place in London, you know. IgOt
en- shillings a week at the Casino, but
hey treated me pretty well, and 1 was
quite comfortable. Ny dresses didn't
,Ost very much, for l made them my
elf, and was careful of them. Did
still take penny sails on the riVer?
Well, no; not often. Some of US girls
lsed to go down to Greenwich with
7oung gentlemen on Sunday, and we
lad real nice times. The ALEXANDRIA
vas a much better place, of course,
'ut the work was harder. I learned
0 dance the last part of the time I
vas at the Casino, and went to the
as a c0ryphee. At least
hat is what they engaged me for, and
never had a fair show. l knew lots
f swells at the Alhambra. They used
come behind, you know, and talk
0 us in the wings. 1 was at the
when I was engaged for
he "Black Crook" 1 had been there
yer since l left the Casino, except a
sw weeks one time when l was sick.
got the same pay 1 had at the Ca
l ought to have had more, as 1
1as engaged as a coryphee, but they
id me out OF it. Who were some Of
ne swells that came there? Well, 1
Ouldn't begin to tell you. The Prince
Tas there many a time, but of course
e never spoke to me. Fancy a prince
to a ballet-girll There are
iris here now, though, who will tell
on they knew him intimately. I
now better. They never spoke to
i'm any more than l did.