St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-06-27
Letter from Philadelphia.


PHILADELPHIA. June %. l-73.
Dear Caictlonjdn: Every large city
has its just share of poor, miserable.
p"verty-strickcn individuals. We have
our full proportion, and such II filthy
nest of whites and blacks .iumhled to
gethcr in miserable courts and ALLEYS.
| think cannot be found elsewhere
Their tumble-d down novels occupy a
large space, and i'll it the STualid SicklN
babies, dirty children covered with filth
and rags, larger ones rcriing through
the narrow alleys. men and women also
drunken. ragged and forlnrm. sitting ON
the sidewalk. the steps of liquor Salo"n>.
or rolling into the CUTTERS. is indeed
sickening. without entering their pro
abundance: and thrown mp in one cor
ncr may he found Il pile of Stops
scarcely tit tor pigs. sold out at 50 much
t"r penny the said Stops being col
lected by hcggars. who obtain it from
families, the Slup-buckct>. or the street
cutters. and here sell it to the grocer
to he resold to this dirty. lazy. drunken
set.
Entering il house. if only two stories
high. we find from six to dozen fami-
lies living therein. White and black
men, women. and children. of no Icla-
tionShip whatever. to the number of a
dozen OF more, are sleeping in the same
small apartment. This section is the
seat of many hidcous crimes and shame
full vices. The evil here planted
sprouts. grows. and develops into action
too villianou> for words The MAYOR
frequently visits these parts and does
much towards improving them. Much
has also been done by others. and is
still being done for their comfort and
advancement. Throughout the whole
of the section. mission schools
have been established. and last summer
Il new undertaking was accomplished.
and this is claSSed under the head of
Childrcn's Free Excursions. All those
destitute individuals that inhahit this
part of our city are benefited bv them.
and owing to their success last summer
and the great amount of good accom-
plished, the benevolent gentlemen hay
ing it in charge, have resolved to con-
time their gratuitous labor.
The first excursion of this season.
consisting of 1000. will take place on
the 10Th of June Its destination is
Rockland, i'll the east Park. being the
same ground which they occupied last
summer. The tickets for the excursion
have been delivered to the "Cnmmittee
on Selection and Care of Children" to
he distributed among mothers with in
tants. All the arrangements that worked
so well last year for transportation. re-
freShments. medical attendance. hospi-
tai tents, cots. mattresses. shelter. music
diversion, &c. are to he continued
SignoT Blitz has volunteered to amuse
the children at the first two excursions,
and IL tirst-class band of music will
attend all of them. Wednesday. July
ID. is the day selected for the second
excursion, and after that they will he
continued on each Tuesday and Friday
Of every week until the money is ex-
pended. The sum now i'll hand is
$3.50 Is. which is made up entirely
10y contributions from the people. The
knicker booker Ice Company has very
generously offered to supply gratis all
the ice required for the season. 1t is To
be hoped that many of them will APP
preciate this noble work. but Il number
are too ignorant and unprincipled to
appreciate anything. TETA Moss