The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-08-15
NIGHT ON THEHoUsE.ToPs.
How Thousands Of Poor People
o. New York Pass These snltr'

the men, women and children of the met
ropolis al, no, not sleep, butIpaSs their ail,
nights on the roofs. Guided by Tue m n
| teilieeht policemen on the corner Of
Ninth avenue and Twentieth street, en-;
tered, without knocking, at the door Of
an immense structure. fconld see moth
inc, I Smelled a great deal. Cropping. BY
the wall Of the hall l found the stars.
They we're steep. So was the smell: LIS
a curious odor. can't describe IL very
we'll. | went on and up, and on ana UP
al every landing encountering the curl Ii
ous glance of the moon, as she peetsu
tbroSVh The window at the head oil tae
:iai,cSse AT tho sixth story l was met
s! .'J aIsilsnoed by an old Irish woman
S ,s;ib "Wiii yes come out o that, ye
villain " ,,,., 49,, at, a,f,
good woman, am from the Sun, and
NAN to take look at the people on the
roof, May go up%
GTbe Sun, Is it2 Yez may, and the
Howiy Virgin go wild ye."rr
Thus encouraged, OF course went, and
she accompanied me.
allow many families are in this house,
madam"
She looked with satisfaction at silver
quarter in her hand, and said, Counting
them as is on the celleur, sir, there's
twinty, sir" ,,,,
"And about how many people all told%
"All which is itT'
"About how many folks are there in
the house"
"f niver counted, sir, but l think
ere's a good hundred, sir"
"Pretty hot here at night, isn't it%
"Hot, Is it? It's blisterin', sure, an
that's what it is. Sure, there niver a
blast from dawn ontil set. It's hard on
tho old 'uns, but ifs death to the childer."
We reached the roof. The moon shone
bright as silver, and-round and full. The
stars pierced the sky with clean face,
like that Of we'll cut diamond. :
Everything was still. AS we stood on
the molding about the scu,tle-door, ] saw
groups OF men, women and children.
Here and there. a pair lay together.
Families, as rule, managed to have a
kind Of bound, in which they kept. One
man lay dangerously near the gutter. An
other had pale-faced boy in his arms,
both sound asleep, and the father snoring
loud. By high chimney sat woman
rocking to and fro. She hada little baby
in her arms, and every moment or two
she put her ear close to ita little mouth.
I approached.
ooh, sir, are you u doctor?'
"No, my dear woman, but what's the
matterP Baby sick ?"
"Yes, sir. He has the dysentery very
bad"
Well, il SO happened that | had a
bottle OF guaco in my pocket. l gave II
to her, and, when / called, next morning,
had the satisfaction OF finding the child
measurably better, though still very
weak.
Just beyond this little group slept
great brawny workman. He wore the
simpleat rig Imaginable red flannel
shirt and drawers; nothing else. He
snorcd like twenty-loot organ-pipe, but
his wife, enyeloped in what seemed cot
ton duster, never heard him, nor did his
tuneiul mise disturb the slumberS OF an
aged woman, who sat back against the
chimney, near him.
"Who Is that old woman"
ooh, that's the wildly Ferguson, and
that's her son Tim. He's bricklayer,
and he hasn't swung trowel this six
month. Divil fut has he put on lad
der in all that time"
as he lazy?"
"Lazy! Is it Tim? He's lad from the
sole OF his iut to his crown. But wot's he
he to do2 He can't work whin they won't
give ithim. Can he, now?
OF all the groups on that long, wide
roof, none seemed in trouble save the
gentle mother and her little babe. All
slept as sweetly underneath the coverlid
Of blue and gold, as though they were
housed in u palace on bed. 1expected
TO find what l failed to find.
On the way down l was not so fortu.
nate. At every floor there was fire
escape, badly arranged in that it does
not extend across the entire floor OF the
double.decker. In case Of fire, the peo.
pie living on one side Of the great wide
house would be compelled TO force their
way through the apartments OF their
neighbors, II they wished to use the fire
escape. On every one lay one or two
people, generally asleep, but in some
cases awake. All the doors OF all the
rooms were wide open, but the sickening
stencil was positively terrible. As |
passed the front room Of the second
floor, groans attracted my attention.
Entering, l saw the faint light Of a very
smelly kerosene lamp, group Of tobacco
women and one man standing about the
bed Of young fellow suffering with
cramps. The doctor had not come,
Brandy and hot.drops were given him
freely, but his pains were intense and
his cries piercing. The atmosphere was
absolutely fetid. I couldn't stand it, and
left.
There are grades and classes among our
metropolitan roof.roosters. The real arts
tocrats are the janitors Of downtown
stores. They fasten everything securely
below, and then have the entire roof e
themselves and their families. tried il
vain 10 get on top of a large warehouse
on Front street, the ianitor Of which wal
sitting below smoking q briarwood pipe
"But Pm a reporter"
II don't care damn what ye are. You
can't get up" =.
"T6ere's a nice breeze up there, isn't
there2"
''If there is, it'll stay there. Now, get
out o this. You just get on, or damned
if don't take ye In"
On Crosby street. from 81 to SO, there
are large seven-story tenement houses
packed with mixture Of kind Of cos.
mopolitan human hash curious to see.
As many Of these creatures as can get on
tho roofs do so. As a rule, they don't
sleep much. Some Of them play cards,
many smoke, some lower pitchers. and
mugs 10 the basement by strings, and
draw them up filled with beer. One old
sailor had a fancy that it.would be a good
idea to swing his hammock between two
chimnies. He did so. OF course he was
very soon "cut down." after which much
profane ejaculation.
Over the door OF Il Crosby street Is Q
quaint little sign-Agailo Harpist. II
would be difficult to ascertain how many
people live and die there. They all
mount to the roof, at all events, andmake
night hideous with oil manner Of instru-
ments. In Mott street, there are five
| ;D,p,ansa honaaa oncnn,T,, nfatinO one HIM.