The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1877-02-22
4 rICTIRE OF POVERTY.
\ Family ~abststius Two DAYS on a Pint uf
With.


deus live mp here =" asked the agent uf a
crowd uf urchms Who were sliding down
"a hll uf frozen svlll They all looked
au-plciuus Some uf them put their
tongues IN their checks They evidently
susl ectcd sell So the agent pushed
mt, the cumy hallway and up the dirty
dark staircase, followed hy thc reporter
The steps were wet with the slush that
many feet had carried up, and the cln-
ders that had been dropped there crunch
al under the reporters huut, The hand
rail felt greasy One, two, three, four
flights Each one darker than the other
Finally with pain IN the knees at tie
top. One minute under the dirty sky
light 10 be sure that the name on the
card isn't Baldwin or anything hut Bel
den. tl,u a respectful rap in the gloom AT
lAe door. 4 sound ut shuillmg, "a short
wait and the door is slowly opened and
"a glrl with q shawl about her, looks up
at the visitors wondrrugly. 10 ls the
regular patent tenement den. Ten
thousand of them within few miles a
narrow caputlrss room. with two WIN
duws. water faucet and lruu basin, two
broken chairs, and au old woman down
uu her knees TRYING to Eladlr with her
breath the three or four pine sticks IN
the little cArthtn furnace Jhut ls gu the
fireplace. Three people altogether. THIS
old woman and two children One If
the children is boy, and stands un
chair at the window Tie turns round
now. but he hus been watching the flock
II pigeons that wheel ami Ilit over the
roofs The girl pulls the shawl about
her IN such "a Way that the intruder shall
not see she ls harrfeutel She ls four
teen at least
There Is regular formula of ques-
tiuus Yes, size did apply "a the charl-
lirs ou Ihird avenue. lt was inr coal.
Sine Is NOT the mother No, she ls the
rraulmuylrr. The mother went away.
Went away Is vague at first. But
.ae agent Is alruit and gentle, and pres
entity the old woman hlurts 10 all out
Jenny wen; up for thirty days. She Was
starved. ill-treHtcd. desperate So the
authorities said She was dlsurirrly.
Then il turns uut tlat when Jenny was
committed sine thought NJ the two chll-
drtu in this den without mur-rl II
food or a splinter of fuel. uua ,hy fought
the policeman and bit II tie keeper. ami
altogether must have been quite uurya-
s1nahle
That WAS three days ago Yes, three
lays ago. "Wyll. yuu see she'd always
managed 90 keep crust among Us, and
when she WAS taken didn't know what
To DO ,apoluE, t.cally1. Sic ! went to thr
charities Law, sir. | had uu lirI there Il
bv such crowd there Then thr old
woman stood up ami smua;aei down her
old gown. and pushed bark hrr white
hair oil her plnchel, wan face, and tuci
70 SAY there were lots worse oil than
us. sir. " bat somehow il WAS failure.
In her heart sle didn't believe that any
body could be worse of Necessity rs
somehow alliul o. caujor at bottom, AMI
.aat, even when pride parlytcs lts
tongue, Lls most miraculous ugEau.
" luu see. John and mt-Juhu'- the
lad al tls ulultg-yyc WAS "a slyll only
tais moruu that We unght o. boz thank
lui that We had place o. put uut heads
su this had weather His father was
took with the fever last spring. rs
been pretty rough iar the hahh.rs SINCE.
D.i ven come fr,m the caaruc. 2'
How are yuu going to support yuu-,
selves 2' asked the blunt agent
There Was q look of supreme brwildcr-
maut in the grau3muiheT'- cuuut,uau~n.
She hal been an her life putting the
best face ou matters. She cuUldut
quito get over It now, even IN this cN-
tremity. She thought they could keep
along ii-ii the coal came Her poor
oil blue hand, betrayed how she had
sun red from ta" cold.
Iou could gyt along IL y1u had coal.
Have you got plenty To cai p
The old woman struasi her drcss.
The two children came and bu.trcs5cd
her on either side, as II their instincts
made them afraid of her weakness.
" Well no, sir As for plenty, sir, it's
long time since we've heard Of II.
Then She looked up in dazcI way and
of into futuritv. as If the old wonder at
the mystery Of her lot had come over her
afrrsh.
The girl had no such wonder All at
once she broke ont Shes not had q
mputhiul for two days, sir. Upon my
sacred honor. She's starving now.
At that the three Of them icll 10 cry
ing. and between the sohs and such cx-
carnations the girl told her story. The
last meal WAS pint of milk. The old
woman had paTned her shoes for ten
cents and came back IN her stocking
feet. The girl had guessed IT, She
pulled away the old gown as she told it.
- You can see for yourself, sir, she
said, ms she pointed to the woolleu stock.
ings.
We drank it every drop before we
knew il.
ITS Gods truth, my dear, added the
grandmother.
THAT was day before yesterday, ="
said the agent, sensible that this was a
genuine cnse. Well, what did YOU do
yesterday p
The girl went over t. the iron water
basin aud lifted ont pan. In 1t were
half dozen crusts, hard anddirty. "Shc
was goin' 90 soften EN- with water but
she couldn't git the fire 10 burn.
No, / should think not, remarked
he agent, leaning over and pulling ont
piece OF burnt paper. There were two
splintcrs of n cigar box and the rung of
a chair. 1t was very absurd. And
these, hc went ON, shaking mp the crusts
and lifting his nose and eyebrows.
These came from ~
She brought en- in her pocket.
a poor mans dog wouldn't cat
them, " said the reporter to himself.
We're all hungry" remarked the
boy. % can't 60 out because / amt got
no coat.
That's n fact. It's Gods truth. -
added the grandmother, with rcsigna-
ton. After which shc sat down on the
range and began 10 draw her dress across
her wrinklcd face with curious imho-
clity.
The reporter took n good look at the
children. A pair Of healthy, clean, in
telligent babies, that hadn't eaten any
thing for two days. II was pretty hard
10 believe il; because the reporter per
sisted, with the Internal sclf-conscious
nonsense Of his tribe, in fancying that he
was in New York city, and that those
were the hagstafIs on Broadway that he
saw from the window, and that food wns
so plentiful over there that il was wasted
by the ton.
When they were coming ont the agent
turned back and said: "Wcll, it's irreg-
ular; but you haven't got any shoes. III
send it up
1t went up in basket.
Tomorrow, said the agent, "Ill
send a lady there, who'll do the right
thing"
The reporter understood by that re-
mark that the right thing was the imme-
liate thing Nggp JoyE IIOrL