The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-02-21
A PICTURE OF POVERTY.

A PICTURE OF POVERTY.
A Family SubsistinR Two Days on a Pint Of
Milk.
"Want to see picture Of poverty ?"
said the visiting agent. "No," answered
the reporter, "not q picture Of it, but
the real thing"
"Then come up here.
It was Mulberry street. Not stones
toss from Prince. Tenement houses as
far rs you could see. "Does the Bel
dens live up here?" asked the agent of q
crowd of urchins who were sliding down
hill of frozen swill. They all looked
suspicious. Some of them put their
tongues in their checks. They evidently
suspected q sell. So the agent pushed
into the grimy hallway and up the dirty
dark staircase, followed by the reporter.
The steps were wet with the slush that
many feet had carried up, and the Gin
ders that had been dropped there crunch
ed under the reporters boot. The hand
rail felt greasy. One, two, three, four
flights. Each one darker than the other.
Finally-with pain in the knees-at the
top. One minute under the dirty sky
light to be sure that the name on the
card isn't Baldwin or anything but Bel
den, then respectful rap in the gloom at
the door. A sound of shuffling, short
wait and the door is slowly opened, and
q girl with shawl about her, looks up
at the visitors wonderingly. 1t is the
regular patent tenement den. Ten
thousand of them within few miles ; =
narrow carpetless room, with two win
dows, water faucet and iron basin, two
broken chairs, and an old woman down
on her knees trying to kindle with her
breath the three or four pine sticks in
the little earthen furnace that is in the
fireplace. Three people altogether. This
old woman and two children. One of
the children is boy, and stands on
chair at the window. He turns round
now, but he has been watching the flock
of pigeons that wheel and fit over the
roofs. The girl pulls the shawl about
her in such way that the intruder shall
not see she is barefooted. She is four
teen at least
There is a regular formula Of ques-
tions. Yes, she did apply to the chari-
ties on Third avenue. It was for coal.
She is not the mother. No, she is the
grandmother. The mother went away.
"Went away" is vague at first. But
the agent is adroit and gentle, and pres
emily the old woman blurts it all out
Jenny went up for thirty days. She was
starved, ill-treated. desperate. So the
authorities said she was disorderly.
Then it turns out that when Jenny was
committed she thought Of the two chill
dren in this den without morsel of
food or a splinter of fuel, and she fought
the policeman and bit ut the keeper, and
altogether must have been quite unrea-
sonable.
That was three days ago. Yes, three
days ago. "Well, you see she'd always
managed to keep crust among us, and
when she was taken I didn't know what
to do (apologetically), so went to the
charities. Law, sir, had no idea thered
be such crowd there" Then the old
woman stood up and smoothed down her
old gown, and pushed back her white
hair off her pinched, wan face, and tried
to say "there were lots worse off than
us, sir" but somehow it was failure.
In her heart she didn't believe that any
body could be worse off, Necessity is
somehow allied to candor at bottom, and
want, even when pride paralyzes its
tongue, has q most miraculous organ.
"You see, John and me-John's the
lad at the winder-we was sayin' only
this mornin' that we ought to be thank
full that we had place to put out heads
in this bad weather. His father was
took with the fever last spring. It's
been pretty rough for the babbies since.
Did you come from the charities ?"
GLOW are you going to support your
selves ?" asked the blunt agent.
There was look of supreme bewilder-
ment in the grandmother's countenance.
She had been all her life putting the
best face ON matters. She couldn't
quite get over it now, even in this ex-
tremity. She thought they could keep
along if-if the coal came. Her poor
old blue hands betrayed how she had
suffered from the cold.
You could get along if you had coal.
Have you got plenty to eat ?"
The old woman stroked her dress.
The two children came and buttressed
her on either side, as if their instincts
made them afraid of her weakness.
"Well, no, sir. AS for plenty, sir, it's
q long time since we've heard of it. "
Then she looked up in dazed way and
off into futurity, as if the old wonder at
the mystery of her lot had come over her
afresh.
The girl had no such wonder. All at
once she broke out. "She's not had
mouthful for two days, sir. Upon my
sacred honor. She's starving now.
At that the three of them fell to cry
ing, and between the sobs and such ex-
carnations the girl told her story. The
last meal was q pint of milk. The old
woman had pawned 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, as she pointed to the woollen stock
ings.
"We drank it every drop before VIC
knew it..
"It's Gods truth, my dear, added the
grandmother.
"That was day before yesterday, "
said the agent, sensible that this was a
genuine case. Well, what did you 10
Yesterday"
The girl went over to the iron water
basin and lifted out a pan. In it were
half dozen crusts, hard and dirty. "She
was goin' to soften 'em with water, but
she couldn't git the fire to burn"
"No, I should think not, remarked
he agent, leaning over and pulling out
the fuel that was slightly charred by a
piece of burnt paper. There were two
splinters of cigar box and the rung OF