The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-11-14
6eorgs Aslgtiattix SAsa Pictures a ne,
RELIEF Of asfsfreAs.


aeorgs Asagtistsx sasa PIcturss a me q
6 Relief of asfstreAs.
Al lady whom 4 have known ZOE many
years. wrltss George "A pstus SSala from
Paris, 10 the London Daily aetsgTaff, tola
me the other day the story OF man VINO.
did not her. She was out for . Walk a!one.
as,d looking into Sne of the niagnibcent
Sleeps ofShe Passage DIES Princes. l!,r 'IiiI
TO surrey the next door repository Oh lIeas
sures..a Jewellers she became aware OF .
tall, laak mar, OF about any years OF age,
with Yong gray hair streaming over the soi"
iar oa q patched and ragged coat iastenca Up
to bis chin--noW by button from Whacn !,
the cloth had rotted, showing inc dlsk Q,
bone now by q pin, aoW by bis OF tnIeaa
a,assed through two holes. she was certain
,tu,t he had no shsrts she looked up through
the frayed cuts OF mis- coat, she sasa. anu
.s,w his wrists and his arms, bare, yellow as
Md parchn,sns, sharp boned, aud With inky
veins. He was not shoeless, but the halt-
sliaconnected upper feathers OF his boots
scraped the pavement. His hat looked as
itbonrh il Ind been boiled In grease. Under
one arm he had NANCY leather portioiloe
from which gone papers pecped. Tfas
man, snulfiing his feet on the stones, stoe
looking at che diamonds and rubies in the
Jewellers SHOP, not with q gaze otheTce
and desparate rapacity, but with an
abstrscted 4 expression as though his
ewes ouky ssere there while his thoughts
were miles away. Then he would shit tue
NANCY leathern portfolio from one arm 10
the other, and then resume the survey OF Inc
diamcuss and rubies. The lady of'Whom
sneak has but slender STOCK OF ,coHoqulal
French at her command; but from hef
portetsuonnaie sbe-took o 5-france piece,
touched the ragged man on the aim, piaceo
the nSece Of money in his hand, and said,
g S,iS,yous pIait, Monsieur He looked a:
ber,Sor only a n,omeat, with only one glance,
in which kind OF wild establishment and
incapacity even to express gratitude were
mincled, and in au instant, and Is though
by magic, he was-gone. Whittier? Per-
tlaps he was an impostor. Possibly he had
made up' for the part OF distressed
poet, an INDECENT man OF letters, a rulneo
Spectator, discharged eRagiose, VINO, iol
the hundredth time, had been coohng Ills
battered heels in the ministerial ante-cnam'
Der with voluminous statement OF MS
grievances in. that NANCY case OF leather
Suspecting something OF the sortI carefully
patrolled the Passage DIES Hrlnces during
several successive afternoons, but l never
could catch sight OF the ragged man with
the gray locks and the hat which seemed to
have been boiled in grease looked 1ol
him subsequently in the Passages DIES Fan
Dramas and the Passage joufiroy, in the
Passage Choiseut and the Passage du San.
men, in the Palais Royal, and in the Place
de Ia Bourse. But / have never met with
him. I am beginning to incline now to the
belief that he was not an impostor, but only
n man desperately poor and hungry. am
beginning to adopt the theory that directly
he got the money he sped away, holding II
in both his hands, SO to speak, out OF the
Passage DIES Princes, down the Rue de
Richelieu, across the Place du Palais Royal,
and through the great courtyard or the
CarroGsel, across bridge, down narrow
street, into a narrower lMpass, up, nVe
stories high, dim staircase, and into a
garrett with shelving roof-a garnet with
nothing in 1t but table with three legs,
a broken chair, sackful of .shavings Tor
a bed, and gaunt woman with some pallld
children. And then I fancy him crying,
"Upe etrangere ma dome cent isouS-and
now. NV children, we will have bread and
charcuterie, aud WINE" "Et 'quatre sous
de tabac pour ce bon petit papa" cries the
shrlIest and weakest voice among the. pal
lid children, who are clapping their hands
and pulling at their mothers skirts, and
bidding her look upon Ia belle ct bonnie
niece de cent sous. Yes, I fancy that he
brought the money home before laying out
So much as two sous for loaf. There was
something in exhibiting it there intact.
There was more ID discussing what food
should be bought-including I will be
bound, some cough syrup for ia pauvre
petite Adele, who was weak in the chest.
There was more in having some 's'tchange
out" when the garnet had become
a hall OF feasting, and starving ,crea-
lures had partaken Of food, and the
pipe had been lit, and the fumes of the
caporal were curling upward in manner
soothing to the view, and the monnaie re-
naming out of the five francs could be
counted with leisurely and loroly air.
And, upon my word, il the ragged man
was indeed an imposter, do not grudge
him one halfpenny out of his dole. Are
you quite certain that the last EGO, coo which
you made ont OF the Barbarian loan or the
Terra del Fuego railway were gotten qulte
hOneStly.o