Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-07-08

One night hast winter the writer went
into q Ii1om Of tenement in Delancey
street. The night was bitter cold.
There was no Gre IN The stove. There
did not Soon 20 be comforts enough
there 10 make the place habitable, AZ
the rear Of the room was NJ old table, \
and white ciuth c5nceatcd some OBJ
ject that wits resting on the tables
top. The room was vacant whom the |
Visitor stood on the threshold, a man |
heard his footsteps, entered the room, I
and bade his visitor follow, He walked !
TO the tabe and lifted the white cloth, |
itrsveallng the curly brown hair and I
wax-like features OF dead child. The |
father did not she'd tears; he seemed to |
have passed beyond that stage of sor-
row whese tears flow, and to have en-
tered the region Of blank despair With |
his eyes hXed on the white face beneath I
his bowed head, he said in bitter
voice:
"This here's the third one I've got |
away with since Christmas.N
His way of telling It might have been |
merely the unconscious vocabulary, or
it might have been intended as bitter
seli.reproach for being unable to pro-
vide for the children, who died for want
OF nouri.hmcnt and medicine in their
sickness. There was neither food nor
fuel in the room; there was not cent
in the fathers pocket, and the dead
child had been waiting for three days q
shroUd and n coffin.
The most trustworthy indication of
how these people fare is gained from a
knowledge of what they buy AZ the gro
ceries and the meat shops. A person in
the dress Of one of these women would
surprise d small dealer if she were to call
for pound of butter or tea. The pur-
chaoss are largely made by cents worth
seven cents worth OF butter, ten
| cents worth of tea. q three cent bundle
of wood five cents worth Of coal, ten
| cents worth of " chuck steak and a
| bone. And in the fact of their being
| compelled TO buy in such small quanti-
/ ties lies one of the causes OF the con-
1 tinued poverty of thousands OF hard
/ working men. Whom coal may be
/ bought by the ton for So they pay Sl5 n
| ton for what they burn, buying it by
/ pailfuls They pay for their kindliEg
! wood at.tllR saTne eXorbitant rate. Their
| Hour is bought on hardly better terms,
Sugar the little that they use--is paid
1 for more nearly at is value, and tho
same may be said of some other neces-
saries which they buy at groceries.
Even if they had place in which to
store it, there are thousands OF men
who. from the beginning of the year to
the end, do not have money enohgh be-
yond what Is required for their imme-
date wants to pay for ton of coal, a
bag of flour or side of bacon; and
thus they 90 on from year to year pay
ing double price for much that they
consume, because they find it absolutely
impossible to accumulate the necessary
/ $40 or S15 that would enable them TO
begin buying in quantity, and release
them in measure from the grip Of the
small retailers. These dealers barely
make living, because there are so
many of thom.
The interval between the close of
working hours and nightfall affords the
best opportunity for learning some
thing OF the crowded condition of the
tenement district. Beginning shortly
! after six o'clock, an apparently endless
procession of laboring men and women
and children is moving along the side
walk on either side of every street.
Making due allowance for those who
are fastening toward the East River
ferries, it is almost impossible TO be-
lieve that nearly all of these persons
find room in which to sleep and take
their meals without going further than
they can walk, going TO their work and
returning; but within an hour this flood
of humanity has subsidized, and the num-
ber of persons on the sidewalks is no
greater than at other hours of the day.
The vast numbers have found shelter
in rooms opening from the dark halls
that lead up through four and five
stories of the great tenements. Then
the windows, row upon row, begin to
be lighted up, and tenement house life
is shown in another aspect. A fair idea
of the swarms of persons housed in this
district may be gained by walking
through the streets, then entering one
OF the rear houses and going to the roof,
from which countless rear windows may
be seen lighted, and remembering that
for each light there is household.
From such point OF view the observer
looks down upon an apparently bound
less pile of bricks, hollow within, and
filled from cellar TO roof with humanity;
and the wonder grows upon him that
the vitiated air rising from the nostrils
of so many breathers does not befoul
the atmosphere To the very clouds, 50
that birds attempting TO ilS across shall
/ fall sutloeated, as they are said 10 fall
into the sulphurous craters OF slumber-
ing volcanoes. That so many person:
sleep, tier upon tier, through the night
and have strength to make theil
way out when morning comes seems
almost like perpetual contradiction Of
the nice calculations as to the amount
of air required TO sustain life in a per