New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-21
Political ambition, IL no higher motive, now fire.
quentIy confronts landed tyranny.


BOWELS IN THE ARCHwAYS OF BRIDGE.
As we drove down the road we came to little
bridge over O stream, about the width OF canal.
1t Is called the Mucloch River. One arch spans the
stream. Two arches on either side of it bridge the
low land. left dry since the river was tapped by a
canal on Mill Run. In each OF these four arches
there were persons living. The archway on the once
open side is rudely walled in by rough. unhewn
stones, held together by turfs The doors are rude
and low Two of these arched novels were locked,
In the G fret arch Srs wed Mary Mot She is stout
short woman of over fifty years Of age. She wore
no shoes. She had no covering for her head.
How do you live :" l asked her. Nothing but
by scrapng the sands of the say" she said. " Are
you married 7" "Dade,' 1 am, sor," she replied
with marvellous frankness; but fell in badly
My husbands no good in life. He's useless"
"Have YOU children ~ "Yes, sor, one" The
guide explained that she had married dwarf, as
understood him, or O man incapable of earning
living, but without any fault of his own: Ahd
may go into your house ~ asked. " lndade ana
ye're Welcome n
Opposite the little door is the strong wall Of the
arch, and the sides, of course, are solid masonry
All the building needed to enclose i. was the turf
and stone wall in front. There is no chimney
There is no window. When the door is shut, the
cell is dark. A few sOds torn out near the top OF
the rude wall let the smoke escape after 1t had
filled the room. What furniture did this wretched
hene containf Look along the left hand wall as
you enter Near the sod aud stone wall there Is
little sort of stone crib with straw thrown over it,
Is it pig stys No. 1t is hardly larger than big
trunk, and not so high. That's for the hens, sorP
she said as wondered before it:
Next to it lay a small bundle OF sticks-twigs
gathered here and there from fallen branches That
was all the fuel she had in store. There was abOut
two armsrul Next to the twigs was little rude
table. hardly larger or higher than a stOOl-about
two feet high Then little chest. Then the bed IN
the corner. The rude bed was straw covered with
pair of foul blankets lying on it. On the opposite
side there was a sort of dry goods box, and small
fame flIckered ON the floor, which served only to
give out smoke. That was all, except little three
legged iron pot and kettle. The walls were OOzi1g
The earth of the flour was wet l wore an overcOut.
l was chilled in this room.
This woman had lived here for over twenty years
She had been evicted during the last great famine
She made her living by "scraping the sands of the
sea "-that is, by gathering periwnkles and Oys-
ters. But this year no one is allowed to gather
oysters as the Government has closed the beds for
three years, in order to save the supply and now
poor Mary MilOt has more than her usually hard
time of it. She said that they" had once tried
to turn her and tin other four families out of their
arches, but the Duane" (meaning her most era
oiouS Majesty the Empress of Indal had forbidden
GS BE d
that showed l pited her wretChed condition.
Eyes" she answered, " VIC have nothing but the
daylight but, thanks be to God for it, that have
the daylight. Was there ever such devOut race
on this planet
My companions had crossed the stream as took
notes of this arched refuge of the landless old
peasant
"COme over herep they shouted. "Hcre's a
worse cabin than that p "My Godp There are
times and scenes that compel that utterance, and
this was one of the times and scenes. SOphinia
Crane, woman of sixty or seventy years old,
crouched over a bit of q fire. There was no win
dow, no chimney. no smoke escape, no bed, no chair
here The old woman sat on handful of straw
laid on the cold EARTH All the chamber floor was
as wet as if twenty buckets of water had
been flung over it. The rain had OOzed through the
arch and flooded her cell. She had made struggle
to wipe it out before came; but her industry only
showed itself IN slush. The only furniture was n
chest OF pine box, about the size of ordinary
frigerator and there was another handful of straw
on the top of 1t. where do You lie DOWN.
asked as there was no signs of bed or mattress or
blanket IN the dark, shivering cell. She never
stretched out her limbs in sleep. With her back
against the box she sat on the straw, with her
shrivelled bare feet to the bit of frel
Ientered no other cabin that day.
JAMES REDPATH.