Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-04-10
The Dark Side OF London Life.

II
On every corner are little street-stands
of estables,.tvery coarse, indigestible- 4
eatables, such as little plates OF boiled
swinks," picked from the shell, boiled
with. reckless abundance of salt, and
eaten withvinegar, at a penny per plate;
the crows and gulls could hardly relish
this food as the being but little lower
than the angel prepares it for himself;
they would prefer it fresh. The penny
a-bowl soup kitchens are full of CUSTOM
ers; bare, implanted tables, ingrained
by long absorption of grease and CRIME:
heavy bowls, plentifully nicked, and
iron spoons. The eel, kidney-pie and
stew Kitchens are full. A penny for a
pie, pitched at you piping hot from
tin box, with an UNDERGONE grease and
grayy-permeated undercrust, with top
crust and bottom crust rank enough to
finish the career of dozen delicate,
fashionable stomachs. Look at the eel
stew counter; childhood, barely able to
lift its bowl to the top, is there getting
its pennywOrth for some drunken
mother; decrepid, feeble-looking men
lay down the clumsy copper coin OF the
realm in greedy expectancy OF some
thing to fill those lOng-empty stomachs.
They have, after hours of endeavor,
earned the penny you tossed them for
holding the cab door, or sweeping the
crossing, or begging in the guise OF a
match-seller. You are tonight CrGsus
among these people. A pound sterling
to them is fortune. A pound would
mean an infinite succession OF these
luxurious meals. A pound with nine.
tenths of them would upset their mental
balance altogether; it would mean hall
dozen drinks, a half-dozen treats, in
sensibility, robbery, and in half an houi
the harpies, but little lower than angels
in these rotten gowns, would be quar-
reling over the eighteen shillings' plum
der. Look down those dark passage:
leading out of Drury Lane. Step dow
this one. 1t is Parker Street. The side
t walk is scarce wide enough for two
D More slatterns in corners and in hall
WAYS. There is the sensation of GRIM
in the air, CRIME on the walls, the win
dows, the people. 1t seems the aecuml
lated CRIME of generations. The wonial
h in doorway is also one of her Majesty
e subjects. / glance into her room
e A very slim, squalid bed, chair
4 table, fire in the CRATE
1 over the mantelpiece a highly-colore
5 print" The Return of the Prodigs
It Son" No fatted calves are ever kille
+ for the prodigal daughters. They ar
e seldom rescued from the diet OF husk'
a The prodigal daughters return is not
J. fatal day for calves. This woman in tn
# doorway is another prodigal daughte
1t She is not old. She is not yet ugl.
l. though beer and gin have marked h,
$ for their own. She has commenced
n be invitingly loquacious when out OF Il
r fog looms the black helmet and stif
l. belted form of the British policeman
Is He addresses her: "NOw. see here,
ID catch you out of your door again l
Is run YOU in" Not word from he
h She sinks back into her den. All alor
al the narrow street, as far as can pc
is through the mixture of fog, darkne
lie and gas-glare, 1 behold these squal
d, women-her Majesty's unreturnabl
a unwelcomed prodigal daughters-slin
N ing into their doorways as the repr
d, sentative of British law and respect
~ bility approaches.-C. W. Stodddrd,
ne Sdu FrauciscO Chronicle.