Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-01-01
CHRIyTMAS IN THE WORK.
HOUSE.
A Holiday Sketch from Real LIE.
WRITTEN FOR rHx EVENING sr..s

A Holiday Sketch from Real LIE.
WRITTEN FOR The KvksIsa STAR
Iheard teety old person who had ,ust fallen
on an icy crossing on Pennsylvania avenue. the
other night, declare that the observance OF
Christmas day Is all folderoi-"a simple matter
OF fashion-good for nothing but 20 make fools
OF people who want what they can't have. The
new year will De just like the old, and every
body will wish he had the money he has spent "
1t was easy. from HIS general appearance 10
convict him OF the crime OF being a bachelor,
and OF therefore knowing nothing or the beau.
Ties OF the season: for Il is only az home that
Christmas is perfect.
THREE LIITIE BOYS
wish he could have been brought to notice
three dirty little boys almost under his elbow
as ne stood looking In at a window on Peansyl-
yania avenue. They were keeping Xlnas with
great gusto.
"H.-i, see here now own that" ex.
Claimed enc. lie had claimed a sweet faced
Madonna. Win ner oaoys cheek pressed close
against her own.
No no. Joe e cried another .See that one
With the boat and the trees and the cp,C. on-h-h.
you bet own that one,r
The third catching the spirit OF the OCCASION.
raised his little dirty face and ragged cap TO the
level OF the window. and pointing 10 tine pnr-
trat OF a beneyolent-iooking elderly gentle.
nan, cried out in great glee. Well boys Sc,
that Gid gentleman That's me-" The tone
and lock were irresistible, bat the tasty Old
person q lot see them. It was the boys taste
Q; Xmas; rot much to be sure but IL was pat
Ter Than forever backing boots or selling news
TaP6IS just at this point there Stroled along
pc iceman. and, TO my SURPRISE for with ali
Their Imaginary Spleudor. the boys were sulat
enough he pounccd upon that benevolent gen.
Cemdn la the tattered cap and said roughly,
Come 90! 5, be OF. don't stand here This ia
DO place for you The three boys pulled their
caps over their eyes. silently picked up their
burdens. and the little haif.naked feet battered
around the corner into the darkness What a
iail from the heights OF possession and identity
beauty are not for them, even when seen
through glass darkly.
"woRKHoCsE BIRDS"
explained the policeman, as he turned away.
| suppose It was this explanation that led me 10
wonder what Xmas could be like In a work.
house, ard so. two or three DAYS after Xmas 10
so ard see for myself
some things are OF that nature to make ones
fancy chuckle while his heart doth ache. and
OF precisely that nature was our Xmas visit ts
the po0Thouse and workhouse.
L wonder II 1t ever occurs 10 the girls and
boys, or, for that matter. 10 the men and
women. who walk up and down Pennsylvania
avenue day after day longing for something 10
happen" or fer something TO be SEEN" tnat
away out by the Eastern Branch, within the
brick walls Of the alnlshouse are human haings
for whom there Is never anything To see; who
are only waiting with nothing for which to
walt: that there q life begins. dragS its length
along, and perhaps ends. and there Is no one to
care-iew even to know when the end comes.
There these girls and boys could see things
that, though not horrible, are iGeNpressbiy
pathetic once seeing Is enough, bat one half
The world would surely be better for knowing
how the ether half lives. and the memory OF
these things would last through the lie OF an
obseTvant girl on boy.
OF the wolkLouse. wholly place OF punish
Rent. more presently. The almshouse is sup
posed 10 oe the refuge OF worthy poverty.
TWO MOTHERS
We're nursing their babies with az much ap-
parent pride ss though the chiidrea had been
heirs TO Landed estates or at least to something
other than disgrace and want. Looking AZ these
little atoms OF humanity, beginning fife un1er
the same roof with so many VINO are giving life
up Qay by dav. made another effort at the Old
problem. rhp2 Why is IL that their lives are
FORCED upon these chi!1ren 10 be. almost newt
ably. repetition OF the wasted lives around
them? 4 weight Is hung about their necks
even Cow. ana II viii grow no lighter with
years. Had been a bi0ated capitalist | should
have endowed those TWO ba bes. then and there
with small fortune. As 1t is, did what every
tody else Will DO all their lives long. walked
away from tEem-with great deal or pity and
tenderness, IL is true, but pity and tenderness
have no market value and the babies lot Will
DC Lone the easier because somebody was sorry
fer them.
AMONG THE WOMEN
are few TO be remembered. Some whose faces
are sharp and hard, telling OF ayarlca selfish
ness, and much that is degrading: one whose
when the great eyes had nothing or the glare
and glitter that make them so brilliant now;
when the brown hair had no silver lines. and
the cheeks now marked by hard seams were
round and rosy. Looking back through the
years knew that some light had come into
her lille and gone out OF it; That she cropping In
the daIkuesS, had stumbled, and this Is the end
OF Il all. There were Others with tired faces
some eager with questioning pain, still others
with strange. w1stful pleading in the eyes
that tel Of Tears or hearts heavy With loss I'd
Of lives that ale wrecked.
AMONG THE MEN.
one old man might serve as the type OF many
over his eyes film has grown, rendering am
nearly blind. Here he sits. hour after n1lr.
the dreary twilight, from which be is never
free. putting together the broken pieces OF his
lie as children make up their puzzles.
1.-The NOISY marbles rest
On the lips that he has preSt
In their bloom.
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many year
On the tomb"
There are two or three OF whom one feels that
they are among the .'fnen upon whose backs
fate has written the wrong address," so that
they arrived at the almshouSe when they be-
lOnged sOmeWhere else.
CHILDREN IN TIKI "wIRH ROOM
Tho wOrkhouse is as clean and bright aud
CHEEKY as the average large boarding school
building. Being conresSediy prison however
the lock and key system is carried unpleasantly
there. They came In the day before Xmas,
found on inquiry. The new year Is beginning
for them-so many days and nights or Geld and
hunger and want. IL viii Indeed be ike the Old
year aHd more abundant In crime. They and
tEeir companions have kept Xmas nevertheless
Instead OF Cell like ihooe in which the men
are confined, The boys are Ar ,,t IN what Is known
as the wire room, whose front Is a netting OF
cfimped wire. In ana ont or this neCulg was
woven large branch OF green cedar. which
ole Of the boys had Brought ia from running on
erTanGs, and one little fellow having had
'drumsuck' OF the turkey ia his Xmas dinner
had picked it clean and tucked il IN among the
ceCar. Probably It was the DIST drumstick OF
lis life, and pretty enough in his eIeS To be or
namented In decorative art. UEder the Cir
cCDlStanceS Il was.
TIE ''CHAIN-GAN6' SEEN FROM THH rSsIDK
Al their request the men were given on Christ
mas day, s0me red and blue paper and sona
scissors, ard it was their decorations that
chiefly mace my fancj chuckle. The chain
gSDg as seen In our streets Is not an attractive
feature or our civilization. Quite the contrary.
The chain gang SIS seen 10y those who see them
daily is an aggregation Of men, some OF vnom
art quite capable OF any crime. some quite III
capable OF any. Lazy, Industrious, nI-temp-
eTed good-natured, wholly ignorant, well edu
Gated, born in the slums or dragging good
name through the mire, wOrkingMen, tra.nps
White. black or yellow-bug almost without
exception either whisky drinking or opium eat
iDg-such is tht chain gang as seen from the
inside. True, each man has his history, but
WHISKY rs THE BEGINNING AND Rsp Or IT.