National Republican., 1883-01-22
TIE pooRHousE pooR.
How They Appear on sundoy-Tho Old
slaves I'm the Magazine.


about tho Jail and the Congressional buryng
ground. In winter il is dosolate. The near
est approach from the line of the avenue cars
is down L street, and the landscape is not an
cxhilarating one. A few pretty houses, o few
ugly ones, n lorlorn looking beer garden, with
The highly unreasonable sign of "icc cold
lager, 8 cents u marble yard and green
house, n dilapidatcd pump, preliminary
graveyard. and row of lonesome ccdaTs, with
n brickyard in the dstancc-thcso are the ac-
ccssorics Of the landscape
Its main feature yesterday to n REPUBLICAN
reporter was mud. 4 long, level stretch of
ground bare and barren, strcakcd with snow,
over which the keen winds from the west
blew in bitter blasts, surrounded you on all
sides, and sccGcd coming to greet you in the
mud that filed the streets. Mud was every
where, save in the blue ice that covered the
rivers breast and threw back in defiance tho
dull lcadcn glare of the cloudcd sky. At the
end Of The street You were brought up TO
vision of despair. just before you to the
northeast rearing its huge rectangular walls
of dull red brick high against the gloomy
sky, uprosc the jail. Near by, staring ut you
with that rude, half idiOtic look, which
belongs TO hopeless poverty, squats the
poorhousc, and across the street is
the cemetery. Crime, misery, and
death in dramatic sequence are thus
stanliugly typted So ugly are the struc-
lures consccratCd sto the first two, that You
turn TO death with sense Of grateful relief
At the jaws of death, that is to say, the gates
of the cemetery, You pause to determine your
way for the road seems blocked. Chilled by
the death cold marbles aud shocked by the
dwarf ccdars that look as ii they had sucked
their sustcnance from diseased corruption,
You turn, yet shudderingly to the hideous
yellow house which forms the penal part of
the pauper's home-the workhousc. The
frozen snow crunChcs under your feet as if
N,+pr - hQplF Tim it,1I In Front pf tlp
building is over shoetop. You try the door,
which is lock cd, and bCCRon TO a face pGering
through grated window Then the doc. is
unlocked. You enter, and anovel sight meets
your astonished gaze.
There, drawn up in the central hall, were
the unfortunates of the chain gang. Black,
yellow, and white; big, little, and between;
old men with eyes filmed and hair blanched
with age boys whose tender years belonged
rather to mothers knee than to the walls of
worlihouse; mature men whose manhood
was irrctriCvably saggCd by vice and misery
and inherent weakncss-all clad in the hide
GUS stripes that have lately become so common
II sight in our streets, were drawn up in listen
ing attention to u minister of the gospel.
There were women there, also, clad in blue
gowns and white aprons, sitting near the wall,
and some of them mt least showing far more
emotion than their male companions These
womens faces were painful studies. Youth
and beauty were of course wanting. Youth
and beauty, if they be female, never go to
Che pOorhOuse. They are sometimes found
IN the jail sometimes seen on the scaiiold but
fate has q brighter path for them than the road
TO the pauper's home Only when Perdita
becomes wrinlslcd and faded Is she obliged to
chose between the graveyard and the work
house.
There was u cabinet organ in corner at
which Il young lady was seated, and other
ladies back of her, with soma gentlemen, who
oficiatcd as choir Rev. Mr.. Van Dorm was
in charge of the services. One could not help
admiring the christian spirit of those ladies
who sought thus to minister to the spiritual
wants of n class of uniortunates who in this
nineteenth century civilization, are generally
worse off than the stray ours in the street
The reporter stayed long enough {, note
that Rev. Mr.. Van Dom was giving the ,iris
oners Il plain, sensible, merely Christian talk
and then he left to pursue further invcstiga
tions Plunging down the broad lane which
leads directly east, or rather plunging into 1t
for almost every step took him into mire and
mud above his shoetops, he at length reached
the old powder magazine. In one Ofthese build
ings has been established u house of refuge fol
old and disabled freedmen who have no friends
to take care of them. These brick buildings
grim and chccrless as they seemed from the
exterior, were the only comforting feature Of
the landscape. In front flowed the cc-locket
river, to the west the dull leaden clouds hang
ing heavily over the cemetery whose lcatles'
trees stood gaunt and upright over lonely
graves; ac,oss the river the brown bare hill,
were ribbed with snow, and over all the shril
winds whistled and moaned and roared in icy
blasts Hastily trying one of the doors-tht
only visible door, as n matter of fact-tho re-
porter entered the centra! building.
Here was a long, very long room, with {
scrupulously clean floor; two long tables, Ont
ut either end huge stove in the center, ant
some twenty-five or thirty cOlorcd men sitting
around or engaged in various duties. o.
either side of the room, ut intervals apart
were ranged over n score of beds. These wcrt
all clean looking, nicely made up, and ap
pearcd very comfortable. They looked, how
ever too much like new-madc graves, il
regular order, to be very attractive to an i'm
aginative reporter who had been chilled by
long walk in the icy air past a sombcr ant
rapidly Willing graveyard. All the inmates o
this building were men, and all old, save thrc
or four boys. Some of them were very old
so old that il seemed Il mercy they had no
far to go to a graveyard. They were cheer
tul, contentcd, and, rs far as might be, happy
Yet upon each face shono the wan light tina
hopeless poverty reflects upon the irrctrevabl.
degraded
II was II poorhouse for colored people-fo
freed slaves who had outgrown their capacit,
for work, and were glad to put its massive
doors between them and starvation. How
the boys come there there reporter couldn'
satisfactorily ascertain. They were there
however nc institution Is nnucr tne CnaTg
of Mr.. Stoutenburg, of the Washington asy
lum, and really constitutes apart of it. Their
were twcnty-nine regular inmates. Beside
these there was u little skye terrier, yer,
pretty and very playful who did no
care groat whether he was in palace or
poorhouse so he was with his master
and several prodigious tom cats, who's
appearance indicate good food and plenty o
it, The house has been in running order 70
little over year The inmates are carct
for spiritually, almost every Sunday by warm
hearted Christian who labor with earnest yea
in this and other neglected corners of thi
moral vineyard. For some reason however
there was no spiritual service there yestcrda,
afternoon. So after waiting for the preache
to come until the twilight of January even
ing fell in heavy shadows on the brown hill
beyond the river the reporter rctraccd hi
steps through miry mud and crunchin
snow 20 the avenue cars.
Mr.. w. $. Buchly's Funeral,
The funeral services of Mr.. w. S. Buchl
took place yesterday at 2 p. IN, and wa
very largely attended. The floral offering
I'M.