Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-06-09

Z es and charities which abound in II, and /
the worst in the miseries and inequities TO |
which it gives shelter. Nowhere under |
the sun will you fad viler specimens OF
humanity, OF localities in which the atmos- |
phere is so impregnatsd with moral pestl-
ience. To be convinced Of this one has
only TO pay a visit 70 the neiehborhood IA
nous in romance and history as
THE SEVEN DIALS.
Not that this quarter Of the city Is what
1t was when Dickens wrote of its horrors,
or that it viii equal in sheer degradation
some other parts Of London, but it is bad
enough vet to make an honest man blush
with shame for bis race, and TO give far
idea, one would think, of what hell mus:
be. The most interesting visit made TO this
place by your correspondent occurred one
Sunday morning, wnen the pernicious Ia.
glish habit OF retiring late at night and
rising at a late hour in the morning, had
caused him 20 miss a coveted opportunity
of hearing Sourgeon. The omnibus lands
you right IN the center Of this plague spot,
and for a city that makes a speciality OF
Sabbath observance and has it's
SALOONS THEORETICALLY ShAi~Eb
Uatil o'clock, and open then only till 3,
and from to half.pass II in the even
ing strange sight meets you. In some of
the seven narrow streets, which diverge
from this center, public market is in
progress, with all the stores in the Vi
cinity open and doing business. Here you
have a chance to see the women OF Ssyen
Dials, and what creatures they are
Faces unwashed, hair uncombed, dress
slovenly aud filthy, eyes bloodshot and
lustful, and their whole appearance bear
ing unmistakable signs Of the previous
nights debauch at the ale house and
elsewhere how little of the human
survives the wreck and ruin
that has overtaken these unhappy
creatures 0sher streets around are
filed with groups of brutal. oking
men. The first impression of a stranger
would be that there had just been a fire or
a fight, and that these loungers, drawn
hastily from their lodgings with only time
to throw few articles OF so called cloth
ing on their backs, had now divided into
companies to discuss the result. The men,
however, strange to say, do look a little
better than the women, and | suppose, by
the way, that one reason why human deg
radiation reaches such low depths in this
land is that the woman sinks with the man
and frequently goes lower. Happily, in
our land the women of the lower classes re-
tain their self-respect, for the most part,
and exercise a restraining influence over
their husbands and brothers. Hence
THE LEVEL OF SOCIAL yILENEss
Is not so low there as here. But returning
to the Seven Dials, we learn that the reason
why the corporation allows Sunday
market in this locality is because the
wretched beings who have their abode here
have positively no way of keeping anything
over night, even in moderate weather,
owing to the close and putrid atmosphere
of the rooms in which they liye-an ex-
PLANTATION which does not appear at all in.
credible when one glances again at those
around him, who have but recently emerged
from these hotbeds of impurity. l spoke
of FIRE. The only fire is that burning in
the stomachs of these poor wretches as
they wait with manifest impotence for the
public houses to open. As the hour of
approaches they gather around these
places, like singed bats around a candle,
and when finally the church clock strikes
and the doors fly open, there is
A STAMPEDE FOR THE BAR,
Followed by clinking of glasses, which
lets one at once into the fatal secret of the
degradation about him. But is there no
relief to this dark picture, no bright oasis
in the midst of this reeking desert Of sin ?
To the credit of mankind be it said, there
is. On the occasion of my visit found,
intermingled with the groups of abandoned
men and women of which / have spoken,
other groups, the inner circles of which
presented an appearance OF purity and re.
spectability, such as contrasted strangely
with the surroundings beyond. They were
stationed at almost every street corner,
and above the din and chatter which filled
the place, you could hear, waited to you
from these circles, the voice of heavenly
| song. High above the heads of some OF
these groups a banner waved, whose blue
folds as they. opened to the sun revealed TO
the crowd some temperance motto - a
blessed herald surely in such a place,
And the gospel of love and peace was
there unfolded. It took different Cnris-
tianity from that which is content to put
itself on Sabbath parade in elegant churches
to come to such slums as these and beard
the lien Of sin in his own den; but there
stood the men and women that were
neither ashamed nor afraid to undertake
such service, and the heart of your CORE.
! spondent bounded with admiration as he
beheld them.
THE DAYS OF HERoIsM,
He reflected, are not wholly in the past
after all And what added to his delight,
and increased his admiration for these
workers, was the fact, which be ELECTED
from them afterwards, that they were men
who earned their bread by the sweat OF
their brow during the week, and then came
and performed this Sabbath service solely
as labor Of love. The benedictious Of
Providence be upon all such / learned,
| too. that there was a cody woman who
went into the dark dens round about as a
nurse for the sick, carrying with her not
only messages of hope and comfort. but
such substantial neeessaries as medicines,
chops and steaks Who can withhold a
blessing from such an angel of mercy as
that Thus the battle goes on here, the
good caring for the bad, the pure trying to
lift up the. impure; virtue seeking to
trsmple vice under its tender feet of love,
with, alas, only partial success, for the
dark places still cast hideous shadows over
these busy thoroughfares, and sin and
misery do so much abound as TO almost re-
coucile one to the dark skies and frequent
rains of this metropolis, on the theory that
the heavens are expressing by such signs
their mingled pity and displeAsure at the
scene beneath them.
TdR SONG OF TIE DUDE.
Oh the dude the beautiful dude
| The ssence eoncentrei Of trou-ered prude
We zee him aud love him and who shall dare
IL. -