Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-12-17

of London pitied the poor creatures
who sleep under railway arches, in
carts or casks, or under any shelter
which they can find in open air.
Could they see these dismal quarters
they would see that they are to be en-
We'd in comparison with those whose
lot it is To seek refuge here. Eight
feet square--that is about the average
size of very many of these rooms.
Walls and ceiling are black with the
accretions of filth which have gather
ed upon them through long years of
neglect. 1t is eXuding through cracks
in the boards overhead; it is running
down the walls; it is everywhere.
What goes by the name of Il
window is half of it stuffed with
rags or covered by boards to keep out
wind and rain the rest is 50 begrimed
! and obscured that scarcely can light
enter or anything he seen outside
Should one have assembled to the attic,
where at least some approach to fresh
air might be expected to enter from
open or broken window, such Il person
would look out upon the roofs and
lodges of lower tcnements, and. discov-
az that tie sickly air which finds its
way into the room has to pass over the
pulrefyiug cnrcasses of dead cats or
birds, or viler denominations still. The
buildings are in such miserable repair
rs to suggest the thought that IL the
wind could only reach them they
would soon be topping about the
heads of their occupants. AS to furni-
uIre-you may pcrchance discover n
broken chair, the tottering relies of an
old bed tead, or the mere fragments of
table; but more commonly you will
find rude substitutes for these things in
the shape of rough boards resting on
bricks, an old hamper or box turned
upside down, or more frequently still,
nothing but rubbish and rags.
Every room in these rotten and
reeking tenement houses, says The
Union, X occupied by family; often
two. Can it be possible that 50 years
ago in outcast London, these dwellings
of the poor were very much worse than
now 50, there Is no longer won
der that there was so much crime in
London then. lfso, then we can under
stand the reason why the old records
of that time are SO full of mention of a
state of crime that even in that day, of
!ooser morality than now, was shock
ing to this civilized world.
Discussing the parents of the work
ing clerks in outcDst London and the
causes, the Union says
Another difficulty with which we
have to contend, aud Que in large
measure the cause of what we have de-
scribed, is the poverty of the misera-
bic outcasts. The poverty, we mean,
of those who try to live honestly; for
notwithstanding the sickening revela-
tons OF immortality which have been
disclosed 10 us, those who endeavor To
earn their bread by honest work far
outnumher the dishonest. Aud it ia
to their infinite credit that it should
be so, considering that they are daily
face to face with the contrast between
their wretched earnings and those
winch are the produce of sin."
Then follow statements of the
wages paid to certain classes for GER
tain work, from which | compile the
following.
a child seveh years old Is known easi-
ly TO make los. 81. week by thievinp
but what can he earn by such work AS
matchbox making, for which I'D. ii
gross Is paid, the maker having To find
hisown fire fordrying the boxes and his
own paste and string? II fore he can
gain as much as the young thief hc
must make SO gross of match-boxes IA
week, or .29B day. II Is needless to
say that this Ii impossible, for even
adults can rarely make more than an
average of half that number. How
long then must the little hands toll be-
fare they cas- earn the price OF the sean
test meal. Women, for the werk OF
trousers finishing Il. @, sewing ia lin :.
ings, making button-holes and stitch.
ing on the buSons) receive 3Id. Il ,nir,
and have to alnd their own ehread'
we ask woman who IL MAXI ng
tweed trousers, how mach she can
earn n day. aid are told one Skid
ling. But Whist does day mean to
this lssor soul? Seventeen kours. Froaa
nvein the morning 10 ten mt night
no pause for meals. She eats her crus
and dIluks littlet tea as she works.
making In very tinbh. with her needle
AID thresd. not her ESlng only, but
her shroIki. For maiing meas shirts
these women are paid 10d. dozen;
lawn tenisia aprons, Sd. II dozen, and
babies hools, from is. I'd. TO *. Cd n
do1ea. In st Georges-in-tlte-E East
large siumbefs of women and children.
some OF the 'atter only seven yeats, old,
are employed In saek-nlaking, for
which they get Llrthing each.
There are also given in the psmphlet
page after page OF still more sicktniav
details. which ! need not give here.
Can ii be true that the wages of the
poor worklng-classes nifty years ago
were thirty 10 one hundred per cent
less Than now or that the hours of
iahor then required of them we're
twenty per cent more than now?
As AN Incident 10 the foregoing. /
MN mention that | was telling gen
ie,,aan o. TINS city yesterday that
lave an old faded dagu.sreotype al
my, father which l desired 10 have re. |
to,c. 'ed, SO as to preserve the features
II posA 'bie. lie promptly gave M. the
name AID address OF one whom. he
said, Is iirst-class painter Of Dor.