Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-01-24
CHARITY OF THE POOR.
How the london Outcasts Assist Each
other

show, why the poor sympathize with
and help each other, let me give few
instances TO show what practical forms
their sympathies invariably take. l
shall not Gull them haphazafd here
and there, but all from the neighbor-
hood, which has furnished the bulk
of the facts on which these articles are
formed | have shown the vices Of
one of these districts; it is pleasanter
task to chronicle the virtues.
The first thing which visitor to
the slums asks is: What becomes of
the children of the men and women
who are sent TIC prison, or who are re
moved TO the hospitals The answer
is simple The neighbors take them
ia and take care of them. Orphans
are by no means rare in the slums,
but they are almost always adopted. !"
In the house of Mrs. r. lived
family named Hinde Mrs Hinde
died of consumption, leaving four
children and a husband out of work
He set out to look for it, and Mrs. r.
took the four little ones into her room
to sleep with her own six. Out of her
scanty earnings she fed them, too, and
NliCh olAS was dokCl WHY SuG ndQ ldA-
ed her limited resources to this extent,
she answered: Poor young 'uns How
could | see 'em starvin', and their
father out o work and no mother2'
The man isstill out of work, and Mrs.
r. has thought it her duty to keep his
children for over six months
Orphans are not only kept, but are
passed around sometimes from family
to family. There is little crippled
lad | knew named Dennis Sullivan.
Till lately he was kept by an old water
cress seller, who had adopted him A
month or two since the poor old soul
fell into the fire, and was so severely
burned that she died And wheA the
boy was TO be sent to an institution a
brother of the water cress woman, a
poor hawker, came forward and said !;
He shan't be sent away. I'll keep
him for the sake O the poor old woman
as she was so fond of him.
One of the most touching cases of
this kind | ever met l have alluded to
elsewhere, but for the sake of my argu-
ment / will repeat it here. A poor
woman had taken charge of three chill
dren, whose father was away in the
country. She had children of her
own as well. Sickness came upon
her and q terrible disease almost dis
abled her Yet she refused to let the
little ones,go ancared for. Dying slow
ly of dropsy, she was found one day
propped up in chair, with a wash
tub in front of her, and with her poor,
weak hands making a brave struggle
TO wash the little ones clothes, that
they might look clean and tidy at
school.
A servant girl lost her place, and
in the Sums gave birth to an illegiti-
mate child. She could not keep it;
she must go to service. An old wo-
man adopted the child, brought it up,
and gave it her own name. The moth
ei married, and then wanted the child
The old woman had fallen on evil days
and consented to part with it, But
the real mother ill-treated the child
and was unhappy Off marched the
old lady, and fetched it back again.
faint got much to spare, God knows, }"
she said, "but [ amt goin TO see the
gal unhappy, and I'll keep her some
how.
A maker of wooden toys deserted
his child and left it starving. a poor
woman with eight children of her own
and an income of Is shillings a week,
''felt her heart bleed for the poor little
thing She took the child into her
own room and her eight were now
nine.
When these people who have no
money and when their friends are in
distress they often pledge their clothes
rather than see misery unrelieved
The other day, at police court, a
woman was fined shillings and 6
pence and, in default was sent to the
cells. Her "pal went out of court,
took the shawl from her shoulders,
collected few more of her garments,
and, pawning the lot, returned and
liberated the prisoner. Pawning is
frequently resorted to by the women
who attend each other in their CON
finements. In these districts the fe-
male neighbors, be it remembered, in
variably take the place of the doctor,
and their kindness and gentleness to
their suffering sisters are marvellous.
They will sit by the invalid day and
night IN foul den, destitute of every
comfort, and perform all the house
hold duties as well They will see to the
children, get the husbands tea, and if
there is as is often the case, a lack of
all the sufferer needs they will go and
pledge all they have and buy it.
These people do not inquire into a
persons creed or moral character be.
fore they hold out the helping hand
When a thief comes back to his dis
trict from prison. his pals" find him
money and food for weeks until he
either gets a job or takes TO his former
line of business again. A VIGOROUSLY
bad character has just died here. He
was i'll for months, and his pail y
kept hlm the whole time, and gave
him a grand funeral when he died /
have known men out of work and i'll,
kept for months by the subscriptions Of
their poor neighbors.
4 street-hawker was found last Sun
day sharing his disner with a man, bis
wife, and his children, who lived in
the same house with him, and who