West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-12-25
NEW YORK NEWSGIRLS.
The Tricks, Charms and Dangers
OF their Trade.

...#. 9TH
Sitting in comfortable downtown
restaurants on these chilly autumn
evenings, with the grateful fragrance
OF Il good dinner perfuming the atmos-
phere, the man of business witnesses
an occasional sight outside of the doors
and windows in the cherries street
that sometimes fills his heart with pity
and perhaps takes away some of the
exuberance of his appetite. 1t is the
sad and wistful face of one of the in
Vulnerable little newsgirls who sell
papers in the lower part of the city,
and who now gazes wistfully and hun
grily from the outside cold at the
picture of good cheer within that she
may not share. Perhaps, if the wait
ers are not near the door, she ventures
to open it, come inside and offer her
papers to the men at the tables; but
h is generally driven into the street
again before she is able to effect a sale.
But he is a hard-hearted man, indeed,
who, coming out well fed and content
ed, can resist the appeal: mister,
left"
Down at the ferries, about Park row
and the Post-Ofice, in Nassau, Wall,
all the downtown business streets and
IN Broadway, scores of little girls are
engaged afternoon and evening in the
sale of the papers. They are in all de-
grees OF rags and tatters and they rep
resent almost every nationality fur
nlsned by the tenement-house popula-
ton, with a majority Of Irish and Ital-
ian children among them. They are of
all ages and sizes, from tiny mites of
ever four and five years, up to we'll
grown lassies Of sixteen and seventeen
years. Many Of them are careful and
tidy in dress and person, and some OF
the older ones compare favorably in
appearance with the pretty New York
shop girls, but there are Others who are
dirty, careless and abandoned. Not a
few of them are gentle, sweet and pretty
when they begin their career as news
vendors, but contact with the others
and the life they are forced TO live In
the streets, soon rub off the bloom,
and IN most cases harden them into
premature little termagants. They are
obliged to take their W part in the
struggle with the rough boys of their
own class; they fight their own battles.
regardless of sex; they frequent saloons
and bar rooms late at night and listen
70 the vile jests of brawlers and roughs.
No wonder that they lose their gentle
manner and girlish traits and become
unsexed and %depraved; that their faces
lose the innocence Of childhood and
oftener than not become impressed
with the unmistakable stamp of low
cunning and vice. Nevertheless, there
are exceptions 20 this rule and a few of
fHn IffIn nawrurrw1r w~N~g. sL~s- --a.
faces and modest manners through ali
tbe years they run about the streets.
The newsgirl is differently situated
from the newsbOy. Not a few OF the
latter are homeless s1d fatherless little
NOmads who drift AZ jut from one city
70 another, living at the newsbovs'
homes, or sleeping In the streets. But
most Of the little girls have homes to
60 70, squalid and humble though most
Of them are, and q few even attend
school IN the morning and leave In
time 70 begin the sale Of the afternoon
papers as soon as the first editions are
issued. From this early hour many Of
them remain out until midnight, in
storm or sunshine, heat or cold, until
The last paper is sold.
The baokneyed story Of the little girl
who IS beaten when she returns home
without having disposed Of her stock
in trade Is generally pOoh-poohed
when 30 is mentioned; but II IS true.
nevertheless. in many cases. and Il is
not an infrequent occurrence for men
who are out late at night % find q little
girl, with % or two papers under her
arm, sObbing in a doorway OF under n
gas-lamp because she Dr. afraid % 20
home. ASK her what is the matter.
and when She tells you the tale win
sound so familiar that you scarcely be-
lieve DC. Tell her harsAly that that
story 10 played out and 90 on YOUR
way, and notice how uncomfortable
yOu feel when you consider That IL ia
barely possible that her tale is true.