Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-08-03
TIE LOWEST STRATUM.
"A SOCIAL CLASS THAT IS HOPELEe
AMBITlONLEss, LOST.

AMBI IONIESS, EOOis
The Antecedents of the Professional
Pauper-How an Army OF Beggars LIZ
Bred-seH Destructiveness of moral
and Physical Degeneration.
If we could get at literal history Of the
lower strata Of society in our larger cities we
should be convinced that it consists OF an ele-
ment permanently degenerated 1t Is very
seldom that member Of this class rises 70
anything permanently worthy. You must,
however, consider society everywhere as con-
sisting Of three strata-the upper, which Is
cultured and yet very subject to degenera-
tive influences; the middle, which Is less
plastic, but on the whole moves under the In
huence Of better class Of motives; and the
dover, which is settled in habits Of mend1-
cancy and unchastity, and Is frequently ad-
dicted to crime Of course, by this lower
class do not mean the poor, and not In
Hariably the drunken; for the poor are often
the victims of misfortune, and the drunken
are not seldom recoverable. But there Is a
class everywhere that is hopeless, ambition
less, lost; and the only good thing about
them is that they die early, and, under
proper restraint, the stock easily dries up and
perishes.
have at hand the statistics Of one city OF
about 100000 inhabitants. In this city it Is
ascertained that there are nearly 2,OOO pro-
fessional paupers. Now you would laugh at
the idea that in America we have fixed castles.
but we certainly have one caste-that of
mendicancy. Very few ever rise out Of its
ranks. Yesterday two children, very pretty,
begged at my door. Their father is what
call half caste; that is, he does work at In
ferior, brainless jobs; but he retainsss his in
stincts of beggary. have severe qualms
against giving to these little, brown eyed
creatures, because I see they, too, have this
instinct. They do not blush at asking. They
can go from door to door without sensitive
revulsion. The man Is freak in his class;
lit is probable the family will not emerge
but am sure that our habits of giving to
beggars will prevent them from emerging.
DESCENDANTS OF BEGGARs.
OF the 1000 reported from the city I have
quoted, nearly all sprang from about thirty
five families, that came to the city twenty
years ago as beggars. They multiplied
rapidly; some families having seventeen to
twenty children. OF course this soon bred
small army Of beggars. Marriages took
place mostly within the limits Of the caste
Ut is said that one young man who left the
ranks, and became well to do business man
of the middle ranks of society, was looked on
as traitor, and attempts made on his life.
He Is the solitary exception in the history of
these people, SO far as known. Marriage
laws have been wholly disregarded, and rela-
tives have married and intermarried, until
the relationship can hardly be traced. In
one case woman had married her own son,
after having lived with half dozen men.
The original thirty-fve families were, SO far
as known, not interrelated when they first
made their appearance; but now they are
thoroughly conglomerate. Beastly habits
have steadily degenerated them, until now
they are barely above the brutes.
But it will not be possible to stop at this
point, or we should despair of civilization
"a happy law comes in to help U.s. The aver
age life of the first generation Of these people
was about sixty years, but now, in the third
generation, the average is about fifteen years.
This is the fortunate end of moral and physi-
cal degeneration; it is self destructive. 1t
kills out vitality and so we are rid of them.
They will not work; they will beg. This is
one distinctive definition of the degenerate.
They will not put forth any effort to rise.
Motive power is gone They move on the
lime of least resistance. Shame is lost
faculty with them. They cannot understand
their own degradation.
ONE OF THE LOST TRIBE.
The following history of one of the tribe !
quote: "The family is hard to describe
They wander all over the country, living for
months in hollow trees on creek bottoms
When cold weather drives them to shelter
they will take any unoccupied premises they
can find. From their beastly habits they are
diseased, idiotic and deformed They are
like half civilized animals governed more
by instinct than by knowledge. The family
numbers 1877 persons. Several Of the women
have made themselves nearly blind by the
use Of acids to keep their eyes sore" Of an
other family the record says: "They
have eighteen dogs, and have been
known to have as high as thirty
Nearly every male member has served in the
penitentiary. Recently COW died in pas
ture near the city, and after nightfall the
entire family, consisting Of over twenty,
went out and cut up the creature, and carried
st home to eat" This illustration from
single city give at length, because it is an
exact parallel of what occurs in every city of
size in the land. Besides, there are townships
in every state, outside Of cities, where there
Is something so similar that the lesson is the
same
The first condition Of degeneration is not
reversion, but perversion. The evil man
does not go back on the line of his animal
heredity, but turns aside into paths that are
neither human nor animal The human
creature acts precisely like degenerate ami.
NAL or insect; he becomes parasitic and lives
off his neighbors. Some vegetable existences
learned this trick long before man did it;
and in doing SO lost faculty and structural
perfection. The comparison is very striking
between human hanger on and parasitic
plant that all its life <2ings to some other
plant, sucking the life out Of it. You never
saw such person who had not lost self re.
spect, manly features, sound Judgment and
ability to use himself to advantage. --fE p
~ in Globe-Democrat.