St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-06
IN THE CITY'S MIDST.
HeI's Miseries Surpassed by an
Actual Life Scene.

Actual Life Scene.
In a house near that of the convicted
BarrettS dwells a family of six whose
wretchedness could only adequately be
pictured by the pen of Victor Hugo.
Like Catiline, the house. or rather
shanty, stands isolated upon a barren
plain, as if Stunned by all its neighbors.
In front of the place is mudhOle,
which one must pass through to reach
the front door of their ''home." The
door, warped out of shape and split
through the middle, stands ajar. The
window by its side is nothing but hole
in the wall, with bits of glass left in
once were. The door ajar bids
welcome and showing it aside half
starved dog bowls and snaps at your
feet. A pool of dirty, stagnant water
fills a hollow in the middle of the floor.
About the pool the room is strewn with
rags and broken bricks and old, worm
out boots and shoes. But there is door
leading from this room to one in the
rear. In this back room live the six
father, mother and four children. The
father is an eXpreSSman; but he has be-
come satisfied that there is no money
in the business and is about to sell out.
The horse stands in the rear of the
shanty fastened by a rope to it. No
has burned down the stable about
his ears in order to provide
fuel for himself and family. He has
burned up even the clubhouse, and is
now commencing to fire his own habita-
ton. Why does he do this? A man
must not freeze, even if he has to burn
down his own house to keep warm. The
stable gone, the horse forlorn, the out
house burned and his house charred,
furnish spectacle for fiends to laugh
at. The wife and mother is in pitia-
bic condition. She is the victim of her
husbands lust and passion for strong
drink. When her protector" makes a
good days wages, say S3.25, he calls the
boys, and let's have sOmething." And
they have something. When he gets
''home" his family have nothing, and he
tells them that he had hard luck
that day. He didn't make cent. The
bent form of the woman, her hair fallen
out, and the bruises upon her body tell
the story of her treatment. of her woe.
A little baby eleven months old looks
up out of this degradation into its moth
er'S face and cries for food, and clean
clothes and warmth, but cries in vain.
LIS DOdy is covered from head to foot
with sores. 1t is the victim of a loath-
some disease through no fault Of its
own. A boy of five, with dirty waist,
and slatternly girl of eight, sit about
in the dirt. The boy of eleven is at
school. There has been no washing
done in three months. The mother has
been sick abed and unable to do any
work for that length of time. The hut
is full of sickening smell and filth
abounds on every side. What can be
done for such a case? The neighbors
complain. The police ever and anon
step into the place, say few insulting
words to the mother and pass on. And
still the hut raises its front to the sky
still the stencil offendS the nostrils OF
the passer-by; still the husband drinks
and abuses his family: still they starve
and freeze and burn their own house
above their heads-and yet the sur
shines, the world laughs. men dance
! and women sing, and all goes merry as
marriage bell upon the surface, but
below, in the understratum of society
there is weeping and wailing and gnash
| ing of teeth. Let us draw the curtain
upon this dreadful scene in our city.
midst.