Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1889-12-22

past, growing Dette
all the time despite tn,
- sneers of pessimists, i
b impossible to realize that only few
years farther back there was such q
place in the center of the city as the Five
Pointa Nowadays it does not take un
usual courage for a moderately athletic
man to walk alone in broad daylight
through any public street in the city
Then il was not safe to do so, and even
policemen rarely ventured alone after
dark into the region known by the old
name. Now the horse cars run through
the center Of it. Broad streets have been
cut through, and old buildings replaced
with new. Factories and stores stand
where were formerly tumble down rock.
cries, that had stood since the last GEN.
tury, and that were swarming with the
most degraded poor and the most desper-
etc criminals. When the Rev. w. G. Van
determined as himself, first started q
mission school within the borders of this
valley Of the shadow Of crime, he was
repeatedly warned BY the police Of the
dangers he incurred. and it was some
time after the work was started before
he dared to take, even under escort, in
the middle Of the day, the ladies who
were anxious to aid by teaching in the
school II seems now like a story of q
foreign land and another age, but saw
In 1854 or 1855 a party Of a dozen ladies
and gentlemen mobbed as they started
homeward from the school one Sunday
noon, hustled into the street and assailed
with volleys of obscene oaths and rotten
vegetables, and 80 beset by horde of
half drunken men and women that they
were glad to escape with whole bones
and ruined garments. And the police
seemed powerless to prevent or punish
such outrages. for this was no unusual
occurrence.
The region about what is now Paradise
square. for the distance of a couple of
blocks in every direction, was honey
combed with blind alleys and secret pas
ages. some of them running under.
ground from one block to another. II
was . city Of refuge for criminals, ano,
though they warred and preyed upon
one another with entire lawlessness. they
combined ~ q unit to protect any one
among them from the processes Of the
law. Aside from the criminals the pop
ulation consisted almost entirely. II not
quite 20, Of the poverty stricken, for
dire poverty and desperate crime then,
- very often In history, went hand in
hand
The children, who were coaxed one by
one into the mission schoolroom, were
. crowd Of little savagea Their ignor-
ance was something amazing. Il was
not very uncommon to find among them |
boys and girls Of 8 or years old who |
did not know their full names, but who
Btoutly declared that "Sally" or "Bill"
was the only name they had, and once
pr twice children were found who actu-
Ally did not know whether they had ever
had fathers and mothers Some had no
homeA God only knows how they kept
Hive, for they slept in holes and corners,
md fed like vagrant cats and dogs on
whatever they could beg, find or steal
Certainly it is. but it is
rue. nevertheless.
Among the widest and shyest of all
Who came in WIS boy who was the
'riginator of at lene one famous joke.
hough without intention. The teacher
sked him his nam. and he said it was
'eorge Being asked what his last nams
vas he said that was his last name.
"But you must have another name,"
rHed the teacher. "Is it George Smith.
E George johnson, or George What?"
"Nope," he said, shortly. "'Taint
Ieorge What, nor George Nothin', it's
|eorge. hain't got no oder name"
But the joke came when the teacher,
1ishing to know whether he had learned
nything at all. asked him. "Do you
now who made your
At the same instant a boy behind him
tuck q pin into George. Such tricks
vere very common among the little saw
ges. but 1t did not hurt any the less be-
ause it was not unusual. George juAped
rom his seat and shouted at the top of
Is voice 'Goddemitey."
"Well, that's right" said the teacher,
tho had not noticed the trick. "But
ont shout So" The story was told
with engagements, until it
ecame chestnut many years ago.
1t was long time $ome months-be-
re the teachers coulu learn much about
le boy. for he was distrustful to the
st degree. He kicked the Rev. Mr.
an Meter on the shins very violently,
I'd twisted himself away like an eel
hen that gentleman, according to his .
bit, laid his hand affectionately on the
US shoulder. George thought he was e
ing to be beaten, and took his usual {
ecaution Of eluding the preliminary n
Id He had. it seemed, never known ! il
hat it was to have anybody take hold p
him in kindness, and was no more to