The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-23
CHAPTER Xxx
A GOLDEN SNARE.

"Model dwellings, are not generally sup
posed TO suggest unpleasant ideas. But
there are certain blocks of model dwellings
in London which, while conducted on the
| best-known principles of ventilation, sani-
tation and avoidance of overcrowdng, are
| yet an eyesore to civilization from their en-
tire and perfect uglines.
Three blocks of these "model' buildings,
accommodating at least 1000 persons of the
working class, may be- found in that
squalid and neglected district between the
| Caledonian road and York road, north of
! Kings Cross. 1t was to this place that
| Stephen Eyre directed his steps when he
began to seek out fresh lodgings for Mrs.
| Flint and the rest OF his household. Privacy
was his object. aud ne was clever enough
to know chat he could best secure privacy
in crowd. Nobody was very likely to
| look for Jess in Beaumont buildings-they
were terra incognttG to the rest of the
world
They're a bad 10. down here" said re-
spectacle workman to Stephen, indicating
the buildings with wave of his hal d.
| "On, there's some decent folk, of course:
but they keeps themselves to themselves.
| It's the best way. They mostly live up at
] the top"
do any mission-folk or clergymen come
about the place muchF' Stephen asked su.-
piciously. II want to keep out of their
way,n
You may make your mind easy" an
swered the man With laugh. They gave
us up long ago. Why, evel the Salvation
Arny's given us up; we were too bad for
them, so you see the character we have"
"And you say there are 1000 people in
these buildings! Why, it's as big as town"
ITS bigger than tle town came FROM"
said the man, who had not lost a touch of
rustic dialect and had some traces of rustic
health in his still ruddy cheeks "But it's
lost sort Of place. Nobody comes nigh it,
They talk a lot abont the East q I'd, but the
north o. London wants looking after as we'll
as the east. take it I'll sooner live in White
chapel for some things. But my wife likes
the Models better"
Stephen stood looking at the first blocks
of buildings. They were built on either
side of an open square; great gaunt piles of
masonry, bare aud gray and c)lorless, with
long iron balconies running along each
story. Beyond the first set came another
quadrangle. built round in the same man
ner and entered by an archway; and be-
yond it came third. They were all five
| stories high, and On each stage there was, as
| the women expressed it, ''every conven-
ience;' so that not even pail of water
had to be fetched up those weary
| flights of stairs They were well
built and healthy, and the British
workman who had made his home in 1.-The
Models" had cause to be thankful for these
advantages. But they were hideously, de-
pressingly ugly; there was nothing to break
| the monotony of those bare stone fronts,
except the gaunt iron ratings of the bal
! comics; prison or a warehouse would have
! been cheerful in comparison. No wonder
! that a very large proportion OF the women
| in these places take to drinking hard one
! fancies that they must @ seeking some
transitory relief from the intense ug.iness of
! their surroundings
Stephen took couple of rooms at the
| top Of the building most remote from the
street. Here he got greater quiet than at a
| lower level; there was no noise of footsteps
overhead, and the cries of the tribes of
children who played on the stairs and in the
quadrangle were more remote. He was not
so prosperous IS he had once been, and his
savings were almost exhausted, so that il
was becoming something of a struggle to
him TO maintain the women dependent
| upon him-to say nothing of his
| brother But Dick had developed some
skill with his fingers in the weaving
OF baskets and other faacy articles, and
could earn a good days wages when he
/ chose. He was idle, and did not always
choose; that was the difficulty. Alice had
relinquished her Salvation Army work and
taken to her needle. jess helped her, To
some extent; but joss was often ailing and
unable 10 work. and Stephen, with "A touch
Of real delicacy Of feeling, refused to lot her
know more than was inevitably OF the
straits 70 whiea he was Sometimes reduced.
Mrs Flint was, OF course utterly incapaci-
tated By her age and indrmities.
On one point Stephen and Alice had held
earnest consultation before their removal.
/ 10 transport jess , the new home involved
certain dengers. She would have 10 be
/ taken out into the open street, where she
could easily, Il she cngse, attract ths ntten-
/ ton of the p2sseys b. There bad been
sufficient inquiry after Jess Armstrong ia
1 the ncigab1fh301 - make II an excitiDg
event sso8d she b. recognized.
They'll te,l tbs paFscn." said stephen,