, 1890-02-19
HEATHER NEAR HOME.
The Tribes That Blot Beriuhire's Bsauti-
full Hnis-sfi~~ion Work Needed.

The Tribes That Blot Beriuhire's Bsauti-
full Hfiis-si~~ion Work Needed.
Hidden away among the blue hills OF
Berkshire, or appearing like scars upon
her sunny valleys, one occasionally sees
weather beaten, ramshackle houses, sur
rounded by neglected gardens, fields and
orchards. Yards encumbered with old
wagons, q bony. superannuated horse,
grazing at viii, and the presence OF I'M
couth individuals show, what we would
otherwise scarcely suspect. that these are
h dwelling places of human beings. In
ninetv-nine cases out of a hundred the
jewellers In these isolated rookeries and
mountain cabins belong to a class whose
standards are far below those of the ordi-
nary illiterate laborer-a class that is
considered hardly within the pale OF our
civilization. The children OF this class
are dull often to idiocy. This and their
Irregular attendance at school accounts
for the fact that they are furnished with
the barest rudiments Of knowledge.
Catherine Sedgwick speaks of these as
people who hang on the outskirts Of
civilization" and comments on their din
lect and peculiar manners.
A gentleman Of unquestioned ~veracity
says that in one Oh the families there
were not as many articles of clothing as
there were children. and on the rare ap-
proach OF a team the unclad ones scut-
tied like so many rabbits into the bushes.
The mother made bread by stirring
water into hour and throwing this paste
on the stove. In summer the children
fed, like the babes in the wood, mostly
on berries. There was but one chair.
which was occupied by the father. The
mother, after throwing the potatoes out
OF the pot, made it do duty as a chair.
Ancther numerous tribe. living near this
one, had but one bed.
The picturesqueness of the street gamip
Is lacking among the children of this
class They are positively repulsive.
One Of them. / remember, was dis
tinguished from all the rest by a certain
lawn ike grace and shyness. and an ex-
precision of great sadness in her dark
eyes One cold day | walked with her
toward her cherries home. Bitter winds
blew her straight. dark hair about her
pale, thin face: no shoes protected her
feet from the ground, and only a thread.
bare waterproof cape was thrown over
her calico gown. AT first she was very
reticent, but by and by growing com
m~unicative among other things she told
me that one Of her brothers had died the
winter before. HE set his clothes on
ire an got burnt awful. Bimeby m
g~ranfather and M Uncle Ding came In,
an m father he o the quilt often 81
to show um- They want no fire. an 81
. got awful bad an holIared an hollared.
Then grandfather an Ding an pa they
started TO get the doctor. but they forgot
to, an 81 he died. an the hide cum ali
offer him." The lack of feeling in the
child's o n and face as she related this
story told but too plainly of her blunted
moral sense and of the distortion Of
natural affection. That her brother's
death should be due to carelessness was
90 her as much a matter o, course as that
frost should blight flowers
Last winter a babe belonging to one
tribe was left alone in a cold house. II
crept out into the deep snow, where It
VA found By q passer by. crying bit
ter1t. Itsmofher. when info1med a the
facx, DOT only made no excnse. but
showed no pain at the thought Of her in