The evening world., 1890-07-10


children, languid from the oppressive
heat, almost naked and SO pale and hol.
low-eyed that nothing but their little
frames would argue their tender years.
They were unwashed, unfed and uncared
for.
They knew DR.. Herrick.
Where was she ?
Would she come again
And bring tickets for the ocean?
And could they go to the ocean with nc
shoes and no hats and nothing at alp
Would she come back and see Nettie'a
baby?
Poor Nettie! Only thirteen, with three
younger sisters to mind, grieving for a
new one born only ten days ago.
You happy mothers, with your city an d
country house and a maid for each child
in your family, could you see the new
baby your heart would ache with pity.
The little one lay in q bed between the
laths in small room adjoining the
kitchen.
The coverings were never white. the
pillow-cases were filled with straw, and
the only opening window the size of a
school slate, admitted the air from q third
room.
1t was too dark to distinguish the
features Of the babe. which was wrapped
of white goods about the tiny ,hing-no
| flannel. no muslin, nothing but the coarse.
woolien coat, check scarf. such as men
use for mufflers, being under it.
1t would have been cruel to ask the
poor, pale woman where the baby clothes
were, in the poverty of her surroundings.
There was not SO much as the luxury of
chairs in the hot kitchen; the small
children were barefoot. destitute of any
underwear, and scarcely more than skin
and bone.
Yes, there is husband and father. but
he has no work, and when the little one
was born there was not money enough in
the house to procure nourishing food for
the helpless mother.
To-day the noon meal was spread.
Guess. you gourmets and epicureans of
what il onsisted-bread and tea!
Nothing else, not q grain of sugar. AN
ounce of butter or pot of milk.
The babe bas bronchitis and cannot live
uniess help is forthcoming. 1t is difficult
to understand how the mother exists. and
the spectacle of the four whitehead.
hollow-eyed. starving children is most
pathetic.
DIR. Herrick left bottle of medicine
for the child and directions for its care
directions that will not be carried out
until helping hand is extended.
The child is too poor to have name,
but it must be clad and fed. Who has a
suit of clothes for Nettie's little sister?
Across the alley there are four other
sick babies two are one and half years
old and their moaning is piteous. Both
are suffering from stomach trouble.
A neighboring child is wasting away
with marasmus and the fourth has pneu-
monia.
Among the children sitting and lying
in the doorway two had coughs aud not
one q pair of rosy cheeks. But that 10 not
surprising, for the sunshine never gets
into Cats alley and damp and starvation
never get out.
AS the heat of the day intcnsifes the
dingy Kitchens, with their noisome and
fetid atmosphere. in which lurk the germs
of disease. crowd the tired mothers and
their pallid. ill-fed and sickly children
out iuto the alley.
The women are awful to look at. Their
faces are hagGard; they wear unwomanly
rags. and they are fabby, raw-boned.
untidy, sullen and harsh.
Only few feet are covered. The
mother of five children, one thirstily |
her exhausting vitality, wears a |
pair of mems overshoes.
Aged people are at every other door, |
blear-eyed, bent and decrepid, |
at the patch of blue and silver
overhead, and pattmg with withered |
hands the puny babes wailing on their |
knees.
These weird skeleton women are SO
helpless that often the child slips to the
ground aud has to be replaced by IA
younger woman.
When exhausted nature quiets the griev-
ing babe with sleep the doting creatures
drop OF too, and nurse and child, unless
fall over together.
There may be seventy waits of humanity
in the gloomy alley, all under fourteen ana
in various stages of distress.
Some are usjointed rickety and
many have ugly scars on their
little faces and bodies, and the more Lam
.uid OF the group are recovering from or
to the ailments that prey on
childhood.
Pneumonia. measles, whooping cough,
,holera infsntum, bronchitis and gastric
ever have each representatives in the
.roup. Il is a little mob Of disease and
distress Vs.h the dragon of pauperism
at every form.
Some of the mothers are scarcely thirty
our, but they have growing children of
eighteen, they tell ms, on whose shoulders
he burdens Of life press with cruel
ReIRht.