The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-04-16


Ihey get their Iood at house doors, steal
ing what they caa lay their hands on in the
'front.' basement while the servant is spread
ing the bread in the back basement. They
Will net work. Time and again. in the
country districts. they have wanted hun
dreds and thousands of laborers. These
men VIII not go. They do not want to work.
/ nave tried them. / have set them TO saw-
ing wood IN my cellar to see whether they
wanted to work. / offered to pay them well
Tor 1t. l have heard the saw going for
ABOUT three minutes. and then went down,
and 10, the wood, but no saw! They are
the pest of society. and they stand in the
way OF the Lords poor who ought 10 be
helped, and must be helped, and will be
helped. While there aBe thousands of in
duStrlous men who cannot get any work.
these men who do not want any work come
IN and make that plea. l am in favor of
the restoration of the old-fashioned whip
ping post for Just this one class of
men who will not work: sleeping At night n
public expense in the station house; during
the day, getting their food at your door
step. Imprisonment does not scare them.
Ihey would like it. Blacllwell's Island or
Sing Sing would be comfortable home for
them. They would have no objection tc the
almshouse, for they like thin soup if thay
cannot get mock-turtle. | propose this 10
thein: On one side of them put some
healthy work; on the other side put raw
hide, and let them
TAKE THEIR CHOICE.
like for that class of people the srant bill
OF fare that Paul wrote out for the Jhessa-
lonlan loafers: II any work not. neither
should he eat BY what law of God or
man IS 1t right thar YOU and I should toll
DAY IN and day out, until our hands are
clustered and our arms ache and cur brain
gets numb. and then he called upon TO sup
port, what in the United States are about
two million loafers, They are very dam
gerous class. Let the public authorities
keep their eyes on them.
Again: Among the uprooting classes |
place the oppressed poor. Poverty TO a
certain extent IS Christening: but after that,
when it drives a man to the wall and he
hears his children cry in vain for bread. il
sometimes makes him desperate. ! think
thaI there are thousands OF honest men
lacer2ted into vagaboEdism. There are men
crushed under burdens for which they are
rot half paid. While there is no excuse for
crlmlnailty. even i'll oppression, | state II as
SIMPLE TACT that much Of the Scoundrelism
OF the community is consequent upon i'll
treatment. There are many men and
women battered and bruised ana stang
Until the hour of despair has come, and they
stand with the ferocity OF Il wild beast
which, pursued until il can run 10 longer.
turns round, fOalning aud bleeding, TO fight
the hounds.
There is vast underground New York
and Brooklyn life that is appalling and
it wallows and steams with ,
You 90 down the stairs. |
which are wet and decayCd with filth, and |
a the bottom YOU find the poor victims on !
the floor, cold, sick, three-tomths dead, !
sinking into still darkercorner under the !
gieam of the
LANTERN or TIE POLICE
I.-
IN that room for five years, literally. The |
broken sewer cmptieS its contents upon |
them, and they lie at night III the swimming |
NTH. There they are, men. women. chill |
ireH. blacks. whites; Mary MagdaLen with
)ut her repentance, and Lazarus without |
his God: These are the dives into which |
he pchpochets and the thieves 90. as wen |
Is great many who would like different
life bat cannot get ii. These places are the
sores of the city. which bleed perpetual cor
upton. They are the underlying volcano |
hat threatens Us with Il CaraccaS earth |
quake. 1t rolls and roarS and surGeS and
leaves and rocks aud blasphemeS and dies.
And there are only two outlets for it: the
lolice court and the pOtter'S field In |
'ther words. they must either go TO prison
~ TO hell. Oh, you never saw it, you say. |
! GU never viii see it until on the day when !
hose staggering wretches shall come up in |
he light Of the Judgment throne, and while
III hearts are being revealed, God Will ask
'ou what YOU did to help them.
There is another layer of poverty and
not so Suualid but almost as
elpless You hear the incessant wailing
or bread and clothes and fire. Their
YES are Suuken. Their cheek bones
tand out. Their hands are damp with
low consumption. Their flesh is pulled
p with dropsies. Their breath is like
nat of the charnel house. They hear the
car of the wheels of fashion overhead
nd the gay laughter OF men and maidens.
nd wonder why God gave 10 others so
luch and TO them so little. Some of
1em thrust out an inlidelity like that of
le poor German girl who, when told in |
re midst of her wretchedness that God |
as good, said: mo, no good God. Just |
ok at me. No good Cod
IN THIS CLUSTER OF CITIES
hose cry of want | interpret, there are
lid TO be, as far as l can figure it up from
he reports, about three hundred thousand | ]
Onest poor who are dependent upon indi-
dual, city, and state charities. If all
leir voices could come up at once, it would
a groan that would shake the foundations
the city. and bring all earth and heaven
the rescue. But. for the most part it
!fferS uneZpressed. 1t sits in silence. !
lashing its teeth. and sucking the blood /
its own arteries, waiting for the judg-
ent day. Oh. ] should not wonder if on | :
AT day it would be found out that some of | {
had some things that belonged to them: ! {
me extra garment which might have made {
EN- comfortable IN cold days; some bread {
rust into the ash-barrel that might have | :
,peased their hunger for a little while: {
me wasted candle or gas-jet that might | {
I'VE kindled up their darkness: some | {
esco on the ceiling that would have given
EN- roof; some jewel which. brought 10 {
at orphan girl in time, might have kept ! :
T from being crowded off the precipices {
an unclean life; some New Testament | {
at would have told them of Him who {
anne to seek and save that which was L
St" Oh, this wave of vagrancy and l
niger and nakedness that dashes against I
+ front door step. If the roofs of all the :
uses of restitution could be lifted so we /
uld look down into them Just as God L
,ks, whose nerves would be strong enough L
stand it? And yet there they are. The |
FIFTY THOUSAND SEWING WOMEN :
these three cities, some of them in hun n
r and cold, working night after night +
til sometimes the blood spurts from nos +
/ and lips. How well their grief was L
iced by that despairing woman who Z
,od by her invalid husband and invalid I,
lid, and said TO the city missionary: +
1 am down-hearted. Everything's | F
ainst US; and then there are other +
ngS." f
What other things" said the city mis- F
nary. r.
Oh - she replied. my sin -
What do you mean by that G
Well she said. Il never hear or see | Il
ything good. It's work from Monday G
rning till Saturday night, and then when q