The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-05-18

The fire swept away everything they bad.
The husband got discouraged, and. after a
lingering illness, died, and left widow
and three children.
Things went from bad to worse, the son,
Tim, took TO drink" the daughter grew
TO womanhood and went to California
with her younger brother, and the poor
old mother was obliged TO rent miser-
able room in the worst part OF the city
and live as best she could. She worked
as long as she could walk, and now she
must depend upon charity or starye, as
her drunken son is worse than no support.
We turn into narrow alley, which is
paved with brick and clearly swept, and
enter the first open door. We are greeted
by a stencil that is almost unbearable.
We climb one fight of stairs and rap at
an old rotten door at the right. The
rusty bolt is pulled from its
socket and the door is opened
Just tar enough to allow the
spider-like ewes of little old man TO peer
inquisitivey at us. A squeaky voice says.
before we can speak word: 1--WE nothin'
for We; 90 to some respectable place, if
We want anything" He being assured
that We want nothing, but have come
to do something for him il We can,
opens the door wide enough for us to see
into the room. When we ask If he is
comfortable, he runs his hand through his
thin, gray hair and looks sharply at us for
a moment. IF you are really respectable
yourselves, and can do anything for an
old man, would like a mattress. l sleep
on this" turning 10 an old mattress which
is SO thin and 80 discolored by filth
and age that it would be impossible
to tell it from a door mat, were it
living on the the floor. The contents of
the room are INDISPENSABLE. 1t is enough
to say that il is the most poverty stricken
place we have yet seen. Here the old
man lives with only his thoughts and the
cockroaches for company. He says he
has been i'll for two months and has moth
ing in the room to eat.
We climb another flight OF stairs and as
the odor, seeming to come from the top
story, is so bad, we hesitate about going
farther. l take courage from my COM
panion's words, and push on up another
fight. will not offend the reader by go
ing into details, but would suggest that
the health commissioners visit Bowling
alley little oftener than they do.
This floor is too much for us. We de-
scend one flight and rap for admittance at
rickety door painted green. In answer
to q gruf come in" we enter. In the
IOOIu are TWO women ana an OlQ ud0.
The place is decently clean, but oh, so
bare and poor. The party have been i'm
bibing and the fumes of old gin nearly
suhocate US. The elder of the two women
has drank enough to make her exceedingly
hilarious. The young woman's face is
swollen terribly, and as my companion
speaks to her, she bursts out crying.
She has inflammatory rheumatism and
shows us her feet, which are also badly
swollen. On one foot is mans stocking
and the other is covered with long stock
ing almost too ragged to cling to the leg
She asks me to bring her some under
clothing, saying she has none. promise
to bring her some and smooth one of the
poor swOoen hands as / talk. So unused
to kindness is she that even this little at
tention is more than she can stand. The
great tears begin to chase each other
down the distorted cheeks. She weeps
and sobs like child. and ends by stand
ing up and putting her arms about my
neck and kissing me.
Though given by most hideous and re-
pulsive wanton, Magdalen of the lowest
type, would not forego the qualification
of that caress for a kings ransom. The
old man sits over the little cracked stove
trying to keep warm. / ask him if he is
able to work. He says he has not done a
days work for twenty wears. / ask the
woman if the old man was her father and
she says, NO, he lives here with me-"
There is difference between absolute
and relative poverty. The poverty of past
centuries was relative. That of today is
absolute. The blankets and bread of the
nineteenth century are better than the
rushes and crusts OF the middle ages but
humanity in the middle ages was at least
certain of it's crusts and PUSHES.