Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-03
A BERLIN NEWsBOY.

Coohs, anu tuty lteu hundreds OF people every
day In them you can get dinner for about
cents, and a bowl of soup or Of rice costs YOU
cents, while you can get a frst-class cup of
coffee for a cent. visited one of these the
other day. Two nice-looking old ladies' stood
behind clean, white counter, and back of these
were great boilers of soup, with cooks presid-
ing over them The room was, 1 judge, about
nifty feet long and not more than twenty WIDE
IL was IN a cellar, and il divided up into
compartments for women and men. At the en-
trance there was a ca hier, who gave you checks
for what you wanted upon the payment of the
money, and you walk back to these old women
and get your soup coffee and carry it to the
BENCHES in the room. where you can sit down
at long tables and eat. laid down 3 cents
and bought bowl of soup. 1t was made of
beans and it contained nearly a quart. took
a bowl Of rice Of about the same size and
slipped at l-cent cup of coffee and found it
not bad Everything was clean as could be,
and the class of people who we're eating APP
peared respectable. One of the old ladies told
me that they often fed as many as a thousand a
day. and that they gave suppers as well din
pers. They said that the Institution paid its
expenses, and that it did not try to make
money.
DECENTLY DRESSED.
Nearly all the vegetable stores Of Berlin are
in cellars, and there are numerous fish stores,
especially those which sell dried fish. below
ground. L am surprised to see what we'll
dressed people come out Of these cellars and
how well the people dress on the low wages
they receive. The average wages of common
laborers throughout Germany range from 81 so
TO "a a week and the mass Of working men
here, both skilled and unskilled, do not get
more than from 25 cents to 81 a day. When
one-fourth of this is paid for house rent and
the food Of the family purchased there is but
little left, and it is a wonder to me how the
people can buy any clothes at all. l am told,
however, that many Of the people have several
trades and that they do work at home OUT
side OF their hours Of labor and all
the members Of poor mans family
do something to increase the family
income. There 10 a law against children being
employed in the factories. and they have here a
compulsory system of education, but these are
eyaded TO a considerable extent and children
are hardly able TO walk before they do some
thing. Little girls are taught to sew almost as
soon as they can handle the needle, and good
sewing girls who make button holes here con-
slider themselves well paid when they make
from 20 to "a a month. Girls who sew upon
shirts get about these same wages. and the
greater part Of such sewing girls work at home
CHILDREN IN THE STREETS
There are a number OF children who make a
living in Germany by singing on the streets Of
the cities during vacations and during the parts
of the day when they are not in school l saw
OF boys the other day. He was dressed in a
long ulster with a cape which came down over
his arms, and he carried a little singing book in
one hand. He had about a dozen little fellows
ranging from ten TO twelve years Of age, and he
marched with these from house to house and
from court TO court, stopping at each and hav-
ing the boys sing popular songs while he kept
time as their master. There was no instrument
to accompany them. but the little fellows kept
perfect time and at the close of the singing one
OF the boys went around with a toy bank into
which the bystanders put pennies, and such
coins as were thrown down from the windows
ne picked up and put in. / followed this old
man and his choir through several Of their
street concerts, and | was much saddened by
the look Of the children. The boys were hollow
eyed and pale. and they Sc. med TO have no
spirit about them. They nei her smiled nor
laughed. and the old man made me think OF
fagin IN "Oliver Twist" l asked one of the
boys as TO his wages, and he told me that he goi
twelve marks a quarter, or about a dollar a
month L have already spoken Of the little
boys working on the streets, and YOU will sell
dom see girl of any age idle She is taught &c
knit Is soon as she can hold the needles. and
when she is watching the children she works
industriousiy away ut her stocking.
STREET sIoHrs.
Speaking Of the Berlin street sights there /,
no place in the world where the people work &C
hard for penny and where both women and
men give you so much for so little At every
corner you find men with red caps who ARK
known dienstman and who will carry q lette,
or parcel to almost any part Of Berlin for siz