Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-23


ain no worse for a girl TO fight than il is for
boyw
Before the astonished disciple Of learning
could realize that the hitherto docile Mary had
turned upon her her ladylike ears had had
showered upon them the choicest strain of
biiIingsgate in the vocabulary of the denizens
Of Purdy's court
To make out ticket Of suspension, to bundle
on her dilapidated wraps, to force the ticket
into her hand and to put the still protesting
cnlia outside the building was the work Of Q
few minutes
Spent with the force of her passion. CULVER
ing with the fear that 1.-The COP that bugbear
OF the street gamin, might arrest her for hurting
the boy, she skunk home. The suspension
ticket to her feyered, ignorant mind was in
vested with the awful power of a warrant
10 her mother inquiry, "And what be yez
ooin out at this tonne o day?" she simply an
sWered that she had quit school," Too
pleased with the result to waste breath in try
ing TO mud out its direct cause, Mrs. Garibaldi
accepted the situation with ready adaptability
py saying: An sure yez kin tind the baby and
wash the dishes in betwane his holiern' fits
whiies rims over to Mrs. Flahertys. Its
clare wore out be with moinding the era
ture.'
This tragedy-for though a saualid one il
was tragedy to Mary-had occurred nearly
Two years ago, when she was only seven.
since then things had grown even worse
with her, The moRotony OF the endless pro-
pearance OF twins. who, being uncommonly
weak and ''wabbly" in the legs. had been en-
dowed with vocal powers of phenomenal
strength. Possibly this WIS an instance of the
theory OF compensation. At all events it served
TO deepen Marys servitude. Before their adj
vent, the other small fry of the Garibaldi family
pelng endowed with sturdy though far from
vertical legs, she had occasionally had frag-
ment OF time to herself, while nominally look
ing after them. Now, however, she was never
of 49, ho ont
twins swarming over her.
JUST at this time she was particularly
wretchec. Two of her brothers being news
boys had had invitations to Join a club of
boys having the privilege of meeting every
night at the Newsbors' Home, where they
found various games with which to amuse
themselves and brightly lighted, comfort
ably warmed room, which seemed to this az
grieved Cinderella, having only the coolest
corner Of her squalid home in which to spend
her hard-earned leisure, a perfect treasure
house of delight
Xmas morning came, a cold, dreary day.
making, by the contrast between the raw, nip
ping air of the street and the warmth of the
houses. even the funereal register of the
average Washington house have almost the geni-
atty of an open fire.
The domestic atmosphere Of the Garibaldi
house was unusually murky. The father,
sprawled on a bed which if seen by any self
respecting board of health would be instantly
forms the complement of an all-night's carousai
on bad whisky
A bird's-eye view Of their howell, consisting
OF three small rooms opening one into the
other, gave vision Of an assorted variety of
children and beds. As their only fire was in
the kitchen they were all crowded in that
room. Little Mary lay on a dirty pallet made
on the floor writhing in pain. A boot aimed
by the lrate father at two of the boys, who
were wrangling noisily over a tin horn, had
struck her on her needle-like elbow. She had
thrown herself on the wretched cot in frenzy
OF suffering. But even an instant's time to
herself was an impossibility. AS soon as the
twins had located their natural prey they
crawled over to the pallet and were now maui
ing and pulling her In an imperiops demand
to be recognized.
Three OF the boys invited to the newsboys'
dinner were aided by their mother in the Diff
ferent stages OF scrubbing and dressing them
selves, with the nonchalance of Louis XIV
performing his toilet in public.
Over this array of dirt and confusion hung a
curtain Of air saturated with a kind of pot
pourri, the chief ingredients being onions, to-
bacco smoke and the loathsome human ex-
halations.
The boys, comparatively clean and radiant
with the expectation of unlimited food-they
had the distending powers OF anacondas-
emerged from this chaos of dirt, leaving Mary
OF her usual thanKless drudgery.
No provision had been made for making her
Amas happier. ana her case Is but one among
thousands. How many systematic efforts to
better the condition OF poor little girls are
made in Washington?
How many charitable organizations who take
as their motto '.inasmuch as We have done it
unto the least of these We have done it unto
Ne" think who the least of these isy
Surely they are the wretched, half-clad,
brow-beaten little girls who, without the natu-
raj means of escape from their depraved par
ents possessed by boys, are forced into I'm
ceasing slavery.
Because their wre.chedness is not SO public
as that OF their brothers comparatively little
is done TO tighten their misery.
Shall they continue to lead these poor,
stunted existences, having as their only allie
viations the crumbs of charity occasionally
thrown to them after their brothers have been
supplied?