Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-06-18


ness hours, he is lame or blind, or
coughs into old age with consumption,
or witches with the st. Vitus' dance.
Often he remains in partnership with
the family In which he received bis edu-
cation. He may even have
country-house for the summer
and a cosy apartment for the
winter season. 1t Is hard thing to say
of his class, but Maxine Du Camp, the
academician, who has best studied the
dark depths Of Paris in our day, has not
hesitated to say it: "You can assert, IN
general way, that not one oeg8ar Is
deserving of interest"
The employment Of children Tor pur-
poses of mendicity is punished by the
French law with Imprisonment from
six months to two years duration, and
and this applies to third parties as well
as to parents. This law has been in ex-
istence for more than eighteen years,
but the police practically ignore It's
prescriptions. At times some striking
fact forces il on their attention.
A year ago young woman, wretch
eddy dressed, was standing on fire.
ouented street corner at the hour when
! every one is on his way homeward from
the work of the day. On her arm was a
sickly looking infant, with one OF
it's eyes tightly bandaged. The child
moaned spasmodically, and the woman's
outstretched hand received the coins
that rained ia upon her. At last the
child's cries became so heartrendlng
that little crowd gathered. A young
physician, who was passing, insisted
on looking at the eye so carefully COW
cred. Disregarding the opposition OF
the pretended mother, he removed the
bandage and discovered half walnut
shell imprisoning live spider, whose
irritating bites on the eyelid caused the
child's piteous cries. 1t was en- Item
for day in the police reports In the
newspapers, and then Paris went on
dropping sous into the hands OF other
women in rags, holding hired babies In
their arms.
Sometimes, besides the babe In arms,
there will be one or two or even three
in.clad shivering children Of different
sizes Juggling at the woman's skirt. ii
you look closely you will often see that
they bear no resemblance to her or TO
each other; often enough her face dis
closes an age long past collaborating.
1t is in the night that she usually ap-
paars, when the theatres are over or
round the entrance Of some ball room
and along the street In front OF some
crowded cafe. II you have a good MEM
ory for faces and should chance to rec
oQoize her some other night you would
probably find she had a new set OF chill
dren. These children are simply the
stock in trade of their parents. They
are farmed out by the day or night to
their pretended mothers, now TO one
and then to another. They are lli'clad
that they may cry with the cold, or
they are drugged that they may sleep
prettily, without crying, in the woman's
arms.
If, as often happens, their misery
brings on consumption with a racking
cough or some physical deformity, then
their value Is doubled. Consumption,
o. course, gives but short, though
brilliant, career; downright deformity
is preferable, for 1t is a permanent In
vestment, sure TO bear good interest for
lifetime however long.
When a child is old enough to obey
directions it plies the trade alone.
The false mother remains little dis
lance away and the little boy passes
through the crowd, making pretense
OF Offering some trifle for sale or SIM
ply holding out his hand; sometimes be
has musical instrument on which TO
play for pity. If it is little girl she
holds out boquet of withered flowers.
ANY such advantage as pretty face or
a sickly or distressed look is provided
for and carefully heightened In the
child's dress, and the children them
selves at an aStonishingly early age be-
come consummate actors.
The little flower girls are chiefly
French and live In the cities, as they
are called, OF alleyways and dirty court
yards and ramshackle dwellings at
Clichy and Salnt-Ouen. The cholera
scare of last year led the municipal au-
thorities TO decree the destruction OF
some Of these nurseries or microbes.
moral as we'll as physical, but their pop
ulation is sure to find den elsewhere.
The employer who sends out the Hover
girls extracts forty per cent OF their re-
ceipts and FIVE francs net when they
drag themselves back later than mid
night. The rest goes to the parents,
who are sure to visit their wrath on the
miserable little creatures when the night
has been unsuccessful.
The Italian padroni are the most ac-
tive in sending out child musicians.
Six or eight little girls will pass through
. dozen low-class saloons in a night, re-
turning to their master with twenty or
thirty francs. In1he daytime they sing
In the inner courts Of populous tene-
ment houses. Naturally consumption
finds its prey among them also; and, If
they escape II, there are moral diseases
almost sure 10 overtake them. The
worst phases Of prostitution, In which
the employer plays the part Of q pre-
curer, occur among these child-victims
OF civilization where those who have
not are trained to live on the credulitJ
and passions Of those who have.
Deformed or mutIlated children beg
with all the advantages Of adults pr
the sare kind, except that they gre
under the management OF some on q