The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-07-08

criminals among the good and bad
alike; an army of visitors" inspectors
and detectives, whose unempowered,
though universally exercised brutality
among helpless children and distracted
and ignorant mothers, is neXpresSibly
infamous; and hundreds of so-called In
dustrial Schools, or Ragged and 'Iru-
ant Schools, as they are more popularity
termed, which, whatever their merits of
management on the line of their legaliZed
purposes, are an inexcusable outrage
upon the inalienable rights Of child-Ilfe
and home-Alo in any civilized land.
The first places on the collectors list
were found in a noisOme court i'll which
the sunlight never came. On our APP
proach there was lively scattering III
every direction of that portion OF the half
naked population with whom we had
business, who either totally disappeared
or barred their doors against our en-
trance. Such unpromising negotiations
as were possible were of necessity held
through keyholes or broken paneS of
glass. As was the collectors custom
here, he shortly announced in loud tone
Of voice that, as he had nothing else on
hand that day, we would sit down and
wait. we did sit upon filthy trim
which had Just been vacated. Certain in
dlcations OF restIessness were soon plain
ly audible from within. This seemed to
communicate itself to those neighbors
on the outside who, themselves being &C
customed TO similar experiences from
other sources, through the natural aIli-
ance OF misery, began Il series OF maneu-
yerS for our discontinue. A basin full
OF dirty water suddenly rained down
upon us, and the old court rang with
coarse laughter. Strapping barefoot girls,
IN sort OF horse play, began huStling US
as if by accident, making handy use of
hair oil la
tended tumblings upon US, and this be-
came so threatening that the collectors
stout stick was called into effective use.
Then some rotten garbage fell softly
upon US, and this was followed by we'll
directed discharge OF cinders and ashes.
Goals could not be spared, or our situa-
ton would have proven exceedingly
FESTIVE.
Then the women Of the court began
edging up to US with croOned commisera-
ton for our prisoners. They lauded their
integrity, depIored their mislortunes and
decrled the sad spectacle of such fine
folk being worried Tor a beggarly bit of
rent" Nit. Evans remained unmoVed;
they suddenly became hysterical with
abuse, shrleking unprintaDle nialedIc-
lions and anaJhemaS until, III frenzy of
sorrowtuI indignity, they barred their
scraggy breasts and besought us to strike
them down, as they were sure we were
brutes enough to do, supplementlng this
by entreating us to murder their "hIntaut
hoffsprings afore their heyes," the said
skinny mites Of misery being held out to
US for that beneiicent operation.
The iInperturabIe Mr.. Evans, in an
"aside' to quiet my own rising trepida-
ton, whispered, 1.-THE cows as no 'arm
in 'em," and quietly taking a metal
whistle from his waistcoat pocket, gave
it significant movement to his lips, fol-
lowing this with the soothing remark ::
Ladies, Hi 'ates to summon the pollis,"
whereupon every one'of the mob seam
pered away to her respective habitation.
Final negotiations in this cesspool Of filth
and degradation resulted in serving two
notices to quit, weeks full payment
from one tenement, solemn promises and
tears from others, aud a siXpence ha'-
penny from blind female beggar who
swore, to strengthen her excuses. that
she had lost her dog, the latter making
a farewell vicious assault upon Mr.. Ev-
ans heels in proof of her misfortune and
probity.
1t was now nearly noon and we were
gradually reaching the more open dis
tricts, though it seemed characteristic of
all tenementS entered that the same hud-
ding and crowding of humans, the same
want aud squalor, the same filth and ig-
norance, the same sodden Indifference to
the least OF life'S decencies, and the same
universal addiction to the curse OF drink,
existed as are true in the worst sections
of Cheapside, Shoreditch, Whitechapel
and the MiDories. Attempts at decora-
ton and cleanliness, where, in eXcep-
tional cases, cheap prints adorned the
walls and the tiny living rooms were
fairly habitable from even occasional
application Of soap and water, though the
meanest necessities of life were wanting,
nalg 10
vicious majority who seem merely 10
live to drink and drink TO live. We
found one place that had been completely
wrecked because the offending family
had dared put bit Of cheap muslin over
the window. This a settin' theirsel'S
hup DER their neighbors lad to be made
hexample onn' The daily tragedies of
lives with better aspirations, yet forced
by want to this inconceivably deadening
and hopeless association, was thousand
times revealed to me this day.
In one abode where we called for rent
four naked children lay huddled in a cor
ner of the bare room under handful of
rags, because the last clothing from their
bodies had been pawned for drink. The
father came home often enough and re-
manned long enough TO beat the mother
and snatch some utensil, scrap OF cloth
ing or bit OF furniture and run away with
it for drink. Watts a body to do with
such houtlaws?" groaned the collector
This place 'asn't paid the missuses a
rent in a twelvemonthI"
At a rag fair near l got for less than
shilling garments enough to cover their
Tor another shilling left them
more food than they had devoured for a
fortnight, and On lines of friendship COM
PEELED Mr. Evans then and there, while
me various species of
"hasses," to receipt a months advance
rent Tor the filthy coop, against that
much chance for u famiIy's life in the
worlds metropolis. As the mother come
running home from cleaning foul cast
off boots in a near modify booth, she
shrieked over her good fortune as though
the Golfers of the Bank of England had
been poured in her lap, and the neigh
borhood was set awhirl by the mite of
charity as though a fire or a murder was
in progress.
A few gypsy families were encountered.
Every Que paid promptly. Groups of
costers, huddled in genial communistic
fashion, invariably badgered Mr.. Evans
finally paid, leaving him for the time
scathless and whole. At various places
the badinage was fearful, ana at no place
did we fail TO receive sarcastic inquiries
as to whether we were "howdashus"
enough to regard them as DOCKS" "lud
and the Ike, occupied with still
wittier requests for the loan of anything
from ''thrip' emmy bit" to a bob or a
"quid." In one house we encountered
a child actually dying in its bed from
Its mother, who sold veg
etables, had placed an untitled prescrip-
ton from the parish doctor in its listless
hand, as excuse against the collectors
call. l left something else there, but the
child was too far gone to even smile its
And so, on and on through a
days, to me years, Undesirable scenes
of hopelessness and despair until the
very last place on the collectors days list
,-nanhad