Democratic messenger., 1893-01-28
A PROFESSIONAL "wEePER."
4 Young Scamp Who Finds Beggini; More
Profitable Than Working.

Profitable Than Working.
Jack the Wecrer" is well known
about the lower part Of the town. lie
h;is been exploited. in the newspapers ii
connection with arrest and incarcera
tion, has been interviewed and had Iii,
picture taken. and on various occcasiun'
has sworn Of from professional weep
ing. Jack the Weerer" Is drminu
tive looking specimen of a seven-year
old boy with Il twenty-year-old face and
IA stock of experience and cunning rarely
accumulated by mankind this side Of
fifty. He is osiensibly a newsboy, hut
the fraternity hold him in great con
tempt or know him only to thump him
His racket" has been To get Il bundle 81
papers together late in the evening and
wcci, at the foot Of the elevated stair:
down town.
Sympathetic people cast him pennie'
and nickcls and dimes, and sometime:
an occasional quarter or half dollar
found an abiding place in the weepcr'
inside pockct-all on the suppositioI
that he was an honest lad who had beer
stuck" Thus the wceper found thai
tears could he coined into cash NOR,
easily and profi,ably than by the ordi
nary course Of the news trade. But JUS
as Jack had worked up Il fairly regular
trade in came Il policeman, "A cold ant
calculating man Of the world, with ;
club. and broke up business 10y arrest
examination and consequent publicity.
At the foot Of Il down town stairway
of a Sixth avenue elevated station in III,
most fashionable part of New York re
Gently occurred scene which demon
strated that Jack the Wceper" had no
only not gone ont of business, but hat
vastly i'm mrircvcd upon former metheds
1t was about the fashionable shoppin.
hour and the swell women and dilcttan,,
young men were focking To the dowI
town trains. y delicate lad. with Il con
sumpiive coagii ami Il bundle of castof
morning newspapers. stood sMvcrlng a
the foot of The stairs. two great bi.
homemade Tears blowing their wa,
through the dirt on his cheeks as th'
muddy waters Of the Missouri seek th'
sea. Several of Us stopped ont of sym
pathy and began to question the boy
At the same time nearly every han,
in the crowd instinctively sought fo
change. An exceedingly sharp eyed lad,
impulsively pulled ont "a bill and pushes
it into his trembling fingers. accompany
ing the act with an appealing lool
around upon the rest of us. Ii worked
Everybody in sight gave silver, and al
old lady who came in later on the seem
pressed Il two dollar note upon the child
| missed two trains To note the goodl,
sight. and | felt proud Of my fellow
creatures ;n.l the beautiful sympathy o
my kind. The boy never said word
He merely coughed and wcpt and scoope,
in tie coin. In the excitement of tn
moment forgot an errand had at III
next station and went past it. Then
got ont Went up the other side and rod
back
There was little mob gathered ol
the down town side at the foot of th
stairs. SO nearly like the ether mo-
was it that at first thought had mad
another mistake and gone back 10 IN,
starting point But no: it was the mex
station.
Well. "shiver my timbers!" as the oil
salt says. if there wasn't the same bo,
with the same graveyard cough. TN
same weep, the same old papers, and
what was III 1rc astonishing, here was tn
same sharp eyed. benevolent lady in tn
midst of a group of sympathetic women
just starting Il liberal subscription.
My first impulse was TO jump in am
grab her ard yell for the police. but
conquered il and walked away. wonder
ing how much money there was in thi
new snap of the woman and the weeper
New York Herald.