Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-01-11
SINNERS AND SAINTS,
DARK SIDE OF LIFE AS SEEN BY KATE
 JORDAN.
Summing In New York's Great East Side. At the Florence Sdission-A Ray of Light. Ono of the Reclaimed-Experience of . Night.
Special Correspondence.l

One of the Reclaimed-Experienc of . Night.
 Special Correspondence.1
 NEW YORK, Jan. 9.-There were four of us and detective. We were not under ar rest, and the presence of the law in the shape of big, bluff man in a shaggy over coat, a slouched hat and mittens had no saddening effect upon us. We were in his charge only for the evening-he was taking us "slumming."
 One of us was an artist seeking types, an- other was @ stranger in New York and so far only acquainted with the fashionable nucleus of the town. The osher two-well, they were women, and Pm afraid the curse of Eve had descended upon them. They were morbidly curious. They wanted to of doing something they should not, and a -alsodelicious-that they were going to be horribly shocked.
 In Historic Locality.
 The dingy car went zigzagging through portions of the town never seen at night be- fore. It was Bleecker street, that neigh borhood of ruins, once the rallying ground of New York's gentility. Peering through the clouded panes at the vile sidewalks, the old mansions transformed into cheap fish markets, what was once church ringing with shouts of ribald laughter and the banging of a cheap piano, one wondered if the spirits of dead Knickerbockers ever came back to wander sadly amid this desc cration of sacred, familiar scenes.
 But-farewell fancy. We were at the Bowery, and 'by the same token," as the Irishman says, here was a newsboy at our elbow singing the hackneyed refrain that sets forth the temptations Of that gaudy thoroughfare and assuring us he would never go there any more."
 And now-where?" asked Miss Eve, named after her mother.
 Don't ask any questions" said the de- tective pompousiy, and we followed him trustingly, feeling very much like sheep after shepherd.
 A Trip to Chinatown.
 Down the Bowery we went. We looked into gin palaces and saw lines of hungry tramps waiting with marvellous patience for q free meal, went through dark, mys- terious side streets lined by most offensive alleyways. We heard words that taught us how cramped is the vocabulary of the polite. We saw faces more animal than human. We were surrounded by vice. It was not pleasurable, however, even as & forbidden sight We began to feel little heartsick, and we saw how quickly sin is robbed of poetry when there is no gliding.
 We turned corner. Was this New York2 Or had we in some inexplicable way sent our astral bodies on an airy journey to Hong Kong? Yellow skinned Celestials, who looked as if they had suddenly materialized from tea caddies, surrounded us. We heard queer, tinpanny music from some of the dimly lit, red curtained shops. We saw strange names on windows and doors, and we heard a language that was uncanny in its unusualness.
 Chinatownl
 "Are we going to an opium joint9" queried Miss Eve in breathless tone "Oh, that would be positively diviner'
 ''Think so, young woman? Rather like the other place, it seems to me. But Pm not going to show you a lot of miserable be- ings hitting the pipe You'd never forget it. Stay here, and TIA give you just an idea of what it's like"
 He left us at the entrance to narrow alleyway that might fitly have led to h. ferno, so dark was it, so full of eerie oaths and wailing.
 An Opium Layout.
 For few moments we shivered there ere the detective appeared carrying something in his hands and followed by a girl of about 14
 'This is layout It's worth looking at. Smell it.''
 We handled the little tray, the filler, and sniffed at the oddly shaped. dark pipe. The odor was fiat and sickly. There was nothing seductive about that. at any rate.
 ''Take good look at the girl" our guide whispered.
 The light from the laundry next door showed us thin, round shouldered, heavy eyed creature, her skin yellow, her hair short and fuzzy.
 "Got froo?" she asked. 'Huhp' as she received some money. Franks, sarp' and with broad grin she caught up the lay out and disappeared.
 ''She might be labeled as q queer speci- men and one peculiar to this strangely mixed city of ours. I doubt if you could