The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-24
ALLEY LIFE.
Bah Finds Plenty Of Real Tragedy in
the City'S Dark Places.

The City'S Dark Places.
The Dead Wife and the stilIed Baby
on the Tenement Bed-Day Laborers
as Slaves-Who is to BlameP-The
Impressive Double Funeral in a
Humble Flat-People of 1.-THE Other
Side" Need Help but No Preaching.
New York, June 23.-They are around
US every day. The tragedies, | mean.
That's the reason why when we 90 to the
theater, we want 10 see something anus
ing. l went the other day to see Mis-
Connolly to tell her good-b bye and TO
leave in her hands little money that
some good people had given me TO mako
some OF the babies happier Mis- Con-
molly was distinctly unhappy. Charlie
wasn't there, and the whole place had an
air of misery, for when Mis- Connolly
suffers she has little heart for anything
else. She took the note gave her. turned
it over in her hands, then burst out cry
ing.
Then she said, We'll, Miss, is it to
to make livin' child glad?" / told her
that 1 had intended it should do that, but
what did she mean by asking me so posi-
lively about a living childl
She cried harder than ever. then began
TO put on her bonnet, and asked me to go
with her.
GREAT CITY's wRETCHED ALLEY.
We went down the street, then turned
into little side alley which seemed to
me the dirtieSt had ever been in Ba-
bies were stretched out on the pavement;
were walking at the risk of beng run
over in the middle Of the street; were
sleeping on doOrsteps; while larger chill
dren were frantically playing around as
frt voc Ia - I
natural desire of children for pleasure
Untidy women were gossiping in the
doorways, buying unripe fruit from the
peddlers, or administering, without any
regard for the feelings of the looker-on,
the punishment they thought due their
offspring. Into the meanest looking of
these houses we went Doors were
thrown open, and nobody seemed to care
whether the rest of the world saw them
or not. Sewing machines were heard
everywhere and, above all, every now
and then would rise the voice of a drunken
man singing one of the popular songs of
the day. Little girls were carrying tin
kettles of beer, and the smell of fried
fish filed the air until it seemed
heavy with grease. l don't think l was
ever IN such a place before, and yet |
thought l had seen the other side
AFTER CLIMBING FOUR FLIGHTS,
we stopped and Mis- Connolly raped on
the first closed door we had seen. Just
outside Were two or three women evil
IDENTIFY meaning,to be neigborly, talking
in low whispers while inside there was
nothing but death and misery. Before
them even the woman who seemed TO be
trying to straighten the wretched room
was awed into silence. BY the one win
dow sat a strong, healthy looking young
man with hard look on his face as If, no
matter what came, he wouldn't soften.
On the bed lay q dead woman and beside
her a little baby That Mis- Connolly
had already been there was proved by
the fact that the tired eyes were closed.
that the wearied body was gowned in a
plain clean white nightdress, and that the
little baby had slip upon it which once
remembered was shown to me as the first
one that Charlie ever wore. The tired
hands that had worked and toiled were
crossed over the breast, upon which the
little baby would have rested If it had
ever done anything more than give just
one cry. of pain when it came into the
wretched world, about it. ,,,
THE STRONG, GRIEFrsTRIoKEN HUSBAND.
l pressed Mis- Connolly's hand she
knew what meant, and she went over
and said to the man, Tim, it's all right
They won't have to be buried like pau
pers pve got the money as will bury Ida
an the baby as you would like 'em to be
buried. and now, my man, leave 'em for a
little while an come have a cup of tea
with Connolly an me.''
She had to persuade him very hard, be-
cause those dead ones were Just as dear
to him as if he had been a millionaire.
But at length he agreed, as there were a
couple of neighbors there. to go with US.
| stayed to tea because | wanted to find
out what made that mans face look so
hard. / wanted to know where he had
got that look in his eye, which even the
death of the woman he loved did not
soften. l wanted TO know what it all
meant After tea was over, and Mis-
Connolly had taken a note from me to its
destination, | said to. Tim, looking him
straight in the face: Now, my man, tell
me what is the matter. / am sure you
know that | am sorry for you in your
trouble and if it will make you any
happier, tell you this now your wife
and your little baby are not going to be
taken to crowded city graveyard, but
away off to quiet little place in the
country where the birds will sing eternal
lullaby, and the trees rustic an eternal
prayer. But | want to know what is
your trouble-maybe can help you. Liv-
ing trouble, my friend, is a thousand
times worse than dead. What Is the
matter"
Evidently the thought Of the quiet rest
ing place IOr HIS own nhu UOuCneu MIN,
for when | looked at him, his eyes were
full of tears, and then he said: Ida
came from the country, and if she knows,
she'll be glad to think that her and the
baby are goin' back there. I'll tell you
how it was. Miss; it all came through the
very thing that is supposed to help the
laboring man.
WAS MAXIM A DECENT LlYIN'
"When 1 married Ida, an we fixed a
comfortable little home You see the
hole she died in. Well, one day when we
were at work, the man from the union
came in and said we would stop. That
! night there was great speech in one of
the big halls made by gentleman who is
great for the workingman, and who is
anxious to get some political position. He
told us how we were all slaves, and how
the master was grinding us down, an how
we ought to stand up for our rights. Ida
had saved little money, and for while
we lived on that Then / had TO ask the
union TO help US; then they wouldn't give
no more. Then went to see the master,
and two or three of the other men went