Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-03-09
MAKE AN EASY LIVING.
Expert Begging Letter Writers Toll
Not Neither Do They Spin.


Not Neither Do They Spin.
When my lady's'' mail is brought to
her she finds hobnobbing with the an
nOuncements of future dinners, recep-
tions and other social pleasures cir
cular, which comes from a professional
whose calling will not be found in any
directory, although he advertises far
and wide. His business is thoroughly
established and managed with such
acuteness that, while he neither tolls
nor spins, he reapS an income not to be
despised. The clergyman, man of busi
ness, the successful or prosperous man
OF WOman-everybOdy of any note or
position-has probably at one time or
another been perplexed and annoyed
with the chaff from his mill, which
grinds on increasingly. Some one has
said, ''Beggars specialize nowadays"
and those who have devoted themselves
to this particular branch stand at the
head of the begging list and are usual
ly accomplished artists in their line.
Their letters are as varied as the colOrS
and positions of the contents of
kaleidoscope. No time nor season is
sacred from their intrusion, says the
New York Herald. They find their way
to the house of mourning, urging spe-
cial donation as a memorial of the
precious dead. They follow weddings,
births balls, and other festivities as
perpetual skeleton at the feast-a re-
minder that Lazarus is at the gate in
an attitude Of eXpectant reception. The
published notice of rare jewels worn
q nt nrir Sc
only the keynote for the most bare
faced appeals imaginable, for ''the
value of one jewel" or the suggestion
that distracted sufferer, a possible
suicide or starving family could be re-
lieved by portion of the goods, which,
by accident of birth or fortune, belongs
to those most favored.
1t is a recorded fact in the relief So
clgtieS that within the last ten years
one woman has sent out upward Of 200
letters, and doubtless that is only pOr-
ton of the total of her efforts. With q
persistent diplomatic energy, which, eX-
ercised in the right direction, would
long ago have made her independent,
she has for years pursued her course.
Her actions are criminal; she has lived
y
lenses, but until some one of her vic
Tins feels willing to press the charge
and enter the courts against her there
seems no way of damming up her we'll
ing prosperity. In 1884 she was ar
rested for vagrancy and sent to the
wOrkhOuSe for six months, but by some
means, regarding which history is
silent, she was released before she had
served her term, and was soon treading
her accustomed paths. The houskeeper
of a tenement where she once lived re-
ported that she was in constant re-
ceipt of large bundles of clothing,
brought to her by messenger boys, ex-
press wagons and carriages. These
contained garments of all grades and
sizes for herself, her husband, and the
mythical children whom she had de-
scribed as unable to attend Sunday
school, being in the condition of Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The
clothing was sorted out and carried in
installments to the pawnshops.
A woman died few months ago who
was thoroughly educated and capable,
mentally and physically, of making her
self good living, but she used her pow
ers only in writing begging letters.
These she sent to well-known mer-
chants asking aid in memory of her
dead husband. She was a woman of
fine presence, always well dressed and
always living in choice rooms in de-
Sirable locality. These were fitted up
with luxurious comfort and she ap-
parently wanted for nothing, yet she
never owned rightfully one farthing.
She made no small appeals. but usually
sent a subscription paper headed by a
good round sum, pretending to need the
means to enter home for the aged,
and to wish to supply herself with GER
tain aids to comfort pending her ad-
mittance. In this way she collected
enough to have founded home