Evening star., 1895-01-11
THE DESTITUTE POOR
Cases Of suf f'ring Reported to Char
liable Organizations.
HARD WORK BEING DONE
Lack Of Means, However, Ham
pers the Best Results.
asdI
SOME CONTRIBUTIONS

5 q M u u y N Il II / Is u Il / ~ n :
| Drip, drip came the falling rain all
| through the early part of the night. Tc
scme it brought discomfort, but to others
| it brought actual suffering and hardship
| Newspaper men who had occasion to be out
| late last night saw threadbare and needy
| men scurrying through the darkness look
| ing fer some place of shelter, where they
| might spend the rest of the long hours
OF the night in something like comfort
| People who had tickets for the theater
| or other places of amusement last evening
| fcurd it very hard, indeed, to have to go
| ploughing through the slush and wet, and
many preferred. to stay at home by their
| cozy firesides. Unfortunately, there We're
| only too many hundreds of people in this
| big city who had no cozy firesides and no
waIm cheerful bed rooms. Washington
has but little tenement house life COM
pared with some of the ether larger and
| more congested cities, and it suffers less
| as a result Of the oyercrowding of the
poor in unsuitable houses, but it would
| be folly to claim for moment that Wash
! irgtcn has not its full quota of needy
| ores-people who have gotten down and
cannot get up, people who in a time OF
slsteu lest they Starve.
Those who chamber the lectures that
were delivere, ii this city couple of
years ago by LII. Jacob A. Riis OF New
York, the author of How the Other Half
Lives, must not expect, if they ever go
delvlng among the purlieus and alleys, TO
find anything akin to the picture drawn by
that authority on tenement house life in
great cities. But they will find poverty in
abundance, bitter, grinding poverty that
knows no let up. Each morning the man
OF the family wakes to the realization that
there is nothing in the house WhereWith h
to feed his wife and little ones no credit
at butchers or bakers, no work to do that
will bring him in cent and no prospect of
work. Isn't that about hard enough ?
What difference does it make to cold
and hungry man or woman whether ne
or she be cold and hungry on the fifth
floor OF a crowded tenement or on the first
Hunger and cold are very much the same
all the world over.
The Helping Hand.
Yesterday the iiotle bands of women and
men who are giving up their days to do
ing what they can to relieve the present
| condition of affairs. reported that in the
number of applicants for aid it was the
busiest day of the winter. Into their will
ing ears was poured, many tale of hard
ship that wasl3ad enough to reach harder
hearts than theirs. Unfortunately, there
was not the whefeWithal to answer any
thing like all the calls that were made,
and in many cases 3all that could be done
was to give them enough feed and fuel to
tide them over tor a very few days III the
hope that with larger contributions from
those who are able to give it will be pos
siDle to deal mere generously by such as
these. In every case however, a thor
ough investigation is made before relief is
given to dolsway with all chance OF i'm
position. When 1T is remembered that the
most intense suffering is among the out
lying districts of the city, some idea can
be had of the magnitude of the work.
AloEg the WharVes, out in the county be-
yoHd the city lines, from the commons
east of the Capitol, and from the little
| novels along the banks of the canal, from
such out Of the way places as these come
the hardest stories of all, and each and
every one of these must be looked into be-
fore the charity organizations can feel
justified in making an appeal to the gen.
erous public for assistance in the work.
Yesterday morning one of the visitors from
the Central Union Mission had a list of
thirty different places in scattered sec
tions OF the city to visit before he could
call his days work done.
Last night every cot IN the mission build
| ing was filled with tired. homeless men
ard when the doors were thrown open this
morning there were plenty of people ready
| and waiting for chance to get inside.
| hope that they might carry them away
| full. There was absolutely no let UP in
| the number of applicants. but on the other
| hand there was every prospect that if the
bad weather keeps up there will lie daily
| increase in the number of Cnfortunates.
Some Of the stories of suffering that We're
| told were unusually sad, unusually so even
| for a year and season when there are
so many CT them.
| Pathetic Letter.
| One very hard case of trouble has just
come to light. 1t was brought out in a let
|
who said that never in her life had she
been the recipient of charity or been COM
PEELED to ask it. This time she wrote to
| know whether there was not somewhere a
charitably disposed person who would be
willing to help young couple through the
| darkest hours of their lives. Her husband
| is a skilled mechanic, but, like so many
| others. is unable to get anything to do
| these hard times. he has walked the
| streets in worn out shoes until has 1eet
| have hied from exposure and cold She mas
| sold everything she ever possessed in the
| way of little trinkets and jeWelry in the
| hope of tiding over for time, but they are
| absolutely without food or fire, though she
| has held off till the very last before she
| would ask for aid. Even now she says her
husband would die of shame IL he knew
| she had made their condition known. The
| bad weather has prevented him from get
| ting a single days work, and they see no
light ahead. In her letter she writes: Il
have tried every way l could to hold out
| through these dreadful times, but when
| could see no other way l thought l would
| write to you, for The Star has ever been
the friend of those who need it, and
| come to you in my Distress.
| Does this seem a very sad case? 1t does
| on the first reading, but there are hundreds
| of others equally touching. The Stars
| fund for the relief of just such cases is
| growing steadily and every dollar goes
where it will do the most good. Don't you
want to put your name to the list! 1t mat
| ters not whether the sum given be large
| or small 1t is bound to do good, for all
the money received is turned over to the
Associated Charities, the Central Union
Mission and the police for distribution.
The Rent Problem.
There are two problems that the charity
organizations are finding particularly hard
of solution just now. These are the fuel
problem and the rent problem AS already
told in these columns almost all who seek
relief say that they are far behind in their
rent, and whileethe first cry is for food and
fuel, yet they say that if they cannot raise
a little money somehow they will soon be
without roof abovefthe heads. There is
no money in any ofsthe funds to be divert