Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-07-05
THAT DANCE At HOGAN 5.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
We're going to Dan Hogan's dance
tonight. I'm friend Of Hogan's. If
you think however, that your gentler
breeding makes you one jot superior 10
the kindly host, I'd rather you'd stay at
home. Proud in his way is Dan, and
the patronizing air will not do at all
with him.
They're poor, these Hogans, but
they've big hearts in their breasts,
tell you. If you have narrow views of
life, if the lessons of experience have
taught you only that men of poor con-
dition are made Of cheaper clay than
you, pray remain away. II, .on the
other hand, you bring a closer fairer
view of men there's a sup and well
come for you.
The Hogans live on the second floor
of the ship" the best rooms in the
house The .'Ship" is well known in
the. ward. Low, old fashioned, wealth
er-beaten, with its gables and attic
windows, it crouches at the foot Of a
towering tenement and rots in -"
shadows Of adjoining ones.
Come, l will show you poverty; not
the poverty that one looks at helpless
ly and turns from sick at heart; not the
filth and squalor of the homeless
tramp. drifting like a dirty cork upon
the waters; nor the fierce struggle Of
the Hester street goose market. where
images of God haggle over the price
If a chickens gizard-not these, but a
poverty that is glad and that laughs,
that is rich in a certain measure of con-
tentment, in short, the poverty OF Dan
Hogans ship"
This is the Ship"
Hello Mike"
"Hello, Dan. Where's your wife,"
Twas his wife that made man OF
Dan. Since that night he broke her
head with the lighted lamp he hasn't
touched drop. Women are great help
mates.
with the sick Swede below" an
swered Dan. They say he'll be dead
rest his soul-agin the mOrnin'. Fill
the pipe"
Mary Ellen, Dams daughter, is just
16, and Ellen, her mother, had sent lit
tie Dan. the futurn prop and alderman
of the household, to ask the neighbor's
boys and girls to join in dance and
toast of the natal day.
They were coming, these lads and
lasses of the shops and mills, in twos
threes, some in their best and others in
their working clothes, like Marty
DOnahue, in his blue shirt and red sus-
penders crying ANY ice?" as he enter
ed the door But all are welcome,
whatever duds they wear. There are
feather curriers' from COhen's, slaves
from the big mills across the way,
pastors from the paper-boX factory,
and two or three who never worked,
and who never will.
And the lads? Oh, there are mates
and to spare for the girls, with the
stains of the dyehouse still on the
hands of some of them. Red Nc
Dermott. Tony Farrall and ''Limpy
his Younger brother, and Henry, too,
the red checked clerk in the Dutch gro
cerv on the corner, who sleeps in the
store. eats crackers, and cheese ana
saves his money, had brought MS
Lena. Hobble-de-hOys from the kind
ling-wood factory, with sawdust IN
their ears and an elegant thirst, caring
not a copper whether there's a head or
or 81. so there's a bead on the beer,
came bounding up the stairs.
And below? Life is full OF con-
trasts. and so pltiless are they some
times. Below a poor, frail, fair haired
Swede sits. with her hands in her lap
and rocks and means over her dying
husband From above through tn
door filling the halls with a whiskey
voice. comes the singing OF Marty Dom
ahue. while Mrs. Hogan, always ten
der hearted. croons the prayers for the
sick below. The sob and the song
meet each other upon the stairs. The
song finished. there fell upon the COM
many in the room an indefinable cold
ness and reserve. There was lacking
somehow that spontaniety Of feeling.
that exuberance of expression. that
had been a matter Of course at HOgan's
on many similar occasions. DonahGe,
with his tongue hanging out Of his
cheek. sat silent and expectant. Nc