Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-04
door. to soak into the ground. and the over

now to meander g a Grain IN the street.
hers s aaS f mats aBa ED Rss se @ay
Which WAS 50 nf haa q ns turn Rn the
thin edge to in anteHng. I assumed that
Mr.. wilson Knew hisr business. but the de-
sire was rampant In MY shrinking feminine
nature to ASH HIM 4 he DIDN'T think II
would ina Be wiser T. permission before
doing. At the end Of the hall was the mar
Yowest, darkest stairway I have seen in
my, my life and t HI isanot the first time
Sought to &C. WRle eh1s w sssf fubli we
with my volumShpus petttcoats, a door
opened bef9 Nv alf4 ws were called down
however. NeitheE hare nor anywhere do
privacy they do not e. resess intrus da and
t that w won s,an questioned na ~ With curiosity
degree indignant: Our appearance be-
tekensd prosperity, and thus on sight, we
rrshp rep csc the power Of the aaw to her.
the law. still it was negatively with US
In Our pockets. stf' - $50
One Weman's, Story. p.
Under pretense Of looking for a person he
named, Mr. Wilson Ecleveriy induced the
woman to talk about herself. She and her
husband lived in the one room. It was a
tenement house of six rooms, and each
room. rented for ae65 month. The stair
way was never lighted. At night Some
times they uses matches and. sometimes
they has Candles but most generally
matches, to get up by" Finally she in
Vlted us into her room. Any reform that
could reach this woman manner of living
would have to begin with Madam Dives.
rms room, about ten by six feet, contained
tne decorative horrors of a West End
nome so reduced in space that the ex-
cessive adornment to be found in the palace
Of Dives here crowded a mass of tawdry
nxlngs on one until breathing was almost
impossible. The place was insufferably hot:
the one WladoW was SO heavily hung with
lace rags that the merest bit Of light strug-
+ gsed, Ars 1.-THE, house being built directly on
the ground, the Sitting atmosphere was
laden with a musty smell: no human be-
ing could be other than stunted physically
and morally amid such surroundings,yett the
woman not only had no complaints to make
but she was proud Of herself and of what
she had. saw myself and my belongings
In her and hers as in broken mirror. and
realized as l have time and again that
there is a submerged" within each human
heart that must be changed before society
can reap a benefit from any attempted re-
FORM Every desire I, or you, have and
every effort I, you, make to accumulate
worldly goods are extending the influence
OF common human nature that In the
alleys diseases and debases mankind with
Oil dCCuAutal1Oa Oh pOSlIlVo
The Solution Discussed.
well, what would you do with that wo-
MANI" I asked Mr.. Wilson, as we were
making our way from her place through q
crowd of curious loafers, men, women and
children, to the home Of woman who had
been reported to Mr.. Wilson as having SO
many children that it would be wise to
take some from her.
There IS nothing to be done with her."
Mr. Wilson answered, "She is happy. she Is
industrious-she was sewing, you noticed.
1t is safe to leave l1ef to the providence Of
the survival of the fittest."
why not leave them allhto Abe same
good proyidence?' asked. go -,
Because natural. rights do not pher raft
established by legislation enf6rcedobS htis
man greed. and the struggle to exist Is not
a natural nor hight one. Some Of those
that have gone down in the warfare must
be helped to their feet"
Yes" l answered, but the modern,
scheme Of charity aids only the worthy
poor. When Is man unworthy OF as
.sistance, and doesn't this scientific scheme
of charity necesstate an immense amount
of wretchedness that being unworthy is
still painful, though beneath our notice."
It's written in the law of God and of the
development of society, If man will not
work, neither shall he eat answered Mr..
Wilson. Still. I never assume to say
person Is unworthy of aid, though exper-
ience in dealing with the submerged has
taught me that, under certain conditions.
} what q man needs most is more suffering"
The woman Mr.. Wilson sought Was, lean
ing out the front window Of her house; in
the door beside her stood a young girl mold
ing a bit of baby. and four other babies,
the oldest about five. were grouped on the
doorstep. To this woman. as to the other,
we represented law and order. She sub
mitted to us. but she hated us, as the
sccwl on her face betokened.
Home of the Poor.
Still, Mr.. Wilson has such genius for dis
arming the suspicion of the submerged,
that by questioning the woman about the
house and sympathizng with her COLI
demnation of it. she was soon talking free
ly about herself and invited US to inspect
her premises. The house contains four
rpo1ns, and rents for 81 a month. 1t Is
built on the ground with the cellar. OF
foundation and Is eorreshondingly damp;
Ing tire@iv,r4ek Wall. the pIastering Being
cone directly on the bricks. The house was
,sot As,aatfcnfarIy untidy. but the rear room
Nth The p pIek in one o, corner
was In abomtnable condition. and the
stencil Of a barnyard Is healthful and pleas
ant compared with the smell that was
here. The back gate opened into an alley
an alley within an alley this-and here the
" aste water from all the houses along the
row was poured in the ground in the man.
nef nave described. A tin pail filled with
garbage stood there, and stands there often
Ia emptfed for two or three months at a
time, the woman said. - go
L returned to the house. sick at my ston-
ach and sick at heart, and iyeh Alr.. Wilson,
on the way in, vas SO absolutely without
regard tor 1.-THE a wfAi effect of eantzasts as
to ask the woman If she did not plant
some flowers in her yard in sunmer,e More
pitiful still, she said she did. and it re-
quired all my will power to fix my mind
solely on the fact that fewers thrive on
rot, and so might be Happy there, If moth
ing else On earth could. Even the swapping.
startling, NANCY cur that wanted to chew
up my prosperity seemed to me to have a
just grievance against the law and order
that / represented. /.
The Baby Understood 1t.
', The baby, however was apparently the
only living baipg around, that WIS, able to
entef into my frame Of mind The queer.
wabbHng, little black thing ana If goo.sooef
at each other all, the facts of the case.
which no one else seemed to perceive She"
said 1t was q burning shame she had ever
been born, and she didn't know what h,,-
man life amounted to anyhow Then, when
I oo-gooed back to her that she might
have the luck to die during the summer. I
just wish you could have heard her goo
goo to me all about how much babies can
endure ard live through, and her utter 1ac.