The evening times., 1896-03-07
SUff{R|N6S OF TINE POOR
Many PitifuI Cases Reported to
The Associated Charities.
FOOD AND CLOTHING WANTED
Heads of Families Look In Vain for
Work-Sickly Wives and Mothers
Apply for Assistance Who Never
Asked BefOre-Babes Born Amid
SqualOr and Poverty.


walked broadcast in Washington much
this winter as on many previous ones, yet
| some OF the most pitifui cases ON record have
been called 10 the attention or the charity
people. The root OF the evil at the present
time may be traced to the stringency of
the times and the impossibility Tor many
worthy people to secure work.
Il would like TO describe to you four or
i've cases that have come under my Oh
servauon within the last few days. said
Mrs. Sarah s. Fuller, the agent Tor the
southea ST Wa shiDgton division OF the
Associated Charities, when Il Times re-
porter called upon her this mcrBing al The
associatiOus branch office, No. GIG Il
street southeast.
Il VIII not give you the names of the fam
lilies am going 10 describe, rs / tiink IL
would be injustice to them. Every one is
worthy of help, but there is Il huniiiiat .on
about seeing ones name i'll print On such
matters that is hard to live down. II any
one wants TO help them though they viii
be taken to them by myself or our agents.
"A case brought TO my attention jester
day was that OF 4 woman, hirty years cd
with four children on her hands. The old
est child was twelve, the next. Il boy, ten.
the next seven, and lastly a baby OF eight
een mouths. The husband died when the
baby was four months Old. The mother
asked for fuel and food, not for herself,
mind you, but for her children.
She had feloD on her finger, ard the
first Joint of that member had TO DE ampu-
tated. She is suffering now from TYPHOID
pneumonia and bronchitis, ard, though
willing to work, is unable TO do so. When
She came here she was dressed in a coat,
straw hat and black gown, with ber feet
Dearly on the ground. but her ciot hes, poor
as they We're, were tidy and neatly brushed.
A PITIFUL CASE.
Il went home with her. There | found
her living with her four children i'll a single
ROOM All ii contained was stove, table,
trunk, feather bed and Il comforter rolled
up in one corner. She and the children slept
on this. Everything, however, was neat
and clean.
THE mother had had the room four
months. The rent was So month. She
had not been able to pay since the first
month. The woman she rented the room
from was poor and had been compelled to
re-rent it. Another woman had taken it
and she had moved her earthly goods, con-
sisting OF bed and Two trunks, into the
other corner OF the small apartment. That
is the way they are living at present.
The boy Of ten was so comical-lcoking
that / could not help laughing In spite
OF the circumstances. He had on trousers
that would fit boy OF sixteen years. They
were dra wn up as far as possible and fast
ened right under his armpits by small
belt. A sort OF shirt-waist completed
his attire.
=" i have been looking for a ROOM said
the woman, but you know people won't
ke us in like they used to IL we can't
pay the rent in advance. ! gave them d
temporary supply OF coal and provisions.
The second case j. one where they have
a newborn babe. When the child was
a
the house for the past twenty-four hours.
II was during the last cold snap, but there
was no fuel.
The husband was in the hospital from
the middle OF last May to the middle of
August Then he began working on one
of the public buildings here, and con-
tinued until he was forced TO go out with
the big discharge OF men last fall. While
he worked he managed to save some money;
bat the children were sick in the winter, and
he little earnings gradually disappeared.
He has never asked for aid before, and as
lie is now getting a little work to do he
will pull through all right If he is helped
over the stringency.
BABY's STRANGE DRESS.
I'm another case the baby will be two |
weeks old today. The husband is 4 laborer |
md gets about two DAYS work week. |
There are seven children In the family. !
When Daby appeared thtre was nothinS |
% make ii a dress Of ! visited the house |
md found that a neighbor had provided Il
by cutting Il hole in the bottom OF |
muslin flour sack and inserting sleeves
1t either corner.
In one insta nee found the husband SICK
with typhoid pneumonia. He had been in
bed for five weeks, and there was neither /
food nor fuel In the house. The wife isabout /
20 become mother. The place wasncat and
lean, despite the misery that stalkcd there.
"A young couple down toward the
commons have the wife's aged mother 10
The mans brother lives with
hem, too. There is one child and the frail
title woman is soon to become the mother
If another. The husband is hale and hearty,
nut he has walked the streets from morning
i'll night in search of work. and has been uIl-
successful. The brother has done the same.
Both men are under thirty years of age,
They are honest, and more than anxious to
work The husband can drive and is quite
intelligent, but IL seems that fate ha frowncd
ipon them most numerically, and they can
ret nothing whatever to do. They never
Isked for aid before