The Advocate and news., 1898-06-08
"When?"

/
big black eyes. A man being murdered
was not very terrible event to her.
Her people were always Quarreling and
often men were killed. The class from
which she and Antonio and the other
children came had never been taught
or had chance to live right. For hun
dreds OF years their ancestors had be-
longed to the lower classes who were
compelled to work hard, wear the poor
est clothes and have the very worst
things of life, in order that the squires,
the counts, the kings and the rich might
enjoy themselves and have all the good
things of life, which God intended all
people should share. So you see, never
things, they lived In very filthy way
and having been treated like slaves and
dogs for ages, they lost their self-re-
speCt and came to look upon them
selves as different from other people
as outCasts from the rest of the world;
and then their fathers and grandfathers
and great great, great grandfathers
had always been robbed and plundered
by the lords and kings-for the greatest
robber and murderer was always the
greatest lord and king-tlll they were
forced to look upon the rest Of the world
as their enemy, and naturally cheated
and robbed and murdered in return;
and when people do bad things for gen.
eratiCns their children are almost sure
to do the same; and we must not blame
them as much for being wicked as we
should those who have had good faith
ers and a fair chance to live and act
decently. These people are merely
what others had made them, and they
will always be just as they are until
we give everybody an equal chance in
this world.
Apgelina's father sold fruit, and all
day long he pushed his cart along the
Bowery and called, Banana / GENITAL"
Harry StOltzer hadn't any father, and
mighty glad he was of 1t, too, for to be
kicked and cuffed around by a bully
to big for him to kick and cuff in re-
turn was not Harry's idea of enjoying
life. He came to school when he pleased,
or when the truant officer caught him,
which you may be sure seldom hap
pened for boy who is sharp enough
to evade the cops when they are after
him--which they had been on several
occasions, and caught him once, too, and
locked him up for stealing-is generally
able to outrun and Outwit the truant
officer. He lived around the docks along
East river. Some people called him
wharf rat, but whatever he was, with
the cops and river police who patrol the
water at night to look out for thieves
and suicides, Harry bore none too good
a reputation.
There was Lizzie Provinza and her
sister Mary, looking like dwarf women,
with their big earrings, long skirts and
shoulder shawls like their mother wore
when she moved gracefully along the
street with huge bundle Of rags bal
anCed on her head; for the ProVinzas
wcro rag piCkers and gathered from al
leys and ash barrels cast off clothing
and scraps of cloth and sold them to
be made into paper at the great mills.
So few of the children had seen the
world outside Of the city that they knew
little Of how 1t looked or what things
lived there, and when Miss Vinton held
up the picture of a frog some of them
began to guess what kind of an animal
it could be. Tony PasQuelle said 1t was
COW, and when little fellow who
had once been out into the country
with the Childrens Fresh Air Excur-
sions laughed at this Tony made dive
for him and dumped him over the seat
whore he fell sprawling on all fours In
the next aisle, and the teacher had to
come down and quiet the row.
When school was out she showed
Tom and Fred other parts of the build
ing. There was a lodging house and
eating room for newsboys and boot
blacks who had no homes. Here for
few cents they could get food and
bunk to sleep in These hunks were
built along the walls of the room and
there were nearly one hundred Of them
In two rooms, one above the other
"They don't look very nice" said