Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1898-06-11
SORROWS OF SLAVERY.

the tiniest little funeral Imaginable. 1t
was the funeral of little baby born to
poverty and Graded in want.
1t was dollar and half funeral
just the price of a fairly good table
d'hote dinner and a cigar; just the sum
the clubman pays the cabman when he
feels too good to walk home.
Did you ever hear of a dollar and q
half funeral before?
Yet this was the only kind of fu-
neral Hugh W. Seaman could give his
little girl, and it was only after she lay
three days dead in his home that he
could do that much for her in the way
of decent burial
One can't do much for dollar and a
half-not in the way of burying his be-
loved dead: but this is what Hugh
Scanlan did.
For three days he kept the still, cold
body of the baby in bare room in his
bare home. and while it lay there stark
and white. an awesome wonder to the
little brothers and sisters, milestone
on the heart of the mother who bore it,
he sought through each long day to get
means to lay it away in a Christian
manner, and after each days disap-
pointment he sat through each long
night with his face hid in his hands in
silent agony beside his grieving wife.
Then gentle woman doctor, a kindly
neighbor, gruff. good natured police
man, and a sweet Sister of Charity came
to his aid. The Catholic Church gave
a grave in Holy Cross cemetery, a char
liable undertaken gave the little coffin
and yesterday while the rain was falling
fast. like Gods mercy on rich and poor
alike, Hugh Seaman spent the last coin
in his purse for the hire of Il buggy.
In the buggy box he placed the little
coffin. He bundled mis- wife up on the
seat under the insufficient shelter of u
battered umbrella, and taking the reins
he drove to Holy Cross cemetery, and
when dust to dust" had been consigned
he drove back again, wet to the skin, to
the little home at Il Lower terrace.
"And where is IL Lower terrace?" you
ask. A place so obscure that even the
Directory doesn't point one right.
1t is a little box of 4 cottage far out
on the city's fringe, in the lee of Twin
Peaks, up steep, winding, broken
road that was ankle deep in yellow mud
yesterday. There are six little children
in the cottage yet, besides the one that
was taken away in the buggy yesterday.
The eldest is Il well-mannered little
man of twelve. and the Youngest a frail
toddling girl of three, and of these, one
little lad of five lies dying ofdiphtheria.
his pinched baby face. when | saw him
yesterday, winter than the pillow
behind.
The father of these children has had
no work since Christmas.
The mother is in no condition TO work,
and if she were her hands are overfull
in her own household.
With it all they are simple, self-re-
speeding people to whom charity is a
bitter pill-the decent poor.
in the months my husband has been
out of work. said the mother. I'VE
have complained to no one. We have
got along as best we could. Even the
children didn't know-we never spoke
of--of such things before them
And we want nothing except what
can earn" quickly interrupted the
father. IL can work, and am willing to
work at anything labor-any-
thing I'll get paid for. All | want is
the chance | haven't had regular
work since before Christmas.
IAN I've made has been the little
could earn by odd jobs anything from
saving wood up. 1t hasn't been much,
but it has all gone for food-and for
medicine for the little ones. I've never
let my children go hungry. We're
behind in our rent, but our landlord
has been most kind to us.
We've kept the children at school,
and we've fed them.
"That's all we could do. have never
asked for anything except work, and
even the money we spent to bury our
baby | earned.
II have no trade, worked for years
as general merchandise clerk. Then
worked at box making. I'm willing to
do anything to make living for my
wife and children, and I'm handy.
"I'll do my best to earn every single
cent anyone pays me If only can get
work"
Now, who in this city of wealth and
pleasure and generosity will help Hugh
Scanlsn to help iinself.-t Examiner.