Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1898-06-18
hMERICh'S
LES MISERRBLES.

At the corner near my lodging house
| stood still for few moments watch
ing the deft movements OF two young
children who were busy near the curb.
The long. wide street lay field of
glistening diamonds where the blue
white electric light was reflected
from the snow. A drunken man reeled
past me, tracking the untrodden
snow at the sides of the beaten path
along the center of the pavement. a
dim alley at my right lost itself in al
most impenetrable darkness, on the
verge of which small wooden house
appeared lettering to ruin and as
were Fastening its end. From out
the alley came the figures of three
young women who were laughing
gaily as they crossed the street in
company and walked on toward the
postoffice. The street was very still
and lonely for that quarter, and the
two little girls worked diligently,
talking to each other, quite oblivious
apparently to everything but their
task. | drew nearer to see what they
were doing. a street light shone
strong and clear above them, and
they were in the path of a broad
stream ct yellow glare that poured
from the windows of a cheap chop
house. They we're at work about a
barrel which stood on the curb. |
could see that it was full of the ref
use of the eating house. Scraps of
meat and half eaten fragments of
bread and of vegetables lay mixed
with bones and egg shells and vegeta-
bic skins in pulpy ooze, rising to
the barrel rim and overlooking upon
the pavement and in the gutter. An
old wicker basket. with paper cover
ing its ragged holes, rested between
the children, and into this they drop
ped selected morsels of food. The
larger girl was tall enough to see
over the top of the barrel, and so she
worked there, and | saw her little
hands dive into the soft, glutinous
mass after new treasures. The smaller
one could only couch upon the pave
ment and gather thence and from the
gutter what edible fragments she
could find. watched. them closely:
The older child was dressed in thin.
ragged cotton, black with filth, and
her matted stringy hair fell from her
uncovered head about a lean, peaked
face that was as dirty almost as her
dress, She wore both shoes and stock
ings, but the shoes were far too large
for her, and through their gaping
holes the cold and wet entered freely.
Her sister was more interesting to
me. She was a child of four or five.
The snow was falling upon bare brown
Curls and upon the soft white flesh of
her neck. and over the damp. cling
ing, threadbare dress, through which
| could trace the delicate outlines of
an infants figure. Her warm breath
passed Kissing through chatteriug
teeth in the intervals between out
bursts of deep hoarse cough which
shook her frame. Through the streak
ing dirt upon her hands appeared in
childish movement the dimples above
the knuckles. and the dainty fingers.
red and cold and washed clean at their
tips in the melting snow, had in them
all the power and mystery of the
waxen baby touch.
With the quick illusion of childhood
they had turned their task into a
game, and they would break into ex-
CARNATIONS of delight as they held up
to each others view some discovered
morsel which the finder claimed to be
the best.
What are YOU going to do with
these scraps" l asked of the older
child.
Her bloodless lips we're trembling
with the cold, and her small, dark
eyes appeared among the shreds Of
tangled hair with an expression in
them Of starved pariah whose cher
ished bone is threatened. She clasp
ed the basket with both hands and
half covered il with her little body.
Don't you touch it," she SAID.
iiercely while her anxious eyes
searched the street in hope of succor
1t was easy to reassure her. and
then she spoke freely.
Ma sent US to get some grub for
supper" she exclaimed, MAS got
three boarders, only two of 'em amt
paid nothing for month. and pa, he's
drunk, He amt got no Job but he
went out TO shovel snow today. and
ma thought he'd bring her some
money, but he came home drunk.
She mindin' the baby, and she sent
as for grub. Shed lick ITS F we didn't
Gnd none; but guess she won't lick
US now. win she? That's where we