The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-09

Special Correspondence OF TIE sunday "epuol'
New York. June s.-This is inc s'"N
Joe and the kids
Joe is n gray-e,ed, Erimy-ia'e"' S
haired mite of n younrster. ii years %"
and his other name is Phillips. Inc airs
are his two tiny sisters. Mamie, ased > III,
Lily. aged :. They used 10 I'VE III u
soualid room Of a miserable tenement u.
,ric,-where Il was always either stiihnsis
hot or freezingly " the ps ~
licemen were always IN the way """
follow wanted TO have a bit OF tuh-H"
where the Changing amhuiances anu "a"
ra,tlins patrol wagons came so ol'eh ~
nobody paid much attention 10 iheit '
EXCEPT while they lasted
Toe hasn't got any "oid man he died
rour wears ago. He'd been sick ana NOT
much account for some time. ana II "as
rrettv tough for his "old woman 20
scratch up enough for Joe and the TWO M.
girls 10 eat. To paw the rent anu 10
fuel and a few things TO wear. to say ho,"
ing of finding money for the doctor WHO
came every day or so. looked important
and said the 'old man" would pun through
all right II he only had a trained hurse
from the hospital. ard a better room. AM.
better food, and-oh. a lot or oihef iht'1-
sihie things. OF course. there was the nus
initial. But the "old man wouldn't go thefe:
lie SWOTe II 1T III Sh'r
him and cut him up: and he'd ei'her get
we'll. or die where he was. 49,
He died. And neighbors crowded INTO
the room where the widow ana the coips"
and Joe and the kids were already cro""eu'
and looked at the dead face OF the OLD man
and talked a lot: and finally put MS niach-
est clothes on the "old man ana TOOK hih
away in a black wagon TO bury him.
weIl-then Joe had TO go to work Inc
old woman worked. too: and between thenh
they managed to pay the rent ana 'ane
pretty good care of the kids. Joe would
sell papers and run errands. ana he so'
along pretty well.
But-after awhile Joe's "old woman. TOOK
to drink. Joe didn't blame her. Lord. no:
w can't she git a jag IL she wants .u'
Gee. amt she got me an de KID on E
hands? An amt she got to work haru:
An amt she good to us wen she's SOBER.
An Amt she got a right TO hit de GROWER
er take a little booze wen she feels ike II.
'Course!"
Joe's "old woman" was quarrelsome when
she was drunk. and IL came to he a matter
of course for the big policeman on the
block to have to step I'm every few weeks.
drag her roughly to the street. call the
rafting patrol wagon and send her to the
s~tation-house. Then the Judge would give
her a lecture: she would promise to stay
sober: and the Judge would let her go back
home-only that isn't what ne did the last
lime ne ieCtuIeu ntT Spi1t Htptts anu stht
her. bowling and crying and cursing by
turn. to the Island.
That II where she Is now.
But Joe has grown as a money-earner
since his "old man. died. A few months
ago he got a job as guide for an old blind
man. Adolph Zeiss. who sells strings on
the street. Joe got S a week for this-three
great. big. round shining silver dollars that
5ingled merrily together when he shook
them in his carefully patched pocket. and
giimmered in the light Of the street when
he tossed them up and caught them as they
fell. while he ran merrily homeward on
pay day.
And that was not all OF Joe's earning ca
pacity. The blind man didn't start out I'M
til 8 o'clock in the morning. so that Joe. by
hustling out at 3 a. m. could get an armfui
Of papers and sell them before he had to go
to work. And as the blind man always went
home about Q O'Clock. Joe had an hour or
two In which to sell the late editions OF
the evening paper
And on these earnings Joe kept house with
his two little sisters. He paid the rent: he