Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-10-19
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slumberless eye will look. Let one great
wave of refreshing slumber roll over the
heart of the great town, submerging care
and anxiety and worriment and pain.
Let the city sleep.
But. my friends, be not deceived. There
will be tonight thousands who will not
sleep at all. Go up that dark alley, and
be cautious where you tread lest you fall
over the PROSTATE form OF drunkard
lying on his own doorstep. Look about
you, lest you feel the garroter's hug.
Look through the broken window pane
and see what you can see. You say,
Nothing" Then listen. What is il?
God help us"' No footlghts, but trag
edy ghaStlier and mgbtier than Ristori
or Edwin Booth ever enacted. No light,
no fire, no bread, no hope. Shivering in
the cold, they have had no food for TWEEN
ty-four hours. You say, why don't they
begT They do, but they get nothing.
You say, why don't they deliver them
selves over TO the almshouse?" All. you
would not ask that il you ever heard the
! bitter cry of n man or child when told he
must 20 TO the almshouse, oh" you
say, they are vicious poor, and there
/ Are they vicious? So much more need
they your pity. The Christian poor, God
| helps them. Through their night there
! wrinkles the round, merry star of hope
and through the broken window they see
the crystals of heaven, but the vicious
! poor. they are more to he pitied. Their
! last light has gone out. You excuse your
| self from helping them by saying they
are so bad they brought this trouble on
themselves. reply. Where | give ten
| prayers for the innocent who are suffer-
ing | will give twenty for the guilty who
/ are suffering.
| The Open Door.
Pass on through the alley. Open the
| door. "Oh." you say, lit is locked" No.
| it is not locked. 1t has never been locked.
No burglar would be tempted to go in
there to steal anything. The door is never
| locked Only a broken chair stands
against the door, Shove it back. Go in.
Strike match. Now, look. Beastliness
and rags. See those glaring eyeballs.
Be careful now what you say. Do not
| utter any insult, do not utter any sus~
! picion, if you value your life. What is
| that red mark on the wall? 1t is the
mark of a murderers hand! Look at
| those two eyes rising up out of the dark
ness and out from the straw in the cor
ner, coming toward you, and as they
come near you your light goes out. Strike
another match. All. this is babe, not
like those beautiful children presented in
baptism. This little one never smiled it
never will smile. A flower flung on an
awfully barren beach. o Heavenly
! Shepherd. fold that little one in thy arms
Wrap around you your shawl or your
coat tighter for the cold wind sweeps
through.
Strike another match. All. Is 1t posi-
BILE that the SCARED and bruised face of
that young woman was ever looked into
by maternal tenderness? Utter no seorn,
Utter no harsh word. No ray of hope
has dawned ON that brow for many a
year. No ray of hope ever will dawn on
that brow. But the light has gone out
Do not strike another light. II would be
a mockery to kindle another light in such
place as that. Pass out. and pass down
the street. Our cities are full of such
homes and the worst time the third
watch of the night.
DO you know it is in this third watch
Of the night that criminals do their worst
work: II is the criminals watch AT
half past s o'clock YOU will find them IN
the drinking saloon. but toward II o'clock
they go to their garrets, they get out their
tools. then they start on the street.
Watching on either side for the police.
they go 10 their work of darkness This
is a burglar, and the false key will soon
touch the store lock. This is an incen-
diary, and before morning there will be Il
light on the sky and cry of Fire, fire.
This is an assassin, and tomorrow morn
ing there will be a dead body in one Of
the vacant lots. During the daytime
these villains in our cities lounge about.
some asleep and some awake, but when
the third watch of the night arrives their
eye is keen their brain cool, their arm
strong, their foot feet to fly or pursue.
they are ready. Many of these poor
creatures were brought up that way
| They were born in n thieves garrett
| Their childish toy was burglars dark
lantern. The first thing they remember
was their mother bandRging the brow Of
their father. struck by the police club
They began by robbing boys pockets, and
now they have come to dig the under
ground passage to the cellar Of the bank
and are preparing to blast the gold vault
Just so long as there are neglected chill
drcn of the street, just so long We will
| have these desperndOes.
Hour of Great Temptation.
In the third watch Of the night gam
bling does its worst work. What though
the hours be slipping away and though
the wife be waiting in the cherries
home! Stir up the fire. Bring on more
drinks. Put on more stakes. That com
mercal house that only little while ago
put out a sign OF copartnership will this
winter be wrecked on a gamblers table.
| There will be many money till that will
| spring leak. In the third watch OF the
night pass down the streets OF these cities
and you will hear the click Of the dice
and the sharp, keen stroke OF the balls
on the billiard table. At these places
merchant princes dismount and legisla-
tors, tired OF making laws, take respite
in breaking them. All classes Of people
are robbed by this crime--the importer Of
foreign silks and the dealer In Chatham