Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-09-27
VACRANT WOMEN.
How Friend|ess Spinsters Are
Lodged by the City of London.
MAKE A PITIFUL PICTURE.
DeplorabIe Condition of the Poor and
Aged Creatures Who Must Beg or
Steal sixpenee to Buy Resting Place
For Themselves,

Single women only" The letters
are written In black on a lamp that
throws a filckering light on to the
blank wall opposite and makes shad-
ow pictures there Of the figures who
SLOUGH by.
l watched some Of those shadows as
Dante watched the people in his vision
Of hell, writes Philip Gibbs IN the
London Graphic. A profile hideously
distorted, but Of human likeness, was
outlined in black. 1t was witchs
was flung upon the wall by a woman
wrapped in rags, who gazed up at the
lamp which invited single women like
herself to nights lodging. Light
rain was falling, and the wind was
blowing 1t aslant, and the GOODNESS OF
the night cut one to the bone. halt
ed and took refuge in dark doorway,
and as l stood there single women
shuff1ed by and disappeared beneath
the lamp. They held their heads down
heads strangely and horribly wrap
ped up like mummies whose dead flesh
has been preserved 5000 years-and
their skirts draggled in the mud.
In the streets were slouching men,
men with their heads bent also before
the rain and the wind, clasping rags
about them. 1t seemed as though this
street at night might be the meeting
place of scarecrows bewitched into
life. They took no notice Of the wo-
men. No word Of misery was exchang-
ed as they passed. Into the doorway
between one Pickering lamp went the
single men and into another doorway
lower down the street the single wo-
men. Each one Of them was figure
of dreadful loneliness in great city
Of human souls. Alone they had toiled
in the day, somehow and somewhere.
Alone they had come for shelter and
sleep. I followed the single women.
At the end Of the passage beyond
the pickering lamp was a window
marked PAY Office" But no one an
swered when I tapped upon it until
there stood by my side, coming silent
ly out Of the blacklist shadows, tall,
gaunt woman.
"Do you want the mems lodging
house?"
mo; have come to see this place."
The woman went to the head Of
staircase leading down to IN under
ground place. She called in harsh,
Shrill voice, and presently another wo-
man appeared and stared at me In
the same suspicious way. After few
words she said: "That's ell right. You
cab come down if you like. There's
nothing funny to see"
No, there was nothing funny. l did
not want to laugh when | went into
that underground room where the sim
gle women who had come through the
streets Of night were gathered togeth-
er before getting what they call six
pen'orth Of sleep" 1t was a sight
that might bring tears to any eyes.
For those were the homeless women
of London--juSt q few of them-who
as every night comes scrape six cop
luck in the day-any luck, lucky people
of ife.-to hire a bed under the roof
of a common lodging house. They
were the women who have lost or fall
ed to gain the thing that a woman's
soul Graves, as the parched beast
Graves for the water brooks. as a lost
soul Graves for peace-a home Of her
own. The man may be wanderer,
sleeping where he finds n kennel or
bush and yet preserve his manhood
and his hope. Up and down the streets
Of adventure he may go. not cursing
fate because he Is homeless. But to
woman some kind Of home-however
miserable, however small In whatever
place Of uglness or squalor-is neces-
sary for her self respect.
They were quarreling. One Of them
stood up by one Of the wooden tables
and In a harsh, cracked voice cried
out. "You are a liar." She was a mid
die aged woman with a pallid face, in
which her eyes burnt like fires. Liar
yourselfw said another woman with
white hair struggling beneath
crumpled black bonnet lolling sideways
over her ear. Laughter rang out in the
room from several of these single
women. There was an evil mirth in
the sound Of 1t. 1t was the laughter of
creatures who mock at their own mis-
cry and see the humor Of their own
damnation. Yet there were a few
women here with kindly look and pa
tient, suffering, gentle faces. They had
unwrapped some of their coverings.
and some Of them were bending over
tin mugs Of cocoa and dipping bits OF
bread into the liquid and making a
meal Of 1t.
For the most part they were elderly
women or we'll on to middle age. 1t
was time for some Of them to rest by
the hearthside while elder daughters
were busy at the hearth. They were
old enough to be the mothers Of sturdy
sons whose wages would keep a little
home going. Alas, they were old
enough to know all that life has to
offer in the way Of misery and Of evil
knowledge and of hopelessness to
hnl 10 tIn