New Britain herald., 1915-11-11
HARDWARE

toll without the strong counter claim or unemployment.
 The street beggars, however, are still telling their pitiful tales. In some instances they show such down right cleverness that it seems a pity | their efforts cannot be directed into l better channels.
 The homeless man type who goes from house to house for food and | clothing scarcely ever comes to the Charity Organization when referred by a householder, and sometimes he even inveighs bitterly against us and | draws upon his imagination largely in describing us since we have never set eyes on him. Occasionally one | is referred to us who really comes and whom we can help. The average person in distress does not peddle l his woes from door to door.
 Sob Stories Aplenty.
 Then there are other elusive ones sometimes sheer beggars, sometimes | with wares to sell. Thy always state a specific need of some sort and often times we patiently follow every clue in vain in an earnest desire to make | things easier for so afflicted a fam
 
 was selling his wares, made by his l little blind daughter in order to earn l money for an operation upon her eyes He lived on certain street and | everybody knew and loved his little 1 blind Edna, he said. We regret that 1 he never came to us as referred, for l 1t would be pitiful to think of a little child suffering for the sort of treat, ment we could procure free. We also | regret that we never have found him so that we could ask why able bodied man should peddle such l pathetic wares instead of earning the money faster by more remunerative steady work. We have not been 1 able to locate through any channel this "well-known" little girl.
 Other Takers.
 There is still another class com 1 posed of women and girls who make a business of going about from house l to house asking for clothing The fascination of a large wardrobe ap- | peals to them, and then, too, there is always an opportunity to sell these 1 second hand clothes We regret to say that the women who make a sys- tematic canvas for clothing are not, in our experience, those most in need of clothes.
 Such a young woman stopped at our office recently begging for clothes. She was well and warmly dressed and we had @ distinct impression that we had seen her before. We asked her if she was not Miss Blank from nearby town who asked for clothing, last win ter. (The Blank family owned a house and had the distinction of los- Ing several hundred dollars soon after we met them.) She denied this and gave her name and the history of her family consisting of widowed mother and little brothers and sisters living in another town. She often left her job in the shop she explained to go about asking Tor clothes. We could not lit out so many children sight unseen and 1t was not many hours before we found that the girl was Miss Blank, as we surmised, and that not having a fam fly history that lent itself well to the occasion, she borrowed her cousins . family to describe instead of her own. } Child Beggars
 Little children love to hold the cen- ter of the stage, and there is no bet ter way to enjoy adventure and get few cookies and pennies, than to so about with little box of notions. Most of the children we know who do this, occasionally tell us with great junction their experiences. We have known the same little box of wares to do duty for several children. Probably there is no harm done to anyone by these thrilling adventures, unless the child deliberately and solemnly lies for the sake of trade. .z.. ...e A few days ago bright little girl came to us. for whom we have been vainly hunting since July. Several people told us about little girl who sold notions from house to house to help support widowed, bed-ridden mother and little brothers and sisters living on a certain street. It would be disgraceful to let a little child violate l the compulsory education laws in making feeble effort to support family in such obvious need of char ity, so we spent hours in trying to To- cate the family, but without success. Imagine how pleased we were to find the child and talk with her.
 Misguided Cleverness.
 She told us the same story. When ! asked what school she attended she Il named the Lithuanian, and on being reminded that it was closed, said that she had been transferred and could