Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-14
THE WONDERS.
AZ

Chapter As.
But Something happened after a
little time that took Alice's mind off
herself and made her less discon-
tended.
Through the settlement house
Mrs. Godfrey had christened IL
Happy Home" but it was generally
known as the settlement house
Alice came in contact with most of
the poor of Shanty-town. And in
that way h heard about the name
less family of wanderers.
1t was through tho children, of
course. They were the first to come
to the Happy Home" it was, next
TO a cheap movie down the street,
the only place of diversion in the
section. Groups of them stood by tho
hour outside the gate while the dingy
old house was being done over, and
many of them helped with the work.
Then when classes began and little
entertainments were offered. they
all came, even the toughest little
bully In the place.
AIice's favorite. Peppita, was Of
course among them. A devoted small
boy wheeled her over every day and
b took some part in almost all the
classes. Her bright eyes and her
ready laugh endeared her to the
social workers and she often acted
as a link between teacher and pupil,
tranlating the foreign speech of her
neighbors and frequently explaining
to them. the apparently senseless
lessons on orderliness and cleanli-
ness that-the teachers gave.
Alice came upon a chattering
group one morning. Peppita, its CEN
ire, made herself the Spokesman.
There's a family living in a cart,
we think they're gypsies." she told
Alice.
well lots of gypsies come this
time OF year." Alice answered in
differently, combing bach the ten
drills OF hair that chung to her hot
face. who's ready for wedding? L
wan to tell you today about making
tomato frames"
But they're starving and the old
woman is dying!' Peppita insisted,
her eyes sparkling. Births, marriages
and deaths wore alike exciting to
her. They were the only events that
came into her life.
who's starving? Where are
they?" Alice too forgot her proposed
talk on how to encourage the growth
OF hardy Tomato plants.
They've a baby. too. They're over
by Dugan's place in the lot behind
his house."
Alice turned the house over to
one of the other assistants and fol-
INV GU AAlt tAtAN1u 5AOAP VI 80 vi
TO a particularly shabby part of the
town. There In a field some distance
beyond the one small house that
marked the limits of the built-up
section or the street, she found a
small cart covered with a piece of
rough canvas, and nearby, a scrawny
horse tied to the fence and eating
grass.
Inside the cart or wagon a woman
was lying down, and near her was
a tiny baby. The mother was not
very old, her hair was black, but
her face had the sagged. wrinkled,
terribly hopeless look that comes
with extreme poverty. She might
have been 20, or 40.
She was anything but appealing.
Her mouth was shaped into q con-
tinual sullen snarl. Alice was really
somewhat afraid and felt thoroughly
helpless before this situation. She
wished Mrs. Godfrey were with her.
That lady knew how to manage any
thing.
With the children's help in trans
iating, Alice found out that the wo-
ma was Polish, that her husband
was in the city hunting a doctor,
that she herself was not III, but
thai the baby had hal no food since
the night before.
Alice lost her self consciousness
and asked for more details. She
was told OF lack OF work in some
distant town, of an~effort to cross
the state in this wagon to reach
another city, named Norcross where
work was waiting; and at Alice's
suggestion that her husband find