Year: 1866




LIFE IN NEW YoRx.-The New York cores
poudent of the Sacramento Union Eas the fol :
lowing in relation to one of the social evils of
the commercial metropolis


In most Of the boarding houses the rent charged
for small, cramped lll-furnished and cherries
rooms is at the rate of about 81 900 a year
Board cannot be had in any respectable house
at less than SS per week. At least this is the
statement of those who have been brought to
the direful necessity of seeking board Such
wanderers and fugtives on the face of the earth
always have my sincerest sympathy. But there
is class of boardeSs and boarding house seek
ers who are only too happy to accept the miser-
able fare aud accom- M dations. pay the price d
difficult thing IN the world to so far work upon
the sympathies Of boarding keepers as to
get respectable bed and seltat the table in
any of their houses. These are the poor work
ing girls, ,'bv whom New York seems to be over
run. The class has increased since the war to
an almost alarming eXtent-alarming in the
sense that no adequate support and protection
offered for them by society. 1t is remark
able fact that while we have among our public
charities Homes aud Aid Associations for dis.
abled soldiers aud the orphaned and half or,
phaned children, among the victims ofthe war,
no provisions whatever appears to have been
made for the destitute wives aud sisters of sold
iers who gave life or limb to their country. The
scauty pension which Government allows is of
course too small to feed and clothe those whose
sole dependence 1t constitutes. As a conse-
quence, the large cities of the Atlantic are filled
with female applicants for employment. The
Herald, few mornings ago. contained nearly
six columns ofadvertisements Of this class alone
representing as near as I could estimate, about
three hundred and eighty female applicants for
| labor. Every trade in which feminine skill or
| industry can be made available is full to reple
| lion, and Of course the wages, as in everything
else, are proportioned not to the cost Of living
| but to the excessive competition. The inevi-
table result of this state of things is seen on the
street after nigEtfall. The newspapers call our
attention to the young girls who have embraced
/ a shameless calling, and who may be seen ply
! ing their profession in all of our thoroughfares
in the evening. Formerly our "street walkers
were the brazen,faced bedizzened syrens whose
! unblushing bolduess was the result of lifetime
Of sim Now a stranger canHc. but be struck
with the comparative youth and freshness Of
those who 10 a more quiet way ply the arts of
the courtesan. 1t is fact that so numerous
are the females of doubtful repute in this city
that it is with the greatest difficulty honest girls
can obtain board and lodging in respectable
houses. But it is only one of the many mani
festatons that a thoughtful and observant per-
| son will meet in all the walks of our metropol-
tan life, that immortality and loose living are
more prevalent and widely difused in this city
than they ever were before. | am aware that
to print much thing in ore, 81 the New York
journals is to be put into Coyentry at once But,
as Sheridan said of his rhyme on Sylvester
wife, tbs true, even if it is 70 poetry.