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Show -THE OTUEll IIAI.V." CGAVJIIC PEiCBirTION Or THE ' fOOBEST CLASESOl' NF.W Y0UIT. Tim December euu ehone clear and cold upon llio city. It shone upon rich and poor alike. It shone into the homes of tho vtealtliy on the avenuea and in tho uptown t.trects,'end into courts and alleys hedged 'in by lowering teutrncnU down town. It shone upon throngs of buay holiday choppers that went out and in at the his store?, carrying carry-ing bundles big and small, all alike filled with Christmas cheer and kindly messages from Santa Claus. It shone no gaily and altogether cheerily tlitro that wrarrs and overcoats over-coats were uubuttoned for the north wind to toy with. "Aty, isn't it a nice day?" sal J one young lady In a fur shoulder capo to a faleud, jauclDg to kl and compare lists ol Christmas j;lfb. "Stoat too hot," was tho reply, and the friends rtaaMd on. Tlieru was warmth within and without. Life was very pleasant under tht Cbriatmaa sun up on the avenue. os cirnmtv hill. Bonn in Chtrry street the rnya of the suit climbed over a row uf email tenements with an illdrt that reemed to exhaust all the life that was in them, and fell intou dirty bkek, balr-chokcd witli trucki, with ash barrel on J rubbish of nil sorts, amorLT which the dut -was whirled in t-Iuuds un fitful, shiverini; bbets that searched every nock and cranny of the b!,r barracks, riiey fill upon a little girl, bare-fJoted bare-fJoted and in ragi, who struggled out of an alley vt fib. a broken pitcher in her grimy fi.-t, agalnct tlie wind thatsct down the narrow slit like the draught through a big factory chimney. Just at the mouth of the alley it tools her 'with a tuJden n birl, a cyclone ordust anJ Urlfllng ashes, ttw-ed her fairly otT her fi-et, tore from her grip the threadaie shawl she clutched at her iiiruat, and set her downnt tliuhaloou door breathless and half rmothired. alio bad jiiet time to doJo throngh tho stbrtn doom teforu another whirlw.-l swept whistling down the street. "Sly, but Isn't it cold?" tJio eaM asahenhiwU the dust out of lur rhawl and set the pitcher down nn the bar. "Glmmo u pint," the said, lading down a few pennies tlint hail been wrapnl In a xruer of the rhawl besido it, "and mammi says make it gwi and full." 'All'us tho way with jouse kids want a barrel w hen yet pays fer a pint," growled tho bartender. 'There, run along and don't yc hang around ttitt stove no more We ain't n steam heatln' the block fer nothln'." The, Utile girl clutched her shawl and the pitcher and slipped out into theetrn-tu hero tho uind lay in ambuih, and promptly bore down uu her In pillars of whirling du; n soon ni she ap-ear(d. Hut t.'ie sun, tlist pitied her bare feet and little frozen hands played a trick on old Hotras it allowed Iter a way be-tcea be-tcea tile pillars, and only Ju't her aklrt wascaudit by oneauil whirled over her head as sbu dodged into her alley. It peeked alter hrr half wny out n Its dark depthp, where It seemed colder even titan in thu blr&k htrctt, but there it had to ltauber. Itdidnst see her dlvu through the doorlesd oficulng into a hall whero no tun ray liail dver entered. It could not have found its way In there had it tried. Auu up tho natrow, tipeaklng stairs the cirl with tiiu pltchir wtts climbiug. Uponolllglit of sLiIm. over a knot of childrtn, half babies, tiitching peuule on tho landing over trash tubs and liedntradsthatenrtimbered the next housedeaning going on In that "llat;" that is toay, the surplus of bed.lugswr.s being burned out with ictro!eum and a feather up still another, pat a half-open dcorhrougl' which caijie the noise ef I'rawj.tijrsndcime. 8!ie shuddered shud-dered as she heard them followed by rt blow and a woman's scream, nud.ijuIcLcced her step s little until she atooj anting Ufoteadoorott Uie fourtlt landing that opened rvaJily as she pushed it with her bare feet. A room almost devoid of stick or rag oue might dignify nlth the name of furniture. Two chairs, oue liii a broken back, the other on three legs, U-sMd i. siLkety table that stood upright only by leaning agalnstthc wail. On the uuwaehed floor ft I. tan pr si tow ctprcil trllh a dirlr ked-tik lor a bed, a foul-smelling foul-smelling slop-pail in the middle of the ruoni, a crazy stove, and back of it a door or gap opening Ujion .darkness. .dark-ness. There was rom.eth.lpg in Sberr. but w lint It was could only be turmlccd from a heavy snore that rcao and fell rrg-ilarly. It wa the 'bedroom"of tho apartment, windowing, win-dowing, nlrloaa and suurcss, but rented at a price Jay Gould would denounce a robbery. "That you, Uzai'pald a voice that discovered a woman bending ver the stove. "Run 'ii get the childcr. Dinner's ready." Tho December tun glancing down the wall of tho opposite tenement with a hopeless cllort to cheer Uie lock yard, might have peeped through the out window of the room in Mrs. ItcQroarty's "Hat," had that window not been coatul with thu dust of agei, and discovered dis-covered that dinner tiaitv I action. Itndghthavcfanndabun-. dred like it iu the alley, four unkempt un-kempt children, copies each in hi ot her waof lAza and their mother, Mr?. McUroarty, uho "did washing" wash-ing" for a living. A meat bone, a "tut" from the Lulchcr's at i cents a pound, green pickles, stile breal and 1-eer. Ilcer for the four, a tup all round, the babyincluded. Why uotT It was the one relish the searching ray would bavo found there. Potatoes were there, too potatoes and meat!' Bay not the poor In thesu tenements are starring. starr-ing. In 3few Vcik. only thte starve who' caunct gtt worlc nnd liave not the courage to beg. Flflj thousand always cut of a job, sa those who pretend to know. A lound half million asking and get ting charity in eight jenrs, bay the statisticians of the diarity organiza tion. Anyone can see for hlmsell that no one need starve in Xew York. Frora across tho j ard the sun-ray. s It crept "up the wall, fell slanU ingly through tho attlo window1 whence. Issued the sound" of ham-mer-bloss. A man with a hard I face stood in its light driving 'nails Into the lid of a soft soap box that was partly filled irlth straw. Some, thing else was there; ru ho shifted the lid that didn't fit, the glimpse of sunshine that frHacrosll;-!t was a dead child, a little baby 1 n a hlte lip.beddedln straw, In a soap bote for a coffin. The man Vas hara-merlngdownthelidtolak'eitto hara-merlngdownthelidtolak'eitto the Potter's Field. In the corner knell the mother, dry-eyed, delirious from starvation that ltad killed htr child.- FIve hungry; frightened fright-ened children cowered lit the corner, hardly daring to whisper as they looked from thu father to the mother lir (error. There was & knock on tho door that was drowned once, twice, in the noise of the hammer ham-mer on the little coffin. Then it was opened gently, and a young woman came ia with a. basket. A llttle'tllver cross shono upon her breast. She went to the poor mother, and putting her band soothingly" on her head knelt by, bcr with gentle and loving words. Tho half-crazed woman listened with averted face, then suddenly burst into tears and .hid her throbbing head in the other's lap," The man stopped ham-serin? ham-serin? and stared Rstdlyuppti the two; tt-o .children gathered around wltli devouring looks as the visiter took from her basket. bread, meat and tea. , Juatlbcn, with a parting, wtotnll look Into the bare attic room, the sun-ray slipped away, lingered I for a moment about the coping out-l aide and fled over the housetops. I As It sped on its winter day " -as- - Journey, did It shine Into sny cabin in an Irish bog more desolate than these Cherry ritreet homrs"? 'An army o! a hundred thousand, whose one bright and w holesome memor-, only tradition of home, U that poverty-stricken cabin the desolatobog are herded in such barracloi today In ..; Vorb. 1'otatoes they have: yt, and meat at four cents even seven. IWer for a relUh never without beer. Hut home? The home that wajta home, even InaboK. with the love of ibthat has made Ireland immortal' and a tower or strength in the midst or her surfer! sur-fer! ng what of that? There are no home In Xow York's poor tenements. tene-ments. ' IX THE BEND. Diwn the crooked path or the Mulberry street Bend the sunlight idantediuto the heartof New York's Italy. It shone upon handannaa and yellow neekerchleft: upon swarthy faces and cordurov breeches; upon black-haired girls-smothers at 15 upon hosts of bow-legged bow-legged children roiling in the dirt upon leUdiers' carts an4 ragpickers staggering under burdens that threatened to crush them at tverv step. Shone upon unnumbered Pasiua!c8 dwelling, working, idling and gambling there. Shone upon the lllthlrtt and foulest of New-York's New-York's tenements, upon Baudlt' Koost, upon Uuttle Alley, upon the hidden by-ways Hull lead to the tramp's burrows. iSbope hoii the BZe-ne of annual Infant slaughter. Sliono Into the foul core ol Xew York's slums that is shortly to go to the realms of bad memories because ciiilized man may not look upon it and live without blushing. It glanced past the rag shop In the cellar, whence welled up Stenches to roLm the town, into an jpartment three flights up mid heltl two women, one young, the other old and bent. Thejoung one had a baby at the breiit. Shu was ruck-' Ing it tenderly lu her arms singing in tho soft Italian tongue a lullaby, n Idle Uie ol J granuy listened eagerly, eager-ly, her elbows on her knees, and a -tumpy clay pi, blackened with age, between her tneth. Her oyea were set on the wall, on which tlie niukiy pajier hung In shreds, fit frame fur tlie nretelted, poveiry-strkkeu poveiry-strkkeu room, but they saw neltlier poverty nor want: her aged limb fels cot tlie cold draught from, without, with-out, lu which they shivered; they looked far over the seaa to Sunny luly, who'd music was In her ears. ' ilia cara," Miu mumbled betn een her toothless jaws, "mia " The song ouded iu a burnt of passiooatu grief. Tlie old granny ami. tbu baby woku up at once. They were not lu sunny Italy; not under Southern, cloudless skies. Tl.ey were In "tho Beud" In Mulberry Mul-berry street, and the December wind rattled tho door as if it would say in the linguagu of their new home, the land of Ibe free: "Iiesj music! More work! Hool, hog, or die!" IS CHINATOWN. Around the corner the sunbeam danced with tile wind into Mott street, lifted tiie blouse of a Chini-mau Chini-mau and made it play tag with ills fiLttail. It used him so roughly that io vtas gbd to silp from it down a icllarway that eiave out fumes of opium strong enough to scare pveu the north v. in J from Its pur;ioie. Tiiesoles of his felt shoes showed a he diiappeared dowu Uie ladder that pased for cellar step". Dawn there, where daylight never came, a groop of yellow , almoud cj cd men werobemliug over a'tible placing fanUn. Their very souls were in the game, every fatality of tho mlud bentou the ieaue aad the stake. Thu ono blouse that was In liflVrect, tu what went on was stretched on a mat in the corner. Onneadofa clumsyplpu was in his mouth, the other held over a little spirit lamp on the divan on which he lay. Something spluttered in the flame with a pungent, unpleasant smell. The smoker took a long draught, Inhaling the white smoke, then sank back on his couch In senseless content. con-tent. Up?taiM tiptoed tlie. .iobeles-s felt shoes, ;est uu Kme house errand, jast the shrine of Jess On the floor nli-ave, over which In old LriijlUh letters .stood the motto of tlie trai!edolIar,'-In God we Trct,,, copied boillly from lhacoln In delicate deli-cate international compliment to the MeJican Ja-s, the almlght3 dollar; to the "household" floors above; where young whits fiiri from the tonemcnU of the Hend and I-ast side live in slavery vTiJRe, if not more galling than the galley with ball and chain the slavery of the plj. Four, eight, sixteen, twenty odd such "homes" in this tenement, disgracing the very name of hoxne and family, for matrtigo aud troth aro not In tho bargain. And all about in Mott street, in Pell and Doycrs streets are tailor tenements even tha.0 thU, honeycombed with U.elike. Inone room, between the half-drawn half-drawn curtains of which the sunbeam sun-beam works its way In, three girls are lying tn ai many bunks, smoking smok-ing all. They are very young, "underage," though each aud every ono would glibly wear in court to the satisfaction of the police that she is IU, and therefore free to make her own bad choice. Of tlice, one was brought up among the ruQfed hills of Maine; the other two are from the teue-nent crowds, hardly missed there. But their companion? She is twirling the sticky brown pill orer the lamp prejaratory to rilling the'bowl of her pica wih it As she doe so, the sunbeam danct s across the bed, kisses, tbu red spot on her cheek that betrays the secret se-cret her tyrant long has known, though to her it is bidden yet that the pipe has claimed its victim and soon will rats It on to the Potter's Field. "Tel!," says one of her chums in the other bunk, something stirred wllhln lur by the flash "Xell, did you hear from the old farm to home since you came here?" Xell turns half around, with the toasting stick In her hand, an ugly look In htr wasted features, a vile oath on her hj s. To hell wltli tho old farm," she says, and lulling the pipe to her mouth Inhale it all, every bit, In ono long breath, tiicn fall back on her pillow in diunken stupor. That is wftat the sun of a winter day saw aud heard in Mott street. ix rovrirxv oap. . It had traveled far toward, the West, searching many dark corners aud vainly seeMng entry toothers, had gilt with equal impartiality the spires of AM churches and the tin cornices of ",000 tenements, wlih thtir mora than 1.200,000 tenants; had smiled courage and theer to patient pa-tient mothers trying to make the most of life In the teeming crowds that had too little sunshine byf.tr; hope to toiling father striving early and late for bread to All the many mouths clamoring to be fed. The brief December, day was far spent, .Xow Its rays fell across the North Iliver and lighted up the windows of the tenements in Hell's Kitchen and Poverty Gap. In the Gap especially they made a brave show; the windows of tlie crazy old frame house under the big tree on the tail end of the lot bokej aa if they were made of beaten gold. But the glory did not cross tlie threshold. Within it was dark and dreary and cold. The room at the foot of the rickety, latched stairs was empty. The last tenant was beaten to death by her husband lu hisdrunkenfury. The lice found her lying dead on abedof straw, overrun by rats. Up stairs in the "flat" or one bare ream, a man in grimy overalls n J with a dogskin cap, v.fcs lying on his knees blowing at the fire In an old stove that was propped up with bricks where the legs were missing, and trying to help the fitful wind cook, supper for him and '-mother and tho children." It wouldn't burn up, and the nun togk p(T his cap and tried to fau (be embers em-bers into flarco with it. His mat' ted hair fell over bis eyes and' he brushed It back, dUoroslos; an .honest, thoughtful forehead, ills wife, who turned to" help him, had a motherly look, that accounted for tie brlghtness.of tho two little girls even in these sirouBallngs. "John Cunningham, coal-heaver," so ran this tenant's pedigree, just begun In the slums, "Knghsh, farm Isborer from home; came' over In I the spring; no wtrk; money and tlangings all gone; find an odd job uuw and alien. on. tho docks; when work is brisk makes $3 a week for a family of Ave; wCen it Is slack why, they starve. Stranded In Poverty Gap, this family, for good and nil. Another year, and they will bo down to the level of it, nnd of the saloon next door that is its pivot and centre. Across the way In that row of wretched rear tenements the Alley Gang hangs out.- All through them it has its ninaways-Thesaloonsthat bred It pay tribute to it" and blackmail. black-mail. The broken stair rail marks the spot of oue or Its wanton murders. mur-ders. Young Healey was the ono lad In tlie block who minded his own business and worked tiard fur ids aged and crippled parents. For that the gang disliked him. At night they waylaid him and gave him the choice between chipping in with the-ui for drinks- or takingn beating. Tiio boy defied them, ran to his own door and clutched the stair mil to gain tho halL They caught hint there and beat him to death under bis father's windows. When thu reporters stirred up the police next day with the re j or t of the lad's death, the toughs were asleep lu a vacant tenement three doom from the sicene or the murder, yetgotaway. Thesun'sraysavoiu the spot, though the red daub was long since waihed from tho l!ag; but the neighbor!) do not mind. They havo forgotten. Murder is not so unusual in Poverty Gap as to be remembered long. IN JKWTOWX. XUht has settle-1 between tho towrrin-j brick walls of Ludlow street, but tiie hucksters' torches clow and smoke In double flln along the curb. It is bargain night in the pig-market; to-morrow Is the r-abbath eve, and for two daj s huckstering huck-stering will Ixr at an cud. To the Mosaic law oue is sacrlflo-d, the other to thu law made by the police. Thetlaming torches glare upon the biggest trow-'s to le found anywhere, any-where, jostling each other In the streets, on the tide .ralks, lu tile alleys ami in tho hall wax k that belch forth still greater crowds to hj Id to the jam. Bargaining, ijuarrellng, chuceitig and picking, Jawing each other iu foreign lingo; chickens by the -purler cut, liver and entralN for a song, hats for a quarter, potatoes pota-toes two cent a half peck, are the wares over w hlch they are 11 bliug. Through the layer upou la vers of w iudows that stare into thedarkness Ilko so many dull yellow eyes, the everlasting whirr of n thousand sewiug machines is heard. Jewtown by night aud by day is a huge, feverish workshop. Tiie fever I, its life. Hero is where tho sweater reaps his golden harvest. In ihe-e tenements that crowd each other U-un U-un the lot until the block in birdV-eyo birdV-eyo lew looks like a solid block in which only air and li ht ate wanting. want-ing. Three huuJrrd and thirty thousand and overof human beings to the square mile Is. the record of this, New York's Eist F.nd. The worst record, of that other in OliS Ixindan. isarco ever reached h-alf that figure. It has to br; tho rent could not be paid out or theSA-eater'a wastes ir it were not so. Thirteen dollars a month for the flat on the sixth floor with rrcdern touvenlen-ce touvenlen-ce a sink and a purup in the hall-w- i.itt has nver held water till w itltfa, the lat Tew weeks. By day they huddle together, men, women aud chilJren, a denum lu a mom made to hold couple. I'ather. mother, twelve children and six borders lit this apartment" apart-ment" of three rooms! In a few hours, when mind and body have givou out under the strain and Jew-town Jew-town 1 asleep, ruler nith thohealth ofllccrou his rou r is. Thirteen in a room, lodgers, half of them at 5 ceuts a )t, xslte-p on bunk's on shelves. n the flotr, -inywbere. to be sheltered fnm the wind that finds IU way through cru-ui and chinks with the. only breath of God's fresh, di that ever enters. Thpssaru thocro Jds, these the rear tenements the census man mtsel. These are hundreds, aye, thousand-, of that other and hrtppler hair in New YotH that iivo In '-home" who never even beard of a rear tenement, let alone saw oue. amumi thk noiiiaiiAN cio ut- 1IAKEKS. Tiie windows of Bohemia in Fifth street, Iu Sixth, rifty-seventh street anJ farther up in Yorkvllle, are lighted, even when Jewtown Is raleep. Tallow dips aud fcefoeno oil lamps flicker faintly, bum dimly at tlie bench where the slave of the ci-rarmakers" leneraents toils to keep Lciiy and scul together. Refugee he, like the Itus-ilan Jew, like the Irish laborer, from landlord robl-ry and worse across the ma, to bo forged in chains here in tho laud of tiie free, from which oven flight is impossible. im-possible. The boss owns tho house In w hlch he lives and puts on tho rent what he takes Irom bis wages. His mortgage mort-gage holds its victim fas: until he die, or, being of no further ue, Is thrown on the street with his be longings. Half an hour's travel through thesu tenements wilt discover dis-cover to you a score of Immigrants who have never learned a word of Eugliah since the day thev set foot ou American soil, ten, rh'teen, nineteen nine-teen years aa. How should they? Their trsaJoilll Is here and to it they aro chained for good an-1 all To strike for freedom means starvation. starva-tion. Father, mother and children toll at the bench together from sunrise sun-rise till far into the night for the pittance th it shall buy them bread. Here is a 'home'' iu which the chief bread-winner has dropped out. Consumption has him in his grip the tobacco, the doctor says, lie will never woik ngalu. Toe wit with a patient, uncomplaining courage cour-age that uouM oara fer her u place among the woild'a heroes, did she not live iu a Bohemian tenement. Six children aud the sick man uro to be fcl. The $S she earL Iu the sliop " goes round " somehow. Breakfast of coilee and hardtack; dinner, a good dinner, shosays. nrmed, soup, green, and bread, SO cents for them all. She doesnotsay that she herself likes a crust at tlie bench for her midday meal. Ir Is all sho can afford. But at night they sup together, sausage and bread, all they want for 10 cents. Do tht y not have enough, uie says, patting her boy ou the head. Ills eyes cll-ten hungrilyat the thought, as he nods stoutly in support or Ids mother. Aye! that they do. Ouly when the rent week comes around rations have to be shortened. THE irOMt:LES3 TKIHE. Toward the bend lit Mulberry Street slouches the tramp" army, as the police patrols aro shortened, and the night grows apace, to roost In the stale beer dives, in the two-eent two-eent restaurants down deep cellar-ways, cellar-ways, In the nldden bowels only the rent collector knows bow to find. Overflow from the tenements, this army 10,000 strong, homeless even in the big barracks that mock the name of home; toward the vile rookeries rook-eries of Thompson Street Old Africa of Infamous memory, now fast being turned into a modern Italy, worse even than the Bend. H" that be possible. pos-sible. Unutterab'e Blench of the commingling of races ou the hellish hell-ish domain of the Blsck -sud-Tan saloon. Nothing- thrives in such a soil but decay, eternal and Irremediable. Irreme-diable. Toward tho station house sets the foul tide, the beds ot tho narrow that are "mado up" by turning them over once a day and daubling them twice a month with whitewash; toward to-ward thu dump, where the Italiau street sweepers burrow among the filth, 'lhlng, eating and sleeping there;;, toward, (19 piers, where the" dock, raw havo their holes, hunted when Ibe sun is high and when darkness is upon the 'river by the haibor !ice, but eluding tbe funning of tho ferrets they resemble these avengers of the wrongs of society. The faint flicker of the midnight lamp guides them to their secret caves, far in under tbe land end of tlie pier?, which they share on equal footing Willi the -veritable rata of the docks. Toward the great, busy"newpnper offices, with their rattle and spin ef a hundred giant presses, where there is warmth, M , not shelter, carupingovcrthe stream v "agger- grates In the street Here the police and the agents of a Christian charity that must needs fight by night and by day, never slumbering; against tbe homelessnesa of the tenements, lest it overwhelm society, find aud gather them in. Toward the teeming teem-ing caravansaries of the Bowery, tlie cheap lodging houses where the harvest of tares is gathered tor the jails and Uie gallows, sets the tide of the homeless, tbe end of the oilier half that carries IU poisonous sting. It Is long pnsr midnight before rest comes also to these. TltK LAST MILTSTONK. Far from the slumbering city tiie rising moon shines over a wide expanse ex-panse of glistening water. It silvers sil-vers the snow upon the Potter's Pot-ter's Field and shortens with each passing minute tlie shadows cf countless headstones that bear no name, only numbers. Tho breakers that thunder agalnstthc blulT within with-in sight and hearing wake cot thtsj who sleep there. Their wotk was done, their cry stilled at last. In the trencher they lie .WiT" shoulder, three stories tdS! fa In death as thTy wftf save spacer In tLl" Field one in ever ten -LS1'' New York in the SSn1 was laid, too poor If L"T.e,eta even lu the poor barylBr iWs,TT a "pay cemetery.-ljgUt |