_ON_ the next morning, after some persuasion, Edith consented to
postpone her visit to Grubb's court until after her father had seen Mr.
Paulding, the missionary.
“Let me go first and gain what information I can,” he urged. “It may
save you a fruitless errand.”
It was not without a feeling of almost unconquerable repugnance that
Mr. Dinneford took his way to the mission-house, in Briar street. His
tastes, his habits and his naturally kind and sensitive feelings all
made him shrink from personal contact with suffering and degradation.
He gave much time and care to the good work of helping the poor and the
wretched, but did his work in boards and on committees, rather than in
the presence of the needy and suffering. He was not one of those who
would pass over to the other side and leave a wounded traveler to
perish, but he would avoid the road to Jericho, if he thought it likely
any such painful incident would meet him in the way and shock his fine
sensibilities. He was willing to work for the downcast, the wronged, the
suffering and the vile, but preferred doing so at a distance, and not in
immediate contact. Thus it happened that, although one of the managers
of the Briar street mission and familiar with its work in a general way,
he had never been at the mission-house--had never, in fact, set his foot
within the morally plague-stricken district in which it stood. He had
often been urged to go, but could not overcome his reluctance to meet
humanity face to face in its sadder and more degraded aspects.
Now a necessity was upon him, and he had to go. It was about ten o'clock
in the morning when, at almost a single step, he passed from what seemed
paradise to purgatory, the sudden contrast was so great. There were but
few persons in the little street; where the mission was situated at that
early hour, and most of these were children--poor, half-clothed, dirty,
wan-faced, keen-eyed and alert bits of humanity, older by far than their
natural years, few of them possessing any higher sense of right and
wrong than young savages. The night's late orgies or crimes had left
most of their elders in a heavy morning sleep, from which they did
not usually awaken before midday. Here and there one and another came
creeping out, impelled by a thirst no water could quench. Now it was a
bloated, wild-eyed man, dirty and forlorn beyond description,
shambling into sight, but disappearing in a moment or two in one of the
dram-shops, whose name was legion, and now it was a woman with the
angel all gone out of her face, barefooted, blotched, coarse, red-eyed,
bruised and awfully disfigured by her vicious, drunken life. Her steps
too made haste to the dram-shop.
Such houses for men and women to live in as now stretched before
his eyes in long dreary rows Mr. Dinneford had never seen, except in
isolated cases of vice and squalor. To say that he was shocked would but
faintly express his feelings. Hurrying along, he soon came in sight of
the mission. At this moment a jar broke the quiet of the scene. Just
beyond the mission-house two women suddenly made their appearance, one
of them pushing the other out upon the street. Their angry cries rent
the air, filling it with profane and obscene oaths. They struggled
together for a little while, and then one of them, a woman with gray
hair and not less than sixty years of age, fell across the curb with her
head on the cobble-stones.
As if a sorcerer had stamped his foot, a hundred wretched creatures,
mostly women and children, seemed to spring up from the ground. It was
like a phantasy. They gathered about the prostrate woman, laughing and
jeering. A policeman who was standing at the corner a little way off
came up leisurely, and pushing the motley crew aside, looked down at the
prostrate woman.
“Oh, it's you again!” he said, in a tone of annoyance, taking hold of
one arm and raising her so that she sat on the curb-stone. Mr. Dinneford
now saw her face distinctly; it was that of an old woman, but red,
swollen and terribly marred. Her thin gray hair had fallen over her
shoulders, and gave her a wild and crazy look.
“Come,” said the policeman, drawing on the woman's arm and trying to
raise her from the ground. But she would not move.
“Come,” he said, more imperatively.
“Nature you going to do with me?” she demanded.
“I'm going to lock you up. So come along. Have had enough of you about
here. Always drunk and in a row with somebody.”
Her resistance was making the policeman angry.
“It'll take two like you to do that,” returned the woman, in a spiteful
voice, swearing foully at the same time.
At this a cheer arose from the crowd. A negro with a push-cart came
along at the moment.
“Here! I want you,” called the policeman.
The negro pretended not to hear, and the policeman had to threaten him
before he would stop.
Seeing the cart, the drunken woman threw herself back upon the pavement
and set every muscle to a rigid strain. And now came one of those
shocking scenes--too familiar, alas! in portions of our large Christian
cities--at which everything pure and merciful and holy in our nature
revolts: a gray-haired old woman, so debased by drink and an evil life
that all sense of shame and degradation had been extinguished, fighting
with a policeman, and for a time showing superior strength, swearing
vilely, her face distorted with passion, and a crowd made up chiefly
of women as vile and degraded as herself, and of all ages, and colors,
laughing, shouting and enjoying the scene intensely.
At last, by aid of the negro, the woman was lifted into the cart and
thrown down upon the floor, her head striking one of the sides with a
sickening _thud_. She still swore and struggled, and had to be held down
by the policeman, who stood over her, while the cart was pushed off to
the nearest station-house, the excited crowd following with shouts and
merry huzzas.
Mr. Dinneford was standing in a maze, shocked and distressed by this
little episode, when a man at his side said in a grave, quiet voice,
“I doubt if you could see a sight just like that anywhere else in all
Christendom.” Then added, as he extended his hand,
“I am glad to see you here, Mr. Dinneford.”
“Oh, Mr. Paulding!” and Mr. Dinneford put out his hand and grasped that
of the missionary with a nervous grip. “This is awful! I am sixty years
old, but anything so shocking my eyes have not before looked upon.”
“We see things worse than this every day,” said the missionary. “It is
only one of the angry boils on the surface, and tells of the corrupt
and vicious blood within. But I am right glad to find you here, Mr.
Dinneford. Unless you see these things with your own eyes, it is
impossible for you to comprehend the condition of affairs in this by-way
to hell.”
“Hell, itself, better say,” returned Mr. Dinneford. “It is hell pushing
itself into visible manifestation--hell establishing itself on the
earth, and organizing its forces for the destruction of human souls,
while the churches are too busy enlarging their phylacteries and making
broader and more attractive the hems of their garments to take note of
this fatal vantage-ground acquired by the enemy.”
Mr. Dinneford stood and looked around him in a dazed sort of way.
“Is Grubb's court near this?” he asked, recollecting the errand upon
which he had come.
“Yes.”
“A young lady called to see you yesterday afternoon to ask about a child
in that court?”
“Oh yes! You know the lady?”
“She is my daughter. One of the poor children in her sewing-class
told her of a neglected baby in Grubb's court, and so drew upon her
sympathies that she started to go there, but was warned by the child
that it would be dangerous for a young lady like her to be seen in that
den of thieves and harlots, and so she came to you. And now I am here in
her stead to get your report about the baby. I would not consent to her
visiting this place again.”
Mr. Paulding took his visitor into the mission-house, near which they
were standing. After they were seated, he said,
“I have seen the baby about which your daughter wished me to make
inquiry. The woman who has the care of it is a vile creature, well known
in this region--drunken and vicious. She said at first that it was her
own baby, but afterward admitted that she didn't know who its mother
was, and that she was paid for taking care of it. I found out, after
a good deal of talking round, and an interview with the mother of the
child who is in your daughter's sewing-class, that a girl of notoriously
bad character, named Pinky Swett, pays the baby's board. There's a
mystery about the child, and I am of the opinion that it has been
stolen, or is known to be the offcast of some respectable family. The
woman who has the care of it was suspicious, and seemed annoyed at my
questions.”
“Is it a boy?” asked Mr. Dinneford.
“Yes, and has a finely-formed head and a pair of large, clear, hazel
eyes. Evidently it is of good parentage. The vicious, the sensual and
the depraved mark their offspring with the unmistakable signs of their
moral depravity. You cannot mistake them. But this baby has in its
poor, wasted, suffering little face, in its well-balanced head and deep,
almost spiritual eyes, the signs of a better origin.”
“It ought at once to be taken away from the woman,” said Mr. Dinneford,
in a very decided manner.
“Who is to take it?” asked the missionary.
Mr. Dinneford was silent.
“Neither you nor I have any authority to do so. If I were to see it cast
out upon the street, I might have it sent to the almshouse; but until I
find it abandoned or shamefully abused, I have no right to interfere.”
“I would like to see the baby,” said Mr. Dinneford, on whose mind
painful suggestions akin to those that were so disturbing his daughter
were beginning to intrude themselves.
“It would hardly be prudent to go there to-day,” said Mr. Paulding.
“Why not?”
“It would arouse suspicion; and if there is anything wrong, the baby
would drop out of sight. You would not find it if you went again. These
people are like birds with their wings half lifted, and fly away at the
first warning of danger. As it is, I fear my visit and inquiries will be
quite sufficient to the cause the child's removal to another place.”
Mr. Dinneford mused for a while:
“There ought to be some way to reach a case like this, and there is,
I am sure. From what you say, it is more than probable that this poor
little waif may have drifted out of some pleasant home, where love would
bless it with the tenderest care, into this hell of neglect and cruelty.
It should be rescued on the instant. It is my duty--it is yours--to see
that it is done, and that without delay. I will go at once to the mayor
and state the case. He will send an officer with me, I know, and we will
take the child by force. If its real mother then comes forward and shows
herself at all worthy to have the care of it, well; if not, I will see
that it is taken care of. I know where to place it.”
To this proposition Mr. Paulding had no objection to offer.
“If you take that course, and act promptly, you can no doubt get
possession of the poor thing. Indeed, sir”--and the missionary spoke
with much earnestness--“if men of influence like yourself would come
here and look the evil of suffering and neglected children in the face,
and then do what they could to destroy that evil, there would soon be
joy in heaven over the good work accomplished by their hands. I could
give you a list of ten or twenty influential citizens whose will would
be next to law in a matter like this who could in a month, if they put
heart and hand to it, do such a work for humanity here as would make the
angels glad. But they are too busy with their great enterprises to give
thought and effort to a work like this.”
A shadow fell across the missionary's face. There was a tone of
discouragement in his voice.
“The great question is _what_ to do,” said Mr. Dinneford. “There are no
problems so hard to solve as these problems of social evil. If men and
women choose to debase themselves, who is to hinder? The vicious heart
seeks a vicious life. While the heart is depraved the life will be evil.
So long as the fountain is corrupt the water will be foul.”
“There is a side to all this that most people do not consider,” answered
Mr. Paulding. “Self-hurt is one thing, hurt of the neighbor quite
another. It may be questioned whether society has a right to touch the
individual freedom of a member in anything that affects himself alone.
But the moment he begins to hurt his neighbor, whether from ill-will
or for gain, then it is the duty of society to restrain him. The common
weal demands this, to say nothing of Christian obligation. If a man were
to set up an exhibition in our city dangerous to life and limb, but
so fascinating as to attract large numbers to witness and participate
therein, and if hundreds were maimed or killed every year, do you think
any one would question the right of our authorities to repress it? And
yet to-day there are in our city more than twenty thousand persons who
live by doing things a thousand times more hurtful to the people than
any such exhibition could possibly be. And what is marvelous to think
of, the larger part of these persons are actually licensed by the State
to get gain by hurting, depraving and destroying the people. Think of
it, Mr. Dinneford! The whole question lies in a nutshell. There is
no difficulty about the problem. Restrain men from doing harm to each
other, and the work is more than half done.”
“Is not the law all the while doing this?”
“The law,” was answered, “is weakly dealing with effect--how weakly let
prison and police statistics show. Forty thousand arrests in our city
for a single year, and the cause of these arrests clearly traced to the
liquor licenses granted to five or six thousand persons to make money
by debasing and degrading the people. If all of these were engaged in
useful employments, serving, as every true citizen is bound to do, the
common good, do you think we should have so sad and sickening a record?
No, sir! We must go back to the causes of things. Nothing but radical
work will do.”
“You think, then,” said Mr. Dinneford, “that the true remedy for all
these dreadful social evils lies in restrictive legislation?”
“Restrictive only on the principles of eternal right,” answered the
missionary. “Man's freedom over himself must not be touched. Only his
freedom to hurt his neighbor must be abridged. Here society has a right
to put bonds on its members--to say to each individual, You are free to
do anything by which your neighbor is served, but nothing to harm him.
Here is where the discrimination must be made; and when the mass of the
people come to see this, we shall have the beginning of a new day. There
will then be hope for such poor wretches as crowd this region; or if
most of them are so far lost as to be without hope, their places,
when they die, will not be filled with new recruits for the army of
perdition.”
“If the laws we now have were only executed,” said Mr. Dinneford,
“there might be hope in our legislative restrictions. But the people
are defrauded of justice through defects in its machinery. There are
combinations to defeat good laws. There are men holding high office
notoriously in league with scoundrels who prey upon the people. Through
these, justice perpetually fails.”
“The people are alone to blame,” replied the missionary. “Each is busy
with his farm and his merchandise with his own affairs, regardless
of his neighbor. The common good is nothing, so that his own good is
served. Each weakly folds his hands and is sorry when these troublesome
questions are brought to his notice, but doesn't see that he can do
anything. Nor can the people, unless some strong and influential leaders
rally them, and, like great generals, lead them to the battle. As I said
a little while ago, there are ten or twenty men in this city who, if
they could be made to feel their high responsibility--who, if they could
be induced to look away for a brief period from their great enterprises
and concentrate thought and effort upon these questions of social
evil, abuse of justice and violations of law--would in a single month
inaugurate reforms and set agencies to work that would soon produce
marvelous changes. They need not touch the rottenness of this half-dead
carcass with knife or poultice. Only let them cut off the sources
of pollution and disease, and the purified air will do the work of
restoration where moral vitality remains, or hasten the end in those who
are debased beyond hope.”
“What could these men do? Where would their work begin?” asked Mr.
Dinneford.
“Their own intelligence would soon discover the way to do this work if
their hearts were in it. Men who can organize and successfully conduct
great financial and industrial enterprises, who know how to control
the wealth and power of the country and lead the people almost at will,
would hardly be at fault in the adjustment of a matter like this.
What would be the money influence of 'whisky rings' and gambling
associations, set against the social and money influence of these
men? Nothing, sir, nothing! Do you think we should long have over six
thousand bars and nearly four hundred lottery-policy shops in our city
if the men to whom I refer were to take the matter in hand?”
“Are there so many policy-shops?” asked Mr. Dinneford, in surprise.
“There may be more. You will find them by scores in every locality
where poor and ignorant people are crowded together, sucking out
their substance, and in the neighborhood of all the market-houses and
manufactories, gathering in spoil. The harm they are doing is beyond
computation. The men who control this unlawful business are rich and
closely organized. They gather in their dishonest gains at the rate of
hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and know how and where
to use this money for the protection of their agents in the work of
defrauding the people, and the people are helpless because our men
of wealth and influence have no time to give to public justice or the
suppression of great social wrongs. With them, as things now are, rests
the chief responsibility. They have the intelligence, the wealth and
the public confidence, and are fully equal to the task if they will put
their hands to the work. Let them but lift the standard and sound the
trumpet of reform, and the people will rally instantly at the call.
It must not be a mere spasmodic effort--a public meeting with wordy
resolutions and strong speeches only--but organized work based on true
principles of social order and the just rights of the people.”
“You are very much in earnest about this matter,” said Mr. Dinneford,
seeing how excited the missionary had grown.
“And so would you and every other good citizen become if, standing
face to face, as I do daily, with this awful debasement and crime and
suffering, you were able to comprehend something of its real character.
If I could get the influential citizens to whom I have referred to come
here and see for themselves, to look upon this pandemonium in their
midst and take in an adequate idea of its character, significance and
aggressive force, there would be some hope of making them see their
duty, of arousing them to action. But they stand aloof, busy with
personal and material interest, while thousands of men, women and
children are yearly destroyed, soul and body, through their indifference
to duty and ignorance of their fellows' suffering.”
“It is easy to say such things,” answered Mr. Dinneford, who felt the
remarks of Mr. Paulding as almost personal.
“Yes, it is easy to say them,” returned the missionary, his voice
dropping to a lower key, “and it may be of little use to say them. I am
sometimes almost in despair, standing so nearly alone as I do with my
feet on the very brink of this devastating flood of evil, and getting
back only faint echoes to my calls for help. But when year after year
I see some sheaves coming in as the reward of my efforts and of the few
noble hearts that work with me, I thank God and take courage, and I lift
my voice and call more loudly for help, trusting that I may be heard by
some who, if they would only come up to the help of the Lord against the
mighty, would scatter his foes like chaff on the threshing-floor. But
I am holding you back from your purpose to visit the mayor; I think
you had better act promptly if you would get possession of the child.
I shall be interested in the result, and will take it as a favor if you
will call at the mission again.”