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[Illustration: HOT CORN, LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.]
HOT CORN:
LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.
INCLUDING
THE STORY OF LITTLE KATY,
MADALINA, THE RAG-PICKER'S DAUGHTER,
WILD MAGGIE, &c.
WITH ORIGINAL DESIGNS, ENGRAVED BY N. ORR.
BY SOLON ROBINSON.
"Bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us."
"A beggar's book outworth's a noble's blood."
"Of every inordinate cup beware,
Or drink, and with it misery share."
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
DE WITT AND DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS,
160 & 162 NASSAU STREET.
1854.
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by DE
WITT & DAVENPORT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court
for the Southern District of New-York
* * * * *
W. H. TINSON, Stereotyper, &c.,
22 Spruce Street, New York.
R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER,
53 Vesey St, N. Y.
TO
HORACE GREELEY,
AND HIS CO-LABORERS,
EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE;
The Friends of the Working Man; The Advocates of Lifting up poor
trodden-down Humanity; The Ardent Supporters of, and Earnest
Advocates for the Maine Law; The Wishers for Better Rewards for
Woman's Labor, And All Honest Industry,
This Volume is
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY YOUR FRIEND AND FELLOW WORKER,
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTION.
The growing taste for works of this kind--works intended to promote
temperance and virtue, to lift up the lowly, to expose to open day the
hidden effects produced by Rum, to give narratives of misery suffered by
the poor in this city--has induced the Publishers to offer liberal
inducements to the author to use his powerful pen, and words of fire, to
depict his "Life Scenes," and embody them in a volume, which, we are
satisfied, will prove one of the most acceptable to the moral portion of
the community, ever published. It is a work of high tone, that must do
good. The peculiar style of the author is as original as the tales of
truth which he narrates. It is unlike that of any other author, and
every page is full of fresh interest and thrilling narrative.
As a temperance tale, it has no equal. As such, we hope it may prove but
the commencement of a series. As an expose of life among the poor in
this city, it will be read with deep and abiding interest, in all parts
of this country. It is a work for the fireside of every family; a book
that commends itself to the heart.
No one who has read the "HOT CORN STORIES," as they appeared in the
_Tribune_, but will rejoice to have the opportunity to possess them, and
many more like them, all complete and connected, in one handsome volume,
such as we now offer.
To a moral and religious public; to all who would promote temperance;
to all who would rather see virtue than vice abound; to all who have a
heart to feel for other's woes; to all who would have their hearts
touched with sympathy for the afflictions of their fellow creatures,
"Life Scenes," as depicted in this volume, are respectfully commended,
by
THE PUBLISHERS.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
"Oh, pshaw," says pretty Miss Impulsive, "I hate prefaces." So do I.
Nobody reads them; that is, nobody but a few old fellows with
spectacles. I would not write one, only that some folks think a book
looks not well without. Well, then, I have written a great deal in my
life--travels, tales, songs, temperance stories, some politics, a good
deal upon agriculture, much truth, and some fiction, always in the
newspapers, never before in a book. I know that many, very many, have
read what I have written with pleasure, or else "this world is awfully
given to lying," for they have said so. Will they read my _book_? That
we shall see. If they do, they must not criticise too closely. Remember
that some of the most thrilling sketches were written amid the daily
scenes and avocations of a city editor's office, for the paper in which
they first appeared, without any thought or design on the part of the
author of making a book;--that was the thought of the publishers. They
read the first sketches, and judged, we hope rightly, if enlarged and
embodied in a neat volume, it would be appreciated as one of the best
efforts, in this book-making age, to do good.
If they have judged rightly,--if it _does_ have that effect,--if the
public _do_ appreciate the volume as they often have my fugitive
effusions,--then shall I be rewarded, and they may rest assured,
whenever they buy a volume, that a portion of the purchase money will go
to ameliorate the condition of the poor, such as you will become
acquainted with, if you follow me in my walks through the city, as
depicted in this volume, which I offer most hopingly to all who do not
know, and most trustingly to all who do know him, who has so often
signed himself
Your old friend,
SOLON ROBINSON.
NEW YORK, _November_, 1853.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Scenes in Broadway
First Appearance of Hot Corn
Sally Eaton--Julia Antrim
Drunken Man Killed by an Omnibus
Bill Eaton sent to the Hospital
The Fire--Mrs. Eaton's House Burned
Three Golden Words