How many prayers have been offered for the salvation of the slums; how
many sighs and expressions of regret and sympathy have been given, by
well-meaning people, for the “poor and unhealthy boys of the slums.”
Those who are familiar, and it is to be regretted that they are so few,
with the real conditions of these, supposed, unhealthy and certainly
unpleasant districts, will substantiate the declaration that the boys
who live there, in these ill-favored spots, and who have followed
the vocation of selling papers or shining shoes, until they arrived
at that age when it was necessary to seek other and more lucrative
employment, are ninety per cent. healthier and stronger and better able
to fight disease than boys raised in the most sanitary districts and in
wealthy families. The slums of Whitechapel and Westminster, in London,
inhabitated by a squalid and criminal population, as well as the slums
in New York and other American cities, maintain a healthier condition
among the inhabitants.
In a period of six years, with an enrollment of two hundred and
fifty newsboys, who belonged to the sellers auxiliary; a majority of
them living in what is called “the worst part of the city, the most
unhealthy; the most degraded; the most undesirable,” and boys who from
necessity were compelled to sell papers or shine shoes, thus requiring
an almost daily appearance upon the streets in all kinds of weather,
there were but three cases of sickness, and but one death, and this
death was caused by an explosion at a Fourth of July celebration.
Little Barney Frank, one of the brightest and most promising members
of the association died January 28, 1903, having been injured by a toy
cannon.
The president attended the funeral of this little boy and being asked
to say something touching the life of his friend, he said:
“Barney was an exceptionally bright and happy boy, loved by his
companions, and almost worshiped by his heart-broken parents. His happy
disposition, his smiles and great interest in his fellow newsboys will
live forever in the hearts of those who knew him. It is often asked why
are the young and innocent taken from us? Some of us believe that the
road to heaven opens wide to welcome little boys.
“One of the most pleasing remembrances of Barney’s life was shown in
the following incident. It was a cold November evening, with a heavy
fall of rain and sleet. I was standing in the street looking for a car
to take me home, when little Barney came running to me and said: ‘You
go in the store, in a dry place, I’ll watch for the car and I’ll call
you,’ and in spite of protestations, he stood in the rain until the car
passed. So it was always with Barney, ever looking after the happiness
of his friends.”
They took the remains to another town, and buried him in a village
graveyard. There he rests in peace. In summer the grass grows green and
the daisies and violets keep watch; and in a tree, whose branches shade
the unmarked grave, there comes a robin red-breast, and every morning
at the rising of the sun, and every evening just as the sun is sinking
behind the hills, he sings his song of love.
Who knows but that it is an angel who comes to the grave of that little
newsboy?
[Illustration: “BILLY BUTCHER, WE MUST HAVE AN UNDERSTANDIN’, WHICH
CORNER OB DE STREET WILL YOU TAKE?”]
_PART SEVENTH_