.MOODV: THE CONDITION OF PACKINc; HOUSE EMPLOYEES. 55 



of smoke, cinders and soot, is a mystery. One needs a chart and 

 compass to get about this tin}^ house, for unless he is very wary he 

 will stumble over some half-hidden obstacle and fall full length. 



No. g. A mother and daughter — husband out on a jewelry 

 peddling trip. They live in a two room house which is furnished 

 in that shabbily genteel manner so often found among poor people. 

 With a sang-froid that was laughable she plied us with questions 

 about our visit to the poor people. She said that she had heard 

 that there were some in that neighborhood, but her time being so 

 taken up with shopping, she had been unable to visit them. 



No. lo. A two room house with a shed, in which we found a 

 man by the name of Kishner, his wife and little child. The baby 

 was sick with inflamed eyes. Kishner is one of the roustabouts 

 and has averaged for the past few weeks thirty hours' work per 

 week, which, at 15 cents per hour, has not furnished them with 

 enough to live upon. He and his wife are both Christian people 

 and express themselves very thankful to God for the warm weather 

 that had so marked the winter. They pay S6 a month rent for this 

 shack. We directed Kishner to the dispensary at the Bethel Mis- 

 sion Avhere he procured medical aid for the baby and also had his 

 own eyes treated. His wife was terribly discouraged, but seenied 

 cheered up by the words of the Salvation lassie. 



No. II. A neat colored family living in a three room house. 

 The husband works in the packing house at $1.50 per day, steady 

 work. Nineteen-year-old girl, stunted and simple minded, works 

 in the canning room for $4 per week. She can neither read nor 

 write. 



Saturday night I made a tour of the gambling houses. Maltby's 

 was the largest one of these, and was running full blast when we 

 entered. The room was comparatively quiet and the men orderly, 

 to a certain extent. We cannot but be impressed with the large 

 number of poor working men in these gambling houses. An ex- 

 gambler told me that fully 60 per cent, of the frequenters of these 

 places, and a much larger per cent, in the policy shops, is com- 

 posed of poor working people. On good authority it is stated that 

 this class of people pay the running expenses of these establish- 

 ments. Thanks to a strictl}- enforced law, these gambling hells 

 have since been closed. 



On Sunday evening, in company with a friend, we visited the 

 Bethel Mission church on James street, in the very heart of the 

 West Bottoms. The membership of this church is largely composed 

 of packing house people, and in the congregation we saw many 

 faces, both of foremen and of laborers, that we had seen in the 



