8 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



the back of a note, that man was not much to 

 him either. The other day his coachman 

 allowed the reins to slip > the horses ran away, 

 and the rich man, in trying to get out, was 

 killed. 



My personal acquaintance with my rich 

 neighbor was but slight, and of a business char- 

 acter. One June morning, when all Nature 

 was rejoicing, it became my duty to look into 

 some complaints made by citizens as to stenches 

 supposed to come from the neighborhood of 

 the Hudson River at a point where several 

 slaughter- and rendering-houses were situated 

 in violation of public health and decency. I 

 remember particularly that it had been hard 

 work for me, young and strong, fond of out- 

 door work in the sunlight, to leave my pretty 

 Jersey home that morning, to tear myself away 

 from my garden, with its strawberries in bloom, 

 from the river, upon which my little boat nod- 

 ded an invitation to sail ; to leave my children, 

 clamorous for a day in the woods or on the 

 water. But duty in the shape of an investiga- 

 tion into these evil smells took me to the sta- 

 tion, confined me for nearly an hour in a hot 

 railroad car along with some hundreds of other 



