Twenty-four hours in the slums--just a night and a day--yet into them were crowded such revelations of misery,depravity,and degradation as having once been gazed upon life can never be the same afterwards.Around and above his blighted neighbourhood flows the tide of active,prosperous life.Men and women travel past in street cars by the Elevated Railroad and across the bridge,and take no thought of its wretchedness,of the criminals bred there,and of the disease engendered by its foulness.It is a fearful menace to the public health,both moral and physical,yet the multitude is as heedless of danger as the peasant who makes his house and plants green vineyards and olives above Vesuvian fires.We are almost as careless and quite as unknowing as we pass the bridge in the late afternoon.
Our immediate destination is the Salvation Army Barracks in Washington Street,and we are going finally to the Salvation Officers--two young women--who have been dwelling and doing a noble mission work for months in one of the worst corners of New York's most wretched quarter.
These Officers are not living under the aegis of the Army,however.
The blue bordered flag is furled out of sight,the uniforms and poke bonnets are laid away,and there are no drums or tambourines.
"The banner over them is love"of their fellow-creatures among whom they dwell upon an equal plane of poverty,wearing no better clothes than the rest,eating coarse and scanty food,and sleeping upon hard cots or upon the floor.Their lives are consecrated to God's service among the poor of the earth.One is a woman in the early prime of vigorous life,the other a girl of eighteen.The elder of these devoted women is awaiting us at the barracks to be our guide to Slumdom.She is tall,slender,and clad in a coarse brown gown,mended with patches.A big gingham apron,artistically rent in several places,is tied about her waist.She wears on old plaid woollen shawl and an ancient brown straw hat.Her dress indicates extreme poverty,her face denotes perfect peace."This is Em,"says Mrs.Ballington Booth,and after this introduction we sally forth.