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| Title: | Street Beggars In New York | |
| Original caption: | THERE is a vast amount of suffering among the poor of all great cities, especially during winter, when the misery of cold is added to the cravings of hunger, and charitable people need never be at a loss for deserving objects of their kindness. At the same time a distinction should be made between those who are driven to ask alms by necessity and a class of persons who are brought up to beggary as a profession, and practice it as an easier means than working to gain a living. The sketches on this page illustrate this feature of low life in New York. In one we see the little girl prepared in her wretched cellar home for going upon the street in the most effective style. She is dressed in scanty rags, and the old hag who employs her is drilling into her memory the woful story she is to repeat, as well as threatening the poor little thing with a sound thrashing if she returns empty-handed at night. It is to the credit of humanity that they rarely go home without full baskets. Nothing is easier than to declaim against professional beggary, but, after all, is it not better to give now and then to the unworthy than to run the risk of turning away a deserving sufferer whom sickness or want of work has driven to beg for food? | |
| Creator: | Sol Eytinge, Jr. (illustrator) | |
| Date: | October 24, 1874 | |
| Format: | Engraving | |
| Publication: | Harper's Weekly | |
| Source: | Available at selected libraries | |
| Location: | vol. 43, no. 930, p .885 | |
| Keywords: | Beggar; Children; Economics; Family; Ireland; Media; New York; New York City, NY; Poverty; Social Welfare & Communities; Urban Life | |
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