Hot corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated Part 48

It is a pleasant drive to Greenwood Cemetery, and it is a pleasant place for the tombs of our friends. It is a good place to go to meditate, among the new-made graves in the fresh-turned earth, and among the proud monuments of those who have lain long enough beneath their marble coverings to be forgotten. I did not forget to look, as I pa.s.sed along, at the rose bush which I saw planted by a widow at the grave of her rum-murdered husband. It was growing fresh and vigorously.

Now we stand around the open grave that is soon to be filled by another victim of a trade that feeds scores and starves millions--that saves one life and causes a thousand deaths--that consigns youth, innocence and beauty, equally with old age, to a premature grave. Now we lower this last victim--still young, beautiful, intelligent, full of sweetness of disposition and kindness of heart--into her grave. Now we look at the little cherub, the darling, sweet, much loved Adaleta, her orphan child, and now at her sister's grave, then at the weeping circle, who stand and sob as the falling clods bring forth that hollow sound, never heard in any other place. Now the voice of him who says: "'Tis the last of earth," "Let us pray," breaks the charmed circle of intense silence.

Why is every eye upturned at the close? Did each listening ear fancy it heard the sound of an angel's voice in the air, breathing the words,--"Will he Come?" "Will he Come?"

And did they expect to see the face of Little Katy in the clouds, looking down upon those she loved, paying this tribute to her mother, now sleeping by her side in the grave; now with her child in the spirit land of the blest?

Now the tall corn is waving o'er the mountain and glen, And the sickle is reaping both the corn and the men; And the child that was sleeping where the lamps dimly shone, Like the corn, now is with'ring, in the vale all alone.

"Hot corn!" she was crying, in the night, all alone, "Hot corn! here's your nice hot corn!" in the grave all alone.

Where the chill rain was falling, sat the poor child asleep; Where the lights nightly burning, city vigils help keep-- Where the ague was creeping through the blood and the bone Of the child that was sleeping on the curb-stone alone.

"Hot corn!" she was crying, in the night all alone, "Hot corn! here's your nice hot corn!" in the grave all alone.

In a dark room lonely, lay the child all awake, With a voice wildly crying, "Will he come, for my sake?"

Then a good man was praying, while to her dimly shone, Poor fading light--ceases burning--and with G.o.d she's alone.

"Hot corn!" she was crying, in the night all alone, "Hot corn! here's your nice hot corn!" in the grave all alone.

In the dark grave sleeping, while poor Katy's at rest, While the wild storm raging, ever sweeps o'er her breast-- While the mourners are weeping for the dead pa.s.sed away, Let us pledge by the living that the cause we will stay.

"Hot corn!" she was crying, in the night all alone, "Hot corn! here's your nice hot corn," in the grave all alone.

A VOICE FROM KATY'S GRAVE.

Among the many poetical effusions which have been elicited by reading the story of "Little Katy," I think the following, which appeared in the New York Tribune, will be read with pleasure. It is from the pen of Mrs.

B. F. Foster, of New York:--

With dizzy whirl, on rushed the wheels Along the City's murky street, And music's light, inspiring peals Rang out from folly's gay retreat; And busy footsteps hurried past, And human voices, harsh and wild, Commingling, floated on the blast; When the shrill accents of a child Rose mid the din, in tones forlorn, And cried, "Come, buy hot corn, hot corn!"

Like some sad spirit wafted by, A stranger to the ways of earth, Came up that little plaintive cry-- Sweet discord to the sounds of mirth.

Unheeded by the reckless crowd, There stood a girl, a pale, wan thing, And 'neath her bosom's tattered shroud There lurk'd an age of suffering; While e'en till night approached the morn, In feebler voice, she cried, "Hot Corn!"

The gas lamp's glare fell on her face, But lighted not her languid eyes; And down her pallid cheeks, the trace Of tears, bespoke her miseries; With hunger gnawing at her heart, She shivered, as the night wind blew Her soiled and ragged clothes apart; Till all insensible she grew, And sinking in unblessed sleep, Forgot to cry, "Hot Corn," and weep.

Alone, so young, how came she there?

To sell hot corn so late at night; Had she no friends, no home, nowhere To rest, and hide her from the sight Of the rude world? No mother? Hush!

That holy name is not the one For Katy's parent. Woman! blush For thy lost sister; blush to own That thou canst ever fall so low, To plunge thy children into woe.

Within that mother's heart, the light Of love was quench'd, quench'd by the flood, The d.a.m.ning flood, whose waters blight All that is left of human good: And in her breast that demon reigned, Who "Give, give, give!" is ever crying; Demanding still to be maintained, While all within, around, is dying; Outpouring in its baneful breath, Destruction, sorrow, sin and death.

The lips which should have kiss'd away Her daughter's tears, dealt curses forth; The hand which should have been her stay, Was but the minister of wrath; Blind to her wants, deaf to her prayers, Regardless of the driving storm, To open streets and midnight airs, She drove that little shrinking form, To earn a dram! In shame and scorn With famished lips to cry, "Hot corn!"

"Hot corn, hot corn!"--night after night, More faint and feeble grew that voice-- Still fiercely burned each glaring light, Still music bade the town rejoice; The ceaseless footsteps pa.s.sed along, Up came the wild discordant tones, The voices of the thoughtless throng,-- The bounding wheels rolled o'er the stones,-- But midst the din, the rush, the roar, Poor Katy's cry is heard no more.

In one of those dark, noisome cells, The wretched call their home, she lies All motionless; the icy spells Of death, have closed those weary eyes; She speaks not now. Alas! how dread!

That calm reproachful silence, when Beside the wronged and injured dead, We kneel in vain! Low in that den Behold the stricken mother cower; Grown sober in one fearful hour.

She calls her, "Katy, darling!"--peers Into that pale and sunken face, She bathes her senseless brow with tears, Sees on those bruised limbs, the trace Of her own cruelty;--again She calls, and prays for one last word, Of blest forgiveness;--all in vain, The answering voice no more is heard, The soulless clay alone is there, And fell remorse, and dark despair.

Weep, wretched woman, weep! That face Shall haunt thee to thy dying day; Nor time from memory erase Thy child's deep wrongs; for they Shall scorch into thy guilty breast; In mad excitement thou shalt hear Her cries; and midst thy fitful rest, Shall that pale phantom form appear, And o'er thy drunken moping, stand To curse thee with an outstretched hand.

Yet not alone with thee, abides That curse. Oh, Men, and Christians! can Ye robe yourself in G.o.d-like pride, And boast your land, the one where man Is most exalted; yet permit The Demon Drunkenness to roam Unfettered through your streets; to sit By ev'ry corner, ev'ry home-- The weak and wretched to allure To drink, to suffer, and endure?

In mercy, then, arrest the reign Of this dread fiend; and Oh! protect Man from his self-inflicted pain.

Spare the young wife, whose hopes are wreck'd, Whose heart is crushed, whose home forsaken, Whose life's a desolated wild.

To infant prayers and tears awaken, And from the mother save the child.

Hark to that echo!--"Save, oh, save!"

Pleads a sad voice from Katy's grave.

"Pleads a sad voice from Katy's grave-- Save, oh, save!"

Fathers! mothers! sons! daughters! husbands! wives! Christians!

philanthropists! All--brothers and sisters!--hear ye that voice? If ye do not, then, indeed, are ye deaf. Then have I cried in vain. In vain I have visited the abodes of wretchedness and sin, to draw materials for my panorama of "Life Scenes in New York." In vain I have painted you dark scenes of life, instead of those which shine out in the noonday sun.

In vain have I endeavored to awaken your sympathies by relations of tales of woe, or painted vice, as I have met with it in my midnight rambles, to guard you from its snares, if I have failed to touch that chord in your heart which brings a tear to the eye, for it is that which will prompt you to action--to sleepless vigilance, to eradicate from the world the great cause of such human misery as I have depicted. It is that which, will prompt you to give, if nothing more,

"Three grains of corn, Only three grains of corn, mother,"

towards the redemption of the fallen, and protection of those who need a staff and a guide to hold them back from the precipice over which they have gone down to ruin.

Reader, if you have not yet done it, do not close the book until you have paid the tribute of a tear at the grave of

[Ill.u.s.tration: Little Katy]