Identifier: streetarabsgutte00need (find matches)
Title: Street Arabs and gutter snipes. The pathetic and humorous side of young vagabond life in the great cities, with records of work for their reclamation
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Needham, Geo. C. (George Carter), 1840-1902
Subjects: Child welfare Poor
Publisher: Boston : D. L. Guernsey
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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they called it — that is, tobreak open stores, and so gain fifty or a hundred dollarsat once, instead of working hard every day and all day, forthe sake of getting a few pennies. But in the Sunday-even-ing meetings of the Lodging-House, Pickety heard a greatdeal about the sin of stealing and the folly of such shortcuts to fortune, and he began to see how wrong and foolishall these things Avere; and that he ought to try in his humbleway to lead a straightforward and manly life, and to pleasethe wonderful Being: of whom the teacher read in the Testa-ment, and who had lived and died on the earth for men. So Pickety broke away from bad companions, and, findingthat liberal interest was offered in the savings-bank of theLodging-House, he put his money there ; and when, aftersome months, they would no longer keep it there, because,,they said, it was too much to risk, he felt very proud toplace it in a big savings-bank in the city. Little Pickety happened to be sent one day to the Superin-
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SHELTERED. SPECIMEN ARABS. 459 tendents sitting-room; lie knocked at the door, and hearda harsh voice cry : — Come in ! So he opened the door and entered. To his surprise, lie found no one in the cozy, tasteful littleroom. But a deep, sepulchral voice from a dark corner ofthe room asked : Who are you ? The little street-rover was not afraid of human enemies,but of ghosts he had heard many a fearful story; and henow began to quake in his shoes. Suddenly, however, hediscovered, in a cage in the corner, a strange, weird-lookingbird, about as large as a crow, dark as night, with a mostbeautiful metallic lustre on its feathers. The bird held itsgreat head sidewise, and, after peering at the boy in a mostsearching fashion for a minute, it unexpectedly exclaimed,in a tone of the deepest misery : — P-o-o-r M-i-n-o ! and again : M-i-n-o w-a-n-t-s a drinkof w-a-ter! with various other plaintive speeches, whichseemed to come from the throat of some stout, heavy alder-man. The creature ended

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