game was played. They had lost handhold and
foothold, and were falling into the pit. But what
of the daughters? Living like swine, enfeebled by
chronic innutrition, being sapped mentally, morally,
and physically, what chance have they to crawl up
and out of the Abyss into which they were born
falling ?

As I write this, and for an hour past, the air had
been made hideous by a free-for-all, rough-and-tum
ble fight going on in the yard that is back to back
with my yard. When the first sounds reached me
I took it for the barking and snarling of dogs, and
some minutes were required to convince me that
human beings, and women at that, could produce
such a fearful clamor.

Drunken women fiihtin'! It is not nice to
think of; it is far worse to listen to. Something-
like this it runs:

Incoherent babble, shrieked at the top of the
lungs of several women; a lull, in which is heard a
child crying and a young girl s voice pleading tear
fully; a woman s voice rises, harsh and grating,
"You it me ! Jest you it me ! " then, swat ! chal
lenge accepted and fight rages afresh.

The back windows of the houses commanding
the scene are lined with enthusiastic spectators, and
the sound of blows, and of oaths that make one s
blood run cold, are borne to my ears.

[[50]]

p049 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p050w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p051

v?