olice courts. This affords
him a few hours of rest in a comfortable place, and furnishes him with
material for thought.

In begging, the Bummer never asks boldly for aid. He always prefaces his
request with a pitiful story of misfortune, and expresses his sense of
shame at being an able-bodied man and yet compelled to "ask" for
assistance. He is an adept at deceiving good-hearted people, and very
clever at assuming the air of innocent misfortune. Thus he supplies his
wants.

In his confidential moments, he readily admits that "Bumming" is a hard
life, but he is confident that it is better than working for a living.
You cannot induce him to accept any species of employment, however light.
Vagrancy has a strange fascination for him, and he will be nothing but
what he is until five-cent whiskey sinks him to a grade still lower.
Sometimes he sees his doom afar off, and anticipates it by seeking the
cold waters of the East River. At the best, suicide is the happiest end
he can hope for, and it does not require much exertion to drown oneself.
Should he allow events to take their natural course, there is but one
prospect before him--a pauper's death and the dissecting-table.

Some of these men have had fair starts in life. Some of them are well
educated, and could have risen to eminence in some useful calling. A
fondness for liquor and a disinclination to work have been their ruin.

LX. TENEMENT HOUSE LIFE.

The peculiar formation of the island of Manhattan renders it impossible
for the city to expand save in one direction. On the south, east, and
west its growth is checked by the waters of the rivers and bay, so that
it can increase only to the northward. The lower part of the island is
being occupied for business purposes more and more exclusively every
year, and the people are being forced higher up town. Those who remain
in the extreme lower portion for purposes of residence are simply the
very poor. Those who can afford to do so, seek locations removed as far
as is convenient to them from the business section. The laboring class,
by which I mean all who are forced to pursue some regular occupation for
their support, are not able to go far from their work, and are obliged to
remain in locations which will enable them to reach their places of
business with as little delay as possible.

Consequently the bulk of the population is packed into that portion of
the city which lies between the City Hall