hed the alley. It stood in the center. The only drainage
was a sink in front of it. All the water used had to be carried up the
stairs and the slops carried down. The tired people did little carrying
downstairs. Pans and pails full of dishwater were emptied out the
windows with no care for the passer below. Scarcely a day passed without
a fight from this cause. A fight in the quarter was always a pleasure to
the settlement.

Sam munched his bread and sipped his water. He watched the children eat
their pieces ravenously. He couldn't finish his. He handed it to the
smallest one of the children who was staring at him with eyes that
chilled his heart. He knew the child was still hungry. Such a lunch as a
piece of bread and a tin cup of water must be an accident, of course.
He had heard of jailers putting prisoners on bread and water to punish
them. He had never known human beings living at home to have such food.
They would have a good dinner steaming hot. He was sure of that.

A sudden commotion broke out in the alley below. Yells, catcalls, oaths
and the sound of crashing bricks, coal, pieces of furniture, and the
splash of much water came from the court.

The mother rushed to the window and hurled a stone. There was a pile of
them in the corner of the room.

Sam tried to look out.

"What's de matter, ma'm? Is dey er fight?"

"No--nothin' but a rent collector." The woman smiled.

It was the first pleasant thought that had entered her mind since Sam
had come.

The dinner was as rude a surprise as the lunch. He watched the woman
fumble over lighting the fire in the stove until he could stand it no
longer.

"Lemme start de fire fer ye, ma'm," he offered at last.

"I wish you would," she sighed. "I married when I wuz seventeen and I
never had made a fire before. I don't believe I'll ever learn."

The negro was not long in observing that she knew no more about cooking
than she did about lighting a fire. The only cooking utensils in the
place were a pot and a frying pan. The frying pan was in constant use.
For dinner she fried a piece of tough beef without seasoning. She didn't
know how to make bread. She bought the soggy stuff at the grocer's.
There was no bread for dinner at all. They had boiled potatoes, boiled
in plain water without even a grain of salt or pepper. The coffee was so
black and heavy and bitter he couldn't drink it.

The father had a cup of beer with his coffee. A cup of beer was provided
for Sa