The Lowest Stratum

Ií Fe could get at a literal history of the lower strata of society in our larger cities we shoukl be convinced that it consists of an element permanently degenerated. It is very seldom that a member of this class rises to anything permanently worthy. You must, however, consider society every where as consisting of three strata- the upper, which is ultured and yet very subject to degenerative influences; the middle, which is Iers plastic, but on the whole moves under the influence of a better class of motives; and the lower, which is settled in habits of mendicaney and unchastity, and is frequently addicted to crime. Of course, by tbis lower class I do not mean the poor, and not invariably the drunken; for the poor are of ten the victims of misfortune, and the drunken are not seldom recoverable. But there is a class everywhere that is hopeless, ambitionless, lost; and the only good thing about them is tbat they die early, and, under proper restraint, the stock easily dries up and perisbes. I have at hand the statistics of one city of about 100,000 inhabitants. In this city it is ascertained that there are nearly 2,000 professional paupers. Now you would laugh at the idea that in America we have fixed castes. But we certainly have one caste - that of mendicancy. Very few ever rise out of its ranks. Yesterday two children, very pretty, begged ut my door. Their father is what I cali a half caste; that is, he does work at inferior, brainless jobs; but he retainsj his instincts of beggary. I have severe qualms against giving to these little, brown eyed creatures, because I see they, too, have this instinct. They do not blush at asking. They can go from door to door without sensitivo revulsión. The man is a freak in his class ; it is probable the family will not emerge. But I am sure that our habits of giving to beggars will prevent them from emerging. DESCENDANTS OF BEGOARS. Of the 2,000 reported from the city I hare quoted, nearly all sprang from aboiit thirtyfive families, that came to the city twenty years ago as beggars. They multiplied rapidly ; some families having seventeen to twenty jhildren. Of course this soon bred a small army of beggars. Marriages took placemostly within the limits of tlio caste. It is said that one young man who left the ranks, and became a well to do business man of the middle ranks of society, was looked on as a traitor, and attempts made on his life. He is the solitary exception in the history of these people, so far as known. Marriage laws have been wholly disregarded, and relatives have married and intermarried, until the relationship can hardly be traced. In one case a woman had married her own son, after having lived with half a dozen men. The original thirty-five families were, so far as known, not interrelated when they first made their appearance; but now they are thoroughly a conglomérate. Beastly habits have steadily degenerated them, until now they arebarely above the brutes. But it will not be possible to stop at this point, or we should despair of eivilization. A happy law comes in to help us. Tbe average life of the first generation of these people was about sixty years, but now, in the third generation, the average is about fif teen years. This is the fortúnate end of moral and physical degeneration; it is self destructive. It kills out vitality and so we are rid of them. They will not work ; they will beg. This is onedistinctivedefinition of the degenerate. They will not put forth any effort to rise. Motive powe r is gone. They move on the line of least resistanee. Shame is a lost faculty vvith them. They cannot understand their üivn degradat ion. ONE OF THK LOST TRIBE. The following history of one of the tribe I quote: "The family is hard to describe. They wander all over the country, living for months in hollow trees on creek bottoms. When cold weather drives them to shelter they will take any anoeeupied premises they can find. From their beastly habits they are diseased, idiotie and deformed. They are like half civilized animáis, governed more by instinct than by knowledge. The family numbers 1Ö7 persons. Several of the women have made themselves ncarly blind by the use of acids to keep their eyes ore," Ofanother family tlio record says: "They have oighteen dogs, and have been liiioivn to have as high as thirty. Nearly every male member has served in the penitentiary. Reeently a cow died in a pasture near the city, and after nightfall the eutire family, consisting of over twentv, went out and cut up the creature, and carried it home to eat." This illustration from a single city I give at length, because it is an exact parallel of what oceurs in every city of size in the land. Besides, there are townships in every state, outside of cities, where there is something so similar that the lesson is the same. The first condition of degeneration is not reversion, but perversión. The evil man does not go back on the line of his animal heredity, but turns aside into paths that are neither human nor animal. The human creature aots precisely like a degenerate animal or insect ; he becomes parasitic and lives off his neighbors. Some vegetable existences learned this trick long before man did it; and in doing so lost faculty and structural perfection. The comparison is very striking between a human hanger on and a parasitic plant that all its life clings to some other plant, suckiug the life out of it. You never saw such a ijerson who had not lost self respect, manly features, sound judgment and ability to use himself to advantace. -'E. P. K" in Democrat.