Chapter I: Introduction

The growing taste for works of this kind--works intended to promote temperance and virtue, to lift up the lowly, to expose to open day the hidden effects produced by Rum, to give narratives of misery suffered by the poor in this city--has induced the Publishers to offer liberal inducements to the author to use his powerful pen, and words of fire, to depict his "Life Scenes," and embody them in a volume, which, we are satisfied, will prove one of the most acceptable to the moral portion of the community, ever published. It is a work of high tone, that must do good. The peculiar style of the author is as original as the tales of truth which he narrates. It is unlike that of any other author, and every page is full of fresh interest and thrilling narrative.

As a temperance tale, it has no equal. As such, we hope it may prove but the commencement of a series. As an expose of life among the poor in this city, it will be read with deep and abiding interest, in all parts of this country. It is a work for the fireside of every family; a book that commends itself to the heart.

No one who has read the "HOT CORN STORIES," as they appeared in the _Tribune_, but will rejoice to have the opportunity to possess them, and many more like them, all complete and connected, in one handsome volume, such as we now offer.

To a moral and religious public; to all who would promote temperance; to all who would rather see virtue than vice abound; to all who have a heart to feel for other's woes; to all who would have their hearts touched with sympathy for the afflictions of their fellow creatures, "Life Scenes," as depicted in this volume, are respectfully commended, by

THE PUBLISHERS.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

"Oh, pshaw," says pretty Miss Impulsive, "I hate prefaces." So do I. Nobody reads them; that is, nobody but a few old fellows with spectacles. I would not write one, only that some folks think a book looks not well without. Well, then, I have written a great deal in my life--travels, tales, songs, temperance stories, some politics, a good deal upon agriculture, much truth, and some fiction, always in the newspapers, never before in a book. I know that many, very many, have read what I have written with pleasure, or else "this world is awfully given to lying," for they have said so. Will they read my _book_? That we shall see. If they do, they must not criticise too closely. Remember that some of the most thrilling sketches were written amid the daily scenes and avocations of a city editor's office, for the paper in which they first appeared, without any thought or design on the part of the author of making a book;--that was the thought of the publishers. They read the first sketches, and judged, we hope rightly, if enlarged and embodied in a neat volume, it would be appreciated as one of the best efforts, in this book-making age, to do good.

If they have judged rightly,--if it _does_ have that effect,--if the public _do_ appreciate the volume as they often have my fugitive effusions,--then shall I be rewarded, and they may rest assured, whenever they buy a volume, that a portion of the purchase money will go to ameliorate the condition of the poor, such as you will become acquainted with, if you follow me in my walks through the city, as depicted in this volume, which I offer most hopingly to all who do not know, and most trustingly to all who do know him, who has so often signed himself

Your old friend,

SOLON ROBINSON.

NEW YORK, _November_, 1853.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Scenes in Broadway
First Appearance of Hot Corn
Sally Eaton--Julia Antrim
Drunken Man Killed by an Omnibus
Bill Eaton sent to the Hospital
The Fire--Mrs. Eaton's House Burned
Three Golden Words

CHAPTER II.

Hot Corn--First Interview with Little Katy
A Shilling's Worth of Happiness
A Watch-word

CHAPTER III.

Wild Maggie
The Five Points--Dens where Human Beings Live
Wild Maggie's Home
The House of Industry--Commencement of the Ragged School
The Rat-hole--The Temperance Meeting--The Pledge--'Tis Done
Jim Reagan--Tom Nolan--His Temperance Address
Ring-nosed Bill--Snaky Jo
The Pledge and a Kiss

CHAPTER IV.

The Temptation--The Fall--James Reagan after the Pledge
The Conspiracy at Cale Jones's Grocery
Tom Top--Snaky Jo--Ring-nosed Bill--Old Angeline
Reagan Rescued by Maggie
His Second Fall
Tom Finds and Feeds Him
His Second Visit to the Temperance Meeting

CHAPTER V.

The Two-Penny Marriage--Thomas Elting

CHAPTER VI.

The Home of Little Katy
A Sad Tale and its Termination--"Will he come?"

CHAPTER VII.

Wild Maggie's Mother
Wild Maggie's Father
Wild Maggie's Letter
Death and his Victim
Greenwood, and the Rose planted by a new-made Grave

CHAPTER VIII.

Athalia, the Sewing Girl
The Morgans
Athalia's Song
Her Home--Jeannette
The Blow and its Results
Charley Vail and Walter Morgan

CHAPTER IX.

The Trip to Lake George--Preparation--A New Bonnet
One Bottle too many, and the Catastrophe
Marriage and Death
Where Shall the Dead find Rest?
Going "To Get a Drink"

CHAPTER X.

Walter Morgan and Wife--Charley Vail and Wife
Going to Savannah
The Ten Dollar Bill
Seeing is Believing
Athalia Homeless and Friendless

CHAPTER XI.

Life at the Five Points--Madalina, the Rag-Picker's Daughter
Cow Bay and its Inhabitants
Tom and the Glass of Cold Water
"I never Kiss any but those I Love"
"Our Trade," said the Fiend
Pocket-picking
The Poor-House Hearse

CHAPTER XII.

Athalia, and the Home she found
Mrs. Laylor--Nannette
The Arts of Deception
Frank Barkley

CHAPTER XIII.

The Little Peddler
The Exchange--Money for Rum, Health for Misery
Mr. Lovetree
Stella May
Savage, Civilized, and Christian Nature
A Walk up Broadway
Mysterious Disappearance
The Legless Flower-seller
Visit to a Suspicious House
Agnes Brentnall and the Negro Wood-sawyer
Phebe and her Bible
A Girl Lost
Stella May and her Mother
The Will

CHAPTER XIV.

New Scenes and New Characters
Mrs. McTravers
Visit to the Five Points
The Home of Little Katy deserted
Mrs. De Vrai--Who is she?
A Woman Drunk in the Street

CHAPTER XV.

Little Katy's Mother.
De Vrai, and a Night Scene

CHAPTER XVI.

Agnes Brentnall
Spirit Mediums
How Agnes was Deceived

CHAPTER XVII.

The Intelligence Office
Agnes' Story
Mr. Lovetree's Story
Agnes finds her Mother
Mrs. De Vrai's Story
Song--Will he Come?
A Death-bed Appeal

CHAPTER XVIII.

Julia Antrim and other Old Acquaintances
The Penitentiary--the Visit to Mrs. May
Stella May in her New Home
Julia Antrim's Story
Names and Characters for Life Scenes
Invitation to a Party
Going to be Married
Visit to Mrs. De Vrai--Mrs. Meltrand--Agnes and Adaleta

CHAPTER THE LAST.

"She is Gone, Sir!"
The Death-bed--Little Sissee
The Wedding Party at Mrs. Morgan's
Who is the Bride?--The Double Marriage
Greenwood Cemetery--the Grave
"'Tis the Last of Earth"
"Will he Come?"
In the Dark Grave Sleeping--a Poem
A Voice from the Grave--a Poem
The Last Word

HOT CORN.

LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.