There was no nursery
within reach. And I remember the procession of baby-carriages
that answered our appeal. It strung clear across the street into
Chatham Square. Whatever we needed we got. We saw the great heart
of our city, and it was good to see.
Personally I had little to do with it, except to form the link
with the official end of it, the summer doctors, etc., and to make
trouble occasionally. As, for instance, when I surreptitiously
supplied an old couple we had charge of with plug tobacco. The
ladies took it ill, but, then, they had never smoked. I had, and
I know what it is to do without tobacco, for the doctor cut my
supply off a long while ago. Those two were old, very old, and
they wanted their pipe, and they got it. I suppose it was irregular,
but I might as well say it here that I would do the same thing again,
without doubt. I feel it in my bones. So little have I profited. But,
good land! a pipe is not a deadly sin. For the rest, I was mighty
glad to see things managed with system. It was a new experience
to me. On the _Tribune_ I had a kind of license to appeal now and
again for some poor family I had come across, and sometimes a good
deal of money came in.
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