" And now it has come. The work is
bearing fruit. On the East Side the young rise in rebellion against
the slum; on the West Side the League for Political Education runs
a ball-ground. Omen of good sense and of victory! So the country
is safe. When we fight no longer for the poor, but with the poor,
the slum is taken in the rear and beaten already.
[Illustration: My Silver Bride.]
The world moves. The Bend is gone; the Barracks are gone; Mulberry
Street itself as I knew it so long is gone. Cat Alley, whence came
the deputation of ragamuffins to my office demanding flowers for
"the lady in the back," the poor old scrubwoman who lay dead in
her dark basement, went when the Elm Street widening let light into
the heart of our block. The old days are gone. I myself am gone.
A year ago I had warning that "the night cometh when no man can
work," and Mulberry Street knew me no more. I am still a young
man, not far past fifty, and I have much I would do yet. But what
if it were ordered otherwise? I have been very happy. No man ever
had so good a time.
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