HOT CORN, LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.

HOT CORN:
LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.

INCLUDING

THE STORY OF LITTLE KATY,

MADALINA, THE RAG-PICKER'S DAUGHTER,

WILD MAGGIE, &c.

WITH ORIGINAL DESIGNS, ENGRAVED BY N. ORR.

BY SOLON ROBINSON.

"Bid that welcome
Which comes to punish us."
"A beggar's book outworth's a noble's blood."
"Of every inordinate cup beware,
Or drink, and with it misery share."

NEW YORK:
DE WITT AND DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS,

160 & 162 NASSAU STREET.
1854.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by
DE WITT & DAVENPORT,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York

W. H. TINSON, Stereotyper, &c.,
22 Spruce Street, New York.
R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER,
53 Vesey St, N. Y.

TO

HORACE GREELEY,

AND HIS CO-LABORERS,

EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE;

The Friends of the Working Man; The Advocates of
Lifting up poor trodden-down Humanity; The Ardent Supporters of, and Earnest
Advocates for the Maine Law;
The Wishers for Better Rewards for Woman's Labor,
And All Honest Industry,

This Volume is

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY YOUR FRIEND AND FELLOW WORKER,

THE AUTHOR.

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 exposé 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].
Page
Scenes in Broadway [15]
First Appearance of Hot Corn [18]
Sally Eaton—Julia Antrim [19]
Drunken Man Killed by an Omnibus [20]
Bill Eaton sent to the Hospital [28]
The Fire—Mrs. Eaton's House Burned [30]
Three Golden Words [41]

[CHAPTER II].
Hot Corn—First Interview with Little Katy [44]
A Shilling's Worth of Happiness [46]
A Watch-word [49]

[CHAPTER III].
Wild Maggie [50]
The Five Points—Dens where Human Beings Live [53]
Wild Maggie's Home [55]
The House of Industry—Commencement of the Ragged School [60]
The Rat-hole—The Temperance Meeting—The Pledge—'Tis Done [63]
Jim Reagan—Tom Nolan—His Temperance Address [69]
Ring-nosed Bill—Snaky Jo [71]
The Pledge and a Kiss [73]

[CHAPTER IV].
The Temptation—The Fall—James Reagan after the Pledge [75]
The Conspiracy at Cale Jones's Grocery [76]
Tom Top—Snaky Jo—Ring-nosed Bill—Old Angeline [78]
Reagan Rescued by Maggie [84]
His Second Fall [85]
Tom Finds and Feeds Him [87]
His Second Visit to the Temperance Meeting [89]

[CHAPTER V].
The Two-Penny Marriage—Thomas Elting [95]

[CHAPTER VI].
The Home of Little Katy [104]
A Sad Tale and its Termination—"Will he come?" [112]

[CHAPTER VII].
Wild Maggie's Mother [115]
Wild Maggie's Father [118]
Wild Maggie's Letter [120]
Death and his Victim [129]
Greenwood, and the Rose planted by a new-made Grave [132]

[CHAPTER VIII].
Athalia, the Sewing Girl [135]
The Morgans [137]
Athalia's Song [141]
Her Home—Jeannette [143]
The Blow and its Results [148]
Charley Vail and Walter Morgan [149]

[CHAPTER IX].
The Trip to Lake George—Preparation—A New Bonnet [160]
One Bottle too many, and the Catastrophe [163]
Marriage and Death [165]
Where Shall the Dead find Rest? [170]
Going "To Get a Drink" [171]

[CHAPTER X].
Walter Morgan and Wife—Charley Vail and Wife [175]
Going to Savannah [179]
The Ten Dollar Bill [186]
Seeing is Believing [187]
Athalia Homeless and Friendless [189]

[CHAPTER XI].
Life at the Five Points—Madalina, the Rag-Picker's Daughter [190]
Cow Bay and its Inhabitants [204]
Tom and the Glass of Cold Water [217]
"I never Kiss any but those I Love" [219]
"Our Trade," said the Fiend [221]
Pocket-picking [222]
The Poor-House Hearse [224]

[CHAPTER XII].
Athalia, and the Home she found [225]
Mrs. Laylor—Nannette [228]
The Arts of Deception [230]
Frank Barkley [246]

[CHAPTER XIII].
The Little Peddler [249]
The Exchange—Money for Rum, Health for Misery [250]
Mr. Lovetree [258]
Stella May [261]
Savage, Civilized, and Christian Nature [266]
A Walk up Broadway [267]
Mysterious Disappearance [268]
The Legless Flower-seller [271]
Visit to a Suspicious House [274]
Agnes Brentnall and the Negro Wood-sawyer [283]
Phebe and her Bible [287]
A Girl Lost [289]
Stella May and her Mother [294]
The Will [297]

[CHAPTER XIV].
New Scenes and New Characters [306]
Mrs. McTravers [307]
Visit to the Five Points [310]
The Home of Little Katy deserted [321]
Mrs. De Vrai—Who is she? [324]
A Woman Drunk in the Street [328]

[CHAPTER XV].
Little Katy's Mother. [334]
De Vrai, and a Night Scene [340]

[CHAPTER XVI].
Agnes Brentnall [343]
Spirit Mediums [351]
How Agnes was Deceived [353]

[CHAPTER XVII].
The Intelligence Office [361]
Agnes' Story [364]
Mr. Lovetree's Story [370]
Agnes finds her Mother [372]
Mrs. De Vrai's Story [373]
Song—Will he Come? [383]
A Death-bed Appeal [385]

[CHAPTER XVIII].
Julia Antrim and other Old Acquaintances [386]
The Penitentiary—the Visit to Mrs. May [387]
Stella May in her New Home [388]
Julia Antrim's Story [390]
Names and Characters for Life Scenes [391]
Invitation to a Party [392]
Going to be Married [393]
Visit to Mrs. De Vrai—Mrs. Meltrand—Agnes and Adaleta [394]

[CHAPTER THE LAST].
"She is Gone, Sir!" [396]
The Death-bed—Little Sissee [397]
The Wedding Party at Mrs. Morgan's [398]
Who is the Bride?—The Double Marriage [399]
Greenwood Cemetery—the Grave [400]
"'Tis the Last of Earth" [401]
"Will he Come?" [401]
In the Dark Grave Sleeping—a Poem [402]
A Voice from the Grave—a Poem [403]
The Last Word [408]