[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]

HOT CORN.

LIFE SCENES IN NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED.

CHAPTER I.

OUR TITLE.—THE STORY.

"How hard it is to hide the sparks of nature."

"It is a queer title for a book; what can it mean?" is the exclamation of those who open it for the first time.

Visit this city—walk with me from nine o'clock till midnight, through the streets of New York, in the month of August, then read the first interview of the author with little Katy, the Hot Corn girl, and the story of her life, and you will not ask, "What does it mean?" But you may ask, what does it mean that I see so many squalid-looking women, so many tender children, so many boys, who with well directed labor might work their way to fortune; or crippled men, sitting upon the stone steps along the street crying, "Hot corn! here's your nice hot corn—smoking hot, smoking hot, just from the pot!" Your heart, if it has not grown callous, will be pained as mine has been at the sights of misery you will meet with, and you will then exclaim, "What does it mean that I see these things in the very heart of this great commercial city, where wealth, luxury, extravagance, all abound in such profusion? Surely the condition of the people, the ways and wants of the poor, cannot be known, or they would be improved. Why does not somebody write a book illustrating these 'Life Scenes in New York,' whose every page shall be a cry, startling as this of 'Hot corn, hot corn!' now pealing in the midnight air?"