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William S. and Alfred Martien, John Ellard, The Newsboy, 1860, pp. 22-42, Courtesy: The American Antiquarian Society
CHAPTER III.
JOHN ELLARD.
MOST of the boys had nicknames, some of which were very odd. Among
the most prominent of these were "Didley Dumps," "Oliver Twist,"
"Dick Turpin," " Splasher," "Butter Bowls and Hot Cakes," "Butcher,"
"Soldier," "Poodle," "Canes," &c. On one occasion, while waiting
for some of the boys, I asked where they were, and was answered,
"Butcher ain't came--Piggie ain't came-- Splasher's awful hard
up, and goin' to enlist."
As new boys present themselves at the Home, they most generally
are introduced to us by some nickname. The last is "Harper's Ferry,"
so called because he sold papers on the railroad train passing
through Harper's Ferry, and was present at the capture of John
Brown.
I soon found that this practice had a degrading tendency, and
interfered not a little with the efforts made to elevate the boys.
To lift them up, their low names must be abandoned, and I am happy
to say that very few of them now remain. One was, however, too
highly prized to be dropped, and the little fellow who bore it,
was better known as "Didley Dumps" than as "John Ellard."
John Ellard was born in New York, on the 22d of February, 1843.
When three years of age he fell from a woodshed, in Albany, where
his parents then lived, and received an injury which resulted
in a lump on his breast and back, and rendered him deformed for
life.
It is said he had a decided aversion for school, and while there,
that he was more fond of play than study. A favourite amusement
was to get under the benches, unknown to the teacher, and "play
tricks on the boys." He was whipped one day for being late at
school, and finding it was not "better late than never," resolved
not to venture there again. As a child, he had a fondness for
peddling, and sold songs and matches when only eight years of
age.
In 1856 he came to Philadelphia, and commenced business as a Newsboy
at the time of the fearful Burdell tragedy, which created quite
a demand for newspapers, and proved a harvest to the boys engaged
in selling them.
His malformation affected his breathing so as to render it impossible
for him to walk any great distance without resting. He paid the
boys a cent a ride for carrying him to and from the Home upon
their back. It was grand sport to them to have "Didley" on their
back, to say nothing of the pay. A ride was stolen as chances
occurred, and the passing of an omnibus afforded too good an opportunity
to be lost. In jumping from one, opposite the Girard House, he
was run over by a carriage, and taken into the hotel, where he
was attended by a medical gentleman, who pronounced him not seriously
injured. A quarter of a dollar was handed to him, and off he started
to sell his papers.
Previous to the appearance of Master Ellard in Philadelphia, there
had been a hump-backed newsboy, known as "Didley Dumps," and the
boys thought that Ellard, being similarly shaped, should bear
the same name as "Old Did," but he thought otherwise, and indignantly
refused to answer to it. At last some ten or twelve of his companions
accompanied him to the theatre one night, and there obtained his
consent to the soubriquet by which he became so generally and
favourably known.
Sometimes his bed for the night was a door-step, at other times,
a box on the pavement, or some vacated cellar or garret. Once
he secreted himself under a bushel basket in the Post-office,
and spent the night there. A newspaper bag would afford him shelter
at other times. It was rare sport to him to get into one of these
bags at a printing office, and roll himself about. On winter nights
he would find his way between the iron bars of a window leading
to the boiler room of a printing office, and there seek shelter
from the cold and storm. One of these bars was bent, so that when
the curve was downwards, he could manage to crawl through, but
unhappily the bar once turned as he was half way in, and held
him fast, till rescued by some of his comrades, who heard his
cries for relief.
Ellard was a dear lover of fencing. A sword was presented to him
by one of his customers, and he made free use of it among the
boys. One day while thus engaged in front of an office on Third
street, an elderly gentleman, disturbed by their noise attempted
to drive them away, but Ellard thought himself too well armed
to beat a retreat, and commenced flourishing his sword in a manner
that soon convinced the gentleman of the property of self-defence.
Master Dumps was arrested and marched off a la militaire to the
police station. One of his companions sought him out, soon after
he was taken prisoner, and carried a cent's worth of tobacco to
comfort him. After a hearing before an Alderman he was released
the same evening. As might be expected in a boy that deprived
of the benefits of any proper moral training, Ellard, when incensed
would frequently give way to such violent passion as rendered
him dangerous to those who had offended him; and at other times,
under a sense of real or fancied injuries, he would indulge in
sullen obstinacy, from which was not easy to arouse him. Experience
proved that it was best to leave him in reflection, which soon
brought him to his senses.
He was a great favourite with the boys, though he sometimes handled
them rather more roughly than they liked, and beyond what any
other than a cripple would have dared to do. They were often entertained
by him with remarkable stories of fairies, kings, &c. How many
of these tales originated in his imaginative brain I know not,
but he used to get well "posted up" in conversation with some
old huckster women, who would tell wonderful things of great men,
beginning very properly with George Washington, and descending
the scale to lesser lights--as a matter of course dealing extensively
in the marvellous.
One of his favourite amusements was to stand on the table, wrapped
in a sheet, and repeat portions of Macbeth and other plays. Thus
clad, he would also repeat the following favourite passage:
" Were I so tall to reach the pole
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul:
The mind's the standard of the man."
Though not a member of the Numismatic Society, he had quite a
passion for old coins, of which he was said to be a good judge,
and turned many a penny in this lucrative trade. The most prominent
trait in his character was his generosity. He had a sympathizing
heart, and would give liberally to those in need, though he valued
his money too highly to spend it foolishly. Many of the boys received
pecuniary assistance from him. Seeing one of the boarders, who
was dismissed from the Home because he was too lazy to work for
a living, lounging about the door one day, he said to the Superintendent:
" I pity poor - If you will take him in again, I will go security
for his board." In speaking to the lad about his sad want of energy,
and of the noble and generous offer of Ellard, I urged him to
prove his appreciation of the kindness, and not to allow his benefactor
to suffer for it. His reply was, "That is not all that Ellard
has done for me; many a three and five cent piece he has given
me to buy bread with. "
Ellard had a number of regular customers to whom he carried papers.
A poor blind man was sure to be at the door of one of these customers
every day, in time to receive a penny. Sometimes he would ask
the little girl that led him, who gave the money, and,
upon being told that it was "the little newsboy," he would say,
"God bless you, my son, and may you sell all the papers you have;"
and, added Ellard, in telling this, "it comes true, for I sell
double the papers that any other boy does."
A poor lame man also received a daily allowance of a penny from
him; and if Ellard missed him on his way home in the evening,
he gave two cents the next evening. It was his custom to buy a
box of matches of a poor blind man whom he passed every morning
on his way to business. After lighting his cigar with one, he
returned the box, as a present to the man, who was so blind to
his own interest, as to quarrel with his little customer, and
accused him of stealing his matches. Ellard was exceedingly indignant
at this unjust accusation, and pronounced him an impostor, declaring
that he could see, and was only pretending to be blind.
While selling papers at the Girard House one day, a beggar entered
the hall, and solicited alms of one of the boarders, who asked
Ellard if he would give the man anything. "Whatever you give,
I will give double," was the reply. The gentleman gave a cent,
and Ellard handed him a quarter of a dollar. Feeling this silent
but severe rebuke of a poor deformed lad, the gentleman tendered
Ellard half a dollar, saying "You are an honourable little fellow."
The offer was refused by Ellard, who, turning away with an air
of independence, replied: "I make my money by selling papers."
This generous lad not only took pleasure in doing for others,
but was grateful for every act of kindness extended to him. Several
times I have heard my name called in the street, and, upon looking
round, found him running after me, to give me a paper; and I was
obliged to avoid passing his stand, as he was sure to press upon
me the most expensive paper he had.
CHAPTER IV.
NOVEL SCENES.
I was naturally desirous to know the result of the first night
at the Home, and on making inquiry the next morning, was not a
little amused to find that the eleven boys who lodged there had
occupied the whole twenty-five beds. Unused to such a luxury,
they thought they would make the most of it by going from bed
to bed. Much to the discomfort of the Superintendent, who occupied
a room below, a portion of the night was spent in testing the
rolling qualities of the bedsteads, which were mounted on castors.
There was, as a matter of course, a battle with the pillows, but
they were new, and of good material, and stood the storm well.
Ellard had the first choice of a bed, and retained it all the
time he was with us.
Religious services were held at the Home the day after it was
opened, Sunday. In the midst of a prayer, I had to separate two
boys who were fighting under one of the tables.
Bath tubs had been provided for the boys, who made good use of
them. On going to the Home early one Sunday afternoon, I found
a lad had formed such an attachment for them, that he had been
"in four times," and would, doubtless, have doubled the number
before the close of the day, had I not prevented it. The water
was dripping from him while he pleaded for permission to take
another "to get clean." Deprived of this luxury, he tendered six
cents for a bed, to which he then wanted to retire, but the regulations
forbade the use of beds at such an hour, except in cases of sickness.
One of the managers visited the Home on the evening of the 27th
of September, 1858, and saw a little fellow who had just made
his appearance, and who was in a most filthy condition. To allow
him to retire in that state was quite out of the question. The
youngster had evidently not been trained in the art of washing,
and as no one seemed willing to undertake so arduous a task, my
brother manager took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and
scrubbed him from head to foot. The supply of soap was exhausted
before the work was fully accomplished. Ellard, and some of the
other boys, I am told, looked on in perfect amazement, and contributed
two cents each for his breakfast the following morning. The poor
child had given all his earnings to his mother, who would get
what she could from him, to spend in liquor.
In more than one instance, intemperate mothers have followed their
children to the Home, where they sought shelter, and given them
much trouble and sorrow. The honest and tender-hearted lads have
wept at the mortification thus brought upon them. One of them
was forced away from the Home by his unnatural mother, in the
hope that she would thereby secure more of his earnings, but he
ran away from her, and slept in the street, rather than under
her roof. The Superintendent was once obliged to awake a child,
nine years of age, and send him to the room where his mother was
waiting for him.
She took all his money, and then allowed him to return to his
bed, and to get his breakfast the following morning as he best
could. Measures were taken to prevent a recurrence of these sad
abuses, and no little difficulty was experienced in making the
poor follows feel that they were secure under our protection.
Swearing was at first very common among the boys, but an oath
is scarcely ever heard now. Soon after the Home was opened, the
Superintendent heard a disturbance in the sleeping room one night,
and hastened to see what was the matter. One of the boys had been
chastised by Ellard, whose excuse was, "He swore three times,
and I was giving him his nine punches." The boys had agreed among
themselves, that three punches should be given for every oath,
but I very much doubt whether Master Ellard, in imposing this
penalty, paid proper attention to the multiplication table. It
is much more than likely that three times three made fifteen or
twenty in that instance.
On the 20th of October, 1858, the Rev. Mr. Bringhurst exhibited
his Magic Lantern at the Home. Eighty boys were present, and enjoyed
it exceedingly. Several exclamations, such as "That's del-atious!"
were heard during the evening, and at the close, "three cheers
for Bringhurst" were shouted for the reverend gentleman, much
to his amusement. Since then there have been two similar exhibitions,
and no boys, in any class of society, could have behaved better.
There was, of course, many a hearty laugh at the pictures calculated
to amuse, while, at other times, "That's serious," would be heard
in a faint whisper, expressive of reverence.
Much of the good accomplished at the lodging rooms in Pear street
was counter-balanced by the evil influences under which the boys
were brought at some of the places frequented by them during the
day for their meals, and it was found indispensably necessary
that a building should be provided where they could have their
meals as well as lodging, and thus be more under our care. All
seemed highly pleased at the prospect of having a residence of
their own, and for this purpose a building was engaged in Spruce
street. A day or two after, I met Ellard, and, supposing he knew
which house had been selected, I asked him how he liked the idea
of moving, when he replied, "I like the idea, but don't like the
house,” meaning the magificent structure in Chestnut street, erected
by the Pennsylvania Bank, at that time for sale, and which some
of the boys had chosen for their home.
A bright and handsome youth came up to me the evening on which
the removal to Spruce street took place, and said, "It is no longer
Rue de Pear, but Rue de Spruce." All the furniture, including
book-case, and other heavy articles, was carried by the boys,
who marched in procession, bearing their respective burdens. It
was grand sport to them, and saved the Society much expense.
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