Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/505

 77/A S.l/O A'}' PILGRIMS

491

FAMILY GROUPS.

To the family, now numbering but ten persons, living in these two habitations the name "Smoky Pilgrims" has been given; chiefly on account of their dusky color and their smoky and begrimed appearance. Possibly the sickly yellow color, on account of the negro blood in the veins of part of the family, may have suggested the name. By this name they are known to the people of the town. They represent a family or tribal group with loose habits of family association. They are known as people seeking odd jobs of work, with an air of fear lest possibly they may find them ; as petty thieves, beg- gars, in part as prostitutes, and in general as shiftless, helpless, and beyond hope of reform. The mother of the tribe, who is of German or Dutch descent, was born in Ohio. When about sixteen years of age she mar- ried and with her husband

FIG. 3 -T.

lived on a small farm near Columbus. Four children were born to them. Unfortunately when the youngest child was a small boy the husband and father died, leaving the mother to struggle against late in a world of burdens. The home was sold to pay funeral expenses and the mother, perhaps unwisely, started "west " with her children, having in all about $IOO in cash as a representative of all her worldly possessions. By some means they reached the town of L, where they have since remained, being absent at times for short intervals only. Here they have never been able to improve their economic condition and have gradually descended in the social scale.