Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Twain [pseud.] [with an appreciation by Brander Matthews and an introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine]

TO THE PERSON SITTING IN DARKNESS
(North American Review, 90oI)
See introduction to this volume for some account
of this and the following article.
Christmas will dawn in the United States over a people full of
hope and aspiration and good cheer. Such a condition means
contentment and happiness. The carping grumbler who may
here and there go forth will find few to listen to him. The
majority will wonder what is the matter with him and pass
on.-New York Tribune, on Christmas Eve.
From the Sun, of New York:
The purpose of this article is not to describe the terrible
offenses against humanity committed in the name of Politics
in some of the most notorious East Side districts. They could
not be described, even verbally. But it is the intention to let the
great mass of more or less careless citizens of this beautiful
metropolis of the New World get some conception of the havoc
and ruin wrought to man, woman, and child in the most densely
populated and least-known section of the city. Name, date, and
place can be supplied to those of little faith-or to any man who
feels himself aggrieved. It is a plain statement of record and
observation, written without license and without garnish.
Imagine, if you can, a section of the city territory completely
dominated by one man, without whose permission neither legitimate nor illegitimate business can be conducted; where illegitimate business is encouraged and legitimate business discouraged;
where the respectable residents have to fasten their doors and
windows summer nights and sit in their rooms with asphyxiating
air and Ioo-degree temperature, rather than try to catch the
faint whiff of breeze in their natural breathing places, the stoops
of their homes; where naked women dance by night in the streets,
and unsexed men prowl like vultures through the darkness on
"business" not only permitted but encouraged by the police;
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