Once Mattie finds herself alone following the tragic event she faces in Chapter 19, she hopestofindhelpinhercommunity. HowdotheresidentsofPhiladelphiatreatMattie and why?

Mattie doesn'r receive much help from the town:they have their own problems. Mattie then wanders through the deserted city, finding the market completely empty. She stops by a printer's shop and discovers it is still marginally open for business, although the printer cannot place a newspaper advertisement for Mattie, seeking her mother, because he does not have enough paper to run a newspaper. She then wanders the city looking for familiar faces but is driven off by fearful residents. Mattie then begins to walk back to the coffeehouse, crestfallen and forlorn. Along the way she spies a frightened baby girl hiding inside a house and goes to inquire within, only to discover the girl's mother is recently dead of fever, still within the house, and the small child is an orphan.