The Express.
London, England, 1859-01-12 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR or THE EXPRESS.

Sia,—Four years ago I left home at one o'clock on
• November morning, my destination being Victoria-
street, Holborn. Any one familiar with that street
knows th►t arches are built under the roadway. One
of these arches had for years been used as a sleeping
place by some of the London street boys. It was
nearly full of rubbish—indeed, there was only room
for a man to crawl in by lying fiat on the ground—
and it shelved off in • eloping direction, leaving just
enough room for a clergyman of the established
Church, five feet ten inches high, who was
with me, to sit upright without inconvenience,
Mast unclerical he looked, sitting there in
his shirt-sleeves; yet it was in no Bohemian
spirit that he adopted this undress, nor
was it to impress the boys with the idea that he
was desirous of descending to their level. As I have
said before, the only way of entering this place was
to crawl in ; so we took off our hats and coats, and,
lying down cm the ground, worked our way in feet
foremost. Our garments we left outside, in charge
of a young man from the Field-lane Night Refuge
opposite, to whom we were indebted for the candle,
by the light of which we were able to study the
detail/ of the interior. On the previous night I
found fourteen boys in this place—on this occasion
there were but two. The mast friendly feeling
existed between the., boys and the Refuge
master—Philpotta, sines dead—who joined as
soon after we had made the descent, this
being his first visit to the rival establishment.

About half way down a barricade of large stones had
been erected with considerable engineering skill, as
a protection against the brick-bats and other mis-
siles which the police used to shower down on the
boys to induce them to "come out of it." On the
other aide of the barricade was a quantity of clean
straw. There was scant room for six of us down
there, and how fourteen could manage to pack them-
selves mast be left to the imagination. They did it
" somehow," they said, and when the place was full
there would • be a " scrimmage" for the most shel-
tered spot, during which the weakest went to the
wall. At the end of three-quarters of an hour we
crept out, resumed our clothes, and walked home,
escorted part of the way by our friends the Arabs
of Field-lase. This was but one of scores of
midnight visits I have made to the haunts
of the Homeless during several years, my object
being as much to study the habits and traditions of
the street boy se to offer to help those who cared to
help themselves. I have pulled boys from under
tarpaulins on snowy nights in Covent-garden Mar-
ket, and with those I certainly would not have
changed places ; but I declare honestly and sin-
cerely that I should prefer to lodge any number of
nights in the Victoria-street Cam than in hundreds
of rooms I have visited in various parts of London.
There appears to be a desire on the part of the
public to know the history of the outcast race—what
it is, and where it comes from. The answer can be
supplied. There are many men occupying the
same position as the one I am placed in who are
able to give evidence on this subject. This is why
I write. I beg to offer, as a public servant, any-
thing I may have gathered as I bad opportunity.
It is only by collecting facts of all kinds, from all
sorts of sources, that a right conclusion can be come
to, and the proper remedy applied to this or to any
other form of emit' evil. The following are a few
historical details of the 16 boys discovered in the
vault on the nights referred to.

Seven out of the numbei were boys of from 10 to
14 years of age, having, according to their own ad-
mission, homes to go to, some of them situate
in the neighboorheod of Saffron-hill. In all
probability any comparison between the homes
and the cave would end in favour of the
latter. No. 8. 16 years old ; an orphan, read
and write well; never in prison; had been in
two or three planes as errand boy ; had earned Is. Bd.
that day ; had besides a few shillings in the hands of
the Refuge master, the result of former days' savings;
mostly earned hie money in Billingsgate-market;
now in Canada. No. 9. 18 years old; read and
write well; six years on the streets; had been
in many situations; three times in prison; thought
he should some day get out of the streets; subse-
quently enlisted. No. 10. 18 years old; neither
read nor write, and "didn't want to;" his father
never had and why should he ? from Bristol ; never
in prison, bat occasionally pilfered ; now in Bristol.
No. 11. 16 years old ; an orphan ; from Essex ;
read and write well; never in prison; three years
on the streets; worked at odd jobs in Billingsgate-
market, and in partnership with No. 8; had been in
tesera' errand boa's places, bat could not keep them
in consequence of unsettled habits; now in Canada.
No. 12. 16 years old ; had a father a foreman in •
boottnaker's warehouse ; might have been with him ;
in prison 20 times ; had a brother at that time a
thief, bat uow herd-working and respectable; is
now a thief, and has been in prison many times
since the night referred to. No. 13. 17 years old; an
orphan, and an ugly one too; the son of a soldier;
neither read nor write ; never in prison ; three years
on the streets; worked at odd jobs in Covent-garden
and Farringdon markets, and always earned • few
pence daily ; now in the Guards. No. 14. 15 years
old; read and write well ; an orphan ; divided his
time between jobbing in the markets and thieving;
three or four times in prison ; hare last sight
of him for some time; the last time I heard
of him he was still, after many attempts
at • regular honest life, on the streets.
No. 15.16 years old ; an orphan ; read and write im-
perfectly; from Ireland ; several times in prison;
mostly pilfering in the streets; now in Canada.
No. 16. 12 years old; neither read nor write; had a
father, bet did not know where he was ; the father
was afterwards found, and the boy returned to him.
These are, in the barest words, the main facts of this
one incident. I cannot now disease its phenomena,
but—my time and your space permitting—will do
so in another letter.—l am, &e.,
WILLIAM DRIVER.
Home for Outcast Boys, Belvedere-crescent,
Lambeth, 8., Jan. 11.