Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1851-04-19

Immediately, and frankly ackno"leugeu thoii 0l
ror-apologized to their wives--kissed them all
around and soon retired in perfect good humor
"PhySiCian, Heal TbySeif.
Facts and statistics, collected by authority of the
British Parliament, have been often published, ex-
hibtnp to the world the gross ignorance and de-
pravty of thousands of the operatives and aborers
in the factories and mines of Great Britain, and
disclosed moral, social and religious condition far
below that of the American slave. We were not,
however until recently aware that such numbers
in the streets of London, that heart and center OF
English civilization, reduced to such state
of utter debasement as is exhibited by work now
in course of publication in London, entitled Lon
don Labor and London Poor" The author is Mr.
Henry Mavhew, a son-in-law of Douglas Jerrold.
The facts which he presents IN relation to large
portion of the London population are startling and
most melancholy. OF the degraded classes whose
fearful condition he describes, the ''sreet folk
occupy his first attention. Of these he informs
that the costermongers alone numbered thirty thou
sand men, women and children. Of other classes
who obtain their livelihood enterely IN the streets,
he suppOSes that there are one thousand street
one thousand old clothes men, five hun
dred sellers of water-cresses, two thousand coffee
stalls, three hundred vendors of cats meat, one
thousand bone grubbers, one thousand crossing
sweepers, the same number each of chimney sweep
ers, turn cocks and lamp-hghters, making with 9TH
ers engaged in the streets, upwards of fifty thou
sand persons OF course these people suffer terri
bly, from poverty and want, but the following de-
scription of their domestic relations adds even a
darker shade to the picture.
Marriages and Concubinage of tile C0Stermon-
gers.-Only one-tenth-at the outside one-tenth-
of the couples living together and carrying on the
costermongerng trade, married. In Clerken-
well parish, however, where the number of marri-
ed couples is about fifth of the whole this differ
ence is easily accounted for as in Advent and Eas-
ter the incumbent of that parish marres poor coup
les without a fee. Of the rights of Legitimate
children, the costermongers understand nothing,
and account 1t mere waste of money and time to
go through the ceremony of wedlock, when pain
can live together, and can be quite as well regar-
ded by their fellows, without it. The married wo-
men associate with the unmarried mothers of fam
lilies without the slightest scruple. There is nc
honor attached to the marriage state and no shame
to concubinage. Neither are the unmarried womer
less faithful to their partners than the married
but | understand of the two classes, the unmarr
ed betray the most jealousy.
Notwithstanding this fidelity, it appears the
''larking and joking" of the young, and sometime
of the middle aged people, among themselves, il
anything but delicate, The unmarried separate
as seldom as the married. The fidelity character
izing the women does not belong to the men,
1.-The dancing are the places where tn.
matches are made up. There the boys go to lool
out mates, and sometimes match is made VI
the first night of meeting, and the couple live to
gether forthwith. The girls at these dances ar
all the daughters of costermongers, or of person
pursuing some other course of street life. Union
take place when the lad is but fourteen. Two O
three out of one hundred have their female help
mates at an early age, but the females is general
ly couple of years older than her partner. Near
ly all the costermongers form such alliances as
have described, when both parties are under TWEEN
ty. One reason why these alliances are contract
ed at early ages is, that when boy has assisted
his father, or any one engaging him, in the bust
ness of a costermonger; he knows that he can Dor
row money and hire shallow or borrower h
may have saved 5s.-'and then if the father vexe
him snubs him, said one of my informants, hel
tell his father to go to h-ll and he and his gal wi
start on their own accounts ''-Richmond Repub
i lican.