Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-08-31
The Shadow. Of London Lif.

Mr.. Wilkes, editor Of the Spirit of the Times
visited, recently, some of the low places Of
London, and as he looked about him with the
eyes Of a newspaper man, he observed keenly,
and recorded faithfully what he saw. The
pictures he draws could hardly be matched
anywhere in the cities of our land, and we
trust that We shall never arrive at that pitch of
civilization which shall enable US to present
similar samples.
With party of other gentlemen, accompa.
MED by policeman to guide and guard, they
explored the subterranean haunts, which
sHarmed with thieves and squalid wretches.
On their way their pockets were angled Mt con-
tinually by experts, but they had taken the
precantion to leave their valuables at home
The first den they entered was cellar or cave,
lighted with q single rush Light, and there
were a number of rufians and 1oafers smoking
and enjoying themselves, one of whom sang a
song with taste and feeling, which betokened
he had seen better days. Their next visit is
thus described:
''0ur policemen led the way across the street,
and brushed the crowd from narrow passage.
the gap of which looked like the entrance to a
pig-sty, and was but wide enough for us to ad
vance in single file. The board fooring, suiced
and undermined by continual streams of filth,
splashed under our feet, and our noses were
assailed with vspors that seemed almost tangi-
BILE to the touch. However, we groped on,
sustained in hardihood by a common example,
though the loss of my handkerchief almost
made me deserter. Far up in this foul alley
we came to a side door, which led us into an
apartment some sixteen feet square, and about
ten feet high All was dark when we entered
but our lantern lit up a sight such as had
never seen before, and such a one pray God
L may never see again. In that contracted
lair lay thirty human beings, men, women,
and children; yes, thirty white Christians, of
Christian land, packed lead and feet in
layers, like the black cargo Of a slave-ship
under chase and most Of them adults, as we'll
as infants, as naked as they were born
"Some were families, some were man and
wife, some were single dodgers at a penny a
head. Some wore few scanty patches, others
were partially covered by sheet, but many
were threadless and Indifferent to exposure
In the center Of the room stood large tub or
reservoir, which the comfy of the apartment
permitted to be used by two or three at once;
and ia tie muck, and gloom, and stonch, and
vermin Of the place, these larvae of stined
and rotten civilization crawled and grovelIed
and profaned the rights of nature; and what
seems most strange Of all, bred souls for i'm
mortality. / deal with a repulsive subject
but surgery cannot be fastidious, and dwell
upon the features Of this den, because it exists
almost within stone throw from the palaces
of mobiles, and under the noses, il may be said
of the snufipg hypoerites of Exeter Hall whose
the wearied artisan, and who plunder we'll
meaning poverty to provide blankets and BIZ
bles for the happier heather.
"Opposite this model lodging house, over the
way, as it were, but across passage only two
feet wide, is restaurant, where chops are
cooked, Holsters and ale served out, and dirty
faced gentlemen are furnished with pipes and
tobacco at the very lowest rates. Here the
creatures who craw and move in the other room
get fed, and replenish the foul currents of their
being with fowler food. The occupation of
those who inhabit such dens as these are vari-
Gus; some are street-cadgers, who rake the
thoroughfsres for rags and paper; some are
those peculiar scavengers who gather offal, and
who become so enterprising in their calling as
to chase the coach horses in the street in anti
cipation Of a windfall-a frequent sight in
London; some are beggars; some thieves, and
some are mere losfers, who, having raised a
capital of children, send them forth to pilfer
or to beg, in order that they, their parents,
may recline in an opulence Of gin and tobacco
during the evening of their days"
Other dens of q similar description they en-
tered, and they made a tour among the GIN
palaces, and wound up their tour of Inspection
with call at the celebrated thieves kitchen;
this last being comparatively quiet, from the
fact that descent had been made upon il BY
the police not long ago.