The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1864-11-22
A LONDON NIGHT.

Ho,o the Lo,oer Classes Of English Society .SuBer
The London Times has the following account OF
some night scenes in London, curiously ilustra-
+ tive of some of the statements made by Mr. Kay
in his work on the "Social Condition of the Eng
! lish People - r. Is -aiz sf -ss11.
A few evenings ago, a little before o'clock,
when the darkness was heavy and damp with that
/ slow, lncessant November rain, which seems To
creep under any shelter and to spread its cold
touch over every part of the body, any unwilling
passenger who had to pass at the back of the ma
tional gallery would have noticed close crowd Of
more than forty persons pressing one of the doors
of St. Marthas work house He would have found
that they were waiting for the opening of the casual
ward in the hope of obtaining nights shelter and
a little food. ss s,4l,- ~ $40 - ga-
| If he went up to them he would have seen them
huddled together for warmth. They would have
taken little notice of him, except that q man on
the outside of the circle might glance uneasily at
him, and ed se away as if he did not like to be
seen, and, as if moved by sense of suspicion,
whisper to the stranger, 81 never did this in my
lite before" @a- t-~r.a
The work-house only admits, rs rule, twelve
men aud twelve%women, and some of them must
have the door shut against them. The door soon
opens, and all their eyes fasten on hurley we'll
dressed, welleombed, well-brushed official, the
greatest possible contrast to the ring of paeness
squalor, and dirt outside. He is well accustomed
to this sort of sight, and there is quiet business
like coolness about his manner in strange con-
trast with the eager, imporng of the helpless
faces below him. He surveys the group carefully,
first to see If there any who have been there
before for it will cot do to allow the casual ward
to become an ordinary refuge to any one As he
is sHre to have to turn away some, he will admit
those who have not been there before. Ii is too.
great luxury to be enjoyed by any one two nights
running. --sf ra#.1t .s.f -z
AT last he makes sign, and one woman. passed
in, and another, and another, up to dozen or so,
and then pale, weary-lookng woman, with young
features but aged looking hair, is pushed one
side, not roughly, but irresistiby by his arm, and
her head drops back and her eyes close despair
ngy as she falls away into the rain fog Then he
looks around at the men and admits few of them,
pushing one two Of them back with touch of
roughness he hardly showed the women. "Don't
tell me no lies" be says sharply, to one who
sures him 81 wasn't here last night, sir" in toae
which seems to imply that he knows why he is
rejected Fewer OF them arc admitted than of the
women, but there still about dozen and
half of men and women outside. at is very wet,
sir says pious woman's voice. Il know it is
wet" he says as though the circumstances were
quite familiar to him, "but haven't room for all
of you" After a word with the authorities be-
hind he admits one or two more, and the door
shuts quietly, but inevitably; and il is good
for these who remain to look up at tho light above
the door and hope for warmth within, and they
turn their faces away to the night. !.
They do not grumble the mass of them hardly
make one murmur; they know their fate, and tits
inevitable, and they submit in passive despair.
Only one Irish woman begins to raise wall of
complaint. and seems, alone of them all, inclined
to relieve herself by hard words against the work
house authorities. They break the circle and be-
gin to shrink away, but, as the Irish woman turcs
and sees gentleman waiting behind, she raises.
her voice to louder aud director tone of com
plant and then the others, who seemed to want
even spirit enough to beg, follow her loud and less
sensitive example, and gather in a doubtful and
less puzzled circle around the stranger and then
when he can get the Irishwoman to be quiet be
may hear, in dull impassive tones, where the help
less creatures come from and what they have been
doing. 1t is always the same story: "No work
for three months" sit has been dull time for
trade" Some shave had no work since summer
Another "hopes for work in February" One
woman a single woman, has only "hall few
weeks work all the spring and summer s,a She has
no home and no friends in London, and she. an
swers all questions with sort of numbcrcdapathy,
which is almost more painfulto listen to than sharp
suffering. If they are asked what they will do,
they shrug themselves and say they suppose. they
must sleep on the stones they can get lodging
in ST. lies for three pence That half hopeless
hint is the only apl5Iach they make to beg, lis
night, and man must haveta hard heart to have
witnessed and questioned their misery and net
give them enough to get lodging all around and
then, with the strange confidence of fellow despair,
those who have the money will be trusted to go aud
get lodgings, and the remainder will hneer until
they are stretched under the cold shelter of door
in the wall of the work house. d ssl..,s
We believe similar scene, sometimes worse
than this is to be witnessed nearly every night at
the door of st. Martins work house At almost
any hour of the night men and women may be seen
huddled all together On the steps of the National
gallery or the doorsteps of The house-.the men
often with coat, torn and filthy shirt, and nse-
less shoes, and the women in ragged, wet, and
filthy dresses, which bang about them in still more
desolate ruin than even the broken down appear
ance of the men. asF ssa raf,l
Or, more pitable still, one may come upon an
undistinguishable lump of rags, and on bending
down to examine it, finds it 10 be girl bent up
with her head between her knees, shrinking from
the weather in the bare recess of door step, apd
asleep and it seems more charitable TO leave her
to forget her misery for an hour or two than to
give her something, and wake her again TO desc
la:ion. 49, -. .s.lss i,4stssa ssf. ii
BoxDED ExEMPTs.--We are authorized to say
that Judge Saunders, in the ease of the Bonded
Exempts, pending before him on haIsaf corpus
has, decided against The parties, and rensnded
=