Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-23

"a fortnight at which he said they could earn
two shillings and sixpence per day. Sally,
however, thought they, would not like it,.
as the sun was so very hot. and they de-
cllned. Soon after that they met a man
who paid their fare to london, where they
arrived very late, and the beershops being
all closed, he treated them to coffee instead.
Since then they had been to Wimbledon
and Wandaworth, where Navy Nell had
made a good thing ofit. A few weeks ago
she had neither stockings nor clothes, but.
said Cranky Sal, +" She is now well logged
up" ,,.....-r ...f. ,.....
9 They then began to talk about work
houses and casual wards, to all of which
Salhad paid a visit. She said the wards Of
Richmond were the best; there they had
feather beds to sleep upon, and everything
that was nice they had also good fare at
Marylebone, and a fewlOther places were
well spoken of. The nurse knew Sallgwell,r
and said, what! are you here again?"
In the winter Sally prefers Marylebone or
Richmond, and then she trades upon her
reputation for crankiness to get into the
imbecile ward, where, as she boasted, there
Is meat every day and nothing to do. All
this time the operation Of picking her
clothes was going on, and the appearance
of the women, nearly all with short hair,
was most extraordinary. About eleven
o'clock another woman came In, She had
been picking roses all day at one penny per
bushel; and "Strike me dead" says she,
g if it is not too bad, for / only earned five
pence all the day. Last year it was much
better, and | got two pence a bushel." The
last arrival was at twelve o'clock, when
woman and three children were shown in.
They were at the police station when / was
there, and she said they had been kept
waiting for more than two hours TOR the
order for admission. One child was put
into bed with the mother, another in bed
by her side, and the eldest was sent over to
the mems ward. They seemed very tired,
but for long time they never ceased get
ting up and tearing themselves to pieces;
indeed, the constant scratching of every one
in the ward went onuntil it was quite day
light. They all seemed accustomed to YER
min, and they look for nothing better.
One woman said, ''She didn't care how
many lie she had, but she couldn't abide
them Pharoah flights (leas); and she sat
for twenty minutes catching them with
great industry, and cracking them between
her nails. Another woman said, "She
would be id if she would ever pay for
nights lodging, even if she had pound in
her pocket; " but another said, "She would; 4;
for see," said she, "what a time they keep
you in to pick the oakum." "Ah," replied
the first, "if it wasn't for that would come
here every night; but do not care while
the weather is fine, l would as leave sleep
out of doors as in" "Ah," said third,
who suffered greatly, ''we have more peace
in winter, there are fewer vermin." ...
They all seemed to know that sleep was
out of the question until the feeding time
was fairly over and daylight had arrived;
then common repOse gradually took pos
session of the casuals aud their voracious
companions, and | was the only person
awake when the bell rang tor us to get up.
Shortly afterwards the woman came in and
expressed surprise that they we're not yet
dressed, and hurried them up. The beds
were then turned up, and deaf and dumb
girl brought in pint of good skilly and
piece of bread for each. After breakfast
the oakum was brought in, and we were set
to work, superintended by the female al
ready described. The operation Of picking
their clothes went on even whilstthey were
eating their breakfast, and seems the only
habitual method of cleanliness; it was con-
tinued whilst they were at work, and there
was a woman named Shipton, of middle
age, the wife of a Yagrant in the male ward
who could not sit still one moment with
-out turning up her clothes to relieve the
violent irritation of her skin. After sit
ting at her work for an hour and doing
very little, this woman became suddenly
frantic; she jumped up, and rushed about
the yard as if she were insane, crying pite-
ousy, 81 cannot bear It'll cannot bear 1t"