Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-04-02
London Beggars.

all. In his endeayors to benefit the London
poor, he called meeting of mendicants, ad-
vertising it at Seven Dials, and promising
that no policeman should be present. More
than $50 attended.
1t was spectacle of squalor, rags and
wretchedness. Some were young men, some
middle-aged, and some children, One who
styled himself 'cadger" was only 6, and
several who confessed to being 'prigs" were
under 10. At first the meeting was noisy,
and howls, cat-calls, brays and yelis threat
ened TO render all attempts at order abOrtive.
One whInnied like a horse, and Immediately
the whole $50 whinnied in concert. Another
crowed like cock, whereupon the room echo
ed with $50 cock-crows. It was menagerie
at feeding time. A black boy entered, and
100 voices cried out, ~ Sweep Ga blind
fiddler followed, and "Strike up, catgut, -
"Flare up, never-sweat, " resounded through
the place, amid peals of laughter. The an
swers to the nU--ber of imprisonments each
had suffered produced silence for time, but
one vagabond OF IA confessed to 20 conyic-
tiOns, the elapping of hands, cat-calls and
shouts of ''bray-vo" lasted for several minutes
/ More than 100 had read ''Jack Sheppard"
and the" Newgate Calendar, and in answer
TO the question as to what they thought of
Jack Sheppard the answer was universal
/ "He's brick" A ballad writer who was
/ present, made the following curious confess
/ sion -
The little knowledge have, have pick
ed up bit by bit, so that hardly know how
/ ! have come by it. | certainly knew my let
/ ters before | left home, and have got the
rest off the walls. | write Newgate ballads
/ for the printers at the Dials got a shilling
| for a 'copy of verses written by the wretched
/ culprit the night before he was hung.
wrote Courvoiser's lamentation, and called it
"A voice from the Coal | wrote pathetic
ballad on the respite of Annette Meyers |
/ did the helegy, too, on Rush's execution 1t
/ was supposed. like the rest, to be written by
/ the cul prit himself and was particularly peni-
tent. didn't write that to horder-l knew
they would want it. The publisher read it
over, and said, That's the thing for the
street l only got a shilling for Rush. In
deed, they are all the same price, no matter
how popular they may be. | wrote the life
4 of Manning in verse. Besides these, | have
written the lament Of Calcraft, the hangman,
on the decline of his trade
The Rookery," where this meeting was
held, is a dense mass of houses in the neigh
borhOod Of St Giles, through which curve
tortuous lanes, from which again diyerge close
c0urts-One great maze, as if the houses had
been originally Of one block Of stone, eaten
by slugs into numberless small chambers and
connecting passages. The lanes are thronged
with loiterers, and the air poisoned with
stagnant cutters and piles OF garbage. WisTe
of straw, old hats, and Jumps of bed ticking
alternate in the windows with shivered pGnes
of glass; the walls We're dingy with SCOT,
the doors are half fallen from worm-eateu
posts and broken hinges. 1t is here and in
the neighboring streets that yagrants anC
thieves, scavengers and charwOmen, and pros
titutes. make their homes and hold then
nightly revels.
| once went through several courts Of the
seven Dials on Monday. twas washing day
The natural gloom was deepened by every
imaginable species dragged napery hung up
on lines stretched from window to window
story above story. The corners were throng
ed by men, driven out by steaming suds
while dirty faced, unkempt children rioted il
the filthy thoroughiares. Passing an archeC
passage that led. after few hundred feet in
to a green square surrounded by houses o
trades-people-for poverty and wealth are il
J. ledTlul CnuttSullf uLl ONtI llt great uAttIoto
lis heard addressed to lean, yellow skin
ned boy just before me, the salutation,
:" Haloo, Shanksi Got anything TO eat p
''NO, replied the boy, qualifying the an
swer with an oath. Give us something.
I'm hard up meself, returned the frs
speaker: Tax Mother McFinn."
- She give me dinner, - says Shanks, fol
cleaning out her cellar 'isterday, and tain
like she's going to grub me every day"
''Give Brassy a chance, then
''No, | shan't. Brassy set his dog OF
me-
The thief of the wurruld! But you haC
a raal dinner yesterday thin?''
You bet on that. And now must wal
s'pose, tills gets job
The speakers by this time had emergel
from the alley, and were passing a little par
lor window. when the sash flew up, and {
white hand was thrust forth, holding a thre'
penny bit, and a woman's voice said,
go and buy bread, poor boy
Shanks snatched at the coin, pulled his ac
knowledgment at his thatch of hair, and saw
the window down
" Shanks,' said the Irishman, you re il
for buster this time, anyhow Long lif'
to the lady Sure the gentle blood's th'
thing
Begging in England, although forbidden
bv statute, is followed as a trade in Londol
more systematically than in any other Euro
pean capital. The number of professiona
beggars considerably exceeds 10000. o
couise one meets them constantly and in ever,
variety.
An American gentleman, hurrying with
friend. also an American, TO dinner som
years ago, passed through Belgrave square
4 woman, decently clad in widows weeds
sat weeping upon the door-steps of palatla
mansion The friends had passed her, CIV
ing a glance only when one said to heotheT
Did YOU SEQ that woman She appeare
respectable, and seemed to be in distress.
will take but a minute to inquire into tn
case. Let us 90 back"
They did so. The woman, though weeI
ing bitterly, was reluctant to speak, and en-
deayored to get away. By kind words an
an explanation Of their motives, coupled wit
an apology for addressing her, she was induC
; ed to confess that she was indeed in grea
trouble-her husband had been dead tw
years, her resources were all spent, her land
lord that afternoon had turned her and he
! three children into the street, and she ha
! Just found that Lady George Bentine VIII
knew her fathers family and who owed he
a considerable sum of mOuey, was absent o
the Continent.
, " And have you no home to go to, my goo
woman ?"
50 None in the wide word. My childre
! are at neighbor's. VIII you come with m'
please, and see them ?"
"That we cannot do. We do not dout
: you How much do you owe your landlord?
!. - Two pounds ten. But, then, gentlemen
do not want the money until you come an
see me. am no beggar. 1t is only tempol
airy relief need until Lady Bentine returns.
1t appeared to be case of real distress
d. and the gentlemen made up the money.
: less than a week afterward, the same woma
was met under precisely similar Circumstance
by the late Charles Goodyear, telling ii
same story, and was relieved in a still largt
; sum and that, too, within one hour OF II
! late Charles Morey's having given her, q
: the doorstep of his clearinghouse, e2 ster
ing upon the same plea.
The case belonged to the class of respec
J able beggars, represented by broken trade
: men, distressed authors, poor ushers, It'd
widows, usually with children in white pini
fores, and superannuated clergymen. | ono
i met one of the last in the Edgeware road. Il
was dressed in black, with bands; his shoe
; patched, but clean his coat threadbare, br
i, spotless of dust /; his neckcloth and linen scrl
i pulously white his hat old, but CAREFUL
brushed his face smooth-shaven his whi
. hair, which fell in long locks on his necl
! and his trembling limbs. all making an irr
: sistible appeal-through the senses-to Il
v heart. He said not word, stood remove
= from observation, made neither gesture nj
movement, and held out in his tremulcus har
: slip of paper on which, in clerical chirogr
ply, were written these words -
: 1 AN STARVING.
S Let the reader bring the whole scene befol
. him, and he will see that, 50 long as there
: a chance, be it one in a million, that it ma
be a case of genuine suffering worthy of reli
= so long the fraud will be more or less su
{ cessful.