Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-11
A LONDON KIP"
Pen-Picture Of the Demoralizing
Features of an English City
Lodging House.
[Cor. Pail Mall Gazette.l

When a maj has sunk from the POSITION of
a householder, he has two courses Open to him.
Ii his employment be still sufficiently remu1l-
e%rative, he may inhabit one of the dens
known as furnished lodgings. These are
rooms let singly and furnished with a couple
OF chairs, a flap doing duty for a table, and q
biackened sack stuffed with straw on an old
and shaky four-post bedstead. For these adj
vantages he is charged the nightly sum Of
e~lghtpence, which a long experience has
taught the intelligent landlord to exact be-
forehand. Eightpence is a large sum and
cannot be afforded, so the next alternative is
the common lodging-house, OF 'kip," which,
Tor the moderate sum of ~fourpence, supplies
the applicant with a bed, use of lavatories,
kitchen and kitchen fire, for the space of
twenty-four hours at the most. The kip" is
under the unwinking eye of the law, which
Is supposed to insure cleanliness-i. e., clea3
sheets once a fortnight; decency-i. e., the
separation of the dormitories of the two sexes.
and sanitation, which means something
almost as indefinite as common sense.n The
older inhabitants of the ''kip'' relate most
narrowing details about these places before
this supervision and registration took place,
which 1t Is a pity even to evoke from oblivion.
Suffice it to say that any one might start q
~iodglng-house, and over-crowding was uni
yersal-which, of course, is sometimes the
case now, only sub rosa, and in not more
than every other house in poor districts.
The better "kip" is f%requented by men only,
and many an old soldier or pensioner lives
permanently in them. But the majority of
the houses are open so persons of all ages and
Z and all degrees of social status. The
prominent feature of all ''kips'' is the kitchen.
lhls Is at once dining-room, d~rawing-room,
smoking and card compartments, as well as
kitchen. At one end is the swing door, which
leads to the long sawdust-doored room, SUI
rounded with benches, OF perhaps divided
into compartments like a restaurant. A huge
fire, be the weather what it may outside,
serves to cook the viands Of the inhabitants
and to supply the heat which an insufficiency
Of clothing renders grateful in the colder
weather. A number of tin vessels. supplied
by the house, serve for teapots or missiles as
the case may be, both uses being frequent.
The first impression of a 'skip' is that OF a
SAVIOR of death unto death, with variations
and ORGANIZATIONS. Themen, following afar
off Sir Walter Raleigh, perpetrate a con-
sumption Of the rankest shag. The fair sex
contribute a rasping flavor of so-called tea.
0CSA1 wv = VI SOiSlSUL Z
rings of questionable age. Most of the faces
are such as to strike one with utter hopeless
ness. The brutal gin-swollen counteuances
of the elder women, the hard, logged faces
of the men n the children furrowed and
careworn, the babies who never kick and
crow, but are sucked on alcohol and curses,
are pictures which are full of grim horror.
Here sits the lad who has left his home at the
q co If 10 an1 ~ nv fo, l;-,-oJE L. H.
is a r%eprobate parson, who, in his sober mo-
ments, writes discourses for some of his more
fortunate but less gifted brethren to infiict
upon their congregations. Many ranks and
callings contribute their quota to the mass OF
human ~wreckage, the sole qualification being
the payment of the nights fourpence. Non
is rejected OF elected, unless violently or OBJ
trusively 'boozed."
There are whole streets of these places
some making up nightly $50 beds. That the
worst are not to be found in the east end is
the general report. It is said that Noting
hill has this unenviable supremacy, but thi
may be disputed very plausibly. Upstair,
there are dormitories, with rows of camp
beds bought from the barrack sales, every
article of which is marked in large letter.
Stolen from s." The double beds have
little wooden partitions between them, will
doors and latches upon the same. The dormi
tories, as rule, have no washing conven.
fences, still less any chests or cupboards
Those of the inhabitants who possess a chang.
of raiment or any other portable property
keep the same at "my %uncle's," from which
Sunday suits are weekly redeemed in order tx
keep holy the Sabbath day, and again re
signed to the pledger on the Monday by thu
owner, who is well acquainted with the way,
of his fellow dodgers.