The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-06-21
BEGGING IN BELFAST.
How ''the Profession" Work
in Ireland.
A PTTIABLE PEN PICTURE.
A Good Field for the Charitable
and solicitous "Christians"
In Utah
A PITIABLE PEN PICTURE.
BELFAST. May 30. 1885
cor,espondeDce Of TIE HEnALD:l

Cs0rregDOQQeDCe Oh The hEhAbDst
Begging is a profession hereabouts
tbs not only q profession; it has beer
educated to an art. science. Ii one OF
these professional beggars here should
hit a western town in the United States
he would bankrupt 1t in week. There
was a time when thought the in
genulty of professional advertisers
defied competition, and had reached a
pinnacle to which no other class of men
could hope to aspire But this, among
many other Rxed and tender]sidols,
shattered and dissipated by contact
with a naughty" world, has also
vanished. passed away as night
vision, disappeared like sand beneath a
tropical sun. now yield the palm
unhesitatingly to the Belfast profess
sional beggar: and even he is said not
to be circumstance as compared with
his fellow craftsman who plies this
finished vocation in Southern Ireland.
In strolling around the town one must
come to the conclusion that these beg
CARS divide of into beats-each having
his district. One road belongs to very,
tall, slim man, who wears a white felt
hat, from under which yellow and
white locks hang. He has on checked
flannel shirt, red and white;a white
collar, pair of moleskin trousers, and
in his hand stick. ovest. nor coat; no
necktie; in sunshine and rain always ex-
i. yo.,o hor
His feet are his fortune. These are al
WAYS bare, and a sandal beneath, and
off both feet the toes have been cut,
clean and neat. The flesh is pulled up.
while a sickly purple, blotched hue, as
though the circulation had been stopped,
is the color This man never speaks;
he is always looking at his shapeless
and unsightly feet, and he is always
standing against the wall. On the Shan
kill road, robustuous, loud lunged old
sailor holds sway. He is dressed in
soldier cap, shaped something like a
Scotch bonnet. He has a white canvas
coat, and he tries to sing. He has lost
his legs entirely. and he gets along on
his wooden rollers, or things shaped like !
the rockers of a char, which are |
fastened to mis- body. The height of his |
head from the ground is not to exceed |
thirty inches; and he propels himself |
along by means of an iron thing in each |
hand, shaped like door foot-scraper,
with handle to it. If he. catches your
eye, he is certain to salute you and take
offhis bonnet so as to- be prepared in
the event YOU should feel disposed to
drop something in it, Along the quay
a toothless old fellow seems to claim
proprietary right. He has ''cuddy."
or Unlocking little donkey hitched to
a dog cart, and in this dog
cart he is seated from early morn
till late at night. He seems to
have lost the use of his legs. He is a
worker, No passer escapes without a
solicitation and his cap is forever off his
head; forever held out to receive the
haf-pennies and pennies of the pedes- !.
trian; his whiskered old jaws forever
keep going. yet no sound is heard to l
come from them. On High street, at
certain spot, blind man may always
be seen standing, with a little. sign
board painted hanging from his neck
with Dear Christian" etc. etc.. on it.
There are three or four blind fiddlers,
pity TO see the bent forms, the withered
hands, the bowed head, the stiff fingers.
the gray locks and the decayed forms of I
the old players, as they stand in front s
Of public houses and give forth the 8
faint sounds of an old-fashioned and
almost forgotten Irish dance tune from I
4 cracked old violin, with one foot in I
The grave and the other holding back in 9
! feeble and yet partially resistless way. t
some of the most hideous sounds ever I
heard in my life came from the street '
Vocalists. One fellow should be b
drowned. Without the most distant
IhadoW of music in his voice. he stands a
n front of public houses belching forth !
words to unearthly sounds, gasping for =
,reath as if each was his last, snorting Il
making the most hideons faces, and g
hrowing wide open cancerous mouth 0
which discloses every tooth in his ugly s.
lead. One young fellow has a good :
-oice, but has no idea how to use it, Il
md he sings evidently for liquor only, :
louse, and is ragged and dirty. q
recent interloper. He has two 5,
title boys dressed in white sailor u
uits and he stands on the curbstones o
nd .'hollers" out'what, by stretch of v
consistency and truth may be called 1
une. A boy about II or Is years old is u
ne of the great street cards. He is Il
whistler and beats time on a tambor- q
ne. These two girls make the hours b
Iideous by playing en- cornet and a e.
and trying to sing. The n
ocalists take periodical trips into adj a
AGENT country places, with slips con- r!
aiming five songs on each. These they G.
ing and then sell the slips and the II
fords to the admiring and wondering "
ustics. If Prof. Krouse coulo hear "
ow some of his favorite airs-such as b
Wat Till the Clouds Roll By.r G.
Darling am Growing Old, Mothers
eeth are Plugged with Tin" etc., b
ere rendered by these iinerant ale II
attis, this world would not be large te
aough tc containthem and the professor e.
the same time. Three German bands o.
two brass and one string -contrive to al
lake very fair living by giving open
II concerts in out of-the way streets. b
nd then taking collection. The string CO
and makes very fair music. One could 7
OF imagine the variety of methods &C
lat are resorted to by people 10 coax b.
Ioney from the public. but the most TT
itiable sights, the most disgusting p'
by long usage have come to re
cate no feelings and arouse no pity in
he hearts of those accustomed to look "
pom them day after day; and il is rare al
rat one sees the beggars getting az
aything from persons accustomed to a,
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