Little Falls transcript., 1886-07-09
The BegEars of London.

In most OF the capitals of Europe
the poor live at the back door of the
rich. Wherever wealth makes an at
tempt to escape from poverty by seq
regatlon or colonization, poverty
clings to it's skirts as meteors follow
in the trail Of a comet. 1t may be
said that 100000 persons in ali stages
ofpoverty live in the east end OF Lon
don, because the rich earn their gold
there. Another 100000 live in the
west end, because the wealth OF the
well-to-do classes is spent there With
in a bow-shot of Buckingham palace
there are houses in which the rooms
are rented and sub-rented to beggars,
thieves, ,seamstresses and a whole tribe
/of seedy adventurers who earn q dubi-
Gus livelihood, by preying on the Gre
dulity OF their philanthro neighbors.
For begging in London has been re-
duced to a fine art, and there are prob
ably 10000 persons unworthy of
any sort OF charity who make their
living IN this way exclusively, Chill
dren are sent out. whole droves OF
them, in rags which scrace conserve the
vital heat in their tiny bodies, with a
distinct understanding that. there is
no bed, breakfast, dinner Or supper
for them, except what they can earn
in the streets by stealing or begging,
as the case may be. Woe to the little
wretch who returns penniless to his
parents in the evening. The boys are
beaten; the girls are cuffed. In the
very sewers themselves on the banks
Of the muddy Thames these little ur.
chins literally pick up a living, the ex.
tent Of which is measured by the phil
anthropy or sense ofjustice of the junk.
shop keeper Still, as have already
remarked, begging is the mainstay Of
outcast London. The street Arab OF
St. James's and St. Giles's could teach
many lesson to the rapacious Be-
douins who exact backsheesh from the
sightseer in the pyramids, or the laz-
zaronl who threateningly demands
aims in the streets of Naples and on
the slopes of Vesuvius. Compared
with the London street Arab OF the
professional mendicant Of the Strand
and the Holborn viaduct, the impor-
tunate widow OF holy writ was an
agreeable visitor.
The begging-letter impostors ofLon-
don, like all yagabonds, live in tribes
and spend their money as freely as
they earn it. For obvious reasons,
they select domiciles. which shall give
them the greatest readiness OF access
to their intended victims, the nobility
and the large class who live in indie
pendent circumstances, having accu-
mulated fortunes or retired on an
nuities. Ex-oficers of the army and
navy are particularly favored by the
begging letter writer, and as result
t Westminster, Pimlico ana Chelsea, be-
cause OF their convenience to the horse
guards and Somerset house, are large
" patronized by the fraternity. The
dodges OF the begging letter writer are
innumerabIe. He has the army and
navy list at his fingers ends and can
take up the peerage and baronetage of
Debrett and point out one after the;
other the peculiarities and especially
the money-glving or parsimonious
tendencies Of each. Members of par
liament are invariably avoided, for
these gentlemen as lawmakers are
great stickIers for the observance OF
the laws, and on the same principle
that they never give a hack-driyer.
more than his legal fare, they pointed
" refer the begging letter-writer to the
relieving officer of the Work-house or
TO the nearest police magistrate.