Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-07-08
The Beggars 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.
regation or colonization, poverty
clings to its skirts as meteors follow
in the trail of a comet. 1t may be
said that 100, persons inalistages
of poverty live in the east end OF Lon.
don, because the rich earn Sheir gold
there. Another 100, 900 live in the
west end, because the wealth of the
well-to-do classes is spent there. With.
in bow-shot of Buckingham palace
there are houses inwhieh the rooms
are rented and sub-rented to beggars.
thieves, seamstresses and a whole tribe
of seedy Adventures who earn a dubi-
Gus livelihood, by preying on the ere
dulity of their philanthropic nelghbors.
For begging in London has been re-
duced to a fine art, and there areprob-
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 conservethe
vital heat in their tiny bodies, with
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 q living, the ey.
tent of which is measured by the phil
anthropy or sense of justice of the junk
shop keeper. Still, as | have already
remarked, begging is the mainstay OF
oltcast London. The street Arab 81
st. James's and ST. CHESS could teach
many a lesson to the rapacious Be
douins who exact backsheesh from the
sightseer in the pyramids, or the laz-
zaronI who threateningly demands
aims in the streets of Naples and on
the slopes OF Nesuvius. Compared
with the London street Arab or 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 vagabonds, live in tribes
and spend :heir money as freely al
they earn it. For obvious reasons,
they select domieiles 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 aecu-
INFLATED fortunes or retired on an
nuities. Ex. officers of the army and
navy are particularly favored by the
begging letter-write-, and as result
Westminster, Pimlieo ard Chelsea be-
cause OF their convenience to the horse
guards and Somerset house, are large
ly patronized by the fraternity. The
lodges of the begging letter writer are
irnumerable, He has the army and
navy list at his fingers ends and can
take up the peerage and baronetaeeof
Debrett and point out one after the
other the peculiarities and especially
the ffoney-giving or parsimonious
tendencies of each. Members of par
lament are invariably avoided, Tor
these gentlemen as Lawmakers are
great sticklers for the observance OF
the laws, and on the same principle
that they never give hack driver
more than his legal fare, they pointed
ly refer the begging letter writer to the
relieving officer of the work-house or
to the nearest police magistrate.