The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-09-30
"A LONDON TRAMP WI ARD
Luckless Street Wanderers IN the
Great City.

The Lordly Labor Master aud His Vulgar
Wlt-scarcity of Food and Uncom-
Portable Berths-The Stone
Breakers and Cleaners.
Most people suppose that those luck-
less wretches who take refuge in the
casual wards of warehouses have q
rather good time of it at the expense
of the rate payers. Nothing could be,
further removed from fact Some
unions and their officials treat "casu-
ais better than do others. but bad is,
the best and, as a rule, London'
ST. Giles being the very worst OF all, !.
for the shopkeepers who constituted
the board of guardians-not OF the
poor, but of the rates-in that parish inn.
pose upon casuals task Of stone break
ing which able-bodied man. no mat
ter how powerful or skillful-and there
is skill or ..knack'' in stone breaking,
as in other things-could possibly per-,
form in the time allotted. says the Pail
Mall Gazette Hence, as failure to
perform the task means being charged
at Bow street as refractory pauper,' -
and as magistrates never, or hardly
ever, believe aught the accused
casual says, a nights lodging in the
Macklin street. Drury Lane, ''Bastille,"
usually means months hard labor in
Pentonville prison to follow The.
casual ward of the parish of st. Ursula
is not far from main thoroughfare
and is not open until eight p. m. On
the occasion when fate caused me to
seek it's shelter had about thirty COM
panions in misery-al] ragged, all
dirty and all down at heel We were
hustled into large room, which had,
of course, that harsh and chilling
aspect common to all warehouses;.
called tramp masters'-who had ad-
mitted us took his seat at a table and.
commenced to take our names, etc,
This was the way. in which he went
INC Now v. then. No. ame on if you.
are a-coming" Theasnan nearest the
bully crawled forward, hat in hand
and body bent forward, the very pic
ture Of abjectness
''Whats your name-if you've got
one?''
Timothy Shocks"
Fine name that. How old do you>S
call yourself?" y
Forty, please. SIR
II don't please. What are yer?" &
Nothing" Il
$50 should Think grunted Bu1ly,%s
and made an entry of some kind.sy
''Where did you sleep last night?" ss
Nowhere" .N
'Nowhere!' repeated Bully. "Ain'hslI
YOU a-going back to Their same place?ssA
No answer, 4ssafs
Where are you going to?'' >ss
''Anywhere." S
''Anywhere! Here, that won't do foS
me. You must say where you're goin2&
water Bully laughed at his own po
wit. Shocks muttered something Hndg;
Bully wrote it down. Ssssssil
Have yer got any money! M ssaa
NO. Ssna
Then take everything out Of
pockets and pitch EN- into that BASIC
pointing to one close by And SO Il
on the examination. III
At last came my turn BullYs4 a1a
was evidently not a bad Judge of ~
at once discovered that did nd
long to the habitual tramp bI9
and accordingly, in order to agg4lk
me, put an additional questiQT34
care you good hand at PlE
Oakurn?'' TAMRa&
NO sHsssAaSs5 &
well. that's ali right. You'tass
good spell of it tomorrow"
Now came the food. A
pauper, or inmate, entered,
a wooden tray upon which w
of bread. and each casual wa
to take one slice. This was
per. Having eaten it.. we werayN4r
into shed and were told tosiafE.
Then each man had to walk s3S0x
courtyard and plunge intoaa6.
water The one supply Ma
for the whole crowd lat ~!
cia] unions, notably Melton
and Northampton. the samoa
kind Of cleanliness prevaijslt s III
there was not. Next we weTe III
into the dornitory, which 81
brick Aoored shed like d 6sf "A
the sides of which were1idhEe u
of what looked like shhllaW
but which !. from previous
gained at the Salvation Army ss1HSlteB
wharf at Battersea. knew4tD sal
ing hunks without bottoms exEepEs ta XIV
floor of bricks. In each ofstleAesSH4 u.
straw palliasse and one rn3
AS we had left our clothesN
bundles in the bath sheds q
imagined how we stivered ~
night through.
At six in the morning
and the tramp master enfehs 2I
Them he roared out, +
you! Tumble QUIT Noha XIX
Roll up your mattress'ea IL II
shirts on top Of 'em. =
ton that each man
collection Of holes