The St. Johns herald., 1893-09-28
A LONDON TRAMP WARD.
Luckless Street Wanderers in the
 Great City.
The Lordly Labor Master and His Vulgar Wit-Scarcity of Food and Uncom- fortabIe Berths-The Stone
 Breakers and Cleaners.


 Most people suppose that those luck less wretches who take refuge in the casual wards of warehouses have a 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- als' better than do others, but ''bad is the best" and, as rule, London unions rank worse than country ones, St. Giles being the very worst of all, for the shopl1eepers who constitute the board of guardians-not of the poor, but of the rates-in that parish i'm pose upon casuals task of stone break ing which noable-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 a refractory pauper," and as magistrates never, or hardly ever, believe aught the accused casual says, nights lodging in the Macklin street, Drury Lane, "Bastille,'' USUALLY U4Cd10 Il luCnI41 DG1O ldOOI l-1 Pentonville prison to follow. The casual ward of the parish of St. Ursula is not far from Q main thoroughfare and is not open until eight p. m. On the occasion when fate caused me to seek its shelter I had about thirty com panions in misery-all 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. The "labor master''-they used to be called tramp masters'-who had ad- mitted us took his seat at table and commenced to take our names, etc. This was the way in which he went about it:
 ''Now, then, No. 1, come on, if you are a-coming." The man nearest the bully crawled forward, hat in hand and body bent forward, the very pie ture of abjectness.
 What's your name-if you've got one?"
 ''Timothy Snooks.''
 ''Fine name that. How old do you call yourself?"
 ''Forty, please, sir"
 ''I don't please. What are yer?'
 'Nothing."
 ''So I should think" grunted Bully, and made an entry of some kind. ''Where did you sleep last night?"
 Nowhere
 "Nowherer' repeated Bully. "Ain't you a-going back to ther same place?"
 No answer
 "Where are you going to?"
 Anywhere"
 Anywhere! Here, that won't do for me. You must say where you're going, even if it's only to make a hole in the water" Bully laughed at his own poor wit. Shocks muttered something and Bully wrote it down.
 Have yer got any money?"
 "No."
 ''Then take everything out of yer pockets and pitch em into that basket" pointing to one close by. And so went on the examination.
 At last came my turn. Bully, who was evidently not bad judge of men, at once discovered that I did not be- long to the habitual tramp brigade; and accordingly, in order to aggravate me, put an additional question-viz: "Are you a good hand at picking oakum?"
 ''No."
 "Well, that's all right. You'll have a good spell of it tomorrow '"
 Now came the food. A regular paupcr, or inmate, entered, carrying a wooden tray upon which were slices of bread, and each casual was ordered to take one slice. This was our sup per- Having eaten it, we were marched into a shed and were told to undress. Then each man had to walk across a courtyard and plunge into bath of water. The one supply of water did for the whole crowd tat some provin- cial unions, notably Melton Mowbray and Northampton, the same uncleanly kind of cleanliness prevalls), and soap there was not. Next we were marched into the dormitory, which is simply briclx-floored shed like a barn, along the sides of which were ranged rows of what looked like shallow collins, but which I, from previous experience gained at the Salvation Army salvage N4UIl SiO DdbOCISCtt. h1iSN tO DG sleep ing hunks without bottoms except the floor of bricks. In each of these was a straw palliasse and one rug or blanket. As we had left our clothes done up in bundles in the bath shed, it may be imagined how we shivered that winter night through.
 At six in the morning a bell rang and the tramp master entered. "Now, then" he roared out, tout of it, all of you! Tumble out! No skulking here Roll up your mattresses and put your shirts on top of 'em." q forgot to men, tion that each man had been given ''collection of holes with rags around them," supposed to be night shirt, when he left the "bath" over night) Quickly we dressed and then marched out into the yard. Some of the men were selected as cleaners, others as stone breakers and others as oallum piclers. was among the last. Each