Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-07-08

were occupied in the collection Of rents
1 should not like to repeat his observations
regarding this vocation, or the people with
whom 1t brought him into business rela-
| tions. On the one hand were some of the
worst, and to me the most pitiable, of
London's lowly; on the other, were two
maiden sisters, over seventy years of age,
immensely wealthy and far uslier and
greedier than they were rich. Among their
properties were scattering small houses and
tenements beycG1 the Bethnal Green re-
gion, to the north of Mile End road; some
of these In the most oongested of London
districts, and others struggling along desc
late half-country roads Endless dinning
and dunning were necessary to secure any
manner of returns upon these. 1t was al
ways problem with my friend which was
the worst end of q dsy-his rounds among
the viRorous-lunged brAwlers In his en-
desvors to collect rent, or his meeting with
the ancient danes when he turned In his
petty daily returns. They received him In
high dudgeon and chintz wrappers and
with cudgels like policeman's billy; their
shrill invective being emphasized by crash
Ing the cudgels uron a huge oaken strong
box standing between them, as though It
were the heads of their recslcitrsnt ten
ants or Mr.. Evans own picturesque era
mum which, he confded to me, he always
kept as conveniently near the open door as
consistent with his obligations as q man
and a collector.
He also often related that these inter
| views always terminated in q mild protest
| on his part "as 'ow 'eaven itself couldn't
make ,Britons true out o. 'scampers',"
whsreupon the old ladies went right away
into "conwulsions," yelling "HootI-toot!"
at him, and set to beating the chest with
| greater vigor than ever; during which
io1 ha a., satl, nj
drew; and it was my study OF this word
/ "scsmpers" which enabled me to discover
that there are supposed to be more than
| one hundred thousand families in London
| so known to landlords. All of this brought
me to Mr.. Evans door at an early hour of
| a recent morning, for the purpose of &C
eompanying him on a days rounds for the
collection of Tents.
Mr. Evans, in his ancient, bsll-crouned
| hat high collar, broad stock, short top
coat, long waistcoat, bsggy black trousers
| and huge thick soled shoes, looked every
| inch a man of affairs. An ink bottle was
slung to one of the big buttons of his
shiny waistcost; q well-worn pockst-book
| filled with blank receipts, arrears records
| and quit-notices was under one arm, and
a very heavy walking stick, giving its own
| er something of an official air, was held
handily under the other. BE seemed glad
| and relieved at the prospect of company.
AS we trudged along Chespside and White
chapel road he favored me with an anslyt-
ic disquisition upon London fscampers. :"
"Scsmpers," said Mr.. Evans judicislly
| and firmly, ais a bad lot-lesstwise nearly
all on 'em. They're fyers, hitterers; slip
PIN in a 'ouse unbeknown; stayn' as
though they howued il, to th' point of
| summonsss, snd'-scst! away they gees
like passel O. gipsies."
"Ow does they git that wayl Some on
ems born so; most on 'em. Some on
ems ground so. Some on ems chased so.
Some on 'em fgds others scsmpin', an Jess
takes to 1t like costers doss to buttons and
| rumpuses. Many on EMS made so by reg.
isterin', summonsin', finin' and the work
US; fur if once tn school board claps it's
paws on yer young uns, it's pay the rate
er work fine, an nothing but death an
| scampin' can keep the young uns theirsers
outen school or prisonl"
In justice to the old rent collectors
truthfulness 1 should add that even this
strong language does not convey the faint
est idea of the endless war going on in the
great cities of England between the school
boards and certain classes of the poor and
ignorant The state, through its various
statutory provisions for compulsory free"
| education, enacted during the past twenty
| three years, in effect says:
"You, Tiny Tot, aged Eve years, are to
| attend such school as we may provide, or
| your parents usleot, every school-dsy of
your life, until you are thirteen years of
| age, or have passed the sixth standard, or
| we will clap you In q criminal institution;
| and you, Tiny Tots father, must pay for
| what VIC compel your child to do, OF We
i will fine you for every absence recorded
| against it, and tax you for the cost of its
| imprisonment whenever we finally shut 1t
| up; and then, il you cannot pay it's &C
crued fees and fines. and secruing judg-
| ments against yourself, we will also clap
| you in jail until they are paid or are liqui-
dated by imprisonment; when We will
| then release you and again begin the same
wholesome care of yourself and your off
| spring"
Out of this exquisite system has grown,
naturally and in order, millions of school
| haters aud liars; hundreds OF thousands
| of petty law-breakers before the local mag
| istrscy; tens of thousands of children
| criminals among the good and bad alike;
an army of "visitors," inspectors and de
tectives, whose unempowered though uni
! versally exercised brutality among helpless
! children and distracted and ignorant moth
ers is inexpressibly infamous; and hRn.
dreds Of SO called Industrial schools, or
Ragged" and "rruant" schools, as they
are more popularly termed, which, what
| ever their inertia of management on the
line of their legslizsd purposes, are an in
excussble outrage upon the inaliensble
rights of child-life and home-li life in any
civilized land.
The first places on the collectors list
were found in noisome court in which
. the sunlight never came. On our approach
there was a lively scattering in every dl-
! rection of that portion of the half-naked
| population with whom we had business
who either totally disappeared or barred
their doors against our entrsncs. Such
| unpEomisiag negotiations as were possio OLE
were of necessity held through keyho!ei
or broken panea of glass. As was the col
lector's custom here, he shortly announced
in q loud tone of voics that, as he hsi
nothing else on hand that day, We woulC
cit down and wait. We did sit upon
, filthy firm which hsd Just been vacated
!, Certain indications of restlessness weT,
soon plsiuly audible from within. Tht
| | eeemed TO communicates itself to thos
neighhors on the outside who, themselve
, | being accustomed to similar experience
from other sources. through the nature
alliance of misery, begsn q series Of man
4 | oeuyers for our discomfort basin ful
/. of dirty water suddenly rained down upo
| us. and the old court rang with c0ars
laughter. Strsppiug barefoot girls, in
= sort of horse play, began hustling US a.
T by accident, making handy use of their e
/ bows and fists while avoiding pretende
;, tumblipgs upon ne; and this became 6
threatening that the collectors stout site
was called into effective use. Then SON
d rotten garbage fell softly upon US; an
h this was followed by a weil-directed di
4 charge of cinders and ashes. Goals coul
no. be spared, or our situation would hay
proven exceedingly reetive.
Then the women of the court began ed
n ing up to US with crooned COMMUNICATION
for our prisoners. They Landed their Il
'' tegrity; deplored their misfortunes;, ar
l. decried the sad spectacle of such fine fol
g. being "worrited for beggarly bit of rent
n Mr.. Evans remaining unmoved, they su
denly became hysterical with abuse; shrie
ing unprintable msledictions and ansth
E. mas until, in frenzy of sorrowful indi
as nifty, they barred their scraggy breasts al
le besought US to strike them down, IS tn
g. were sure we were brutes enough TO
a supplementiug this by entrestipg rs
ID murder their "hinfant hoffsprings efo
t. their heyes," the ssid skinny mites of m
ut cry being held out to US for that bsnefce
in operation.
The imperturbable Mr. Evans, in
% "sside" to quiet my own rising trepid
," ton, whispered, "the cows as no arm
'em;" and quietly taking a metal whis
70 from his waistcost pocket gave 1t a signi
ne oapk 20 hfu II,,, tt