The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-07-21
REBECCA'S REMORSE.
By JAMES PAYN.
rcopyright, 1897, by the AuthOr.l

seek tnelr WOfk, OH taklnR OruSrs, III
the east end of London and to turn
their backs upon fashionable congrega-
tions and gift slippers, and yet those
"angels of felton," as they have been
termed the doctors, are never credited
with the same self sacrificing motives.
No medical man is ever described as
preferring poor neighborhood to a rich
one. He goes to Bayswater If he can c
get to Belgravia and to Bloomsbury IT
he can't get to Bayswater, but farther
east than Bloomsbury he is not found
in fiction. This is not in accordance
with his angelic character, with his
sending in his little account receipted
to his poor patient, with his giving him
the money for seaside holiday instead
of prescription, or with the furnishing
of every comfort for mind and body
which that marvellous diagnosis of his
has discerned to be necessary at the first
glance. This is hard, as there really are
doctors in the east end of London, and
] once had practice there myself.
1t was not good one in point of re-
Enumeration, but there were plenty OF
patients, the sort of practice" that
makes one perfect" from profession
al point Of view and at the same time
absolves one from the income tax. l
confess, however that | did not make
this choice of my own free will. mot
grace nor zeal, +" but quarrel with my
respected uncle, ON whom l was entire
" dependent. had been the cause of it.
/ had, l admit, considerably exceeded
my allowance at college, and my hos
pital career in London had been ex-
pensive, but his conduct i'll buying a
practice for me in the east instead of
the west as punishment for what he
did not hesitate to term my reckless eX-
travagance was, think it will be adj
mitted, vindictive He made me, how
ever, an allowance, which, though one
would have called it moderate III a more
fashionable locality, was ample enough
for such neiGhborhood.
Pleasures were very cheap there and
not very attractive. Its concerts We're
not at the time of which l am speaking
classical, though of late years music Of
quite high class has emigrated thither,
and Bethnal Green itself has become an
art center. The dances one was invited
TO (by advertisements were of public
nature and We're too much of mari
time character to suit the landsman.
There was no shop where you could
spend money to any extent save that
wonderful emporium where not only
lions and tigers are as plentiful as
chickens in Leadenhall market, but
much finer curios are TO be found
than can be picked up in Piccadilly.
But lions were not in my way, though
! had kept "a tiger" at the university,
and l was much too young TO care for
curios, a taste for which does not usual
ly develop till the mind has given way
little.
This enforced economy had, however,
one very pleasant side to it. l generally
found myself with money i'll my pocket,
a most unusual experience with an east
end doctor. There is nothing more dis
tressing to him-if he is good fellow
or even if he has human heart i'll his
breast-than the knowledge that half
the patients who come under his care
are not so much in need of medicine as
of the necessaries of life, with which he
is unable to supply them. No one knows
what poverty is who has not seen the
east end during bad time. For my
part it was "a revelation to me, and
when one saw how far not shilling,
but even "a penny, was made TO go 1T
gave one "a nasty jar to remember the
hundreds one had squandered for spend
ing's sake. AT first indeed, brought
face to face with such urgent want,
ones heart made one lose ones hand,
and / found myself, not from philan-
thropy, but from fastidious disgust at
squalor and wretchedness, supporting
some Of the idlest and most worthless
scoundrels III the parish. But after
awhile one grew wiser or less emotional
and learned discretion, which is the bet
ter part of charity. 1t was good school
fer me in many ways, though / didn I
like being sent to it.
People talk of "genteel poverty" as
being the worst sort of it, but at the
risk of being thought material and COM
monplace / venture to remark that alb
ject poverty-the halfpenny worth of
bread and the sack instead of bed on
the foor-is much more hard to bear.
There are degrees even in that. OF
rather the same wretchedness seems
greater or less according to the habits
of those who endure it. 1t is possible,
though by no means easy, to be clearly
under the most sordid conditions. The
house, or rather the one room, may be
swept, though it cannot be garnishedi
the broken teacnp may be washed; the
ragged blanket may be mended When
squalor is added to want, pity is lost il
disgust, and the attempt TO cling to the
decencies of life is the most touching OF
all the attributes of the very poor. 1t il
not--God help them-often made
When everything else has gone by the
board, it seems useless to look after thu
hencoop.
Star court, locality where some o
my most wretched clients dwelt, mad
very little effort in this direction
though as rule they were decent PEG
pie who dwelt there. We have all