Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-12-07
Life in East London.

The first of a series OF papers on life
at the East End Of London appears in
the December Century, from The pen
Of Sir Walter Besant, author OF "All
Sorts and Conditions of Men," etc, 1t
is entitled "one OF Two Millions in
East London, and describes the life OF
typical girl Of the poorer working
class. The article teens with pictures
by Joseph Pennell and Phil May.
The dominant note of East London
is that 1t is hive of working bees.
They are not the fat and luxurious
drones of the other London, those who
live in luxury without labor, and are
down-laden with the curse of idleness.
Our drones, the East London drones,
are the residuum, the lees of human
tty, who cannot and will not work;
they are miserable, half-starved, sulk
ing drones They beg, they thieve,
they do anything with willing mind
so long as it is not work. They dwell
in the slums; they are in the language
of the day, the submerged" burt all
the kings horses and all the kings
men canot drag them out fthe slough
nor can any river-not ALBANIA or
Pharpar, or even the Jordan itself
cleanse the Augean stable of their
mind. The Helping Hand grows tired
of pulling and tugglng at them; they
sink back into their Male-bolge; the
black mud closes over their heads.
Let them be.
1t is a city of working bees, AS we
linger and loiter among the streets
( multitudinous, we hear, as from hive
the low, contented murmur of contin-
Gus and patient work. There are two
millions of working people in this city.
The children work at school; the girls
and boys, the men and women, work
in factory, in shop and at home; in
dock and the wharf and in warehouse,
all day long and all the year round
these millions work. They are clerks,
accountants, managers, foreman, en-
gineers, stokers, porters, stevedores,
dockers, smiths, craftsmen of all kinds
They are girls who make things. girls
who sew things, girls who sell things.
There are among them many poor,
driven, sweated creatures, and the
sweaters themselves are poor, driven
sweated creatures; for sweating once
begun is handed on from one to the
ether as carefully and as religiously as
any holy lamp of learing. They work
from early morning till welcome even
ing. The music of this murmur, right
ly understood, is like the soft and dis
tant singing Of hymn of praise. For
the curse of labor has been misunder-
stood; without work man would be ev
en- as the beasts of the field. 1t is the
necessity of work that makes him hui
man; because he must, he devises and
discovers and invents; because he
would die if he did not work. he has
to subdue the animal within him.
The animal is solitary; the man must
be gregarious. He must make friend
of his brother; he must obey the
stronger; he must make laws; he must
fight with nature, and compel her to
give up her secrets. 1t is only by
means of work that man can rise; it
is his ladder; in the sweat of his face
he eats his bread-yea, the bread of
life. 1t is not with any pity that we
should listen to this murmur, 1t
should be with pure contentment and
gratitude; for the murmur, though it
speaks partly of the whir of ten thous
and wheels and partly of those who
stand and serve those wheels, speaks
also of this blessed quality of work,
that it enables men to use the body for
the sake of the soul. Men must work.