The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-11
LIFE IN EAST LONDON.
Sir Walter Besant on the "Hive OF
Working Bees"

The first of a series or papers on HE
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 lone of Two Millions in East
London" and describes the life Of
typical girl of the poorer working class.
The dominant note of East London
is that it is a hive of working bees.
There are, it is true, a few drones in
it. 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 humanity,
who cannot and will not work; they are
miserable, half starved, skulking
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" but all the
Kings horses and all the Kings men
cannot drag them out of the slough,
nor can any river-not ALBANIA or Phar-
par, or even the Jordan itself-cleanse
the Augean stable of their mind. The
Helping Hand grows tired of pulling
and Juggling at them; they will not
come; they sink back into their Male
bolge; the black mud closes over their
heads. Let them be.
1t is city of working bees. AS we
linger and loiter among the streets null
titudinous, we hear, as from a hive,
the low. contented murmur of continu-
Gus and patient work. There are two
~ Iii in, hi oil u
The children work at school; the girls
and boys, the men and women, work
in factory, in shop and at home; in dock
and in wharf and in warehouse, all day
long and all the year round, these mill
ions work. They are clerks, account
ants managers, foremen, engineers,
stokers, porters stevedores, lockers,
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 other as
carefully and as religiously as any holy
lamp of learning. They work from
early morning till welcome evening. The
music of this murmur, rightly under
stood, is like the soft and distant sing
ing of a hymn of praise. For the curse
of labor has been misunderstood; with
out work man would be even as the
beasts of the field. 1t is the necessity
of work that makes him human; be-
cause 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 SOL
itary; the man must be gregarious. He
must make a 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. It
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.
Imagine, if you can, what would fol-
low if you held up your hand and said:
Listen. all There will be no more
work. You may stop the engines. or
they may run down of their own ac-
cord. You may take off your aprons
and wash your hands. You may sit
down for the rest of your lives. Four
food will be waiting for you when you
want it. Eat, drink and be happy if
you can" If they can! But can they,
with nothing to do-no work to do, only
like the sheep in the field, to browse,
or. like the wolves in the forest, to rend
and tear and slay?