Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-18
A LONDON WORKHOUSE
HARD WORK AND SLIM DIET FOR
THE INMATES.
Some of the Tasks Are Breaking Stone;
Grinding Corn and Pick
ing Oakum.


Prom Chambers Journal.
London warehouses are under the juris-
diction of the local government board. and
that body has seen fit in its wisdom to
draw the line which separates young men
from old men at ones sixtieth birthday. L
shall treat chiefly of the young men. quo
rum pars fui.
There is stone breaking done in the
Princes Road workhousc, in most other
places of the kind, the only task works
being grinding nine pecks of corn on mill
per day and picking four pounds of oakum
Not all of the men adjudged to the latter
task finish it. and. so far as my OBJ
servation went, very few, indeed. were able
to empty their mills before bedtime l had
one day on a mill myself; and, with my ut
most efforts at the cruelty monetonous
work | succeeded in turning but only HVe
pecks 1t is an exercise that can De con-
fidently recommended as cure for OBESITY,
only that is not a common complaint AMONG
the inmates of a workhouse. Like every
other continuance of the Sort devised "
measure up to mans full strength, there
is a knack in it which. II the operator Is
lucky enough to hit upon IL. VIII eiiaoie
him to come off successfully; but even theh
II is work which, as the men pitmiy eN.
press it, wants doin.' The secret OF
oakum picking u.s. l believe. much more
easily cornpa Ssed it being not so mucn
matter of sheer strength and endurance as
of patience and ingenuity. The taskmas-
ter-the officer who has the power of max
ing your life miserable or tolerable In the
workhouse-can see at a glance whether
man Is trying to do his level best on the
corn mill: and If he finds him really uh-
able to finish the allotted task. he puts MIN
next day on something else more Wltnln
his strength-that is, if the mill, on It's
part, fails in it's chief function, which IS TO
drive its able bodied manipulation out at
the gate. All the other work Is of gem
Ein6-
scrubbing floors. cleaning stairs, passages
and windows and painting. all of which are
carried on under the supervision Oh the
lynx-eyed labor master.
Diet for Young Men.
The dietary scale for the young men Is as
follows: On three days Of the week there IS
a meat dinner of five ounces of boiled beef
with thin, white gravy, potatoes and -FOUR
ounces of bread On Monday dinner con-
sists of pint of pea soup and six ounces
of bread; on Wednesday and Saturday, SIX
ounces of bread, with a piece OF cheese anu
an onion, and pint of an unheard OF spe-
ces of soup, made of oatmeal ana lew
vegetables. In both kinds OF soup there
are always placed a few small cubes OF LETT
over meat of the toughnesS of gutta percha,
and absolutely tasteless, which make boid
to hold responsible for the prevalence or
nightmare in the young mems dormitory IN
the nights following the soup dinners. On
Friday perhaps the best dinner of all Is
served, round of suet pudding, which. In
my own case at least eaSed the quaims Oh
an ever-besetting hunger better than ever
did the meat (beef. never mutton). which
was almost always tough and cartilaginous
and devoid of all natural flavor.
Tea and Bread Breakfast.
Breakfast consists of six ounces of bread.
with a pat of butter and a liberal pint of
tea, except on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
when basin Of good oatmeal Cruel takes
the place of the tea, to the disgust of many.
who will not touch the ''skilly.' as they
contemptuously call it. Supper tea con-
sists of the same allowance of tea, bread
and butter as at breakfast, on three nights
of the week. cheese taking the place of but
ter three other nights. and Thursday
night being reserved for the discussion OF
thin beef or mutton broth with six ounces
of bread) which the men Scornfully desig-
nate as fly water. and is the theme OF
endless jesting. In this menu the bread and
butter are invariably good, so are the tea
and the Cruel; the cheese generally good.
comes too often Give times week.; the pc
tatoes are often poor, and the meat, at its
best is innutritive and instpid to a degree
not at all due TO its qualities 1t comes
from the hands of the butcher.
And now Twill describe briefly the work
had to do this diet, promising that
could eat very little of the meat and burst
not eat much of the cheese. from fear of
indigestion. After week of paint scraping
/ was put INTO the boiler house as Stoker'S
mate or drudge. My first duty in the morn
ing was to sweep down the tops of the two
boilers, and then. descending from that tor
rid region, to sweep and mop up the boiler
house floor and. finally. to sweep the road
way as far as the dust bins, which had to
keep tidy at all times. In the course of
the day, while incidentally shining brasses
and carrying off and drenching hot ashes
and clinkers whenever the fireman cleaned
out his fires. had to keep him constantly
supplied with a large barrow of Goals to
the amount of from one and half to two
a V. which | n n n no
requisite size in the coal hole before wheel
ing away. Twice a day had to clean the
engine which runs the various machinery
OF the washhouse; and | was liable at any
moment to be called away by the engineer
to light the smithy forge, to clean out
choked gullies. drains or pipes. turn the
grindstone. or cut and drill holes in IRON
work-in short. to help him in any of the
1nultifarous duties of his office By the
close of the day l could have welcomed
what was unattainable In that place. quiet
corner for undisturbed rest
The Dull Routine.
Now. to a man who has been Injured to
manual labor. perhaps such work would
not seem hard. If he adequately fed or
at least could readily assimilate the work
house fare But If a man has never done
such work. or is in delicate health or suf-
fering from some sharp stroke of misfor-
tune. his case Is indeed pitabe. No matter
how he suffers in mind or body, or his bones
ache with rheumatic twinges unavoidab BILE
In such factory OF draughts the many
cornered. many corridored workhouse is. he
has no time to attend to his sensations, but
while his strength and spirits ebblns,
surely away. is carried on dumbly through
the weary routine of his life like veri-
table beast of burden. But whole volume
OF description would not explain to the out
slider the peculiar loathng that is enter
tanned by the initiated for The House. "
Analyze the feeling and you viii find most
OF it unreasonable; but it is there. neverthe-
less, deep seated and inextinguishable.