The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-01-20

4 common lodging house was her
next resting place, and here she found
the real vasrant class. Nearly all the
people in it lived by cadging on the
public and at night they Jared sunptu-
ously on steaks and potatoes and beer.
The severity of the workhouse had
driven the tagrant proper out of It
into the common lodging house, and
this is also the place where the honest
! worker had to stay when he was in
search o. employment. The place was
uncomfortable for filth and vermin,
| and in the next bed to herself and her
friend blind man and his dog were
sleeping.
There were. it was true, common
lodging houses for women only in
| some towns, but they were places
| where no decent woman could stay.
London, she found, was even worse
in this respect than the provinces.
Only last Saturday she arrived at st.
Pancras and spent from until 1880
o'clock before she could get admission
anywhere. The casual ward she APP
piled to too late, for it was closed at
. o'clock, and she had to go to Hol-
born, where at last she got a four PEN
| ny doss." ..-
This she described as the most un-
| speakably filthy place she was even in,
and it was crowded with prostitutes.
Yet if she had been so nearly destitute
as to have no more than fourpence
| she would have been compelled to stop
| there or to walk the streets. e. T.,
Why did not women go to the tramp
ward if they could gain admission?
l The answer was that once woman
had been there she absolutely refused
to go again. When she and her COM
panion, having exhausted the half
crown, sought its shelter, she discov-
cred why this was so. s,.s
Surprising that it was conducted on
model lines--and many were not-it
was not only a refuge for the destitute
woman, but she was the worse OFF for
| going there. she was robbed of her
health by starvation diet and hard
work. She, herself, and her companion,
both of them strong women, proved
! this by breaking down in health twice
during their experiences.
They. were put to bed like babies,
and. given a dose of Cruel as sweet as
treacle, and piece. of dry bread. Then
the cell was shut up for-tne night, and
there being no water. by morning they
were raging with thirst. After a
breakfast Of the same cruel and bread,
they each had to do as hard a days
work of scrubbing and cleaning as
ever a char.woman did for rs Sd.
| She had nothing to say against hard
work, but to make a woman do what
was worth half crown for board and
| lodging which did not cost Cd, and
spoil her clothes into the bargain, was
a terrible evil, for it prevented her
from getting honest work when she
left the ward. The food was infinitely
better in prison, and that was the rea-
son why so many casuals preferred to
go to prison rather than do the task
| set them. ss5S
What she proposed as a remedy was
to sweep away casual wards for women
altogether, and admit women to the
workhouse, where voluntary workers,
called lady protectors. might inquire
into their cases and see what could be
| done to help them.
With the men the problem was a
more difficult one. The real vagrant
who would not work she would leave
to the tender mercies OF the poor-law
as 1t was. But to- the honest man in
search of work she would admit him
| to the ward In the afternoon, let him
earn his supper bed and breakfast,
and send him away early; and If he
was bound to some nelgnboring place
where he hoped to find employment It
might easily be arranged to provide
him with a meal on the way.--London
Chronicle. %t s ~