HOW THE POOR LIVE.
27
required them to come to school. Instead of making their
attendances, learning to read and write, the children were
street Arabs. The woman was meek and quiet enough. She
promised " She'd see to it," and was reminded that she had
SHE PROMISED "SHED SEE TO IT,
made the same promise before. This time it was not
accepted, and the woman was informed that she would have
to appear before a magistrate.
Meekly and quietly she said, " Thank you, sir," as if the
chairman had presented her with a medal or a pound of tea,
and went out.
The women poured in one after the other—there were
very few men, most of them, I suppose, being "at work,"
whatever that term might imply in their particular case—
and they were of all sizes, sorts, and conditions. There
were respectable, decent, motherly-looking souls, drunken
outcasts, slatternly trollops, half-starved and sickly-looking
women, and fat, overwhelming women, who came not to be
crushed, but to crush.
One gaunt, fierce-looking lady, with the voice of a man
and the fist of a prize-fighter, gave the company a bit of her
mind. " Her ' gal' warn't a-coming to be worrited with a
lot o' stuff. She was delikit, her gal was, and the School
Board was murderin' of her."
" What's the matter with her ? " asked the chairman.
" Well, it's nervis system, and her teeth growin' out."
" Where's the doctor's certificate that she's too ill to
attend?" '
" Sitifkit ? d'ye think I've got time to go a-gettin'_sitifkits
—not me—ain't my word good ernuff? "
The School Board officer knows this lady's circumstances,
and he whispers something to the chairman. The girl's
" nervis system" and dental eccentricities have not prevented her affectionate mother from sending her out hawking every day while she stops at home and drinks.
" Where's your husband ? " asked the officer. " I haven't
sssn him lately. He'll have to be summoned, you know, as
you can't get a certificate."
The officer in question has good reason to ask affectionately after the husband. Last year the worthy gentleman
got a month for playfully tossing the officer down a flight of
stairs on to his head.
" Where's my husband ? Ah! " says she, purple with
passion, " you want to summon him, do you ? Well, then,
you jolly well carn't. Gord's got him."
" Dead ? " asked the chairman.
" Yes—didn't I say so ? "
" Then you will be summoned instead."
The lady didn't retire—she had to be diplomatically
crowded out, and the last sounds that reached the room as
she receded along the corridor, under gentle pressure, were
wishes that the chairman and all concerned might go where,
at least if her estimate of his whereabouts was correct, they
would not have the pleasure of meeting her late lamented
consort.
There are some rough customers to deal with in this
district—so rough that it is a wonder the Act works so
smoothly as it does. The fiercest and most reckless of the
lawless classes have to be bearded in their dens by the
devoted ill-paid officers, who ferret out the children and
insist upon their coming to school. Up to the topmost
garret and down to the lowest cellar, in dens and hovels
given over to thieves and wantons, I have accompanied a
School Board officer on his rounds, and I frankly confess
that I have passed a few bad quarters of an hour.
"AIN'T MY WORD GOOD ERNUFF?"
There are dozens of these places where the blow follows
the word in a moment, where life is held of the least
account, and where assaults are so common that the victims
would as soon think of asking the police to notice their
broken windows as to take cognizance of their broken
heads.
There is a legend that one of these cellars in the Mint—
it fetches 3J. a week rent, by the by—a man killed a
woman and left her; and that nobody took any notice
until the body got unpleasant, and then they threw it out
into the street.
HOW THE POOR LIVE.
27
required them to come to school. Instead of making their
attendances, learning to read and write, the children were
street Arabs. The woman was meek and quiet enough. She
promised " She'd see to it," and was reminded that she had
SHE PROMISED "SHED SEE TO IT,
made the same promise before. This time it was not
accepted, and the woman was informed that she would have
to appear before a magistrate.
Meekly and quietly she said, " Thank you, sir," as if the
chairman had presented her with a medal or a pound of tea,
and went out.
The women poured in one after the other—there were
very few men, most of them, I suppose, being "at work,"
whatever that term might imply in their particular case—
and they were of all sizes, sorts, and conditions. There
were respectable, decent, motherly-looking souls, drunken
outcasts, slatternly trollops, half-starved and sickly-looking
women, and fat, overwhelming women, who came not to be
crushed, but to crush.
One gaunt, fierce-looking lady, with the voice of a man
and the fist of a prize-fighter, gave the company a bit of her
mind. " Her ' gal' warn't a-coming to be worrited with a
lot o' stuff. She was delikit, her gal was, and the School
Board was murderin' of her."
" What's the matter with her ? " asked the chairman.
" Well, it's nervis system, and her teeth growin' out."
" Where's the doctor's certificate that she's too ill to
attend?" '
" Sitifkit ? d'ye think I've got time to go a-gettin'_sitifkits
—not me—ain't my word good ernuff? "
The School Board officer knows this lady's circumstances,
and he whispers something to the chairman. The girl's
" nervis system" and dental eccentricities have not prevented her affectionate mother from sending her out hawking every day while she stops at home and drinks.
" Where's your husband ? " asked the officer. " I haven't
sssn him lately. He'll have to be summoned, you know, as
you can't get a certificate."
The officer in question has good reason to ask affectionately after the husband. Last year the worthy gentleman
got a month for playfully tossing the officer down a flight of
stairs on to his head.
" Where's my husband ? Ah! " says she, purple with
passion, " you want to summon him, do you ? Well, then,
you jolly well carn't. Gord's got him."
" Dead ? " asked the chairman.
" Yes—didn't I say so ? "
" Then you will be summoned instead."
The lady didn't retire—she had to be diplomatically
crowded out, and the last sounds that reached the room as
she receded along the corridor, under gentle pressure, were
wishes that the chairman and all concerned might go where,
at least if her estimate of his whereabouts was correct, they
would not have the pleasure of meeting her late lamented
consort.
There are some rough customers to deal with in this
district—so rough that it is a wonder the Act works so
smoothly as it does. The fiercest and most reckless of the
lawless classes have to be bearded in their dens by the
devoted ill-paid officers, who ferret out the children and
insist upon their coming to school. Up to the topmost
garret and down to the lowest cellar, in dens and hovels
given over to thieves and wantons, I have accompanied a
School Board officer on his rounds, and I frankly confess
that I have passed a few bad quarters of an hour.
"AIN'T MY WORD GOOD ERNUFF?"
There are dozens of these places where the blow follows
the word in a moment, where life is held of the least
account, and where assaults are so common that the victims
would as soon think of asking the police to notice their
broken windows as to take cognizance of their broken
heads.
There is a legend that one of these cellars in the Mint—
it fetches 3J. a week rent, by the by—a man killed a
woman and left her; and that nobody took any notice
until the body got unpleasant, and then they threw it out
into the street.
