Dirty People.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2962, 24 May 1898, Page 6

Dirty People.

ABOUT SOME FOLK WHO NEVER WASH THEMSELVES

Which of as has laughed again and again at the funny caricature of the virtues of somebody's soap : " Two years ago I used your soap, since which I have need no other !" And the tramp sitting writing this encomium certainly looks as if he had not " seen soap and water" for twice two years. But are there really such people? Is this only a caricature or is it a reality? Strange a§ it may seem there are indeed, even ia England, some j people who never wash themselves. There is in a northern town, a man well known to the denizens of its East End, whom nobody can ever recollect to have seen clean washed since he was a boy. At that time, like most youths he had a strong aversion to soap and water too freely, and, as he grew older, this AVERSION DAILY IirCBEASED. From attaining the age of 21 he has discarded the virue of cleanliness altogether. He went to live with an aunt — an* old maid, independent and eccentric— one of whose many fads was that " washing did no good to anybody except the soap-sellers." Hence his inherited hatred of being clean was fostered and strengthened ; and so for 25 years he has gone on without ever washing himself, at least any part of his body except his hands. Strange to say his face does not look nearly so dirty and black as one might suppose — a circumstance no doubt due to the natural decay and renovation of the skin of the human body. Still, those who see him for the first time cannot but be struck at his disreputable appearance; nor is their surprise lessened on hearing that he is independent, and has a brother of high standing and reputation professionally in the town. The capital of the Midlands, too, can boast of a celebrity who might be christened one of the kings of THE " GREAT FHWASHED " BBIGADE OP ENGLAND. In his case love was the immediate cause of his preference for dirt. He is by trade a plumber, and was never excessively clean. He fell in love with the daughter of a neighbouring shopkeeper, who rejected his address because she said she was going to marry somebody with clean hands and face. In a fit of anger the disappointed lover vowed to annoy her constantly by never washing himself again ; and as he lived quite close to her parents, and as she was practically obliged to Bee him more or less every day, it is probable his vow has had some effect of the kind intended. Anyhow he has kept to his threat, and for seven years now has never washed any part of his person except his hands, and thoße only at meal-times. In his face one can scarcely trace the shape of some of his features, so thick is the coating of dirt that encases them, for as everybody knows, plumbing is not one of the cleanest and daintiest jobs. He has offered to relent and give himself a good wash, if the fair maiden, etill a spinster, will only look favorably on his suit ; but as she professes a greater dislike for him than ever, and declares that now she wouldn't marry him if he was " worth his weight in gold " it is to feared that the neighbourhood will not jasfc yet have the pleasure of Boeing its celebrity that walks in dark* ness brought into the light, and learning the virtues of somebody's soft DELICIOUS SOAP FOB DELICATE SKINS. But though there are odd cases like these amongst Englishmen, we are not, as a nation, dirty. There is in our midst a class of people who can claim much greater distinction in that line* viz., the gipsies, or Romany people. Of these, nine out of ten have an unconquerable and hereditary dislike to cleanliness ; and for them to go without a wash for months at a time is not at all uncommon. To this they add a further peculiarity, to which even the Birmingham man could not lay credit, viz., they do not trouble to comb their hair. The inhabitants of districts which contain a good number of the Jewish fraternity, sach as Whitechapel in London, and the Leylands in Leeds, oan tell of many Jews whose, only use of soap— or water— is on the great festivals, and then their ablutions are only confined to the face and hands. As a tribe, probably the Esquimaux are" the dirtiest and most unwashed people* Jn existence. With them it is not onetiiW and there ; it if everybody, Jfo fcrue Ea^auf «Tf r do* WJHb

~himselfj^on any pretence. Of such a: virtue he knows nothing. If, ai someone revi, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness," the Esquimaux moat be far away from the latter.