BEGGING AS A FINE ART

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 27

BEGGING AS A FINE ART

Letter-writing, some say, is a declining art. The Charity Organisation Society, which keeps watch on the professional beggar in England, disagrees. "The Poet," "GeraldGeraldine." the "Tablecloth Woman," and others who swell the society's files and the revenue of the Post Office are. it would seem, as industrious and as successful as ever, states the London "Observer." Many years ago, possibly in the nineties, a certain peer received by , post a * poem called "An Evening Prayer." It was a very bad poem indeed; but the letter accompanying it iwas effective. The author, it seemed, had to appeal for contributions to support his wife and children: his position was desperate. Today, forty years on, the same poem and the same letter pass regularly through the post The author, who writes openly from his own address, has long exhausted the peerage and descended to commoners. At present he is "working steadily through another alphabetical list, and the society, which frequently receives inquiries about him, has discovered that he now employs a secretary to send out his poems.

Another writer, with a shorter record than the poet's, has specialised in members of Parliament This man. who works under three names and who uses a South London "Poste Restante" address, has a remarkable knowledge of the country. He writes to a member, claiming to be a constituent, supplying confirmatory detail, and saying that as he has been offered work in Bradford on the following Monday (he, encloses the firm's telephone number) he would be grateful for money to pay his fare. On one occasion, the society found, he was a constituent of four different M.P.S within two days.

Then there is the man who writes to every admiral in the Navy List. He served with them during the war and no doubt they could oblige him with £5. Another man, specialising in Scottish people—his late father, it appears.

had often spoken of the particular •'victim"—asks always for £6, and begins; "Do not, I beg of you, consider this an ordinary begging letter . ..." One of the most versatile writers is a woman at St. Albans. She watches the newspapers carefully and will send to a bride, saying how keenly she remembers her own wedding day, and to a widow, speaking of the loss of her own husband. If anyone has had an accident this woman is certain to have suffered in the same way and would be glad of 10s for additional comforts. Her inventive talent is considerable. Another famous writer of these letters is "Gerald-Geraldine." This beggar, also among the more adaptable, lives invariably at "Poste Restante," and his story changes according to the religion of his correspondents. To bishops and other Anglicans he is a Roman Catholic priest who has seen the error of his ways and is starving because of the change in his convictions. To Catholics he is a converted clergyman unable to find work. Lately, changing his sex as well as his. beliefs, he has gone from "Gerald" to "Geraldine" — friendless, povertystricken, and recovering from a long illness. Oddly enough, he has not altered his handwriting. "The Woman with the Tablecloth." | who has been active since before the war, occupies three volumes in the society's files. This is because of her engaging habH of sending out a homemade teacloth, saying how difficult it was to scrape together money for the materials, and hoping that, if the cloth is not kept, it will be returned with ss. As a rule, the professional beggar is educated and can write a good letter. The public are generous and these Writers do well. Probably for every one of their appeals referred to the society for investigation four or five others are successful. '

"Genuinely' deserving people," said a society official recently, "never beg —in any circumstances. That is why we urge everyone to adopt the maxim, 'Inquire before you give.'"