REVELATIONS OF A WORKHOUSE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1650, 31 March 1866, Page 6

REVELATIONS OF A WORKHOUSE.

"We take the following interesting narrative from the Pall Mall Gazette: At about nine o'clock on the evening of Monday, the Bth Jan., a neat but unpretentious carriage might have been seen turning cautiously from the Kennington-road into Princes-road, Lambeth. The curtains were closely drawn, and the coachman wore an unusually responsible air. Approaching a public-house, which retreated a little from the street, he pulled up; but not so close that the lights should fall upon the carriage door, not so distant as to unsettle the mind of any one who chose to imagine that he had halted to drink beer before proceeding to call for the children at a juvenile party. He did not dismount, nor did any one alight in the usual way ; but any keen observer who happened to watch his intelligent countenance might have seen a furtive glance directed to the wrong door—that is to say, to the door of the carriage which opened into , the dark and muddy road. From that door emerged a sly and ruffianly figure, marked with every sign of squalor. He was dressed in what had once been a snuff brown coat, but which had fcded to the hue of bricks imperfectly baked. It was not strictly a ragged coat, though it had lost its cuffs—a bereavement which obliged the wearer's arms to project through the sleeves two long inelegant inches. The coat altogether;,was too small, and was only made to meet over the chest by means of a bit of twine. This was surmounted bird's-eye pocket-handkerchief of cotto|i,/w .jped about the throat hangman fashion \ ab»ve all was a battered billy-cock hat, with a dissolute drooping brim. Between the neckerchief and the lowering brim of the hat appeared part of a face unshaven, and not scrupulously clean. The man's hands were plunged into his pockets, and he shuffled hastily along in boots, which were the boots of a tramp indifferent to miry ways. In a moment he was out of sight, and the brougham, after waiting a little while, turned about and comfortably departed. This mysterious figure was that of the present writer. He was bound for Lambeth workhouse. Arriving at which he lifted the big knocker, and knocked; the door was promptly opened, and he entered:— "What do you want?" asked the man who opened the door. "I want a lodging." " Go and stand before the desk," said the porter; and I obeyed. " You are late," said the clerk. "Ami, Sir?" " Yes. If you come in you'll have a bath, and vou'll have to sleep in the shed.'" "Very well, Sir." " What's your name ?" "Joshua Mason, Sir." "What are you?" "An engraver." (This taradiddle I invented to account for the look of my hands.) " Where did you sleep last night ?" " Hammersmith," I answered—as I hope to be forgiven. " How many times have you been here ?" " Never before, Sir." " Where do you mean to go to when you are turned out in the morning?" " Back to Hammersmith, Sir." These humble answers being entered in a book, the clerk called to the porter, saying. " Take him through. You may as well take his bread with you." Near the clerk stood a basket containing some piaces of bread of equal size. Taking one of these, and unhitching a bunch of keys from the wall the porter led me through some passages all so scrupulously clean that my most serious misgivings were laid to rest. Then we passed into a dismal yard. Crossing this, my guide led me to a door, calling out * Hillo I Daddy, I've brought you another." V" "-eupon. Daddy • opened to_ us, and let a litt.io of his gaslight stream into the dark where we stood. " Come in," said Daddy, very hospitably. "There's enough of you to-night, anyhow 1 What riitßle you so late? " " I didn't like to come in earlier." " Ah! That's a pity now, because you've missed your skilley (gruel). It's the first night of skilley, don't you know, under the new act ? " " Just like my luck!" I muttered dolefully.

The supposed casual followed Daddy into another appartment, where there were ranged three great baths, each one containing a liquid " disgustingly like mutton broth." Having stripped, and plunged into the mutton broth, and made up his things into a bundle, for which he got a ticket, he proceeded, without any other rag than a checked shirt and rug, to the sleeping place, with naked feet in the draught of the frosty air :—

It was not a long way, but I would have given much not to have trodden it. It was open as the highway—with flagstones below and the stars overhead, and, as I said before, and cannot help saying again, a frosty wind was blowing. " Straight across," said Daddy, "to where you see the light shining through. Go in there, and turn to the left, and you'll find the beds in a heap. Take one of them and make yourself comfortable." And straight across I went, my naked feet seeming to cling to the stones as thongh they were burning hot instead of icy cold (they had just stepped out of a bath you should remember), till I reached the space through which the light was shining, and I entered in.

No language with which I am acquainted is capable of conveying an adequate conception of the spectacle I then encountered. Imagine a space of about 30 feet by 30 feet enclosed on three sides by a dingy whitewashed wall, and roofed with naked tiles which were furred with the damp and filth that reeked within. As for the fourth side of the shed, it was boarded in for (say) a third of its breadth; the remaining space being hung with flimsy canvas, in which was a gap 2 feet wide at the top, widening to at least 4 feet at bottom. This far too airy shed was paved with stone, the flags so thickly incrusted with filth that I mistook it first for a floot of natural earth. Extending from one end of my bed-room to the other, in three rows, were certain iron " cranks" (of which I subsequently learnt the use), with their many arms raised in various attitudes, as the stiffened arms of men are on a battlefield. My bedfellows lay among the cranks, distributed over the flagstones in a double row. on narrow bags scantily stuffed with hay. At one glance my appalled vision took in 30 of them—3o men and boys stretched upon shallow pallets with but six inches of comfortable hay between them and the stony floor. These beds were placed close together, every occupant being provided with a rug like that which 1 was fain to hug across my shoulders. In not a few case two gentlemen had clubbed beds and rugs and slept together. In one case (to be further mentioned presently; four gentlemen had clubbed together. Many of my fellow casuals were awake—others asleep or pretending to sleep ; and, shocking as were the waking ones to look upon, they were quite pleasant when compared with the sleepers. For this reason, the practised and well-seasoned casual seems to have a peculiar way in putting himself to bed. He rolls himself in his rug, tucking himself in, head and feat, so that he is completely enveloped; and, lying quite still on his pallet, he looks precisely like a corpse covered because of its hideousness. Some were stretched out at full length; some lay nose and knee 9 together; some with an arm or leg showing crooked through the coverlet. It was like the result of a railway accident; these ghastly figures were awaiting the coroner.

To sleep here was impossible, notwithstanding the kindly aid of Daddy, who came in to see how things'were going on. Daddy gave him his bread, which he had forgotten to take, and which he divided with a young fellow who asked it of him. The young lad had no sooner eaten the bread than he began

to awear with frightful imprecations that he was going to have a smoke, and immediately put his threat into execution. Thereupon his fellows sat up and lit their pipes too:— Bu oh! if they had only smoked—if they had not taken such an unfortunate fancy to spit at the leg of a crank distant a few inches from my head,, how much misery and apprehension would have been spared me. To make matters worse they united with this American practice an Eastern one : as they smoked they related little biographical anecdotes—so abominable that three or four decent men who lay at the further end of the shed were so provoked that they threatened, unless the talk abated in fllthiness, to get up and stop it

by main force. Instantly, the voice of every blackguard in the room was raised against the decent ones. They were accused of loathsome afflictions, stigmatised " as fighting men out of work" (which must be something very humiliating, I suppose), and invited to " a round" by boys young enough to be their grandsons. For several minutes there wai such a storm of oaths, threats, and tauntssuch a deluge of foul words raged in the room—that I could not help thinking of the fate of Sodom; as, indeed, I did several times during the night.

Little by little the riot died out, without any the slightest interference on the part of the officers. Soon afterwards the ruffian majority was strengthened by the arrival of a lanky boy of about 15, who evidently recognised many acquaintances, and was recognised by them as "Kay," or perhaps " K." :—

He was a very remarkable-looking lad, and his appearance pleased me much. Short as his hair was cropped, it still looked soft and silky ; he had large blue eyes, set wide apart, and a mouth that would have been faultless but for its great width ; and his voice was as soft and as sweet as any woman's. Lightly as a woman, too, he picked his way over the stones towards the place where the beds lay, carefully hugging his cap beneath his arm. " What cheer, Kay ?" "Out again, then, old son 1" "What yer got in yer cap, Kay?" cried his friends ; to which the sweet voice replied, " Who'll give me a part of bis doss (bed) ? my eyes and limbs if I ain't perishin' 1 Who'll let me turn in with him for half my toke" (bread) ? I feared how it would be! The hungry young fellow who had so readily availed himself of half my " toke" snapped at Kay's offer, and after a little re-arrangement and bed-making, four young fellows instead of three reposed upon the hay-bags at my head. "You was too late for skilley, Kay. There's skilley now, nights as well as mornins." " Don't you tell no bleeding lies," Kay answered, incredulously. " Blind me, it's true. Ain't it, Punch ?" "Right you arel" said Punch, "and spoons to eat it with, that's more! There use to be spoons at all the houses one time. Poplar used to have 'em; but one at time they was all nicked, don't you know." (" Nicked" means ',' stolen," obviously.) " Well, I don't want no skilley, leastways not to-night," said Kay. "I've had some rum. Two glasses of it; and blow out of pudding'—regler Cliristmas plum pudding.' You don't know the cove as give it me, but, thinks I this morning' when I come out, blessed if I don't go and see my old chum. Lordstrulh! he was struck! 'Come along,' he ses, 'I saved you some puddin,' from Christmas.' ' Whereabouts is it?' I ses. 'In that box under my bed,' he says, and he forks it out. I hat's the sort of pal to have! And he stood a quartern, and half a nounce.of hard up (tobacco). That wasn't all, neither; when I come away, ses he, * How about your breakfus!?' 'Oh, I shall do, ses I. 'You take some of my bread and butter,' he ses, and he cuts me off four chunks buttered thick. I eat two on 'em comin' along." " What's in your cap, Kay?" repeated the devourer of " toke." "Them other two slices," said Kay; generously adding, "There, share 'em amongst yer, and somebody gave us a wiff of 'bacca." Kay told stories of thieves and thieving, and of a certain " silver cup " he had been " put up to," and that he meant to nick it 'afore the end of the week, if he got seven stretch (? seven years) for it. The cup was worth ten quid (? pounds), and he knew where to melt it within ten minutes of nicking it:—

He made this statement without any modulation of his sweet voice, and the others received it as serious fact. Nor was there any affectation of secresy in another gentleman, who announced, with great applause, that he had stolen a towel from the bathroom ; "And s'help me, it's as good as new ; never been washed more'n once 1"

" Tell us a ' rummy' story, Kay," said somebody; and Kay did. He told stories of so " rummy " a character that the decent men at the further end of, the room (some of whom had their own little boys sleeping with them) must have lain in a sweat of horror as they listened. Indeed, when Kay broke into a " rummy " song with a roaring chorus, one of the decent men rose in his bed and swore that he would smash Kay's head if he didn't desist. But Kay sang on till he and his admirers were tired of the entertainment. "Now," said he, " let's have a swearing club I you'll all be in it ? " The principle of this game seemed to rest on the impossibility of either of the young gentlemen making half-a-dozen observations without; introducing a blasphemous or obscene word ; and .either the basis is a very sound one, or for the sake of keeping the "club" alive the members purposely made slips. The penalty for "swearing" was a punch, on any part of the body, except a few which* the club rules protected. The game was highly successful. Warming with the sport, and indifferent to punches, the members vied with each other in audacity, and in a few minutes Bedlam in its prime could scarcely have produced such a spectacle as was to be seen in the beds behind me. One rule of the club was that any word to be found in the Bible might be used with impunity, and if one member " punched" another for such a word the error was to be visited upon him with a double punching all round. This naturally led to much argument, for in vindicating the Bible as his authority a member became sometimes so much heated as to launch into a flood of "real swearing," which brought the fists of the club upon his naked carcase as quick as hail.

These and other pastimes beguiled the time until the church chimes tolled 12. After this the noise gradually subsided, and it seemed as though everybody was going to sleep at last:—

I should have mentioned that during the the story-telling and song - singing a few " casuals" had dropped in, but they were not habituis, and cuddled down with their rugs over their heads without a word to any one. In a little while all was quiet, save for the flapping of the canvas curtain in the night breeze, the snoring, and the horrible, indescribable sound of impatient hands scratching skins that itch. There was another sound of very frequent occurrence, and that was the clanking of the tin pannikin against the water pail. Whether it is in the nature of workhouse bread or skilley to provoke thirst is more than my limited experience entitles me to Bay, but it may be truthfully asserted that once at least in the course of 5 minutes might be heard a rustling of straw, pattering of feet, and then the noise of water dripping, and then was to be seen at the pail the figure of a man (sometimes stark naked) gulping down the icy water as he stood upon the icy stones.

At 1 o'clock occurred a still further complication of misery to the amateur casual; 10 more men appeared :—

lii they came at the rent in the canvasgreat hulking ruffians, some with rugs and nothing else, and some with shirts and nothing else, and all madly swearing because, coming in after 11 o'clock, there was no " toke" for them. Ai won ai theie wrathful men had

advanced to the middle of the shed they made the discovery that there was an insufficient number of beds—only three, indeed, for ten competitors. "Wher's the beds? D'ye hear, Daddy ? You blessed, truth-telling old person, where's the beds ?"

" You'll find 'em. Some of 'em is lying on two, or got 'em as pillows. You'll find em,"

With a sudden rush our new friends plunged among the sleepers, trampling over them, cursing their eyes and limbs, dragging away their rugs ; and if by chance they iound some poor wretch who had been tempted to take two beds (or bags) instead of one, they coolly hauled him out and took passession. There was no denying them and no use in remonstrating. They evidently knew that they were at liberty to do just *s they liked, and they took full advantage of the privilege. One of them came up to me, and shouting, "I want that you ," snatched at my " bird's-eye" nightcap and carried it off. There was a bed close to mine which contained only one occupant, and into this one of the new comers slipped without a word of warning, driving its lawful owner against the wall to make room. Then he sat' up in his bed for a moment, savagely venting his disappointment as to " toke," and declaring that never before in his life had he felt the need of it so much. This was my opportunity. Slipping my hand under my bed, I withdrew that judiciously hoarded piece of bread and respectfully offered it to him. He snapped at it with thanks. By the time the churches were chiming two matters had once more adjusted themselves, and silence reigned to be disturbed only by drinkers at the pail, or such as, otherwise prompted, stalked into th? open yard. Kay, for one, vißited it. I mention this unhappy young wretch particularly, because he went out without a single rag to his back. I looked out at the rent in the canvas, and saw the frosty moon shining on him. When he returned, and crept down between Punch and another, he muttered to himself, " Warm again! Oh, my G—d ! warm again 1 " The amateur "casual" persevered, and went bravely through the night, got his clothes back again, went through the form of breakfasting off bread and " skilley," and took his share at the crank labour which is demanded of every grown-up casual before leaving in the morning. He thus describes the breakfast: — A baker's man appeared with a great wooden tray piled up with just such slices of bread as we had received overnight. The tray was consigned to an able-bodied casual, who took his plaee with the taskmaster at the shed door; and then in single file we reentered the shed, each man and boy receiving a slice as he passed in. The bread devoured, a clamour for 'skilley,' began, The rumour had got abroad that on this morning, and all future mornings, there would be skilley at breakfast, and " Skilley ! skilley !" resounded through the shed. No one had hinted that it was not forthcoming, but skilley seems to be thought an extraordinary concession, and after waiting only a few minutes for it, they attacked the taskmaster in the fiercest manner. They called him thief, sneak, and " crawler." Little boys blackguarded him in gutter language, and looking him in the face, consigned bim to hell without flinching. He never uttered a reply, or showed a sign of impatience : and whenever he was obliged to speak it was quite without temper.

There was a loud " hooray 1" when the longed-for skilley appeared in two pails, in one of which floated a small tin saucepan, with a stick thrust into its handle, by way of a ladle. Yellow pint basins were provided for use, and large iron spoons. " Range round the walls 1" the taskmaster shouted. We obeyed with the utmost alacrity; and then what I should judge to be about three-fourths of a pint of gruel was handed to each of us as we stood. I was glad to get mine, because the basin that contained it was warm, and my hands were numb with cold. I tasted a spoonful, as in duty bound, and wondered more than ever at the esteem in which it was held by my confreres. It was a weak decoction of oatmeal and water, bitter, and without even a pinch of salt to flavour it—that I could discover. But it was hot; and on that account, perhaps, was so highly relished that I had no difficulty in persuading one of the decent men to accept my share.

It was now past eight o'clock, and a certain quantity of labour had to be performed by each man before he was allowed to go his way. The labour was to be " crank " labour:— The "cranks"- area series of iron bars extending across the width of the shed, penetrating through the wall, and working a fourmill on the other side. Turning the " crank " is like turning a windlass. The task is not a severe one. But the grindeas are as lazy as obscene. At least one-half the gang kept their hands from the crank whenever the miller was absent, and betook themselves to their private amusements and pursuits. Some sprawled upon the beds and smoked ; some engaged themselves and their friends in tailoring, and one turned haireutter for the benefit of a gentleman who, unlike Kay, had not just come out of prison. Other loungers strolled about with their hands in their pockets, discussing the topics of the day, and playing practical jokes on the industrious few. The consequence of all this was that the cranks went round at a very slow rate, and now and then stopped altogether. Then the miller came in; the loungers rose from their couches, the tailors ceased stitching, the smokers dropped their pipes, and every fellow was at his post. The cranks spun round furiously again, the miller's expostulation being drowned amidst a shout of " Slap bang, here we are again 1" or this extemporised chorus :— We'll hang up the miller on a Bour apple tree, We'll hang up the miller on a sour apple tree, We'll hang up the miller on a Bour apple tree, And then go grinding on. Glory, glory, Hallelujah, &o. &o. The writer of this remarkable narrative adds, in conclusion, " I have some horrors for Mr. Farnall's private ear (should he like to learn about them) infinitely more revolting than anything that appears in these papers."