A PEEP AT COSTER LIFE.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6138, 26 August 1886, Page 4

A PEEP AT COSTER LIFE.

A missionary in London heard the following instructive statement from a girl of the costermonger class : The fir*t step to ruin is them places of et penny guffs," (or they hear things there as oughtn't to be said to young gals. Besides, the lads is very inainivatitjjj, and after leav'ng them place* will give a gal a drop of beer, and make her half tipsy, and then mikes their arrangements. I've often heard the boys boasting of having ruined gals, for all the world as if they were the first noblemen in the land. We poor gals ain't very religious, but we are better than the men. We all of ub thanks God for everything — even for a fine day ; as for sprats, we always says they're God's bleminft for the poor, and thinks its hard Oi th j Lord Mayor not to let them come in before the ninth of Norember, just because he wants to dine off them — which he always do. \es, we knows for certain that they eats plenty of sprats nt tbe Lord Mayor's " blanket. " They say in the Bible that the world was made in six days : t' c beastp, the birds, the fish, and all — and . vprats was amongst them, in coorse. There wa« only one bouse at that time as was made, and that wan the Ark for Adam and Eve and their family. It teems very wonderful indeed how all this world was done so quick. I should hare thought ibat England alone would have took double the time; shoulden't you, sir 1 But then it pays in tbe Bible God Almighty's a just and true G >d, and in coorae time would be nothing to him. When a good person is dying, we says "The Lord b.38 called upon him and he must go ;" but I can't think what it means, nnlcsß it means that in angel comes — like when we're a dr* aming — and fells the party he's wanted in Heaven. I know where Heaven is; it's above the clouds, and they're placsd there to prevent us seeing. That's where all the good people go ; but I'm afeerd — she continued solemnly — there's very few costers among the angels — ' specially those as deceives poor gals.