IN A "TRAMP" WARD'

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4715, 5 August 1893, Page 2

IN A "TRAMP" WARD.

BY A REAL "CASUAL."

{Pall Mall Budget.) Moat people auppoae that those luokless wretches who take refuge in the casual wards of workhouses have a rather gbbd time of it at the expense of the ratepayers. Nothing could be further removed from the faot. Some unions and their officials treat " casuals" better than do others, but " bad is the beßt," and, as a rale, London unions rank worse than oonntry ones, St Giles' being the very worst of all, for the shopkeepers who constitute the Board of Guardians— not of the poor, but of the rates— ia that parish impose upon casuals a task of stone-breaking which no ablebodied man, -no matter how powerful or skilful-^and there is skill or "knack ». in stone-breaking, ' as in other: things— . oould possibly perform in the time allotted. Hence, as failure to perform the task means being oharged at Bowstreet as a "refraotory pauper," and as magistrates never, or hardly ever, believe aught the accusSd " casual" Bays, a night's lodging in the Maoklin street, Drury lane, " Bastille" usually means a month's hard labour in Pentonville Prison to follow. The casual ward of the parish of St Ursula is not far from a main thoroughfare, and is not open until 8 p.m. On the ocoasion i when fate caused me to seek its shelter I ! had about thirty companions in miseryall ragged, all dirty, and all down at heel. We were hustled into a large room, which had, of cour Be, that harsh and chilling aspeot common to all workhouses. The - " labour master"— they used to be called " tramp masters"— who had. admitted ..ns, took his seat at a table and commenced to, take our names, &o. This was the way in : which he went about it :■— *: " Now, then. No. 1, come on, if you are a-comicg." The man nearest the bully crawled forward, hat in hand, and 'body bent forward, the very picture of abjectness. Then the "bully-ragging " commenced. "What's your name— if you've got one P"—" Timothy Snooks." " Fine name that. How old do yon call yourself P"—" Forty, please, sir." "I don't please. What are yerf" —"Nothing." ' "So I should think," grunted Bully, and made an entry of some kind. " Where did you sleep last night P"—" Nowhere." "Nowhere!" repeated Bully. "Ain't you a-going baok to ther same place?" No answer. • " Where are you going to P"— " Anywhere." "Anywhere! Here, that won't do for me. You must say where you're going, even if it's only to make a hole in tiie water." Bully laughed at his own poor wit, Snookß muttered something, and Bully wrote it down. ".Have yer got any money P'»— " No." "Then take everything out of yer pockets and pitch 'em into that basket," pointing to one close by; • And so went on the examination. At last oame my turn. BuUy, who was

§yidenily sot * ba4 judge of men, at once discovered that I did not belong to the habitual tramp brigade; and accordingly, in order to aggravate me, put an additional question, viz,, " Are yon ft good hand at picking oakum P"— « No.'* "Well,tbafa all right. Yonll have ft good spell of it to-morrow." ; Row came the food. A regular pauper, .©jr inmate, -entered, carrying a wooden tray, upon which weife slices of bread, and eaoh casual was ordered to take one slice. Tbia was our snpper. Having eaten it, we vere^marohed mto a ahed and told to undress. Then eaoh man had to walk across fi courtyard and plunge into a bath .of water. The one supply bf water did for the whole crowd (at some provincial union?, notably Melton Mowbray and -Hortfcampton, the same uncleanly kind of cleanliness prevails), and soap there vrasnot. Next we were marohed into the dormitory, which is simply a brick-floored ahed like a bun, along the Bides of Which Were ranged rows of what looked like shallow coffins, but whioh I, from previous tmjerienoe gained at the Salvation Army galtage Wharf at Battersea, knew to; be bunks, Without bottoms except the floor v bf -bricks. In each of these was ft straw palliaas and one rag or blanket. As wo had lef fc our clothes done up in bundles in the bath Bhed, it may be imagined how we shivered that winter's Sight through. ■ At iUE in* the morning a bell rang, and Ihe tramp-master entered. " Now then," hs roared out. "out of it all of you. Tumble out! No skulking here. Bollup your mattresses, and put your shirts, on .lop of 'em." (I forgot to mention that each man had been given "a collection of holes with rags round them,", supposed to be a nightshirt, when he left the "bath " overnight.) Quiokly we dressed, and then ■marched out into the yard. Some of the men ware selected as cleanerß, others as rtone-bmkers, aid otheis aa oakum. ■ [pickers. . I waa , among the last. Each man was handed a bundle of short pieces of tarry rope, almost as hard as iron. These were to be unravelled into spun yam almost as fine as floss silk. There was a time when suoh a task would have teemed to me impossible. But practice and experience, if • they do not make perfeot, at least teaoh one even to pick vJM__vx__ and. by the aid of the worn heelMp oft*«w;bs»t I managed to achieve my twk ia the course of the day. .'■■-*,. ;< . ■"■' - .For. dinner .' we-- were -served, out- six ounces of bread and one and a quarter canoes oi mouldy; cheese ; yf or .-, supper, the esm© aa for breakfast.. Then we were marched off to. '*' bed " (P). At 6 a.m,we ■were turned out into the streets— break* fastteßS. ,--,. ,