A STRANGE CHARITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17223, 14 December 1923, Page 7 (Supplement)

A STRANGE CHARITY.

OLDEST CHRISTMAS DINNER IN EUROPE. Nowhere* in all Europe, perhaps, will Christmas be celebrated in more historical circumstances than in a quaint institution situated in the High Street of Rochester, Kent, England (writes X. Tourneur in the “Sydney Mail Nowhere, too, is a. house better known. Officially termed the “ Poor Travellers’ House,” it is familiar to wayfarers in all parts of England. They know I it. also as “ Watts’s,” a place where six destitute men, who have never met before and may never meet again, sit 1 down to a right good meal, and are presented with a comfortable and snowwhite bed to sleep in every night of tho year. On Christmas Hay an ample and refreshing dinner is provided for them. As for three hundred years and more this lias gono on. it is probably the oldest Christmas dinner in Europe. Every night during its existence Watts’s has reoived poor travellers as laid down by its founder’s directions. Only one© or twice within living memory have fewer than six wayfarers presented themselves for admission. Never* in any case are more than six granted food and lodging. Charles Dickens made use of this ancient foundation as the framework for one of his most famous Christmas sketches, “ The Seven Poor Travellers,” representing himself as the seventh. This, however, was to suit his purpose, and is fiction pure and simple. On Christmas Night, as on every night of the year save Sundays, applicants for admission gather together at tho fire station shortly before six o'clock —beggars and tramps, brokendown tradesmen, men out of work, and other representatives of nearly every grade of wayfaring and homeless, pen- j niless folk. After the lucky six have j been chosen thqy go to the Travellers’ I House. Here, having washed their | hands and faces, they sit flown to their ! meal. This consists of half a pound of j boiled beef; one pound of wheaten j bread, and a pint of coffee, all of the best quality. The meal finished, each traveller signs his name in a book, and then they read, mend their clothes, smoke, write letters, etc., till nine of the clock. Now comes their bedtime, and they are conducted to their sleeping chambers. which are quaint, comfortable rooms. Dating from the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the bedrooms are six in number, three on the ground floor and three upstairs, approached by an outer staircase. On Christmas Day the six poor travellers are given roast beef, baked potatoes, plum pudding, and coffee, as , much as they can eat. and drink. And for many years now each man is banded a tin of tobacco, a cherry wood pipe, a box of matches, a pair of niitUuis, a sixpenny bit, and a Christmas card. In the morning the guests arc culled early, _and.. between seven and eight aru on tho tramp again*. No breakfast

I is given, hut each man usually has the remains of His last night’s meal i wrapped up for consumption when he wants. How came this remarkable institution to be founded? When Richard Matts, a rich merchant of Rochester, died in 1579, he set forth in his will ; that such a “ house ” should he built, that it- should take in every night six poor travellers or wayfaring men being no common rogues or proctors.” For its upkeep he bequeathed £36 16s 8d a year, being the rent of certain land. This land has gone up so much in value that the yearly revenue from it is over £7OOO. Many are the legends connected with this ancient rest-house. One of them goes to explain the express direction by the founder that no “proctors” be entertained. Watts, it is said, was heavily cheated by a rascally man r»f law. He was so furious at this villainy that he included rogues with proctors, and cut them out for ever from tho benefits of his kind-hearted bequest. Since its establishment in the. Inst decade of the sixteenth century more than six hundred thousand individuals have partaken of “ Watts’s ” hospitality.