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Show MRS. MATHEWS, THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE, WAS HERSELF A REAL VICTIM 4- H 4 4-4- 4 4 4- 4-4 4 4 4 4 4 - 4 - LONDON, June 16. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Premier 4 4- of Great Britain, In a recent address stated that there were 13,000.000 4 4 people in England on the verge of starvation. ' All of the great cities, 4. 4- London. Liverpool, Glasgow. Belfast. Dublin, have their hordes of poor. 4 4 The unemployed men who marched through the streets the other day 4 ,4- devoured ravenously the cheese sandwiches which .were given out by 4 4- the labor committee. ' . , 4 The following story is written by one of the starving pooriof London. 4 4 With her husband and five children she lives at Gascoyne court, twen- 4 4- ty minutes' walk from the Bank of England. - 4 . 4-' The seven members of the family live in one room. In a corner of 4 4- the room is an iron bed, on which is a mattress about two inches thick, 4 covered by. a single brown blanket. " Y 4 A stove with the merest suggestion of a Are fills the room with 4 4 smoke from a foul chimney. The single window of the room is minus 4 4 several panes, the places of which have been taken by brown paper. 4 4 The window is hermetically sealed, and the air is sickening. A kitchen 4 table is the only other piece of "fur 4 no chairs, only soap boxes. BY MRS. JOHN MATHEWS Of London, England, Written Especially for The Telegram. we have to take her out with us anyway, any-way, as they won't let us stay in the room in the daytime. If you want to stay indoors . in the day, the deputy dep-uty charges 6- cents extra. It's "very hard in rainy weather to ' get about the street with, the children. Must Care for Children. Why don't I go to the workhouse? I have been in four or five tfmes. But they put the children away rrom me. They are kept in a separate pari rrom the mothers. I suppose it's a better system; or at least they tell us so. My little baby died in the workhouse and I have never been back since. They let me see her the day she was dying, but I wasn't ' allowed to nurse her. My husband says I couldn't have saved her, but it has always been in my mind that perhaps I might. I don't know what ought to be done to puc an. end to such an existence as ours, but it doesn't seem as if everything every-thing were' right in this big city of London when we are compelled to march through life the way we do. My husband is a box and packing: case maker and gets a bit of .Uork now and then. When fully employed lie can make about $4.32 per week. But work is very slack and he has not been able to get anything: to do. I am a bow maker for fancy shoes, but have rot been able to do any work since baby was born.' When working I. made about $1.20 per week. ; I have had no work for five months and my husband, has.. been selling: watches and what are known as. . Houndsdltch novelties on the streets. I sell them myself. We manage to get the rent together most every night. Cost for a Night. This room it is called furnished costs us 24 cents a night. The deputy, or rent coUector for the landlord, comes each night and gets her shilling, or we have to go on the streets. Some nights we have had within 4 cents of . the rent, but the deputy . wouldn't Itt us stop in. So out we have had to go with the- five little ones. When that happens I go to what is called the "Twopenny Coffin," or, if ,' we haven't the twopence (4 cents), we go to the "Penny Sit Up" (2 cents). In the "tupenny coffin" you can lie on ; the floor in a sort of bunk and get --'covered with a piece of oilcloth for the - night. i Sticks to the Skin. It sticks to'your skin unless you put a newspaper over your face. They let the childrenvln the Tupenny Coffin free, but in the Penny Sit Up they charge 1 cent" for children over 2. In the Sit Up you are ajlowed for 1 cent to sit on a bench all night. It is very L trying on one's body, especially with ; a nursing child. My husband sits1 up all nixht on the Embankment, as they don't allow men in these shelters. About food after paying the room - rent to the deputy sometimes we have ! about 12 cents left. "There are seven of us; so we have to. 'make it-go a i long way. Here is how we would spend it: ' -, - Coal for flre 2 cents tfood H cent Oatmeal 2 cents Sugar cent ' Fried fish and potatoes ;.5 cents Milk (condensed).. '..j.-v 2 cents Total 12 cents Dividing the Food. The coal will make two fir if managed man-aged right. The condensed milk and ' sugar will do for one or two other meals. Sometimes we get more fried : potatoes with the fish, instead of the oatmeal. But it all doesn't go very far to feed seven of us. The oatmeal Is filling for the children. Sometimes someone on the street will give me or my husband an extra S cents, or even -25 -cents, especially when they see us with-the. babies. I get more money on the streets when T carry baby than when Idon't. and |
