The Art of Begging.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 63, 15 March 1901, Page 4

The Art of Begging.

The beggars in Paris, it is stated, are a well-organised body, with definite methods and properly regulated processes; they have, in fact, reduced beggary to something approximating between an art and a profession. An income of d 11,000,000 a year, the police state, is the modest outcome of this organisation. Like other corporate bodies, it has its strong men, who, by virtue of some vague aristocracy of poverty, are permitted a personal aggrandisement which is not allowed to the rank and file of the profession. Such an one was Father Antonie, a pious hunchback, who had a monopoly of church-door begging, specified parts of which he rented out to other beggars at fixed rates. His strong-box provided., his hump, and his untimely decease disclosed that receptacle as containing a beggarly sum of L'4ooo. For the benefit of recruits to the recognised ranks of beggars, there exists a sort ,of “VadeMecum,” or “who’s who,” manuscript copies of which are retailed at a cost of five shillings. This precious volume contains detailed lists of those who are in tho habit of dispensing indiscriminate hospitality. There is also a beggar’s supply store, where humps, crutches, wooden legs, goitres and other abominations may be hired, and where babies can be leased as a “ciying inducement” to the public to give. Furthermore, there are contractors who,employ both fa’se and real cripples at a per centage' basis, the contractor finding crutches, wheeled chairs, eyeshades, poodle dogs, “ Give a penny to the poor blind man ” sigrs, and other accessories. The contractor is also supposed to be an expert in “ lays,” and to be able to tell exactly what class of beggar will suit a given district. Children take their stands outside confectioners’ and toy-shops; the “ victim of a boiler explosion ” is planted-at a factory door; little girls .sell flowers at out-door cafe tables; organ-grinders visit the beer-fhop s; match-sellers haunt ihe doors of clubs and hotels, and miserable men got up to reprc« sent broken-down swells slink along the fashionable boulevards. If a beggar tries to beg independently he is likely to receive rough treatment at the instigation of the contractor, and experience shows that complaint to the police is the worst possible remedy to seek. Consequently7*the beggars’ organisation continues to flourish. —Lyttelton Times.