The Regeneration of the Boggses.

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 6, 20 February 1911, Page 13

The Regeneration of the Boggses.

(From " Westminster Gazette.")

A STUDY FROM LIFE

(By DORA OWEN.)

They were, it seemed, an utterly hopeless case. There was too much of them, for one thing. Ten children seemed too many for the most incurable optimist to undertake, and so they were left to their own devices. Somehow they managed to live, but they did not contrive to make a very fine thing of life. Mr. Boggs had regular work, and brought back as much as two-and-twenty shillings a week to his happy home in Appletree row, a grimy blind alley in a growing slum. Mrs. Boggs was neither neat nor clean; her "body" was always undone at the back, and her hair would have won her a good position in the anchorite-world. Yet, after all, the mere possession of ten little Boggses, all under fourteen, was some slight excuse for a want of perfect cleanliness. She seemed to have given herself up as hopeless, too, just as the district-visitor and the clergyman and the Guild of Help had given her up. As for the little Boggses, they were a sorry sight. They never could go out all together, for want of enough clothing to satisfy the public sense of propriety. There was enough for six or eight, perhaps, but not for ten. The children were pinched and pale and dirty; their hair was wild and unkempt; their feet were pitiable. They were sent out begging, and so we first heard of them. Mrs.Boggs denied having sent them, stating that they were " limbs," and would beg. This may be so, oi' may not; it is hard to say, and also, I might add, hard to condemn her or the poor little emaciated " limbs."

Ten shillings a week for rent is a good slice oiit of twenty-two shillings, ut if you have ten children it is difficult to get them housed for less. Mr. and Mrs. Boggs and the little Boggses had each a shilling a week to live upon, after paying the landlord his share. It is really quite an interesting problem how to expend twelve shillings a week to the best advantage on food, firing and clothes for twelve human beings. It is easy to see that the man should belong to a club, that the woman should be thrifty and lay by for old-age, that they should all be independent and full of grit, and that no attempt should be made to " disintegrate the home " by feeding an y °f the hungry little Boggses. So much is plain to a welltrained eye. Meanwhile the Boggses were disgustingly dirty and miserable, and Mrs. Boggs was overheard making use of rather strong language in her home-circle.

The Guild of Help examined the case, and regretfully gave it up. To this day I could never discover why, for I am not well-trained, and it appeared to mc that the Boggses needed help as much as any family I ever met, though I confess they did not seem likely to do us much .credit when helped.

The district-visitor had called on Mrs Boggs from time to time, in a friendly way, without attempting to help. She was neither young nor rich, as the world counts youth and riches ; but a soul eternally young and hopeful looked out of her eyes, and if the love and blessings of the poor make one rich, as Solomon thought, she had amassed a very considerable fortune. Her small black-clad figure went trotting in all weathers among the poorest quarters; and she was one of the very few people I know who habitually made feasts for her Door friends, in her own house and

garden

This Little Sister of the Poor was troubled at the " Boggs' case," as we called it. She thought something might be tried, at any rate ; and as no one else would try, she did.

For some weeks she toiled incessantly. She made clothes, she begged clothes—clothes of all sorts and sizes ; nothing came amiss to her. She procured brushes and combs, sponges and towels. "My dear," quoth she, " there's nothing in the house to wipe their hands and faces on but such a black rag—and not a brush ! How can they be clean oi* tidy? "

Day by day she went down loaded with treasures for the Boggses. The soap and towels went first. No clothes were given until the Boggses had been washed; then the clothes followed. I happened to see her returning one day, one of the children by her side, carrying her empty basket. Now he was washed you could see he was a pretty fellow, thin and pale, but with big blue eyes which were fixed adoringly on the kind face of the Little Sister of the Poor. He had evidently not yet had his share of the outfit, and his feet were bare in the February slush.

Later I met her, with quiet triumph in her eye.

"I do believe they will be the better for it," she said. " They look quite different, hopefuller and more self-re-specting, now they are washed and have something decent to put on. Tha children couldn't beg now if they wanted to—they look so respectable. And one of the boys can earn a little money as an erfand-boy out of school hours now ; no one would look at him before, in those rags. And the eldest girl must get a little place soon. And Mrs. Boggs told mc how it all happened that they were so wretched. They had a good home once, and the man got thirty shiljings a week; but he drank, and the home was sold up, and they all had to go into the workhouse. It made a changed man of him ; he never drank again, but it was too late to save the home. He got work, and they came out, but they never could get a comfortable home together : there were so many of them : and she gave up trying. But now I believe she will try, for she is very pleased and grateful for the little I have done; and perhaps now we may help to start the children, and they may all do well yet. We can but try, can we, my. dear? "

I believe, too, that they will do well. The Little Sister has set her shoulder to the wheel, and for very shame the rest of us will have to help to push. Besides, the human love and helpfulness of the Little Sister was what the Boggses really wanted. Truly they do look different now. She has shown them kindness and sympathy, given them help and advice and—soap: given them another chance.

It is such a hard world for the Boggses—so little money, so much illluck, all struggle and no certainty. Do what they will there can never be enough to clothe and feed them properly ; and what margin have they for insurance against calamity or old age? One fall, one imprudence, and down they go, never to return to the ordinary level of human discomfort such as they might hope for.