THE UNPITIED DREGS

Shannon News, 18 May 1926, Page 3

THE UNPITIED DREGS

'IN LONDON'S SHADOWS' Since the day nearly fifty years ago when James Greenwood wrote his famous article. 'The Amateur Casual,' there has been no description of the down-and-out of London so vivid (is the experience of the Rev. Frank L. Jennings, B.Lifct., who pigged it for six weeks in the underworld of London, and describes his experiences in a book called 'ln London's Shadows," which has ;iust been published (says the •Sundaj Chronicle'). The first thing he did was to get together a suitable wardrobe, every article of which .like the picture of the man with lumbago, told a story. "The trousers were bespattered with paint, and showed their patriotic allegiance to the land of.the Emerald .Isle by turning green at the bottom. The coat and waisteoat cried hard ror decent burial, for they were old, frayed, and crumpled up. The khaki shirit had seen its ' first blood in the battle of Loos of March, 1915, and had sniffed poison gas in the second battle of Ypres a'few months later. "The 'cap —don't mention it; it was quite an apology for-something worn on Ihe head, that speedily conveyed the knowledge that the wearer looked ■sweetly rakish. Pulled low down over the forehead with a Beatty slant, It served to remind onlookers of Harry Tate at his best —or worst." The First Night.

Thus arrayed, one autumn morning he set out from Wandsworth to the nether world. The experiences of the first night, which he spent in a'room 20ft by 12rt where nineteen men slept, • was enough to frighten off most people from any such adventure, although he. was not cross-examined, for "every man in that strange community understands and respects your domain of privacy." "He was tremendously struck by the enormous amount of clothes which had to be unrobed, for , tne dossers carry their whole worldly, belongings with them. Thus, to wear two shirts two pair of trousers, and three or four waistcoats is nothing out of the ordinary."

Among the ' impedimenta you will invariably find an enamel mug, a billy-can, an old knife and fork, bits of string, the more the merrier (for it does everything from keeping up trousers to being used as tag ends), small parcels of food ,a dirty • old newspaper 1 , sundry bits of cheap jewellery, comb, studs, bags of lavender (the' latter forming part of the trading stock), a pack of playing cards, and several mysterious bundles Embankment Sleepers. Most of the sleepers stripped stark in this place of Dreadful Night, where the odors as the hours wore on became incredible, and almost unmentionable. Yet this shelter was run by a nearby mission. Some of the down-and-outs are far too poor-or too hopeless to get into a shelter, and take to the Embankment wliu-h is still full of would-be sleepers though this is frequently denied. It was there that he met a curious old Scotsman called Hugh M'Chrco, who had been years at it, but for whom the horror became so much that two months after the parson met him his body was found floating - near one "of the wharves off Lppor Thames street, with a dirty note m his pocket; "Don't blame me: I shan't be missed; 1 couldn't stana it I any longer." j The shrill blast of a police whistle meant that some poor devil had jumped from Blackfriais Bridge. When the policeman roused the sleepers, they slunk off in the rain, some of them taking shelter in me crvpt of St. Paul's, where they were not allowed to take off their boons, and which they had to leave at o. Plight of the Street Singer. In those six weeks the parson put his hand to all sorts of jobs. The h-irdest of all was that of street singinsr at which he never made so mucn ara"would buy a shirt, although he had known men on the streets who have earned as much as 10s or 12s a aay by it. r . t n^ One of the most trying features ox the street singer is the opposition ne meeis with from milkmen, coalmen, dustmen, and all sorts of trying- enthusiasts. . Thus lit was irresistibly comic .o be singing, say, tne first verse or •Because,' when a man wheeling a hand-barrow would come alongside, shouting for all he was worth ' Old iron " or again, when one started •Love Sends a Little Gift of Hoses.' snd came to the lines, "Take thou my gift ray offering of ," to ■• near a raucous voice of a pedlar • swamping the word "roses" with "Carbolic, any carbolic?" "Bullet Slifty.' -Vmong the street pedlars there was no one so remarkable as the veteran known as "Bullet Stiffy," a curious mixture of seasoned wisdom and

degeneracy, »H\- roud some really good bouut. and had Byron, George Eliot, and Oic-kens hi his locker. He could argue like n first-class-debater, yet lie could ,<loop to do things that would shame the biggest rogue. He could nave prayed as reverently as a saint, ye. he 'would have blazed like a tar Oar- , rol if vou had put a match to his breath In quiet moments lie could become as tender as a woman. In his mad ones lie could roar like, a I tornado. He believed in the literal command of the song. 'Dring To Mo Only With Thine Eyes'—he loved wine and women. He could drink like an elephant. One day he ■ would be 'blind,' and si small boy would lead him ;another day he would produce a club foot, and. beg; and now and again he took to a crutch and posed as a war casualty." . • The parson tried Ins hand at peddling, but found it a poor task, although the. newsvendor makes quiu. a good tiling of it. Indeed, he says that if ever the resigns lrpm the ministry he will consider the. claims

Of newspaper selling as an alternative. _____