THE HARDSHIPS OF RESPECTABLE POVERTY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1906, 4 February 1885, Page 2

THE HARDSHIPS OF RESPECTABLE POVERTY.

It is forgotten that while to the lowest scale of human life poverty is a hard lot (somewhat tempered by habit,' to higher grades of social position poverty is really a orime. They dare not show to their neighbours and acquaintances any outward evidencooffcheirpoverty—thoydarenotreveal thetorrible'pmchings and struggles they go through'to keep their little homes together, or the anxiety they suffer in raising the little rent they have to pay weekly for ahumble lodging in a respectable neighbourhood, The poor" gentleman, the poor lady, the poor clerk, out of employment, must maintain their respectability, for their pecuniary ruin means also sooial ruin.. There is a point in certain grades of human existence where respectability becomes a burden and a fax. It is all very well to say "there is menial labor open to them. There is no greater cant abroad than the affectation that menial labour is a disgrace; but menial labor requires skill, and unless a man or a woman be reared to it, he or she 1b valueless in that capacity. To be a competent navvy or labourer requires a certain muscular development and training. To be a skilled carpenter or bricklayer requires as much knowledge, skill, and nicety of touch as many callings of higher repute. I am purposely putting aside all considerations of the natural and actual horror and pain felt by all refined natures at contact with. sordid surroundings and coarsely vulgar associates. But to the well-bred and educated man and -woman all this means trial and Buffering, and it is a species of trial and Buffering quite unknown to the inhabitants of a slum. The deserving poor, the poor who get no sympathy, do not-all ..live in slums. The popular journalist can make nojens'ation articles on the lives of men .wholconcealtheir sufferings under decent- black coats and nearljr. starve, in-dingy backs. The suffering is silent it is not advertised. In the privacy of their poorly furnished.

rooms, the tears may bo hitter, the sighgj ; ■■'■:& heavy, but the world knows nothing of? ;'' : )\f;>i all that. The poor tradesman, ruined v; ■ [. perhaps, by no fault of his own—crushed &V <; ' by competing with larger capitalists— '<ij,' who will set him on his legs again? A careful study of the annual statistics of ' ; % suicides will show that nearly !«j all the "cases" found are res- "1 pectably' dressed. The inhabitants v , of slums seldom commit suicide. The '7* most powerful incentives to suicide are shame, anxiety, and mental suffering. .;■'''' To suffer mentally one must have a mind; ' a large portion of the inhabitants of slums , have no minds—they are animal, they .- grovel j they do not really wish to be clean, decent, or respectable. But the poor man,, who has been decently reared/,-.-.. who has Comoro poverty through misfortune, who is willing to work perhaps has no, practical trade, though ;P7 he may possess fair : average abilities—.., ' how is he to get, a-living! Who will. ■ help him? There : 'are hundreds aridhundreds of decently-clad men about who' . are on the verge of starvation. TheAa ' intelligent, respectable; but they carrot find channels of occupation. Theywould,. willingly take any labor they coulddoto, "i get a pound a. week, and theyJHpw not ; '' where to look for it. These arelthe de- ■ '.■,.< , serving poor—none the less deserving • that they are "unseen" by the "'public eye. The want of food and comfort is not the least of their pain—they; suffer hourly agonies of shame and' Rearing .anxiety. ••' Y'i ! -.