In this country beggars have different methods. No doubt singing
hymns in Welsh towns and villages is one of the most profitable forms
of begging. The Welsh are very kind-hearted and, being a musical
people, it is almost impossible for them to resist an appeal made by
song. When murder has been committed in a locality, you will always
find a couple of men making a song of it in the streets, and they
certainly do an excellent trade with their song-sheets. Good voices
are not so necessary as a distinct enunciation of particular words
such as blood, axe, bolster, etc. But even in less fortunate cases,
when there has not even been an attempt at murder, beggars can still
do well by singing well-known hymns.
There is one kind of beggar in Wales whose earnings can water the
mouth of many a beggar in America. We must approach this man very
seriously, for he is forced to beg through a terrible affliction.
He is either totally blind or paralysed, and is to be seen standing
or sitting near a pit's mouth on pay-day. For this man the Welsh
colliers have deep pity, and in a very short time they fill his
hat with money, silver shining among the copper, although the
contributors are only working men. But for a man with a more simple
affliction the colliers have, of course, far less sympathy. A great
number of colliers have suffered in accidents, and they are still
working hard, so it cannot be expected that they will make much
distinction between a man who has lost a finger and one that has not.
Beggars that play music do well, whether it is an organ, a cornet, a
concertina, or a tin whistle. Public-houses are the best stands, for
men half drunk are always musically inclined. These men also do well
at private houses. It seems strange to say that houses where a hungry
man has difficulty in getting bread, can generally find a copper
for a beggar musician. The reason is very simple: music pleases the
children, and, naturally, a mother is always willing to assist men
that make the children laugh and dance, and the baby bounce in her
arm. In fact these men are not regarded as beggars, but entertainers.
If they know their business well, they will keep a sharp eye on the
door and windows, and when they see a child's face, nod and smile,
and throw kisses to it. Then the child laughs and claps its little
hands, and the mother hears the child and she laughs also. The
meanest woman would not rob the child of this enjoyment, and if she
allows the music to continue she is under a moral obligation to pay
for it.
I knew Billy the whistler well, and he only had one complaint--dogs.
He could seldom blow three notes on his tin whistle before he was
accompanied, against his wish, by a dog's voice. The bottom of his
trousers was always in tatters, so much did dogs dislike a tin
whistle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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