Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
The other case is also a widow. But, as a wife, she was unthrifty and
drunken, and she has not changed, for her sobriety was more than
suspected on the day of the funeral. Here, there are no savings, no
donations from friends, no allowance from a club. Her husband lived and
died a pauper, was buried as a pauper, and his widow has determined to
make the most of her destitution, and extract the utmost farthing from
the reluctant guardians. Each of these cases must be relieved. As
regards the fact of destitution, the latter case is the worst; but the
frugal widow suffers the greatest deprivation. To the common observer,
the state of the bad is one of pure misery, and the state of the other
simply quiet, frugal, lowliness of condition. The fact, however, really
is, that the good widow suffers the most keenly; and, excepting certain
little matters of decency and cleanliness, is really the most destitute.
The cry, "What will become of my children?" implies in itself a large
amount of suffering. The thought scarcely occurs to the mind of the
other. The treatment of these cases must be, and is different; and the
difference is founded on moral grounds. In one case, if the relief were
in money, it would be instantly transmitted into gin. Relief in kind
must be resorted to, and be given in small quantities, and frequently;
and even then she must be watched, or the bread would never reach the
mouths of her children. In the other case, a liberal allowance in money,
given in the first month of her widowhood, would be expended carefully,
and if given promptly, before her "little home" has been broken up, she
may be able in a few months to insure a livelihood, and become
independent of the parish. These cases represent extremes. There is
every variety of shade between them; and sometimes the case presents so
mingled a yarn of laziness, and bodily weakness, ignorance, cunning, and
imprudence, that the guardians scarcely know the proper treatment.
Boards of guardians have frequently to deal with such cases, and do,
without expressing it in words, dispose of them on moral grounds,
although those in high places may be too much occupied with statistics
and generalities to be aware of the fact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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