Charity organization; Housing -- England -- London; Poor -- England -- London; Working class -- Dwellings
itself to sleep, talking sometimes with a little pride of her long
life's work, sometimes with tenderness of her old days in Ireland long
ago, and saying gently that she does not wish to be better; she wants
to go "home." Even in the extremity of her loneliness only a small mind
could pity her. It is a life to watch with reverence and admiration.
We can rarely speak of the depths of the hearts we learn to know or the
lives we see in the course of our work. The people are our friends.
But sometimes, when such as this old woman seem to have passed beyond
us all and to have entered into a quiet we cannot break, we may just
glance at a life which, in its simplicity and faithfulness, might make
the best of us ashamed.
Since we began our work in the court there has been a marked
improvement in many of the people. I may just say, as examples, that
the passionate Irish tenant who locked me into her room did not leave
us, but has settled down happily, and has shown me more than one act
of confidence and kindly feeling; that the old woman whose "bits o'
things" would look nothing if brought upstairs, after having been long
in a light room, has now asked for a larger one, having freed herself
from a debt which cramped her resources, and has begun to save; and
that the two dark-eyed children were ultimately won over to trust in
us. Their mother--a most degraded woman--when she at last appeared,
proved to be living a very disreputable life, and the only hope for
the children was to get them away from her influence. My first triumph
was in getting the girl to exert herself enough to become one of our
scrubbers, and finally, a year ago, we were able to persuade her to
go to a little industrial school in the country, where she has since
been joined by a sister of hers, who turned up subsequently to my first
visits. Unfortunately the mother absconded, taking the boy with her,
while we were still hoping to get him sent away to a training-school
also; but, even in the short time that he remained with us, I had got
some hold over him. By dint of making an agreement with him that I
would myself fetch him at eight one morning, and help him to prepare
his toilet so as to be fit for the nearest ragged school, I got him to
begin learning; and when once the ice was broken, he went frequently of
his own accord.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account