Crime -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social conditions; Poor -- England -- London
See how they have ranged their chairs all round by the walls, and the
centre of the room is unoccupied, saving here and there maidenhair ferns
and growing flowers. Now look at the picture in its fulness! and we see
poor old bent and feeble bodies bowed with toil, and faces furrowed by
unceasing anxiety; but the sun, the east wind, the sea air and Singholm
have brightened and browned them.
There is my poor old friend, long past threescore and ten, to whom
Singholm for a time is verily Heaven; but--"Turn on the gramophone,
please, matron." Thanks to a kind friend, we have a really good one,
with a plentiful supply of records. The matron, in the wickedness of
her heart, turns on an orchestral "cakewalk." The band plays, old bodies
begin to move and sway, and seventy pair of feet begin unconsciously to
beat the floor. Laughter again resounds; our Quaker himself enters into
the spirit of it, so I invite him to lead off with the "Queen" for his
partner, at which he was dismayed, although he is a veritable son of
Anak.
But to my dismay the bent and feeble septuagenarian offered to lead off
with myself as partner, at which I collapsed, for alas, I cannot
dance. Then our trustee led the roars of laughter that testified to my
discomfiture.
So we had no dancing, only a cakewalk. But we had more merriment and
music, and then our little evening service. "What hymn shall we have?"
Many voices called out, "Sun of my soul," so the matron went to the
piano, and I listened while they sang "Watch by the sick, enrich the
poor," which for me, whenever the poor, the feeble and aged sing it,
has a power and a meaning that I never realise when the organ leads a
well-trained choir and a respectable church congregation to blend their
voices.
Then I read to them a few words from the old, but ever new, Book, and
closed with a few simple, well-known prayers, and then--as old Pepys has
it--"to bed."
We watch them file up the great staircase one by one, watch them
disappear into their sweet little rooms and clean sheets. To me, at any
rate, the picture was more comforting and suggestive than Burne Jones's
"Golden Stairs." In fifteen minutes the electric light was switched off,
and Singholm was in darkness and in peace. But outside the stars were
shining, the flowers still blooming, the garden was full of the mystery
of sweet odours; close by the sea was singing its soothing lullaby, and
God was over all!
But let us get back to the underworld!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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