Crime -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social conditions; Poor -- England -- London
Sunday in the underworld is the great day for "pitch and toss," for many
boys have halfpence on that day. They have been at work during the week,
and, having commenced work, their Sunday-school days are at an end. And
having a few halfpence they can indulge their long-continued and fervent
hope of discarding "buttons" and playing the man by using halfpence.
But how they enjoy it! how intent they are upon it. Sunday morning will
turn to midday, and midday to evening before they are tired of it! Meal
times, or the substitute for meal times, pass, and they remain at it!
always supposing their halfpence last, and the police do not interfere,
the latter being the most likely.
It takes an interminably long time to dispossess a lad of six halfpence
at this game; fortune is not so fickle as may be supposed. The unskilled
"pitcher" may have luck in "tossing," while the successful "pitcher" may
be an unlucky "tosser." If at the end of a long day they come off pretty
equal, they have had an ideal day.
But they have had their ups and downs, their alternations of joy and
despair. Sometimes a boy may win a penny; if so, it is evident that
another boy has lost one, and this is sad, though I expect they lose
more coppers to the police than they do to their companions, for the
police harry them and hunt them. Special constables are put on to detect
them, and they know the favourite resorts of the incipient gamblers.
They hunt in couples, too, and they enter the little unclean street at
each end.
Now for the supreme excitement; they are observed by the watchful eye of
a non-player, who is copperless. There is a rush for the halfpence,
some of which the non-player secures. There's a scamper, but there is no
escape; the police bag them, and innocent boys who join in the scamper
are bagged too. The police search the ground for halfpence, find a few
which they carefully pack in paper, that they may retain some signs
of dirt upon them, for this will be invaluable legal evidence on the
morrow. There is a procession of police, prisoners and gleeful lads who
are not in custody to the nearest police-station.
On Monday they stand in the dock, when the police with the halfpence and
the dirt still upon them give evidence against them.
One worthy magistrate will ask them why they were not at home or school.
Another will sternly admonish them upon the evils of street gambling. A
third will tell them that it would have paid them better in health and
pocket to have taken a country walk. But all agree on one point, "that
this street gambling must be put down," and they "put it down," or
attempt to do so, by fining the young ragamuffins five shillings each.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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