Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 23, 1841Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 23, 1841
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
With regard to the starvation part of the question, I have made every
possible inquiry, and it is true that several people have died because
they would not eat food; for the facts I shall bring to your notice will
prove that no one can have perished from the _want_ of it. Now, after
visiting a family, which I was told were in a famishing state, what was my
surprise to observe a baker's shop exactly opposite their lodging, whilst
a short way down the street there was a butcher's also! The family
consisted of a husband and wife, four girls, eight boys, and an infant of
three weeks old, making in all fifteen individuals. They told me they were
literally dying of hunger, and that they had applied to the vestry, who
had referred them to the guardians, who had referred them to the overseer,
who had referred them to the relieving officer, who had gone out of town,
and would be back in a week or two. Not even supposing there were a brief
delay in attending to their case, at least by the proper authorities, you
will perceive that I have already alluded to a baker's and a butcher's,
_both_ (it will scarcely be believed at the Home-office) in the _very
street_ the family were residing in. Being determined to judge for myself,
I counted personally the number of four-pound loaves in the baker's
window, which amounted to thirty-six, while there were twenty-five
two-pound loaves on the shelves, to say nothing of fancy-bread and flour
_ad libitum_. But let us take the loaves alone,
36 loaves, each weighing four pounds,
Multiplied by 4
---
will give 144 pounds of wheaten bread;
To which must be added 50 pounds (the weight of the 25 half-qtns.),
---
Making a total of 194 pounds of good wholesome bread,
which, if divided amongst a family of fifteen, would give 12 pounds and 14
fractions of a pound to each individual. Knocking off the baby, for the
sake of uniformity, and striking out the mother, both of whom might be
supposed to take the fancy bread and the flour, which I have not included
in my calculation, and in order to get even numbers, supposing that 194
pounds of bread might become 195 pounds by over weight, we should get the
enormous quantity of fifteen full pounds weight of bread, or a stone and
one-fourteenth, (more, positively, than anybody ought to eat), for the
husband and each of the children (except the baby, who gets a moiety of
the rolls) belonging to this _starving family_!!! You will see, Sir, how
shamefully matters have been misrepresented by the Anti-Corn-Law
demagogues; but let us now come to the butcher's meat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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