The Children's Book of LondonMitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
History
The Children's Book of London
Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
London (England) -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
We can see them start on their morning walk with Miss Primity, their
governess. Both the children wear gloves--they never go out without
them--and in the street they walk quietly; but when they have passed
down the street and got into Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens, they can
run about as much as they like. In the Gardens there is a big round
pond, where Jack can sail his boat; and on Saturdays the water is
covered with white sails, and even men come down and join in the sport,
making their toy boats race against one another. The boats are often
quite large, and the scene is very gay and pretty. There are a great
many ducks, which clamour to be fed; and there are other children there
too. These may be friends of Jack's and Ethel's, and they can play
together, and Ethel can show her new doll, and Jack can boast of all the
things he means to do when he grows up. The Gardens are very nice, but
it is rather dull always having the same walk in the same place every
day, and sometimes the children get a little tired of it, and are glad
when a half-holiday comes and an aunt or uncle carries them off to see
some of the wonderful things of which London is full.
There is another part of London of which we have not yet spoken. We have
heard of the City and of the West End--the City, where business men
work, and the West End, where rich people live; but there is also the
East End, lying beyond the City, and the people who live here are nearly
all poor. If you asked any of the children of the East End if they had
seen Madame Tussaud's or the Zoo, they would grin, and say, 'Garn!' and
if you told them about these things they might say, 'Ye're kiddin',
ye're,' which is their way of saying they don't believe you, and think
you are telling stories. In the streets where these children live
everything is dirty and nasty. A number of families live together in one
house, perhaps even in one room, for I have heard of rooms where each
family had a corner. The women never do anything more than they can
help. They never mend their old dresses, or wash themselves or their
children, or try to cook nicely; they do nothing. They spend the day
sitting on their dirty doorsteps, with the youngest baby on their knees,
and their hair is all uncombed, and their dresses are filthy and torn,
and they shout out to other women across the street, and make remarks on
anyone who happens to pass. The poor little baby gets dreadful things to
eat--things that you would think would kill an ordinary child--bits of
herring or apple, and anything else its mother eats, and sometimes even
sips of beer or gin. If it cries, it is joggled about or slapped, and as
soon as ever it is able to sit up, it is put down on the pavement among
a number of other dirty, untidy children and left to take care of
itself. When a little girl is seven she is thought quite old enough to
look after all the younger ones, and on Saturdays she goes off with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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