Living London; its work and its play, its humour and and its pathos, its sights and its scenes; . sur-roundings. These men are a \r,\rt of thehuman wreckage which In- some strangeuiidrr - currents drift into the ICast - most of the lodgers are ])alpablylabourers and waterside workers. If anyproiif of that were needed, it would befound in the fict that about 500 men wentfrom the homes to South .\frica at the callto arms. Lea\iiig the east, we may go to thewest — to I lammersmith Road, where issituated the fourth of the series of RowtonHouses, th(.>se admirable poor mens hotelswhich,
Living London; its work and its play, its humour and and its pathos, its sights and its scenes; . sur-roundings. These men are a \r,\rt of thehuman wreckage which In- some strangeuiidrr - currents drift into the ICast - most of the lodgers are ])alpablylabourers and waterside workers. If anyproiif of that were needed, it would befound in the fict that about 500 men wentfrom the homes to South .\frica at the callto arms. Lea\iiig the east, we may go to thewest — to I lammersmith Road, where issituated the fourth of the series of RowtonHouses, th(.>se admirable poor mens hotelswhich, while they return their proprietors five])er cent., _\et afford the best accommodationprocurable in luigland for si.\i:)ence pernight. Admission is gained, as at the other Rowtons, through a turnstile, to manya poor outcast the gate of an earthlyparadise. Early in the morning you maysometimes see a sombre figure, haggard,pale, and footsore with wandering about allnight, dart through this opening when thecoast is clear, whip off his coat and waistcoatto make it appear that he has just come. VICTORIA ( WHITI-C HAIKI.) : KlILHEN. 174 LIVING LONDON. downstairs, and then proceed in a muchmore leisurely fashion to the la\ator\ thus it is that many poor wretchestide over a highly critical period. At niglitthey ha\e the key of the street ; in themorning they slip unobserved into models,and, not being detected as deadheads —for the staff cannot possibly know all thelodgers—wash, rest, and pick up the crumbsthat fall from the tables. present in the morning, when the menflock in to breakfast. The capitalist witha four-figure banking account—a retiredbusiness man of Boliemian tastes, or, itmay be, a world wanderer \\ho cannotadapt himself to a .sybaritic life — chatsover a table with a starveling who hasnot tasted food for twenty-four hours, andknows not whence his next meal willcome. Respectability incarnate, habited in aglossy silk hat and a fashionablefrock coat,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
