James Greenwood

“ Match-box making seems to give employment to hundreds of hands in this squalid neighbourhood, every member of the family, down to the little child four or five years old, lending a hand as they squat in a ring on the filthy, uncarpeted floor. ”

“ An iron locker, about eighteen inches square, solid on all sides, and prodigiously heavy, is supported on a firm basis. There is a spout at the bottom of the receptacle, and at the side a massive iron knob, the turning of which sets the water flowing. One of these contrivances is to be found in almost every alley, and where it is not found one need only follow his nose to discover. ”

“ One does not like even to hint at the way in which scores of poor wretches in the locality pick up a living, nor would I myself have believed it had I not been told it as a fact, by a gentleman whose veracity is unimpeachable. There is an awful little alley, for instance, in the neighbourhood of Hales's tallow factory, consisting of about twenty houses, inhabited almost entirely by folk who collect the ordure of dogs, which is used for tanning purposes. ”

“ A new comer who resolved to set a shining example and appear with a clean face and hands would soon grow discouraged. Nor would it be of the least use to endeavour to improve the inhabitants as they are at present domiciled.
Efforts have been made in this direction in one of the vilest parts of Spitalfields. It was conceived to be worth while to set up a public nursery for young children, where, instead of lying about in the alley gutters while their mothers were out at work or selling things in the street, they might he well cared for, and properly cleansed, and tended, and fed. ”

“ And a brave old woman she must be, to be able to lay her head down unconcernedly of nights the only inhabitant of a ruined, out-of-the-way alley, mysteriously undermined, and with ample excuse for being haunted, if it is not.
Strange trades are carried on in these slums, and occupations are followed which in civilised parts are never dreamt of:, except it be in exceptionally bad dreams. ”

“ By working very hard and without reference to the clock, a woman and three or four children so employed may earn fifteenpence a day, and out of this the produce of two whole days' labour out of the six must go to pay the rent of the miserable one room, which is a heated and unwholesome factory from morning until night, and a bedchamber from night until morning. ”

“ The houses of Shepherd's-court are of a pattern with those of Devonshire-place - a room up and a room down, each affording refuge for a family, great and small, and at least three-fourths of the wretched tenants earn their bread at home. ”

“ In almost every case there are, upstairs as well as downstairs, lodgers, and the parlour, which is likewise the bedroom, opens on to a few square feet of space, where in one corner is a reeking heap of all manner of decaying vegetable matter and fireplace refuse, and in another corner the closet. In Devonshire-place I was made aware of a phase of the social economy of the Spitalfield slums which was new to me. ”

“ Zinc and iron tanks, more than one man could lift, have before now in that light-fingered region disappeared between dark and daylight, as though they were mere portable articles that might be doubled up and stowed in a coat pocket. ”

“ At the Old Nichol-street abode, for instance, there is a printed notice conspicuous to every one who enters at the door of the common kitchen, to the effect that, "Persons who don't lodge here are not welcome." They keep the best possible order at this refuge for the dissipated and poverty-stricken. ”

“ It was an uglier place than the rest, by reason of its floor being several feet below the outside mire, while the ceiling was so how that one might lay the flat of his hand against it, and like the upstairs room, it measured three-and-a-half walking-sticks by four. There were pieces of mahogany in course of shaping and others in the rough, and a large number of tools and a bench, and the floor was ankle-deep in shavings. ”

“ Eighteen in all, counting the general dealer and his wife and their eight children overhead, and with only a cracked ceiling and a touchwood floor between. But the little old cabinet-maker appeared to be not in the least alive to the possibility of such a catastrophe. He grumbled at having to pay so high a rent, but otherwise was evidently of opinion that Shepherd's-court was an eligible locality for a family residence, and one where a man might, if he tried, make himself very comfortable. The old cabinet-maker had tried, and with some show pf success. ”

“ Two in a bed, however, is an indecency which is not for a single hour tolerated in places where tramps and cadgers congregate, but in these "homes" of the people four times two may so sheep and no one interfere. ”

“ It is a business at which money may be made, since the furriers will give 12s. a dozen for big and little cat-skins, as many as may be brought them. It is unfortunate, however, that to be saleable the hide must be taken from the body of the animal while it is in existence, and still more so that the villainous cat-flayers are not deterred by this difficulty. I was further informed that the neighbourhood used to be scandalised by the presence of the flayed carcases of poor grimalkins lying about, but that now that indecency is avoided by an economical arrangement on the part of the flayer. ”

“ Included in the notice above alluded to is an intimation that pelting each other with pillows and bolsters is strictly prohibited, and that individuals who insist on adopting such an outlet for their superabundant animal spirits will be at once expelled the premises. ”