LOW-LIFE DEEPS - An Account of the Strange Fish to Be Found There
Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for enjoyable reading. (Worth every penny spent!)
***
"The book is interesting reading. It shows that there are many things in London life not dreamt of by most people. It is well got up, and contains a number of striking illustrations."
—Scotsman.
"Mr. James Greenwood presents himself once more in the character of 'one whose delight it is to do his humble endeavour towards exposing and extirpating social abuses and those hole-and-corner evils which afflict society.' "
—Saturday Review.
***
An excerpt from Chapter 15 - Cellar Life in St. Giles:
WITH a knowledge of the powers vested in those to whom the working of the Metropolis Local Management Act has been entrusted, one might well feel justified in regarding all that has been said of "St. Giles's," the head-quarters of depravity and squalor, as a legend of the barbarous past. It must have startled innocent folk to learn that, but a year or so ago, no 1ess than a hundred and seventy of the notorious St. Giles's cellars were still in use as human habitations, and that, after the manner of rats and other burrowing animals, as many families, consisting of mother, father, and a more or less numerous swarm of big and little children, passed their lives in these dismal holes under the houses, working, eating, dunking, and sleeping all in the damp and dirt and dark. Of course it was out of the question that such a disgusting and disgraceful condition of things should be permitted to exist for a single day after it was exposed. Indeed the Medical Officer of Health has been able to announce since, that the cellar-dwellers have been routed, and that, "to his knowledge, not a single underground room in the district is now illegally occupied."
Better late than never. To be sure, ignorance of such matters somewhat prevented one from understanding why it should take so long to unearth this colony of pestilence-breeders, but it was undeniably a comfort to hear that it had been accomplished at last. Was it quite certain, however, that they had been ousted for good and all? Had the entrances to the underground dens been bricked up, or what were the precautions that had been taken to guard against the possibility of these cave-dwellers making their way back to their old haunts as soon as the ill wind which had scattered them had blown over? It occurred to me that it might be worth while to go and see, and accordingly one evening recently I alighted from the omnibus that, on its westward route, takes a short cut through Seven Dials.
It was about seven o'clock, and the gas was alight - the gas and the oil and the paraffin and the naphtha. St. Giles's of 1873 is pretty much what it was a quarter of a century ago. A big brewery and three or four new streets have shorn its skirts somewhat, but it is heartwhole still, and as dirty and draggletailed as ever. The only "enlightenment" that modern customs and usages have brought it appears is in the increased brilliancy of its public houses, which are especially rich in plate-glass and gas glitter. There are the same ragged women, some with babies in their arms - some mere girls - and some with backs bent with age; and there are, as of old, the groups of lanky, ill-dressed youth, with a sharp look-out from under the peaks of their caps; the same knots of hulking men of mature age. too lazy even to support with their fingers the short pipe which hangs all aslant from their mouths, while their hands are plunged wrist-deep in the pockets of their trousers. The stalls are the same, so are the shops, the awful little dens - and there are scores of them - inside and out of which are exposed for sale scraps of household furniture, which, by a jocular fiction of the "trade," is termed "second-hand," although it must be twenty-second hand at the very least, and bedding, mattresses, and beds, and bolsters and pillows, the sickening complexion of which should be sufficient warrant for a sanitary inspector to seize them at once and consign them without delay to the flames.
1019663871
***
"The book is interesting reading. It shows that there are many things in London life not dreamt of by most people. It is well got up, and contains a number of striking illustrations."
—Scotsman.
"Mr. James Greenwood presents himself once more in the character of 'one whose delight it is to do his humble endeavour towards exposing and extirpating social abuses and those hole-and-corner evils which afflict society.' "
—Saturday Review.
***
An excerpt from Chapter 15 - Cellar Life in St. Giles:
WITH a knowledge of the powers vested in those to whom the working of the Metropolis Local Management Act has been entrusted, one might well feel justified in regarding all that has been said of "St. Giles's," the head-quarters of depravity and squalor, as a legend of the barbarous past. It must have startled innocent folk to learn that, but a year or so ago, no 1ess than a hundred and seventy of the notorious St. Giles's cellars were still in use as human habitations, and that, after the manner of rats and other burrowing animals, as many families, consisting of mother, father, and a more or less numerous swarm of big and little children, passed their lives in these dismal holes under the houses, working, eating, dunking, and sleeping all in the damp and dirt and dark. Of course it was out of the question that such a disgusting and disgraceful condition of things should be permitted to exist for a single day after it was exposed. Indeed the Medical Officer of Health has been able to announce since, that the cellar-dwellers have been routed, and that, "to his knowledge, not a single underground room in the district is now illegally occupied."
Better late than never. To be sure, ignorance of such matters somewhat prevented one from understanding why it should take so long to unearth this colony of pestilence-breeders, but it was undeniably a comfort to hear that it had been accomplished at last. Was it quite certain, however, that they had been ousted for good and all? Had the entrances to the underground dens been bricked up, or what were the precautions that had been taken to guard against the possibility of these cave-dwellers making their way back to their old haunts as soon as the ill wind which had scattered them had blown over? It occurred to me that it might be worth while to go and see, and accordingly one evening recently I alighted from the omnibus that, on its westward route, takes a short cut through Seven Dials.
It was about seven o'clock, and the gas was alight - the gas and the oil and the paraffin and the naphtha. St. Giles's of 1873 is pretty much what it was a quarter of a century ago. A big brewery and three or four new streets have shorn its skirts somewhat, but it is heartwhole still, and as dirty and draggletailed as ever. The only "enlightenment" that modern customs and usages have brought it appears is in the increased brilliancy of its public houses, which are especially rich in plate-glass and gas glitter. There are the same ragged women, some with babies in their arms - some mere girls - and some with backs bent with age; and there are, as of old, the groups of lanky, ill-dressed youth, with a sharp look-out from under the peaks of their caps; the same knots of hulking men of mature age. too lazy even to support with their fingers the short pipe which hangs all aslant from their mouths, while their hands are plunged wrist-deep in the pockets of their trousers. The stalls are the same, so are the shops, the awful little dens - and there are scores of them - inside and out of which are exposed for sale scraps of household furniture, which, by a jocular fiction of the "trade," is termed "second-hand," although it must be twenty-second hand at the very least, and bedding, mattresses, and beds, and bolsters and pillows, the sickening complexion of which should be sufficient warrant for a sanitary inspector to seize them at once and consign them without delay to the flames.
LOW-LIFE DEEPS - An Account of the Strange Fish to Be Found There
Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for enjoyable reading. (Worth every penny spent!)
***
"The book is interesting reading. It shows that there are many things in London life not dreamt of by most people. It is well got up, and contains a number of striking illustrations."
—Scotsman.
"Mr. James Greenwood presents himself once more in the character of 'one whose delight it is to do his humble endeavour towards exposing and extirpating social abuses and those hole-and-corner evils which afflict society.' "
—Saturday Review.
***
An excerpt from Chapter 15 - Cellar Life in St. Giles:
WITH a knowledge of the powers vested in those to whom the working of the Metropolis Local Management Act has been entrusted, one might well feel justified in regarding all that has been said of "St. Giles's," the head-quarters of depravity and squalor, as a legend of the barbarous past. It must have startled innocent folk to learn that, but a year or so ago, no 1ess than a hundred and seventy of the notorious St. Giles's cellars were still in use as human habitations, and that, after the manner of rats and other burrowing animals, as many families, consisting of mother, father, and a more or less numerous swarm of big and little children, passed their lives in these dismal holes under the houses, working, eating, dunking, and sleeping all in the damp and dirt and dark. Of course it was out of the question that such a disgusting and disgraceful condition of things should be permitted to exist for a single day after it was exposed. Indeed the Medical Officer of Health has been able to announce since, that the cellar-dwellers have been routed, and that, "to his knowledge, not a single underground room in the district is now illegally occupied."
Better late than never. To be sure, ignorance of such matters somewhat prevented one from understanding why it should take so long to unearth this colony of pestilence-breeders, but it was undeniably a comfort to hear that it had been accomplished at last. Was it quite certain, however, that they had been ousted for good and all? Had the entrances to the underground dens been bricked up, or what were the precautions that had been taken to guard against the possibility of these cave-dwellers making their way back to their old haunts as soon as the ill wind which had scattered them had blown over? It occurred to me that it might be worth while to go and see, and accordingly one evening recently I alighted from the omnibus that, on its westward route, takes a short cut through Seven Dials.
It was about seven o'clock, and the gas was alight - the gas and the oil and the paraffin and the naphtha. St. Giles's of 1873 is pretty much what it was a quarter of a century ago. A big brewery and three or four new streets have shorn its skirts somewhat, but it is heartwhole still, and as dirty and draggletailed as ever. The only "enlightenment" that modern customs and usages have brought it appears is in the increased brilliancy of its public houses, which are especially rich in plate-glass and gas glitter. There are the same ragged women, some with babies in their arms - some mere girls - and some with backs bent with age; and there are, as of old, the groups of lanky, ill-dressed youth, with a sharp look-out from under the peaks of their caps; the same knots of hulking men of mature age. too lazy even to support with their fingers the short pipe which hangs all aslant from their mouths, while their hands are plunged wrist-deep in the pockets of their trousers. The stalls are the same, so are the shops, the awful little dens - and there are scores of them - inside and out of which are exposed for sale scraps of household furniture, which, by a jocular fiction of the "trade," is termed "second-hand," although it must be twenty-second hand at the very least, and bedding, mattresses, and beds, and bolsters and pillows, the sickening complexion of which should be sufficient warrant for a sanitary inspector to seize them at once and consign them without delay to the flames.
***
"The book is interesting reading. It shows that there are many things in London life not dreamt of by most people. It is well got up, and contains a number of striking illustrations."
—Scotsman.
"Mr. James Greenwood presents himself once more in the character of 'one whose delight it is to do his humble endeavour towards exposing and extirpating social abuses and those hole-and-corner evils which afflict society.' "
—Saturday Review.
***
An excerpt from Chapter 15 - Cellar Life in St. Giles:
WITH a knowledge of the powers vested in those to whom the working of the Metropolis Local Management Act has been entrusted, one might well feel justified in regarding all that has been said of "St. Giles's," the head-quarters of depravity and squalor, as a legend of the barbarous past. It must have startled innocent folk to learn that, but a year or so ago, no 1ess than a hundred and seventy of the notorious St. Giles's cellars were still in use as human habitations, and that, after the manner of rats and other burrowing animals, as many families, consisting of mother, father, and a more or less numerous swarm of big and little children, passed their lives in these dismal holes under the houses, working, eating, dunking, and sleeping all in the damp and dirt and dark. Of course it was out of the question that such a disgusting and disgraceful condition of things should be permitted to exist for a single day after it was exposed. Indeed the Medical Officer of Health has been able to announce since, that the cellar-dwellers have been routed, and that, "to his knowledge, not a single underground room in the district is now illegally occupied."
Better late than never. To be sure, ignorance of such matters somewhat prevented one from understanding why it should take so long to unearth this colony of pestilence-breeders, but it was undeniably a comfort to hear that it had been accomplished at last. Was it quite certain, however, that they had been ousted for good and all? Had the entrances to the underground dens been bricked up, or what were the precautions that had been taken to guard against the possibility of these cave-dwellers making their way back to their old haunts as soon as the ill wind which had scattered them had blown over? It occurred to me that it might be worth while to go and see, and accordingly one evening recently I alighted from the omnibus that, on its westward route, takes a short cut through Seven Dials.
It was about seven o'clock, and the gas was alight - the gas and the oil and the paraffin and the naphtha. St. Giles's of 1873 is pretty much what it was a quarter of a century ago. A big brewery and three or four new streets have shorn its skirts somewhat, but it is heartwhole still, and as dirty and draggletailed as ever. The only "enlightenment" that modern customs and usages have brought it appears is in the increased brilliancy of its public houses, which are especially rich in plate-glass and gas glitter. There are the same ragged women, some with babies in their arms - some mere girls - and some with backs bent with age; and there are, as of old, the groups of lanky, ill-dressed youth, with a sharp look-out from under the peaks of their caps; the same knots of hulking men of mature age. too lazy even to support with their fingers the short pipe which hangs all aslant from their mouths, while their hands are plunged wrist-deep in the pockets of their trousers. The stalls are the same, so are the shops, the awful little dens - and there are scores of them - inside and out of which are exposed for sale scraps of household furniture, which, by a jocular fiction of the "trade," is termed "second-hand," although it must be twenty-second hand at the very least, and bedding, mattresses, and beds, and bolsters and pillows, the sickening complexion of which should be sufficient warrant for a sanitary inspector to seize them at once and consign them without delay to the flames.
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LOW-LIFE DEEPS - An Account of the Strange Fish to Be Found There
LOW-LIFE DEEPS - An Account of the Strange Fish to Be Found There
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940012991409 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | OGB |
| Publication date: | 08/19/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 994 KB |
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