The first of the London Institutions of the Salvation1 Army which I visited was that known as the Middlesex Street Shelter and Working Men's Home, which is at present under the supervision2 of Commissioner3 Sturgess. This building consists of six floors, and contains sleeping accommodation for 462 men. It has been at work since the year 1906, when it was acquired by the Army with the help of that well-known philanthropist, the late Mr. George Herring.
Of the 462 men accommodated daily, 311 pay 3d. for their night's lodging4, and the remainder 5d. The threepenny charge entitles the tenant5 to the use of a bunk6 bedstead with sheets and an American cloth cover. If the extra 2d. is forthcoming the wanderer is provided with a proper bed, fitted with a wire spring hospital frame and provided with a mattress7, sheets, pillow, and blankets. I may state here that as in the case of this Shelter the building, furniture and other equipment have been provided by charity, the nightly fees collected almost suffice to pay the running expenses of the establishment. Under less favourable8 circumstances, however, where the building and equipment are a charge on the capital funds of the Salvation Army, the experience is that these fees do not suffice to meet the cost of interest and maintenance.
The object of this and similar Shelters is to afford to men upon the verge9 of destitution10 the choice between such accommodation as is here provided and the common lodging-house, known as a 'kip house,' or the casual ward11 of a workhouse. Those who avail themselves of these Shelters belong, speaking generally, to the destitute12 or nearly destitute classes. They are harbours of refuge for the unfortunates who find themselves on the streets of London at nightfall with a few coppers13 or some other small sum in their pockets. Many of these social wrecks14 have sunk through drink, but many others owe their sad position to lack or loss of employment, or to some other misfortune.
For an extra charge of 1d. the inmates15 are provided with a good supper, consisting of a pint16 of soup and a large piece of bread, or of bread and jam and tea, or of potato-pie. A second penny supplies them with breakfast on the following morning, consisting of bread and porridge or of bread and fish, with tea or coffee.
The dormitories, both of the fivepenny class on the ground floor and of the threepenny class upstairs, are kept scrupulously17 sweet and clean, and attached to them are lavatories18 and baths. These lavatories contain a great number of brown earthenware19 basins fitted with taps. Receptacles are provided, also, where the inmates can wash their clothes and have them dried by means of an ingenious electrical contrivance and hot air, capable of thoroughly20 drying any ordinary garment in twenty minutes while its owner takes a bath.
The man in charge of this apparatus21 and of the baths was one who had been picked up on the Embankment during the past winter. In return for his services he received food, lodging, clothes and pocket-money to the amount of 3s. a week. He told me that he was formerly22 a commercial traveller, and was trying to re-enter that profession or to become a ship's steward23. Sickness had been the cause of his fall in the world.
Adjoining the downstairs dormitory is a dining and sitting-room24 for the use of those who have taken bed tickets. In this room, when I visited it, several men were engaged in various occupations. One of them was painting flowers. Another, a watch repairer, was apparently25 making up his accounts, which, perhaps, were of an imaginary nature. A third was eating a dinner which he had purchased at the food bar. A fourth smoked a cigarette and watched the flower artist at his work. A fifth was a Cingalese who had come from Ceylon to lay some grievance26 before the late King. The authorities at Whitehall having investigated his case, he had been recommended to return to Ceylon and consult a lawyer there. Now he was waiting tor the arrival of remittances27 to enable him to pay his passage back to Ceylon. I wondered whether the remittances would ever be forthcoming. Meanwhile he lived here on 7-1/2d. a day, 5d. for his bed and 2-1/2d. for his food. Of these and other men similarly situated28 I will give some account presently.
Having inspected the upper floors I descended29 to the basement, where what are called the 'Shelter men' are received at a separate entrance at 5.30 in the afternoon, and buying their penny or halfpennyworth of food, seat themselves on benches to eat. Here, too, they can sit and smoke or mend their clothes, or if they are wet, dry themselves in the annexe, until they retire to rest. During the past winter of 1909 400 men taken from the Embankment were sheltered here gratis30 every night, and were provided with soup and bread. When not otherwise occupied this hall is often used for the purpose of religious services.
I spoke31 at hazard with some of those who were sitting about in the Shelter. A few specimen32 cases may be interesting. An old man told me that he had travelled all over the world for fifty years, especially in the islands of the South Pacific, until sickness broke him down. He came last from Shanghai, where he had been an overseer on railway work, and before that from Manila. Being incapacitated by fever and rheumatism33, and possessing 1,500 dollars, he travelled home, apparently via India and Burma, stopping a while in each country. Eventually he drifted to a lodging-house, and, falling ill there, was sent to the Highgate Infirmary, where, he said, he was so cold that he could not stop. Ultimately he found himself upon the streets in winter. For the past twelve months he had been living in this Shelter upon some help that a friend gave him, for all his own money was gone. Now he was trying to write books, one of which was in the hands of a well-known firm. He remarked, pathetically, that they 'have had it a long time.' He was also waiting 'every day' for a pension from America, which he considered was due to him because he fought in the Civil War.
Most of these poor people are waiting for something.
This man added that he could not find his relatives, and that he intended to stop in the Shelter until his book was published, or he could 'help himself out.'
The next man I spoke to was the flower artist, whom I have already mentioned, whose work, by the way, if a little striking in colour, was by no means bad, especially as he had no real flowers to draw from. By trade he was a lawyer's clerk; but he stated that, unfortunately for him, the head partner of his firm went bankrupt six years before, and the bad times, together with the competition of female labour in the clerical department, prevented him from obtaining another situation, so he had been obliged to fall back upon flower painting. He was a married man, but he said, 'While I could make a fair week's money, things were comfortable, but when orders fell slack I was requested to go, as my room was preferable to my company, and being a man of nervous temperament34 I could not stand it, and have been here ever since'—that was for about ten weeks. He managed to make enough for his board and lodging by the sale of his flower-pictures.
A third man informed me that he had opened twenty-seven shops for a large firm of tobacconists, and then left to start in business for himself; also he used to go out window-dressing, in which he was skilled. Then, about nine years ago, his wife began to drink, and while he was absent in hospital, neglected his business so that it became worthless. Finally she deserted35 him, and he had heard nothing of her since. After that he took to drink himself. He came to this Shelter intermittently36, and supported himself by an occasional job of window-dressing. The Salvation Army was trying to cure this man of his drinking habits.
A fourth man, a Eurasian, was a schoolmaster in India, who drifted to this country, and had been for four years in the Colney Hatch Asylum37. He was sent to the Salvation Army by the After Care Society. He had been two years in the Shelter, and was engaged in saving up money to go to America. He was employed in the Shelter as a scrubber, and also as a seller of food tickets, by which means he had saved some money. Also he had a ￡5 note, which his sister sent to him. This note he was keeping to return to her as a present on her birthday! His story was long and miserable38, and his case a sad one. Still, he was capable of doing work of a sort.
Another very smart and useful man had been a nurse in the Army Medical
Corps39, which he left some years ago with a good character.
Occasionally he found a job at nursing, and stayed at the Shelter,
where he was given employment between engagements.
Yet another, quite a young person, was a carman who had been discharged through slackness of work in the firm of which he was a servant. He had been ten weeks in the Institution, to which he came from the workhouse, and hoped to find employment at his trade.
In passing through this building, I observed a young man of foreign appearance seated in a window-place reading a book, and asked his history. I was told that he was a German of education, whose ambition it is to become a librarian in his native country. He had come to England in order to learn our language, and being practically without means, drifted into this place, where he was employed in cleaning the windows and pursued his studies in the intervals40 of that humble41 work. Let us hope that in due course his painstaking42 industry will be rewarded, and his ambition fulfilled.
All these cases, and others that I have no space to mention, belonged to the class of what I may call the regular 'hangers-on' of this particular Shelter. As I visited it in the middle of the day, I did not see its multitude of normal nightly occupants. Of such men, however, I shall be able to speak elsewhere.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
salvation
|
|
| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
lodging
|
|
| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
tenant
|
|
| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
bunk
|
|
| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
mattress
|
|
| n.床垫，床褥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
destitution
|
|
| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
destitute
|
|
| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
coppers
|
|
| 铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
wrecks
|
|
| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
inmates
|
|
| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
pint
|
|
| n.品脱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
scrupulously
|
|
| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
lavatories
|
|
| n.厕所( lavatory的名词复数 )；抽水马桶；公共厕所（或卫生间、洗手间、盥洗室）；浴室水池 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
earthenware
|
|
| n.土器，陶器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
apparatus
|
|
| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
steward
|
|
| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
grievance
|
|
| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
remittances
|
|
| n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
situated
|
|
| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
gratis
|
|
| adj.免费的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
rheumatism
|
|
| n.风湿病 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
intermittently
|
|
| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
painstaking
|
|
| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |