This one was a mild and rather intelligent man, in a well worn black
dress-coat and waistcoat, a pair of “moleskin” trousers, and a
blue-and-white cotton neckerchief. I found him sweeping the crossing at
the end of ---- place, opposite the church.
He every now and then regaled himself with a pinch of snuff, which
seemed to light up his careworn face. He seemed very willing to afford
me information. He said:--
“I have been on this crossing four years. I am a bricklayer by trade;
but you see how my fingers have gone: it’s all rheumatics, sir. I took
a great many colds. I had a great deal of underground work, and that
tries a man very much.
“How did I get the crossing? Well, I took it--I came as a cas’alty.
No one ever interfered with me. If one man leaves a crossing, well,
another takes it.
“Yes, some crossings is worth a good deal of money. There was a black
in Regent-street, at the corner of Conduit-street, I think, who had two
or three houses--at least, I’ve heard so; and I know for a certainty
that the man in Cavendish-square used to get so much a week from
the Duke of Portland--he got a shilling a-day, and eighteenpence on
Sundays. I don’t know why he got more on Sundays. I don’t know whether
he gets it since the old Duke’s death.
“The boys worry me. I mean the little boys with brooms; they are an
abusive set, and give me a good deal of annoyance; they are so very
cheeky; they watch the police away; but if they see the police coming,
they bolt like a shot. There are a great many Irish lads among them.
There were not nearly so many boys about a few years ago.
“I once made eighteenpence in one day, that was the best day I ever
made: it was very bad weather: but, take the year through, I don’t make
more than sixpence a-day.
“I haven’t worked at bricklaying for a matter of six year. What did I
do for the two years before I took to crossing-sweeping? Why, sir, I
had saved a little money, and managed to get on somehow. Yes, I have
had my troubles, but I never had what I call great ones, excepting my
wife’s blindness. She was blind, sir, for eleven year, and so I had to
fight for everything: she has been dead two year, come September.
“I have seven children, five boys and two girls; they are all grown up
and got families. Yes, they ought, amongst them, to do something for
me; but if you have to trust to children, you will soon find out what
_that_ is. If they want anything of you, they know where to find you;
but if you want anything of them, it’s no go.
“I think I made more money when first I swept this crossing than I do
now; it’s not a _good_ crossing, sir. Oh, no; but it’s handy home, you
see. When a shower of rain comes on, I can run home, and needn’t go
into a public-house; but it’s a poor neighbourhood.
“Oh yes, indeed sir, I am always here. Certainly; I am laid up
sometimes for a day with my feet. I am subject to the rheumatic gout,
you see. Well, I don’t know whether so much standing has anything to do
with it.
“Yes, sir, I _have_ heard of what you call ‘shutting-up shop.’ I
never heard it called by that name before, though; but there’s lots
of sweepers as sweep back the dirt before leaving at night. I know
they do, some of them. I never did it myself--I don’t care about it; I
always think there’s the trouble of sweeping it back in the morning.
“People liberal? No, sir, I don’t think there are many liberal people
about; if people were liberal I should make a good deal of money.
“Sometimes, after I get home, I read a book, if I can borrow one. What
do I read? Well, novels, when I can get them. What did I read last
night? Well, _Reynolds’s Miscellany_; before that I read the _Pilgrim’s
Progress_. I have read it three times over; but there’s always
something new in it.
“Well, weather makes very little difference in this neighbourhood.
My rent is two-and-sixpence a-week. I have a little relief from the
parish. How much? Two-and-sixpence. How much does my living cost? Well,
I am forced to live on what I can get. I manage as well as I can; if I
have a good week, I spend it--I get more nourishment then, that’s all.
“I used to smoke, sir, a great deal, but I haven’t touched a pipe for a
matter of forty year. Yes, sir, I take snuff, Scotch and Rappee, mixed.
If I go without a meal of victuals, I must have my snuff. I take an
ounce a-week, sir; it costs fourpence--that there is the only luxury I
get, unless somebody gives me a half pint of beer.
“I very rarely get an odd job, this is not the neighbourhood for them
things.
“Yes, sir, I go to church on Sunday; I go to All Souls’, in
Langham-place, the church with the sharp spire. I go in the morning;
once a day is quite enough for me. In the afternoon, I generally take a
walk in the Park, or I go to see one of my young ones; they won’t come
to the old crossing-sweeper, so I go to them.”