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Jacob Longley, or 'long Jake,' as he was afterwards called, was born in
London. His parents were beggars, and they trained Jacob to their
business. When very small he was sent out with an older sister that he
might learn how to beg. When a little older, he was sent alone; sometimes
in rags, to get charity by his raggedness, at other times well dressed, to
tell a story of sickness and suffering at home. If not successful in
getting money, he was made to go without his supper, and sometimes beaten.
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Poor Jake was never taught that lying was wrong, but was praised if he
could get money by an artful story, and did not know that begging was any
more dishonorable than working. How thankful ought those children to be
who are taught what is right, while so many others are taught to do wrong.
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When Jake grew older, he became very expert in learning how to frame and
tell a tale of wo, and how to assume an appearance of want. In this
country we see little of the deception practised by beggars in other
countries. The appearance of feebleness or lameness is put on, a leg is
sometimes doubled up and a wooden leg substituted for it, deafness and
blindness are assumed, and many other arts are resorted to, to move the
charitable feelings of the benevolent.
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When Jake became a man he continued to beg, assuming more and more the
appearance of misery; sometimes professing to be a soldier, or a wrecked
sailor, sometimes pretending to have lost all he had by fire, sometimes to
have been disabled by a long sickness. Sometimes he appeared to be a very
old and infirm man, but when teazed by rude boys they would learn to their
sorrow that he could run after them very rapidly, and lay his staff over
them with heavy blows; but directly would appear a feeble old man again.
Jake gained a living without work, but it was but a poor living, in
ignorance, and sin, and often in want.
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At last he came in reality to be an old man, and a fit object of charity.
Too feeble to beg, he was sent to the workhouse; he had lived but a poor
life here, and died in ignorance of the way to secure happiness in the
life to come.
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