, and in return we'll give you a ticket that you can take
to a certain shop and exchange for a shillingsworth of groceries. And,
if you're very servile and humble we may give you another one next
week.'

They never gave the 'case' the money. The ticket system serves three
purposes. It prevents the 'case' abusing the 'charity' by spending the
money on drink. It advertises the benevolence of the donors: and it
enables the grocer--who is usually a member of the church--to get rid
of any stale or damaged stock he may have on hand.

When these visiting ladies' went into a workman's house and found it
clean and decently furnished, and the children clean and tidy, they
came to the conclusion that those people were not suitable 'cases' for
assistance. Perhaps the children had had next to nothing to eat, and
would have been in rags if the mother had not worked like a slave
washing and mending their clothes. But these were not the sort of
cases that the visiting ladies assisted; they only gave to those who
were in a state of absolute squalor and destitution, and then only on
condition that they whined and grovelled.

In addition to this district visitor business, the well-to-do
inhabitants and the local authorities attempted--or rather,
pretended--to grapple with the poverty 'problem' in many other ways,
and the columns of the local papers were filled with letters from all
sorts of cranks who suggested various remedies. One individual, whose
income was derived from brewery shares, attributed the prevailing
distress to the drunken and improvident habits of the lower orders.
Another suggested that it was a Divine protest against the growth of
Ritualism and what he called 'fleshly religion', and suggested a day of
humiliation and prayer. A great number of well-fed persons thought
this such an excellent proposition that they proceeded to put it into
practice. They prayed, whilst the unemployed and the little children
fasted.

If one had not been oppressed by the tragedy of Want and Misery, one
might have laughed at the farcical, imbecile measures that were taken
to relieve it. Several churches held what they called 'Rummage' or
'jumble' sales. They sent out circulars something like this:

JUMBLE SALE
in aid of the Unemployed.

If you have any articles of any description which are of no
further use to you, we should be grateful for them, and if you
wil