Page 162 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london
P. 162

of sixpence. In the East India Dock Road the Salvation Army
       were holding a service. They were singing ‘Anybody here
       like sneaking Judas?’ to the tune of ‘What’s to be done with
       a drunken sailor?’ On Tower Hill two Mormons were trying
       to address a meeting. Round their platform struggled a mob
       of men, shouting and interrupting. Someone was denounc-
       ing them for polygamists. A lame, bearded man, evidently
       an atheist, had heard the word God and was heckling an-
       grily. There was a confused uproar of voices.
          ‘My dear friends, if you would only let us finish what we
       were saying —!—That’s right, give ‘em a say. Don’t get on the
       argue!—No, no, you answer me. Can you SHOW me God?
       You SHOW ‘im me, then I’ll believe in ‘im.—Oh, shut up,
       don’t keep interrupting of ‘em!—Interrupt yourself! —po-
       lygamists!—Well, there’s a lot to be said for polygamy. Take
       the— women out of industry, anyway.—My dear friends,
       if  you  would  just—No,  no,  don’t  you  slip  out  of  it.  ‘Ave
       you SEEN God? ‘Ave you TOUCHED ‘im? ‘Ave you shook
       ‘ANDS with ‘im?—Oh, don’t get on the argue, for Christ’s
       sake don’t get on the ARGUE!’ etc. etc. I listened for twen-
       ty minutes, anxious to learn something about Mormonism,
       but the meeting never got beyond shouts. It is the general
       fate of street meetings.
          In Middlesex Street, among the crowds at the market, a
       draggled, down-at-heel woman was hauling a brat of five by
       the arm. She brandished a tin trumpet in its face. The brat
       was squalling.
          ‘Enjoy  yourself!’  yelled  the  mother.  ‘What  yer  think  I
       brought yer out ‘ere for an’ bought y’ a trumpet an’ all? D’ya

                                                     1 1
   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167