Page 170 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

responses above a whisper. We got on better with the sing-
ing, except that one old tramp knew no tune but ‘Onward,
Christian soldiers’, and reverted to it sometimes, spoiling
the harmony.
The prayers lasted half an hour, and then, after a hand-
shake at the door, we made off. ‘Well,’ said somebody as
soon as we were out of hearing, ‘the trouble’s over. I thought
them—prayers was never goin’ to end.’
‘You ‘ad your bun,’ said another; ‘you got to pay for it.’
‘Pray for it, you mean. Ah, you don’t get much for noth-
ing. They can’t even give you a twopenny cup of tea without
you go down on you—knees for it.’
There were murmurs of agreement. Evidently the tramps
were not grateful for their tea. And yet it was excellent tea,
as different from coffee-shop tea as good Bordeaux is from
the muck called colonial claret, and we were all glad of it. I
am sure too that it was given in a good spirit, without any
intention of humiliating us; so in fairness we ought to have
been grateful—still, we were not.

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