Page 184 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

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n the way to Edbury I told Paddy that I had a friend
Ofrom whom I could be sure of getting money, and sug-
gested going straight into London rather than face another
night in the spike. But Paddy had not been in Edbury spike
recently, and, tramp-like, he would not waste a night’s free
lodging. We arranged to go into London the next morning.
I had only a halfpenny, but Paddy had two shillings, which
would get us a bed each and a few cups of tea.
The Edbury spike did not differ much from the one at
Romton. The worst feature was that all tobacco was confis-
cated at the gate, and we were warned that any man caught
smoking would be turned out at once. Under the Vagrancy
Act tramps can be prosecuted for smoking in the spike—in
fact, they can be prosecuted for almost anything; but the
authorities generally save the trouble of a prosecution by
turning disobedient men out of doors. There was no work to
do, and the cells were fairly comfortable. We slept two in a
cell, ‘one up, one down’—that is, one on a wooden shelf and
one on the floor, with straw palliasses and plenty of blan-
kets, dirty but not verminous. The food was the same as at
Romton, except that we had tea instead of cocoa. One could
get extra tea in the morning, as the Tramp Major was sell-
ing it at a halfpenny a mug, illicitly no doubt. We were each
given a hunk of bread and cheese to take away for our mid-

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