Page 242 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

which is the almost general fate of tramps. The casual ward
gives them a ration which is probably not even meant to be
sufficient, and anything beyond this must be got by beg-
ging—that is, by breaking the law. The result is that nearly
every tramp is rotted by malnutrition; for proof of which
one need only look at the men lining up outside any casual
ward. The second great evil of a tramp’s life—it seems much
smaller at first sight, but it is a good second—is that he is
entirely cut off from contact with women. This point needs
elaborating.
Tramps are cut off from women, in the first place, be-
cause there are very few women at their level of society. One
might imagine that among destitute people the sexes would
be as equally balanced as elsewhere. But it is not so; in fact,
one can almost say that below a certain level society is en-
tirely male. The following figures, published by the L.C.C.
from a night census taken on February 13th, 1931, will show
the relative numbers of destitute men and destitute wom-
en:

Spending the night in the streets, 60 men, 18

women*.

In shelters and homes not licensed as common

lodging-houses, 1,057 men, 137 women.

In the crypt of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields Church,
1