Identifier: eastlondon00besa (find matches)
Title: East London
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Besant, Walter, Sir, 1836-1901
Subjects: Poor
Publisher: New York, The Century Co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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and cart were recovered, and in the middle of the nightthe boys themselves were found. They did return to townin the morning, but not as they left. It was in the roomyvehicle commonly called Black Maria that they were takento the police court, and from the court to the Reformatory,where they still languish. The boys are great gamblers. As gambling and bettingare strictly forbidden in the streets, they have to find placeswhere they can play undisturbed. Sunday is the day devotedto gambling. The boys get on board a barge, where theysit in the hold and play cards—locally called darbs—allday long; sometimes they find an empty house, sometimesa room in a condemned row of crazy tenements. The favor-ite game, the name of which I do not know, is one in whichthe dealer holds the bank; he deals a card to every playerand one to himself. Each player covers his card with astake, generally a penny: the cards are turned up; the playerspay the dealer for cards below, and are paid for cards above
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-■^-■^••illainiij Sunday Gambling. THE KEY OF THE STREET i8i the dealers card. It is quite a simple game, and one inwhich a hoy may lose his Saturday wages in a very shorttime. They also play heads and tails, and they are saidto bet freely among each other. At this period of their career some of them begin to reada good deal. Not the newspapers, not any books; their read-ing is confined to the penny novelette; for them Jack Hark-away performs incredible feats of valor; it is not for themthat the maiden of low degree is wedded by the belted earl—that is for the girls; for these lads, to whom a fight is thefinest thing in the world, the renowned Jack Harkawayknocks down the wicked captain on the quarter-deck, rescuesa whole ships company from pirates, performs prodigies atOmdurman. His feats are described in the amazing sheetswhich he calls hapenny bloods or penny dreadfuls. Ifthe boys buy a paper it is one of like mind, such as are writ-ten and printed especially and exclusiv

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