an their fathers an mothers before em. It s all in
the trainin', I say, an the likes of me an you ud
starve at it."

This also was verified by the general chorus, and
likewise the statement that there were " mugs as
lives the twelvemonth round in the spike an never
get a blessed bit o tommy other than spike skilly
an bread."

"I once got arf a crown in the Stratford spike,"
said a new voice. Silence fell on the instant, and
all listened to the wonderful tale. " There was three
of us breakin stones. Winter-time, an the cold
was cruel. T other two said they d be blessed if
they do it, an they didn t; but I kept wearin into
mine to warm up, you know. An then the
guardians come, an t other chaps got run in for
fourteen days, an the guardians, w en they see
wot I d been doin', gives me a tanner each, five o
them, an turns me up."

The majority of these men, nay, all of them, I
found, do not like the spike, and only come to it
when driven in. After the rest up they are good
for two or three days and nights on the streets,
when they are driven in again for another rest. Of
course, this continuous hardship quickly breaks
their constitutions, and they realize it, though only
in a vague way; while it is so much the common
run of things that they do not worry about it.

[[105]]

p104 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p105w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p106

v?