appeased. And he claimed that this chronic star
vation of his childhood had robbed him of his sight.
To support the claim, he quoted from the report of
the Royal Commission on the Blind, " Blindness is
most prevalent in poor districts, and poverty acceler
ates this dreadful affliction."

But he went further, this blind man, and in his
voice was the bitterness of an afflicted man to whom
society did not give enough to eat. He was one of
an army of six million blind in London, and he
said that in the blind homes they did not receive half
enough to eat. He gave the diet for a day:

/tab\Breakfast f pint of skilly and dry bread.
/tab\Dinner 3 oz. meat.
/tab\i slice of bread.
/tab\%?? Ib. potatoes.
/tab\Supper f pint of skilly and dry bread.

Oscar Wilde, God rest his soul, voices the cry of
the prison child, which, in varying degree, is the cry
of the prison man and woman: " The second thing
from which a child suffers in prison is hunger.
The food that is given to it consists of a piece of
usually bad-baked prison bread and a tin of water
for breakfast at half-past seven. At twelve o clock
it gets dinner, composed of a tin of coarse Indian
meal stirabout (skilly), and at half-past five it gets
a piece of dry bread and a tin of water for its sup
per. This diet in the case of a strong grown man

[[292]]

p291 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p292w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p293

v?