| Title | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists |
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| Page | 948 |
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| Chapter | -- |
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| Text |
just walked about aimlessly or stood talking in groups in the streets, principally in the neighbourhood of the Wage Slave Market near the fountain on the Grand Parade. They congregated here in such numbers that one or two residents wrote to the local papers complaining of the `nuisance', and pointing out that it was calculated to drive the `better-class' visitors out of the town. After this two or three extra policemen were put on duty near the fountain with instructions to `move on' any groups of unemployed that formed. They could not stop them from coming there, but they prevented them standing about. The processions of unemployed continued every day, and the money they begged from the public was divided equally amongst those who took part. Sometimes it amounted to one and sixpence each, sometimes it was a little more and sometimes a little less. These men presented a terrible spectacle as they slunk through the dreary streets, through the rain or the snow, with the slush soaking into their broken boots, and, worse still, with the bitterly cold east wind penetrating their |
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