THE REFUGE FOR THE HOUSELESS.
THE setting-in of a frost puts the skaitere and schoolboys in high spirits, and is welcomed as a seasonable change by those who are well to do in the world ; but it brings misery—it may be death— to many. Even the hale and strong, well warmed by a roaring fire and invigorated by a hearty meal, think it heroical to brave the wintry air wrapped up in bearskin and lambswool; what then must be the sufferings of those wretched beings, shivering in ." looped and windowed raggedness," who, without food or shelter, wander about famishing with cold and hunger? Fenced round as we are with comforts, it requires an effort of the imagination to bring such poignant distress home to our bosoms. The rigours of winter are severely felt by the poor, but to the outcast and desti- tute they are deadly. To hundreds of our fellow creatures a prison were a welcome place of refuge, and a union workhouse a palace of luxury. Denied admittance to the one, how many might be tempted to earn a title to the other by crime, but for some place where they may find shelter from the inclemency of the weather, with no other passport to admission than urgent need ? Such an asylum is the Refuge for the Houseleas, in Playhouse Yard, Whitecross Street ; to which those unhappy objects resort for the night, who in milder seasons are found huddled up in obscure corners, debarred, by the want of a few halfpence, from the squalid comfort of a rug in some cellar in St. Giles's. At the present time, this useful charity has strong claims on public benevolence. We last winter devoted some space to a descrip- tion of the Refuge, and the mode in which relief is afforded there : we need only now, therefore, recommend it to those who are able to contribute towards an institution that affords succour in the last resort. A warm roof, clean straw, and a bit of bread, are all that the poor unfortunates receive; but it is vital nourishment to hundreds, who must otherwise perish in the streets.
One grand defect in the administration o f relief was strongly pointed out, in a letter which appeared in the Sun on Thursday evening, addressed to the Committee forconducting the affairs of this charity, by a Guardian of the Poor in the parish of St. Luke, where the Refuge is situated ; and it is a defect that calls for an instant remedy. The only applicants refused admission are, unhappily, those whose need is the most urgent,—namely, such as are suffering from disease as well as cold and hunger. This does indeed appear a cruel exception; but, in the present state of the funds, it is unfortunately rendered necessary. The relief afibriled being temporary, and (with this qualification) indiscriminate, to admit disease would be to convert a nightly shelter into a per- manent hospital. An infirmary, however, as the benevolent Guardian suggests, might be attached to the building; whence the sick could be transferred to the workhouse or the hospital. An appeal to the public, in aid of such a beneficial extension of the Refuge, would surely not be made in vain. The writer of the letter draws a frightful picture of the case of the sick- " I have no doubt but hundreds died last winter in this great metropolis from actual want, and from disease brought on by want. 1 have no hesitation in saying, that many died in the parish of St. Luke from that cause, who were refused admission into the Houseless Asylum, but were supplied with a few pence from the Asylum to get a night's lodging where they could. Many of them gave their pence to be admitted into cold empty rooms in the neighbour. hood, nithout fire or Nod ; and there some perished before their situation was *sown to the parish-officers. Others wandered about the streets until quite exhausted, and then picked up by the Police, and taken to St. Luke's Work- house : although every attention was paid them by the parochial authorities, many were past recovery, and died shortly after their admission."
This is indeed a shocking state of things: nevertheless, it does not invalidate the good already done; nor are the Committee to be reproached because they had not the means of doing more. The Guardian complains that the inhabitants of the neighbour- hood are taxed and annoyed by demands upon their charity, through the influx of destitute creatures front all parts of the town. This shows the necessity, which we before urged, of having similar asylums in various districts. Why not have a Nightly Refuge attached to each workhouse ? The expense would be small, and the benefit incalculable.
Meanwhile, this charity continues to relieve an immense fluc- tuating amount of human misery ; and only requires the contri- butions of the generous rich to enable it to do so upon a more ex- tended scale.
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