to know people like Mario and Paddy and Bill the
moocher, not from casual encounters, but intimately; I
should like to understand what really goes on in the souls
of plongeurs and tramps and Embankment sleepers. At
present I do not feel that I have seen more than the fringe
of poverty.
Still I can point to one or two things I have definitely
learned by being hard up. I shall never again think that all
tramps are drunken scoundrels, nor expect a beggar to be
grateful when I give him a penny, nor be surprised if men
out of work lack energy, nor subscribe to the Salvation
Army, nor pawn my clothes, nor refuse a handbill, nor
enjoy a meal at a smart restaurant. That is a beginning.