Oliver Twist | Page 6

one in
the white waistcoat.
For the combination of both these blessings in the one simple process of picking oakum,
Oliver bowed low by the direction of the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large
ward; where, on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. What a novel illustration
of the tender laws of England! They let the paupers go to sleep!
Poor Oliver! He little thought, as he lay sleeping in happy unconsciousness of all around
him, that the board had that very day arrived at a decision which would exercise the most
material influence over all his future fortunes. But they had. And this was it:
The members of this board were very sage, deep, philosophical men; and when they came
to turn their attention to the workhouse, they found out at once, what ordinary folks

would never have discovered--the poor people liked it! It was a regular place of public
entertainment for the poorer classes; a tavern where there was nothing to pay; a public
breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round; a brick and mortar elysium, where it
was all play and no work. 'Oho!' said the board, looking very knowing; 'we are the
fellows to set this to rights; we'll stop it all, in no time.' So, they established the rule, that
all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of
being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this
view, they contracted with the water-works to lay on an unlimited supply of water; and
with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal; and issued three
meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll of Sundays. They
made a great many other wise and humane regulations, having reference to the ladies,
which it is not necessary to repeat; kindly undertook to divorce poor married people, in
consequence of the great expense of a suit in Doctors' Commons; and, instead of
compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family
away from him, and made him a bachelor! There is no saying how many applicants for
relief, under these last two heads, might have started up in all classes of society, if it had
not been coupled with the workhouse; but the board were long-headed men, and had
provided for this difficulty. The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel;
and that frightened people.
For the first six months after Oliver Twist was removed, the system was in full operation.
It was rather expensive at first, in consequence of the increase in the undertaker's bill, and
the necessity of taking in the clothes of all the paupers, which fluttered loosely on their
wasted, shrunken forms, after a week or two's gruel. But the number of workhouse
inmates got thin as well as the paupers; and the board were in ecstasies.
The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end:
out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two
women, ladled the gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one
porringer, and no more--except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two
ounces and a quarter of bread besides.
The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they
shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long,
the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with
such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed;
employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the
view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys
have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures
of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger,
that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his
father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had
another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy
who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild,
hungry eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who
should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to
Oliver Twist.

The evening arrived;