schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent education. I

travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally became a reporter on an

evening paper in London. One day my editor wished to have a series of articles

upon begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the

point from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying begging as an

amateur that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles. When an

actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of making up, and had been

famous in the green-room for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments.

I painted my face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good

scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a small slip of

flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hair, and an appropriate dress,

I took my station in the business part of the city, ostensibly as a

match-seller but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when

I returned home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no

less than 26s. 4d.


“I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, some

time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served upon me for £

25. I was at my wit’s end where to get the money, but a sudden idea came

to me. I begged a fortnight’s grace from the creditor, asked for a

holiday from my employers, and spent the time in begging in the City under my

disguise. In ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.


“Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at

£ 2 a week when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by smearing my face

with a little paint, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a

long fight between my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I

threw up reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first