class? That there are many very decent old people, both men and women, in our workhouses, no one would deny; and though there can be no doubt that many even of them need not have been there if they had thought more of old age when they were young, yet now that they are there no one would be disposed to treat them harshly or to grudge them the little indulgences that the law allows. On the other hand, any one who has had any lengthened experience of the matter, knows that inmates over sixty differ just as much, both morally and physically, as those under sixty.
One point that will strike any one who has any experience of the subject, is, that many people who have passed the age-limit are physically much more capable than others many years their juniors. A typical case is that of an old man of seventy-four who is, or was till quite recently, an inmate of a London workhouse. He is as hale and hearty a man as any one could wish to see. He has married a wife about forty years younger than himself, and has occupied his "declining" years in begetting a family of five or six young children, the eldest of whom cannot even now be much more than ten years old. The Guardians have kept his children almost continuously for several years, and himself and his wife intermittently. He has always pleaded that he is unable to find work on account of his age, and he has been constantly given passes "to look for work" for this reason. His wife also took her discharge from time to time, and only a few months ago returned to the workhouse prepared to present the Guardians with another "Poor Law child." Subsequent inquiries have shown that upon at least one occasion when he was out on pass, and was representing to the Guardians that he was
