I hope I'm not going to get angry letters from a copyrighting agency over these, but here's another from his Down and Out in Paris and London that's just brilliant. At this point, Orwell is homeless in London, and his description of life on the London streets should be standard fare. Anywho, here's what he has to say:
"Once the lodging-house was invaded by a slumming party. Paddy and I had been out, and, coming back in the afternoon, we heard sounds of music downstairs. We went down to find three gentle-people, sleekly dressed, holding a religious service in our kitchen. They were a grave and reverend seignior in a frock coat, a lady sitting at a portable harmonium, and a chinless youth toying with a crucifix. It appeared that they had marched in and started to hold the service, without any kind of invitation whatever.
It was a pleasure to see how the lodgers met this intrusion. They did not offer the smallest rudeness to the slummers; they just ignored them. By common consent everyone in the kitchen--a hundred men, perhaps--behaved as though the slummers had not existed. There they stood patiently singing and exhorting, and no more notice was taken of them than if they had been earwigs. They gentleman in the frock coat preached a sermon, but not a word of it was audible; it was drowned in the usual din of songs, oaths and the clattering of pans. Men sat at their meals and card games three feet away from the harmonium, peaceably ignoring it. Presently the slummers gave it up and cleared out, not insulted in any way, but merely disregarded. No doubt they consoled themselves by thinking how brave they had been, "freely venturing into the lowest dens," etc. etc.
Bozo said that these people came to the lodging-house several times a month. They had influence with the police, and the "deputy" could not exclude them. It is curious how people take it for granted that they have a right to preach at you and pray over you as soon as your income falls below a certain level."
Paddy is his 'tramp' friend and travel partner, and Bozo an educated street chalk artist that the two travelers were visiting in the 'den of the lost.' Frankly speaking, the passage is an indictment of the arrogance that comes from people looking to convert those living below the poverty line.
Maybe it's confusing income with spiritual health.
Or the trappings of material wealth having anything to do with a person's integrity or religious convictions.
Whatever it is, it's a bit off kilter. It's an easy-to-understand philosophy, that simply put doesn't respect the fact that the people you're reaching are people. We'd think it awfully strange of someone to hold a church service in Rockwood Bakery--more specifically, to preach at the 'lost' sitting and having coffee, or talking. It'd be damned annoying for those catching up with their friends, I think.
And that doesn't even touch on whether or not the folks at Rockwood/the lodging house have the same set of spiritual values, which is an entire other can of worms.
A bit closer to the mark (I think) is one from an HoC staff member:
"Well, when it's all said and done, and we're standing at the gates of St. Peter, there are a lot of guys here that are going to be ahead of me in line."
I may be biased, and whether or not the religious convictions of the quote are your own, the point is that it's bad enough that our entire social structure is designed to look down on the poor, the least those of us interacting with those (Orwell's words) 'down and out' can do is respect the fact that income is a poor measure of personhood, and that those folks Orwell's talking about could have at least had the deceny to hand out sandwiches if they had to preach.
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