The Way to the Poor-House

Abstract

In August 1862 The Band of Hope Review printed this variation on a common temperance propaganda story. The fact that the central character was an elderly woman may have been intended to arouse pity, or disgust.

A GENTLEMAN was once accosted in the Kensington Road, London, by an elderly female. She had a small bottle of gin in her hand, and not knowing the way to the workhouse, where she had business, she said, “Please, sir, I beg your pardon, but, is this the way to the poor-house?” The gentleman, looking at her very earnestly, and pointing to the bottle, gravely, but very kindly, said, “No, my good woman, but that is.”