At first I did not know why such mendicants did not ask openly; but afterwards I learned why, without understanding the reason.
One day I saw a policeman push a ragged peasant swollen with dropsy, into a cab. I asked what he had been doing, and the policeman replied,—
“Begging.”
“Is begging, then, forbidden?”
“So it seems,” he answered. As the man was being driven away, I took another cab, and followed. I wished to find out whether begging was really forbidden, and if so, why? I could not at all understand how it was possible to forbid one man asking something from another; and, moreover, I had my doubts whether it could be illegal in a city where it flourished to such an extent.
I entered the police-station where the pauper had been taken, and asked an official armed with sword and pistol, and seated at a table, what he had been arrested for.
The man looked up at me sharply, and said, “What business is that of yours?”
However, feeling the necessity of some explanation, he added, “The authorities order such fellows to be arrested, so I suppose it is necessary.”
I went away. The policeman who had brought the man was sitting in the window of the ante-room, studying his note-book. I said to him,—
“Is it really true that poor people are not allowed to ask for alms in Christ's name?”