Hints to Householders

Some useful information for those residing in London.

Too much caution cannot be exercised in regard to the admission of strangers, especially during the absence from home of the master of the house. Every kind of thief is on the watch for a favourable moment to gain admission, and after having induced the servant to leave unprotected the hall or room, into which he contrives to be shown, to lay hands on all the available portable property. A more dangerous class of intruder still is he who comes provided with the CallingCard^? of a friend or acquaintance of the family, and offers for sale lace or other light goods. This is sure to be a fraud of a most dangerous kind. The card which procures the introduction to the house has been stolen, and the object of the visit is invariably plunder. Equally annoying, though perhaps not so ultimately dangerous, is the sham RailwayPorter^? or messenger. This variety of the predatory race is in the habit of watching the master or mistress clear from the house, and tehn calls with a bogus parcel, for the carriage of which, and sometimes for the parcel itself, he demands such sums of money as he thinks most likely to be paid without question. In no case should a parcel be taken in under these circumstances. Another well-known parcel dodge is to watch the delivery by some draper's cart of a parcel, and ten minutes afterwards to call and redemand it, on the plea of some mistake having occurred in the delivery.

Great care should be taken in the matter of fastenings to doors and windows. Nothing is easier or more common than for a thief to make his entrance into a house by way of the upper windows, or by climbing the portico at a time when the household is engaged at dinner, or when the general attention is otherwise diverted. If the pattern of your mud-scraper pleases you, or you attach any importance to its possession, it is well not to leave it unsecured out of doors after dusk. It may be taken as a general rule that burglary or thieving on a large scale is never attempted unless the practitioner knows perfectly well that the house contains booty worthy of the risk necessarily involved. It is, therefore, to say the least of it, injudicious to allow servants to make an ostentatious display of plate at Area or kitchen windows.

Every householder should be careful to make himself acquainted with the nearest "fixed point" (see FixedPoints), at which a constable may always be found, the nearest police-station (see PoliceForce), and the nearest stations of the fire brigade, both for engines and escapes (see FireBrigade^? and FireEscapes^?). Nothing is prettier than the custom of decorating window-sills with flowers. It is necessary that the pots or boxes which contain them should be securely fastened. Any accident caused by neglect of this precaution may have unpleasant and expensive consequences for the careless householder. Equal care should be taken in the proper fastening of CoalFlaps^? or gratings. Every householder is under obligation to clear snow from the pavement in front of his house. For his own satisfaction he will no doubt also clear it away from his roof and gutters. In the latter case it is necessary to remember that the interests of the passers-by have to be considered, and that broken hats will certainly entail some expense. Among the other winter troubles which may be mentioned here is the supply of coal. If the householder would remember that every coal cart is provided with weights and scales, and would insist on all his coals being weighed upon delivery, considerable saving would be effected; the coal merchant is powerless to check the proceedings of his men after the cart is loaded and has left his yard.

Unless under very exceptional circumstances it is unwise to employ peripatetic ChairMenders^?, KnifeGrinders^?, Tinkers^?, or the like. A very favourite trick of the "needy knife-grinder" is to undertake the sharpening of scissors for a stated sum, and then having unscrewed them, to decline to put them together except at a greatly increased charge. But the class of peripatetic workmen who should be most carefully excluded from the house are the Glaziers^?. Their glass is always bad, their work is invariably ill done and in nine cases out of ten their real business is robbery.--(See also PoliceForce and Servants).

• Charles Dickens Jr., Dickens's Dictionary of London 1888 (see LondonGuidesAndMaps), some slight alterations in formatting etc. for wiki purposes.

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 28 Dec 2004

This page is linked to by: CrimeAndPrevention, DictionaryH, LondonHouseholds, Servants,