Shadow of great britain

Funeral support group?

Arthur walked out of old Fagin's house and looked at the muddy street in front of him. His mind was still thinking about the keywords he mentioned just now.

According to Fagin Sr., such funeral societies are now very popular among London's poor.

Although the British Isles have entered the era of industrialization, many traditional customs have not disappeared because of the passing of the Middle Ages.

As an important ceremony in Christianity and British culture, funerals still hold an important and unique place in the hearts of many people.

In St. Giles Parish, every poor family has a common, unwritten rule.

They have to save three pence every week for the father of the family, two pence for the mother, and one penny for the children. However, this money is not used to improve their lives, but to prepare for their afterlife. Prepare.

In the traditional concept of the British, no matter how poor and miserable the deceased was during their lifetime, they should have a decent and grand funeral, because this may be the only dignity they can enjoy in this life.

Thinking of this, Arthur felt a little familiar and a little sad.

Because of the different cultures, it is often difficult for him to understand some of the cultural customs here.

But the emphasis on mourning and glory after death reminded him of the land he had dreamed of countless times.

Only now did he understand why the old people stubbornly considered the burial ceremony before being buried. Only those who have suffered for a lifetime can understand the true meaning of this ceremony.

Maybe they are a bit old-fashioned, but this is also proof that they tell the world that they have lived, and it is the last trace of their past in the world.

"Arthur?" Officer Tom called him gently: "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing?" Arthur started to smoke his extinguished pipe again and asked, "Are there many funeral mutual aid societies like this among the poor in London nowadays?"

Tom held Adam in one hand and scratched the back of his head with the other: "There should be quite a few. My wife also mentioned some to me, not only the funeral mutual aid association, but also the medical aid association, women's reading club, textile workers assistance association, and There are a lot of messy associations, some of which I can’t even name.”

Tony frowned when he heard this: "What kind of associations are these? Could they be Jacobin-like radical organizations like the London Correspondence Society and the Sheffield Constitutional Knowledge Society?"

After hearing this, Tom hurriedly waved his hands and denied, "No, no, they are just simple mutual aid associations. For example, the Women's Reading Club is an association where ladies gather together to study and study.

For a few pence a week, each member can borrow reading materials from their library for free. If a member becomes ill and is unable to work, the association will also provide her with some financial support until she recovers.

For example, the Medical Aid Society, where families who cannot afford a doctor work together to hire a long-term doctor to serve each member. Of course, membership fees are also calculated based on the number of people in the family. The more people you have, the more you pay.

This is what poor people came up with when they had no other choice, not an organized group of Jacobins. "

Arthur took a puff of his cigarette: "It doesn't matter even if it is, since freedom of association is allowed now, the most we can do is strictly monitor them.

As long as they don't make big news about assassinating cabinet members like the Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820, then we can turn a blind eye and let them go.

After all, I don't want to hear the news of the army's departure in London again. That would not be a good thing for both parties.

If one day there are such mutual aid organizations everywhere in and around London, I believe the world will be a better place, at least better than it is now.

By then, maybe we Scotland Yard cops won't have to hang around with sticks all day long, and I can buy a cheap penny newspaper. "

When Tony heard this, he curled his lips and shook his head: "Arthur, what you think is too beautiful. I don't ask them to sell me a penny newspaper, I just ask those street vendors to see other people in police uniforms in the future. Just spit in our faces."

Dickens took out the notes he had left during the discussion with old Fagin, read them over and over, and asked: "According to Mr. Fagin, someone around here is doing a business of adopting homeless people and then using them to defraud funeral subsidies? "

Arthur nodded slightly: "Although that's what I said, if you think about it carefully, it doesn't make sense. In other words, it doesn't explain why everyone disappeared.

Judging from the data we have so far, there are not only homeless children and frail women who are missing, but also many homeless people in their prime.

Moreover, many of them have just been released from prison. Two days ago, I went to Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check the criminal files of these people. Some of them were charged with violent crimes.

It may not be that easy for those who make money from death to get these people to die obediently. "

Tony thought about it and suddenly asked with a dark face: "Arthur, are you saying that that bad old man didn't tell us the truth? I'll go back to find him right now!"

Unexpectedly, before Tony could take a step forward, he was grabbed by Arthur.

"He should have said everything he could say, but what he said is not the same thing as what we want.

There may indeed be cases of killing family members to obtain funeral subsidies, but at least they have not occurred on a large scale so far.

Otherwise, the first person to call the police should not be the Duke of Sussex, but other families who attended the funeral aid.

After all, if a strange family starts to die in large numbers just after joining the association, any normal person would feel something is wrong. "

Arthur flipped through the missing list in his hand again, and he said: "When I was talking to Mr. Fagin just now, I reclassified the missing data on hand, and I discovered a very interesting problem. ."

Tony quickly asked: "What's the problem?"

Arthur said: "The missing time distribution of young and middle-aged men has always been relatively even, but the proportion of missing women, middle-aged and elderly men and street children has been rising in the past two months.

According to the Duke of Sussex's report, there were only nine women missing in the past six months, but six of them were missing in the past two months.

The number of missing middle-aged and elderly men and street children has also increased sharply in the past two months. Don’t you think this is interesting? This shows what? "

When the red devil on the side heard this, he suddenly covered his mouth and snickered: "Oh! My dear Arthur, I didn't expect you to realize something was wrong so quickly."

Dickens was stunned for a moment, but he quickly came back to his senses: "Arthur, are you saying that the disappearance actually involves more than one case?"

Arthur took a deep drag on his cigarette: "No, it's not that it involves more than one case, but it probably involves more than one type of case."