Judicious enquiry has generally uncovered the fact that the bread was very stale, and to make a meal on stale bread, unmoistened, is a physical impossibility, as I myself can testify. It is quite useless to say to the good and virtuous “Give money.” The answer is “They will spend it in drink”⁠—a wise provision of nature mercifully ordained for the comfort of the stomach. For when your energy is gone and you are vitiated and trembling, your digestion will not assimilate cold bread, but will respond immediately to the tonic of a glass of beer, or a cup of hot coffee. Wherefore, so say all outcasts, blessed be she who dispenses coppers instead of broken meat. Though a nicely cut sandwich, such as you would eat yourself, does not come amiss.