Elizabeth Howard wrote in part, "I must take issue with Liz Loveland`s comment ... This is so far from the facts but is the common belief thanks to Dickens " and "A 103 yrs old acquaintance of mine , a retired teacher, remembers the workhouse boys coming to school , each and every one of them clean and neatly turned out in good quality jacket trousers and boots." First, let me note that I was referencing the early days of the Poor Law Union workhouse system, well before anyone living would have been alive to remember anything about it. As to Elizabeth's statement that my previous email is "so far from the facts," I wouldn't even know where to begin in response so I will simply say that I strongly disagree and repeat my suggestion that anyone interested read some of the early Poor Law Union staff correspondence that is digitized on the National Archives site, as well as early governmental investigations/reports on the then-new system and other original documentation about the early implementation of the Poor Law Union workhouse system. And don't worry, everyone, I will now cease responding to this thread. Liz Loveland Massachusetts, USA