Lestrade doesn't just exchange a little work for his potato, he gets a "bonus" for doing so - for a kid who's had to scrabble for every little extra, that would make an impression.
If he had a beat that included a Victorian slum, Wilkins would have seen lots of small coffins and shrouds headed for the potter's field from sickness, injury, want, and decide that at least one or two boys could avoid his own son's fate if he took a hand. (It seems to be a common response to such a loss - the movie cowboys Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans adopted a dozen children when their own child died at two, and Eliza Hamilton dealt with the grief of losing her oldest son and husband by opening an orphanage.)
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Date: 2018-04-25 05:22 pm (UTC)If he had a beat that included a Victorian slum, Wilkins would have seen lots of small coffins and shrouds headed for the potter's field from sickness, injury, want, and decide that at least one or two boys could avoid his own son's fate if he took a hand. (It seems to be a common response to such a loss - the movie cowboys Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans adopted a dozen children when their own child died at two, and Eliza Hamilton dealt with the grief of losing her oldest son and husband by opening an orphanage.)