More Children Crying?

In Matthew Arnold's "West London," he briefly describes a simple but saddening moment in which a young girl is sent out by her mother to beg. It is more than likely that the little girl was sent to do it because fewer people could turn away a starving young girl (however the woman did have a baby with her). Arnold observes that the girl doesn't try to get money or food from the rich and instead lets them pass and stare at her. This is most likely because the girl doesn't expect the rich to help her but they don't feel the need to. Other people in her class are more inclined to sympathize despite being in a harsh situation themselves. Arnold is clearly very critical of the rich person in this scene when he states that the person "attends the unknown little from the unknowing great, and points us to a better time than ours." This tone shows that Arnold knows that the rich think of the poor as 'unknown' and they are unaware that their own circumstance is much more fortunate than they realize. The poem provides simple but powerful social commentary reflecting the ignorance of the upperclass and the fact that the poor are aware of this ignorance and have given up trying to expect any help from them.